Hi there

This little fellow has started to visit our feeder daily. 

Oops, he caught me taking his photo. 

 

Wait, get my good side.  

 

Also, the peonies have been blooming all week.

 

 

 
They smell heavenly. 

 

But nothing compares to the scent of the lily Walt Kowalski got me.

 

 

Good bye Ugly

The front porch was ugly.  The insulbrick crumbled every time someone walked pasted it.  Heck, every time you looked at it, I think a little more fell off.  Also, the plywood we used to cover the window reductions wasn't pretty either.

Walt Kowalski wants to eventually close in the front porch and was concerned the vinyl siding wouldn't take the abuse.  He preferred to use a T1-11.

Ugly. 

 
Messy and ugly.

 
Nice!

 
Neat, clean, and a little less ugly.  The painters will have lots to this week.  Let's hope the weather cooperates.

 

AND...AND...we think our improvements have encouraged the neighborhood to make a few improvements.  Or at least clean up.  The neighbor next to us got a Bagster for their collection of trash.  Small steps, but good steps. 

 
We still have our fair share of  mess, but we're working on it. 

Message in the Sky

House #1 is on the top of a hill.  We've had some great thunderstorms and rainbows.  With the airshow this weekend, we were hoping to see something cool fly by. 

Late in the morning I heard something on the horizon.  But I could see nothing.  Walt Kowalski saw them.  It was a small squadron waaaaaaay out on the horizon.  The sky was so blue the planes blended in.  Then they were gone in an instant. 

Later that afternoon, I heard a rumble again.  They were closer this time. Still I could see nothing!  I could hear them and all I could see was small puffs of clouds.

Wait!  Those puffs of clouds are spelling something to me.  It's a sign from above!

Unfortunately, it wasn't winning lottery numbers.  It was an advertisement.  (I crummy commercial!) 
But a very cool one. 

 

 

It was very cool.  I'm glad I got to see it.  I knew the airshow was in town, but I forgot the airshow was in town.  Does that make sense?  We had lots of other plans for the weekend.

Including...

a few sparklers by the campfire. 

100,000 steps

Walt Kowalski took a long weekend away from work.  "Away from work" is a joke with us because we do more work away from work than at work some days. 

Walt Kowalski was working on the second floor closing in a side window and the painting crew was working outside on the foundation.

I think I did do 100,000 steps between the two parties. 

 

 
More for the clean up crew.

 
Walt Kowalski did his fair share of 10,000 steps up and down the ladder.

 
The painting crew did a great job.  They are going to be professional painters by the end of this project.

 

 

Good bye ugly blue.

 

 

 

The blue as accent on the pillars doesn't look so overwhelming.  It looks nice. 

 

Two and Three

Windows #2 and #3 are installed!!

This means the hallway and front bedroom can now be finished with drywall.  Which means, seams and screws will be finished.  Which leads to primer and paint.  My how quickly things comes together.  

 

 

 

Such concentration.

 

 

I'm the clean up crew.

Electric Avenue

The old service panel wasn't illegal, just small.  Too small for Walt Kowalski's liking.  Fine for a house 75 years ago.  Not for a house with today's electrical devices. 

Walt Kowalski is removing the last of the old wooden shelves.  This area needs some work.  Cleaning, paint, block repair, more paint. 

 

 

 
New panel, no shelves, lots of wires. 

Of course, while they did this, I was working in the dark upstairs.  Luckily, patching seams and screws doesn't require power and it was a sunny day.

A Completed Room

Saturday's goal was to install three windows on the second floor front rooms. 

We got one installed. 

But in our defense, we also installed some drywall in the laundry room, helped the electrician, and finished the drywall in the bedroom.  Our original goal didn't include those items.

Either way, we got a window installed in the 3rd bedroom.  And we came home and had a wonderful campfire.  We could have installed another window, but the evening was too nice to miss.

 

 

When in doubt...wait, that's the grinder, not the sawzall.

 
It was a beautiful (and weekend).

 
Ta-da!

 
Add insulation and drywall...

(I don't know why this photo is blurry.)

 

Until we get all the windows replaced and new siding, it's going to look a little funny on the outside.  We've all seen worse.