A Few Persistent Problems as Projects Accomplished

Despite extraordinary complications involving Windows 10 (and my Yahoo email!) I blog on. And I am happy to report that household projects are being resolved! F'rinstance, we had noisome, noxious, noisy European starlings (an invasive species to boot) nesting in a hole in the side of the house. The hole was in the wall next to where the computer resides and every Facebook adventure or web search was accompanied by the loud chortling of hungry baby birds. Bob and I realized we had been living with this for months; they must have delivered a multitude of litters of chicks before Bob devised a clever bird flap, that allowed the birds to exit, but not re-enter. It worked (with no birds hurt) and we can reclaim the wall. Bob has patched the hole with aluminum, visible in the picture above. We had tried the owl featured below, but he only served to scare our friends, as he was only five feet off the ground. Huzzahs to Bob!

The next project completed was skylights! Oooohhh! I am so happy. Thanks to Bob and our good friend Joe, I can now vent the hot air that collected in the ceiling and with the insulation that Bob and Joe added a few months past, the studio is an altogether nicer, cooler place to do business. (The business of art, that is!)

And here's yet another ongoing dilemma fixed: we had a quite large sink hole that formed in our yard. It had probably come from where roots were rotting from a tree removed long ago. But it kept getting deeper and was downright weird. When you went to mow the lawn, you sank waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down and when it rained, water pooled there. That's lil' Robin the Good, posing for scale.

First we added rocks (plenty of those left over from gardening!), then we added dirt and left over soil (from when we excavated to do the Mosaic Walkway), and then Bob (in an industrious burst) added sods left over from edging the vegetable garden. Watered in and !POOF! Instant level, grassed yard repair!

 

 Bob also went up on our roof and patched several areas with tar; we're ready if it ever rains again. (Sort of like California. I think we need rain!) He also cleaned the chimney. Bob's been busy and gets my appreciation and a big gold star!!

Slow and Steady as She Goes!

(Actually, I should have labelled this posting "Steady as He Goes" as chimneys are (obviously) phallic and therefore more male than female in implication).

This was a pleasant way to spend Saturday morning. Bob scored the blocks that we were using to make the higher courses of the chimney and I malleted and chiselled off the extra ends. (I was, of course, wearing my fashionable new safety glasses!) We did quite a few of them and then it was decided that we'd use the bigger blocks after all. But it was fun while it lasted, and I got to take this picture which could show mason's tools from hundreds of years ago. One of those things that don't change...

Our friend Joe came by to assist Bob with the loftier altitudes to be attained by our chimney. (I'm not at my best on ladders and with my impaired vision, I think sitting astride a low bench is more my style anyway). I am happy to provide food and drink! So they managed to put several layers on. Look at this progress:

Later the same day:

See? The chimney had crested that plywood sheathing and is creeping skyward. I am editing and omitting the many trials and trevails that ensued to get to this point, including the fact that Bob removed a course of the re-sized blocks and has rethought our construction technique. It's all a learning experience (don't you simply detest that phrase?) and as our neighbor reminded me, "You only have to do it once!" (Thank heavens!)



New and Improved Projects

This side of the house is in for a treat. First, we're going to remove that scabby plywood and see what sort of evil lurks underneath. Then we're going to tackle the chimney (or in this case, the lack of chimney. The former owner removed the apparently perfectly functional chimney and interior fireplace for reasons unknown...). The way I figure it, if my parents constructed a chimney of heroic proportions (along with an entire house!) then Bob and I can certainly make a chimney and hook up the woodstove and provide some additional heat this winter. We have to first excavate and make a new footing for the chimney. We'd better hurry up and do that as every time Bob and I discuss the foundation, he maintains we have to dig deeper. It used to be three feet; now it's four. Soon, it will be a twenty foot hole filled with boulders and mortar and it will take us the rest of our lives and never be deep enough...
Just look at the roofline and see another piece of the project. Where the lack of chimney meets the roof, there is a serious languague problem: peeled back flashing meets partially hacked shingles and dissected wood siding. A mini mess!

Underfoot lingers another less onerous affair; in fact, I think it could be fun. We're going to replace the wooden deck with a stone terrace. (Have you noticed that no one refers to terraces as "patios" anymore? Remember patios?) We sit outside pretty often and deserve a nice place to view the garden from. It's relatively flat by the house and it shouldn't be too hard to make a usuable terrace. Famous last words!
See the below photo to reference that there are actual weeds and grass growing up through the boards.

Hey! Even if we don't get to this this year- or even next!- it's still a nice place to sit outside.