I’m back, more than a month later, but still optimistic!

My last blog on this site was March 11, 2013, full of optimism, then the weather didn’t cooperate.  Ugh!!  About 1 1/2 months later I’m still filled with optimism.  Took some days off work so the back porch can have my undivided attention.

You know when you have this picture in your head of how you want something to turn out?  Well I have one of those in my little bitty brain and I can’t wait to make it real.

Climbed the ladder and started pulling off shingles along with my “sod” roof.  I did take pictures but will not post them until it is finished because I am just too ashamed that I let it get in this shape.  It wasn’t as if I didn’t have anything else to do!!

For the next 4 days sunny and beautiful weather is expected.  So I will be enjoying the great outdoors working on my back porch.  My daughter is coming from California and will probably get here on Sunday and I hope she is well rested when she gets here.  Hint, hint.  There will definitely be some runs to Home Depot for some redwood, cement and some shingles.

I have two hydraulic jacks holding up a corner of the porch floor, but it appears that we are raising the floor, but the roof is not raising with it!! Hummm, that means that we have to find another way to shore the porch roof up about 2-3 inches another way.  Our plan is to save the roof joists as they are solid, then rebuild the porch under it.  It might be that we will have to just tear it all down, but I think we can do it this way better as we have the tongue-and-groove ceiling and I want to keep that.  I really wish I had someone that was handy and not afraid of heights to assist with this project.  Wishes and hoping doesn’t get the job done.  So tomorrow as soon as it hits 50 degrees I will be hard at work.

We have those 10″ cement tubes that we will use for the footings of the porch, so that means that I will be digging down 2 feet to the frost line, then mixing cement.  Lucky me, we at least have a little cement mixer that Lynn loves to operate.  You know it is one of those “man toys” of his.  I will take pictures of that this weekend when we get that far.  See I said “when”, not if….

Remember this is not the dream house, as that comes immediately after this back porch project is done.  This project has kinda demanded my attention as it is disintegrating before our very eyes.  That will be the last major repair project on the little house we live in.  Then its back to the “dream house,” and the fun lift.

I plan to get all my little projects done so that when I actually retire from my “paying job”, I can sit on my front porch (in the dream house of course) and drink iced tea and enjoy the view.

Until tomorrow,

Annie, the reluctant carpenter

The trials and tribulations of being a whimpy girl.

Well I got up this morning really excited because I thought it would be another beautiful day like yesterday and I could get lots done.  So we decided to run in to Home Depot first and get 5 squares of shingles and other miscellaneous do-it-yourself stuff.  The mornings are about 30 degrees so you can’t play outside when it’s that cold, so we go shopping.  $516 bucks later we arrive home.  Lynn is pooped and I want to get things done.  He hasn’t been feeling too good lately and I know that standing or walking is pretty much out of the question in the afternoon.

So armed with a pry bar, hammer, gloves, tin snips and a bottle of water, I head to the back porch.  Was pleasantly surprised that we wouldn’t have to replace the roof rafters, but needed to clean off a section and put up a 4X8 sheet of chip board.  Optimistic I could get it done myself, I waded into the deep end so to speak.  Cleaned off as much as I could reach on the ladder with a lot of reaching  and stretching but not quite as far as I wanted to get.  Don’t look forward to climbing on the roof, that’s when things get a little hairy.

Then the wind picks up and it starts to rain and I hear the fire siren which usually means a fire or flood or accident, or maybe a tornado.  Turned out to be a fire, probably a field fire from the looks of the smoke at a distance.  We have a wonderful volunteer fire department, hence the fire siren.

Oh, I hate tornadoes just a hair more than I hate heights and ladders.  Oh, I forgot to mention that in this post, but mentioned it in posts from last year.  So not feeling real comfortable on the ladder, I know that I need to get one of those for 4X8 sheets of chip board from the dream house to my back yard.  About 300 feet, and Lynn just isn’t up to it.  I don’t want the rain to drip all through the roof.  Darned old weatherman, I would like to throttle him.  Though I did expect rain tomorrow but the rest of the week is supposed to get better.  In the high 50’s.

Called Troy my step-son who lives about 1,000 feet away to come help me with the 4X8 sheet.  Really hate to as for help, as that is when I feel like a sissy girl.  If it doesn’t require a lot of brawn, I can handle it, and I keep forgetting that I am a card carrying member of AARP and have been for a few years.  That would be I’m ‘old’ for those too young to know what AARP stands for.  Will work tomorrow, then may take a few days off to get more done.  We’ll see how it goes and play it by ear.

Well there were wood shingles covered by at least two layers of asphalt shingles then on top of that about 3 inches of dirt and all the vines running through it.  Good rich loam.  Potting soil.

I have a vision of how I want to do the back porch and it is going to look great.  I’m an optimist.  Can’t wait to show it off when it is finished.  I hope it will be finished within the month.  Also, I have Home Depot searching to see if they can match some of the fascia trim around the roof as some of it has rotted through.  Oh, and I found square nails when I was tearing the stuff off.   This house was built in 1898 which is old for the west coast.  This town was just settled in 1865.

Off to my real job tomorrow so probably won’t up date until next weekend unless I take a few days off.

Just thought I would add a photo of me finishing my first and only 10k.  On St. Patrick’s day 2010, if I am remembering correctly.  Since I don’t want to share any pictures of the porch until I finish it, you will have to settle for my backside.

Ann, the whimpy roofer.