Priming the Small Shutters before the Snow....

...yes, you read that correctly....snow!!!  Why????????  I have be optimistic and hope that it will only be slush.  Why would the weathermen get it correct now when they have  been consistently wrong all winter?  

Today, I primed 2 sets of small shutters.  That's both the front and back, two coats.  I, also, primed the outside of one flower box with just one coat of primer.  

In between priming and waiting for the primer to dry, I did a little more raking and some burning.  We also put the tops back on our concrete bird baths.  The tops on the bigger bird baths are usually leaned against the base but with the smaller bird baths we usually just flip the tops over. 

That reminds me....I read about some additive made exclusively for bird baths.  We have a real problem with red algae growing in our bird baths.  The birds love the bird baths so we need to make sure that the product is safe for birds.  I'll let you know what I find out. 

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Priming Shutters,Cleaning Gutters, and Flower Boxes

Yesterday (Wednesday) was cooler than forecasted but I did get a few things accomplished.  Number one on my list was to prime the shutters that will go on the house.  One set was primed both sides twice the other day.  But yesterday it was cooler without any wind so I was only able to get the backs of the second set primed twice.

  We, also, cleaned out the eave troughs on the garden shed while waiting for the primer on the shutters to dry.  It rained Wednesday night and on and off today (Thursday) so the eave troughs got a good rinsing out.  These eave troughs are directly under a very large black walnut tree and it requires cleaning out at least twice a year.  It seems like something is always falling from that tree.

The flower boxes arrived safely on Wednesday, so today we added the trim to the back of the flower boxes so that they look pretty on both the front and the back.  These flower boxes will sit on the deck railing on the back of the house.

Added a little glue before nailing the trim.

We then cut the short pieces for the ends and will sand before we prime.  These will need two coats of primer inside and on the outside.

We also made a trip to Ace Hardware and purchased enough  fertilizer/weed killer for our houses, my son's house, and the lawns that R takes care of during the summer.  Ace Hardware currently has an instant rebate on your first two bags of Ace brand fertilizer.  That is a $6.00 savings for the large bag.  The regular price of the Ace brand is $43.99 for the large bag - the $6.00 instant rebate= $37.99 per bag after savings.

The fertilizer is for later in April but I had an expiring 3X points coupon that expires on the 31st and I really hated to see all those possible points go to waste.  Points=Cash coupon to use for anything at Ace Hardware. I accidentally let an Ace $10 reward expire last month because it slipped behind a credit card that I never use.  That won't happen again.

The table saw wrench that I bought last week arrived today.  This wrench makes it easier to change the blade because it is very thin and long.  $10.65 including shipping.

We are still waiting for the two washers and the nut for the arbor to come in the mail.  

I am going to turn in early tonight so I can get an early start on priming shutters on Friday.  R will be busy fixing the rotted window sills on the garden shed.  I will write more about that later in the week.

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Laboring Away on the House on Labor Day

While priming and painting the kitchen exterior walls I had an epiphany.  It was about the game room which is next in line for shingles and window replacement.  We already have the two window units to replace the last of the two large mid century casement windows in the game room.  

We already removed one large casement window on the north side of the game room several years ago.  I like to keep windows on the north side at a minimum because of the cold winter winds that can come from the north.  Plus, that area is perfect for a large screen TV.   This room at one time had 4 doors and 4 large windows.  We have already closed off two doors and removed one large window and have another large window in our crosshairs. 

But on the south side of the game room we have a large blank wall to one side of the patio doors and a large window unit will be installed on the other side.  I have a real problem with things being unbalanced and not symmetrical when it comes to design. 

We already know that at one time there was a small window on that wall. We uncovered the small window when we did some game room demo years ago.  The small window is out of scale with the other windows so we will relocate that small window to the basement.   And in it's place we will install another window unit exactly like the kitchen windows and the window on the other side of the patio doors.  This should give us a lot of light in the game room in the summer, much wanted solar gain in the winter, and remedy my disdain with unbalanced design elements.  

I wasn't sure how R was going to feel about buying another large window unit. But as soon as I mentioned it, he was on board.  Whew.....that was a relief.  R has a hard time with change so if he thought it was a good idea, it must be......right?

I actually was able to get some grey paint on the shingles today.  R was using the ladder that I needed to use to finish the priming at the very top, so I started at the bottom and painted upwards until I got to the unprimed area.  By the time that R was finished and the ladder was available, it was after 6PM so we called it a day.

 The area of the blue tarp is the location of where we will add an additional window unit like the large window above and below.  This will also help to repeat that same design element so it looks more cohesive and not a willy nilly arrangement of various sizes of windows.  

I am so looking forward to comparing the before and after  photos of this part of the house.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Labor Day holiday.

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