Jane Weeks

I'm late to the game on this topic, but it's very timely for me in that I'm looking into getting an air source heat pump installed in my old (1855) small house. Both the federal and the provincial governments are offering grants of up to $10,000. I couldn't understand how they work, either, so I've visited one family to learn about their system, and I'm visiting another later today. I'm in climate area 5B, southern Ontario, so cold winters and hot summers.

Two other people around here who have heat pumps are thrilled with theirs and coincidentally both said that they spent only $200 on propane last winter. The kicker seems to be the electricity cost. This house is oil heated now, so I could use the current ducts in the cellar and ground floor, but there are no ducts or heat upstairs and no air conditioning at all. I imagine I'll get a mini-split in the small two-room upstairs. The person I've visited said that the only thing he'd do differently now is to have a one-to-one system, rather than the three-to-one ductless system he has.

I have a wood stove (replaced my old one a few years ago and wish I hadn't as it worked much better than the new one), but I doubt they'd permit that as the back-up heat source. We'll see. My fingers are crossed hoping that this will all work out.

I just ordered this book from Abe Books -- won't arrive until Nov 30, but $10 cheaper than Amazon.

I love rag rugs! I have one in the bathroom with a matching toilet seat cover. I make mine with old sheets from thrift stores. You're doing great...you'll love it when it's done.

I'm going to remove some of my gutters this spring. I have a wrap-around verandah around three sides of the house, so it protects much of the foundation from rain off the roof. The property slopes down from the house. The eavetroughs aren't properly graded with downspouts in the proper places, so I get rain pouring out of the gutters right by the front door, among other problems. I think I'm going to make a short one, maybe eight feet long, on the verandah roof in front of the door, slightly graded to one downspout. Same with the side-back doors. No more cleaning gutters!

I planted six seeds a few days ago in one gallon pots. I bought them from Foraged Farmed Fresh. He has a facebook page and he's a member of Ontario native plant gardening fb group.

Spinning wheel. Mac desktop using Firefox. Canada.

i recently heard what I think is a great help: If the item were stolen, lost in a fire or whatever, would you replace it?

Marie Kondo has been an enormous help to me in getting rid of so much stuff! I went through most of the categories three years ago, and am only now getting to the cellar. This is an old house (built 1855) with ever-evolving outdoor systems and gardens, so I have loads of stuff, from lumber to hardware that may or may not be useful as time goes by. I've been so glad that I didn't re-home various bits and pieces that came in handy for repairing something. I'm glad that I waited this long to tackle that, but now that I'm fully retired, it's time. I made a blog post back when I first used the method: https://www.smallbones.ca/winter-rambling/

i'm about an hour and a half east of Toronto. We've already had two major snowstorms here and temps well below zero centigrade. I was going to attach a pic, but can't see how to do that.

The book is on my Amazon wish list; may get a second one for my son. $24 on amazon.ca.