Another visitor

Kevin's dad (a.k.a. Pepere) came out to visit us in the middle of August. I was really bad about taking pictures while any of our visitors were with us but I think his was the worst. Kevin didn't let him sit around the house because he had a really big project to get completed - installing a wood burning furnace for the house. We were able to get it into the basement - with the help of our newest neighbor - and Kevin bought most of the stuff they would need for the duct work and installation so that he would be ready when his dad arrived. One of the big jobs that the kids helped with before Pepere arrived was digging a hole in the ground in the basement so that the furnace would fit with enough clearance for the duct work. It wasn't dirt so much as it was clay so Kevin would break it up so the kids could then shovel it into buckets that Kevin would haul out when they were full. While they were doing that Kevin was able to work on other stuff.

Once Pepere arrive they set to work figuring things out, buying more stuff and it all went rather well. They got the duct work done, put the pipe in the chimney, and even fired it up to see if it all worked the way they thought it would. Here's the finished project because I don't have anything in between.

There's some of the new, insulated ductwork that takes the heat all over our house.

Here's the chimney. They put in a new black pipe for the wood furnace, which has a 6 inch pipe all the way up the chimney. The exhaust for the gas furnace is the top pipe and uses the extra space in the chimney. Nice masonry work.

Here's some of the wood we bought to fuel the furnace. You can see there is more in the background. The wood will encircle the garden except for a portion that will allow access so that we can let the chickens forage and clean it up, and add fertilizer for the garden to use next year. Kevin and the kids worked really hard to move the wood

We are glad that it is done because it was cold today so Kevin fired it up and the house has been toasty warm all day. It's "wicked awesome" according to Kevin.