Mick’s Miscellaneous Meanderings

Spent the weekend bopping to my favorite groups (Glad and Michael Buble) and scrubbing cigarette smoke, wood and coal burning soot, and fly poop off every inch of the downstairs. It was disgusting. You can see the film that was on everything in this picture. Fortunately, Dave and Sherry tipped me off to Awesome, an all purpose cleaner found at the Dollar Store. Spray it on and the junk would just run down the wall. All I had to do was wipe it down several times to get all the loosened dirt off. I’m glad I went to the trouble of doing all this because I don’t think paint would have stuck otherwise!

The low point of the weekend was scraping up the partially decayed squirrel from behind the bathroom vanity with a spackle knife. In between gagging attacks I shoved him into the wet/dry vac hose. That had to be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.

Kris and Brian came over on Sunday evening and pulled all the staples and tacks out of the floor and vacuumed up (after we emptied the squirrel from the sweeper). And other than being outsmarted by some fly strips – opening them up is NOT a simple task! – it was a good weekend. Got a lot accomplished even if it doesn’t look like it.

Spent the weekend at the house emptying the place out and collecting all the junk the guy left behind into one spot. It was a major operation…there was a LOT of junk. On Sunday some friends and their spouses from the group I run with came out to lend a helping hand. Wow. I didn’t know they were all so destructive! Rob especially had a gleam in his eye at the mention of tearing carpet out and taking down a fence.

Once we got all the junk out of the house, ripped out all the carpet, cleaned out the shed, and did a variety of other tasks, we cranked up a bonfire of some of the burnables and roasted hot dogs. Dad and Irene came over and pulled out most of the scrap steel and aluminum from the pile. (They hauled the stuff away and got about $50 for the metal and the 4 batteries.) Dave and Sherry showed up with ice cream and Sherry tackled the fridge (disgusting!!!) while Dave helped Bonnie and Denny set the leaning outhouse right.

We got more done on Sunday than I ever thought possible. These people were workers! Thank you sooooo much for all your help guys. I could never express in words how much it meant to me.

Monday paled by comparison. I got most of the bathroom cleaned out. Amazing that the walls were actually white when I got done washing them, instead of the yellowish tobacco and fly pooh stains. Blech!

It’s back to the shop for the rest of the week now. I’ll post more next week.

Nat and Rob after ripping up the carpet

Shawn and Nat by the pile o’ garbage collected

Dave rolls up Sherry’s sleeves before she “dives” into the fridge

Shawn and Rob taking an unauthorized break

Shawn, Nat, me, and Bonnie proudly standing in front of the pile o’ junk

Rob’s happy as a clam ’cause he gets to take some wood home

The most important job of the day – fixing the outhouse

Charlie takes a walk through the muddy spring runoff

Nat, Bonnie, and Denny laughing at Charlie

Dad and Dave sitting around the bonfire

The bonfire

West side of living room

Dining area and east side of living room

Kitchen

Bathroom

Tiny bedroom

Loft area

The roof needs to be replaced. It’s not leaking yet (that I’ve found anyway) but it’s in rough shape. Plus my insurance will drop in price once the roof is replaced and a railing is added to the porch. Paid for the shingles last week but have to wait until a trailer is available to pick them up.

All the windows in the place also need to be replaced. They are also in sad shape. Ordered the windows yesterday. Not one single window is standard size nor can any of them be framed out to use a standard sized window. So they were all custom ordered. Ouch! Ended up paying a bit more than anticipated. They should be in and delivered in 2 weeks. Crossing my fingers that they show up and that I have the roof done by then.

The electric WAS turned on Thursday, Oct 18th. Yeayyy! Still trying to catch up in the shop from being gone so I waited until Saturday to dive in. Changed my shop hours – Saturdays are by appointment through the end of the year – so that I can work on the house Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and then work double time in the shop Tuesday through Friday. Got a slew of stuff done this weekend. But first I’ll post the pictures of the property (outside only!) before I started any work.

Taken from the northeast corner of the land

From the southeast corner

From the west

Northern part of the property that desperately needs clearing. There’s actually a spring in there somewhere.

There’s also a stream that cuts down the western part of the land, in addition to the spring. This is the driest part of the year and the stream is flowing well.

A pond that the stream flows into

Part of the lane heading back to the house

I’ve decided to track the progress on my house by keeping a journal of the project here. I’ll post pictures and describe what’s been done as it happens.

First thing’s first – I called on Tuesday to get the electric turned back on. The previous owner didn’t pay his bills so the electric was turned off over a month ago. After jumping through some hoops to convince them that I just bought the house and that I was not the previous owner, they put in a work order for Wednesday. I stopped over Wednesday evening intending to get started on the project but the electric had NOT been turned on. Grrr. There was a foul up in Met-Ed’s (the power company) work order. They assured me the power would be turned on today. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Went over this morning and changed the locks on the two doors and took some pictures of the outside. Problem is, I’m too embarrassed to post the pictures until I get the place cleaned up at least a little so it’s easier to see the potential the place has. Of course, “potential” is a synonym for “a lot of freaking work!” Once I get the place emptied of all the junk the guy left behind, I’ll post some pictures, I promise.

I am the owner of a brand spanking new mortgage. After two and a half months of trying to close on a house, I finally signed the papers today. I don’t think there was much ink left in the pen after all those signatures!

Now I just have to wait for the guy to get his stuff out of the house…he’s only had two and a half months, after all.

In the meantime, I’m going on a short backpacking trip…my last hoorah before I have to replace a roof and windows, put siding up, clean up and generally make the place inhabitable.

I’ll get some pictures once the guy has moved his stuff out.