I finished the weatherstripping project I started and woke up the next day with the reddest eye. It would make you turn away it is so horrifying, it looks like I was stabbed in the eyeball. I don’t need a costume for Halloween, I am the costume. I must have broken a blood vessel in my eye by straining to push the button on the can of foam insulation? Like that is really hard. Maybe it was carrying the ladder from the basement. How soft have I gotten in the past couple years that I break a blood vessel just doing a caulking project?

Some thoughts:

• I just remembered that you never seal the whole storm window.  You need openings on the bottom.  Moisture builds up between the inside windows and the storm windows and the condensation has to drain out or the wood will eventually rot on the bottom of the sill.  You’ll see those holes at the bottom of the frame on the prefab storm windows/screens and they are there for this purpose.  Keep them clear so water and moisture can escape.  I have to go back and take a thin knife and open up a space along the bottom that I sealed. Seal the inside windows all the way around.

• I looked up what to do with my potted roses I  bought this past summer.  They are full-sized roses in barrel-like containers that I have set out in my garden.  I was debating whether to leave them out or bring them in.  I have never grown them in this climate before and being in pots their roots would be above ground level.  I did a search to see what hardiness zone we are in using my zip code and the results were:  we are in zone 6a.  That would do damage to roses in pots left out.  I decided we will haul them into the unheated, detached garage which will almost be as cold inside as it is outside but they will be out of the drying winds.  We (actually my husband will be doing this) will carry them in after they have “hardened” for the winter.  I found out that roses build up a thicker cell wall as the temperature gradually drops  so you’ll want to leave them out to “harden” and bring them in before we get down to the below freezing temperatures.  According to some forum responses on gardening being inside out of the wind will be all they’ll need (and a little water) if they have had a chance to adapt to the cold.  I hope this works. If anyone has more information about what to do with potted roses, please let me know.

I decided to use a foam sealant instead of the caulking when weatherstripping our storm windows. I have worked with the polyurethane foam stuff that expands and stays on your hands for two weeks (Great Stuff.) It is so very messy and not for this use as it is permanent. I tried a latex foam product a few years ago on the storm windows on the sleeping porch I liked it very much. From season to season you can just take a scrubby or a razor blade (carefully) and remove it and reapply when you put them back in. It’s white and it’s like whipped cream and washes off your hands with soap and water when your done. It takes a bit of practice to make it look neat. Paper towels, a bucket of water and barely damp sponge works well for making it look neat. You won’t be able to open the window once done or you’ll wreck the seal. But if you have to open it, it is easy to scrape off the old and add new foam.

The down side is this product is the white “fluff” when you go to remove the windows in the spring. It will brush off with your hand and then you can get the remainder off with water and a scrubby. Have a vacuum handy or you’ll have white fluff like a trail down the hall through the living room and out to the garage. This product is Dap foam latex sealant. I went to Lowes and they didn’t carry it. The worker said they stopped carrying it a year or two ago. Why? Anyway, I went to Home Depot and they had it.

The other “stuff” I’ve used that works pretty well for temporary use for the winter around windows that you don’t use in the winter is the 1/4 inch rope pliable caulking you press around the window. Anyone can use this stuff. You just unpeal a strand of the rope caulk and line it up with the edge of the window and press in down. We don’t use the window in our 1/2 bath and the thin rope is pressed around the whole window for a few years now. You can just peel it off when you want. It looks nice and neat when done properly and it was inexpensive to do, under $10 for 90 feet. I’ve seen it in gray and in brown.

I worked on the patio door with the Dap latex foam sealant yesterday and today I’m going to paint a little around the door’s trim that needs touchup. I’ll also work on the storm windows (squirting in the foam sealant) on our front porch. I think they may need a little touch up of black paint, too. The basement windows look pretty well sealed up still. Hopefully I’ll get a lot done today because the forecast is for rain and colder temps the next several days.