Happy Anniversary - one year...

Well it's been ONE YEAR since we packed up and moved all our belongings and embarked upon our old farmhouse restoration project.  I really don't feel like we have accomplished all that much, maybe because nothing feels "done"...  It is encouraging when friends visit and they say they can't believe how much we've done... I am usually tempted to hook them up to a polygraph...

Here is the LIST of our (work in) progress...

1. Managed installation of new septic system on sellers dime.  Chased contractor around in fall and in spring (seeding).  Contractor reneged on loaming and seeding leach field.  Chased lawyers around.  Finally got remaining $ to finish project.  Timeline:  Sept 2010 - Sept 2011.  Lesson Learned:  Avoid septic escrow holdbacks at all costs!  If you find yourself in that situation insist that your lawyer hold funds (this really saved us).  Finally, never go with the cheapest bidder.  Unfortunately we were stuck with the sellers choice...


2. Installed gutters to try and redirect water from basement.  Helped somewhat (tip of the dampness iceberg down there)


3. Installed new windows in living room and dining room


4. Rebuilt wall under beam.  Still waiting for pocket doors and T to sheetrock.


5. Hired contractor to jack up basement and rebuild stairs.  He showed up twice.  Chased contractor via phone and in-person.  He sheepishly apologized but never finished job.  Gave up and T finished the supports.  Had another carpenter rebuild stairs.  They are now level.  Yea!


6. Removed one squirrel, one possum, one snake and lots of mice.


7. Gutted front living room - removed gas stove that was never fully vented.  Updated wiring.  Soundproofed ceiling.  Rebuilt back wall.  Living room is partially blue-boarded.


8. Gutted hallway.  Removed lots of mouse debris (poop, skeletons, pee).  Re-insulated and rewired.


9. Installed two new windows in hallway - much more light coming in.


10. Paid neighbor to remove pine tree in front of house.  Paid landscaper to put in walkway and fill, loam and seed front lawn.


11. Framed up area for half-bath under stairs.  Pulled plumbing permit.  Working on pipes in basement.  Should be roughed in soon.  Thanks Dad!


12. Disconnected baseboard from areas that are gutted.  Bought new baseboard to install.  Need blue boarding done first...


13. T got distracted by building a massive shed.  That needs roof and doors/windows, but it is coming along...


14. Removed defunct second chimney from the attic down to basement.  Gutted exterior wall.  Bought new slider in April...still waiting for it to be delivered...


15. Dug out sump pump area in basement so the pump is lower than the floor.


16. T put in at least three concrete footing to replace undersized or non-existent supports


17. Hired neighbor to dig footings for front bay window supports, tame back jungle and plow area for garden.


18. Gutted front bedroom wall in anticipation of 2 new windows being installed...still waiting for them to be put in...


19. Gutted exterior wall in downstairs office/study.  Replaced ugly window with more appropriate sized one to match others in house.  T needs to knock down that chimney so we can rewire and insulate that room.


20. Hired contractor to replace the front siding with Hardy Board.  Contractor having intense personal issues and does not show up to work.  Waiting about a year to finish front windows and five months on siding.  Lesson learned:  do not mix friendship and business.


21. Put cover on well!!!


22. Cut up dead tree by stream


23. Took time out to build a duck house and predator proof cage and raise four baby ducklings into adults.

It looks like it is going to be another cold winter folks!  As of right now there are only three rooms in the entire house that are untouched.  So much for one room at a time... although we are focusing on doors, windows and insulation.

Our goal this year was cleaning up the front of the house.  I don't know if we are going to make this due to circumstances out of our control (aka mia contractor), but we are still hopeful...  It has been a busy year!

Man builds shed...

I really lobbied hard to buy a shed this summer.  I found a company with free delivery and set-up, add water and instant shed!, but the man wanted to build his own.  I guess the opportunity to build something new from the ground up instead of demolishing years of filth and rodent remains was just too tempting...
Needless to say, the "little" project has been on-going since June.  Our good friend Dave (we shall call him Mr. Sr. Design Engineer) has been assisting T with the project.  Between the two of them they have done quite well with a pile of boards and some rough scribbles on a napkin that went through the wash.  What you wanted a shed plan?
Name the structure...poll This is absolutely a back yard shed. 33.33% (1 votes) Major man cave 66.67% (2 votes) He's moving out - that's a cottage 0% (0 votes)

"I thought it would be more like Lincoln Logs"

Hmmm...isn't it a little big?  

Two men, one nail gun.

The emerging post and beam structure

Contemplating where to put the beer fridge...

Submerged...

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Hurricane Irene has struck.  Our little stream has become a lake.  The ducks have been out swimming all morning.  We are not sure if the culvert is blocked or if the volume of the water is just overpowering it.

T's nursery raised bed frame floated away.  He put cement blocks on the sandbox (mudbox!) to keep that from floating away.  Unfortunately the water is so high it is pouring through the garden and making a waterfall.  The tomatoes are floating away...  Someone is very unhappy.

Oh and we will not talk about the basement...

Of Mice and children...

So the boys came flying inside the other day, yelling for me and talking very fast. Once I got them to take a deep breath I got the following story out of them...

Apparently they were sitting on the swing when a mouse climbed up Jack's back and hopped on Rory's head.  What???!  Wait it gets better, the mouse had suckling babies attached to her.

I went outside to investigate.    What mouse climbs up people and runs around with nursing babies attached to her?  I walked over to the swing and sure enough found a tiny baby mouse with it's eyes still closed in the cushion.  I had Jack pick it up and put it near the woodpile that the Mother disappeared into.

He was all set to start looking into raising a baby mouse.  I told him we have more than enough mice in the house.  Eventually a mouse came and got it.  We hope it was the Mother...

When T came home he solved the mystery.  Apparently the cushion the boys sat on contained a mouse nest and the frantic Mother was trying to save her babies.  T cut open the cushion and found yet another baby mouse.  We returned that one to the woodpile as well...  We then threw out the cushion.

[caption id="attachment_350" align="alignleft" width="259" caption="The mouse looked like this one."][/caption]

Making Progress...

Now that the basement projects are underway we also have started putting up blue board in the living room.  Now when I say "we" you know I mean the royal we -- aka T and my Dad.  I told my Dad the other day that he is hands down the best contractor we have and believe me we have a few...

Anyway, I thought I would show you the ceiling - a real ceiling.  Walls to follow I am sure...

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Phase two and three...

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Phase two is complete.  The chimney is down!  There was a nice hole from the 2nd floor all the way down to the basement.  The kids tried to talk us into a laundry shoot.

T knocked down the stone tablet that was supporting the whole thing.  His theory is that originally that part of the basement was a crawl space.  They build the chimney on the rock then decided to dig out the basement and left the dirt under the tablet in a big clay pile.

Then the cursed stairs came down.  Boy will we miss them...

The blue thing...

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Also on Sunday me and boys decided to excavate the blue plastic thing that was showing through the lawn.  T had investigated it upon discovery and he thought it was a blue plastic barrel used to drain wastewater from the washing machine.

I decided to dig it up without telling him.  When he came down from the chimney work in the attic and saw what I was doing he was not pleased.  He basically threw a tantrum over me creating another project and more work for him that he wasn't ready to handle.  I stomped off inside with a snide remark about control-freak husbands that need to manage all the projects and to let me know when he deemed it an okay time to dig it up.  He then yelled at me to get back out there and finish it as I couldn't just "leave it like that".

So being the happy yo-yo that I am went back to my digging.  Rory and Jack came out to get in on the action.  The barrel was much bigger than I thought.  We discovered a white plastic pipe running into the top of it.  I got a little concerned and called Dad who assured me that we were not going to run into any raw sewage (we would certain smell that - right?!).

T came outside to check on our progress.  He offered to sawsall the pipe (I think he LIKES doing that) and gave us his metal pipe "fire poker" to try and pry the barrel out of the ground.  He tried and said we needed to keep digging.  I tried on the other corner and got the thing out of the ground and he hauled it over to the rubble pile.

After four loads of dirt from the stream bed we filled in the hole.  He still thinks I should have left it alone.  We do plan to reseed in the fall and I told him it is much better to have it done and not have to disturb the seeded area (again).  So the blue thing is out of the front lawn and that task is done.

The moral is:  when a girl wants to dig you have to let her.  Of course if you make her mad she might dig harder...