Odds and Ends

As this was a busy weekend, I didn't have much time to take on projects. So, aside from finishing what fencing I could until materials ran out(still stopped by Lowe's being out of stock) - I cut the grass and painted the barn door.

Now, cutting the grass seems like a small chore. After 2 1/2 hours of straight mowing and having to refill the mower's gas tank three times, I no longer thought of it as a small chore. I started after work and the sun went down before I was finished.

On Saturday afternoon, after working at the Children's Fishing Derby on behalf of the Odd Fellows all day, I was too tired to do anything taxing, so I did an 'art project'. I'd purchased the supplies to paint the barn door months ago, but the weather wasn't good enough for outdoor painting. It only took a couple hours to get the design all laid out and painted. I've only had one comment so far from a neighbor that it looked good. I'm sure I'll hear more as time goes on. Here is a picture of the finished door:

New Fence, New Dog

Well, I finally had half a weekend to get some things done and I used it to put up most of the new fencing. Lowe's was out of some of the parts I needed, so I didn't get the chainlink finished. I don't have enough money to buy the materials for the privacy fence right now, but hopefully can in a couple weeks. We've decided to build it out of wood because vinyl is too expensive and the selection is poor. We want to have an integrated arbor in that fence and vinyl has no decent options. So, I'll build one myself out of wood and customize some fence sections to work with it.

Here is a picture of some of the new fencing and the dogs.

Pictured are Koko, Bo & Hood in front with Ginny behind and CJ over by the gate.

Koko is a rescued spayed chocolate lab. She will be seven years old in July. Her owner is in the midst of a divorce and can't have her where she is living. None of her friends or family would take her and she was at risk of being put down, so we rescued her. Hopefully, this woman will get her life back in order in the next year and she can have Koko back. If not, we'll be happy to keep her. We had already reached the point of having too many dogs to take with us when we travel, so one more makes little impact. Hood really likes her because she loves to play. Ginny is not too happy about having another girl in the house. Bo and C.J. don't seem to care one way or the other.

More Demo And Finally Some Building

At the end of February, we gained control of the whole house. Out came the sledge hammer and the partition between the front entry and the stairs was torn out. Also taken out was the cheesy brass fireplace cover. Below are a couple of pictures of the before and after of that demolition.

This is the doorway that was removed.

Here is a view looking in the same general direction with the wall gone.

The full hallway from the other direction.

Here is the revealed fireplace.

This is a closeup of the cast firebox insert.

The beginning of March was very busy and I also lost a week to the flu. So, after nearly a month with almost no progress (the lifting of the sagging beam and resupporting was completed and a lot of boxes were moved), the removal of the bathroom in the living room and the partition between the living and dining rooms was the main order of business. After the effort of demo, we went to Lowe's and bought $650 worth of light fixtures. I put up three of those and started the project of running the wires, support and such for a new fixture in the front hall. I expect to have that one up in a few days. Below are some pictures of the demo and the new fixtures.

This is the bathroom, kitchenette and partition that was removed.

Here is a look in from the hallway at the destruction.

This is looking into the dining room from the living room through the reopened doorway. The fixture is new, although the rest of the drop ceiling still needs to be taken down. This fixture replaced a broken 'brass-look' chandelier. Julie picked it out and wants to change the glass shades to something smaller and colorless.

This is the new fixture in the living room. It replaces a single bulb ceiling fan that weighed a ton. So in this room we went from 60 watts to 360 watts. It is a major improvement.

This is the new fixture in the upstairs hall. It replaces a single 60 watt brass lantern fixture. The hallway is now well lit with 540 watts.

For all the fixtures we chose 'natural light' or full spectrum bulbs. They cost a little more than twice as much as the conventional bulbs, but the quality of the light is so much better. When we get the walls painted, the colors should look the same in the daytime as in the night.

The fixture that will go inside the front entry is a six light fixture and will turn that currently unlighted space into an inviting entry.

New Lockset

This was not a very productive weekend. All I got done was the purchase and installation of a new lockset in the back door (with a matching set purchased, but not yet installed for the front). We also picked some paint colors for the back stairwell and purchased some patching material and a blade.

I opened one of the formerly sealed doors of the barn. I still am working on re-opening one other. Why someone decided to seal and cover all the doors is yet another 'what were they thinking?' mystery.

Beyond the minimal work, the learned quite a bit about more the town and our property's history. The original house that stood on the property still exists. It was moved in 1899/1900 from its original location to North High St. The current Port Matilda Hotel was the original funeral home of Mr. Pringle. It also was relocated from its original home on the corner to the next lot over. The hotel previous to this incarnation was located where the current post office now stands. It was torn down. There continues to be no evidence that anything ever stood on the empty lot. I am fairly convinced that the bank story is a myth. Further, I have tracked down the death of Mr. Sanderson and it was an industrial accident. That pretty much closes the book on the supposed suicide in the attic as there are no unaccounted for prior residents. It appears to also be a myth. So, all the final pieces to the puzzle are falling into place.

Permit Approved

After a month, my fencing permit was finally approved. It seems the delay was because they couldn't figure out why I wanted to put up fence sections in different parts of the property that weren't all of the same material nor could they understand why I wanted to put the fences in particular locations. I explained both, but not until after I pointed out that the answers to those questions were not really any of their business and they should not have held up the approval because of them. So long as none of the fences violated any ordinance, the permit should have been approved no matter how strange they thought my intentions were. So, despite there being new faces on the Council, it still seems that some old habits (going beyond the scope of their authority and adding unwritten extra requirements) have yet to die off. It is no wonder that most people don't bother to get the proper permits. It costs money, serves no real purpose, adds unneccesary delay and encourgages meddling.