Author Archives: ellen
A Sunday in Wuppertal
Dave noticed a site in Germany on Atlas Obscura, a website devoted to unusual places and experiences. Wurppertal features a hanging suspension train that was not too far away from Wurselen by trains. Clare researched the route and we decided … Continue reading
New Home in Germany
We were home from Indiana for a week and then off to Wurselen, Germany to visit our daughter and family. They purchased a new home last fall but had a long wait until the sale was completed. It is not … Continue reading
The ”Region”
I was born in Chicago but grew up in Northern Indiana near the steel mills and oil refineries. The area was known as the Calumet region (near the Little Calumet River) and shortened to the ”Region” in the rest of … Continue reading
Indiana Hot
We had a lovely time visiting Indiana for three weeks and timed it perfectly for some very hot and humid weather. We drove the RV and stayed with friends and visited others first in Spencer. We were able to camp … Continue reading
Difficult Offset Toilet Drain Repair
When we decided to insulate the knee wall on the east side of the remodel the toilet drain ended up too close to the wall. Unfortunately the type of offset fitting I bought was a ”bowl” type instead of an … Continue reading
Mending Chair Seats
Kids can be inadvertently destructive. My grandson jumped hard on the Old Hickory antique couch and one section of the underlying webbing broke. Some of the other webbing was already damaged. I emailed the Old Hickory factory to ask how … Continue reading
Tesla Solar Roof Data September-June
The solar roof was installed at the end of last August so its first month of production was September, 2021. The solar performed well in September but after the equinox production dropped dramatically. Energy sent to the grid dropped to … Continue reading
Net Zero Home Energy Rating (HERS)
What is a HERS score? An organization of mortgage lenders was formed in the 80’s to study the value of home energy efficiency. Their efforts became RESNET in 1995. They were hoping to add value to homes that would save … Continue reading
RV AC
The last time we camped the air conditioner would not start. It moaned a bit but didn’t kick in. A complication to the air conditioner breakdown is that I bought repair insurance for the first year of ownership because I … Continue reading
LEED Platinum!
I got confirmation today from our evaluator at Energy Logic who emailed that the USGBC has agreed with their evaluation and will award our house the Platinum LEED level! This is an exciting end to our quest for LEED certification. … Continue reading
Front Trombe Wall Trim
I put up the rest of the logs for the front window trim. I noticed some of the pvc lattice trim tends to bow in the heat so I just shot several more nails into it to hold it down. … Continue reading
Closet Shelves
The family room closet has been used as a catch all with no organization or room for storage. I have an urgent need for more storage in that room so I checked off one of my summer to do list … Continue reading
Spa Trouble
Every couple of years there is a major expensive problem with the exercise spa. And another chance for me to make mistakes. I was happy to finally get the new spa cover and we unpacked it and installed it. Dave … Continue reading
New Spa Cover
Five years ago at the 2017 ASES Conference in Boulder, I heard a presentation about a new type of spa cover. The company, Modern Spa Covers, manufactures the covers in my own town of Arvada. I was determined to buy … Continue reading
Camping with Grandkids
The kids are going to Korea for most of the summer to visit their aunt and other friends. We are hoping they become more fluent in Korean because they will be immersed. But before they leave we took them for … Continue reading
Energy Logic HERS Rating Below Net Zero!
Our Energy Logic rater and project lead finished the final report on our LEED project. I had to log in to USGBC to pay the certification fee. Again nothing is easy and the first several times I submitted my credit … Continue reading
Plan for the Summer
We are taking the grandkids camping this week but then the family is leaving town for the rest of the summer. That gives us some unbroken time to do some finish work on the house. I have not made a … Continue reading
An Induction Cooktop
We wete not using the griddle side of the gas cooktop. It was difficult to heat up and the flame tended to go out because the downdraft fan came on high automatically and pulled at the flame. It just became … Continue reading
Last Push before LEED Rating
We returned from our camping trip late Tuesday and I had about two days to finish several projects for the LEED final rating appointment on Friday. It was not easy to prioritize. I found an article that mentioned the 10 … Continue reading
Birthday Camping
We had a nice vacation taking the grandkids camping at Boyd Lake for my birthday! I had a few things to do on the RV to get ready. Much of the clean up of the mud room was undone when … Continue reading