Finishing up old tasks and moving on to new

Finished room. Finding the right curtains was tough.

Interior wall mirror. Hope it holds, 

I think I can finally say that the guest room is done. We decided on curtains...sorry...window treatments...so I installed new rods and hung them. I also hung an antique mirror that matched the furniture set. Hanging anything on the walls of "fort" Morford is tricky, since any exterior wall is solid cement, but the interior walls are plaster on lathe and no thrill either. Of course the spot where we wanted the mirror was nowhere near a wall stud so I ended up drilling a small hole just to get the nail through the springy lathe. This leaves me with a bit of concern about the quality and durability of the anchor in the wall. I plan to keep an eye on it and if it looks like it's loosening I'll have to go with plan B.

We're very pleased with the room. It's bright and airy, really just perfect for a guest room. I think it would be a bit much for us to look at every day in the master but it makes for an attractive guest room, The trick was to go with curtains that matched the brightly colored wall without clashing against them or the white woodwork. We ended up with a tan or almost cane colored curtain that has a basket type weave. They make the room a bit less stark and warm up the space without toning down the color.

Attic widow and frame. Not good.

Glazed and painted window. Some clean up
still to be done. 

In other news, I continue to work on the attic windows. I first removed the one attic window and frame last week. That has been glazed and painted, but before I could install the window, I had work to do on the frame. On our 2 story home, the attic is essentially a third story window, with two roofs in the way, the porch roof and part of the second story roof, making the attic windows kind of a dormer. In any event, other that renting a lift, there was no easy way to reach the outside of the window. This meant repairing and painting the windows had to be done from the inside. All in all it went pretty well. Scrapping and wire brushing the old paint was the most difficult part. I was able to reach parts of the window by leaning out the other window. I ended up with paint chips in my hair and down my shirt, plus I was rolling around on the attic floor as I tried to get to the correct position. Painting was tricky but a bit easier simply because it's less physical. I did end up with paint on my shirt and arms simply because it was impossible to lean out and not bump into the frame.

As I mentioned in the last blog, the windows and screens are worth saving as they are original to the house and have character. I might be less inclined on the 1st or 2nd floor but the attic is unheated and I'm not real interested in replacement windows or screens up there. Eventually I need to work on painting and re-glazing the 2nd floor windows which are more reachable, but behind installed aluminum storms. That will make the job a bit more difficult. So the attic windows are kind of glazing practice for lower windows that will be more visible.

Memorial Day was a full work weekend for us as I had a rare weekend off. In addition to the attic window work, we managed to get in some yard work including removing another large, overhanging branch leaning in from the abandoned mansion next door. Cindy caught up on some neglected housework. Early Memorial Day we went out for supplies and Cindy found some inexpensive flags so we decided to line our driveway and sidewalk with flags. I imagine our neighbors think we're a bit nutty but there's no shame in honoring those who have fallen, and those who serve and have served. So while Memorial Day is a holiday to be honored, there is no reason not to enjoy the freedom and liberty that has been paid for so dearly by our armed forces. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness provided for and protected by the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard.

A diamond in the rough

I'm happy. Really. 

So as I have written several times in this blog, my old lawn mower has given me fits since I began to use it to tackle my big yard. It did indeed run better last week but even so, a triple lot, old age, and a 22" push mower is an ugly combination. In any event,  I rarely make large purchases on a whim, and without careful research (except this house!). I've been pricing and researching riding mowers for over a year and had recently narrowed my choices down to John Deere, and Cub Cadet. I know that many people have a strong brand loyalty to things like tractors, especially John Deere, so I will tread carefully here. Entry level Deere lawn tractors are subcontracted to MTD, and, while well made, are not substantially different than most other small tractors despite being around 20% more expensive. Also, all parts and service must go through a John Deere dealer. Cub Cadet, well made and well reviewed are cheaper to buy and service, and even go on sale from time to time.

Last Saturday, I stopped into Tractor Supply since they sell Cub Cadet tractors and lo and behold they were on sale! The sale ended the next day so I left and stewed about it. In the end, I approached Home Depot and they agreed to match the price and honor a 10% coupon I had received in the mail. Done deal. I rented a flatbed from them for $20 bucks to get it home. It'a an XT1 Model with 22 horsepower and a 46" cut on the mower. My first run at cutting the grass, being slow and cautious, took 20 minutes. No more  telling Cindy I spent the day on the lawn! I still need to use the old push mower for trimming near the house and bushes and I was happy that it started on the first pull. I still plan to do some minor maintenance and keep my old buddy around for awhile.

Old glazing removed and wood scrapped.
 Ready to be glazed. Note the
diamond shaped glass 

A good friend gave us
 this sign. It hangs
on our porch. 

The other project I'm working on is the attic windows and screens. We've finally started to get some warm weather and the attic is heating up. We do have a roof vent but it really helps to put the screens in the two front windows to get the air circulating better. It helps keep the second floor cool as well.  One of my projects for this year is to continue painting the window frames on the house with the second floor on the agenda. I would like to do the attic windows as well but they are pretty much out of reach from any normal ladder. So, my plan is to paint the window frames from the attic. They are right next to each other so I will lean out the one window to scrape and paint the other frame. The windows themselves, and the screens, come out completely so they will be easy. However, the need to be repaired. The first set is on my work bench right now. The screen is destroyed so I removed the remains and the frame holding it in place. I scrapped the wood and filled the numerous holes and nicks. The window was in better shape, except that it needs to be completely re-glazed. I took all the old glazing off the window with a putty knife, and scraped and wire brushed the wood. I then re-glazed the window and am now waiting for the glazing to cure so it and the screen can be painted. Our nickname for the house is the diamond in the rough and this is at least partially because of the diamond pattern in the windows. This diamond pattern makes the window unique and worth saving, while at the same time makes the maintenance and repair a bit more difficult. We love these windows and have carried this diamond theme through the house with our window treatments and bed covers.

In other news, it's graduation weekend at Binghamton University which means the bed and breakfast across the street will be full with the families of the graduates, Something about this pleases me. I like seeing the people check in and enjoy the extra activity on our street. It reinforces my desire to maintain and improve our home simply because we have guests in the neighborhood. I like to sit on the porch and watch them come and go to dinners and ceremonies and feel a certain amount of pride in our town. With graduation weekend comes the annual bar crawl where students walk from the west side to downtown hitting the bars and celebrating. We are far enough removed from the festivities to have little affect from them, but we occasionally get a straggler on the sidewalk and an empty cup in the lawn. A small price to pay for having one of the top public universities in the nation located here.
.

Yard work and closed lows

Two closed lows meander over the U.S., one over New
York and New England 

I mentioned in my last blog that my immediate agenda included yard work and my old mower. Indeed it did, despite the weather, and the old mower again became a reluctant work partner. First of all, the weather. Yard work is, of course, dependent on the weather, and in no place is this more true than upstate New York. Spring here is often a bitter disappointment. After a long and hard winter, even snow lovers like me really look forward to a warm and sunny spring day. While we are "flooded" with traditional spring images of sunshine and flowers, spring here in the middle latitudes often offers a different, much harsher reality. Spring is the time of year for closed, or cut off lows. "What is that?" you say. Glad you asked. In the spring, we still have big differences in the cold to the north and the increasing warmth in the south. This develops large and strong low pressure storm systems, just like in winter. The difference is that in the spring, the jet stream that moves lows and highs, has begun to retreat to the north, leaving these big lows cut off from the flow, and meandering aimlessly. If you happen to be in an area where there is no low, you may have days of warm sunny weather, but if you happen to live in an area under one of these cut off lows, you will be in for days of clouds, rain, and cool air as the low moves slowly, or even circles about. Often, upstate New York seems to be in the perfect place for lousy weather, as it was (is) for much of the first part of May.

Friday deluge. Green is bad. Yellow,
really bad.  Red? Oof. 

So, being a professional meteorologist, I knew this was coming and decided that on Thursday of last week I needed to get the lawns done before this low moved in and established residency. Now I had already cut the lawn at home once and was pleasantly surprised with the old mower and how quickly it had started. It ran pretty nicely as well. The Sea Foam additive had done it's job. I expected little trouble when I went to cut the grass on the last sunny day before the deluge. Ha Ha. One solid hour of priming, pleading, and pulling and that damn mower wouldn't start. I removed the spark plug, the most common cause of non starting small engines, and to my untrained eye, it looked quite fouled. I carefully cleaned and reinstalled it. No luck. I was out of time. I had to still drive to the in laws and cut the grass there. So, I put the mower away and gave up. Friday, as predicted, the rain came. In buckets.  Saturday, a brief break arrived and I headed out. I pulled the plug again and ran to the hardware store for a replacement. I popped the new plug in the mower and it fired immediately. My guess is that in doing it's job, the Sea Foam additive did indeed dissolve the years of gunk in the carburetor that got into the combustion chamber and in turn fouled the plug. In any case I had to wait to cut the grass until the puddles in the lawn mostly disappeared before I did a fast and furious job on the lawn ahead of the next round of rain. I finished the entire thing in about an hour, a new record.

One of the bigger trees I cut down. Note that the gloves are
not near the chainsaw. 

Before the rain on Wednesday, I got out my el cheapo Harbor Freight chain saw and attacked some more of the low hanging branches and dead trees in the side yard. Overall, I'm pleased with the performance of the saw. It had plenty of power and was light and easy to handle. On the down side, the double safety switch was hard to squeeze and keep in the "on" position with heavy gloves on. I ended up taking my gloves off and it was easier to keep the saw going at all angles. I cut up some old wood I had laying around to fireplace size, and took down some new dead and live branches and trees that just needed to go away. A big improvement to the general look to the trees and lawn, and it made it much easier to mow.

Lowe"s wants $89 for this 3 foot high
"Fat Albert" spruce.Yikes!

We want to do some plantings in the near future and have started to look at some options at the local home stores. I'm somewhat apprehensive since the growing and nurturing gene seems to have skipped me and despite the green thumbs of my parents and brother, pretty much everything I plant dies. In any case, we haven't made any firm decisions, but are looking to plant a spruce somewhere near the middle of the side yard. I'm surprised at how difficult it is to find a spruce to transplant, and how expensive they are if you do manage to find one. I need to find a friend with some acreage and some wild spruce so that I can dig one up and plant it in my yard.

Little if anything has been done on the home repair and improvement front. I'm becoming more convinced that I have fixed the tub leak and will soon begin the repair the kitchen ceiling (triggering a new leak no doubt). This may trigger some more work in the kitchen very soon, including the oven hood/microwave combo installation and wall repair and painting.