Wood Burning Furnace

This is supposed to be our future heat source for the house.  It is a wood burning furnace that is made to be hooked up into the existing HVAC ducting of a home.

Our regular gas heater is inside the house in a closet that is right on the other side of the wall to the left of this furnace, which is sitting on the back porch.  The furnace has a chimney pipe that goes up through the ceiling of the porch and through the roof.  There are two pipes that come out the top that will be hooked up to the ducting that is above our current heater and there are two blowers attached to the back of the furnace that will force the air into the ducts and out the vents in the house.

The reviews that Tom read said they didn't need the blowers.  We'll try it with and without to see what works best.  This should end our dependence on propane heat and it's supposed to burn far less wood than our fireplace does, although I do like using our fireplace because it feels so cozy.

We're waiting on the AC guy to come hook it up.  Tom could do it himself, but our home insurance company insists on a professional install or they won't insure us.  It's a pain waiting on the AC guy because he's the same guy that did the barn apartment HVAC system and he is notorious for not showing up when he says he's going to.  We've already wasted weeks on him, not to mention having to run our heater.

Bah.

Like Black Friday at Walmart

I sold some goats today, listing them on craigslist.com last night. 

I listed our four girls born this spring, 50 bucks each or 160 for all and within ten minutes some guy texted me (at midnight) that he wanted them.  After a string of texts, we agreed that he'd pick them up at 10:00 this morning.

Then, this morning I had e-mails and phone calls galore.  When I told the responders that the goats were supposed to be picked up at 10, they each made me promise that I'd call them if the buyer didn't show up.  One woman even got a bit miffed at me telling me that she emailed me last night and "didn't you get an email from Ruby?" like I purposely ignored her email so I could sell the goats to someone else. 

I guess I priced the goats too low.  Tom told me after the fact that female goats are going for 90+ at the sale barn.  Oh well, the guy, who was willing to drive an hour to pick them up, got a great deal and I probably made his day.  I didn't make a profit, but I just wanted to shrink the herd and not have to feed them all through the winter.  I really would like to have polled the responders to find out exactly why they were so anxious to buy my unregistered goats.  Was it the price?  Was it because they were Boer/Nubian crosses?  Did they want them for resale or for their own use?

We're down to two Boers, two Kikos, and two Nubians.  All are pregnant except for the Kikos because they're too young still.  And we just had the three boys butchered, so our freezer if full.  I definitely am going to have to start cooking more.

At Long Last...Wedding Pics!

Been waiting to get my copy of the CD from the photographer.

All flowers by Meagan.  Her beautiful bouquet.

We put tea lights in mason jars and hung them from the rafters.

We made this flag bunting to section off this area of the chapel and we also strung it up in different areas.

Beverages...

...served in mason jars.

We froze berries in star-shaped ice cube trays for the drinks.

And this is what we did with that old farm sink that Tom made the stand for.  There were outhouses on the grounds, so we made the signs, "Ladies" and "Gents", made a skirt for the sink, provided soap and hand towels, and used a watering can for hand washing.

Meagan and I went to the flea market and found these vintage lapel pins.  We pinned them in a cluster for her hair ornament.

Meagan used huge round balloons as part of her decorations and to take photographs with.

Afterwards, the kids had fun playing with them and whoever could convince their parents to fit them in their cars could take them home.

Blue checkered tableclothes with burlap runners and loads of flowers in old crates, milk glass vases and mason jars adorned the food tables.

We had THE greatest band.  They played the processional, then all through the reception.

Part of the tables with burlap runners.

Dreamy.

Goings Ons

I moved these mandevilla and bougainvillea into the greenhouse last week because there was supposed to be a freeze.  I was under the impression that a greenhouse would protect plants from freezes.  Apparently, that is not the case.  The plants are now completely dead.  Somewhere I read that I should put a barrel of water in the greenhouse.  Theoretically, the water would heat up during the day and then the heat would dissipate during the night and help, at least a little, to keep some warmth in the greenhouse.  Also, not true.  The water in the barrel remains cold at all times.

I wanted to grow some veggies in the greenhouse this winter...maybe some lettuce or tomatoes.  So, the question is, what is the trade off in cost?  Is it cheaper just to buy lettuce and tomatoes at the grocery store or to heat the greenhouse during the night with heat lamps or a space heater?

This is our new propane tank.  Think it's big enough?  After we get it taken off of the trailer, Tom is going to hook it up to a generator so that if we lose power, the propane will run the generator, which will power the house.