House Happenings

The last couple weeks I've been pretty busy. I have hired a construction company, Perfect Siding LLC, to replace the siding and skirting on the house. Everything seems to have happened so fast.

It started with getting a fairly large tax refund this year, which I wasn't expecting. We've been saving up to fix the house for awhile and we were about halfway to what I figured we needed. The tax refund sped things up. Our house is over 30 years old and needs some tender loving care. We're getting old and we don't want to have to deal with the big things of house ownership in our later years. I talked husband into hiring someone rather than doing it ourselves because I know there is no way we could manage it. 

A couple weeks later I started calling contractors to get quotes, and asking for recommendations from friends. We ended up choosing Perfect Siding because their specialty is manufactured homes, which is what we own. In fact, during our conversation with the owner, he mentioned that his father used to sell manufactured homes in this area. I asked a couple questions and we discovered we actually bought our home from his father! How freaky is that?

Two Fridays ago we decided to go with Perfect Siding. I signed the contract that morning. An hour later we were at our bank applying for a loan because hubby wanted to keep the cash. We did't have any debt anyway. Three hours from then our application was accepted and an hour later (they called while I was baking a cake so we had to wait until I was done) the money was in our checking account. It all went so fast my head was spinning!

The following Monday, the contractor- Kevin, came over so I could give him the first payment on the job. He said it would probably be 3 or 4 weeks before they could get to the job because of previous jobs. I thought that was fantastic cuz applying for this kind of thing in June can get you scheduled for September or later around here. Then last Saturday he came by and told the husband that they were starting today. Apparently, the job he was supposed to be doing this week has been stopped because the materials are delayed in arriving. He's already got our materials, so while he waits, he's doing our house. 

We hadn't gotten around to getting things ready yet! So all day Saturday and Sunday we worked to prepare the house. We had to remove everything close to the house away at least 6 feet. The flower beds were chock full of weeds, and bushes needed to be pruned, and stuff needed to be dragged away. Our lawn needed to be mowed short too. 

Oh my gosh, it was hard work! My arthritis in the ankles and feet did not like it, nor did my messed up knees and bad back. My hands suffered because I was using the weedwacker for hours. By last night I was in so much pain I could hardly move. I was using my cane in the evening. I got about 2 hours sleep last night because of the pain, even though I took some Tylenol for Arthritis. I was sure I'd be hardly able to walk this morning. I wanted to die I hurt so much. But we got it DONE! I finally fell asleep and when I woke up at 8 because an outhouse was being delivered to my front yard, I felt much better than I even hoped.

I have taken a few Before pictures of the house. I plan to take Afters later. Anyway, here's the front of the house after we finished murdering and abusing my poor flowers.

If you click on the pictures, they should get larger. You can see the skirting is a disaster. Snow fell off the roof early last winter and broke through the left side of the skirting. That December, because of the big hole, our heating bill was over $600! Husband had to dig the snow out to get close enough to cover the hole with a piece of plywood. It took a few days to get the job done. Later another hole happened on the right side. There are also a lot of smaller holes at the bottom made mostly by squirrels. The siding itself is rotting in some places, or has been damaged by woodpeckers. Specifically the northern Flickers. The males bang on things to attract a mate. Our house is a prime mate getter. They drill the hole, then abandon it when they get the girl. Then squirrels or swallows or what have you move in the hole. We've been nailing a piece of tin over the holes each time they make one.

Our new siding will be strong enough to bend Flicker beaks and resist squirrel chewing. YAY! It will be horizontal siding too. I think it's called Lapped siding? The framing around all the windows is being replaced, and the fake shutters on the back removed permanently. The whole thing will be painted light green with white trim so it matches the shop/garage.

Part of the back of the house.

The siding actually isn't too bad, but the skirting is starting to fall apart.

Another view of the back. Excuse the yellow pollen all over the deck. The pines are blooming.

I finally got my flower boxes on the deck planted. Marigolds again, this year. They're such a cheerful flower. The butterflies and bees love them too.

The lilacs have been blooming the last couple weeks. 

I have been getting knitting done. I think I mentioned I've finished my Andoa sweater. I've even worn it a couple times. Have not had a chance to take photos of it yet. In the meantime, I started a matching sweater for Zoey. I've got the body done. I need to block it before I can continue on and just haven't had time to do it. I'm not in a hurry anyway. Summer has arrived. Why would my dog be wearing sweaters?

I finished the main knitting for the first Estonian mitten.

Still needs a thumb where the small red line is. I started the second mitten and have the cuff done. I was going to go forward on that today when I went to the Rathdrum Library knitting group meeting, but I was so flustered with everything going on at the house I took the wrong knitting bag with me. So I wove in the ends on Zoey's Andoa instead. My hands and fingers are so sore I haven't been able to do much anyway. Stupid weedwacker.

That's it for now. I'll be home all day tomorrow so maybe I can get the blocking done.

Live long and prosper. \\//