This weekend Mike's cancer 'therapy' was to tear up a section of the kitchen floor that needs to be replaced. He salvaged the wood floor from the upstairs bathroom for this very purpose. Jens Anderson will replace the wood and rough sand the floor later this week. Mike has to be careful to monitor how much he works at the house. The radiation treatments are taking a toll on his energy and ability to eat, but I know it makes him very happy to be able to tackle little projects around the house when he feels up to it.The other weekend job was cleaning out and organizing the garage, and Mallory Jane came home for the weekend to help. The painters need some garage space for their supplies - and these two got the job done! Mike concocted this unique "paint tray" to hold the remains of all the old partial paint cans in the garage. This "paint art" is our safe way to dispose of the old stuff after it has hardened on the tray. No, we did not go to an art museum over the weekend, and no, we will not be hanging this over the mantle. The correct answer is: Safe Paint Disposal.
For the past several months I have been pondering the exterior colors for our grand home. This is a big deal for me because colors are important to me. My college training included color theory classes. My recurring nightmare: That I am called away on a trip when the house is being painted and when I get home I discover that the color is not right. I cannot live with that so I have to spend thousands of dollars to have it re-done. Really.I am elated to tell you that the colors I selected are up on one side of the house AND I LOVE THEM. I started with the garage so I could see the four colors together on a less grand scale. I did change my mind once - back to the first color I picked out from the git-go. From the color chart photo you can see that I tried some lighter shades (bottom) but the contrast was too subtle.
Since they wait to put the fancy new mudroom entrance door in place I included a pic of the side garage door so you can see the blue accent "kick color" in play. The blue will be reserved for the doors around the house including the cave door basement entrance. Love how the dark sage color works on the fascia boards (next to the roof line.) Love how the colors work with the red roof. Love how the colors feel a little Swedish to me.
Larry Shelly's Two Guys Painting crew is doing an amazing job. The amount of scraping, caulking and prepping required to restore this grand house is mind numbing to me. I love their work and attention to detail. I could stand in the yard and stare at their beautiful work and and the way the light plays with the colors for hours. The photos really don't capture it... wish you could drive by.
Another quiz for you. What is this? Maybe a new piece of art for above the mantle? Did we visit the Chicago Art Institute over the weekend? Answer to follow...
Nathaniel "Slick" Dixon has done all of our concrete work at the house. And this past week he has been cleaning up and reinforcing area under the front porch and stairs. He put down rebar before pouring a concrete base under the stairs, and then applied Sure-Wall to strengthen the foundation before Mike puts the cast iron steps back in place.While Slick was working this week he took time to tell me about how every night they head to the Missouri River bottom where paddlefish have been stranded by the receding flood waters. I listened wide-eyed to the stories of snagging and catching these huge fish which are now fare game as hunting restrictions are lifted because these amazing fish are land locked.
On Sunday night Mike and I tagged along with Slick - and sure enough - he snagged one and let me think I was catching it and reeling it in!
Who needs deep sea fishing when you can do this right here in Nebraska? I loved feeling the "gill rakers" with my hands! (Remember the brush-like things in the whale's mouth in Finding Nemo that filter the tiny krill fish?) These amazing prehistoric fish feed on plankton. They swim with their huge mouths open and catch the tiny plankton in their gill rakers. Amazing. He was still very alive when I held him in this bottom picture. I could manage it better knowing it was like a "rescue" because all of these landlocked fish will die when the flood waters continue to recede. Mike and I cleaned it ourselves (with Slick's guidance) and we grilled it for supper.
Last Wednesday night September 7th was the last night before the drywall guys arrived. Wednesday night is Date Night. But with insulation finishing touching to be done, Date Night was working at the house together. It turned out better because Thad Nelson was available to help too. Thad has been helping with the insulation since Mike had to go to St. Louis for a second surgery in mid-August. This huge job would not have gotten done without Thad's skilled help.Finishing touches included Mike filling "holes" with various forms of insulation. Note: Mike would not recommend using insulation foam using a syringe. (The yellow foam only took about a week to wear off after the can dispenser exploded in his hands!) They also had to staple plastic sheeting over the insulation on the outside walls. My job was handling staple refills to the guys when their staple guns went empty so they didn't have to crawl down from the ladders. It sounds small but it actually felt very important. All in a night's work.
If there is a better insulated house out there - I would like to see it. If there was a space, Mike put insulation in it. Every nook and cranny of the new mudroom, the kitchen, both bathrooms, the master closet, the basement, basement staircase & storage space - not to mention crawl spaces - all got some form of insulation measured, cut and inserted!
I am not kidding when I say that when you walk into these spaces packed with puffy insulation you can actually "feel it" in your ears because the sound is so muffed from the air being so insulated.
The final step on the outside walls is covering the insulation with plastic sheeting. Mike got it done. The drywall-ers started today.If you were thinking of asking Mike to help you insulate something, I would wait a spell to ask. Mike doesn't like insulating anymore. In fact, he loathes it. Too much of a good thing I guess.
