Tuesday, April 28, 2009

It didn't rain today!

More bleeding hearts discovered- white ones this time!
V again spent the afternoon out at the homestead.  He had an editing job to do this morning (he'll finish it tomorrow morning)  and had to meet the guy from the heating/air conditioning people in the afternoon.  They got the air conditioner unit moved so we can begin the work on the well.  Next, we need to somehow remove the 6 inch thick concrete slab that sits over the well pit (the air conditioner was sitting on this) so the well guys can extend the well head and shock the well so we can drink the water.  After the well, comes the septic system.  Things are moving, although seemingly slowly on this front.
V spent much of his afternoon demolishing the basement.  There are only a few walls left.  The ceiling tiles in the bathroom were quite nasty, as were many things.
An open expanse- the west third of the basement.
You can see in the distance one of the many sinks.  There is another, identical sink about 6 feet to the right of that one and the plumbing for another one in another part of the basement (they took the utility sink with them- of course- grrr).  One sink down here will remain- an extra sink isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially in what will likely be a craft/work area. The other will be moved up into the upstairs bathroom- which is HIDEOUS!!! I'll have to post a picture of the upstairs bath sometime. It is entirely paneled in dark wood (walls, floor, ceiling) with only one small (North) window that looks out on the side of the garage- it is dark and claustrophobic.
Off to the right is the gutted darkroom, ground zero of mouseland.
Some of the framing will remain for these walls. In fact, the wall you see here will be one of the walls for J14's room, in the corner (ahead, right) will be my sewing/guest bedroom.
It didn't rain today.  I checked the garden.  It is wet but not WET so I'm hoping that if it holds off raining tomorrow as well, maybe I can till one more time tomorrow late afternoon or evening.  But, we're forecast for more rain tomorrow night, Thursday and Friday.  We already had 2+ inches- enough already!  I want to garden!!!
But one nice thing...after a few small repairs and actually connecting the downspouts to take the water away from the house (what a concept!)- even with 2 inches of rain Sunday night- we didn't have water in the basement Monday morning!  YEAH!!!
I'm feeling a bit more in control than I did over the weekend. We're getting the new schedule down pretty quickly. And coming home to the 'town house' helps with meals and homework for the kids.
Oh, and my fingerling potatoes arrived today.  Certified organic seed potatoes!  Woo-Hoo!  Now if I just had somewhere to put them....

9 comments:

  1. You sure are making progress. What a great way to document your accomplishments. I wish I had a blog when we bought and demolished this place. What is with all the mice...did they have cats?

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  2. Country Girl- they didn't have cats. They had several dogs (that peed in the house, dug holes in the yard and chewed on the windowsills) and chickens outside. They ran a vet clinic in the basement so there was probably all manner of interesting things for mice to get into down there- animal feed and who knows what else. It's pretty scary sometimes!
    Judy

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  3. I think you guys are progressing with amazing speed. It looks pretty good down there. You are lucky that your hubby can and wants to do the work..and of course I can't forget you and the kids! It'll get there! Then we can have an "all done party" !!...debbie

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  4. I agree, you are all making such good progress. Yipes on the basement though, I can see how it feels like a never-ending project. The previous owners, I don't know how they lived there! Wonder why there are so many sinks?

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  5. Judy, it may not seem like you're moving along that well, but I think I can speak for everyone when I say-you guys are amazing. I can't believe how fast you're moving along. My kingdom for a tenth of your energy!!
    Best to you.
    Sue

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  6. Hi Judy...you guys are doing so much and it looks great! Make sure you get some rest too :-).

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  7. Yay on the fingerlings! I just got mine too! It's helping me to focus on potatoes an *not* on the swine flu confirmed in my area & in my mom's small town...I definitely needed something nice and destressing like garden work to take my mind off the bad news!

    The house is coming along so nicely and so *quickly* (in comparison with our speed when reurbishing and fixing a much less "in dire need of help" sort of home). Seriously, you are so speedy, it is looking so much better already! This will be such a lovely home for y'all, I am so happy it is yours. :)

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  8. Its very disturbing to me that veterinarians allowed their home (and it seems office) to get to this level of disgustingness (is that a word?). I expect more of animal lovers.

    Any chance of root cellaring in the basement?

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  9. Thanks all.
    Debbie- we are hoping to have a housewarming party on the Summer Solstice. I just hope the house is ready to live in!
    Localzone- I really hope that the mouse problem got this bad after they moved out last summer (the house has been vacant since last July). The multiple sinks and excessive spotlights are because they had a sink in each exam room for the clinic.
    Sue- Thanks, I feel really bad for my husband since he is out there working by himself this week. I've been able to be out there only after work for a bit.
    Barb- Thanks. We've been going to bed early lately and sleeping REALLY well!
    Meg- Yeah for the fingerlings but OH NO on the swine flu. I hope it doesn't spread and that you and all your family stay well.
    Angie- Yeah, we're amazed at the disgustingness as well. As for the root cellar, since the well needs to be brought up to code, we asked if we could preserve the well pit (there is a door to the pit in the basement wall) to use as a root cellar but the well guys said 'NO'. We have enough steep hills though that we're thinking about eventually building in a real root cellar somewhere. For the meantime, I will probably find a corner of the basement that I can use- kind of like I do now. I will actually have a separate room for pantry storage- for the freezer and canning shelves. I'm excited by that!
    Judy

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