Making progress, Day #4

 What a job - mom and I have been working on staining the new wooden front doors - it took us 4 1/2 hours on Sunday just to stain, and then I gave them two coats of polyurethane today, probably a total of about 3 hours worth.  Can you tell which pieces go with each door?  Can you tell which will be the front door vs. the side door?  Looking at the pictures of them... they look kind of antique.  We hope we like them on the house....  They are kind of retro - like the cross buck doors that we used to have... only updated for the new century.
As you can see by the pictures... they got the remaining side of the house prepped for siding, and if you look close at the other pictures, you can see the corner boards by the living room window and my bedroom window that I painted last week.  I was talking to Ken, our neighbor,  Saturday night, and he commented on how solid the house was built - he noticed the rafters every 16 inches, which is a lot I guess.  That was good to hear...  He also said he really liked the new window instead of the patio doors.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear that...  It continues to be a huge mess... and I really hope with all of the nails around that mom's car or my car does not find one of them with our tires.... 

3 out of 4 ain't bad

 Out of the soffit must have dropped this blast from the past...  Anyone remember this little treasure?  I vaguely remember it...

Well, they have 3 out of  4 sides of the house done...  but can't move fast enough for me.  They are here pounding at 7 am until 5 pm and hanging around outside our windows... but overall they are doing a good job.  It is great to see the soffits open - they were tightly closed, trapping heat in the summer and creating ice dams in the winter.

They also pumped up the outside corner of the front porch - not sure if you can tell how the top of the railing is not hitting the rafter anymore... it has settled pretty bad... it was a really creepy sound when they pumped it up - a cracking sound that I thought the inside ceiling would crack.  Looking at the picture of the house from the front, the top of the house does look really straight now.

I am not sure why they have completely left the power side... maybe waiting for the city?
Maybe keeping the worst part for last?

I also do not know if they will be working tomorrow... the guys put in 10 hour days with very few breaks.

Well, I will keep you posted... there is a wagon of siding in the back yard.  

Day #2 - Looks like a different house from the back!

Here is the progress for day #2 - and what a mess!
Nails, screws, debris all over the place!
The only side that has not been started is the side by the steps because of the power lines and cables.
The wooden strips on top of the house wrap are there to build out the siding to make it even with the windows.  The windows before had frames around them - but this siding will go directly to the window, no frames this time.  This was decided because  #1 - I would have had to paint all of the boards, and I felt I did not have time with school starting again in a few day or #2 - if the frames were placed on the windows without being painted, I could not reach them to paint them. In addition, the boards creates a space allowing the house to breathe, and prevent water from being trapped between the siding and house wrap.  The contractor, Loren, said this is a new trend in siding - and especially with our cement board.  A wire mesh will be at the bottom edge to prevent bugs from going into the siding.

Here is  another before picture of the back with the deck before.  We got rid of the conduit light on top of the deck, and the outlet on the deck is gone.  We will only have one light by the back door when it is all done.  The dish network dish will also be taken down by the workers - sealed with leftover shingles in the garage.

Off with old, in with the new

 Let the madness begin...
 Yesterday they started our project by tearing out the patio doors and putting in the window.

Today they tore down the deck... They really had to work hard at it, and it took them a lot longer than I thought it would.  Amazing how in 1989 the deck just fell apart, but this one took a lot of sweat and muscle to tear it down.

As you can see, the patio doors are gone, and we have a new window in its place.  Mom and I love it!  You can look out the window and see my fire pit - We are really going to like it a lot.
Taking care of a deck is a lot of work, not to mention it is 10 feet off the ground.  I am glad it is gone.  4 workers are here working on it, and as of right now they are tearing off all of the old siding.
I will post more pictures later.

The End of an Era

Today was an end to an era... both big trees in the front yard were cut down.  As you can see, it looks a lot different...  I have to admit I had a few tears in my eyes as Dad's ash tree came down.  I shed not one tear about that maple though - it was ready to start causing some major havoc to the lawn.  The after picture looks like a picture that someone must have, of Derek on his bike in front of the house right after the tree was planted... ( Derek - do you have that picture?)  Or does anyone else have a picture of the early house? Please share if you do...  So, time for moving on...  too many roots from both trees were pushing up into the grass and moving concrete.  Now when we do the main sidewalk with pavers this summer, they will stay in place.  Plus, every storm that came through, we were paranoid the tree would end up on the house.  It came down a lot faster and easier than I thought it would... I came home from school to see the action and take a few pictures.  They also ground up the stumps - it looks like a crater hit our lawn... and he will come back in a couple of weeks to fill them with black soil - then we will plant grass for now.  They did save a couple of "cookies" from the stem of Dad's tree - and we have a branch.  They also cut down a small plum tree in the back, the one that you could see from mom's bedroom window. 

Old PIcture of Grandpa Ubl

Elroy sent me this picture of Grandpa Ubl in a parade - he thought it came from the 1930's/1940's.

Pretty cool - huh?

Enjoy

Too close for comfort!

Scary - we were this close to a tornado last night when the storms rolled through... do you see the cemetery? This picture was taken at 1910 North Jefferson by someone up at the Highway Dept!
The only damage we had was a broken tree branch off of our big ash tree that dad planted... and I had to climb up on the roof to cut it the best I could to make sure it did not hit the roof of our house anymore. (It was hanging down over the gutter on the corner by the front door) We had a ton of branches and leaves in our yard also. It rained and hailed so hard we could not even see across the street. There was a tornado between Courtland and Nicollet. Scary - and more storms are forecast for tonight. You can see more pictures at the NU Journal web site and CU.

Devin showing off his flexibility!

He loves to throw balls under his legs. He was playing catch with Derek in this picture by throwing balls under himself.

I thought I should give a bit of an up-date from Devin's last Spina Bifida clinic and getting his casts off.

The doctor's were pleased with the healing of Devin's legs so they did take the casts off at 6 weeks. Currently, Devin's right leg seems to be slightly under corrected while his left leg seems to be a bit more over corrected. As you look at him his feet seem to point to the right. When he is standing he plays with the position of his legs. His left leg does tend to bend a bit, at the knee, inward. The PT at Mayo suggested that we may need to go back to the KAFOs with Twister Straps in order for Devin to build the proper muscles but the Orthopedic and Physical Medicine doctor decided that it was a bit premature to do something like that so soon after surgery so they have ordered that he get PT 2-3 times a week. The PT part has been difficult to get as his regular PT's last day for the summer was the day he got his casts off! While the timing of Devin's surgery was good for Devin because it would not interrupt his schooling in the fall and he would not have casts on all summer, apparently it was not good timing for the support system we have come to rely on.

Devin was able to go in and visit the Preschool he will attend in the fall before the last day of school. While he was initially very shy, he did not want to leave when the day was done.

Day #1 - Jefferson Street Road Construction!

In case you want to know what the bird looked like that got into the house - here is a picture of it - not sure if it was the same one, but it looked just like this one! Today in the first day of Jefferson Street Road Construction they did Water Main Repair, and the water was shut off from 11-2:30... And you can see the big equipment parked on our street - and an excavator parked right out side of our windows! Exciting! Stay tuned for more updates... This equipment by the way does make the ground and floor shake in our house! That is kind of scary! Parking in the alley and coming in the basement is not that fun though. I hope they get done fast! Also, it is really strange not to have traffic go up and down our street!

Blast from the Past 2

Elroy stopped by tonight and gave us a box of pictures... here are some of the intriguing pictures I found in the box, and I wanted to share them.

Mom, Loretta(Jerry's wife), Grandma, Jerry ( Grandma's brother) Grandpa, Dad
Elvia, unknown guy with kids, Johnny, Di (crouching)

Dad and Mom with the funny hats are at a New Year's Eve Party.

Can you find mom in the pictures?
The swimming one is with Elroy.

The little kid with the picture, mom thinks it is Johnny with a picture of Pete while he was in service.

Pictures of Di with unknown kid

( I need to rescan the ones with a white streak down the middle)