Bogieblog

Accomplished

Last weekend I spent tearing out the long living room wall sheet rock. Then I started tearing out the rock wool (about R4 insulation), screwing in pieces of plywood to cover the holes the top 9", and putting up the new R-13 insulation. I only got to the picture window with that part of the project, but accomplished what I needed to get done for this weekend's project.

The old front door (frame and all) was uninstalled today and the new front door put in its place. Along with that a new storm foor was installed. I spent nights this week painting the door so it would be ready for the install. I still need to paint the frame, but for now, I am quite please with the results. The first picture is of the old front door and the new insulation, The rest of the new door.

The storm door has a hide-a-screen, which I totally love. My helper and I also installed the storm door I got for the back door, which did not have a storm door at all. That one is the same style, but in basic white as I'm not really as picky on how the back of the house looks. Additionally, it is the next step down from the front storm door and they didn't have any of those in the sandstone (or whatever color that is). I refused to pay the extra for the "better" door as the energy efficiency is the same. Hey, I can always paint it later if I want.

I managed to get all the locks keyed to the basement door lock, so now I am down to only needing 2 keys for the house (one for overhead garage door, and one for the other 3 doors). Now the only thing to do is put on the closure systems for the storm doors, but those can be done any time.

I am happy with the progress that was made today!

New Front Door

Here is the paint job on the outside of my new front door.

Can't see the detail of the glass - I'll get a better pic once it is up.

Relaxation

Yesteday I tore down the sheetrock from the living room wall in preperation for plugging up the gaps in the plywood and putting in real insulation. Then mowed the lawn (or the swamp in the case of about 1/4 of it). By the time I was done, I took a few moments to rest on the lawn furniture, enjoy the view from the south side of the house, and listen to the birds.

That empty lot fills in nicely and you can hardly tell I'm not in the country anymore.Very relaxing.

Plymouth Trip

Last weekend I went with a friend down to Plymouth, MA to play tourist and to see the "rock" and "boat". The first thing we hit was Plimouth Plantation (no, that isn't a misspelling): It was facinating to get a close up of the rushed roofs, tools and implements and fences. Especially facinating were the stacks of wood which were placed in a circular pattern. Actually makes a sort of sense. There were people in character there doing chores and answering questions in what was believed to be the accent of that time period.

My friend got a couple of decent pictures of me (God, I'm slouching - I obviously have been neglecting those muscles when I work out).

Then we went to the shore to see Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II. While visiting the Mayflower, a paddleboat went by. Those are always cool to see. Plymouth Rock is protected by a pillored monument, whcih has a dedication enscribed.

While walking off our lunch, we saw this memorial to fallen First Responders.

Had a great time playing tourist. Felt a bit guilty that I took a full day off from getting anything meaningful done, but sometimes you just have to do that.

Memorial Day 2014

Have a safe and wonderful Memorial Day. Take a moment out from whatever you are doing today and please remember those that have fallen in defense of our country. And thank a vet if you see one!

Can't Blame Autocorrect

Emailed someone about my day earlier and included this little tidbit, "got nothing done basically except weeing some of the flower gardens . . "

That person emailed me back, too polite to point out my wording, but I noticed it as I reread myportion. OMG - I was WEEING the garden. Not weeding, weeing.

Can't even blame autocorrect for that HHLOL (hangs head and laughing out loud)

Rindge Bike Blessing

After all my hard work on the house on Saturday, I deserved a break and decided to take up an invitation to attend a bike blessing in Rindge - the last blessing I had attended was 1997 (I found the shirt the other day, that is why I know the year).

We met in Antrim, rode to Milford for breakfast, then headed back to Rindge. My bike is the second on back, and the one in front of it is the bike of my riding companion (guy with his back to the camera).

It was great weather for riding, but after the blessing I decided I better head back home and get some work done, while my riding companion rode to MA to place flowers on his mother's grave for Mother's Day.

I got my raised beds turned and pulled weeds from around the outside perimeters. Then recovered them with black plastic to help kill weed seeds. I'll be planting Memorial Day Weekend, assuming the weather cooperates anyway.

House Building Anomalies

Last weekend the temps at night were finally such that I decided to strip off the sheetrock in the south-facing wall in the living room. I immediatly found why the heating bills were so high, but why the house stayed cold.

Yes, you can see pa duct running up outside the wall because the top 9" of wall has no plywood on the outseid - it is open to the overhan of the foof. So I spent a lot of time custom cutting plywood pieces to scab into the holes.

last night I caulked the edges of the plywood to keep insects and small rodents from using that as an egress into the house. It will be several weeks that this area is open as I plan on replacing the window. I also plan on stripping a whole lot more sheetrock in other rooms as those holes at the top have to go the entire perimeter of the house (the configuration of the roof guarentees that).

Already used to any project in this house being more involved and taking longer than it should becasue of all the weird issues that crop up.

Busy Day in Deering

Heard sirens most of the afternoon today. Found out there was a brush fire in Deering that went to 3 alarms.

Then a fire truck and a SUV had an argument (no link, but it was breaking news on Channel 9).

Happy MD

Hapy Mother's Day to Cop Car - a better mother I could not wish for!

Happy Mother's Day to FN (Fantastic Niece) and Rachie too, You go Girls!

And Happy Mother's Day to all my blog friends (or their wives, GF's, significant others) - even those that whose only children are of the furred or featherd kind - Hope you have a great day.