I am still sick, so nothing is getting done, even though I had the day off. I still didn't get my co-worker's brother called about working on the kitchen countertop, must do that tomorrow. I wanted to get some shoe boxes at Big Lots to work on putting my one closet back together, but we went out to the mall and ended up spending more time there than I planned, and I was totally exhausted. I have to drive right by Big Lots on my way home from work, so hopefully I will remember and stop tomorrow. That will give me something to work on for Sunday.
Last night I couldn't sleep so I ended up putting away clothes and rearranging things in my closet at midnight. Then after that, I spent some quality time trying to figure out what all needed to be done to finish off around the dishwasher. Somehow we need to put in two little (or depending on where we move the dishwasher maybe 1) piece(s) of wood as blanks in the row of cabinets. I think this needs to be done BEFORE the countertop is installed, so actually it will be a two part process. First put in the blanks, then cut and install the counter. I tried to figure out how to put in the blanks and have a few ideas, but I think I need to leave that to someone with more woodworking experience. I would love to get this project FINISHED. I am still living in the land of partially completed projects, which I do not like. All the rain has made working on the railing impossible, so I'm not as worried about that (plus I've basically been too sick to even go out the side door so I haven't really seen it), but I would like to do something about the bathroom floor. I did talk to Neil about that when he was hanging the lights and he said we would need to pull the toilet. So, basically that is on hold until I can get him back out here for a full day. I think right now my plan for that would be to have him work on the outdoor outlet and maybe my dream of a laundry room light while we work tiling the floor. Right now that is all in the future, at this point probably not until February. I will just have to live with plywood in the bathroom until then.
The good news for the yard is we once again had rain today. This is fantastic as I haven't watered for several weeks now. Hope the rain keeps up until I get healthy! I do have a whole bag of bulbs that I have not gotten planted, irises and some left over tulips from my presentation at work. I guess I will dump them in the ground and they will either come up or not. Mom did notice a few weeks ago that my paperwhites under the pear tree have started to send up foliage. I hope they bloom this year.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
more decorating
Here are some pictures of the decorations we have up in the kitchen. We also added a few prints to the walls last week.
My collection of baskets. The far right one is a handmade kudzu basket from Georgia:
The quail, the chicken and a teapot. The quail and chicken are Taylor & Ng pieces my mom bought in San Francisco in the 1960s at Takahashi Main Street. We finally located them in storage just recently. The teapot is possibly from Japantown in SF.
In other kitchen news, my co-worker talked to her brother and he thinks he can install the patch piece of kitchen countertop. I need to call him as he wants to look at it to make sure he can do it. The other problem I have is that I can only find the countertop piece in a 6 foot section, which is way more than I need. I'd love to find a 4 foot section as it is a lot cheaper, but no one seems to carry the 4 foot sections in white.
My collection of baskets. The far right one is a handmade kudzu basket from Georgia:
The quail, the chicken and a teapot. The quail and chicken are Taylor & Ng pieces my mom bought in San Francisco in the 1960s at Takahashi Main Street. We finally located them in storage just recently. The teapot is possibly from Japantown in SF.
In other kitchen news, my co-worker talked to her brother and he thinks he can install the patch piece of kitchen countertop. I need to call him as he wants to look at it to make sure he can do it. The other problem I have is that I can only find the countertop piece in a 6 foot section, which is way more than I need. I'd love to find a 4 foot section as it is a lot cheaper, but no one seems to carry the 4 foot sections in white.
lights finally hung!
Neil came out this morning and we finally got the living room light hung and got the dining room light hung as well. As it turns out, we probably could have hung the dining room light ourselves, but due to the mess in the living room and not knowing what was up there, it was far easier to have Neil do it. He got the dining room light hung first, then tackled the living room light.
The living room light was a bit more of a situation, as there was no box in the ceiling, guess the previous fixtures had been screwed directly into the ceiling? So first, a box was put in. Then he ran some new wire over the the fixture up in the attic, which is always fun as it has such a small entrance. After that, it wasn't too much, just getting the lamp wire cut to the right length and getting the chains set at the right length. The fixture was obviously designed to hang in rooms with VERY high ceilings, as each chain was over 5 feet long. Yikes! We used only 1/2 of one chain to hang the whole fixture.
All the recent home repairs and improvments have been a tad more costly than I was expecting, so other than total do it yourself projects, I think I will be taking time off from home improvement for a while. Once I have some money saved up again, I need to get Neil back to pull up the toilet so we can finish tiling the bathroom, see about installing a light in the laundry room and do something about finishing out the around the dishwasher. Then of course there is always the shack. Somewhere in here, I'd like to get the attic insulated, something I sometimes think will never get done...
As far as anything soon goes, I'm still pretty sick with my cold/whatever. I went to the Dr today, but the prescriptions she wrote for me were non-generics that were $40 a piece, so I called to see if she could give me something else, but she had left for the day. I took some old meds I found. I'm pretty exhausted from being sick and don't think I'll be tackling anything around the house in the next week or so at least. Thank goodness we got another 1/2" of rain last night, as I'm not up to watering either right now.
The living room light was a bit more of a situation, as there was no box in the ceiling, guess the previous fixtures had been screwed directly into the ceiling? So first, a box was put in. Then he ran some new wire over the the fixture up in the attic, which is always fun as it has such a small entrance. After that, it wasn't too much, just getting the lamp wire cut to the right length and getting the chains set at the right length. The fixture was obviously designed to hang in rooms with VERY high ceilings, as each chain was over 5 feet long. Yikes! We used only 1/2 of one chain to hang the whole fixture.
All the recent home repairs and improvments have been a tad more costly than I was expecting, so other than total do it yourself projects, I think I will be taking time off from home improvement for a while. Once I have some money saved up again, I need to get Neil back to pull up the toilet so we can finish tiling the bathroom, see about installing a light in the laundry room and do something about finishing out the around the dishwasher. Then of course there is always the shack. Somewhere in here, I'd like to get the attic insulated, something I sometimes think will never get done...As far as anything soon goes, I'm still pretty sick with my cold/whatever. I went to the Dr today, but the prescriptions she wrote for me were non-generics that were $40 a piece, so I called to see if she could give me something else, but she had left for the day. I took some old meds I found. I'm pretty exhausted from being sick and don't think I'll be tackling anything around the house in the next week or so at least. Thank goodness we got another 1/2" of rain last night, as I'm not up to watering either right now.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
sick for Christmas
I had 4 days off at Christmas and I had all sorts of plans. I was going to finish the railing, work out in the yard, maybe even look at trying to wire up the outdoor outlet myself.
Then I got sick and stayed sick. Four whole days off and I've been out in the yard for about 3 minutes. Luckily we got some rain earlier this week so I didn't have to water. None of my projects even got thought about, I didn't even retouch the paint in the bathroom where I caulked last weekend.
The work in the kitchen also cost a bit more than I had initially expected and it is not finished, nor is the bathroom retiled. Those will have to wait at least until after the new year. I had also wanted to get some more frames to finish putting up art in the living and dining rooms. Also tabled... We haven't even gone through the framed artwork we have here at the house to decide what we want to hang.
Pretty much a total waste of 4 straight days off from work. I'm planning to go to the doctor tomorrow AM, as I'm still sick, though it seems to have moved more into my chest now. I really don't feel good.
Then I got sick and stayed sick. Four whole days off and I've been out in the yard for about 3 minutes. Luckily we got some rain earlier this week so I didn't have to water. None of my projects even got thought about, I didn't even retouch the paint in the bathroom where I caulked last weekend.
The work in the kitchen also cost a bit more than I had initially expected and it is not finished, nor is the bathroom retiled. Those will have to wait at least until after the new year. I had also wanted to get some more frames to finish putting up art in the living and dining rooms. Also tabled... We haven't even gone through the framed artwork we have here at the house to decide what we want to hang.
Pretty much a total waste of 4 straight days off from work. I'm planning to go to the doctor tomorrow AM, as I'm still sick, though it seems to have moved more into my chest now. I really don't feel good.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
more work around the house, hiding the formica
Today was still very cold, so no work outside. We did get almost 1 1/2" of rain yesterday, so that was very good and I did not have to worry about watering at all today.
The area of the wall I patched is looking good, but when I held the outlet cover up, I realized that I also needed to patch above the outlet, so I did that and then left it to dry. With the wall patching still drying, that left me looking for something else to do instead of painting, as that would have to wait.
We have several large boxes that have been in the living room since we moved and several other boxes we had brought over to go through "later". I decided that "later" had definitely come and we worked most of the morning going through the boxes of kitchen, desk and just misc stuff, deciding what to keep, what to give to Goodwill, what to take back to storage and what to toss. In the end, I had a small box for Goodwill, one of the big boxes 1/2 full for storage and a full garbage bag, plus some new things in the kitchen and the desk. The living room looks SO much nicer without the boxes sitting there. I hid the piece of formica my mom uses as a table under the loveseat. I just hope we can remember where it is if we need it!
I also want to do something about all the artwork we have needing to be framed. I had some 11 x 14 black frames I had purchased for some of my mom's old photos, but they turned out to be 8 X 10. So, I found two saluki prints, one which is a cheap knock off version of the real print and I've never been happy with, and one that I need to mat as it is an odd size. The print whose quality I wasn't happy with was 11 X 14 and fit perfectly in the frame. I hung it in the kitchen up fairly high on the far wall. The colors look great and from that distance you can't tell that the clarity is not all it could be. The print that needs to be matted is almost large enough for the frame. I need to get a piece of acid free white paper to put behind it, but for now there is just a tiny edge of cardboard. I hung that on the wall you pass closest to when you walk into the kitchen. I think it looks great there. We also found an old southwestern themed trivet that we hung on the wall above the telephone.
I also rehung the framed tile that we have always thought looked like Bally. It now hangs in the dining room facing the keyholder tile of a red saluki.
I have another piece of saluki artwork that will look good in the laundry room, but it is in a very thick mat. I've had a bit of trouble finding a frame that it will fit in, at a good price. I'll check Garden Ridge after Christmas and see what I can find. We also got our order of 3 large posters this week, two of which will go in the dining room. But, they will run about $25 each for the frames, so they will have to wait a bit. I did find two nice smaller frames for a few pieces of art in my mom's room. I purchased 3 11 X 14 black frames I had hoped would work for the Ruritania ads that I want to frame up in my room, but I will need a 16 X 20 frame for them, so I have to return those. I'm still not sure exactly what I am doing in my room, as I am waiting to get a new frame so I can FINALLY frame up 'Azali's Domain'. Again, that will have to wait a little bit.
After dinner, the patching was dry so I was able to paint that area of the wall and touch up where I had caulking yesterday. I also touched up the bathroom, but the wall there was stripped back to the wallboard and I think it might require a second coat of paint.
Mom did a lot of work in her room today and there is a lot more space. There is still tons of stuff that needs to be put somewhere. That is our major problem... no storage space. I am hoping we can figure out how to use the space in the dining room closet better once the lamp and its box are out of there. Speaking of the living room lamp, I am hoping we will get it hung this week if we can get Neil back out here. I also bought a lamp on ebay, but I don't think that will be here in time for him to hang, but I should be able to hang it myself, just have to figure out what to do with the ground wire.
The area of the wall I patched is looking good, but when I held the outlet cover up, I realized that I also needed to patch above the outlet, so I did that and then left it to dry. With the wall patching still drying, that left me looking for something else to do instead of painting, as that would have to wait.
We have several large boxes that have been in the living room since we moved and several other boxes we had brought over to go through "later". I decided that "later" had definitely come and we worked most of the morning going through the boxes of kitchen, desk and just misc stuff, deciding what to keep, what to give to Goodwill, what to take back to storage and what to toss. In the end, I had a small box for Goodwill, one of the big boxes 1/2 full for storage and a full garbage bag, plus some new things in the kitchen and the desk. The living room looks SO much nicer without the boxes sitting there. I hid the piece of formica my mom uses as a table under the loveseat. I just hope we can remember where it is if we need it!
I also want to do something about all the artwork we have needing to be framed. I had some 11 x 14 black frames I had purchased for some of my mom's old photos, but they turned out to be 8 X 10. So, I found two saluki prints, one which is a cheap knock off version of the real print and I've never been happy with, and one that I need to mat as it is an odd size. The print whose quality I wasn't happy with was 11 X 14 and fit perfectly in the frame. I hung it in the kitchen up fairly high on the far wall. The colors look great and from that distance you can't tell that the clarity is not all it could be. The print that needs to be matted is almost large enough for the frame. I need to get a piece of acid free white paper to put behind it, but for now there is just a tiny edge of cardboard. I hung that on the wall you pass closest to when you walk into the kitchen. I think it looks great there. We also found an old southwestern themed trivet that we hung on the wall above the telephone.
I also rehung the framed tile that we have always thought looked like Bally. It now hangs in the dining room facing the keyholder tile of a red saluki.
I have another piece of saluki artwork that will look good in the laundry room, but it is in a very thick mat. I've had a bit of trouble finding a frame that it will fit in, at a good price. I'll check Garden Ridge after Christmas and see what I can find. We also got our order of 3 large posters this week, two of which will go in the dining room. But, they will run about $25 each for the frames, so they will have to wait a bit. I did find two nice smaller frames for a few pieces of art in my mom's room. I purchased 3 11 X 14 black frames I had hoped would work for the Ruritania ads that I want to frame up in my room, but I will need a 16 X 20 frame for them, so I have to return those. I'm still not sure exactly what I am doing in my room, as I am waiting to get a new frame so I can FINALLY frame up 'Azali's Domain'. Again, that will have to wait a little bit.
After dinner, the patching was dry so I was able to paint that area of the wall and touch up where I had caulking yesterday. I also touched up the bathroom, but the wall there was stripped back to the wallboard and I think it might require a second coat of paint.
Mom did a lot of work in her room today and there is a lot more space. There is still tons of stuff that needs to be put somewhere. That is our major problem... no storage space. I am hoping we can figure out how to use the space in the dining room closet better once the lamp and its box are out of there. Speaking of the living room lamp, I am hoping we will get it hung this week if we can get Neil back out here. I also bought a lamp on ebay, but I don't think that will be here in time for him to hang, but I should be able to hang it myself, just have to figure out what to do with the ground wire.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
burying wire, re-caulking
I went to a Christmas party this morning, so my work on the house did not start until the afternoon. First up was a trip to Lowes to get some supplies (always need MORE things...). I got a 2 x 2 piece of particleboard that will serve as a temporary counter over the dishwasher until I get a piece of countertop and have it patched in there.
The wires for the new outlet above the dishwasher have been exposed and driving me crazy. Plus, I realized that having the wires on top of the wall would prevent any countertop from fitting up against the wall. So, a major plan for the day was to figure out how to bury the wires. I found out I could cut into the drywall, stick the wires down below the level of the drywall, then patch over it. I had to buy some new heavy duty blades for my utility knives, but I was able to get the drywall cut. There is a little twist to this, as typically when you cut back through the drywall, you would run into the empty space between the studs. In our case, the drywall in the kitchen was put up over existing beadboard, so the wires did not have a very big area. I ran into some problems when I was trying to put on the patch and finally figured out how to bend the wires so they fit in their little trough and was able to patch over the area pretty well. It did necessitate a second trip out to Lowes in the late afternoon, as I had not purchased patching material earlier, not knowing how big a hole I'd end up with. Once I got the wires bent, I was able to get the patches up with a bunch of spackle and left them to dry overnight.
My final project for the day was to do something about some poorly caulked areas. I bought a caulk removing tool and a caulk smoothing tool. I was able to get rid of almost all the old caulk on the left hand side of the sink. While I was at it, I got rid of some old wallpaper still hanging in there as well. I did manage to peel off a little paint but since I am painting the area where I patched the wall, that is not a big deal. I also removed the caulk from around the bathroom sink, which again took off a little of the paint.
The wires for the new outlet above the dishwasher have been exposed and driving me crazy. Plus, I realized that having the wires on top of the wall would prevent any countertop from fitting up against the wall. So, a major plan for the day was to figure out how to bury the wires. I found out I could cut into the drywall, stick the wires down below the level of the drywall, then patch over it. I had to buy some new heavy duty blades for my utility knives, but I was able to get the drywall cut. There is a little twist to this, as typically when you cut back through the drywall, you would run into the empty space between the studs. In our case, the drywall in the kitchen was put up over existing beadboard, so the wires did not have a very big area. I ran into some problems when I was trying to put on the patch and finally figured out how to bend the wires so they fit in their little trough and was able to patch over the area pretty well. It did necessitate a second trip out to Lowes in the late afternoon, as I had not purchased patching material earlier, not knowing how big a hole I'd end up with. Once I got the wires bent, I was able to get the patches up with a bunch of spackle and left them to dry overnight.My final project for the day was to do something about some poorly caulked areas. I bought a caulk removing tool and a caulk smoothing tool. I was able to get rid of almost all the old caulk on the left hand side of the sink. While I was at it, I got rid of some old wallpaper still hanging in there as well. I did manage to peel off a little paint but since I am painting the area where I patched the wall, that is not a big deal. I also removed the caulk from around the bathroom sink, which again took off a little of the paint.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
dishwasher installed
We now have a working dishwasher installed in our kitchen. We also have THREE working electrical outlets, instead of the one we have been making due with. One additional outlet was installed above the dishwasher and the outlet next to the stove that has never previously worked was reactivated. The dishwasher and two outlets are all hooked into the mystery panel under the house, which Neil says is safe.
My mom has done one full load of dishes so far. The leak in the sink drain is also supposedly fixed, so we are going to moniter that situation. If it is fixed, then we can remove the bucket and actually have some more storage space under the sink. There is still work to be done in the kitchen, as I need to figure out what I'm going to do about filling the space between the dishwasher and the wall and we still need to install an additional piece of countertop. Neil is going to come back out next week to work on the living room light and the outdoor outlet and I'm going to see if he can do the countertop at the same time, assuming I can find what I need a Lowes or Home Depot. I am pretty much running out of money for this project (not like I really had the money for it in the first place) but now that it is most of the way through I really need to finish it out.
In garden news, my Debutante camellia is blooming. I figure it is only blooming so early because I bought it from the nursery already heavily budded.
My mom has done one full load of dishes so far. The leak in the sink drain is also supposedly fixed, so we are going to moniter that situation. If it is fixed, then we can remove the bucket and actually have some more storage space under the sink. There is still work to be done in the kitchen, as I need to figure out what I'm going to do about filling the space between the dishwasher and the wall and we still need to install an additional piece of countertop. Neil is going to come back out next week to work on the living room light and the outdoor outlet and I'm going to see if he can do the countertop at the same time, assuming I can find what I need a Lowes or Home Depot. I am pretty much running out of money for this project (not like I really had the money for it in the first place) but now that it is most of the way through I really need to finish it out.
In garden news, my Debutante camellia is blooming. I figure it is only blooming so early because I bought it from the nursery already heavily budded.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
one post in
I left work early today and Neil was finishing up for the day when I got home. The leaking sewer pipe is now wrapped, with one little place that needs some additional tape. The newly leaking toilet was caused by a bent flange. That is now fixed and the toilet is back in place with a new wax seal. He also looked at the odd fuse box under the house, which he thinks is safe. The only things connected to it are some other weird box with a switch and the non-working outlet in the kitchen. We did discover that the wire on the back of the house that used to lead to the shack is hot, so that can be turned into an outdoor outlet.
The plan for Thursday is to do the drain plumbing and electrical work for the dishwasher. It is being delivered on Thursday. Then he will work on getting the outdoor outlet in and take a look at the light fixture wire in the living room. He did find the wires that were stuck up in the ceiling, but he wants to run some new wire, as that is really old wire.
After Neil left, we set to work on the handrail. I was worried whether or not I'd be able to drill into the concrete. That turned out not to be as much of a problem as the fact that the steps are made of concrete blocks, NOT poured concrete, so I ran into holes when I tried to drill. I had to slightly reposition the top post but after a bit of fiddling around, I was able to get the post attached to the top step. Because my step is not totally level, the post looks like it might be just slightly leaning.
I ran into some problems when I went to drill for the bottom post. First I dug out the dirt so the post would fit, but once I started drilling, I ran into nothing but holes. There simply is not enough solid concrete down a the end to drill into the secure the post, so I am going to have to set it in concrete. I will probably end up working on that this weekend. I am having second thoughts on whether or not I can cut the railings correctly. My mom thinks I can, but I will need to buy a miter box and I want a new hand saw, something that will be very sharp.
The plan for Thursday is to do the drain plumbing and electrical work for the dishwasher. It is being delivered on Thursday. Then he will work on getting the outdoor outlet in and take a look at the light fixture wire in the living room. He did find the wires that were stuck up in the ceiling, but he wants to run some new wire, as that is really old wire.
After Neil left, we set to work on the handrail. I was worried whether or not I'd be able to drill into the concrete. That turned out not to be as much of a problem as the fact that the steps are made of concrete blocks, NOT poured concrete, so I ran into holes when I tried to drill. I had to slightly reposition the top post but after a bit of fiddling around, I was able to get the post attached to the top step. Because my step is not totally level, the post looks like it might be just slightly leaning.
I ran into some problems when I went to drill for the bottom post. First I dug out the dirt so the post would fit, but once I started drilling, I ran into nothing but holes. There simply is not enough solid concrete down a the end to drill into the secure the post, so I am going to have to set it in concrete. I will probably end up working on that this weekend. I am having second thoughts on whether or not I can cut the railings correctly. My mom thinks I can, but I will need to buy a miter box and I want a new hand saw, something that will be very sharp.
Monday, December 10, 2007
operation handrail begins
Mom wants a handrail on the side steps, so I decided that (along with re-glazing windows) was going to be my next project. It is such super nice weather right now, like late spring or early summer that I said I wish I would take Wednesday off until 5 PM, but another co-worker is off. However, my boss did say that I could leave today (which I declined as I wasn't ready to work on any project) or tomorrow. I said tomorrow would be great.
I spent some time today looking at our home improvement books for examples of stair railings. Most of what I saw wasn't any help. So, off to Lowes after work. A nice (and cute!) guy in the lumber department said that yes, I did actually know what I was supposed to do to install the railings. I bought the two main pillars today to start out with. I also got some good help (always nice to find) from another employee who helped me pick out the right fasteners and find the right drill bit. I am all set for tomorrow now!
While I was shopping, Neil called and he will be over tomorrow, which is perfect because my mom has the day off. He said he is also free on Thursday and I said I might want him back then. He is going to deal with the sewer pipe first, then check out the toilet. Next task after that is going to be to see about getting the needed connections for the dishwasher. My dream would be that he would be able to get all the connections for the dishwasher done tomorrow so that we could then have the dishwasher delivered and have it hooked up on Thursday. The reality is probably more like maybe we can get all the dishwasher connections hooked up by Thursday, then have the dishwasher delivered and look into installing it ourselves...
I spent some time today looking at our home improvement books for examples of stair railings. Most of what I saw wasn't any help. So, off to Lowes after work. A nice (and cute!) guy in the lumber department said that yes, I did actually know what I was supposed to do to install the railings. I bought the two main pillars today to start out with. I also got some good help (always nice to find) from another employee who helped me pick out the right fasteners and find the right drill bit. I am all set for tomorrow now!
While I was shopping, Neil called and he will be over tomorrow, which is perfect because my mom has the day off. He said he is also free on Thursday and I said I might want him back then. He is going to deal with the sewer pipe first, then check out the toilet. Next task after that is going to be to see about getting the needed connections for the dishwasher. My dream would be that he would be able to get all the connections for the dishwasher done tomorrow so that we could then have the dishwasher delivered and have it hooked up on Thursday. The reality is probably more like maybe we can get all the dishwasher connections hooked up by Thursday, then have the dishwasher delivered and look into installing it ourselves...
Sunday, December 09, 2007
hut shingled
After getting a start on shingling on Wednesday, we were able to get all but the top row of shingles on the hut roof on Friday. This AM I ran out to get a tube of roofing cement and used it to glue down the top layer of shingles.
I finally watered the yard today. Due to the cool temps a few days of rain, it has been a while since I've actually watered. I remembered once I got started that I had had issues last time I tried, no water came out of the water wand. I thought it might be the bad hose I had on the inner part of the reel, but taking that off did not good. I tried using the wand without the quick connects and that didn't help either. So, my only a few month old water wand no longer works and I have no idea why. Something in the very top seems to be stopping the flow of water, but I can't find any way to take it apart. So, I'll have to return it. I used an old hose nozzle to water the yard and that took quite a while.
I finally got around to running some chicken wire along the inside of my side fence where it is the 4" squares. While that fencing will keep MY dogs in my yard, it will not keep my neighbors chihuahuas OUT of my yard. The little LITERAL ankle biters keep coming into my yard and getting right up to my fence. Of course my dogs want to fence fight with them and I have been worried that one of the little idiots might try to actually come into my yard or that one of my dogs might get their head through the fence and get one of the little pests. The new male Chi is particularly brave, though he has not bitten me yet. I'll have to see what happens the next time I'm working in my foundation beds... At least with the chicken wire up we should have no actual dog on dog violence at my side fence and everyone should be safe and sound.
I went out to Underwoods to price daphnes but after seeing the price, I figured out why I didn't get one last year. At that point, I was at a loss for what to do next. I want to get started on painting the windows again, but several of the windows need to be reglazed.
Once I got home I started trying to chip the old glazing out of the laundry room window and hoped that I wouldn't break the glass or cause it to fall. A lot of the glazing came away easily and some didn't want to come at all. I finally got all that I thought I'd be able to get off today off and then I got the tube of glazing I had purchased last year. I now understand why the glazing on the front windows looks like it does! In theory this glazing in a caulking gun is easy to use, but in practice it was a mess. Still, I guess there is less prep work than with traditional glazing and you can paint it with latex paint. I did get the parts of the window where I had removed glazing re-glazed, but I still need to remove more glazing from the top part of the window, which will require the ladder. This has been a project that I've wanted and needed to do for some time, as I have been afraid that the glass would fall right out of that window. Now I'm not as worried about that. I think I'm going to have to do similar work on the one kitchen window. Unfortunately, it will all be ladder work, as that is the highest window in the house.
When I was cleaning everything up, I managed to knock over one of my pots of coleus. So, it went outside to be repotted and I also repotted the croton that was sent home from my mom's work to see if I could help it. I took several other plants outside to water and they are out there now draining. I just need to remember to bring them inside before I got to bed. I did get some liquid plant food so I can feed my houseplants this winter. I will mix up a batch of it on Wednesday.
The really BAD news is that I noticed the toilet is leaking again. So far, the leak is confined to the little piece of wood we are going to remove when we tile, so that is good. I'm very glad we have not tiled yet but I am a bit concerned about what the problem could be. The sewer pipe leak continues as well. I called Neil today and he said he will know tomorrow if he can get out here this week. I sure hope he can.
I finally watered the yard today. Due to the cool temps a few days of rain, it has been a while since I've actually watered. I remembered once I got started that I had had issues last time I tried, no water came out of the water wand. I thought it might be the bad hose I had on the inner part of the reel, but taking that off did not good. I tried using the wand without the quick connects and that didn't help either. So, my only a few month old water wand no longer works and I have no idea why. Something in the very top seems to be stopping the flow of water, but I can't find any way to take it apart. So, I'll have to return it. I used an old hose nozzle to water the yard and that took quite a while.
I finally got around to running some chicken wire along the inside of my side fence where it is the 4" squares. While that fencing will keep MY dogs in my yard, it will not keep my neighbors chihuahuas OUT of my yard. The little LITERAL ankle biters keep coming into my yard and getting right up to my fence. Of course my dogs want to fence fight with them and I have been worried that one of the little idiots might try to actually come into my yard or that one of my dogs might get their head through the fence and get one of the little pests. The new male Chi is particularly brave, though he has not bitten me yet. I'll have to see what happens the next time I'm working in my foundation beds... At least with the chicken wire up we should have no actual dog on dog violence at my side fence and everyone should be safe and sound.
I went out to Underwoods to price daphnes but after seeing the price, I figured out why I didn't get one last year. At that point, I was at a loss for what to do next. I want to get started on painting the windows again, but several of the windows need to be reglazed.
Once I got home I started trying to chip the old glazing out of the laundry room window and hoped that I wouldn't break the glass or cause it to fall. A lot of the glazing came away easily and some didn't want to come at all. I finally got all that I thought I'd be able to get off today off and then I got the tube of glazing I had purchased last year. I now understand why the glazing on the front windows looks like it does! In theory this glazing in a caulking gun is easy to use, but in practice it was a mess. Still, I guess there is less prep work than with traditional glazing and you can paint it with latex paint. I did get the parts of the window where I had removed glazing re-glazed, but I still need to remove more glazing from the top part of the window, which will require the ladder. This has been a project that I've wanted and needed to do for some time, as I have been afraid that the glass would fall right out of that window. Now I'm not as worried about that. I think I'm going to have to do similar work on the one kitchen window. Unfortunately, it will all be ladder work, as that is the highest window in the house.
When I was cleaning everything up, I managed to knock over one of my pots of coleus. So, it went outside to be repotted and I also repotted the croton that was sent home from my mom's work to see if I could help it. I took several other plants outside to water and they are out there now draining. I just need to remember to bring them inside before I got to bed. I did get some liquid plant food so I can feed my houseplants this winter. I will mix up a batch of it on Wednesday.
The really BAD news is that I noticed the toilet is leaking again. So far, the leak is confined to the little piece of wood we are going to remove when we tile, so that is good. I'm very glad we have not tiled yet but I am a bit concerned about what the problem could be. The sewer pipe leak continues as well. I called Neil today and he said he will know tomorrow if he can get out here this week. I sure hope he can.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
finally started shingling
We finally started shingling the water heater hut today and got 3 rows done. I figure I have another 4-5 rows of nailed down shingles left to go. One thing we are buying is a pair of tin snips that we can use to cut the shingles and for other projects. Trying to cut the shingles with a box cutter (and a blade that turned out to be labelled "paper") is not the way to go. We are still running into problems of nails not wanting to go in and I seem to be good at getting nails to go in at an angle, which does not work. The chalk line is easy to use and does seem to be working well. I guess I will resume this project when I am off work on Sunday as I'm going to be out of town on Friday and have to work Saturday. Bad thing about winter is that it is dark when I get home from work and too cold to get a really early start in the morning on any projects (and even if it was warmer, I don't think people would like me hammering at 8 AM).I am still waiting to hear back from Neil about the leaking sewer pipe. I hope I do hear from him this week, if only to make plans for next week. We also have Dipple Plumbing coming out tomorrow to take a look and make sure all the plumbing from the bathroom was done correctly, since the tub and sink take forever to drain and the plumbing there is only a little over a year old. I also want to find out if they did the plumbing under the sink and get them to look at it, as it has always leaked. And, we need to make sure that the old water heater connections are indeed plumbed in, as they should have been since that is where the water heater was when we closed on the house. I wish I could be off tomorrow AM to help deal with this.
Monday, December 03, 2007
water heater hut painted
I have finally gotten the water heater hut painted. It now is painted with 2 coats of Zinser 123 primer/sealer. When I was painted, I realized it had a major design flaw, because the roof did not extend past the front wall, causing water to run directly down the front wall. Initially, I thought that I would have to remove the exisiting roof, but then I realized that there was no reason I could not simply put a larger piece of plywood over the existing roof. So, the hut now has a new, larger roof that does overhang the front of the hut. I got this new roof painted with two coats of primer as well. I have hoping that I will be able to start shingling it on Wednesday. I would also like to get some outdoor white paint and put a real coat of paint on the hut as well, just to try to preserve the wood more, as it is OSB. I will say that that roof overhang did a good job on the sides, the front and roof were the only areas that showed signs of having been wet.
Speaking of wet... my new and newly primed roof got rained on last night, as did my pack of shingles. Hopefully everything is okay.
Speaking of wet... my new and newly primed roof got rained on last night, as did my pack of shingles. Hopefully everything is okay.
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