It's a recurring topic of conversation at Dinner: how cold is it going to get this winter? Because we remember last winter, when you knew it was time to go home when you needed to pee and you were shivering.
The large room we meet in isn't insulated at all, as far as we can tell, and any help we get from the ceiling tiles is undone the first time a raccoon in the space between the roof and the ceiling steps on one. The tiles pop out and the heat goes bye-bye.
The double glass doors have broken retractors and stay open by default. The basement is unheated and all we've got working against the winter is a set of old, some broken, electric baseboard heaters mounted on the wall, some under leaky windows.
We started talking a month or so ago about approaching the power company about whatever plans they have available to help pay for improvements that would cut down on electricity usage, but the management wouldn't go for it. There is a real fear that if we start making noise, "they'll shut the place down".
So we're seeing what we can do. CL has gone to the hardware store and done some research and come back with very large tarps that one of the guys has hung from the ceiling frame, cutting the room in half. Makes the place cozier and also, it seems, warmer. On both sides of the divider, which seems strange to me, but who's complaining?
Next job is to go into the basement and cannibalize the bits of insulation that are down there, stuff them into plastic bags to keep them from getting wet when the roof leaks and use them to fill the empty space above the bar. That done, we're putting up a wall of chip board and scrap lumber taken from the mattresses that were in the pool some of which have been disassembled to make them easier to dispose of.
One of the set of double glass doors closes better than the other, so we're bolting shut the bad ones and starting to use the good ones. It will still mean hollering at the absent minded to shut the door, but it's an improvement.
CL also found some shrinkwrap for a few of the worst windows. Some probably just need to be pushed shut from outside, but some are a bit warped and need to be sealed for the season.
It's really cool to see everybody working together to get this done. It's a hopeful thing to be taking ownership of this space we call home and to know that if we can make it more liveable, it can be used for other purposes.
Like JG, our resident Dental Hygienist. She's been wanting to put her skills to service and this week she was sitting after Dinner with a new client taking down the information she needs to get started. Dental issues are huge with the low income and having her on the team is a wonderful gift.
We also had time to sit and catch up with H, the artist. A couple of weeks ago he'd taken suddenly and catastrophically ill and been admitted to the hospital, diagnosed, then sent home to wait for surgery the next week. He's home and recovering now, still the same cynical, irrepressible, lovely lunatic he's always been. It was good to see him trying not to laugh because it hurts.
Next week a Baptist church in town has offered to provide a pasta feast, and the week after that it's the Anglican crew, so we've got two weeks off from cooking.
All good.
r
The large room we meet in isn't insulated at all, as far as we can tell, and any help we get from the ceiling tiles is undone the first time a raccoon in the space between the roof and the ceiling steps on one. The tiles pop out and the heat goes bye-bye.
The double glass doors have broken retractors and stay open by default. The basement is unheated and all we've got working against the winter is a set of old, some broken, electric baseboard heaters mounted on the wall, some under leaky windows.
We started talking a month or so ago about approaching the power company about whatever plans they have available to help pay for improvements that would cut down on electricity usage, but the management wouldn't go for it. There is a real fear that if we start making noise, "they'll shut the place down".
So we're seeing what we can do. CL has gone to the hardware store and done some research and come back with very large tarps that one of the guys has hung from the ceiling frame, cutting the room in half. Makes the place cozier and also, it seems, warmer. On both sides of the divider, which seems strange to me, but who's complaining?
Next job is to go into the basement and cannibalize the bits of insulation that are down there, stuff them into plastic bags to keep them from getting wet when the roof leaks and use them to fill the empty space above the bar. That done, we're putting up a wall of chip board and scrap lumber taken from the mattresses that were in the pool some of which have been disassembled to make them easier to dispose of.
One of the set of double glass doors closes better than the other, so we're bolting shut the bad ones and starting to use the good ones. It will still mean hollering at the absent minded to shut the door, but it's an improvement.
CL also found some shrinkwrap for a few of the worst windows. Some probably just need to be pushed shut from outside, but some are a bit warped and need to be sealed for the season.
It's really cool to see everybody working together to get this done. It's a hopeful thing to be taking ownership of this space we call home and to know that if we can make it more liveable, it can be used for other purposes.
Like JG, our resident Dental Hygienist. She's been wanting to put her skills to service and this week she was sitting after Dinner with a new client taking down the information she needs to get started. Dental issues are huge with the low income and having her on the team is a wonderful gift.
We also had time to sit and catch up with H, the artist. A couple of weeks ago he'd taken suddenly and catastrophically ill and been admitted to the hospital, diagnosed, then sent home to wait for surgery the next week. He's home and recovering now, still the same cynical, irrepressible, lovely lunatic he's always been. It was good to see him trying not to laugh because it hurts.
Next week a Baptist church in town has offered to provide a pasta feast, and the week after that it's the Anglican crew, so we've got two weeks off from cooking.
All good.
r
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