Can You Dig It?

Just call me A Mess. After a near- recovery, I've slipped into relapse town. I don't know if this is allergies, viruses, infections, or just generalized internal chaos (great band name by the way) but I'm sick and tired of it. So sick and tired that I've resumed all normal activity - whether I feel like poo or feel like sunshine, I do whatever I normally do. I just have to. That's the bottom line. I can't stay stagnant for weeks on end.

Since the garage doors are in and working and since the remainder of my railings are still on back order, Mike and I have moved forward on other projects. Just last Friday I came home early and painted a lot of the farmer's porch trim and puttied some more nail holes. I still have the front facing, exterior farmer's porch trim to putty and paint - but that will have to wait until Mike sets up the ladder for me. Because I'm petrified of heights. (As my good friend Ryan put it, "I'm not afraid of heights - it's just that 'Woe!' feeling you get when you're on top of the ladder.")

Mike, meanwhile, continues to clean up his mechanical hoarding. Last weekend he gave away a set of rims and a giant tire.

And just this week, we're gearing up for warm sunny weekend weather with a couple projects in mind. Just last night, for example, I tidied the camper in preparation for its departure on Friday. Tonight, Mike will install his brake controller so he can safely tow the thing to our friends' house. (Yes, we share the camper.)

This move will free up the gravel driveway so that Mike can use his skid steere to remove all the rocks and fix the grade. (Out and away from the garage this time!) Once this has been accomplished, we'll order a dump load of loam and have it dumped right in the once-gravel driveway area. And this is because....

Next Sunday the 8th, Mike is borrowing a bigger machine from some friends of his to grade the backyard and spread the loam. (Nothing says Happy Mom's Day more then big machinery....) And I know we previously decided NOT to re-grade... but Mike has the opportunity to borrow the machine for free and we're eager to dig below and cover up any broken glass and debris leftover from last year's vehicle headaches and trash burying of years past. SO, there ya go.

Additionally, Friday or Saturday night, Mike is going to pick up stain and the porch staining machine. (Three non-rainy days in a row? Yup, I'll stain for that.) Tonight and/or tomorrow night, my task will be to clean off the porch in preparation. And hopefully with the machine, it won't take too much time once we get started either.


Stay tuned - this renovation freight train is coming through....

Putt Putt Putt

Before I commence with the home updates, I'd like to take a moment to recognize the vehicle previously known as Dodge #1 - now known as SOLD. You have no idea what a relief it was... watching it drive away last night. (Especially after the 45 minutes or so in which we couldn't find the title. That ordeal took a few years off my life, it was so stressful... what with the buyer in an airplane on his one way ticket here from south butt.)

That leaves the Dodge tally down to uno - Dodge #2. Fixing that up to a reasonable state without any major parts purchases is vehicle goal numero dos. Meanwhile, stress level goes back up through the roof at the end of this week, when Mike will be doing some traveling of his own to pickup a new (used) Dodge 2500.

Vehicles on my mind. Anyway! Forcibly pushing aside those stresses, it was a great weekend. Productivity and optimism were both up something percent.

Saturday, despite battling some crazy sinus thing that I've had forever that decided to come to a head at the end of last week... yeah, despite that - I completed puttying on the porch trim and ceiling. Sunday I even had an opportunity to paint some more of the ceiling! (More, but not all, unfortunately.)

Mike decided Sunday morning he finally wanted to install that cat door we've had new in the box for probably about six months now. (Back when we put in the basement and basement stairs, we left a hole in the hallway/stairway wall for the cats to go in and out of. Since having a baby, and since stuffing a pillow in the hole for cat-control just isn't the best cat-control method, we knew we'd need a proper cat door.)

Installing the thing was actually more of a pain then you might imagine. You see, the small-cat cat door is square shaped. The large-cat cat door is not. It's circular on the bottom. We have large cats... and we made a square shaped hole when we made our hole years ago. (Back when we didn't have the cat-door shape knowledge we have today.) So Mike had to trim the hole and cut a new - half circular - piece of drywall to be able to install the thing.

And I must admit, it looks pretty good. Trouble now is the cats don't know how to use the thing. And no, it's not one of those auto-opening-when-the-collar-gets-close type of door. Those things are mad expensive. But this one does have a magnet at the bottom to keep the door shut tight when not in use. Too tight, I'm afraid. The cats don't know how to (or just don't want to - because let's face it, they are cats) push the durn thing hard enough.

But, bottom line, after 17 months, I'm happy to cross "Cat Door" off of the list-of-stuff-that-should-get-done-but-nobody-cares-about.

Speaking of that particular list, Mike had the brilliant notion after finishing the cat door that he'd like to complete the siding on the top of the gambrel of the house. He called our carpenter friend TJ, who came over in the afternoon to give him a hand.

TA-DA! Now, we can officially call siding on the front of the house - DONE! We still need some trim up there on the top peak, but that's for another day.

To complete the weekend, Timmy and Richard came over to give us another materials list for this coming weekend. This time, it's time to wrap the posts. And lucky for us, we still have some of the needed materials in stock. Mike ordered the rest today and it should be delivered tomorrow.

Me, I'd like to finish up painting. Soon enough I'll have to paint out all the pre-primed white board - white - and the ceiling again - in its actual blue color. It's all on the list-of-stuff-that-everyone-cares-about. Just as soon as those posts are wrapped up tight.

After that? It's railing time. Mike and I have to make time to go and pick out what we want in that department. Hopefully Morse Lumber is open before 9 on a Monday, because that's the only time we'd have within their business days/hours.

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Playing with Putty

After I returned home late last Thursday night, and after Mike dropped the bomb that he'd be fixing the floor in his Dodge on Sunday, I scrapped any vague hopes of progress over last weekend.

But be that as it may, we still made a couple baby steps forward. On Sunday I began puttying all the nail holes... and managed to fill quite a few before Mikey woke up. (There are still quite a few more to go, but I'm hoping I can finish up this weekend.) Also, a plumber friend of ours came by to impart some of his infinite plumbing wisdom in regards to a basement bathroom. (I'm still trying to reel Mike in on this one - I'm shocked he didn't want to halt work on his floor to begin framing the thing out!)

All in due time, my friends.

And now look at this - it's Wednesday, end of day, and I don't have a clue and half what the next step is or how much it's going to cost or when it can be implemented. This weekend is starting to look left out too...

At least a dude is coming to purchase the Dodge on Sunday morning. Yes, when I wake up, one Dodge will be gone. Mike hopes to schedule some time off so he can rock and roll on Dodge #2. Stick that on the market, make some more money, and buy a 2500. That's the plan. Those 2500 4x4 diesel quad cabs don't come cheap though. 3500 dually's though? Dime a dozen these days. The automotive market is so ackbasswards right now.

We've got a dirt bike on craigslist too... hoping to dump for $300 - 1970 Yamaha DT-250. You know you want it!

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Unworthy of Even a T-Shirt

So Hurricane Earl turned... literally turned... out to be a big fat sack of nothing. Durn it, no "I Survived Blah Blah Blah" t-shirt.

And eventually we'll have the unhappy task of moving all the lumber and patio furniture back up to ground level from the basement... but not this Labor Day Weekend. Yes, as usual I had high hopes for big accomplishments over the past few days. Unfortunately, I've been feeling like poo for most of the weekend and couldn't bring myself to do anything Sunday and Monday.

Mike managed to cross off some long-standing items on his to-do list. Fixing the snow blower for neighbor 1, fixing the lawn tractor for neighbor 2, fixing his own lawn tractor, installing his fuel pump, fixing the mini 4-wheeler, fixing some dude's 4wheeler, returning neighbor 2's tiller....

I suppose it's a very good thing to have all those things taken care of - especially as we go into fall and we look towards cleaning up the yard.

But I had really wanted to go over to the HD and pick up wood putty and trim for the porch. (The more we've thought about it, the more we've thought that caulk will expand and contract - wood putty is made for nail holes, so we may as well do the right thing and use it.) The trim we need will go where the bead board ceiling meets the pre-primed white interior wrapping as well as around the front door.

I dreampt of purchasing it all and painting it all... but no such luck.

Mike also mentioned the kitchen to me again... I said don't tempt me, I'll buy a window today. So maybe it's a good thing that this sinus thing kept me unmotivated and stuck in the house. I probably would have purchased a big 'ol window. (Though I did scold him once again, "Read my lips, No NEW projects!")

Oh, and then he started with the, "You better start thinking about the layout of the basement bathroom."

And I'm thinking to myself, "Dude, you are getting waaay ahead of yourself here." It is so impossible to keep him focused sometimes. I need to tattoo "FINISH THE PORCH" on his forehead or something.

Speaking of which, Timmy had some parties 'n stuff this weekend, putting further construction on hold. Which is cool, because as I said, Mike had things to do, I wasn't feeling well, and let's face it, Timmy's been working weeks straight on our house, so a break is more then well deserved.

Back to work this weekend? It's not up to me - I'll be working I'm afraid.

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