Month: May 2023

This week includes a potpourri of news. Major progress was made in the upstairs bath, the yard is looking good, and a few miscellaneous projects received attention. Photos of all are in the narrative below.

The upstairs bath is the major source of news this week. A bit more painting was done, but the big news was the finishing of the electrical circuits. The bath now has a functioning vent fan, light above the sink, and working outlets. While finishing touches are still needed, the bath is now fully functional.

I am VERY pleased to have the bath working. I really appreciate the convenience of a shower on the upper floor. The bath was one of the projects we had discussed [almost four] years ago when we first looked at the place, and is the last of the major improvements we plan for the interior of Heart House.

Moving outside, the yard is looking good. Pam put a flat of pansies in the front flower bed. Our butterfly bush is in full bloom. The south side yard, between the house and garage, is at full spring green.

Staying with the ‘yard’ theme, here are a couple photos of the house decked out in Memorial Day bunting.

I have a couple miscellaneous photos. First, while the electricians were here Pam had them put a decorative disc under the kitchen light fixture. It was originally a pie crust cutter. As you can see, it features a heart motif, just what Heart House needs!

Second, here is a photo Pam took of me while I was using my “flame thrower,” a weed and grass torch I use to kill weeds growing in the cracks of the sidewalk.

Pam can now continue putting the upstairs guest bedroom back in order. That room served as a storage and staging area during the bathroom work; it became dirty and disorganized. Pam assembled dowels and curtains to serve as coverings for the steel storage racks in the room and moved them to the back wall. This room needs a lot of cleaning and organizing yet. Pam has plans to go through existing containers on the storage racks and “edit” what’s being kept.

And finally, our daughter Felicity sings with a Sweet Adeline group called Northwest Harmony, and they recently had a competition in the state of Washington. Below is a photo of Felicity in stage makeup, plus another photo of her choir on stage at the competition. (Felicity is in the back row, 3rd from left, in the group photo.) Photographer(s) are unknown. The chorus placed 6th in a field of 19 during the first regional competition since COVID.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

I’m busy trying to teach old dogs – and young cats – new tricks.

Happy Trails.

As spring progresses, the lilacs and lily of the valley are popping open. The carpenter finished his sheetrock work in the bathroom and the plumbers piped in the clawfoot tub and sink. I have a lot of photos for this post, so let’s get started.

I’m going to begin with the yard updates mentioned above. As I look out the Media Room’s north bay window, this is what I see below me.

Centered is the honey locust tree with its gold spring foliage. It is flanked on both sides by different colors of lilacs. The effect is both visual and sensory and I enjoy both aspects.

Recently opened, lily of the valley bloom for a short time every spring. (These were on the property when we bought it.) Pam tells me they have a light fragrance, but I have not bent low enough to check.

Last year we planted an oak tree that was sprouting from an acorn. It didn’t do very well, but this year it seems to have found its footing. (Maybe because the baby oak was covered for the winter and deer didn’t chew it to the ground.)

One more trip to the greenhouse resulted in a couple more hollyhock plants and a flat of pansies. That should about do it for this season. The hollyhocks may not flower this year, but I hope they settle in and bloom next year.

The main news of the week revolved around the continuing upstairs bathroom work. Most of the finish work was done by service people, but I did some too, such as sanding the last drywall joints, and painting. Pam found a pair of short drapes to temporarily hang over the main window, and I began moving in some fittings. The bathroom is starting to be functional again.

Below are several photos relating to the plumber’s effort to complete the drains and water supply lines. Be sure to read the captions. Working in an 1894 home has it challenges!

Here are a few photos of the bath as of May 20th.

I hope the electrician shows up this week! There are details I can do, including putting on another coat of paint and installing baseboards and trim, but with the vent fan working I could begin using the shower. I’m looking forward to that.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

I refer to the crawl space above the kitchen ceiling as “Mouseville.”

Hey, let’s not only hear from: 1) the electrician. What about 2) the gable painter? Or maybe, did 3) the roofer review our counter proposal? Trades people. Ugh.

Happy Trails.

Spring means flowers. The Mary Lynn bed tulips and daffodils are nearing the end of their blooming cycles, but other flowers are beginning to open. A trip to a greenhouse yielded some perennial and annual flowers which were planted over a few days this past week. Some work was done in the upstairs bath. Screen inserts replaced the winter inserts in three doors. Outdoor work took up much of our energy this past week.

I get a kick out of the smaller flowers that made appearances this week. Bleeding hearts, grape hyacinths, and white lilacs all popped open. Here are photos of plants newly blooming around the yard.

Only a few inside-the-house projects received attention this week. Screen inserts replaced the winter storm inserts in three doors leading to porches. The front screen insert needed new mesh before it was installed. Luckily our local lumber yard had a piece of the metal mesh left; most places now stock only the black fabric screening material which the cats would claw through in short order. Allowing the doors to be open allowed much-appreciated fresh air into the house.

Progress is VERY slow in the upstairs bath. The guy doing the sheetrock work, taping the joints and “mudding” them, showed up for just a few hours during the entire [past] week and is not done yet. This work needs to be completed before I can move on with painting, trim work, finishing the electrical, and getting the plumbers back to finish their job. This is getting a little frustrating and I will be doing some work to advance this project this weekend. I was able to cut and install a few tiles at the front of the shower, getting that bit of work completed. Project is taking much longer than I anticipated.

Other activities were part of the summer routine. Lawn mowing a couple times led to a trip to the city’s organic dump. Elma has no street sweeper so I took it on myself to clean our curb and gutter, the first time since we moved in. There was much sand and gravel removed and hauled to the dump along with grass clippings. (The result improved the curb appeal of the house and was worth the effort, but I bet the neighbors thought I was crazy.)

I spread some dandelion killer on parts of the lawn where the dandelions are most profuse and am waiting to see if the stuff has any effect. Other parts of the yard get the ‘manual’ treatment where I dig out the dandelions with a small digger tool. The yard looks good at the moment but keeping up is always a chore this time of year. The neighbors are not as diligent; I’m digging up most of their seeded dandelions, I think.

I enjoy spring; it’s interesting to watch annual and perennial flowers and plants appear. Opening the house to get in fresh air and planning summer activities are enjoyable pursuits. The smell of fresh-cut grass hangs in the air in the evenings. Until bugs arrive, I can sit out on a porch chair and relax after the day’s activities.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

The Mennonite greenhouse was a pleasure, as always. The first spring visit, the bright plants neatly aligned over aisles and aisles, that earthy humidity – ah. (I keep the greenhouse image in my personal memory bank, to retrieve mid-winter as needed.) Digging annuals into the beds surrounding Heart House, seeing how they augment the perennials breaking through — always a pleasure to see the result.

I am totally OVER that second floor bathroom project, however. It drags on and on and on and on. Speaking of dragging, the cats enjoy dragging garbage, plaster dust etc. downstairs from the mess upstairs. The door is off the bathroom and there is no way to keep construction debris in that room. (The workmen in the trades are not the most tidy people to begin with.) Additionally, “parts” from the bathroom are being stored in the quilt room/guest room; work I was planning to do in there has been disrupted. Pretty much a pain in the ass all ’round.

Mainly I am so OVER painting. And there is still so much painting to do…

Happy Trails.

Spring has arrived and flowers are coming into their own. Work progressed on the upstairs bathroom. Seeds were planted. This week, days went by quickly.

Topping the list of activities was the continuing work on the upstairs bathroom. The plumbers arrived and installed the shower, complete with drain and water lines. Plumbing was begun for the sink. Best of all, the toilet was re-installed and is functioning again. (I was getting tired of all those trips up and down the stairs to get to the bathroom at night.)

Still to be done – in one trip, I hope – is to plumb in the bathtub and finish the sink plumbing and install it. Here is a photo of the work in progress as of Friday, May 5th. Sheetrock is being installed around the shower stall.

The bathroom needs: sheetrock finishing, painting, putting in the remaining floor tiles, and getting the base trim cut/stained/installed. After that, I call the electricians back to finish the wiring and then the plumbers to finish the tub and sink installation. Keeping three trades working in rotation is interesting. There’s still a lot to get through before the job is complete!

Outside, spring is finally here, with the last of the below-freezing temperatures behind us. Our tulips and daffodils are adding color to the Mary Lynn memorial flower bed.

Grass seeds were spread in a few bare spots of the lawn, using a “shade” seed that hopefully will grow in these locations. Pam planted hollyhock seeds, gourd seeds, and Indian corn in and around the garden. It would be great if all seeds do well this year.

The cats offered a few amusing poses this week. For anyone who thinks cats sleep only curled up I offer this photo of a stretched-out Elmo. He measures a full 36″ when extended!

Here is a photo of the other three house cats, KitKat, Stirling, and Vienna, enjoying some morning sun that comes through the east bay window.

Nothing of real note is planned for the upcoming week other than my twice-weekly physical therapy. Hopefully we will have “visits” from the various trades people working on the bathroom; someone needs to stay close to home for those. It should be a quiet(er) week but who knows?

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny

When they aren’t napping, the Terrible Two have become interior decor critics. This week Stirling and Vienna stripped wallpaper in the library. Because — it was there? they were bored? everyone needs a challenge? they don’t like old timey cars? I will be painting these blocks under the windows a dark brown to give the windows more “weight” in the room. However, this was not a project I intended to work on now. Thanks so much, kitten kiddos.

The quote from the roofers arrived for the tower re-do. Sticker shock! Considering the house itself was purchased in the low $60,000 range, no way I can justify paying a little under $14,000 to re-do a decorative tower that basically needs incidental repair and updating. I have visions of 70-year-old people once again hanging from the side of the second story in a bucket lift, this time attempting to roof and repair. (More like a nightmare than a vision.)

I do believe I deserve a plant run to the Mennonite greenhouse this coming week…

Happy Trails.