We had to be careful of the drop off. The ivy disguises the the edge. Slowly we will tone down the overgrowth, try to save a few trees and bushes from being strangled. I read a paragraph in one of the welcome brochures. It said the home owner is responsible for keeping the street and sidewalk in front of their home free and clear of overgrowth. Getting on top of the ivy that was growing out onto the street became a priority today. I want to show the neighborhood we care.
There is a deep drainage ditch outside on the street. Our Ivy had completely crossed it looking for more territory. In an area with as much rain as we get, I felt it was important to keep the drainage ditch free and clear in preparation of the rainy weather to come.
Riley disappeared down the drive way with a pair of clippers claiming he was going to tackle another area by himself. I knew he was looking for a spot out of my sight to just hang out. But at least he was outside and away from the electronic games. I was hopeful that the neighborhood children might come out to play again, but they stayed in their back yards. I could hear their gleeful cries from my yard.
Once the boys finally went inside, having kept me company for a couple of hours, I brought out the chemicals, the weed be gone and the blackberry killer spray and took a first foray at the blackberries. Had to pour the weed be gone into a different spray bottle as the brand new sprayer it came with didn't work. I went down the front walk hitting the weeds in the gravel. I went out the back door with the blackberry spray. The wind was quiet so I took the opportunity to spray from the deck so I could hit them further back. This bottle has a cool pump sprayer that works like a water pistol. It had a nice far reaching arch.
The handy man came today. He will get back to me in a few days. The furnace guy came next. I am so glad I called him. There were no filters in the furnace. The dirty air was sucking right up to the coils. He worked hard to clean the coils. It took him a long time to clean two years of debris off the coils. He also found frayed wires going to the heat pump. Probably our previous furry residents having a party in the walls. Luckily the wires were easy to access in the unfinished basement. Tick that important chore off our list. He said the heat pump is probably only 7 years old. The furnace is original to the house and over 20 years old.
He told me running the gas from the corner of the house to the furnace and kitchen area in the basement would be $450. 50 feet is $450, which is about what we need to reach the right area. The handy man will need to run 220 power from the box across the basement by the furnace, to the outside wall and up the wall to the new laundry area. I told him he could open up the finished ceiling area he needed in the basement to run the upgraded wires, since we will be running the gas along the same route going the opposite direction.
I can't wait to see the bid. I was pleased with the cost of running the gas line. I had thought it might have been more to run gas. If I do the trenching in the front yard, we can bring in the gas for less than $2000 total. I already have the Viking appliances, all but the fridge. Not having an ice maker is a sore point.
I am off to do more yard work and unpack more boxes. If I can crush at least one box a day, I feel I have accomplished something.
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