That Old House Update!

before

I took down the old 1950's awnings and created some of my own design! I had some redwood Ive been hanging onto for years, SO Now I finally used it... to frame up the new awning. The new ones let in more light and do the job of keeping the rain out.  I still have to add the last 2 ft over the door, but cant put that up just yet.  I plan to remove those windows on that wall (to the right), they are leaking and when i do I wont be putting it back in the same configuration and so that piece of Vinyl siding the awning will attach over will be removed so...anyways its one of those chicken or egg things..The porch has been repainted, and rescreened and a new door is up I used a storm door it wont rot, and I already had it so FREE is good.

aft

It took me forever and the last thing to do is paint the floor but that will come later too...The room (with windows) will need a floor paint too so at the same time Ill do that.  RIGHT now Im removing the siding that is INSIDE that room, Im hoping to create a utility closet on one wall in that room...and then I can move the laundry out there...This room used to be a sunroom, but I find it was never used as one..it was used more for storage SO why fight it create a storage/utility, sort of room. there is more water damage to repair in this room...it will be interesting to see what I can about it!

More fix ups....water damage..

 

         

Also doing more painting...and UP on the roof again fixing yet another leak that showed up in the valley of this addition, during the 2 days of HEAVY rain we had...NO photos of that..omg it was horrible, I had tar all over me..

...and I had to spend 2 days in the dentist office! One of my molars broke in half....so a crown, -----$975.00!!*&^%/!! Holy Broken Bank Acct---!

SO now you understand why Im painting the old door hardware instead of replacing it...New Door hardware $20 can of spray paint $4.00

A simple fix 

                                  

I HOPE I will soon be working INSIDE the house I wanted to get all the outside stuff done before the tempts go up into the high 90's and beyond...and SO much rain, delayed things a bit but I have kept very busy cleaning out the old shed, now I can get my tools in there and going thru the Ebay stuff yet again, I tossed  some out, it was not selling...and now im gonna be listing all my son's old toys from the 1980's!

I need every penny I can get to buy building supplies!

so the rest of my vacation was spent working on projects...I feel like I need a vacation from my vacation...I guess Ill get a day off on July 4th!

I dug one wicker chair out...wonder if I'll ever get to sit in it?

Maybe I'll sit down and have lunch in this chair, can you tell my food faces are impromptu?
(electric cord upper left..haha)

I call this Tea Time!

PEACE

Yellow Branch Falls

Got to take a hike this weekend! Yep another waterfall and a great day to be out in the woods enjoying the trees, flowers and, other things!

uh... this snake is pushing his head into a crack in this log...I guess there's something in there he wants to eat!

The girlz had a big day...and that old gal with her hat on backwards had a great time!!

They look 3-D in this shot dont you think?

Mother natures infinity pool edge...

I think this is a milkweed...its sure was a pleasant surprise in the woods.

My friend has a good eye she spotted a couple of salamanders in the waters edge! I'll have to research to find the name of this one.  He is hiding under a hickory nut shell..

Yellow Branch Falls hike was about 3 mi. round trip.  Some ups and downs along a narrow ridge trail through a very heavy oak,hickory forest later we arrived at the falls.  Water levels were low but the flow was still very nice. This waterfall is about 60 ft tall and its a fan class falls with plenty of rock table layers to creat lots of splashing!!

A really good trip!!! Fun was had by all!!

PEACE

Memories....

IF this doesnt melt your heart then you dont have one...these are the northern cardinal hatchlings that are in the bush right next to where Im working on the ladder.  Their first clutch was stolen by something...So Im glad to see they had another go and now there's 3 in the nest...I know first hand how hard it is to be a bird parent!!

Recall last yr at this time I was a bird mommy, I brought a baby n. mocking I called Milo home to raise when construction threatened his life...I was watching his mother who lives in the neighborhood where I work fledge her brood of 2 today! She is a great Mom..Im so glad I had the opportunity to get to know Milo it was one of the highlights of my life!!

I had to work today, can you belive that? Yeah it was awful, If I didnt need the money I would have stayed home..BUT next week I have the whole week off...OMG I hope I survive it! I have a 2 day trip to the mountains planned and the rest of the time I'll be working on the Project House!!!

And in remembrance of my dad, Herman Walling a veteran, thank you dad for your service!

PEACE

Riley Moore

FINALLY I did something besides work this past weekend!! Y'all know I am working on  hiking to as many of the Waterfalls in SC as I can in my lifetime...Ive been working on this bucket list kinda thing for about 3 yrs NOW...last yr I only did a couple and this is the first one this yr..

RILEY MOORE FALLS

                             

NOT a tall waterfall but it sure was a wonderful one! The hike is 3 miles RT. Some red mud was involved! The dogs loved it...and so did my sister and I.  WE missed having our old hiking gal Indy...but she was with us in Spirit for sure as she always loved the water.
The falls is 100 ft wide and 15 ft tall and in summer there's a decent swimming hole...the water was COLD and is probably always cold as its fed by the Chauga River

                                                        

When I binged the river Trout Fishing was mentioned...this river is 31 miles long...
Camping is permited in this area...IF Only we had known we would have planned to spend the night on the river...Maybe this one will be revisited..

A dark cloud came over but nothing could ruin this wonderful day so WE wished it away...

AND It left...

Part of the wonder of hiking in an Oak Hickory forest is the wild woods flowers! WE saw some beauties...several trilliums, jack in the pulpit, and others!!

Trillium Catesby

Yellow Trillium 

                                                                             Dwarf Iris

                                                                                   Mtn Laurel 

And  this is the same waterfall in my header photo!! 

Hope everyone had a great Mothers Day...I enjoyed mine!!!

PEACE

Spring Showers

Today we have blowing rain...yuk! We've had rain for 2 solid weeks now and maybe ONE hour of sun in all that time.  I havent updated in a while...

Mom went back to Colorado with sister when she left, since Im working all the time and sis is retired it seems logical that Mom will get more help with her for now..So off they went two weeks ago.  Mom continues to amaze me, she is 89 this yr, just had a terrible bout of illness, lost 8 lbs of body weight and in the end decided YES, I will make a cross country trip and move to Colorado for this summer! IS she amazing or what? This photo is last Mothers day when she was eating a BANANNA SPLIT..Ill wait to see what they end up sending me of her doing this mothers day upcoming.

Work continues on the old house....my friend came to help me this weekend, in fact she is sleeping off our after dinner drinks while I type this..lol THE dogs got me up early to go fetch a squirrel to new hunting grounds as one had sprung the relocation trap..SO off in a blowing rain in my PJ's with a trapped squirrel I went...holy cow.

                                            

Before and after the removal of the old awning Blue tarps are to keep some of the rain out until the new screen and MY own NEW design of awning is put up...and a fan make over is in progress...

Some spring flowers have been fun to watch around the yard

  

Sadly we lost another member of our family my dear dog friend Indy (whom Ive written of many times when I went to dog sit her) was laid to rest last week she has been fighting old age for a while now and took a sudden turn for the worst...she has been laid to rest here at my place with her old buddy Spanky...

For Indy 

RIP sweet lady...

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