One Sixty: Hurricane Earl A'Comin

Hurricane Earl A'Comin

Ah, Cape Cod on Labor Day weekend. Time to kick back, roll down the windows, and prepare to sit yo' ass in traffic for the next two hours. And, oh yeah, there's a hurricane a'comin!

Having already lived through the "I Survived Hurricane Bob" t-shirt craze, I can't wait to add an Earl to the list of incredible Northeast natural disasters. But, since we're always under construction at home.... and since we're always a mess in the yard... we have some doings to do to prepare, and we don't have much time in which to do them.

Take in the porch furniture
Take in tools and other small items littering the porch
Secure all lumber
Take in the plants
Move the grill inside
Secure the trash hut
Move all machines inside the garage
Move all machine parts inside the garage
Secure Dodge #2
Secure the boat and camper
Put all trash in the trash hut and secure it again!
Take in Mikey's bus
Start up the generator and make sure it works

So far, the latest info from weather.com shows Earl hitting us sometime late Friday, early Saturday - with wind gusts of 90-100mph. Although they admit, these are only just educated guesses.

This will be our first hurricane in our home, but I doubt it will be the last.

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Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.

One Sixty

Hurricane Earl A'Comin

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