Award Winning

 

Walt Kowalski and I will never win a service award at work.  It's not that we couldn't win it.  We both have participated in projects to serve the community.  The awards are political and a popularity contest.  Neither of us have supervisors that would nominate us for it.  I guess we're just not very popular.

 

Who would have thought that even as adults we still need to win popularity contests? 

 

Instead, let us focus on our own project and how far we have come. 

 

How quickly I have forgotten.

 

 

 

Once a bedroom with the attic door... 

 



 

 

is now a hallway to the attic door and two bedroom doors.  That looks award winning to me. 



 

 

 

Once a wall up the stairs and a wall to the dining room...
 

 
 



Is now an extra large opening to the living room and no wall to the dining room.  (You can't see it in this photo, but it's there.  Or rather, not there.)

 

 
 

Halls and Walls

We finished installing plywood on the floors upstairs.  Now it's time to build a couple of walls.



 

 
Originally, the house had 4 bedrooms, but the only entrance into the front bedroom, was through the back bedroom.  Often called a walk-through or a pass-through bedroom and only considered a half bedroom. Not convenient and technically not a true bedroom by realty standards. 

How do you fix that?  A hall and a door.

 

Now each bedroom has a standard door and the big bedrooms have an additional door between the rooms. 

 
For now, easy access to check on the baby or get a toddler to sleep in her own bed. 

But also an easy fix if the shared door was no longer wanted.

The electrician also stopped over to check on progress.  With the installation of the floor and the new walls, we have a better idea of locations for outlets and switches. He can return and start wiring.

Which means...insulation and dry wall on the second floor are not far behind.  Very exciting.

Less than 24 hours

What a difference a day makes. 

In this case, not one to be thrilled about. 



Yesterday, just before sunset. 

 

Today.  Is there a sunset?

I know that in a few weeks the photos will be reversed.  But right now......blah.

Cereal

 

Grammy cut this out and sent it to me:

 



 

 
It's held on the fridge with a nice beach magnet.  *sigh* the beach.

I am a Fruit Loop in a world full of Cheerios.  Lately, it feels like Walt Kowalski and I are the only loops in a box full of crumbs.  Especially at work. 

The snow must be getting to me.  


My "Christmas Tree" springs are still outside.  Every time I plan to pack them away with the Christmas stuffs, it snows on them again.

I spray painted them green with plans to add red bits and a star on top to each, but never got farther than the green paint before Christmas. 

Next year I will do better. 

Unintentional Time Capsule

The newel post at the top of the stairs was loose.  The railing was missing at least 4 spindles.  The ones that were left had been duct taped because they were broken.  Then the tape was painted green. 

 

There was nothing worth saving about this railing.  Walt Kowalski reminds me all the time that we are not restoring, we are renovating.  We're not like the crazy lady on TV. 

 



 

Once Walt Kowalksi cut off the newel post (I had to look up how to spell newel) all kinds of junk poured out.

 

At first we thought a mouse had made a home inside, but upon closer inspection...

 

 
it was the original owners.  An unintentional time capsule, of sorts.

 
Lots of candy and gum wrappers.  A football schedule.  A tag from clothes from G. C. Murphy's.

 
Marbles, pennies, and an eye patch.  (ARGH!)

 
A hospital pass.  A Sunday pass that is.  Only two persons on Sunday between 3pm and 4pm. 

 

 

The items were in good condition, so a rodent didn't put them here.  We think the finial must have been loose and the kids were putting things in when mom wasn't looking.  Or when mom was in the hospital.

 

(What was happening on May 10, 1942?  The middle of World War II.) 

 

 

On the walls up to the attic was the last remaining lath in the house.  The beams for the rafters from the left side of the house and the right side of the house meet right in this area.  Walt Kowalski wanted a better support wall for the attic and roof.   



 

 

Once we had a temporary support wall built, then we could work on removing the lath and old wall.

Mess, mess, and more mess.  There was so much dust floating in the air that the flash on my camera reflected on it and made it look like snow. 

Laser beams.

The attic steps also don't have any support in the middle.  The steps to the attic aren't true steps.  They are only 1/2 inch thick boards nailed together and there is not support under them.  The 2x4 board you see in the middle of the steps was only placed there to have something to nail the lath.  As you go up the attic steps, the steps bow in the middle and the top two steps are broken.  Right now, nothing is safe about them. 

Removing the wall really made the landing of the second floor open, but it wasn't safe.  Knowing me, I would be the first to accidentally fall down the stairs. 

Our plan is to build a half wall where the railing used to be.  It will give it support, but still make it feel open.

See that temporary wall just behind the silver ladder?  We plan to move that wall slightly to the left and make it permanent creating a small hall to the third bedroom.

The new support wall.
 

The Trees are Watching

We skipped the gym yesterday.  Instead, we did the home snow gym.  It's all the rage this time of year. 1/8 of a mile of snow covered driveway, two shovels, and a scraper.  We were both soaked with sweat by the end.

 

We like both gyms, but with the home snow gym, we hydrate with beer instead of water.

 

After we finished and were celebrating, er, um, hydrating, and admiring the clouds on the horizon, Walt Kowalski noticed the neighbor's trees. 

 

He said 'The trees are watching us.  That one has eyes and a mouth.'

 

It did. 





Snow Day

 

Weather at the Cat Ranch is always an adventure.  Sometimes just watching the cars attempt the hill is more entertaining than the television. 

 



 

This car eventually made the hill.  Sideways, but he made it. 

Walt Kowalski and I were very surprised last night when we turned on the outside lights to find an inch of snow.  We were even more surprised this morning to find 7 more inches of snow.  

My. Squirrel doesn't mind.  
 

 

 
Same with Mrs. Cardinal.  She and her husband where here this morning.  And a couple of their friends, too.

Lots of updates coming tomorrow.  Today I am attacking the back room.  Messy, messy, messy.