... please to make sure it's been disconnected from the house first.

Okay, actually I don't think they used the backhoe until later, but pulling off the gas meter involved flexing the cast iron line that runs through the basement (at least, I think it's cast iron, but it certainly flexed more than I really think of cast iron as being able to flex) ( Read more... )

Just got a Dear Kansas Gas Service Customer notice from the front door, letting us know they're going to put in a new gas main in the neighborhood. Via the "directional drilling" method - i.e. no trench. Which has a complication:
"If your sewer line backs up, you should NOT have the sewer line cleaned until after you contact [installing contractor] ( Read more... )

You may recall The Stupid House, which was actually a church-turned-daycare up in Hesston. Well, there's one in Newton now. It's not nearly as Stupid, but also doesn't have quite the character (no bell tower, and Depression-era construction, with some of the trim painted and some left original... does still have the stained glass, though, and ( Read more... )

We spent this morning working on the outside of the house, including finally cutting down the evergreen weed. ( It's been there awhile. )

• While as
  ( Read more... )

I think we're going to give up on the strawbale house idea.

But that's because we've discovered papercrete (via the lo cal recycling center).

I'm thinking the ideal situation, at this point, is finding a property with a little house, or a mobile home, that we can live in while we build a strawbale/papercrete garage/workshop (to learn with) and then a ( Read more... )

You may recall we looked at a former church that became known as The Stupid House (from my mother's semi-incoherent reaction to it), and I mentioned the idea (among others) that we should buy it, live in the basement and turn the upstairs into an antique/craft store (
( Read more... )

And no, the tornado wasn't anywhere near us. About a hundred miles due west.

But this is why a basement is a non-negotiable feature when we're house-shopping.

No snowmen involved, just a team of guys destroying our roof. They're taking advantage of a window (we hope!) in two otherwise-solid weeks of rain, which started when they performed the rain-dance of bringing out the supplies ( Read more... )

Last Tuesday was not only our fifteenth wedding anniversary, but the first anniversary of YA Kansas Hailstorm, the one which took out our roof ( Read more... )