It's Always Something Here Too!
Or, "I done gone and moved". I've shoe-horned all my stuff into my "new" home in early April, and B and I have been doing assorted repairs indoors, and major brush-clearing outdoors. I'll post a few photos next time.
Let's see... in the first week I broke the shower head, the toilet flushing mechanism, and the front doorknob. Fixed all those things. Made the well run dry TWICE - not enough water to wash a load of clothes AND take a shower in a day. Discovered that the dryer takes 2 hours to dry one load. (This after removing the birds' nest from the vent.) Found out that although the furnace works well, the hot air does NOT reach the master bedroom AT ALL (the vents not even warm to touch). The warm weather came, and the AC condensate pump died. Learned to live with drinking water bought at the grocery store, and blue staining from the pipes on my white towels. And NO CABLE. (I will wire the house for cable ASAP).
I've ripped out one room's wall-to-wall to reveal the hardwood floors underneath (in perfect condition!). But the trash man won't take the carpet, so we have an extra bathroom filled completely with nasty rug and padding.
Outdoors, we've spent many afternoons clearing a decade's worth of vines and trees from the front of the house. Why does everything have THORNS!!?? Locust trees (many), wild roses (countless), briars (unknown), overgrown Holly (not bad), and worst of all Pyracantha shrubs (my enemy) taller than the house. Add to that Bittersweet vines up to the ROOF, and honeysuckle (which I love), and you can say that we are a bit tired of ripping out vegetation and looking like we've been savaged by tigers afterward.
The worst part is, now that summer is here with it's heat, we have a tidier yard, but NO FLOWERS. So the place still looks a little unloved, IMHO.
Still to come, as the weather gets into the 90's, I will be staying indoors, sorting out the closets and storage in the house. B's parents clothing and papers are still in the dressers and closets, as if they'll be back any minute. It weirds me out a little. Packing up this stuff is high on my priority list.
Meanwhile my small dog Cody is adjusting pretty well to living with another dog. B's dog Summer is bigger, only 9 months old, and a bit bossy. Cody is easily intimidated. I think I'd better step up and become "alpha" in the pack to keep the peace.
I'll try to get back in the habit of blogging the house repairs. Still to come are:
- A new deck on the back of the house (much larger than the existing 30 year old balcony),
- Install a door from the living room to the new deck,
- A fence for the back yard (so the dogs can be off leash),
- Replace all the gutters. Many were damaged/ripped off by saplings and vines.
- Maybe a water treatment system? Maybe a new well???
We'll get there slowly, but surely. Really.
Let's see... in the first week I broke the shower head, the toilet flushing mechanism, and the front doorknob. Fixed all those things. Made the well run dry TWICE - not enough water to wash a load of clothes AND take a shower in a day. Discovered that the dryer takes 2 hours to dry one load. (This after removing the birds' nest from the vent.) Found out that although the furnace works well, the hot air does NOT reach the master bedroom AT ALL (the vents not even warm to touch). The warm weather came, and the AC condensate pump died. Learned to live with drinking water bought at the grocery store, and blue staining from the pipes on my white towels. And NO CABLE. (I will wire the house for cable ASAP).
I've ripped out one room's wall-to-wall to reveal the hardwood floors underneath (in perfect condition!). But the trash man won't take the carpet, so we have an extra bathroom filled completely with nasty rug and padding.
Outdoors, we've spent many afternoons clearing a decade's worth of vines and trees from the front of the house. Why does everything have THORNS!!?? Locust trees (many), wild roses (countless), briars (unknown), overgrown Holly (not bad), and worst of all Pyracantha shrubs (my enemy) taller than the house. Add to that Bittersweet vines up to the ROOF, and honeysuckle (which I love), and you can say that we are a bit tired of ripping out vegetation and looking like we've been savaged by tigers afterward.
The worst part is, now that summer is here with it's heat, we have a tidier yard, but NO FLOWERS. So the place still looks a little unloved, IMHO.
Still to come, as the weather gets into the 90's, I will be staying indoors, sorting out the closets and storage in the house. B's parents clothing and papers are still in the dressers and closets, as if they'll be back any minute. It weirds me out a little. Packing up this stuff is high on my priority list.
Meanwhile my small dog Cody is adjusting pretty well to living with another dog. B's dog Summer is bigger, only 9 months old, and a bit bossy. Cody is easily intimidated. I think I'd better step up and become "alpha" in the pack to keep the peace.
I'll try to get back in the habit of blogging the house repairs. Still to come are:
- A new deck on the back of the house (much larger than the existing 30 year old balcony),
- Install a door from the living room to the new deck,
- A fence for the back yard (so the dogs can be off leash),
- Replace all the gutters. Many were damaged/ripped off by saplings and vines.
- Maybe a water treatment system? Maybe a new well???
We'll get there slowly, but surely. Really.