Slow Down

I know your not going to believe this but we slowed down a bit. The step into the front door was too high for comfort so, remember the deck that took us a bunch of help to move? Well, most of it was already disassembled and re-used elsewhere and we took what was usable and made a small porch for the front door. In her spare time, Barb did some weed whacking as I cleaned up. Terri & Mark arrived to celebrate Father’s Day and we went to what is becoming one our favs, He’s Not Here. We sat in the patio and kibitzed with some of the other patrons. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

 

On Monday, we found a good used lawn mower in Niagara Falls and decided that we need to start laying the subfloor so picked up some plywood as well as the mower. After unloading, we completed the front door porch with new deck boards. Barb designed the steps for a later project.

 

On Tuesday we took the day off and Barb got started on the grass before it became a meadow while I washed the rig! Too soon, the mower started to spurt and sputter and soon would not start at all. So not such a good deal. Back in the truck to the Falls and returned the mower with a full refund. On to Canadian Tire to pick up a new one so we’re sure to get a few more mows out of it. Barb finished the lawn and I the rig. Wow, even after all the slugging, swinging and lifting, I am still sore from that job and by the time Barb finished the lawns, she was dragging too – a perfect time for an extended happy hour!

It must be slow in the medical industry lately as our doctors called for us to make appointments to see them. We suggested we get blood work done first and then maybe they’ll have something to talk to us about. They were a little reluctant but caved and today we went to the local vampire shop and had some taken. I have to say, it was really fast compared to what we have witnessed in the past in other cities. We also trundled into the Falls again to pick up our HVAC design and when we got back, we completed the installing the blocking in the floor joists and laid a few sheets of subfloor.

Thursday we slowed a bit and replaced the bedroom window – it was a frosted bathroom window and we had 1 window left from the 3 we took out of the sunroom so we changed them out. Of course, the frosted window was smaller and installed the same shoddy way so we built the rough stud opening (RSO) and put a 1x6 jamb around the window and re-installed it in the wall.

 

 

 

 

Friday was a beautiful day until the black cloud rolled in – sorry John, John & Diane were at a rally in Niagara Falls and came around for a visit. We taught them how to play fast track and for some reason, the ladies won most of the games – go figure. After, we took them over to – correct, He’s Not Here for lunch and enjoyed a great time on the patio!  Following lunch John & Di came back for a few more games and then left for an event at the rally. It was great to see them again.

Well, it’s been a wild ride so far. Sometimes it has been like peeling back an onion, once you have, what you find brings tears to your eyes! We are still waiting for our HVAC contractor to meet with us to inform us of some of the details of the installation like what floor we can put back down, what electrical hook ups he requires and of course, when can he start. So, in the meantime, we are continuing with odd jobs that have to be done sometime. Back to the onion – we have to raise the front door so we can raise the floor in the front room of the house - it is about 1 1/2 inches lower than the rest of the house and not big enough to up sell the plan as a sunken floor! So first thing is to remove the storm door. Well, there is so much ‘build out’ that it must have taken a full tube of caulking to close in the gaps. We find that ‘they’ had put a 34 inch door over a 32 inch opening! Anyone need a door? Once that was removed, we can get at the real door. There was lots of pieces of wood for fill and of course, caulking but something we uncovered made us step back a minute and wonder why this house is still standing. The wall on the hinge side was not fastened down through the sole plate. As we worked on the door, the wall moved at the bottom and kinda shocked us. You can bet it is right now. Once that was done, Barb did more weed whacking while I piddled around in the garage trying to get a power sprayer to work.

It has been a weird week but we managed to get through it and Barb found time to do some quilting too. We hope all is well where you are….