Vacation??

Yes, I took a vacation. I took this entire week off because I have excess hours that need to be used. Since I have no specific plans, the supervisor suggested this week because no one else was wanting time off. Pretty typically, the weather conspired against me to make it impossible to get any work done on the outside of the house. The last 5 days have been overcast, foggy, drizzly, snowy, anything but warm and sunny.

I have continued to work on inside projects during the first part of this week. A week ago I picked up a load of salvage trim from a neighboring county. It included a number of pieces of ribbed, 5 inch wide yellow pine, some smooth 5 inch pieces, several window caps and "rosettes" for the top corners of windows. I considered this a pretty good find, free for the taking.

I used part of this wood to trim out the library window. The cap was just beautiful, with some sanding and a wire brush on the decorative molding then some poly stain to seal and it looked good. I have yet to seal the side trim and sill but will add a board below the sill first, as is the style with the old wide trims. I'm hoping it will all take the stain fairly evenly as the color on the top is very pleasing and I'd like to avoid painting this trim. The wood grain is very nice if left exposed.


Someone asked me the other day what I would do when I got done with the house. I assured them this would not be a problem as I have enough projects to last until I die. So, I guess as long as I am able to lift a hammer, I will be modifying my house. I suppose I could hire someone to finish up the renovation but then in my old age, all I would have to do is lay around watching TV and eating bonbons. NOT a good idea!

Got-r done!

The house now has a plywood shell(well, mostly) and is wrapped in plastic. Just in time, 8-10 inches of snow arrived yesterday and having a plastic coating should discourage that blowing in between the boards. I even managed to finish it without any additional injuries or disasters.

The new door is yet to be installed but that will probably have to wait until I can count on the temperature not dropping below zero, mid- job. Nothing like a 5 foot wide hole in the wall when it starts snowing. The new door, which is not actually new, still needs a little work before installation. It is a recycled door and needed some cosmetic work when I bought it.

I removed the moulding that held the glass in place and scraped away all the old glazing compound. I have reglazed and replaced the moulding on most of it but still a little to do then it all needs a good painting. I also need to divise a system to protect it from little dog paws that like to pat, pat all over the door when they are sent out to play. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do that yet. Perhaps utilizing the screen door off the old patio door?

Well, at least there are hints that spring will be here soon, so I may be able to make faster progress before long. Today there was no chance for working outside. The snow is settling but there is still a good 6" over the yard, except where I shoveled out "potty" areas for the dogs. They just refuse to wade out in that snow to take care of their business. Of course their bellies were dragging in the snow so I guess I can't blame them.

The House Fights Back!

Weather in Kansas, being what it is, did the unexpected again today and turned out a 53 degree day. Just 3 days ago windchill temperature was around -35. Tomorrow is expected to be cold again although only around freezing. Two weeks in a row now, Saturday has turned out to be very pleasant, which has allowed me some time to work outside on the house. Today, my hope was to finish the plywood sheathing on the back of the house. I am working on the gable presently and was able to complete half of it last week, even with the unfortunate fall of the electric meter. Turned into an 8 hour day out there, interrupted only by a water break and by coming in to lie on the floor and scream after dropping a 25 pound sheet of plywood, on edge, onto my face. Now that HURT! After the fact, I actually considered myself quite lucky. The 3/4" board came down on my upturned face and hit just below my nose on that inch of flesh above my lip. Had it been slightly higher, it would have broken my nose and possibly my glasses. Had it hit slightly lower, I would probably have lost teeth. As it is, I have only an abrasion across the space between my nose and upper lip and considerable swelling. I was not knocked out but I now understand the term "punch drunk" as I had a few minutes where I felt pretty out of it. This is the reason for the lying on the floor. I thought it preferable to falling to the floor. As for the screaming, which included some profanity, I heard a while back that cursing can actually help with pain. At that point I was willing to try it. I'm feeling rather beat up tonight, I think I could safely say I have a headache. While watching TV I could feel my entire head pulsing. I'm thinking I might haul out that leftover pain med from my surgery and see if it improves my night. I don't use pain killers stronger than Tylenol very often and I don't think I've ever finished off the stuff doctors have given me after surgery. In this case, however, I think I will make an exception.

Renovation reality......nightmares!

OK, my project has officially become a reality show episode. Just when I thought things were coming along reasonably well, despite the fact I was working outside under halogen lights until 9 PM the last 2 nights. Friday night was great but Saturday was getting pretty cold by then but I had open holes in my attic gable which had to be closed in before bad weather arrives.


Saturday, having turned out nicer than expected, looked like a good time to get a bit more plywood on the house. Standing near the top of the 16 foot ladder, ripping down fiberboard was fine, then I decided to remove the last piece of masonite siding, at the top of the gable. I sliced through the plank as it had a large screw eye in it which the electric wire from the pole attached to.

Unfortunatly, a small miscalculation occurred about this time. The screw eye, which I thought had been screwed into the 2x4 running up the wall behind the electric box, was actually only screwed into fiberboard. When the last piece of siding was cut, the electric meter and the 10 foot steel pipe running from it to the roofline, had no support at all and the next thing I knew, the electric wires were on the ground and the meter was hanging from side of the house.

Nice, eh? Ever wonder what you should do when your electric meter falls off your house? Not really something I spent a lot of time contemplating up to this point. Forced to think about it, the first thing that came to mind was "Is it safe to touch it?" followed by wondering if I would end up with a pile of crispy critters if the little dogs ran into it. I decided first priority was to herd the dogs into the house and lock them in. Then I debated what to do next while continuing to pull sheathing off the house. I thought about calling for someone to come cut the power off but had visions of spending the rest of the weekend in a dark, cold house. I thought about just leaving it laying in the yard until Monday when utility workers would be on duty. I was so flummoxed! What to do?


Fortunately, about that time a neighbor drove up and having been a friend of my son during childhood, he commented on how much fun it looked like I was having. His brother works for the city so he called to see if it was safe to leave the meter down over the weekend. The brother didn't think this would be safe so he called a crew who showed up shortly and cut the meter loose from the pole. They then rehung the meter on the house and connected the wires back up so I didn't have to spend Sunday in the dark. I didn't get the plywood all up but that will have to wait for another weekend.

Winter construction......

NOT such a good idea! It hasn't exactly been WARM but over the past 2 weeks it has been above freezing a few times so plywood has been going up. Sadly, today was beautiful as are the next 3 weekdays predicted to be but of course dark arrives at my house before I do on work days. Am I likely to be taking any time off this week to work on finishing up the plywood? Not a chance.

Not to worry, Saturday and Sunday I get to stay home but then temperatures are predicted to return to around freezing for the weekend. Top that with the fact that the worst part of the installation is yet to come, the upper part. Given that a sheet of 3/4" CDX plywood weighs around 75 lbs and the gable of the house starts 8' above ground, this promises to be a formidable task. There may be more cutting on the upper

level as a 32" wide piece will weigh significantly less than a 48" wide piece.

The biggest challenge is over, the sheathing behind the electric meter went in last Saturday. It took cutting a keyhole (?) slot to slip over the wiring where it enters the electrical box but that was the most worrysome part of this process. There will be another hurdle at the top where the wire comes to the house but it won't require cutting around, just sliding the plywood under the pole.

Now, if I can just manage to haul the new patio door from the garage to the back of the house, real progress will be happening.

BRRRRRR.........

I think it is official now, winter is here. No one showed up in early December to put siding on the house so there stands the bare house, wrapped on three sides with white plastic. The back, uncovered, waits for me to have time off on warm days so the black fiberboard can be replaced with plywood.

The deck frame now stands independent of the house, resting on blocks, all the decking boards removed and stacked on the plywood sheathing. I think this tactic worked to flatten some of the warp that was in the plywood when I bought it. Apparently, even in large stacks, CDX plywood can warp the long way.

Now, if we could just get some sunny weekends with temperatures at least in the upper 30's, perhaps I could start putting up the plywood. Yesterday was beautiful, the sun was shining and it was in the 40's but of course that was a workday. Tomorrow is predicted to be overcast

and close to freezing all day. NICE! On the other hand, compared to last weekend, it is

pretty comfortable. It was -15 last weekend and

with wind chill was more like -25 during the
night. Needless to say, it would have been nice to have siding on the house.

The snow came last weekend, too. It made quite a mess but did get me a day off work. In fact, the office closed because of it and that is quite an event. On Tuesday however, which I had taken off to attend to personal stuff, I had to stomp through the snow to the dentist then to get my driver's license renewed. Following that, I had to dig out the truck so I could drive to the next appointments. By the end of the day, I'd had my fill of snow for the year.

BREAK!

Daylight Saving Time began last weekend. Now I am arriving home after dark on workdays. I needed a couple more months of summer but as they say, "Time waits for no (wo)man!" so we are getting into winter and my house is not sided. The good news, the contractor finally called tonight and said they could start in December. I won't be painting after the siding is applied but that was the case, even if they started siding this week.

There are still projects outside I need to finish before the siding goes up but weekends are the only time available to work on these. Some indoor projects have been getting a little more attention though. The library is being pulled together. The third bookcase is now getting a coat of black paint and over half the paneling is up. Windows still need trimmed out and the final bookcase needs painted but this room is getting closer to where I want it.

Seasonal jobs have to be done now. The plants moved into the house last weekend, filling the south window in the craft room and spilling over into the dining room window. My "carrion plant" decided to bloom(TWICE) this year, only the second time it has bloomed in the 10 or more years that I have had it. It is a most remarkable looking bloom but it was good that it was mostly done blooming before it had to come inside. There is a reason it is called a carrion plant. It does seriously STINK!

The tomatoes were harvested over the weekend as well. The crop was not real impressive this year but as is usual, now that it is getting cold at night the vines are covered with lovely green tomatoes. Unfortunately, I am not a fan of fried green tomatoes so I am storing the green harvest, hoping they will ripen inside. Of course, large tomatoes did not appear until last month, so no slicers in red. I have no idea why I keep planting a "garden", I'm in the hole by the end of season, year after year. I hate gardening! I just want a few nice, homegrown tomatoes.