Cutting Up An Old Tree

Two years ago we had a large, half dead silver maple cut down. The tree trimmers took the brush and left us with a massive trunk to deal with in the mean time.

Fast forward two years.....massive trunk still laying where it landed.

We started cutting up the trunk late last week between rain storms. Not much was done since then because it has rained almost every day for the last week. We would cut a couple feet off of it whenever the rain would stop. Some days were brutally cold because of the dampness.Yesterday the last large piece was cut into three larges pieces. The pieces were loaded into the lawn tractor trailer and then it started raining again. So now the pieces are just sitting there in the trailer. Hopefully tomorrow we can get several hours of non rain and finish this job.
We still need to cut up the large Box Elder tree that is laying in the old abandon pool. As soon as we can burn all the brush, we should then be able to get in there and cut that tree up. Then it will be time to rent a Bobcat and pull up the concrete deck around the pool, then push the sides in, and then back fill.

I know that R loves renting Bobcats and skid steers so I know he'll want to get that project done sooner than later. Yup, men and their toys!

R's Curbside Treasure

I know you have been waiting by the computer all day long to see R's curbside treasure. Your wait is over.

I present R's curbside treasure. As Mike Wolfe, from American Pickers, would say, "it's curb fresh!!"I think it's previous life was as a potato and onion bin. Your bag of potatoes would be placed in the top part which has holes for ventilation. The onions are stored in the pull out drawer at the bottom.
We will use this to store bird seed in the top and suet in the little drawer.
It even has the same style of hinge of hinge that is on my exterior shutters and the kitchen cabinets. I think a nice coat of semi gloss white will transform this curbside treasure into a great bird seed storage unit. All that for the cost of a little paint and effort.

Curbside Treasure

Ahhhhh spring.....it smells of curbside treasures!! Think...Apocalypse Now.

Not to be out done by R, who earlier in the week had his own curbside find, I found this little gem yesterday.
How cool is that? A little step stool that is also a chair and/or an ironing board.**
This will be perfect for the laundry room. I think it needs a coat of black satin paint and it will look just divine in the laundry room.

**Disclaimer.....I will not be using this as an ironing board.

OOPS!! R just walked by and wanted to know how come I didn't bother to do a post about HIS find. So tomorrow I'll show you what he found. Oh boy....cliff hanger!

Spring Blew In...Literally

Holy cow....it's windy. Yesterday was a record setting 80 degrees. Only here in Michigan can it go from snow on Tuesday to sunny and hot on Sunday.

Yesterday was just too nice to stay indoors so like the fools we are...we tried to rake leaves. Despite the constant 30 mph wind, we were able to fill 18 bags or containers with leaves, twigs, and small branches. I sure hope that they pick up yard waste this week.

Today was cooler and in the 50's but still very very windy. I worked indoors stripping baseboard in the dining room. R worked out side removing the snow blade from the lawn tractor and putting the mower deck back on the tractor. I can see that I will need to mow within the next week or so....unless it snows again.

Some of the baseboard in the dining room was loose so I just removed it. That made it easier to remove the paint drips behind the baseboard and made it easier to strip because I didn't have to bend over.A couple of days ago we removed the extra door going to the laundry room (ex butler pantry). This will give us extra wall space in the dining room. We save the door jambs for possible later use elsewhere.

I have also been removing the poorly done plaster patches that were done when they installed the forced air system years ago. I am hoping that this will save us some $$$ when the plaster guy fixes the plaster this spring.

The photo below shows the original paint color which was gold. Then you can see the bottom layer of the plaster patch which seems hard and looks pretty good. Next to that is the dry wall compound that they used as the top coat. It's soft and flaking away. That area is about two foot wide and goes from the floor to the ceiling. This condition is found through out the house where ever they had to cut into the wall to run a heat duct.
Last week R and I stopped by a local garden center and bought this gaudy gazing ball. Seriously, it is much better looking in person. I am hoping that R can weld up something rustic to hold it.

The Polishing Tools Have Arrived

Today while we were in the Detroit area buying an SUV, the mail lady delivered the final piece of the granite polishing tools.

I need to look online for the correct procedure so that we don't waste our time or destroy a piece of granite trim. We have been chomping at the bit to get this granite project done so we can move on.

Speaking of moving on, the next project is to continue to remove plaster from the butler/laundry room and to remove the final 3 foot wide swath of ceiling in the kitchen. That project will involve removing the old plaster and wire mesh and then framing out the ceiling to accept the bead board. Luckily there is not any electrical to deal with, but that's not to say we won't find any.

Believe it or not, it was 61 degrees at 10:30 this morning. Unfortunately they are predicting rain over the next several days. Once we get a stretch of good weather we can buy the bead board panels and have them ready for installation.

But I guess I should just rejoice in the fact that I have wheels again and that the temperature, even if it was for a brief time, reached +60 degrees. Spring has finally sprung!

Crooked Door Goes Straight

The weather was so depressing today. Not only was it raining but it was also snowing and sleeting all at the same time. We even heard thunder two or three times and we think we saw some lightning, too.

We now have even more snow on the ground. Does this look like spring?Today we finished re framing the kitchen door. It was as crooked as a dog's hind leg. You didn't even have to put a level on it to see that it was crooked. It's looking 100% better. We now need to move to the other side of the door and install the trim and door stop. That side was always without trim which I thought looked odd.
We also replaced the side piece of trim on the doorway going to the game room. That piece has been notched out to accommodate an ill placed outlet. That outlet was re installed correctly and and no longer needed the notched out area. So we purchased a 1X4 and sanded over the edges to give it the rustic look like all the other trim.

R placed a level on the header piece before we re installed the side piece. Good thing he did.....amazingly it was NOT level. Can you believe that...NOT level. So we removed that piece and re installed it so it was level. We THEN measured, cut, and installed the new piece.
I've been scraping the side kitchen entry way in between helping R. I am down to this small area in the middle of the room. Hot water helps to loosen it. So I would spray and then come back and scrap. One more day and I will be done with scraping this room. The kitchen itself has a few more areas to scrap. I will scrap the laundry room after the remaining plaster is removed.I, also sprayed the area in front of the door and removed the remaining glue and paper while I was scraping the entry way . See that little area under the door where the light it coming in? The floor is sloped so we have to raise the bronze threshold piece until it is level. This will require a wedge shaped piece, the width of the door, placed under the bronze piece. It currently goes from zero gap to about a 1/4 inch. Should be a riot to cut.

Is Mother Nature Playing a Cruel Joke?

Where is that dang Punxsutawney Phil??? I thought he said something about an early spring?

Does this look like spring to you???Both of these photos were taken today, April 1st 2011, in my yard. And that's no April Fools joke, either.