Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Flirting with burnout?

On the surface, it really seems like I’ve been flirting with burnout. The Critical ToDo list only seems to get longer. Both my wife and I knew moving into this house was going to involve some serious time commitments. Here’s my current work list for the farmhouse:

-Build new exterior walls, just inside present walls
-New gutters and downspouts, along with drainage system
-All new wiring, including 2nd breaker panel and transfer switch
-Install Co-generation system, which I have to custom build
-Build and install insulated 5,000 gallon water tank in basement to store heat as part of co-gen system
-Install wood stove and insulated chimney, which goes through the first floor ceiling, the second floor ceiling and the roof
-Add fill dirt and re-grade around house to provide positive drainage away from house
-Plaster fieldstone basement walls with high strength, latex modified, fiber reinforced cement
-Cut, split, and stack firewood for this winter (very soon, has to properly season)
-Fix garage doors so we can actually park something in there
-Build some sort of temporary or permanent outbuilding to shelter the tractor and “new” Mercedes this winter
-Install 2 new exterior doors
-Fix and/or replace the present propane boiler so we don’t freeze to death this winter
-Winterize tractor, Chinese antifreeze not so reliable and looks nasty
-Add block heater to tractor so I can actually push snow with it this winter
-All new supply plumbing and all new plumbing fixtures
-Add insulation to new exterior stud walls
-Drywall everything
-Make floors level
-Install radiant floor heating system and tear out old baseboard radiators
-And some other stuff, some of which I’m not even aware of yet.

Much of this stuff is time/weather sensitive, so I have been busy like crazy. Several 14 hour days in a row are not uncommon. There are times when I am tempted to think I have bitten off more than I can chew. My regular job consumes 50 hours per week. I’m still remodeling the previous house so we can sell it and not run into cash flow problems. I still pick up used fryer oil from two restaurants that I use for my biodiesel.

I should be biting my fingernails right off. I should be sleeping poorly, I should be very highly stressed right now, what ever that means. Something...

I’m not.

This house feels right. That’s sort of a secular way of saying we believe we are being obedient to the will of God in making this move. Divining the will of God in a specific/personal way is a delicate business, but we think we are on the right track. If God wants me to do this, and I hold up my (almost insignificant) end of the deal, He will give me whatever resources, whatever time, whatever energy, whatever strength, whatever anything is necessary to get the job done. If God is for us, who can be against us?

Git 'er done.

troy

4 comments:

Julie said...

Hi! I linked to your site from my cousin David's site. I'm thrilled to see that you have a "new" Mercedes that runs on biodeisel. My husband and I runs SVO in our vehicles. I'm sure he will be thrilled to know that there is yet another man out there working 14 hour days, trying to make the house fit, and making time to run out for that waste fry oil! Keep up the good work.

troy and christina said...

And most days, it's even fun!

The "new" mercedes is a 1979 300D.

troy

Denis said...

I heat my home with a Tulikivi masonry heater. This combined with spray foam insulation in a 1950 story and a half has practically eliminated our heating bill. The Tulikivi is a beautiful piece of furniture as well. I also have solar hot water and eventually will have a grid tie system as well.

Denis said...
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