Day Zero: Colorado FTW

Posting pictures of the bathroom did not happen this weekend. We had a house guest, a potential dog for adoption. She didn’t work out.

However, I’ve been giving some thought to starting a new Day Zero list focusing on Colorado. I live here now (3+ years actually) and I’d like to do more toward feeling like I have a greater connection to my new home state. I want to take a deliberate and intentional approach to things and not look back in 20 years or so and think of all the things I haven’t done. That’s a little too deep.

I’d also like to do more blog posts of substance, but maybe tomorrow.

All of this introspective belly button gazing has to do with two things:

1. I’m getting old again next Sunday.
2. Our neighbor across the street died Friday night.

It has taken me all weekend to be affected by his death. We made banana nut muffins for his widow this morning and when out running errands today I found myself just driving aimlessly. John was a very kind man, a veteran and a cancer survivor. I don’t have anything else to say.

~*La

Weather We Like It Or Not

This state is truly remarkable.

Yesterday, 88 mph winds tore the siding off of our garage. Today, it’s snowing.

Maybe the siding removal means we’ll get to pick out a new color for our house!

~*La!

DIY demi-Diva

Colorado really is remarkable when it comes to judging snow. In the high country, any amount can add up to good powder. For the rest of us on the plains it’s hit or miss as to whether or not the weather will be nuisance or a serene blanket of white.

Turns out, between 10 to 20 inches of snow counts as a snow day for our school district. Anything less than that and you just shift into 4 Wheel Drive and call it good.

It’s my first official snow day as a district employee and after sleeping in for an extra hour I decided to tackle the problem of our house’s outdated heating and insulation problem. See, I went home to Virginia last weekend and my dad suggested this really neat way to block out unwanted wind down the chimney when you don’t use the fireplace: foam board, duct tape and a hanger. It sounded like a McGuyver solution to drafts and thus I decided that it was the best idea ever for combating the chill in our basement, Ravenholm.

We have two fireplaces and do not use either one. There’s multiple reasons. We’ll go into those later. Right now I wanted to be a DIY Diva and get ‘r done. I even took pictures so that I could detail the process and triumphantly describe the project on the blog.

Except, not so much.

A custom-fit foam board insert to cover the opening makes great sense in theory and in application for my parent’s fireplace. For ours though, the existing glass doors got in the way and without my pirate project buddy (who is working from home today so I do my best not to pester him) it did not end well.

Meh.

I guess I’m more of a DIY demi-diva. Before I can claim full diva status I need to complete some more quests. For now I’ll just cover the windows in Ravenholm with the plastic shrink wrap and toss on another layer. So this is me, learning to be a Colorado home owner one season at a time.

~*La!