Centennial Windows Strikes Again

Almost $5 thousand dollars later, we have now replaced all the windows in our living space, including four in the basement, seven on the main floor, and two upstairs.  It has taken a long time, and plenty of moola.  The final two windows went in this morning, pretty much sealing up the house against both heat and cold as much as is possible for us to do.  Along with the two new doors, we could probably safely switch to heat pumps when the time comes for a new furnace.

We have also stacked enough firewood to run the fireplace all winter if we needed to.  We bought two firewood stands from Amazon.  The 8' one is filled with split firewood, and the 4' one with kindling and smaller logs.  Both have sturdy tarps covering the wood.  Ice storms will become more common as our winters get warmer (today was 54 F!), and ice storms often bring power outages.  Freezer and refrigerator contents can be stored in the garage if it's cold enough.  So we are ready for the worst, of course hoping it never comes.

In an unexpected surprise Christmas present, I enjoyed two wonderfully clear though cold nights out with the telescope this week.  Tuesday it was 27 F when I quit, and I was starting to get a wee bit chilly.  But Thursday night it was still 36 F when I left.  I could have stayed out for at least another hour, but the windows were coming early next day.  I did happen to catch a few bright Geminid meteors, too.  Now I'm beginning to wonder if I might get a few nights in January with the telescope.  It's usually far too cold, but perhaps this will be the year. 

We are now less than a week away from Winter Solstice.  We are stocked with food, drink, and enough TV to last through the winter.  Solstice will be an all day wood fire, plenty of snacks, and perhaps Siegfried, the 3rd opera in Wagner's Ring cycle.  Christmas Day (not celebrated here at the Homestead) we plan to watch Prime's Lord of the Rings all over again, our 2nd viewing.  We are eagerly looking forward to the next series. 

In movie viewing news, I begin with the most recent film.  Donnie Darko is a cult SF film from 2001, showing on Criterion until Dec. 31st.  Well acted by its main teenage protagonist, Jake Gyllenhaul plays a  highly intelligent teenager who finds it difficult to relate to the everyday world, especially school.  Still, he mostly manages to keep his head down, but when he speaks out, he really goes all the way, often getting into trouble for it.  He is awakened one night by a person in a scary rabbit suit (named Frank) and led from his house.  He awakens on the green of a local golf course next morning, to find out that his house has been struck by a falling jet engine.  He also learns that the world will end in just over 28 days.  The film is fun to watch, impossible to predict, and generally avoids tropes (except for the inexcusable reason for not meeting up with Miss Sparrow).  Highly intelligent production, and strongly recommended for SF fans.  There is supposedly a poor sequel not involving the director, but he is working on trying to make one.

Showing on Criterion Channel until Dec. 31st.  

The Spine of Night is a decent animated fantasy feature from 2021, though extremely violent. A sacred plant gives knowledge and power, and of course totally corrupts the user.  A naked woman priestess fights the evil it brings, and there is an awful lot of it to fight.  Backgrounds are stunning, and the animated characters are good, even though they do not match very well.  The story is a bit convoluted, encompassing many generations.  This might have been better as a series rather than a one shot feature.  Still good enough to recommend.  Not for the kiddies.

Now showing on Shudder. 

Those were my two recent choices.  Deb's main choice last weekend was Tesla, from 2020.  Tesla, the man, is probably one of the least interesting characters one could imagine, and thus one of the hardest to make a film about.  An undisputed genius, he seems to have had very few emotions, and cares only about his inventions.  He would be a good candidate for an AI life form.  The film puts his life into perspective, as the film also deals with Edison, and indirectly with Marconi.  Tesla's greatest dream of instant communication across the planet remained unfulfilled due to lack of funding.  The storytelling method is unique, mixing period and contemporary comment as told by the daughter of John Pierpont Morgan, who obviously had feelings for Tesla.  Her father funded Tesla up to a point, then withdrew his support.

Now showing on Mubi. 

Now that the new windows are installed in the TV room, Deb is setting out to repaint the room.  I wish her the best of luck with the project, and look forward to its completion.

In reading news, I have completed my required reading for the month, and am currently embarking on my "free" reads.  First up is a 1920 SF by A. Merritt, The Metal Monster!

Mapman Mike

 

 

New Windows

 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday (today) are about as cold as it ever gets down here. Tuesday morning I headed to Windsor for the first piano performance group meeting.  There are currently three of us: Alde, Nadia, and myself.  Both are teachers and piano performance majors.  The program I am working on has 7 pieces by Bach in the first half.  I played four of them on Alde's grand piano.  Next, Nadia performed a set of Beethoven variations, followed by Alde's reading of the first movement of the Waldstein Sonata, also by Beethoven.  The meeting spurred each of us to bigger and better things.  Alde wants to take a piano exam that he never took (A.R.C.T., the top exam of the Royal Conservatory); Nadia wants to get a whole program together; I have increased my practice time from about 12 hours per week to about 17 hours per week.  All of us are looking forward to our second meeting, here at the Homestead in February.  Because of the harpsichord, it could night turn into a Bach event.

The next cold day was Wednesday.  I didn't have to go out, but two new windows were installed.  We have used Centennial Windows and Doors throughout the upstairs of the house.  They are the best there is, pure and simple.  Very expensive, but one gets one's money's worth.  Their guarantee is a real guarantee.  They will even come and replace the draft stoppers beneath their doors when they wear out.  At 9:30 am, when the workers arrived, it was about 11 F outside, with a nice breeze blowing.  By the time they left at around 2 pm, it was 16 F.  Since the front door was going to be opened up so many times with the two workers coming and going, and since the furnace thermostat would be influenced by this, I shut off the boiler and turned on the wood pellet stove.  

 

The kitchen window replacement came first.  The space was wide open for less than half an hour before they plopped the new window in.  Because we kept the original wood frame, that was a much faster job than the next window.  With the wood stove chugging happily along, the downstairs was kept pretty toasty (67 F)!  Upstairs, unheated with no furnace on, we had a small electric space heater running, which kept the temp up there above 60 F.  

 

Next came the bathroom window, which was glass brick.  What a job taking that out!  It took about an hour to smash their way through it all.  Then they had to build a frame from scratch, then finally install the new window.  That bathroom got mighty chilly!  But we now have soundproof and air leakproof windows installed in 85% of the house, along with the two new doors.  Only two windows left to replace!  Once the bathroom window was in place, the wood stove was turned off and the furnace turned back on.  I was worried about the piano going out of tune, but it held up really well!  End of home improvement segment, except for a few photos.

 

The old kitchen window, showing frost buildup whenever it got cold.  Noise and air came through as well.

 

The installer at work in the kitchen.  The other guy was outside.

 

The new kitchen window.  Air tight, no frost, and almost totally soundproof. 

 

The old glass brick did not allow for any ventilation, so we had a moisture problem in the bathroom.  It also leaked cold air quite badly.

 

New bathroom window, which can open by lifting from the bottom, but it also pulls out at a slant, too, to allow for cleaning.  We can now vent the area after a hot shower.  The frame is new, too.  Airtight and soundproof.  Thank you Centennial!!

 

On to my two movie pics for the week.  First up was our fifth or sixth viewing of Peter Weir's The Last Wave, from 1977 and showing on Criterion.  There is also a ten minute short with the director talking about the film, which we had never seen before.  The film is one of the best fantasy films ever made, and though it has flaws, it also has greatness.  The plot concerns an urban tribe of Aboriginals living in Sydney and practicing tribal ritual and tribal law.  One of the tribe breaks a law, and is killed by the others.  Richard Chamberlain, a tax lawyer, ends up defending the native men against the charge of manslaughter.  But he is more than he seems; he has the power to dream of events that will happen.  The plot is great, the music is great, the photography is great, the acting is great, and the opening scene in a rural school yard is by now a classic.  Highly recommended, even if you have seen it more than once.  It's always great!

 

Now showing on Criterion. 

 

My leaving Feb. 28th choice was called Patang (Kite), an Indian film from 2012.  A minor family drama is an excuse to show the city of Ahmedabad during its annual kite festival.  With the colourful city and thousands of kites as backdrop, the plot matters little, and is pretty inconsequential.  A man and his daughter visit the city from Delhi, where his sister-in-law lives along with his mother, and his nephew.  The latter blames his uncle for the death of his father.  The young daughter has a little fling with a local boy during their two-day visit.  The nephew befriends some street urchins and tries to look after their welfare as much as he can.  The uncle, whose brother died after he left to set up business in Delhi, has purchased a new condo for the family, but they don't want it.  That's it for the plot, except for a lot of kite flying.  An easy film to watch, there are many striking city scenes.  There seems to be a lot of people in India. 

Showing on Criterion until Feb. 28th. 

 

Back with more news as it happens. 

 

Mapman Mike