Photo Showcase: Steps toward home improvement

Len spent several weeknights preparing us for the second winter in our new old house. With kits of sheet plastic and double-sided tape, he has insulated most of our windows from the inside. True, disposable plastic is not the most sustainable approach to weather-proofing a house; however, most things in life require compromise. Here, the tradeoff is generating future garbage (when we remove and dispose of the temporary insulation in spring) in order to use less natural gas (because our furnace won't have to work so hard if the windows aren't letting cold air in and warm air out). You know the insulation kits are working, by the way, when the plastic breathes with the wind outside. Some of our windows are so drafty, the plastic sheeting bulges with pockets of the cold air that would otherwise be whooshing through our dining room.

We have long-term plans for restoring our 111-year-old windows back to perfect functionality and for replacing our dilapidated aluminum storm windows with historically accurate wooden ones that fit properly. News flash: Whole-house window restoration is a big, expensive project.

We knew of this eventual expense going in. We bought the old house knowing that its maintenance would be our new major "hobby." Some people save up their money to spend it on a motorcycle, or travel, or horses, or raising kids. We have prepared to spend ours on this house. And now, it's all about what projects to put money toward and when.

The city of Aurora has in the past offered a historical preservation grant for homeowners in the historic districts. We can apply for grant assistance to get some work done on our home, as long as it is exterior work that helps preserve the historical architecture and character of the neighborhood. We applied for the grant last year to tackle the windows. We were not one of the awardees. However, we listened to the grant committee meeting and garnered useful information about what else they'd like to see restored/repaired on our house.

One of those items was correcting the railing on our front porch steps. It was iron and losing some structural integrity, but it should be wooden and sound. Well, we can get that project done without grant assistance! Let's do it now as proof of our commitment to historical preservation, and we'll live with the crummy windows another year in the hopes of applying for the grant again.

So the saga of the front porch steps began. I'll sum it up briefly.

In June, Len finally found a carpenter who was willing to work within the historic district and obtain the appropriate permits. The steps would be entirely rebuilt, including lovely wooden railings. 

With drawings finally approved and permits obtained, in October, the carpenters made quick work of removing the old stairs... 

Then they were gone for awhile. 

They brought back supplies. And left again for awhile.

Eventually they came back to cut and install the stringers.

At this point, the city inspector had to approve the installation so far. He didn't. 

In a few days, the carpenters fixed the way the header board and stringers were attached to the house and got approval, but they didn't continue building right away.

Halloween loomed near.

On a cold misty day in late October, the carpenters came back and quickly affixed the treads and toe kicks (no railings yet), so at least we could host trick-or-treaters.

In early November, they finished the build. Looks nice, huh? They requested final inspection.

More than two weeks later, the city inspector finally came out and... did not approve the steps.

It's now mid-November, and we're waiting for the carpenters to return, to re-do stuff, and to re-request inspection.

All this to show the Historic Preservation Commission, "See? We're doing the stuff you think we should do! Please give us money to do more of it." We don't even know yet if they will continue the grant program in 2022.

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Water Update

I was excited to report back in June that we had lowered our own water usage by about 750 gallons (over 2 months). Well, we kept at it -- from little things like shutting off the faucet during those proscribed 20 seconds we're soaping our hands, to medium things like taking shorter or less frequent showers, to the bigger things like watering our outdoor (and indoor) plants solely from the rain barrels -- until they ran dry; I admit to hauling out the hose a few times. And, the results are in.

Our water bill for our May and June usage was down to just 2 CCFs! That means we cut our average water usage in half. How about that? 

Such reduction doesn't cut our water bill in half, mind you. There's a flat fee for service, but each CCF used or not used will add or subtract, respectively, about $5. The separate sewer bill is also a little bit lower, because it is also based on water usage. Over a year, those few monthly dollars add up, sure, but this is less about the money savings (where you'd typically see a higher return by reducing your gas and electric usage) than it is about the environmental impact.

It's easier to think about water conservation in the warm months, when gardens need to be watered, and pools "need" to be swum in. However, our consumption awareness must continue through the winter. The western United States is still, today, experiencing extreme and excessive drought. Even here in northern Illinois, despite the seemingly abundant gray skies of November, things are "abnormally dry." Again, I refer you to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Back to our record 2-CCFs water bill. During May and June 2021, we used approximately 750 gallons per month, or roughly 180-190 gallons per week, or 25 gallons per day. In some ways that number seems low, but imagine having 25 gallon-size jugs, some of them sitting on your kitchen counter and several others hanging out in your bathroom. And you're going to go through all 25 of those in just one day. It seems like a crazy amount of water!

We easily use less than that per day when we're camping, but when we're roughing it, we naturally use water very conservatively. Based on that observation, clearly showers, toilets, and laundry make the biggest impact. Dish-washing is also a potential area for improvement.

Our next water bill, for July and August, was back up to 3 CCFs -- higher than our lowest usage, but still lower than our original average. We're happy about that, but the drive for self-competition inspires me to keep trying to be even more conservative -- when it comes to water usage, that is.

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Garden Shutdown

 Chilly but sunny, this past weekend was perfect for some yardwork, as in closing down the garden for the season. We've already had a few mornings of frost, so the tomatoes are done anyway. Most of the trees around us have yet to drop their leaves, though, so that other big cleanup awaits.

We emptied the rain barrels and turned them upside down for the winter. They were both full, but we have little watering to do now. We used several gallons to give our perennials the scraggliest patches of lawn one last soak, and set some aside for the indoor plants, but most of it went into the street, to the storm sewers, where rain water naturally goes when you're not catching as much of it as you can.

We emptied the container garden -- the cut tin troughs of herbs, the large pots of tomatoes, the smaller pots of ornamentals. I have uprooted and potted two begonias to try to overwinter them indoors. If you know me, I am notoriously deadly to flowering houseplants... we'll see.

We also needed to make room in the compost bin for winter's kitchen scraps. I did my best to pull out all the "unfinished" compost, that is, the still-identifiable plant matter -- grass clippings, corn husks, dog fur from the vacuum, recently tossed romaine cores. You know, all the stuff that hasn't broken down all the way. I piled it onto a tarp so I could put back the bin later. 

For now, what we wanted was the stuff filling the bottom half of our bin, the rich, dark compost that looks quite like potting soil. It's full of worms, too. Nice, healthy food for the garden.

So, we spread this finished (or near finished) compost around our fruit trees, hostas, perennial flowers and herbs, strawberries, raspberries, onions, and rhubarb. My hope is that it will sit there on top and then, as the snow melts in the spring, it will slowly leech its way into the soil and provide a boost of nutrients to these plants' roots. Meanwhile, all the unfinished compost goes back into the bin, but now there is room for some of those fall leaves and a winter's worth of kitchen scraps before we stir it again in the spring.

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