Hallman Happenings

Home ownership seems to be a giant money pit. Sometimes I would like to live in a cave instead. You don't have to buy a new roof for a cave. Or a new HVAC. Or new doors. And best of all, they're supposed to be dirty! But alas, I don't live in a cave so I will continue to clean, replace, repair, redecorate... And try to remember to view it as one of the ways I mirror my creator who continues to forgive and cleanse me. I'm so glad He doesn't stop or view it as drudgery or wish I was something else!

So, we have a new HVAC unit. Apparently, we had a low static HVAC before and high static duct work, and it caused a great deal of wear and tear on the system. We were looking at thousands of dollars of repair upon a great deal of money spent in repairs already, and no guarantee that something else wouldn't go wrong, so we got a new unit. It is a hybrid, so it runs on electricity when that's the most efficient way to heat, and then switches to propane when the temperature drops low enough to make that the most efficient way to heat. It's awfully nifty, but I can think of plenty of more fun ways to spend that money... I will not complain. Well, maybe a little. When they couldn't get the air flow readings throughout our house just right, they did a bit of investigating under the house and found a damper that should be open was completely closed. Huh. I wonder if THAT is what made our ductwork high static and the problem could have been solved a couple years ago much more cheaply and easily? Such is life, I suppose. Caves don't have to have ductwork, but I digress...

We also have a section of our roof that is rotten again. The same section that we had repaired 5 years ago. Apparently, there wasn't a leak around a vent, but our downspouts are just clogged and the water washes back up into the roofing at the highest point on the gutters... Really? Clogged downspouts?!??! Anyhow, we have 10 year shingles on our roof, and our roof has just turned 10 years old, so it's time to re-do it anyhow. A neighbor (who happens to have been a student of David's when he taught @ Gallatin Middle) is going to put a metal roof on for us. He does very nice work and beats everyone's prices. That will start next week. I'm looking forward to that being done.

With all these expensive projects, though, it seems that barn #2 will get put on hold for yet another year. Hopefully by the time we build it, the roofing we bought 2 years ago for it won't be a mess! Instead, this year, we will add on to our current barn and rearrange the pens and a little of the interior. The addition will be the new chicken coop which will get the chickens out of the main barn and I'm *really* looking forward to that! This will give the does more space in the barn which will be really nice come kidding season! We will divide the doe pen in half and give half to the bucks since it's so big and the does are out of their pen most days anyway. The buck barn will get reduced in size to make a way for me to feed them without going in their pen and give me access to the new chicken coop and a little more feed storage. The bucks have about twice the barn space they require anyway, so this isn't a big deal. I would love to also build some more fences to give the does a larger pen for when we aren't here and don't let them out, but don't know that that will happen this year. The current buck pen will be enlarged and turned into my garden area. I'm excited about how well fertilized it will be and look forward to *finally* having a garden of my own this year!

In addition to all those plans, we will be replacing the exterior doors on our house. I'm not exactly looking forward to that process, but new doors will be nice. Our current front door has a huge gap that can't be sealed with weather stripping, so closing that should make an impact on our heating and cooling costs. Our back door is begining to rust. Our sliding glass door... David hates it and has wanted to replace it for forever!

Barn #2 and new flooring throughout our house are still on the "to do list" ....maybe next year.

Other than that, we're just keeping busy tending to our little charges: human, caprine, and avian. :) I've rearranged our living room, which is a pretty big deal for me! I really like it! I'm working on recovering our dining room chairs. I am procrastinating on those that the kids sit in so that they'll be fresh for Thanksgiving when we have company.

Samuel is plugging away at his schooling. He's read two books and will begin his third soon. He's doing very well with math and violin--learning Etude and Minuet I now. Shiphrah is learning the French Children's Song on the piano and things are starting to click for her there. She and I have a date next month to go see the Nashville Ballet perform the Nutcracker. I anticipate ballet lessons will be in our future... Solomon is finally potty trained! They're all still sleeping.... maybe I'll take advantage of the time to peruse some seed catalogues!