This week's been productive. We've gotten the pool on the way to being useable. It was really nasty in there but we've gotten the cover off, lots of chlorine in it and it's looking better than when we started. Today I figured out how to use the leaf bag on the long pole to try to reduce the number we'll have to deal with later. The end of the long pole got smooshed a while back when I ran over it with the tractor so I spent some time today "unflattening" it and attaching the leaf bag. Alex enjoyed hunting for leaves beneath the pea soup of the pool water. Progress comes in many forms.... :)
Wednesday, on the house proper, we tore out a closet in the SE bedroom and removed all the debris to the burn pile, along with all the scrap torn out previously. We also ripped out the door trim and casings in the upstairs doorways. They'll be replaced with casing that will look like 1750's material. All that's left to do up there demolition-wise is to take out a plaster wall where the new hallway is going and remove the old bathroom. Hoping we can get that completed by early last week. The head came off our sledgehammer so work there is suspended until I can get a new sledgehammer.
Today was one of the best working days all summer and we spent a lot of it whipping the bushes into shape around the yard. There are what seem like miles of overgrown privet hedges. Less of them are overgrown now.
Tuesday I tried to "top off" the pool so we could run the filter. We got the water we needed but managed to run the pump dry so it lost it's priming. Wednesday it rained REALLY hard and the pool was almost overflowing this morning. Today I tried to get the well pump reprimed (12 gallons later...) but didn't have enough clean water to do the job. So I brought home the 65 gallon ag tank and filled it up. I'll have clean water and to spare now. :)
Oh, one other little job, we dug up the "frost proof" hydrant (it's not a faucet, it's a hydrant if you go looking for one) and discovered a mysterious connection to the water supply that I have no idea what it's for. We decided that if we didn't know what it was, it was getting cut off, which made it easier to cobble together the right piping. Or so we thought. We got home and discovered that the plastic barbed fitting that looked like it had the right threading to fit the galvanized elbow actually doesn't. Back to the store tomorrow for the right fitting. I hope.
So if all goes well, we'll have the well working again, the faucet (ahem, the HYDRANT) by the barn working as well and a good bunch of the kitchen floor linoleum torn up. Cross your fingers. :)
On the Eloise resurrection project, she's gotten her new starter motor installed but the battery was kaput. So that's the next item on the shopping list for her. Once we have battery installed we'll see if we can get gasoline and electricity to work their magic in her guts and get her running again. The yard is pretty well fixed lawn-wise, but if she's running I can cut down trees along the road and haul them out of there much more easily. And considering how many leaves we've had to scoop out of that pool, those trees are going to GO at some point this summer. :) (Just so you know, they're all growing up into the telephone/CATV lines as well, so they really have to go.
For most of this week I've had the able assistance of Joel and Alex, two hardworking young fellows with strong backs who are able to take directions well, so things are stepping along. It's wonderful to say, "Sweep this up" or "tear this out" or "cut this back" and they make it happen while I'm off puttering on other things. It's a great blessing.
Thanks for reading my "stream of consciousness." Off to the land of Nod.
Doug
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Friday, July 11, 2008
Mid-summer progress
I've taken more time in June than anticipated with outside activities, but my board is now clear and Walnut Hill squarely in my sights. (To mix metaphors) This week has been spent getting the grounds whipped into shape. I spent the better part of two days just mowing the grounds and dealing with rocks. I've discovered that the rocks which jut out of the ground and bedevil my lawn mower can be reduced to ground level relatively quickly with a few deft blows from my sledgehammer. Thus mowing in the future will be much smoother and less troublesome.
I've also once more cut down a huge growth of sumac trees that continue to spring up from the old roots on the north side of the property where I want a rock garden. I was going to spray them in June but didn't get to it. By the time I got to them this week they were way too big to tackle with spray (many over 8' high), so I cut them down with the brush cutter, again, and will nail them with extra strength Roundup when they start to sprout again. I'm astonished at how persistant these trees are. If I could only find a use for these trees I could be a rich man.
That goes double for burdock. This weed pops up all over the place and if left unattended to will grow to prodigious size (8'+) very quickly. It seems to grow best in the areas I mow infrequently, rarely in the areas I've let go wild, which is odd.
As for the house itself, the ceiling is now down and out of the kitchen area. I've removed all the plumbing and wiring from the area as well. The floor needs to come up and then a window and a door opening widened. I also have to cut a new door opening in the north wall and from the dining room to the kitchen. Then we can begin thinking about installing the PEX tubing, insulation, etc. in there.
The trailer is set up and open for business. I put the awning out yesterday and had a refreshing lunch sitting in the shade. Still seems strange to actually own my own Airstream.
Today I plan to cut down a few remaining sumac and then toss the limbs on the burn pile. Also there are some hedges to cut back along the road. If I have time I'll install the new starter in Eloise. (The old one I took in to be rebuilt had no repairable parts in it, they said. $200, whew!) Once she's up and running it'll make the job of mowing MUCH faster. But it's been good to do the whole yard with the walk-behind because I've been able to note and eliminate so many of those rocks. Eloise will probably need a new battery before I can get her going though.
It feels good to have the grounds getting much more "trimmed up" than they've been in the past. The trees we cut down earlier are all now cut to firewood length and stacked up behind the chicken coop and the "cutting floor" area there is now cleaned up of weeds and whatnot.
Tomorrow I'll consult with a mason friend of mine on the best way to widen the window openings and cut the new doorway into the north wall of the kitchen. He's also got the right equipment to cut those openings cleanly and he's offered to let me borrow his big diamond blade saw.
Next week I want to first focus on getting the shop squared away and cleared for action. It would save a lot of time if I don't have to go hunting for things, so creating shelving and getting organized will be the first priority. Then I'll get the pool open. :)
We're on our way!
Doug
I've also once more cut down a huge growth of sumac trees that continue to spring up from the old roots on the north side of the property where I want a rock garden. I was going to spray them in June but didn't get to it. By the time I got to them this week they were way too big to tackle with spray (many over 8' high), so I cut them down with the brush cutter, again, and will nail them with extra strength Roundup when they start to sprout again. I'm astonished at how persistant these trees are. If I could only find a use for these trees I could be a rich man.
That goes double for burdock. This weed pops up all over the place and if left unattended to will grow to prodigious size (8'+) very quickly. It seems to grow best in the areas I mow infrequently, rarely in the areas I've let go wild, which is odd.
As for the house itself, the ceiling is now down and out of the kitchen area. I've removed all the plumbing and wiring from the area as well. The floor needs to come up and then a window and a door opening widened. I also have to cut a new door opening in the north wall and from the dining room to the kitchen. Then we can begin thinking about installing the PEX tubing, insulation, etc. in there.
The trailer is set up and open for business. I put the awning out yesterday and had a refreshing lunch sitting in the shade. Still seems strange to actually own my own Airstream.
Today I plan to cut down a few remaining sumac and then toss the limbs on the burn pile. Also there are some hedges to cut back along the road. If I have time I'll install the new starter in Eloise. (The old one I took in to be rebuilt had no repairable parts in it, they said. $200, whew!) Once she's up and running it'll make the job of mowing MUCH faster. But it's been good to do the whole yard with the walk-behind because I've been able to note and eliminate so many of those rocks. Eloise will probably need a new battery before I can get her going though.
It feels good to have the grounds getting much more "trimmed up" than they've been in the past. The trees we cut down earlier are all now cut to firewood length and stacked up behind the chicken coop and the "cutting floor" area there is now cleaned up of weeds and whatnot.
Tomorrow I'll consult with a mason friend of mine on the best way to widen the window openings and cut the new doorway into the north wall of the kitchen. He's also got the right equipment to cut those openings cleanly and he's offered to let me borrow his big diamond blade saw.
Next week I want to first focus on getting the shop squared away and cleared for action. It would save a lot of time if I don't have to go hunting for things, so creating shelving and getting organized will be the first priority. Then I'll get the pool open. :)
We're on our way!
Doug
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