Chronicling the cleanup and restoration of our house and property in northern Michigan
Monday, June 22, 2009
This is not an optical illusion...
This pic is of the kitchen tile. No, this is not a picture from one of those optical illusion coffee table books from an eye doctor's office. There really are two different types of tile. :)
Update from Dave - Solo Trip
Hi Blog! I'm providing the update this time around, as Shelly didn't make this trip. She took Kyle and four of his friends to Cedar Point. The jury's still out on who got off easier. :) Peanut and I headed up for an extended weekend to see what we could get done. First on the list, knocking the grass down. It's been a month since we've been up, so it's going to be pretty darn long.
I hit the road right after work on Thursday, and arrive at the house at 1:30 AM. Friday is to be split between working for Motorola and working on the house. I get up at 7:30 and head outside to put the charger on the tractor and to let Peanut run around a bit. (Note to self: I need to get a battery conditioner.) After some breakfast and coffee I get the Motorola stuff out of the way. With rain in the forecast, and with current clear skies, I want to get outside to get the grass cut. The tractor fires right up, and after a couple hours the yard looks like somebody actually cares about the place. I pull out the electric weed whacker and about 150' of extension cord. After struggling with the cord for about an hour I decide that a gas trimmer is definitely on the "Things To Buy" list. With the grass taken care of I head back in to make some dinner, and to do a couple loads of laundry
Up early Saturday morning...same routine...coffee and breakfast. On the agenda today...washing the walls and ceilings, and scouring the shower...WOOHOO! First, a trip into Rogers City to the Ace Hardware for cleaning supplies. I also pick up the needed battery conditioner. Back at the house I start in the shower. I had cleaned it previously, but at the time I lacked strong enough chemicals to get the job done right. With the shower done I head to the kitchen to start on the walls. I'm hoping that orange scented Mr. Clean will be able to cut through the soot on the walls. The paint on the walls is the original stuff, so it's 20 years old. It doesn't look like anybody has ever taken the initiative to wipe 'em down, so the soot from the wood stove is pretty thick. From the first wipe I can tell that I'll be changing the water in the bucket pretty frequently. Got the kitchen done, and move to the living room. Shelly had already cleaned the kitchen, so in there I could focus solely on the walls.
I know that the living room will take more time and energy, especially around the wood stove. People had been bringing wood in and throwing it on an improvised wood rack (a small, metal shelving unit turned on it's side). This marked up the wall and left all of the debris, and bugs, to fall on the floor. Remember...we don't ask why. Our plan is to place a large wood rack, one of those wrought iron hoop style jobs, out on the enclosed back porch. Shelly's uncle recommended placing it on the front porch, since the front door opens off of the living room. May be worth considering. My concern with this is that snow slides off the roof and collects on the front porch, and will likely make it impossible to get to to the wood when you'd need it most.
Shelly's Uncle Donnie and Aunt Lorraine stop by. Shelly cleared out quite a bit of redundant stuff out of the kitchen cabinets, and they're going to sell it at yard sale. I think they're impressed with how much we accomplished, especially in the basement.
Yes...even 'ol Billy the Bass had to go...
After they leave I get back to work on the living room. I'll get about 3/4 of the walls cleaned, rearrange some furniture, and vacuum the place up.
A few other things I knocked down: I removed the fridge from the front porch.
I also loaded up the small tractor to take it home to Grove City to work on. I'll take it back up north after I get it running. Two tractors means grass cutting in half the time!
Our next trip up, for all of us, is in three weeks. We don't yet have a game plan on what we specifically want to accomplish. I'm thinking that cleaning and throwing stuff away will be on the agenda. ;) One new thing that cropped up that will need to be addressed: With a heavy rain coming down on Saturday morning there was a leak coming in around the exhaust pipe for the wood stove. I went up in the attic but couldn't find anything to indicate where the leak was originating. I decided to not go up on the roof until I have somebody with me to call 911 in case I fall. :)
I hit the road right after work on Thursday, and arrive at the house at 1:30 AM. Friday is to be split between working for Motorola and working on the house. I get up at 7:30 and head outside to put the charger on the tractor and to let Peanut run around a bit. (Note to self: I need to get a battery conditioner.) After some breakfast and coffee I get the Motorola stuff out of the way. With rain in the forecast, and with current clear skies, I want to get outside to get the grass cut. The tractor fires right up, and after a couple hours the yard looks like somebody actually cares about the place. I pull out the electric weed whacker and about 150' of extension cord. After struggling with the cord for about an hour I decide that a gas trimmer is definitely on the "Things To Buy" list. With the grass taken care of I head back in to make some dinner, and to do a couple loads of laundry
Up early Saturday morning...same routine...coffee and breakfast. On the agenda today...washing the walls and ceilings, and scouring the shower...WOOHOO! First, a trip into Rogers City to the Ace Hardware for cleaning supplies. I also pick up the needed battery conditioner. Back at the house I start in the shower. I had cleaned it previously, but at the time I lacked strong enough chemicals to get the job done right. With the shower done I head to the kitchen to start on the walls. I'm hoping that orange scented Mr. Clean will be able to cut through the soot on the walls. The paint on the walls is the original stuff, so it's 20 years old. It doesn't look like anybody has ever taken the initiative to wipe 'em down, so the soot from the wood stove is pretty thick. From the first wipe I can tell that I'll be changing the water in the bucket pretty frequently. Got the kitchen done, and move to the living room. Shelly had already cleaned the kitchen, so in there I could focus solely on the walls.
I know that the living room will take more time and energy, especially around the wood stove. People had been bringing wood in and throwing it on an improvised wood rack (a small, metal shelving unit turned on it's side). This marked up the wall and left all of the debris, and bugs, to fall on the floor. Remember...we don't ask why. Our plan is to place a large wood rack, one of those wrought iron hoop style jobs, out on the enclosed back porch. Shelly's uncle recommended placing it on the front porch, since the front door opens off of the living room. May be worth considering. My concern with this is that snow slides off the roof and collects on the front porch, and will likely make it impossible to get to to the wood when you'd need it most.
Shelly's Uncle Donnie and Aunt Lorraine stop by. Shelly cleared out quite a bit of redundant stuff out of the kitchen cabinets, and they're going to sell it at yard sale. I think they're impressed with how much we accomplished, especially in the basement.
Yes...even 'ol Billy the Bass had to go...
After they leave I get back to work on the living room. I'll get about 3/4 of the walls cleaned, rearrange some furniture, and vacuum the place up.
A few other things I knocked down: I removed the fridge from the front porch.
I also loaded up the small tractor to take it home to Grove City to work on. I'll take it back up north after I get it running. Two tractors means grass cutting in half the time!
Our next trip up, for all of us, is in three weeks. We don't yet have a game plan on what we specifically want to accomplish. I'm thinking that cleaning and throwing stuff away will be on the agenda. ;) One new thing that cropped up that will need to be addressed: With a heavy rain coming down on Saturday morning there was a leak coming in around the exhaust pipe for the wood stove. I went up in the attic but couldn't find anything to indicate where the leak was originating. I decided to not go up on the roof until I have somebody with me to call 911 in case I fall. :)
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