Wow, I just looked at the last post and it's been almost six weeks since we've posted anything about the house. Just because nothing has been posted, doesn't mean we haven't been working on the house.
It's just been a bit slower going since we moved it and with summer here now, we are partaking in more outdoor activities. Plus it has been hotter than... how did our friend Mary phrase it? Hotter than the hinges on the gates of Hell. With the 1st floor pretty much complete, our efforts are now focused on the upstairs (where it is considerably warmer.)
So in sort of a reverse chronological order...
Since we've moved into a house out of an apartment, Copper isn't getting the lengthy walks that he was before. His exercise lately has been limited to chasing squirrels and rabbits when he goes outside (or the laser pen inside.)
Robyn has been making a concerted effort to take him with her on morning walks and we can tell when he gets back that he's getting some badly needed exercise. But the little OCD thing has an issue. In addition to chasing his tail when excited, he'll stop and sometimes scratch a non-existing itch when he's out on walks. It's hilarious watching him hop on three, or sometimes two, legs trying to both scratch and keep up.
So on yesterday's walk, Robyn just kept walking, and tugging on the leash, as he hopped and scratched along behind her... Until she looked behind her and saw that Copper had lost his balance and she was dragging him on his back down the sidewalk.
With the current heat wave, we've been fortunate that we have good shade on the south side of our house and only have one window on the west side that catches the afternoon and evening sun. No window coverings are up on this particular window because we haven't rehabbed the stairwell yet.
I suspected this one window was contributing to the additional heat upstairs but I had no idea about how much until one day when I got home from work, I applied a Mississippi window treatment
Yes, that is aluminum foil on the window. I was surprised to find out it lowered the upstairs temperature by at least 5 degrees.
This is how much sun was coming through the window before the foil went up.
The heat wave that is expected to end today started last Saturday. Robyn and I volunteered outdoors at the Highland Fest in St. Paul. The front that brought in the heat was proceeded by torrential rainfall that dumped up to 5 inches of rain in about 4 hours. Here's Robyn cooling off some at the end of our 4 hour volunteer session in the 95+ degree heat.
Maybe it's because of the long winter's here in Minnesota, but there is always something going on in the Twin Cities area. Last Thrusday, we went to Mears Park, about 2 miles from our house, for their free weekly concert series.
It was fun sitting around chatting with friends. However, unlike the woman in this video who appears to be really enjoying the show:
I thought my head my implode because the hip hop music was draining all that was good from my brain.
With the prospects of guests sometime in the not-too-distant future, over Fourth of July weekend, we put our efforts to finishing up a couple of areas. In the foyer downstairs, we finished laying the laminate.
Angel was too perturbed by our lowering her perch by an inch or two.
Down the street in Mounds Park, we took the opportunity to scope out a vantage point for Fourth of July fireworks.
The dome in the near background is the Cathedral of St Paul. In the distant background, is the City of Minneapolis. The Fourth of July fireworks were spectactular:
We also got in some lake time on July 2nd at Square Lake in Stillwater.
That's Robyn and some friends floating out there in a distance. The cool breeze and the water sort of lulled us into not realizing how much sun we were getting. We spent most our Twin Cities July 4th meetup searching for shade.
Even closer than Mears Park, is the St. Paul Farmers' Market that is held every Saturday and Sunday morning. Some of St. Paul's finest were looking things over as Robyn and I made our selection.
But we didn't spend our entire weekend out and about. We also finished up the middle bedroom. The walls and ceiling were already painted so we just had to put the flooring in.
Which I was able to accomplish on July 5. (I had a holiday; Robyn had to work.)
I also worked on getting the rest of the sub-floor laid in the bathroom.
Imagine my frustration when I came up a 3" x 5" inch piece of plyboard short of having enough.
I "made do" with a couple of scrap pieces of laminate. I'll need to fill gaps and even out the transome with some floor leveler. With the floor in, Robyn started working some of her decorative magic.
First, some decorative decals went up on the wall.
A twin mattress set that we bought at one of those discount mattress places was covered with the quilt my sister Tammy made.
The wall colors were selected to complement the quilt and Robyn's $10 thrift store headboard. The "adopted" lamp that I found plus the Target lampshade blend in well also.
Black and white photos that robyn had collected rounded out the scheme.
Two weekends before, I finally got the kitchen sink unstopped. After weeks of trying to unstop it by plunging, Liquid Plumber, Industrial Strength Drain Opener, running a hose down the drain (and getting it stuck), snaking it from the top, I finally broke down and got the saws-all out and cut the drain line.
Once that was down, I put the pipe wrench to the short end and promptly broke off the trap which apparently had corroded. But at least I now had access to the drain. I cleaned out the first 8 inches or so with a large screwdriver. Robyn kept me company as I worked the rest of the blockage with a snake. It was only a couple of minutes when I heard a "glug" and the drain was unstopped.
Fortunately, Robyn was outside of the "splash zone". I wasn't so fortunate. A very odiferous experience.
And of course, no project is complete without a trip to Home Depot. Until I could make it there, I rigged up a temporary drain to the laundry tub in the basement.
Here is the repaired drain.
Amazingly, a couple of days after this was fixed, the cold water supply on the kitchen sink started working.
Since the end of March, Robyn and I have made a lot of progress on getting this house liveable. We've finished the dining room, living room, foyer, master bedroom, middle bedroom, repaired kitchen and bathroom plumbing, plus installed a new tub, toilet, and batchroom sink.
We still have to finish the bathroom floor and walls, the back bedroom, closets and office.
It's still fun, plus Robyn and I are still speaking to each other.
