Thoughts from Crow Cottage (My Main Blog.)
crowbelle's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Day In The Life ANOTHER DAY IN THE LIFE... ...of a house. Our house. Crow Cottage. In snowy, cold, wintry, (did I say snowy?), New England. Just so's you don't think we have been sitting around the house all day eating bon-bons, here are some progress pictures of our latest project... Installing a new stair system... I guess I can count myself as one who is truly blessed, though I don't want to blow any horns about it. It may be because of his inherent tightwadedness, but every time something needs to be done here in this house, my dear Paul insists on trying to do it himself, if it's humanly possible, and if the Codes allow. He won't do electrical work, and he will only do the barest but essential plumbing projects (like unplugging a blocked garbage disposal pipe, etc), but just about every other type of work around the house he has attempted, rather than fork over his hard-earned cash for someone else to do the job. He's built all kinds of things, something which he never thought he could do before I came along in 1985 and swept him off his feet - and landed him in the "money pit" that owning this house has become. He had lived at home, with Mum and Dad, until he was 39, and he got away with murder there, too! Not many, if any, chores for Paul, oh no! His Dad was a whizz around the house and gardens. Paul just tended to his lobstering, and he collected cans and bottles in his spare time, and using the proceeds to develop a little stock portfolio for his nephew, who was just a babe in those days. Cans and bottles also helped send us to England for our honeymoon, so they can be valuable, if you collect enough of them, and are willing to do the dirty deeds necessary to retrieve them. But back to the house... Paul has tried so many projects around here that he's gained a lot of confidence in his abilities (well, that's MY opinion, to hear him tell it, he's working blind!). So it didn't really surprise me, about 10 days ago, when he announced at supper one night that the following day he was going over to pick up his Dad and together they were going to begin knocking down the stairs and wall in the dining room. I said "YOU-ARE-GOING-TO-DO-WHAT?" He said, "Well, you wanted a new wood railing and balusters and new treads, didn't you?" Well, yes indeed, I had mentioned that once, maybe, a long time ago. Anyway, long story short, he just finished making and nailing on all 13 of the "risers" in the new stair system. He has bought the oak treads and his next step will be to cut and install those, after he has polyurethaned them one coat. The risers will be painted white, and the treads will be oak poly'd which will match the oak handrail we already have existing (which Paul put up a few years ago, so his physically-challenged wife could pull herself up the darn stairs every day). Then we'll get the railing, balusters and newell post, install the same, and that will be the final part of the construction portion of the job. Then it will be my turn to pitch in... I will go to my friendly carpet store and ask them to fabricate a nice runner and then install the same for us. My part was real hard, huh? So that's what's new here. I will be adding more progress photos as things change for the better...along the way. We're bracing tonight for yet another snowstorm, they are saying anwhere from 5 to 12 inches of the stuff...on top of the multiple feet of it we've already had this season, which has never melted away! Doncha just love Winter? Cheers, Bex 2:18 pm - 28 February 2005 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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