Those of you who followed our move from the first Bedlam Farm to our new home may recall the scraping, painting, scrambling, de-wallpapering, the clouds of flies and other small plagues that descended upon, pilgrims in a lovely 1840’s farmhouse. Florence Walrath was revered, and tough as well, but she did not ever have the money for luxuries – like storm windows.

When we got finished replacing the slate roof, tearing down the collapsed old barn, re-wiring the house (it could not have handled two computers) and getting the kitchen habitable, we just ran out of money. We never got to the storm windows. This, it turns out, was a continuing drama. In her later years, Florence painted the windows shut and closed them, summer and winter. I’m sure it was her way of staying comfortable and saving money.

In the summer, we have had clouds of flies, mosquitoes and giant moths the size of golfballs dive bombing us at night. The upstairs bedroom, not used for many years, was a luxury motel for giant flies and various insects that threw themselves bravely against the windows, there were no screens. In the winter, the wind blows right through the upstairs windows, our bedroom is frequently so cold we have to sleep downstairs. We love our house, all this is life in an old farmhouse, it is solid as a rock and fits us like a glove but it is not a split-level in suburban New Jersey or Connecticut, it is not long on amenities.

This week, Jay Bridge, a carpenter (former geologist) and handyman came to install the storm windows he brought a few months ago but could not install when the brutal winter descended. We knew we had to get through the winter and it was plenty cold upstairs (the two wood stoves did a great job downstairs), but I am glad Jay arrived this week before the flies, moths and mosquitoes (the flies are here). He put three of the windows up today – we were using a system of small and porous screens, the bugs found them quite convenient.

We love our first storm windows, we actually have an open window and fresh air moving through the house. Rain is delaying Jay tomorrow, but we expect to have the windows by the end of the week. This will change our lives.