My father was discharged from the hospital. All is well. During his brief stasy, I caught up with a nurse that cared for him during his open heart surgery last November. Next to the night that my mother died, that night when my Dad was entered into the 'step-down' unit the 2nd day...
August 31, 2011
August 28, 2011
August 28, 2011
Aftermath
I believe this storm was worse than Isabel. Our land lines are down--along with many trees.
The wind blew hard all night long. About 3 a.m. I could hear my neighbors outside, and I could see their flashlights. This morning, I could see why. . . a large red oak had come down and hit...
August 27, 2011
August 26, 2011
Hurricane!
Preparedness--a word worth contemplating when facing important "stuff". Irene is important stuff. Yesterday we were evaluating all articles outside for propulsion proclivities from hurricane force winds. I live among the oak trees. These stalwarts are not wind friendly. Because...
August 24, 2011
Shake, Rattle and Roll
Virginia was roiled with a 5.8 magnitude quake yesterday. I was working from home yesterday, when it hit. I was upstairs when I could feel the house shake. At first I thought the washing machine, which had bedding in it, had become unbalanced during the spin cycle. The dogs were...
August 22, 2011
Melange Post
The house project has helped me shed 6 lbs. Ideally, I would like to lose 13 more. I need to load up the mountain bike and take it down there to beef up cardiovascular stuff. There are...
August 21, 2011
House Rehab: Caulk it!
My constant lament on the project is that the windows are just junk and the trim job was done with an emphasis on speed v. quality. There are gaps in the trim at the corners (inside and outside), between the wall and the trim (normal) So anything that I can do to 'tighten them up' is not...
August 16, 2011
House Rehab: The Door with a Hundred Runs
Yesterday was my birthday. We planned on having dinner at a restaurant near the county seat which is also 1 mile away from the house project. As it was Monday, I long ago learned to check restaurant...
August 15, 2011
House Rehab: Harmonic Convergence
Yesterday, I was able to get a first coat of trim paint on a window and a few door frames. Nothing is more sickly looking than first coat primer. It simply shouts out "poor paint job" when in fact it is just needed prep.
Before I painted, I had to putty many, many places on the windows...
August 11, 2011
House Rehab: Plumbing is not for the squeemish
Hannah's and my first day on the job, we cleaned the downstairs bathroom. I don't like cleaning my own hair out of the drain, and like it less cleaning another's. But with girded loins and rubber gloves, I accomplished that.
Second round was to remove the vanities and toilets. I was...
August 10, 2011
House Rehab: 1 day Hiatus
(I started writing this post yesterday evening, but did not finish it. I had an Apple Notebook computer which I had in bed with me. Not only was it not an ideal set up (my kids have no problems),...
August 7, 2011
House Rehab: Henry
The house has been suffering from water works. It is so wet under the house, that my husband has forbidden the water to be turned on. That makes it tough to complete my wall washing. I continued to prime wood surfaces, and I painted one of the nasty subfloors. I used Kilz, and...
August 6, 2011
Rehab (House): Priming
The house has dark stained trim and dark luan doors. While the doors can be tossed out (and the busted holes in them are a testament to the turbulence in that household) the trim will be cleaned, primed and painted. My daughter (22) was helping me. My instructions were to carefully...
August 2, 2011
Rehab (House): Day 2
Pulling up the carpet on the steps yielded this 'house physics' lesson: the dirt trapped on the steps reduces exponentially for each step that you go up. Pictured left is three such steps...
