Last weekend I installed soffit extenders and increased the insulation in my attic. The first quarter or so of the house took me a long time. I had gotten a pretty good system by then, though, and was able to do the next third to a half of the house much quicker. Then I found an even better way to install them. I will lead you through the process.
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On Saturday, I climbed up into the attic to install the first soffit extender to get a feel for what I was going to need. It quickly became very obvious that I did not have enough in the way of safety equipment. A quick trip to the store and then I was ready to really get started on my work. Here is a quick run down of the safety precautions that I took while I was insulating my attic:
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One of the things that worked out really well for me while doing work up in the attic was buying a 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood and cutting it into 4 pieces that were 4′ x 2′ in size. I had a bunch of smaller boards that I could balance myself on between the joists, and those were handy and easier to move around than the larger boards. Unfortunately, they do not work very well when you need to lie down safely, because putting too much weight to one side or another could roll you right through your ceiling.

Having the 4′ x 2′ boards let me set up platforms for myself, which especially helped with installing the soffit extensions and the insulations under the edge of the roof. Putting out the insulation in the middle was better served with the smaller boards, though, because I needed to move around a lot quicker than the large boards really allowed.

Another advantage to the large boards was that I could leave them on top of the insulation after I was done. I now have a walkway that reaches all the way to the edge of the house; I will either need to move them or buy another sheet of plywood to easily get to the other end. Since I do not have any need to be at the other end in the near future I am not too worried about that. It did make it easy to do some work on the hose from my bathroom vent.

This weekend I installed raft-r-mate soffit extenders in my attic, and then doubled the existing insulation. I currently had insulation installed between the joists, but I wanted to make sure that I got the most for my heating oil dollars this winter. Between being sick and getting ready for a marathon, I did not have time until this weekend to take care of this project. Thankfully, I did not have anything else that I needed to get done this weekend; it took me a while to get everything done.

Yesterday, I went to Home Depot to get everything that I needed. I wound up having to make 3 trips in total (2 trips, plus I turned around and went back a third time when I was 3/4 of the way home when I realized I forgot something), and rather than having more than I needed of everything I wound up having not enough.
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This weekend, I am finally getting a chance to insulate my attic. More on that next week. Today, I’d like to talk about the customer service that I received at Home Depot. The service that I received ran from great to awful, but not necessarily in that order.
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This morning I heard a crashing noise and went to the window to investigate. The pumpkin (which we never made the time to carve) had been knocked off of our deck. The culprit? The largest squirrel I have ever seen.

This squirrel was not just large in size, but also in girth. It tried running away as soon as it noticed us, but it only managed a waddle. It was very obviously trying to run as fast as it could, and very obviously failing. We got to get a good look at it.

Some squirrels can have large tails, which will sometimes make them appear larger than they really are. This squirrel was certainly one with a large tail. However, there was no denying that this squirrel was extremely overweight. I can not help but wonder how it has managed to stay alive this long. I suppose that it is ready to hibernate for the winter, but watching it run does not make me believe that it has any chance of escaping predators.

I really need to start keeping my camera closer to hand.

One thing I really do not understand is why people feel it is necessary to use my yard as their garbage dump. I can sort of understand (well, not really, but can at least fathom) why trash winds up in the road when folk throw their crap in the back of a pickup truck. This is Maine; ²/₃ of us do have one. Why they can’t secure their trash is beyond me, but at least it might sometimes be accidental.

I don’t think that is where the trash in my yard comes from, though. The trash in my yard is at least 60-70% fast food containers. Why should I have to dispose of it? If you don’t want to throw it in your own trash, then just bring it in with you to throw out the next time you eat fast food!

My idea of fun is not slodging around in my yard after dark in the rain with a head lamp looking for somebody’s latest paper cup and plastic bag.

A couple of years ago I ran the San Antonio Marathon; between getting up at 3:30am, running a marathon, going to a hockey game, partying all night, and finally getting to bed around 1am the next day I did not even need the fleas that infested where I was staying to get me sick. That was the 3^rd day of a 10 day vacation and a (basically) 3 month illness.

This year, I got sick after running the New York City Marathon. This time, though, I did not get sick until a day after I got home. I only missed one day of work, but I decided against climbing up into the ceiling to insulate the attic this year.

At least being home I can take things much easier than when I was in Texas. The cat has loved having me lay around immobile, at least.

I am not a big fan of travel, but I do like being other places. This past week I have been in New York City for the marathon, and I just got home last night.

Coming home is one of the things that I love most about vacations. Home is a comfortable place. It was made more comfortable from the fact that this past week was the first time that I have been apart from my wife for more than a day since a few months after we met.

Now that I am home, I am coming down with a cold. Hopefully I will be healthy enough to be able to do some insulating in the attic this weekend; I do not have any of the usual soreness from the marathon so it should not be too bad of a chore as long as I am not coughing up a lung.