Just thinking about how baits and lures will eat up metal jar lids, that would be tough on a thermostat. Delicate little instrument.

It's been over 20 years since I first got a wall mounted gas heater, I'm on my 3rd one now. The tiles cracked on the first 2, the one I have now is the "blue flame" type. The pilot light has that safety feature, where if it goes out, it'll kill the gas supply. The fireplace thing up at King's is the same. Every now and then, a feller needs to blow the dust out of the workings or it'll shut down.

The first time it happened here at the house, I didn't know what was wrong.

Talking about heat, a couple years ago my sister Barb bought me an "electric mattress pad" for Christmas. It's almost like an electric blanket, but this thing goes under your bottom sheet. It works pretty good. I usually plug it in, 15 minutes before I go to bed, it'll be comfortable. I always unplug it before I go to sleep.

If it's chilly outside, it takes several hours to warm up the house, with just that one little stove.

Not to derail the topic but...

Thirty years ago there was a fellow who got into the lure business, buying the formulas from a retiring lure maker. He worked up all his first batches of lure using metal five gallon buckets. Quote: "That was an expensive lesson."

I can imagine!

When I think about the old house, there are so many things that come to mind. I'll tell you this from several years ago, I'm sure some of you will be able to relate to the message. You guys have heard me mention my buddy Big Donnie, or Big D. before. Donnie and I have been best friends since we were kids.

This was back in the very early stages of the Old Shack project. Donnie asked me if he could go up there squirrel hunting one day, I told him to help himself. I told him that Greg and Josh had their equipment up there, and the 3 of us would be working on the road. I remember that I was driving our dumptruck, and was going to spend the night. I told Donnie that he was welcome to stop by for supper, and spend the night at the old house. He did.

As Wardney would say from time to time, "We'll get Ernest on the job tomorrow." We did get earnest on the job, we were making steady headway, day after day.

Fast forward to the fall of 2014. Donnie and his girlfriend Lisa came to me and said that they were going to get hitched and asked me to be in their wedding. I didn't know Lisa that well, but I couldn't turn them down. Nothing was set in stone, but they were planning to get married in about 4 months. Donnie was a nervous wreck! He was worried sick about every little detail. Anyway, for about 4 months they were trying to find the "perfect" getaway for their honeymoon.

D and I were talking one day, I told him then that he and Lisa were welcome to stay up at the King's place. Donnie thought that I was joking about it. He said that he didn't think it would be appropriate for their honeymoon. I told him then, we'd done a helluva lot of work to the place since he'd been inside. The house was finished, and it looked good.

Anyway, Donnie and Lisa located some outfit in New York state that catered to freshly married couples. They showed me the brochure, with the prices. I thought damn!

Remember a while back we had the little "painting party"? Donnie came up and helped paint most of the day, I guess he never went inside the house?

A while back Donnie was here farting around, I had a couple hours to kill, so I took him up to the house, just to check on things. Donnie was checking it all out. I kicked on the fireplace thing, and told him to run on upstairs and look the place over. Donnie was amazed! I guess it was almost like watching a kid grow up, if you don't see him/her for 2 or 3 years, that's a dramatic change!

Long story short, Donnie must have told Lisa about the house. Lisa stopped by just a week or so ago, and asked if they could spend a weekend up there, just to get away. I have a pretty good idea of what they paid for their vacation in New York, 2 years ago. I know first hand, they could use that money today.

We can start another thread, but just my opinion, some folks are silly about stuff like that. Go out and blow a bunch of money for a 1 week vacation.

Up at the King's place, they could have taken their dogs, cut them in the wind, and only be 20 minutes from town. And it wouldn't have cost them a cent.

I'll add a little more about the Old Shack.

One of the first things that I noticed about the old shack, that I don't like, there's not a good reading light in the house. I found an old floor lamp that works fair.

I'll tell you this while I'm thinking about it. This was back early in the project, my bud Moe went up one evening to night fish, and I was going to meet him there after work. I remember he brought up a pack of deer loin that he'd marinated, it's pretty good stuff!

Anyway, I cooked it on the gas grill, and had planned to eat on the front porch. The bugs ran us inside, we were sitting there eating and talking. Moe asked me if I'd ever thought about having a phone line installed. He went on and on about all of the benefits, how I could have a dialup line for the computer and all. He farts around on the computer more than I do.

You see, at the house there is no cell phone service, there's no TV signal, and it's kind of difficult to pick up decent radio station. Anyway, Moe was still trying to convince me that I needed a phone line. I told him that I'd thought about it, I said you know, I like it the way it is. Moe thought about what I said for a little while and said: True!

Folks here in town have a list of contacts, they can get in touch with, that will relay a message in an emergency. Knock on wood, so far, we've never had an emergency.

I'll add more later.

Well, I got the electric bill the other day, it was $8.99 for the past month.

I mentioned in the original thread that I don't have enough heat in the old house. If it's cold and windy, that little fireplace thing just can't keep up, if you open the doors 2 or 3 times. I looked at a 220 volt wall mounted heater last winter, seemed like it was doing a good job. It was a small little unit, maybe 12" x 15" x 8", something like that would be nice for in the kitchen. Or I could go with a wall mounted propane heater, I've been watching, I should be able to find one on sale before long.

One thing that I wanted to tell you, when the old house was about finished, there were 4 of us working on the job. Wardney, Mike, Big Mike and myself. The 4 of us were sitting on the front porch, we'd called it a day, sitting there with a cold one, just bs'n.

Little Mike started arguing with me about how much money I'd spent. I mentioned in the original thread that everything was bought on a budget, and it was. I've never really mentioned prices before. I guess the kitchen would be the most expensive room in the house, I'll tell you a little bit about it. My nephew was working for an outfit when they remodled an apartment building here in town, he got me the used cabinets for free. (He got me 2 used commodes too.) There is a place here in town that's pretty much went out of business, they sold me my counter top for $75, and even mounted my used kitchen sink, I found it for $25. I did buy a new refridgerator, it was on sale. An old guy here remodeled his kitchen, I bought his used gas cook stove for $50, it's just like new, I've got the paperwork and all. Two new windows and a door, plywood on the walls. So that'll give you an idea.

Anyway, Mike likes to argue. Wardney was sitting between us, taking it all in. Wardney said something like this: "I know that you've spent a little money, but as far as I'm concerned you haven't wasted a dollar. And what money you did spend, you'll get back in enjoyment." I agree with what he said, and that's where we are today. Big Mike was down on the other end of the porch, he agreed with Wardney too.

Thinking about it today, I wish that I'd have started the project 20 years ago.

Any of you guys have advice for extra heat?

My dad does exactly same thing at our deer camp in the UP. No electricity so we have a propane generator.

Since you have electricity, you could try a couple space heaters. Those pellets and corn heaters work well but would be a big investment.

Great stories. Fun to read.

Here at work I see and talk to a good many people every day, if I put the word out that I'm looking for something, they're pretty good about finding it for me. It might take a month or so, but they'll find it.

A while back a man came in with a small electric heater and a brand new rod and reel, (I wasn't looking for the fishing pole) I bought the pair for 20 bucks. The heater just plugs into an outlet, it's 750 watts on low, and 1,500 watts on high. I plugged it in here at work, seemed like it was doing a good job.

It should work good for the kitchen, or one of the rooms upstairs. Bad thing about it, that's going to make the electric meter spin, might run the bill up to $12 or $14 a month!

Back really early in the old house project, my brother's wife offered to give me an oil furnace, it's forced air. It's only been used 3 or 4 years, it's being stored in a shed on the farm now. They don't have a use for it, it's mine if I want it.

You see, there's no basement under the house, very little crawl space. The old chimneys in the house didn't have a liner, and weren't safe. Lucky that the old house didn't burn down years ago. I thought about going out from the house, 15 or 20 feet and building a little furnace room, and running the duct work underground to the corner room. Wouldn't be that much more trouble to add a heat vent in the kitchen floor.

I forget how many BTU's that furnace is rated for, but it would easily heat the entire house. I've mentioned it before, the electric service up there is kind of iffy. You can put a bag of ice in the freezer today, go back in 2 or 3 weeks, and you might just have a big clump of ice in the bag. The service is better today, than it was 5 years ago, but still kind of hit and miss.

With the propane fireplace thing, at least you're not going to freeze. Power on or off.

I've been neglecting this thread. I'll add a little more.

I've mentioned this before, one thing that I really like about the King's place is that it's just so quiet and peaceful. I've lived in town about all of my life, just nice to listen to nothing for a change. And when it gets dark, it's dark! Probably the biggest reasons that I sleep better up there.

In the original thread I mentioned whip-poor-wills, they are pretty much a common sound at night. Lots of nights, they will be the last sound that I hear at bedtime, and mostly they're still doing their thing when I wake up. I remember that one night, Moe said one was perched on the windowsill, beside his bed.

We've assigned names to the bedrooms now, Room 2-A is Moe's room. 2-B is the guest room, 2-C is my room.

Ms. Mable King, the last direct member of her family passed away 2 or 3 years ago. She'd been in a nursing home, she was 90 or so? A friend told me to never speak about anyone in the past tense, so, she is a sweet little lady.

I remember in the original thread, I said that the stairs were "steep and dangerous", you ought to try them wearing wool socks! If I'd have a Dollar for every time that I've told someone "Watch those damn steps", I could afford 2 or 3 more trail cams. I'm glad that we put up that handrail.

Remember the pictures of the front room, with the fireplace thing? I remember the day that I took Wardney to the hardware store and he picked out that bright/light-colored green paint. Wardney kept asking me, how do you like this color?, I'd been thinking something like this, etc. I told Wardney to pick out whatever color he wanted. (I was thinking to myself, that's about the shittiest combination of paint they've ever brewed.)

You know, that color fits that room perfectly. As of today, I've had 3 different people compliment the rooms color, and call it "cozy". I'll admit, I like it too.

That's one thing, I'm very easy to please. My daughter picked out the paint for the bathrooms. I had the other guys pick out the flooring for the bathroom, kitchen and the front room. I'm not one to fret over little dumb stuff.

So far we've only killed 2 copperheads and 1 rattlesnake, there at the house.

Remember from the original thread, after the dirt work I sowed clover and grass seed all around the house. The clover came up best, between the rabbits and deer, there's one swath of the yard that never needs to be mowed.

I remember one morning, I was up there alone, just before I got out of bed I could see this little buck deer standing out in the field, just feeding along. (I can see Wardney's illegal salt lick laying in bed.) I got up and went to the bathroom, I was standing there brushing my teeth, there were 3 more little buck deer standing in the clover patch. I mean right under the bathroom window. If the window would have been up, I could have spit toothpaste on 2 of them.

I remember a couple of times, I've been sitting in my easy chair, reading a magazine and see turkeys come down out of the woods. This past spring I was up there and heard 2 turkey gobblers behind the house. If I can hear them, they're pretty close. There is a Methodist church across the river, about a mile off, I can hear them ring their bell on Sunday mornings. Now and then the neighbors do a little target shooting. Otherwise things are very quiet.

Last weekend I went up after work, I always take my big spotlight and walk across both bridges here in the summertime. I did see a nice eel under the big bridge, I'd say it was around 30 inches long, maybe a little better? I had my eel gig on the truck too. By the time I went up to the house, ate supper and changed clothes, I couldn't find it again. Moe bought a pound of chicken hearts the other day, so he'll be night fishing this coming weekend. It's more fun to gig them, might take the boat?

Just some of the stuff going on. I have a couple of highlights that I'll share, when I get time.

More practice posting pictures.

A while back I noticed that I had a water leak in the roof, at the old shack. It was someplace between the 2 windows, about half way up. I found it the other day, and sprayed it down with stuff called "Flex Seal". It's like a foam/tar combination in a spray can, about $10 a can.

It sprays on black, I've got about all of it covered up in this picture. This is the old part of the roof, just started painting the roof the other day. Looked like the rain was moving in on me, and I was out of paint, again, so I called it quits for the day.