Fire and ... Wasps

See this window? See all those wasps trapped inside it? This was one of the windows in our loft bedroom, at the peak near our roof. It was on our list of top-priority things to tackle as soon as we moved in. A year later -- yes, we bought our little diamond in the Tennessee rough a year ago this week -- we finally did something about it.

We thought the wasps were dead when we moved in, but last spring, when the temps first hit 70 degrees,  the wasps started to stir. Apparently they were just hibernating. Hello, pesticides.

The window was "custom built," like a lot of things around this place. While the glass was double-pane, the window itself had 1-inch gaps all around it, allowing in bugs, birds (we woke up to one flying around the house just the other day) and really cold air.

Anyway, yesterday, while I slaved away in the utility room, mudding the drywall seams -- I HATE mudding -- Mason decided he'd try to caulk the gaps. No go. Too big, so the whole window came out and we now have a hunk of insulation foam filling the hole. Can you say Casa de Basura Blanco? But it'll do for now. We'll wait until spring to install a new -- store-bought -- window.

Meanwhile, here's a word from our sponsor: DO NOT ATTEMPT. Professional fire idiot:

(That's the giant pine tree we downed. Pine's no good for the wood stove, it's too soft and sappy, so we've been burning it in the fire pit. But don't worry, so far we've been finding enough good, dead hardwood to keep us warm.)