Indoor/Outdoor

Walls after stain blocker has been applied

Ceiling done, walls trimmed. 

Since we have started to see something that could vaguely described as "Spring" outside projects have begun to dominate our time at the house. However, I still have one major indoor project that I really need to wrap up, so I'm pushing forward with the vestibule. Around the beginning of the month I applied B-I-N primer and stain blocker. This B-I-N stuff is a real pain in the neck to apply, very watery and drips everywhere but comes highly recommended. It did a nice job hiding the horrible crime scene level stains that were revealed under the wallpaper and allowed me to more easily apply the final paint coat. To be honest, it still took three coats for the ceiling but I think it could have been double that with out B-I-N. As of this writing I've got one coat on the walls and another is in order. We'll see if a third will be needed. Then, I'm still not done as I plan to add some simple crown molding along the ceiling to finish off the room and hide some sub par repair work by yours truly. There's also the task of finding a new light fixture to replace the hideous $7.99 special currently hanging from the ceiling.

I had already cleaned out the fireplace after our "last" fire of the season weeks ago. Then "May" struck and it was so cold some nights we fired it up again. This left me with a dirty fireplace once more. I love the thing but a damp day will make the old ashes stink up the house with an old burned smell so I once again cleaned out the fire box and put more ornamental logs in the rack (I burned the last ones on a cold night lol). We'll see if we make it through "June" without the need of a fire.

New grass seed. My beloved Charger in the background
keeping me company with music through the radio. 

Outdoors the work is harder but no less needed. Biggest ongoing project is the root mass and weed garden that currently makes up our "lawn" in front of the porch. I spent most of one day with a rake and pick mattock digging thru the root mat the lovely shrubs left behind. When I could no longer lift my arms I decided to try to plant grass using a seed/mulch/food mixture. I'm hoping this takes and I can just allow the mother nature to take her course with whatever's left. Through the day, I had two more neighbors stop by and compliment me on the work we've done so far and how happy they are to see the house improved. It's very gratifying and encouraging.

One of the plantings. They've actually perked up a bit
since I took the photo.

We were generously provided with some outdoor plantings by Mike Kenderes (Cindy's Uncle) and I've managed to plant them. In the spirit of full disclosure, you should know that despite having a father who could plant and grow anything, and a brother who is essentially a truck farmer that is feeding a good part of the poor in Champaign/Urbana Illinois at no cost to them, I am the Grim Reaper of anything green. Undeterred by my past record, I'm nothing if not stubborn and have forged ahead and planted a beautiful ornamental ground cover which I cannot name. It's supposed to be bullet proof and "grow anywhere". We shall see.

Otherwise, the weekly mowing of the loose collection of weeds I call the north lawn continues by hand mower. I am still looking and considering a riding tractor but I really don't mind the hour or so of pushing it takes me with the old mower. Only down side is the backache I get because the damn handle is too low. Being tall can be a real disadvantage when it comes to things that are designed for average size folks. Stooping over to push a lawn mower is a prime example. My 10+ year old mower has been running good, especially considering I perform zero maintenance on the thing. I've never changed the oil, just check to see it has some, and have only changed the air cleaner once despite a twice yearly recommended interval. It has been running rich and surging so I did take the old air cleaner off and was immediately amazed that it was even running. I'm not sure I've ever seen such a dirty air cleaner. I have the parts and will make my second ever air cleaner replacement soon.

Geno update: Cindy's dad continues to make slow improvement, but not without setbacks. She visits him daily and I often so. On good days he converses in full sentences and feeds himself. Most importantly we continue to see improvement and hope to see him back to himself one day soon.

Coming soon: Adams Family house next door is being taken on by yet another aspiring owner. My money is on the house. Also, runs, drips, and errors, a plumbing story.

Power washing and power mowers

Our dirty house last fall with egg stain near the peak above the
porch. Yes, those are beer cans on the ledge. I was thirsty.

One thing that was absolutely clear to us when we purchased our home was that it desperately needed to be cleaned, inside and out. In my very first blog I wrote about the interior cleaning and vine removal. With winter approaching, we decided to wait to tackle much of the outside. Now, as we have finally warmed, there was no long any reason to delay the inevitable. Our home is solid masonry construction, with a finished concrete or smooth stucco exterior. It hadn't been cleaned in a very long time, if ever. One of the presents left behind by the college students that had rented the home, was a massive stain on the wall below the porch roof. Otherwise, the house was covered in dirt, perhaps a bit of mold, and streaky stains of something slowly oozing down from the overhang.

So, it was clear it needed a power washing, but how to go about it? Certainly operating a power washer is not rocket science, but I didn't own one or the accessories I would need to reach the higher sections of the home. I also didn't have a high enough ladder. Heights don't bother me, but at 6'3" and well proportioned,well into my middle age, I'm not exactly an acrobat anymore. A local resident (Mark) I know had mentioned last year that he had a power washer and would be willing to do the job for me, so I kept that in the back of my mind as I shopped for a power washer. Now here's something about me that always slows my progress when I'm shopping for anything more than a book of stamps: I think about it too much. I start considering the purchase from every angle, taking into account cost, use, durability, warranty, at a minimum. This kind of bogs down the purchase process causing me to miss special sales and other opportunities. So, the bottom line is that as it became time to wash the house, I had none of the things I needed, and nothing was on sale (never pay full price, right?). Then, a couple weeks ago, Mark wanders by and mentions that he's ready to wash the house and wants to know when he should do it. Perfect. I ask him how much and he offered to do it for so little, that I couldn't refuse.

The power wash underway.

Dramatic example of the
cleaning in progress.

So, on an overcast, cool and rainy day, (see here), Mark and his partner showed up with a ladder, a power washer, heavy duty rain gear, Outdoor Clorox, and mildew fighter. The two of them power washed the entire home in around 6 hours, something that I was ill equipped to do, and would have taken much longer had I done it myself.

The cleaning made a remarkable difference and will provide Cindy and I with another decision to be made. Do we just keep the cleaned exterior as it is, or do we paint the house with a high quality paint, covering the remaining stains. Painting would have the added bonus of sealing some of the cracks that have developed over the years. The downside of painting is that we would lose the nice, sparkly exterior of the house, which has tiny quartz crystals embedded. At this point we're inclined to leave it as is, perhaps for this year and see how the house looks, especially after I get to work and trim around the windows and doors. I'll take a picture of the clean house and try to remember to post it on my next blog.

I mentioned power mowers in the title and I suppose I should write a few words about this as well. The farm equipment auction in Whitney Point was kind of a bust. They had literally hundreds of garden tractors in various conditions, and my cousin and I spotted a few good ones. Well, I set a maximum price that I was willing to spend on a no guarantee tractor and the bidding far exceeded my limit. There will be another in the fall, when I understand prices are lower because fewer people want a mower in October. So my decision now is this: Do I wait and push my tiny mower around the north lawn all summer, or do I just walk into a store and buy a new one? Like a wrote above, my decision making process moves at the speed of a glacier, and I could use the exercise, so maybe I'll just think about all summer. One downside of a push mower: There's no place to put your beer.

A final note. Thank you all for the kind comments. I appreciate them and it makes me very happy that you are enjoying my blog. Please excuse the typos and grammatical errors. One thing is clear, I'm a marginal repairman but a far worse proofreader. I'll continue to fix the errors as I find them.