Wet April

(UPDATED)

This picture was swiped from weatherchannel.com

We're expecting storms this afternoon to add to that water total. Since we live on high ground, all this rain hasn't hurt us, but it is starting to make everybody a little antsy.

Immortalized in song

The kids and I made up this song the other night. It is sung, more or less, to the tune of, "A Sailor Went to Sea, Sea, Sea"

I have two daughters and one son.
They're lots of laughs and lots of fun
They make me work and make me run.
I have two daughters and one son.

I have a little Petra Grace.
She likes to run around the place.
Sometimes she makes a silly face.
I have a little Petra Grace.

I have a medium Julia Rose.
She likes to dance up on her toes.
I hear her sing out, "Zizzerzoes!"
I have a medium Julia Rose.

I have a big Paul Joseph boy.
He jumps around and shouts for joy.
He likes his boa constrictor toy.
I have a big Paul Joseph boy.


Okay, so it is not the most profound thing in the world, but my children all grin when I sing it and ask me to sing it again. The grins are half embarrassment and half delight at being featured in their very own song.

A Couple Days

What a difference a couple days makes.


We got all the electric roughed-in, insulation in every bit of wallspace, and fireblocking installed to improve safety. Thanks so much to my father-in-law, John, and my 2nd cousin Denny. Yesterday morning we finished up these items.


And yesterday afternoon and this morning we got all the drywall hung. Denny proceeded to do the first round of mud & tape, while John finished scraping wallpaper over the fireplace and terminating a bunch of electric. At this rate we should be painting by this weekend..."Frosted Lemon".

Rubble 2011 - Demo Complete

With great help from Ben, Kevin, & Jeremy Wed. night, we made a final push and nearly completed the demolition. The last little bit of trim around the door came off Fri. morning and I finished that last bit of demolition then.

The dumpster was removed Friday morning, the drywall was delivered Fri. afternoon, and the radiator pipes to Paul's room above were re-routed through the wall Fri. afternoon. Friday was spent doing a lot of cleanup in order to start roughing in electric and installing insulation & fireblocking.


Saturday & Sunday saw most of the electric being roughed in, most of the insulation installed, and better than half the fireblocking cut & installed. I got nearly every old nail pulled to clean the studs off and got some pipe insulation around the radiator pipes. Thanks to Sarah's dad for coming Sunday afternoon to help with this project. This morning we need to finish roughing in the electric, finish the fireblocking, and finish the insulation so we can start hanging drywall. By the end of today we will hopefully have all these things done and at least most of the drywall up.



After 4 days in a row of this, I will be so ready to sit in my chair at work tomorrow. But progress has been good and enjoyable to see.

Rubble 2011 - Finish the Demo

The radiator & connecting pipes are being temporarily removed from the room this morning to clear the way for completing the demolition. And there's a few guys coming over this afternoon after work to make one last big push towards finishing the demolition. With the drywall being delivered & the dumpster being removed on Friday, we've gotta finish generating large quantities of debris soon.

I've got extra dust masks and tools for anyone who might want to join the fun this afternoon completing the tear-out. When we get done tonight I'd love to see no more plaster or lathe boards on the walls or ceiling. That'll leave us well setup for doing all the insulation, electrical, etc. this weekend, so we can start hanging drywall on Monday.

Speaking of this weekend, I'll be running a bunch of electric to replace old outlets/wiring and add additional outlets. I'll also be adding fireblocking & insulation. So anyone interested in helping that can't come tonight, there'll be plenty to do Friday & Saturday. I'll be working both days pretty much from lunchtime on, so come on out. Its maybe not as much fun as demolition, but its a lot less dusty.

Peas & Onions Coming

With all the rain & sun we've been seeing here recently, its no wonder our peas & onions have sprouted and started growing like crazy. We planted these the 1st weekend of April, and barely 2 weeks later we've got more than just sprouts.


What you see in these 2 pictures is 4 full rows of peas (2 snow peas, & 2 "normal" peas), and 1 full row of onions. There's also some bits of grass and stuff that need to be removed. But that'll have to wait till we get some more progress on the extra-bedroom project.

Rubble 2011 - 1st Weekend Status

Thanks to David & Stephen who came over this weekend and helped with the demolition.

As you can see from these pictures we've made pretty good progress:

2 of the 4 walls are almost completely done, save for a little trim and the plaster/lathe right around the trim. 1/2 of a third wall is done and 1/2 of a 4th wall is done. We haven't started on the ceiling yet, so there's still more fun to come.


We're busy tonight, but we'll shoot to have a few more folks over and try to get most of the rest of this done on Tues. or Wed. this week...probably Wed. We've gotta complete most of the demolition by Friday 'cause that's when the new drywall gets delivered and the dumpster will be removed.


Friday and Saturday we'll be doing insulation & electric work while the walls are open, as well as installing fire-breaks where necessary. So if you aren't able to come during the week, there'll still be plenty to do this weekend.

Rubble 2011 - Call for Help

The dumpster arrives this afternoon and the destruction should begin shortly thereafter. The goal is to have all of the plaster & lathe removed from all 4 walls & the ceiling by next Friday afternoon. Also, one portion of the wall is plaster on brick...on that section we are forced to strip the wallpaper off and keep the plaster.

So the 2 main days/times for helping with demolition are as follows:
- today 4pm-8pm
- tomorrow (Sat.) 11am-8pm

If you stop by today or later tomorrow, there'll be pizza & beer for supper. And tomorrow will see sandwiches for lunch.

Why take out your work-week aggressions on your loved-ones or your own home when you can come bash part of mine!? We'll be working rain or shine since most of the work is inside.

boys and girls

Just in case you wondered if boys and girls are really different…

2009
Paul: A girl on the bus gave me a piece of candy.
Mom: What was her name?
Paul: I don’t know.
Mom: Was she the girl with the curly hair?
Paul: I don’t know.

2011
Mom: Julia, was Samantha in your class today?
Julia: Yes. She wore her sparkly shoes today.

2006 (while expecting baby Julia)
Mom: Paul, look at the baby doll. How do you hold the baby? Oh, that’s nice. Would you like the baby bottle.
Paul: Yeah. (Paul proceeds to jab the baby bottle repeatedly into the doll’s face.)
Mom: That is why we don’t leave toddlers unsupervised with babies.

2011
Mom: Petra, are you ready to get up?
Petra: Nigh’ nigh’. (She points to the bottom of the crib where she has very neatly tucked her teddy bear in for “Night, night.”)

2008
Mom: Paul, what did you have for snack in preschool today?
Paul: Fried worms and dried flies.

2011
Julia: Mom, today I got to watch Strawberry Shortcake on TV at grandma’s house today, and there were these little kids and they wanted to make a club…
Steve: Did they form a band of desperate outlaws and rob the bank?
Julia: No. And they all wore strawberry hats and got on a raft…
Steve: Did they drift out to sea and get captured by pirates?
Julia: No. And they got on the raft in the river, but they didn’t have paddles…
Steve: Were they eaten by alligators?
Julia: No. And they went under a bridge, and Strawberry Shortcake had to run up on the bridge and reach down…
Steve: Wow, this has about as much action as a Henry James novel.
Sarah: Hush! This has lots more action than, “The Ambassadors.”
Steve: Sadly, you’re right.
Julia: … and Strawberry Shortcake pulled the children up so they were safe.

And maybe to dig our way back out of stereotypes a little bit:

Paul: Mom, Julia and I are super heroes. My super power is becoming invisible.
Julia: And mine is shooting mud out of my toes.
Mom: Wow, that is one cool super power, Julia Rose.

New Trees

This past weekend, in addition to the change in our extra bedroom, saw the addition of 4 new trees to our yard. Thanks to our neighbor behind us we were able to get these trees for a really good price. Behind the house we planted 2 thorn-less honey locust trees to start filling in near where we have 3 very old trees.

To the side of the house, framing the sidewalk from the driveway to the primary entrance of the house, we planted 2 hemlocks:


The Lord has sent some nice soaking rains the past several days to help water these trees in, so that's been a blessing.

Now that that job is done, its time to start tearing out the extra bedroom walls. The dumpster arrives Friday.

Rubble 2011 Part 2

This is the sight that awaited us Sunday morning after we heard the crash downstairs.

Note the green plastic washer around the exposed screw that was likely used to help pull the sagging plaster back in many years ago. Also note the hideous wallpaper whose days are now numbered.

So again we find ourselves on the front side of a large job that whose impetus was a small (relatively) problem. Hopefully in less than 4 weeks we will have new walls, ceiling, insulation, paint, etc. in this old room and it will be a functional and visually-appealing extra bedroom again.

Time to go order the dumpster rental....

Paul Coyote Bain

It must be something in the male mind.

Over a week ago, Paul and I were dragging some limbs to the burn pile. I pointed out the mud on the end of one large tree limb and explained that the wood had jabbed into the ground when it fell. Wanting him to consider the ramifications of being under a tree in a windstorm, I asked, "Do you think that would have hurt if someone had been under it?"

He paused and thought about it a minute. Instead of taking the limb to the burn pile, he took it into the barn. He brought it into the entrance of the chicken coop and propped it up on a smaller stick. He explained that it was a coyote trap. A coyote would walk underneath and bump out the support stick, then the larger branch would crash down. "And then, boy will it be hurt!"

Boys!

Steve understood perfectly where the transition from "This could be dangerous" to "This could be a useful weapon" came from.

After setting up his trap, Paul asked us to get him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to use for bait. We said, "Paul, do you know what coyotes like even more than peanuts butter and jelly sandwiches?"

"What?"

"Chickens! Your trap is already positioned with the perfect bait."

Rubble 2011 Part 1

I find myself suddenly looking for help with a "barn raising" project. Remember our spare bedroom? The one with the hideous wallpaper? It has been low on our priority list because the room has been functional.

Sunday morning we heard a crash and came downstairs to discover that a 3x3 foot square of plaster had fallen from the ceiling.

The room is not functional anymore.

From examining the damage, we are convinced that there had been water damage to the ceiling when the previous owners lived here. The plaster had billowed down. They fixed the billow by driving roofing nails up through the plaster into the lath board behind it and then put a thin coat of plaster on top of that. Looking at the rest of the ceiling, we are convinced that this is not a patch problem. This is a replace-the-ceiling problem.

And while we are at it, we have decided to replace the walls. In Steve's opinion, ripping down the plaster walls is not any more hateful that stripping layer upon layer of wallpaper. Replacing the walls will give us the opportunity to put insulation in the exterior walls and to install some electric outlets.

Yesterday I cleaned up the plaster debris and started removing stuff from the spare bedroom. Steve was busy outside digging holes to plant some trees we bought before the ceiling fell.

Demolition will begin in earnest after we move all the furniture from the room. We are trying to work quickly, because we hope to have the guestroom functional again for the second weekend in May.

Because, you know, we didn't have anything else planned to do this month. arg.

Umm... any help would be vastly appreciated.

Spring cleaning

Last week could be summarized by saying that we did a lot of cleaning.

Julia was sick to her stomach last Monday. Grandma had to clean her carpeting. I was at work. I felt bad about that one.
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On Wednesday morning I was about to to out the door to work, when Steve brought Petra to me and said something about her needing a diaper change. I quickly realized that she not only needed a diaper change but a bath. Seriously, she was not going to be clean without a lot of soap and water.
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On Thursday we played with friends in the morning. Petra had her face cleaned by doggy kisses. Thank goodness she likes dogs. In the afternoon we took Tiny (the Suburban) for an oil change. Meanwhile we walked to the grocery store and bought as many of our staples as we could fit in the bottom of the stroller.
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Friday we went to a children's science museum, which has a little zoo inside. We saw South American porcupines with prehensile tales and a bobcat that was awake and walking around. I told Paul and Julia that if they ever saw a bobcat at home, they should go indoors. Julia was delighted to bump into one of her teachers from last year. She also seemed to enjoy the opportunity to do self directed exploring.

We had lunch at the museum, but their food nook was full, so we sat along a railing overlooking a lower level of the museum. At some point I realized that Paul was pitching food through the railing. AAARRGG!! What is it about the male spirit and a fascination with seeing things fall long distances? Dave Barry wrote a whole column about it once.
"Did you drop food down there!?!"
"Yes," Paul answered, suddenly looking humble.
"Did you drop those grapes down there?"
"Yes."
"How many grapes did you drop?" I felt my eyes get bigger and bigger as he mentally counted.
"Maybe four. I'm sure I didn't drop more than four."
Anyway, we had a lecture about not wasting food and then we went downstairs to clean up the room below us. He also ran some laps around the barn once we got home.

One of the endearing things about our trip to the museum was the car ride there. Paul opened up to tell me that the bully on his bus had been calling him a loser. We talked about how our value comes from God and not what people think or say. We talked about how the bully was saying mean things to make himself feel more important. We talked about how, even if we do lose at things, that God values perseverance and doing our best.
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We declared Saturday a spring cleaning day. For us, spring cleaning means just trying to catch up with our regular cleaning. Saturday morning started for me at ~5:50 with needing to clean wet sheets. The sheet wetter changed into dry pajamas and was sent to snuggle with daddy while I started the laundry.

We tried to put away some of our clutter. We did several baskets of laundry. We cleaned out a flower bed. Petra ate too much citrus and needed some special gentle cleaning afterward. And then she needed to have tears cleaned off her face, poor baby. Steve fixed our rototiller and tilled the garden to receive peas and onions. For supper we cleaned out some of our abundant garlic supply by making garlic soup. (Don't tell mom or grandma, but there were about 5 cloves per serving of soup. And we liked it.)

Saturday night, Paul told me that I had been mean to them that day.
"Really? How?"
"You made us work all day."
"But Paul, I worked all day too."
"No you didn't. While Julia and I were moving the laundry along, you were feeding Petra."
To him, this had been a particularly bitter strike, because I had just told them that they may not have a snack for another half hour or so. Then I had realized that Petra was seriously hungry. So I explained to Paul that feeding Petra was work, as was preparing food for them. Then I gave him a big list of everything I had worked on that day. I refrained from clobbering him. I think my answer satisfied him.

Here is the beauty of having Paul and Julia move the clothing from the washer to the drier. It takes them about half an hour to complete the task. Why so long? I don't know. But, that is nearly 30 minutes that I have to do other work without them interrupting me or making a bigger mess somewhere else. It's a good system.