Roof work (and soup!)

Hi folks, Mandi here.

Last Wednesday, I cautiously crawled up on the roof to install another vent. Here's how that went:

First, I picked a spot (Dad and I had identified this area as a good place to put another vent).

The vent is just resting on the other side of the peak.

Then I did some measuring, and drew a square to cut out.

With the hole drilled - I got a little ahead of myself!

When Dad was helping me, we had his hole saw bits; with those we were able to cut a large enough hole to do a bit of investigation before using the jigsaw to cut the tin. We don't have any hole saw bits, so I used the biggest drill bit we have, and then cut a small square so I could locate the wire that powers the living room lights. When I peeled back the tin, I found the cord all right - that cut in the 2x4 is from cutting the investigation hole.

Yikes!

So I clambered down off the roof and killed the power to all the lights in the house. Back up on the roof, I managed to push and pull the wire as needed to finish cutting out the large square.

Thanks for securing that wire, builders.

Then I dry-fit the vent. Once I had an idea of where I needed to silicone, I removed the vent and laid the needed sealant. I left little gaps on either side of the centre ridge for drainage.

Gooey

Once I fit the vent back in, I replaced the roof bolts I had pulled for installation. I also added some extra screws to close the remaining gaps - we have bats in the area, and they have no qualms about living in our roof.

It's not pretty, but it's not going anywhere, either.

While I was up there, I decided to quickly tar over a few cracks in previously tarred roof 'accessories': the vent for the bathroom fan, the sewer vent for the bathroom, and the chimney for the 'furnace' (our furnace is actually a propane fireplace).

Sewer vent

Sewer vent and fan vent

That was enough excitement for the day, so I crawled off the roof for some supper, a shower, then thankfully to bed.

This past weekend, I puttered around the farm doing small bits and bobs - nothing terribly exciting or newsworthy, other than the carrot harvest. We managed to get about 3 or 4 pounds; most were small, stunted carrots (which says to me that the soil under the first layer is still compacted - I'll try adding some compost in the spring to fluff it up) but a few were a decent size.

Carrots :)

I also managed to whip up a fairly good Butternut Squash and Sausage soup for supper on Sunday. I combined two recipes, and this is what I came up with:

Butternut Squash and Sausage Soup

Ingredients:

2 lbs butternut squash (I used one large squash)
1 chopped onion
1 T butter
1 lb sausage meat (no casings - we can find sausage meat in the grocery store)
4 c chicken broth (I'd likely up it to 6 c next time; leave it at 4 c if you like a nice, thick soup)
1/4 t ground pepper
1/4 t salt
1/8 t ground cayenne pepper
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese OR 1/2 c heavy cream

Directions:
Preheat oven at 375 F
Cut the squash in half and discard the seeds. Place cut side down in a 9x13 cake pan. Surround with about 1/2" water. Bake until squash is easily pierced with a fork, about 45 min.
In a large pot, saute the onions in the butter until translucent. Add spices and sausage meat and cook until crumbly and browned.
Scoop the insides of the squash into blender or food processor. Discard peels. Add broth and cream cheese (or cream). Blend until smooth and creamy. (I did this in the food processor in batches of 1/4 of squash, 1 c broth, and 1/4 of the cream cheese.)
Add squash mixture to sausage in the pot. Heat until warm, being careful not to boil it.

Next time, I will try to remember to take pictures!

Take care everyone :)