Hanging around...

Ev's having fun just hanging in the basement. Thanks Aunt Abby for picking that up for us at IKEA.


Nan picked up this cubby storage at an auction a couple weeks ago. I should have gotten a before picture, after some Elmer's wood filler and a couple coats of paint its looking pretty good.


Nan put some time in today cleaning and organizing in the basement, which was a job since it had become my catch-all for tools and supplies during this whole house project. Thank you, my dear.


Spent the day wiring in the bathroom. Having light on a switch is way more convenient than pulling a string for it, plus I won't seem quite as crazy when I'm not swatting at a string that I think is a fly buzzing my head while working in there.

Before pictures...

I've loaded up a bunch of prepurchase pictures of Ev's new house....

House before purchase...

The new shower...

The whole family is quite happy about having a shower on the main level now. No more trips down to the basement for that.



Now this next image might scare some of you out there, but this basement shower that we've been using for the last month had its fine points, like hot water and.... a camping type setting.... and hot water.

It's good to have people who take care of you...

It's very nice to have help cleaning up when the going gets dirty.


Sheewww... Dada was dirty...


Cant remember the last time I went pheasant hunting 2 weekends in a row, probably not since the college days, I am getting so spoiled. Again this weekend probably too warm for hunting, pheasants go out and sunbath in this weather. Mark from the office was kind enough to come along with Tipper the Brittany and Mark from Dan's office was the only who got one.


Someone is getting bigger....

Bathroom is sided...

Finally completed the vinyl siding on the porch to bath conversion. Nice to have that part of it done. Can be a bit overwhelming sometimes to look at the overall project, so staying focused on one thing at a time can help. My first ever attempt at vinyl went well overall, only wasted 2 pieces. Measure twice, cut once are good words to vinyl side by. Try to hit the studs when nailing it in and don't nail too tight, the vinyl expands and contracts with the temperature.

Before...


During...



After...


The cement steps in the before picture will have to stay, but I'm sure Nan can do something creative with flowers & boxes and pots & plants. The boards over the windows in the before picture were from the Stratford tornado year ago.

Arrrr.... he reveals hisself....

Aye, maties, I have beheld this terror with me own eyes... and lived to tell the tale.

You might recall to mind that a fortnight ago, or thereabouts, a mysterious marking appeared on the door of our humble home. Set a shiver down me spine, even then, when I laid eyes on it, but that shiver was a mere nothing compared to what i seen this nite. I should have paid more heed to that mark, but I was hoping in vain that it was not what it was...
"Could not be so." said one.
"Such a thing has not been seen these parts since the dark days." said another.
So I put it from my mind, only to recall it again after the happenings of this night.

I had arrived home from working the docks (or thereabouts) to take my supper, as I usually do and looking forward to what fine vittels the Mrs. might have in store for me. The sun was riding low in the sky and a strong breeze was blowing, a Norwester, not uncommon for this season. Something strange was blowing in that cold wind too, chilled me bones, it did, and made strange shadows with those skeletons of trees in that orange evening light. I should have been wary even then, but I is mostly carefree at heart and most times pay such things no mind, especially when the prospect of food and drink is near at hand. So, as you might guess, I was ill-prepared for what I saw when I opened the door to me very own home. My blood ran cold and I nearly swooned right there in the doorway. I opened my mouth to call out for help, but my voice froze right in my throat and I could only utter a wheezing sort of gasp. Aye, but a scream for help would have done me not a whit of good, nothing but God himself could save me from this terror. But, I guess my gasp was heard by the Good Lord in that instant, cause He gave me enough sense at that moment, perhaps my darkest moment, to pitch myself headlong over the rail. Twas only that fall of shear fear and terror that spared me from being run clean thru by the sword of that.... I can hardly bring myself to name him for fear he might spring from some dark corner nearby... Indeed it was him, the Terror of the High Seas, the Scourge of Stratford... Black Everette, a name that has made even the boldest and bravest of men quake at the mere mention of it for ages gone by. Call me mad, say I have lost my wits, but here is some proof that the terror still sails these seas, watch it if you dare....


***UPDATE: The story continues...***

A windy night...

Nearly got blown away trying to put up a couple more pieces of vinyl siding this evening. Hopefully it lets up for Trick or Treating tomorrow night.

A new look for the blog. Still a little tweaking to do but I think it will be a little easier to navigate the site.

Another weekend come and gone...

Lots of visitors this weekend.

Uncle Roger, Aunt Deb and Beth came by to see the new place and meet Emmett on Friday night, since they were in the area getting ready for the state cross country meet that Kelly qualified for. Congrats to Kelly, I see in paper today that she came in 7th in class 3A. Other big news from their family was cousin Jill got married, congrats to her.

Grammy, Papa, Amy and Emma, Dan the man, and Mary came on Saturday. A first time for everything, Dan and I started in on putting vinyl siding on Saturday and continued on it again today, after pheasant hunting, of course. Pretty easy to do for the most part, though I'll to a plan an attack for going around the window.

Beautiful day today for roaming the prairies for pheasant, probably too nice, always better hunting when there is a bit of snow on the ground. Saw some but nothing within range, so Nan was able to rest easy about having to cook something "wild".

Here's some pics from family time....

Weekend of Oct. 28th, 2006

Bathtime...

I've used a cool new feature from google to create a custom home improvement search engine, check it out in the rightside column...

Emmett is getting a bath... surprise for us at the end.... make sure the volume is turned up.

From a couple weekends ago...

Thanks, Mary for sending some pics...

Oct. 15th

Been a couple days...

..since I last posted. Not alot done on the house these past few days, alot going on this past weekend. Tonite I've managed to get alot of the first coat of drywall mud done in the bath after trying to help some neighbors with some wiring for an hour or two.


















The littlest man hasnt stopped growing yet.

Way more fun than working on the house...

Somebody other than Mama got to actually feed the littlest man something for the first time tonite, though in a way it still came from Mama.

The do-over tub...

Finally, tonite, after doing everything twice on that darn tub, we've got real water coming from its own spigot in a normal manner, comestics need to be done before shower can be used, but gosh darn it, I just might have to have myself a good soak tonite.... or not, these days its restfulness before cleanliness. I kind of lost track of evenings put in on the tub, but the redos included the drain, resweating the waterlines closer to the tub wall... undoing those to flip the mixer valve right side up (turning on water was giving you a shower whether you wanted it or not) ... resweating the copper again (plastic supply lines are starting to look real good to me) and finally rotating the guts of the mixer 180 degrees since barely turning the water on got the hot and full open got cold... oh my head... I was ready to pull an Al Pacino on the tub and "Let me introduce you to my little friend!" (Scarface) Enough about the tub, I've wasted enough time on that thing already. I've had some absolutely fabulous help around here lately, here's a pic of a couple of them....

Putting the company to work...

Finished up on the foam insulation today, a bit more protection from the wind cant hurt.















Had alot of visitors today and I put them to work tearing plaster in the kitchen. Thanks for your help, Jeff, Mary, Dan, Crystal, Gabe, Ma and Pa Beach. They were greatly rewarded with an excellent dinner by Gigi, the selection of pies at dessert was better than Baker's Square too. Didnt feel like doing too much after that feast.

The office...

What more does a good blogger need then a nice cool office space with a little fridge full of drinks nearby? The chair rolls quite nicely on the concrete too. Creaky floor boards above also allow me to monitor the rest of the house quite nicely.














Managed to get the drain from the tub straightened out this morning, it had gotten knocked out of center a bit when we moved it in last weekend. Still no water though, it was nice enough today that I thought I'd better make some progress on the outside. Made a trip to Menards and got some vinyl siding and foam sheeting to give us a bit more insulation from the cold winter winds of Iowa, got some of the sheeting done before it got too dark. Hopefully more progress on that tomorrow.

So how was Nan able to soak in the tub tonite without running hot water to it? Eavestrough, of course. Hey, its better than hauling buckets four whole feet :-)















And yes, I know I'm lucky that Nan hasnt strung me up yet for all this crazyness she's been putting up with.

The writing on the wall...

Call me crazy but I think there may be a little pirate roaming our neighborhood. Some strange symbols have appeared on our front door. Only a pirate would leave the sign of the Black Mark with a permanent marker...















Check out some more of the latest photos from around the house...

Around the house on Oct. 13th

Cool, clear water...

Nothing like cool water from a porcelin tank to quench your parched, dry throat. I didnt think that not having water from a faucet on the main floor was so bad. Then again I havent been the one doing dishes lately, I guess its alot harder than it looks to fish out your silverware from the tank and not accidently flush all the water out.


















Hmmm... It is much easier to drink without having to mess around with a ladel. I guess hot water is nice too. As you can see running water takes priority over taping off the drywall and a coat of paint, the vanity may have to come again when that time comes... but that might be awhile.














The littlest man likes having Gigi around to take care of him.

Not much to report...

Slow evening last night. Didnt have everything I need to get the vanity sink going in the new bath (my original planned project for the evening). Dumpster is getting picked up today, so I spent the time making sure that it is a full as possible.

The half day...

Left the office at noon today with the goal of sealing up the underside of the bathroom before the coldness hits later this week and for once it is mission accomplished. The old porch, which is now the new bath rested on some concrete block piers, so my job was to fill the gaps between piers. Framed in between, sheeted it, and then covered that with some insulated foundation panels, that we'll eventually paint to match the rest.

Before...
















After...





































We did have a casulty tonite though, my electric drill armed with a masonry bit fought the good fight against a host of concrete blocks, but was vastly outnumbered by the blocks and was overwhelmed. Fortunately for me it was on the last hole to be drilled on the last block. It was a hard block, a block from of old, molded at the dawn of time. I knew going into battle with that last block, a weathered block, molded so long ago, that my drill was weary from the battle thus far and that it would be no small miracle if it could defeat this old champion of blocks. The drill managed one hole on that block and I being overconfident of my victories over previous blocks thought I could muster one more hole from the overheating and rattly drill and that I am afraid was its undoing... it came apart at the very end of that final hole. Never leave a drill behind is our moto and after much wrenching and pulling and tugging I managed to pull its broken frame from that block of blocks. It was a great final battle for that drill and the holes he made will not soon be forgotten.














Dumpster is pretty much full...














Check out our Picasa Web Album for more photos...

From House

Kitchen Status...

Here's a couple picks of the kitchen and how things have transformed. Still aways to go. Nan and Gg are putting up with no running water in the kitchen right now and have to run up the stairs to get it. I better get a cracking or I'll be strung up.

Before....














After...





























I think winter will be moving in this week, so the priority will be getting the underside of the new bath sealed up. Got the outside of it papered and most of the floor joists have R-16 insulation.