It's 114 years old...

March 23 was five years since Robyn and I purchased our home.  After an intense couple of months, we started to move in Memorial Day weekend.

As you can imagine, with a house of this vintage, there are always maintenance items.  Some because the age of the house and it is just time.  And some, because I was a dumbass.

One of the things we have enjoyed about our home is being able to enjoy the outside.  The outdoor fireplace in front of the concrete patio that has been there 50 or 50 years.

The deck we built last year.

Greatly expanded our outdoor entertainment area.

Enabling us to introduce some Minnesotans to a New Orleans-style crawfish boil.

But Minnesota winters are rough.

The water treatment and stain didn't last as long on the deck as I hoped. So it had to be reapplied.

And did you know that the wind can really blow in Minnesota?  Last summer, high winds blew our barbecue grill all over the deck.  One time, even blowing it completely off the deck.

These treated 2x2's should keep it in place this summer and the grill mat will keep the grease off the deck.

One of the hazards of having a big dog (190 lbs or so) it the danger he poses to household items.  His tail sweeps things off TV trays or leaves a bruise on your leg.  Leave a cabinet door open...

And the big klutz will run through it. Not around it.

But Menard's does sell reasonably priced replacements.

Sometimes the unexpected happens as well, tilt an upstairs air conditioner too far forward....

And it will run down the ductwork and mess up the paint on the living room wall.

Which is why we kept the leftover paint.  (Speaking of which, "Robyn, do you know where the bright white ceiling paint is?  I can't find it.)

And sometimes, the fact that I am an amateur DIYer shows.  Who knew there were adjustable legs on a dishwasher?  Obviously, I didn't.

Not knowing that meant I had to cut off 1/2 inch from the sink rail tile to be able to open the door.  But it still banged up the tile and broke.

The old tile actually wasn't that hard to remove.  And once the dishwasher was lowered...

the tile saw didn't have to be pulled out to trim the tile before it was installed.  (ROBYN, DO YOU KNOW WHERE THE BLACK GROUT IS????)