Spring 2011

The winter of 2010/2011 was not very kind to this Chudek household. First we had a well failure where the water storage tank needed to be replaced. Next came the water heater that decided it had completed its tour of duty in the basement. A bit of excitement rained down in the kitchen not long thereafter when the glass in the patio door exploded with no provocation. While our attention was diverted toward the back of the house, the garage door fell off it’s track, mangled the rail system, and required the services of another professional craftsman to get it fixed. We thought we would make it through the end of the year but the furnace had other ideas when it shut down for good. Lucky for us as the technician bypassed the safety shutoff and measured CO emissions that sent his meter off scale! Merry Christmas to ourselves, a new furnace! January, February, March, and most of April went by without any additional setbacks. That is until I was checking the garden and orchard to discover some beaver had girdled six of the seven apple trees. Appliances are quickly replaced, but an orchard is another story. It takes years for the trees to mature and become productive. On a more happy note, Mary and I saw a pair of trumpeter swans visit our pond a couple weeks ago. I got a few photos and some video. The last visit was almost 15 years ago when I first moved into this house.

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