Mud, Sugaring, Projects around the house

Saturday Bill decided he didn't want to get dirty sanding the woodwork 

in the living room.  We went to the Falls to Plants for Pleasure and

when we returned found that Dad had done the project that Bill was itching to 

do (it involved using the Bobcat).  So he walked into the library and tried to open

the damper to the fireplace.  It was jammed shut with bricks and desbris from

the rebuilding of the chimney years ago.

Well, he got some bug in his brain and worked on this for over 3 hours making more 

of a mess than I've seen in quite a while but now we have another fireplace that's working.

The damper on this fireplace is interesting because it opens and shuts much like a 

damper on a wood stove so at night you don't have to leave your damper wide open, you can 

shut it with the slots open.

Sunday morning Bill left to help Russell tap his trees.  It was a beautiful

day for it - and you know it's time.

While he was gone I worked on scraping off the paint where I'd applied

the stripper the night before.

The only thing this stripper is doing is taking off the latex so far. The lead

paint underneath is far more stubborn.

Being the impatient sort that I am I donned the dreaded respirater 

and went at the other end with the orbital sander.  I figure I'll attack the 

flat surfaces with that and just do the detail with the stripper, otherwise I will be 

stripping this thing until July.

Ahhh, the place is soooo attractive this time of the year.  It's warm but 

you can't walk much of anywhere because the snow is too deep and soft.

Here are the current snow levels.  I got back to Enfield last night and 

there wasn't any snow at all (and my daffodils were poking through the 

ground).  Sometimes it amazes me that there is such a huge difference.