About all I did yesterday was cook breakfast. Well, that and laundry. And run the dishwasher -- "background" tasks.
Saturday, I cleaned the gutters. This requires a lot of ladder-moving. I used to climb up and do them from above, but the steep pitch of Roseholme Cottage's roof has always made that chancy; as the years go on and my balance has become worse (especially once the leaf-litter from the gutters starts getting my allergies riled up!), it's a better idea to do all the work from a ladder instead of leaning over the edge of the roof.
It's a lot of work and after circumnavigating the house Saturday, followed by a little raking and stacking up fallen wood, I remarked to Tamara (herself busy mowing the yard) that there was probably going to be a price to be paid.
There was. Sunday, I slopped around the house in nightgown and robe, doing small tasks and resting a lot. Still -- I got nearly all my laundry done!
BUILDING A 1:1 BALUN
4 years ago
3 comments:
Ms. X:
Our house is a 1901-built farmhouse smack in the middle of Minneapolis (it was built before the area was platted by the city on 160 acres, according to the abstract) and is 2-stories tall. Well, technically a 1-1/2 story since the upstairs rooms have.part of the roof share the ceiling. And it was built with a 12/12 (45-degree) pitch on the roof.
I usually have to wrestle an extension ladder around the perimeter of the house 5 or 6 times a year to keep the gutters and downspouts clean. I drag a hose up with me to flush them out, too, since they fill up with maple seeds and other crud.
I had a bout of viral-induced vestibular neuritis this spring; the resulting balance issues meant that I failed to clean them until about a week ago. They were overflowing each time it rained and that would have eventually end up coming through the basement walls if I didn't take care of it. I also had a row of small maple trees growing from the nice mulch in the south gutter.
Up and down the ladder, move it, lather, rinse, repeat. It took me two hours, and I'm swearing that the next (hopefully, last) house we buy is going to be a one story rambler. At age 61 (coming up fast on 62) this is just getting to be too much. Fortunately I didn't have any balance issues while up there, but everything hurt the next day.
And I'll have to do it at least once more (probably twice) when the leaves start coming down.
Yay, house maintenance.
Have you tried something like an N-95 mask when cleaning the gutters? Don't know if they will block all of the allergens, but it might help.
I hear you on things getting harder the longer you're here. No longer allowed up on ladders. Fortunately neighbor's soon took care of that chore this year.
How far off the ground are the gutters? I got tired of the ladder thing, too, and had an extra pair of rigid 2 1/2" shop vac extensions (much lighter than schedule 40 PVC), so I stuck 3 together, jammed a threaded 90 degree PVC elbow on the end (that length of extension is now dedicated to the gutters...) and duct-taped the other end to the gas blower output. The PVC elbow rides on the gutter edge and the air velocity is more than enough to blow loose stuff out of the gutter. Still a PITA, but much easier than ladder wrestling.
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