Well, we finished the fence in the paddock and returned April to the front pasture. She was one happy girl as she pranced around in her fifedom.
Lynn and I finished that part of the fence and now I have a bigger right bicep than Rosie the Riveter, from swinging that 16 pound framing hammer. I hope April doesn’t see this as a challenge that she can destroy as fast, well faster, than I can rebuild.
Weather predicts that next week will be in the upper fifties and mid sixties. It is warm enough to mend more fences. I think if I even mentioned that to Lynn he would have a melt-down.
But that is on the to-do list for next spring. Along with a lot of landscaping. Got to get this stuff done before I retire, because I just plan to sit in the rocking chair on the front porch and drink sweet tea. Maybe putter in the flower beds and garden. Oh the life of leisure awaits me. What a sweet fantasy, now back to the real world.
Another thing I have planned for next year is getting the railing around the front porch, a ramp, finish painting the house, garage, shop, stable and getting the garage cleaned out so I can actually park my car in there. That’s a novel idea, actually being able to park my car in there. Just don’t know if I can get Lynn to part with some of his treasures that he has packed away for 30+ years, so I can make that happen.
I keep thinking and am coming up with more things that need to be done. So I better cut this blog short before I think of anything else. So here are the pictures.
April in the front pastureI’ve got her attention.She comes a running for grain
She such a pretty girl.Pretty girl has a knot in her tail.It actually looks better in personThis is a little better angle. When spring comes and it’s painted it will look much better.You are going to give me grain, aren’t you?She’s actually in the paddock. If you look real close you can see her.
I hope you had a wonderful long weekend. It is now coming to an end and it will be back to work again tomorrow.
How about this year? Is it going as quickly for you as it seems to be going for me? Busy busy busy. So here is the progress that I accomplished this weekend.
Spent Saturday painting boards, putting up fences, and moving earth, from one spot to another. Our mower is broken and the weeds are getting higher by the day. We have about 7 acres of tall weeds. It is really beginning to bug me. All the money that we have is going into the house now and there just isn’t room in the budget for another riding mower, this year. Hopefully, between Lynn and Troy, they will figure it out this week. In the meantime I am still working on the fence.
Sunday was about the same as Saturday. Except that the light fixture in the other house blew the breaker and was smoking. Not a good sign. Oh, did I mention, I don’t do electrical. That and skill saws. Nope, I don’t do either of those. Apparently Steven doesn’t do them either. So this appears to be a job for Lynn, so on Monday (today) we headed to our favorite spot, Home Depot, for a new fixture. We should have taken the old fixture off first to see what was needed, but that would have been too easy. Got the wrong fixture, so it’s back to the store tomorrow. Ugh, I hate taking things back.
On the plus side, I found a lucky penny, so maybe that will count for something.
So actually, my weekend was busy and boring. I hope to have more to write about next week. Take care and here are some pictures, I snapped today.
My first yellow rose.
This is a maple tree we grew from a sapling. Getting big.
My first pinkish rose.This is a big deal for me as I have never been able to grow roses. Especially yellow, my favorite.5-24-15 some progress. But I got them a little out of line. So some will be a do-over.A view from a different angle.
Well, that’s all folks. Hope to post more progress next week.
I talked to the contractor and it looks like they may finish up by Friday. That is the target date so far. The plumbers and electricians have some hook-up work to do. The electrician has almost everything installed. I just asked him to switch out the light fixture in the entryway and that will take some creative ladder work to get to the ceiling as the railings are up now.
The plumbers, on the other hand, have a lot to install. 1 toilet, 3 tubs, 4 vanities, one small wet bar, one dryer vent, a dishwasher, garbage disposal, and last but not least a geo-thermal water heater that runs off the heat pump. Supposed to be economical. Lord knows I need economical after the really large heat bills. I am hoping that was resolved with the correct thermostats. A $799 heat bill for one month almost gave me heart failure. As my dear son points out, “Mom you are 60+.” I thanked him very much and told him I would out-work him any day. No argument from him. Kids these days are soft. Huh, Steven?
Well, I do have to say, I like having him help me. So here is what I/we have done this weekend:
I will begin with easy first. We unboxed the microwave and put it on a shelf. I told you I was beginning with the easy part. Then, we unboxed the trash compactor and wiggled it until we got it in the cabinets. Steven did the wiggling. Then we unboxed and muscled the freezer into the utility room. I was so ready for a new freezer as we are still using the one we bought 26 years ago. I hope this one lasts that long.
Now on to the study as Steven had finished up the caulking and I finished with the primer and the final coat on the window ledges and baseboards. That just makes 2 rooms that are actually (completely) done with the painting before the carpet goes in. The rest of the house will have to be done later. The outside will be finished up this summer. Promise.
Now for the pictures.
Stairs are coming together. When the pieces are sanded, the staining will follow
Looking toward the one guest suite upstairsMy favorite part. The reading nook.Another view of the stairsThe light that will be hanging over the pool tableAnother beautiful view of the back pastures, through the bonus room. aka Lynn’s man-caveThis is the view from the reading nook
Where did December go? I was supposed to rest in December!! And you know, winter is my time to hibernate. No hibernating and I really get cranky. Just has Lynn. If our marriage survives this last 7 months it can survive a lifetime. I have totally lost my sense of humor, and I broke a mirror so that may be responsible. I wonder if you have the mirror replaced, does that help take away some of the bad luck?
Can’t wait to show you pictures of the carpeting and the finished kitchen.
Wow, that was a fast 9 days. Of course I didn’t get as much accomplished as I always envision, but inching along still.
Did caulking, painting, assembling vanities, celebrating the hubby’s Birthday, making Thanksgiving dinner, and brushing the dog. The last part was my favorite, but needless to say, not her’s. I try to be gentle, but she just hates to be brushed. She’s sleeping at my feet right now so our struggles wore her out.
Can’t say much for our weather the last few days. Had some snow and some melted and it will be dry probably until Tuesday when rain is predicted. I’ve had enough of winter already, looking forward to spring. It is in the single digits outside. Ugh 😦
Not much in the way of pictures on the house, but I do have some showing the beautiful snow while I was painting.
Our snow fall looking out the bonus room windowLooking out the front window at the front pastureApril enjoying her second snow of the yearMy sewing room window
I have come to the realization that it’s a good thing I am a Paralegal, because I would starve as a painter. There is no end in sight for anytime in the near future. While winter is here I will be spending my weekends painting the interior. When spring comes, I will be renting a lift and finishing the rest of the outside of the house. If I am able to sell the house we are in or get a long-term renter, I hope to have a new lawn. Well here are some more photos.
Looking out the back bedroom window over the upper deck after the snow with clear cold skys
Looking across the highwayAnother shot out the bonus room windows looking at the back acreageA big cottonwood tree in the back pastureTrim primed in the upstairs hallAnother shot of the hallHall sconcePretty all lit up.
Well that’s pretty much all for November. Tomorrow is December, and it looks like I won’t be resting until next December. Ho hum.
I intended to make this a productive weekend. Yea!! And it was!! Never get as much done as I want, but that is just my expectations, which don’t always go with my endurance and capabilities.
Saturday
Got up early and went to Home Depot for siding which will be put on the ceiling of the back porch (in the house we live in) rebuilt last year. Yep, still haven’t finished that project yet, but I am in the process of remedying that fact. Lynn cut a whole for the back porch light (that’s progress) I have only been reminding him every weekend for 6 months. Bought 6 pieces of siding. One to complete the wall and the other 5 to use for the ceiling.
Bare ceiling. Going to remedy that.
Then we stopped at the Sun Rental Center and rented a sheet-rock lift to help hold up the siding while I nail it on.
First thing was to paint 1 piece of siding white to finish the walls of the back porch. Then I had to put 2 coats of ceiling paint (kind of a dark greenish gray) on the remaining siding. Only got 2 of those completed. After each coat of paint I would do yard work while waiting for them to dry. Got a lot accomplished. Exhausted when I finally went inside at 5:30 and made hamburgers for dinner.
Unpainted siding
Sunday
Got up early to go grocery shopping. While waiting for Lynn to get ready, I was able to put 1 coat on the next piece of siding. Went shopping, dropped some groceries off at work for lunches next week, got my car washed and finally made it back home. Quickly put the groceries away, dropped a load in the washer, changed into my painting clothes, and was back at it. Got the remaining boards painted, again doing yard work while they dried between each coat. Wow, the yard is actually looking like someone takes a little pride in their home. I hated all the things left outside when my porch project finished last year. Due to running out of time and all the back and forth trips to the hospital with Lynn, many things were left unfinished. But it is looking better now.
Last thing I accomplished this weekend (besides the domestic duties) was to assemble the sheet-rock lift. The nice guy at the Sun Rental Center showed me how to put the 3 pieces together. Still had it in my head, so I wanted to get it assembled before I forgot what he showed me. That little gizmo is heavy and complicated, but I hope it works.
Sheet-rock lift
What I thought I could accomplish in a weekend, is going to take me a week. Ugh.
Well another week of construction ended Friday, and the weekend flew by. The weekend was not as productive as the week, so I will take you through the week first.
The construction on the outside concluded on Thursday with just a few more (80) shakes to finish. Meaning I under estimated and we were short. Back to the scroll saw and back to painting the shingles. So I was pretty busy. I’ll rest in December 😦
Told Gabriel (Construction Foreman) that I would have them done by Monday. Um, I didn’t quite make it. I have 70 cut, primed, and one coat of the red trim. What is left is to finish them is: one more coat of red paint then two coats of the sage green. Maybe Wednesday
Although the weekend was busy, it was by no means uneventful. While I was becoming a master scroll sawer, (I know it’s not a real word) Lynn was changing the sprinklers in the front pasture and happened down the drive way in front of the house and noticed a wet spot. As we have had wind for 2 straight days and no rain since Friday, the driveway was dry except for THAT spot. That spot was approximately where Lynn had buried the water line to the house about 15 years ago when we began hooking up the water. Well to make a long story short, I believe that we have a busted water pipe. So Lynn turned off the water and we will have to speak to the plumber. Well what can I say, just another thing to deal with. I’ll rest in December.
Sunday: Lynn was mowing the grass while I was in the house priming the shakes, when I heard a banging on the porch. Of course I was plugged into my I-Pod listening to an audio book, totally ignoring my phone and someone was beating on the porch. Looking out, Lynn was sitting on the edge of the porch, ticked at me because I hadn’t answered my phone. Not only ticked but had a big cut across the palm of his hand. He managed to run over the electric cord and had it wound around the blade on the mower and when he tried to take it off he cut his hand. Could have been a whole lot worse as he is on blood thinner. So, I then became his nurse and bandaged his palm, kissed the bo-bo and the rest of the weekend went with out a hitch. At least the last 6 hours. Oh, and he fixed the extension cord so he could keep the irrigation well running. That’s my Lynn
Will post more pictures next week.
Meeting with the electrician tomorrow morning for a walk through of the house. Eye yi yi, I hope Gabriel is in a good mood tomorrow. 🙂
This is the first week having the contractor on site. Amazing what strong healthy people can get accomplished. Especially when they know what they’re doing. The front of the house is almost done, and the east side of the house is complete. I am loving it. It appears that they will work on the back of the house this week. S & K Mountain Construction is amazing.
East side of the house. Kitchen side on 6-22-14
Looks like I have a whole lot of painting to do. That is my job. Did a little this weekend under the front porch. More pictures on that later. Spent yesterday putting a second coat of white under the eves of the front porch. That is coming along really slow.
Today I spent the morning cleaning up some of the rooms inside, waiting for the sun to move around to the east side of the house. The contractors has a mess that they came into with the house. They did an amazing job cleaning it up. I was just going over some of the rooms that we still had stuff in that needed to be moved to the shop. We left a mess for them to come into. But is is coming along better now.
In the afternoon, I taped off some of the eves and put on a coat of primer. Some of them had actually been primed and painted but the primer didn’t hold up. That was before I found the Kilz Primer. I won’t use anything else, now that I have tested it on the posts and on the shop trim. The placement of our house faces south and that is the extreme weather side. We get strong winds and rain coming out of the south and it is very hard to get paint to adhere to the wood. Over the last 25 years I have had the occasion to try many primers and Kilz is the only one that has held up.
Front finished except for the shakes on the gables 6-22-14Front of the house on 6-22-14
One of the things I am going to have to work on is the posts. Remember they have to be taken apart and a solid core put inside and then glued together and sanded, bondo, and more sanding, then priming and painting. They are very labor intensive, but that is what happens when you think you are getting a bargain and you are just buying something cheaply made. The glue didn’t hold up and they began coming apart. That is when we found they were also hollow. They are much stronger when redone. That means I have to set up an area where I can work on them. Which means that I will be venturing into my husband’s man-cave. But first I need to clear a path, into this sacred space to be able to set up my saw horse table. Ugh, that will take a weekend in itself. Stay tuned.
Back of the house. Will probably be completed this week.
I will take some photos of the inside of the house next week. This way we will have some before and after photos to record this amazing journey.
Busy weekend. Trying to get some of the porch work done. The roof is done. Yeah, I am a happy girl. Did some painting on the balusters, posts, 2×4’s and painted the fascia board. Cleaned up some of the yard. There just isn’t enough time to get it all done. Will be taking down the scaffolding and moving it around to the side of the house, so I can work on the fascia boards that need repairing. I think I will need to take some time off to get it done.
The weather here in the beautiful great northwest is starting to turn. It has been in the high 30’s at night, but will be in the high 60’s during the day for the rest of this week. It is just a matter of time before it will be too cold to work outside. For me, that is. I am hot house plant, and don’t like the cold.
Yesterday I did a little bit of painting but just couldn’t get my mind into it. But, this morning I was raring to go. Although, I did have a couple of detours before noon. You know those detours are a necessity, but then I am back on task.
First detour, I found a deep whole in the horse pasture that could have resulted in injuring one of our horses. So it was checking the depths and making sure the whole was filled completely. Wasn’t sure if it was from water or moles. It was deep and went in a couple of directions, so that took some pounding down and filling.
Second detour was when I was in the pasture, I saw that our little 6 month old colt was getting a hay belly. He needed exercising. My husband is the horsey person. I love to watch them but don’t have a clue what to do with them. Well we both had a lesson today. He is stubborn as a mule and probably knew he had a novice cowgirl. It was fun though and I got the exercise, trying to get him to move. Gave him a little love and brushing and all was good and I was ready to go back to doing something I know how to do, painting!
Ann & Cheyenne 10-06-2013
Well, as always I wanted to get more done, but all-in-all, it was a productive weekend.
It gets dark about 1 hour after I get home in the evenings and that time is decreasing daily. Add that to the fact that I am plumb tuckered out by then also. So another priority is that we get some porch lights up. It gets dark out here in the country and I don’t like walking from my car to the porch in the dark. I’m clumsy enough when I can see, much less when it is dark out.
Now for the porch pictures:
The 2×4’s for the railingsThe balustersThe fascia board is painted green. Love my porch.
Well, I have the next 7 days off and I’m hoping to get some progress on the porch. Though the temperatures will be in the upper 90’s, it is at least a dry heat and we can somewhat work in the shade. Went to Home Depot yesterday and picked up more lumber and paint, plus ordered the crown molding that goes on the fascia.
Today I was excited about cleaning the house exterior which will actually be covered up. Then preparing the eaves by washing, scrapping and painting. Didn’t get too far in it when I was moving the ladder with the hammer still on the top. You guessed it!! The klutz that I am, the hammer fell on my head. Couldn’t believe I did that. I said some pretty awful swear words and got a gash of about 1 inch with lots of blood. Maybe the elderly shouldn’t be allowed to have sharp heavy implements. Or should be monitored closely. Remember a couple of weeks ago when Lynn accidentally hit me in the head with the 4 foot pipe clamp? Well, I had just gotten over that. Now this. Ugh, I think I will be getting a head ache from this one. I’m just glad it was my little hammer verses Lynn’s framing hammer.
You know when you are working on a 100+ year old house, you are going to find some remuddling. Well we didn’t escape that. Where the fascia boards and crown molding will go, the carpentry was cobbled up. it appears that maybe they couldn’t do it right from being on the roof so there is about a 2 inch difference in the opening from one end of the porch to the other. It is something we will have to just do some adapting because to do it the way it should be done would require reworking the whole roof on the house. That isn’t happening. The part that will needs to be modified is not structural. Somewhere along the line, someone put a pony wall in and laid the roof rafters on that which is well done. It was cobbling the extension of about 6 inches to accommodate the crown molding that is done incorrectly. The underneath fascia is straight and level, so that will stay. When you find something level on an old house you want to leave it alone. So I did get more old rotten trim boards off and a couple more will be coming down. So I washed then primed the fascia board with Kilz Premium Primer, (the best primer) and put one coat of paint which is a sage green/grey. I Like earth tones. I hope it will all come together in the end.
While I was doing the cleaning, scraping and painting on the eaves, Lynn was replacing the floor in our horse trailer. That needs to be repaired before we go on our trip in August to pick-up on 4 month old colt. We are naming him Cheyenne. I will post a picture of him when he was just a few weeks old. What a beauty he is. It has sparked some new life in Lynn. Something to look forward to.
Speaking of Lynn, we will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary on Tuesday. With all our projects and working on building our dream home and all the other projects in between, I am surprised we haven’t throttled each other. Those 25 years went really fast as I look back on it. We lost both our mothers, survived a major flood in 1996, back surgery in 2004, heart surgery for a stint in 2008 and numerous other life events. But the fact that it appears to have gone by quickly says that it was a happy 25 years.
More in a couple of days.
Annie, the klutzy carpenter.
1975 horse trailerLynn’s photo-opFascia problemsThe other end of the fascia
This weekend saw a little progress. You know unless I am seeing a lot of physical progress, I refer to it as “a little.” Yesterday after grocery shopping and having lunch, I went outside and screwed down the remaining decking. Of course it took a couple of hours. Slow but sure. As I get older, it takes longer to get things done.
Today, I painted the 7 posts that I have for the porch. They are 4X6 posts that will be used for the upright posts and the headers that the ceiling joists will be sitting on. I know, confusing right? At least it is for me, so I have to think about it and roll it around in my mind. I see it kinda like a puzzle and all the pieces have to be put together in the proper order and, you just can’t rush it. I am learning patients, everyday.
On another front when I was cooling off after lunch, I was cruising the internet in search of fascia moldings. We have to replace the 5 inch molding along the roof line. It has held up for 100 years and is finally looking tattered and torn. In other words awful really really awful!! We need to replace about 60 to 70 feet of it. Of course I am not finding the exact pattern. I think we will probably have to substitute something similar. We cannot afford to have someone duplicate it exactly. Even the ones that they have in the DIY centers are expensive. It’s on the weather side of the house, so I would rather have pvc or urethane as it would hold up in the weather. On the weather sides, we have a hard time keeping paint on wood. I am open to any suggestions or if you are aware of a company that is affordable, I am all ears.
I am attaching photos of which I am truly embarrassed to be showing, that we have let it get this bad. But the inside of this home had been the focus, then the front porch, now the back porch. In between times we are working on the dream house. I hope I at least get most of those projects finished by the time I retire. That gives me about 4 years.
Back to painting. I began painting some of the slats that will be on the railings on the back porch. I finished 27 of them. As with all my painting now, I begin with Kilz Premium Primer. It is the best I have ever used. It is exceptional in adhering to the raw wood and makes a great foundation for paint. It also has to wear off my hands. I tried many primers over the years and finally saw this primer in Fine Home Building Magazine. If you ever need really good information, that is the magazine to buy. We have found lots of good information in there.
I follow the primer with Behr Paint Semi Gloss from Home Depot . We have so much dust here that the Semi Gloss sheds the dust easiest. It has shown to be a good paint and holds up well. I don’t get the paint with the primer in it as that is unnecessary when using the Kilz Premium Primer. We shop at Home Depot as it is the only DIY center close to us.
Next weekend begins my vacation. I am going to take a week off to work on the porch and celebrate our 25th Anniversary. 25 years of DIY, I am surprised we have made it this long, working together on these project we tend to have some short tempers. My husband is dreading it, because he said I am trying to work him to death. He dreads the weekends and says he feels guilty if he isn’t out there working alongside of me. That bothers me because I don’t want him to feel that way. I know that he does as much as he can, I just wish we could afford to pay someone to get this done, but until I win the lottery, I guess this is as good as it get. I think you have to play the lottery to win, hmmm, I guess we won’t be winning the lottery any time soon. Hopefully, we will include a few fun things, like going to breakfast at the Maple Counter and lunch or dinner at a good restaurant. Can’t be all work and not play.
Well it is back to work tomorrow (the paying job) for another week, then some much needed vacation time.
Until next weekend, stay out of the heat, and I’ll see you later.
Annie, the happy porch lady 🙂
Final coats on the postsSlats being primedPosts are doneSlats are doneSad looking trimMissing trimAbove the porch.
15yearsandcountingdream 