Change of Focus

I haven't blogged in awhile, but still plucking away at the home improvements. The kitchen has been placed on hold due to limited funds. I'm focusing on saving for a rainy day first, then I'll go back to the kitchen.

So, my family has been encouraging me to post my day-to-day homeowner challenges. The thought is that maybe it will help someone else out there in virtual space.

I live on the East Coast and we were hit with a historical blizzard this weekend. The storm started Friday evening, and by Saturday morning, we had about 12" of snow. The house was cold. I mean 57degC cold! Panic set in. There was no way I was going to get BGE Home out to help me, so it was up to me to figure it out.

I went down to the furnace and I could hear the fan running, but no heat from the vent. I saw the flame kick on, but about 10 seconds later, it shut off. Obviously, we weren't going to get warm that way. Panic again! The fuel must be getting to the burner, so maybe the exhaust can't get out? Maybe there is a safety switch that turns the furnace off if the exhaust is blocked? Maybe snow is blocking it?

I ran upstairs and loaded on the snow gear. My son begins to question me and looks skeptical, but hey...there's nothing to lose. Turns out that there was a drift on the side of the house about 2.5 ft deep. I swept the snow away from the exhaust vent and came back inside. And...drum roll...it worked! I subjected my family to harassment ALL weekend about how toasty warm it was in the house. Ah...I had bragging rights.

That's when we decided that the blog would contain all of my day-to-day challenges.


Well, we're preparing for another snow storm of 12-20 inches on Wednesday, on top of the 41" we already have. I'm worried about my gutters. There are icicles and piles of snow in them. I hope they can handle it. I've include a picture from my front door.