My $70 a Month Heat Bill

 Everyone always wants to know how we can have a $70 a month heat bill in the dead of an Iowan winter - in a 1905 Victorian house - well this is how we do it.  NOTE the house is 1105 square feet.

We keep the house at 65F during the day and 58F at night or when we are not home. Caulk around the outsides of every window, door, etc. and do this every few years, oh and LOTS of insulation! We use mortite on the inside for the windows, the windows are original except for two modern windows and it's the modern windows that leak like a sieve. 

Winter 2010

Make sure to change those furnace filters too.  Another tip is to put insulation behind outlets and switches that are on outside walls, these are also major draft stoppers.  Repair any storm windows with new spline and the fuzzy insulating stuff every 10 years or so.

It also helps that we are on budget billing, and the gas company keeps bugging us to pay the new rate which is $59 a month but John keeps refusing.  November is our reconciliation month, and by paying the $70 a month we don't get a "suprise" spike in our heat bill.

edited to add:  The orignal builder insulated the house and big time, way back in 1905, he filled it with woolrock from the basement all the way out the attic rafters.  We're thinking he didn't like being cold. The house maintains and beautifully, it's been 65F in here for two weeks now.

Rivers and Trees

Getting ready for my upcoming solo show at the Grimes Farm Conservation Center, Marshalltown, IA.  I will be showing my Ghost Trees Series and my Blood River Canyon Series.

Paint Update 103011

Caulking around the windows.

The Scaffold Shuffle

The top two towers have been removed, so we can paint the area between the windows

Setting up another four stage tower, I'm too tired to explain it I'll take pictures tomorrow.

Paint Update 102511

Now with some color!

oak leaf vats

It's time to start thinking about putting these oak leaf and acorn vats away for the winter.

Paint Update 102411

working one section at a time, slowly but surely the painting is getting done.

Paint Layer No. 1

In progress new deep face frames for my artwork.

It's Orange

New garden tub, soon to be filled with weeds, leaves, and other compostable yummies.

New Frames - In Progress

John set up some stations for me, with lots of clamps, so that I could sand the frames and quickly.  Tomorrow they will be painted, right now he's sanding them with 220 grit paper for the final finish, I sanded them earlier with 120 grit.

11x14x2.75 inches each
Poplar

Mark Making with Nature DVD

Just a few copies of Mark Making with Nature DVD left.

Getting Plastered!

Am streaming live tonight at 9pm Central - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/plastered-and-waxed  Plaster, Earth Pigments, and if I have some time will add some wax to some of the pieces.  Come on by and chat a bit while I experiment in my studio!

Book Sale

As I finalize my new studio space, aka the former living room in our house, I am unpacking the last of the boxes.  In those boxes are left over books from my retail shop I closed a few years back.  Over the next few days I'll be listing these books for sale on a new page I created here on my blog, see the "Products" tab.  I also have a few knitting needles left and I plan to package those up into lots and sell them by the lot.

If I can get it all figured out I'll be adding PP buttons!!!

Solo Show Hung

Hung my solo show in the "Ding Darling" Gallery at the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge Center today.  It looks great, there will be info sheets hanging between the large panels.  It took us, Doreen and I, an hour to hang these panels.

I can see I need to work on my hanging mechanisms, it's picture wire on the back but for some reason they really lean forward.

Neutralizing Rust Dyed Fabrics and Fibers

I'm in the process or updating my rust dyeing information - the part about neutralizing. Substitute out Baking Soda for the salt!!! I thought I had done this about six years ago, but apparently forgot to do so. So use 1-2 tablespoons of Baking Soda per gallon of water and upwards of a quarter cup of baking soda to 4 gallons of water.

Knowledge and Sharing

Knowledge is for sharing but remember some of us work VERY hard to provide this information so please give credit where credit is due!

Fields Series Solo Show

Spring

Summer No. 1 and No. 2

My "Fields" series was accepted by the staff at the Neal Smith Wildlife Refuge, in Prairie City, IA, to hang from October 1 through the end of November. I cannot wait to see all 22 pieces hanging again!!!

Peter Irniq Installing Inuksuk

City Employees drilling holes into the stones so that large screws and rods can be inserted into the stones.

The Artist

Peter Irniq Installing Inuksuk at Brookside Park, Ames, Iowa.  Peter will be giving a talk tonight at the Ames Public Library. You can read more about the project here.

Let there be Paint!

Painting Update 092411

Scraped and being primed.

And now some paint.  The scaffolding and ladder stages will have to be moved so that he can get the edges of the bump out section.

Bug Eyed!

Praying Mantis at the Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge.

Hello There!

Porch Progress 092111

From this to:

This! 

Now to finish stripping and painting the porch soffit.  I've sanded and primed the hand rails, they will recieve their first coat of black paint tomorrow!  John has the trim to finish on two columns to the right, and then it's the big project taking the railings off of the porch, dismantel them, scrape, sand, prime, and paint the parts, put them back together and re-install.  Somewhere in this I will be winterizing my gardens.

Cleaning up the Trim

Or let there be heat guns, John is using a heat gun and a custom made paint scraper to remove old paint from the trim under the soffit.

West Side Update 092111

The look, what are you doing?  And what do you mean you want me to wash the windows while I'm up here???

Small area to be scraped, sanded, primed, and then painted.  Then I think he said he was going to repaint the entire west side since the rest of the painted area is now going on 10-11 years old.

Porch Update 092111

I hear the scaffolding is coming down later today, so I'll be able to start taking the railings off of the porch and work on them, and clean then paint the column bottoms.

Column Update 091911

Now taped off and getting all striped up!

Now with the tape removed!!! 

Getting closer.

Ghost Garden

John says it looks like I'm getting ready for Halloween, NOT, I'm just trying to keep my cukes from freezing.

Tomato garden, under cover to protect my maters of course.

Under the fabric, gobs of green maters!!!

Column Update 091611

Getting closer to completion with the columns, the cold weather has slowed us down and big time.  John has this coming week off from work so we're hoping to finish the entire soffit and also finish painting the west side of the house.  Looks like winter is coming early this year.

One more color, the sorjourner blue, needs to be applied and then second coats, touch ups, and we're done.

Everyone keeps asking me if we're going to paint the trims at the bottoms of the columns. Of course, the color patterning will be the inverse of the top, with everything sitting atop a ruby red base.