New Kitchen Windows

The moment I set eyes on this house I knew there were windows that were all wrong and not original.  I knew they would need to be changed but I had no idea that the change of a few windows would make such a difference on the interior.  The view from the inside is vastly improved.  The new window changes how the room feels, too.

In between the rainstorms we worked on framing out the first opening to the correct size.  Once that was completed we needed to add the sheathing and then the rigid foam insulation.

The window unit itself needed some prep work.  The unit was wrapped in plastic with wide foam strips covering the white exterior trim.  There was also wood strips that are screwed into the unit to keep everything together for transportation.  The last things that we removed were little triangular pieces of wood that are stapled on the backside to support the wide trim during shipping.

R gathered all the milk crates he could find in the barn to stack under the window opening.  We stood the window up and I attempted to lift my side just 1 inch to see if my neck could handle it. Nope.  The shooting pain across the back of my skull told me we needed to call in reinforcements.  

We called our son and daughter in law who just happened to be close by doing a test run on a new exhaust setup on their beater Vette.  It's pretty much all cars, all the time, with my son. I'm sure his Grand National is sitting in the garage waiting for this coming week.  In the Flint area starting on Monday, there will be a cruise somewhere and then on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday is the Back to the Bricks car show in downtown Flint.  Of course you won't see photos of that in the news.  That's good news and people enjoying themselves in Flint is opposite of what the media wants to portray when it comes to Flint.

That's a whole lot of cars.  Also take note of the original iron arches.

Back to the Bricks.org

But back to the window......When B & G arrived we explained the crate set up and how we thought we should go about lifting this window into place.  R and G lifted the window onto the first lower set of crates.  For the next step, B and I  stepped in to support the middle of the window.  We fine tuned the placement and took a deep breath and then lifted the window and slid it right into place.  A little tap here and there and a check with the 4 foot long level showed we were good to go with a couple of screws on each side to secure the unit.

Once the window was in G remarked that it went a lot easier than he expected.  I remarked that I thought it was B and I carrying all the weight in the middle that made the difference.  He was not convinced...LOL

They left and R and I got busy and removed the other kitchen window, which is the same size as the one we just removed.  The first window took almost two days to remove and the window today took two hours.  It was a combination of now knowing how the window was constructed and what comes off first and the added fact that we were just more confident in what we were doing.

We have rain in the forecast for mid week so we would like to get the second window installed and maybe start on installing the shingles.  But now that it has rained the grass needs mowing so we will need to fit that chore in there somewhere.  Ahhhh the joy of old house ownership.

Reuse Repurpose Recycle

Flint Farmers' Market and Back to the Bricks

Today was a dreary day, much like fall and very cool for August. We decided yesterday to go to the Flint Farmers' Market on Saturday.As we were getting off the expressway we noticed cars parked everywhere in the cultural area (Sloan Museum, Flint Institute of Arts, etc). It then dawned on us that today was the Crim Festival of Races.

The last three weeks have been very busy for downtown Flint. First it was the Back to the Bricks Car Cruise which in just a handful of years is rapidly gaining on the popularity of the Woodard Dream Cruise. In the last 5 years downtown Flint has made a great comeback. I hope it continues.

The Crim Road Race has been around since 1977. Over 15 thousand people run in the 10 mile race with some very important runners participating over the years. My first home in Mott Park was on the 10 mile course. For hours we would watch a solid 4 lanes wide (I lived on a boulevard) of people run by the house.

The Back to the Bricks Cruise is relatively new. The bricks refer to the downtown area which has it's original brick streets. Cars are paramount in my neck of the woods. If you don't own a 'special' car you at least like to look at them and look at them they did. According to the website in 2008 they had 20,000 cars and 120,000 people. I know that this year's attendance blew away last year's.

If you went to the Back to the Brick website you'll notice arches over Saginaw St. I know at least one of them is original and the rest are reproductions of what was in place in the early 1900's even before General Motors was founded by Billy Durant. Flint is called 'The Vehicle City' not the 'Motor City' that is Detroit.

I digress. Today was 'The Crim' as it is called in this part of the woods. I must have seen at least 3 or 4 people at the farmers' market with medals around their necks. I can't imagine running 10 miles. Sometimes I don't even like driving 10 miles. I applaud all those who participated. Maybe if I eat enough raw veggies I'll be able to run in 'The Crim' or at least run to the john after eating all that roughage.

R and I used to go to the market all the time when Gavin was young. We always bought baklava from a Hungarian couple. They only have one person selling baklava now and it is of the Mediterranean variety which we find to be slightly drier.

During the winter we buy a lot of our meat at the market from Knobhill Market. When we lived in Mott Park the original Knobhill Market was just around the corner. R really likes their meat and even 25 years later they still recognize him (could be a Hungarian thing because I think they are Hungarian also).

Today at the market we bought yellow and green string beans, radishes, garlic, cantaloupe, white kernel corn on the cob, huge mushrooms, a book on how to braise food, and pastries. I cannot go to the market without getting a stuffed croissant. Sometimes I get a ham and cheese croissant but today I just had to have a lemon filled AND a apricot/cream cheese filled croissant. R felt the need for a berry/cream cheese and raspberry/cream cheese filled croissants.The market has grown over the years. Not only is it an indoor market......... but it also has an outdoor portion (summer only) ........and now has outside restaurants in addition to Steady Eddie's which is located upstairs.
I know people were wondering why I was taking photographs......maybe they thought I was with the health department......why else would anyone take a photo of the cheese case?The white kernel corn on the cob (sugar and cream) was sweet. The radishes were very radishy. AND the croissants were delish. Here for your viewing enjoyment a apricot and cream cheese filled croissant. I think this photo speaks volumes as to why I can't run in 'The Crim'.