July Relief

July is nearing it’s end.

We’ve had very hot days this month and cooler days so we alternated between shorts and tshirts and jeans and jackets. Our Michigan weather is why I don’t store “out of season” clothing: I never know what type of clothing I will need to access from one day to the next.

We’ve spent July trying to get stuff done.

We needed new straw for the chicken coop. It provides bedding/nesting material as well as insulation in the winter. We searched Facebook Marketplace for straw for sale that was relatively inexpensive and close to us. It’s not all that easy to find. We finally found–not straw–but hay and bought 8 bales which is all that fit in the truck. The hay was loosely tied which we had to retie because it’s not as easily stacked and the chickens can scratch it apart. We need more straw so we will keep searching.

We’ve had a flock of six turkeys frequently visiting over the last couple weeks. The turkey with the longest “beard” was apparently wounded at some point because he limps. We called him Chester. We never intended to name the wildlife that visits our property, but it’s easier to refer to animals by name–Chester, Esmeralda, Bucky, Duke, Tulsi–rather than “the turkey that limps,” “the female turkey with a nest nearby,” “the little–or bigger–buck,” or “the squirrel with white at the tip of its tail.” We haven’t seen many turkeys on our property since we adopted Hannah Joy because she scared them away with her barking so I was very glad to see them. Others might disagree, but I think turkeys are very pretty: The pattern, textures, and shades of their brown feathers are beautiful. Here is a video of Chester displaying his beautiful plumage:

We’ve observed several different types of wild birds–doves, tufted titmouses, chickadees, crows–with young newly leaving their nests. We identify the young because there’s suddenly a flock of each kind flying overheard or visiting the feeders. Sometimes the young ones will rapidly flap their wings to beg their parents to feed them. Little birds often expect their parents to feed them for a few days after they leave the nest.

Our coffee machine died a week or so ago. I told EJ that it was a “Level 1 Coffee Emergency” but it actually wasn’t because we had another coffee machine in our pantry/storage room. We buy “like new” coffee machines at thrift stores for $5-$10 and always make sure we have an extra one on the shelf in case the current one dies. Our last few coffee machines have been Cuisinart, which is a good brand. Of course, they never come with their instructions so we have to figure them out through trial-and-error, but it usually doesn’t take too long. Our newest machine also has the ability to grind coffee beans–if we had any coffee beans to grind.

A few days ago our Internet provider called to inform us that they are installing fiber optic Internet for free with no increase in monthly payments. They asked us if we wanted it. Well, duh. Currently our wireless dish connects to privately owned towers that use “line of sight”–meaning that if trees grow up and interfere with the “line of sight” between our dish and the tower, our connection will be bad. I think there are around five privately owned towers between us and the provider, which makes it worse. We figure it would cost us about $1,000 to pay for fiber optics installation because our driveway is so long. So, yeah, we want it. For free. Fiber optics will be faster and more secure. Yay!

The woman we talked to on the phone from the Internet provider told us a two-foot deep trench (done by machine) would be dug from our house to the connection point (or whatever you call it) at the road. I wondered exactly what route up to the house the trench would take. I wouldn’t want it to be on the east side of the driveway where we released the beetles to eat the toxic leafy spurge plants spreading over our property. I hoped they wouldn’t be coming up the side of the driveway and destroy our erosion control efforts. A guy came on Thursday to walk and measure the route with us. The route he chose was the one I thought would be best, causing the least impact. So I’m relieved. Whew.

For several years we’ve struggled with our heat-pump heating system. The system draws heat/coolness from the earth to heat or cool our house. When the temperature drops below a certain point, it switches to auxiliary heat, which uses propane. In the winter, our heat-pump worked fine but when the system switched to auxiliary heat, it never heated the house. In fact, if we set the thermostat to 68 degrees, it would drop to 65, 63, 58. Last winter we used portable propane heaters to supplement our heat. In the summer, the AC worked briefly and then didn’t so we put in a window AC. We’ve always called the company who originally installed the system to make repairs. However, every time they came out to repair our system, it cost us a lot of money and the repairs only lasted for a season or so. Disgusted, we finally decided to switch to a different company. I was dreading expensive repairs, but dreading even more trying to make it through another winter with inadequate heat. I figure it’s best to just brace for the worse and get it over again so we put aside some money and EJ called the new company this last week.

The repairman came yesterday evening to look at our heating system. Although EJ has faithfully changed the filter every year, the guy said there was a second filter that EJ had been unaware of and hadn’t changed. Also, the coolant in the AC unit was low. Also, caps had been left off in a couple places. (Caps to what? I do not know.) He also tightened up the bolts/screws on the AC unit that the previous repair company had replaced a few years ago. The unit rattled even when new. What I want to know is why the previous company never noticed, checked, or informed us of the second filter? Surely they could have seen it hadn’t been replaced. And why hadn’t they put in enough coolant? And why did they leave the caps off? And why hadn’t they tightened up the bolts when they put in the new AC unit? I’m glad we are rid of that other company. EJ said this new guy explained everything he was doing to him. He seems more competent and I have more confidence that we will be warm this winter.

Unlike our previous furnace company, these repairs cost us very little. Whew! It’s such a relief. Now we can start saving for a new secondhand truck. Because the furnace repairs didn’t cost as much as we feared they would, we start off with a little more than expected in our truck fund. We are in a race to get a new truck before our current truck falls apart.