Here's Mud in YOUR EYE...

And you hair, face, and all over your clothes!  The offending bucket of MUD! It was not too hard to get inside I did use the van's doggie ramp, rolled it down and let it land on the hand truck and rolled it inside! We women gotta use more brain since we have less muscle!! :o) Look how much I've already used!! I don't have a Hawk (one of those flat boards) so I just scoop out a good sized glob into a smaller bucket..

I watched a lot of you tubes the pros start off with a 4 inch knife or first layer it dries & you sand it, then a 6 inch knife, let it dry sand it, and then a 12" knife...I did none of that...

I realized if I put a glob of mud 4 inches wide in the center of the 8 inch knife it works best and on the second layer I put a 6 inch wide glob...and the last one,  my final coat will be 8 inches!  I was about ready to throw in the trowel after 4 days with no progress...but today I feel I can DO THIS! I've got one layer on each seam!! And I've got all the screw holes filled.  It will be many more days till its finished!! (lost all my in progress photos so some after shots)

                           My Sheetrocking of the ceiling done!

OH wanted to share this photo of the second French door in place..I finished that project up the week before the sheetrocking party....I ordered new hardware for it cause somewhere along the way this door lost its original lock set, this is called a Mortise lock set and I got the rubbed bronze finish it matches my others...

Here's how the 2 doors look in place you have to look beyond all the stuff in the way--the dishwasher and stove are still in the living room, and the fridge is on the porch ONE DAY tho...I think that white trim board to the left of the Fireplace is not straight I may have to remove it and straighten it up..hmmm.

SO that's the work I did this week...we put the dry wall up last Saturday and now its a week into the taping and I made progress!!  Check this out...I really was surprised to see this poking up through the brown leaves...SPRING is on the way!!

It was a lovely day here a bit windy and I'm sure I'll have a ton and a half of dead fall to pick up 

To all the football watchers hope you win!!

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

6th time around...the sun

Hope everyone had good 4th of July, my dogs Annie and Flossie had a birthday they are now 6 yrs old! I cant believe that...seems like only yesterday they were a pack of lost and unwanted 7 puppies... I found homes for all of them! We kept these two girls...almost kept 3 but at the last minute my X found a good home for Daisy Mae she was the runt of this litter.  The pups were starving and sick when we found them..

Daisy, Flossie and Annie all had Parvo a horrid intestinal disease, but I nursed them back to health they each got 30cc's of Ringers IV drip twice a day!!

We did it right on the kitchen counter I hung the IV bag on the cabinet knob and gave each a nice subcutaneaous dose of IV Fluids and IV antibiotics.. I kept them  cozy on warm heating pads, and eventually they all came around...I was prepared to keep all the sisters together but a great home on a farm opened up when a family's old dog was put to sleep due to his age and bad health so they needed a good dog to run on the farm, Daisy was the girl for the job..since she got well first! I WOULD love to see her again!! She had the shorter hair like Annie, Flossie was the only long haired one in the pack.

Spooning 

Shoes as a pillow?

 

Daisy Mae

 I hope she is happy and healthy like her sisters! 

Back to present day... 

Last weekend I finished up that East Wall on the project house..and did the demo on the South Wall..

! It was a LOT of work!!

                                                                before       

                                                                   after

Here is the Demo part....

                         And then i reframed and sheathed for the new windows...the openings are under the black felt paper, but I didnt cut it cause I had to wait till July 4th on a day off to install the windows!!

                                                                         

                                                 Before          

                                                 after

So on the 4th I installed the new windows and today I put up the siding

...although all those big windows were cool and gave lots of light all were rotten and I couldnt afford to replace each with a new window, so SOME are better than NONE.. I like the windows that slide side to side so thats what these are. The new siding matches perfectly!! YOU cant tell where the old is ---Check it out the color is perfect I had to order it so I went to  my Local Builders Supply and they hooked me up. I think I can afford a couple of small shutters...BUT what color???? And I have to cut a Gable Vent in the peak...that thing cost $40! I have 3 things sold on ebay to pay for it soon as they pay Ill go get the vent!

NOT all work today tho...

I had fun playing with this guy that lives in the BIG Hosta! One of the flowers opened up today so I wanted to photograph it, and THEN I saw something move--- a flirty flash of orange..

WHAT the........?

                                                               OH>>>>>hello!

                   

He has the perfect spot to hold up during all the rain we've had.. a total of 10.8 inches  in June and July has been WETTER so far!

 Makes me feel really bad for the ones out West who need some rain...wish I could send some your way...till next time...

PEACE



the Latest..

SOME photos from this post got lost.

Although it may seem I havent made much progress, dont forget I work full time!!  Wish I had something other than WORK to share but thats all I seem to be doing lately...as the work continues on The Old House.  The weather will soon come into play since Spring is normally short in these parts we go right into HOT...really hope to get a lot of the outdoor work done before it turns so hot...

meanwhile I will enjoy working outside while its spring..

The project house 

It took a while but we finally evicted the family of squirrels that was living in the porch attic...and the pack rat from the tool shed! HE was up in the rafters...what a messy nest... I didnt get any photos of those pesky critters but we relocated all safely. 

I removed the awnings on the end of the porch because the wood underneath was water damaged, and bad.

 and that is where the squirrels chewed their way in, so with that removed we put back new wood.  I dont plan to put that awning back up...

We peeled the screen wire back its going to be removed and the porch uprights painted, then new screening

I was thinking of making awnings from some of the redwood scraps I have and corregated acrylic roof panels instead of the metal...that way water can't blow in when it rains and yet light can get in....SO that's next on the list AFTER we finish painting the entire roof overhang and the porch itself!

This is how it came out.

 I think it would give a more modern look to the old tired porch

I had to get WAY up there to paint his gable end...the fascia board, and soffet Im learning these new terms...this gable end is done, that was hard!! THERE's 2 more gable's to do one involves getting UP on the roof again...not looking forward to that.

(The gable ends are the high peaks) 

Got a sunburn for my trouble, tomorrow I'll be on the shady side I hope!

I sprayed the English Ivy it seems to be dying, I have more to spray I wanted to see if it would work, it took about 3 weeks to start dying.  The label says it only kills what you spray it on, so I have to move some things before I spray the rest...

Meanwhile my annual flower seeds have sprouted and soon they will be ready to plant in the yard! I save plastic food containers that have lids to start my seeds, the Zinna seeds sprouted in 3 days! The lettuce is also up...

AND i found this unique  junk shop buy, a tiered unit that cost all of $5...its very sweet looking!

Tiered shelf unit right side corner  

I do hope to get in a waterfall hike sometime in May, around the 10th if all goes as planned...and thanks to all of your well wishes to my Mom she is much improved and watching her favorite Western Shows as I type this!!  That makes me HAPPY!!:o)

So that's what Ive been up to lately!

PEACE

Throwing Rocks and Mud Slinging?

Maybe its Spring? A warm weekend, some rain helps bring things out...

Mom has been really sick she relapsed and I spent Thursday night in the ER with her...but I refused to have her admitted to the hospital...Older people go into hospitals and come out feet first... got some good drugs for her and brought her home to recover in her own bed....and she has improved..still a long way from recouped...but on the way we think.  I was able to get some work done in the little sunny room I am re-doing...this little room is approx. 6 x 8.  I put down the wood floor last week, it had been carpet and sub floor...

THE vent is kinda  in the way since there was a built in window seat in front of these windows...I removed that.  I guess I should have moved this vent..but I don't think Its going to be a problem...I wont be staining and finishing the floor until all the sheetrock is hung, mudded, sanded and the trim applied. I will sand it when I sand the floor in the adjoining room. 

My sister and I have never done sheetrock, but we figure it cant be that hard!! SO we hung it...

IT was hard work, and we still have to put on tape and 3 coats of joint compound, then sand that off, and put up the trim around the windows, ceiling, baseboards, etc. The other rooms in this house have quarter round molding in the corners no tape so IM planning to do that and not try taping corners I figure Ill be doing good IF I can tape and "mud" the straight lines.

Annie is bored with all this Make Over crap!!

Another project is IM trying to evict a squirrel that is living in the screen porch attic...I set the trap UP in the attic....I really hope I catch him, cause he is chewing holes in the soffit of the porch!!!

I'll keep you posted OH and there is the Pack Rat in the old tool shed...he is NEXT!!!

HOPE your spring is moving right along!!

PEACE

Media Madness?

A sick day today...not for me but for Mom...we both have a bug but I can keep plugging along, she ended up in bed flat on her back so I took off to help her out...the Dr called in some meds so we hope she can kick it at home.  People get SICK in hospitals!

Over the weekend I finished making that opening, I do plan to open up one more and MAYbe 2 more walls...Hope the roof dont fall in on me! Actually Im not removing the entire wall just creating larger openings...and creating one opening where there is none.  I keep forgetting to take before and after shots should take them of ME...cause there is a marked difference..lol

I didnt make much progress but I have made a DENT in it I mean a HOLE..

Before 
 

After 

And from the other side...the reason for this is to bring MUCH needed light into the main living area.

This room 

Bringing the two floors up to level became quite a challenge! BUT I think Its gonna be pretty darn Close, but first I have this problem to deal with...

A leak by the chimney....

How about this  color scheme?

MAYBE not the kind of Media you are thinking of but  the old fashioned KIND....
And guess what I bought...ITS so cool.

I didnt find my old record player in the attic so...I found one in a local Junk Shop and now its MINE!

I have an old record stand that is the perfect size to hold this baby! NOW I gotta clean all my records...

I hope to have more progress come this weekend barring any lingering illness...

PEACE

Found a P-nut, It was rotten!

I'm planning to finish the repair to this floor this weekend! Thats the plan, if my back holds out...I dont mind working on a ladder, but squatting and stooping OH My aching back..

Here is the stage the floor was at last time..to refresh your memory...under 2 layers of carpet, there was a layer of old tile and under that a layer of 1/4 inch underlayment...held on by one zillion nails...

MOST of my PHOTOS got lost thanks to Flickr and a Hard Drive that messed up so the photos disappeared from this post...

NOW once I pulled up the underlayment over in that right corner...

SURPRISE I found a major ROTTEN SPOT! I dont know IF it was termite or water damage, there does appear to be water damage on the wall under the window, so AN improperly caulked window on the outside may be the cause, I have caulk to fix that problem and I have ripped out most of the rot,

The are is On the far right corner under the window....so I did a screen shot to show you the area

You can see the damage below the window to the paneling.... the SUBFLOOR too!

SO I have a plan whether it will work or not, your guess is as good as MINE all I know is I am going to try and do this!! I imagine it wont be perfect when its done but it will be better than it is NOW!   I will replace the subfloor boards with 1 x 6 treated and I've purchased 48 ft of pine flooring, but its 4 inch wide and this old floor is 3.25 inch wide..SO the boards have to be ripped down to the right width...I think Ill rip the boards first then cut the various lengths...I know the joints have to be staggered in order to look right so I will cut every other one to different lengths so the joints dont match up and create a line, YES Ive been watching THIS OLD HOUSE on PBS for years! NOW If I just had all the tools they have...For some reason the power tools mysteriously disappeared from the tool shed the week my X moved out although those items were not on his list...hmm

And here is how it came out with my patching in of the flooring...And I found a piece of paneling to replace the bad piece with..

on the lower right

SO this is the other side of the room  its Great! Wish me luck and IF i can still move when its done Ill update with my progress!  I have also removed the carpet from the adjourning room beyond that glass door, its a small room that was used as a Home Office but I am thinking Library/Media Room! It had a built in window seat that I removed! I will try to remember to take photos i forgot the before's of that, its a blank slate right now.

The Ebay selling is going pretty good so far, IT will help to pay for some of the numerous repairs I have to do ....and the sweater man didnt contact me, so I guess he was pleased. 

PEACE

Talk Sense to ME!

ITs quite possible I will never have a free weekend again... or not for a long time! Still in the very early stages of the "this old house makeover"!

   


SO today we (Mom has been helping out a little too) loaded up the yard debris we cleared up last week onto the trailer to take to the dump, we had 3 piles larger than this one pictured....but by the time we got it loaded the dump was closed! grrrr so now I will have to wait till next week to take it...I could get up super early before work one day this week and take it,,,,but I donnnnntttt know about that. That would be a days work before a days work!

Meanwhile I am taking one room and getting started on the "make better". This room has a couple of issues but the main one is the FLOOR! I was so busy I forgot to take a proper "before" but if you look at this photo Ive shown before and the room at the end with the double windows you see that tan carpet?

Underneath that is another carpet a brown shag from the 70's --Groovy right? WRONG-

I hate carpet..this was the LAST ROOM  that needed to have carpet removed well and that french glass door leads to a small room we called "the Office" it was where we kept a desk and all our paper work, it has carpet and that will be removed too...

ok it has 2 layers of carpet too..but the dining room has the 2 layers of carpet and A layer of TILE! And the tile is on a underlayment sheeting and trust me they used long nails every 6 inches square when they put this tile down back in probably the 50's?

You cant really see the tile this black stuff is the remains of black carpet padding that stuck to the old tile...

and under all that is the pretty pine wood floor that has never been finished! Once this old stuff is literally "peeled" off with Intensive back breaking labor, the wood floor will get sanded and varnished to hopefully match the other floor! IT took me an hour to remove this one section that's about 4 x 5 and it looks like there's about 4 more of the same! Probably take all day tomorrow to get it off!

LOOK AT ALL THESE NAILS..I dont think the fellow that put this down missed one single nail and these nails are 3 inches LONG!!  I mean really? Did they need this many? Holy Moly!

Im trying to not do too much damage to the floor underneath but Its not easy!

 

I'm half way thinking of doing the same in the kitchen, can you PLEASE talk me out of it?

PLEASE, enlighten me as to WHY I dont need to do that! It has Vinyl on it now and I know there are 2 layers of that and possibly a layer of linoleum under that and a layer of this horrible underlayment with nails every 6 inches!! AND yes the dated curtains are gonna go too!!

Footnote: to anyone reading this as of today, June 14, 2016 here is the finished room

PEACE