This is a photo that I took last year on Easter morning at sunrise. I didn’t get out this morning for a new shot so I am sharing this one again. Hope all of you have a blessed Easter with family and friends.
Author Archives: flyinggma
A New Vocabulary
One of the main projects besides replacing the roof is moving the stairways to a better location. It is currently in the center of the house and has very steep, narrow steps.
For the past week or two as we refine our plans for the house a new vocabulary has crept into my life. It revolves around the building of stairs.
Who would have thought that there could be so many words that had to do with stairs. There are the usual words like treads or steps. That I understood, but add stringers, risers, winders, walk line, rise and run, landings, and that is just the beginning. Add to the list newel post, rails, balusters, bullnose, etc.
Tonight we spent our usual evening with our grandson while our daughter attends a college night class. Tonight’s entertainment was the home improvement center where we picked out the supplies we will need to start building the new stairs in the house this week.
Our grandson learned the fine art of picking out the best wood for the project and eagerly helped load it onto the cart. It was a late evening but well worth getting what we needed so we can get right to work on Thursday.
What Would You Choose?
This week is decision time. As you can tell this house needs some help. We will be replacing the shingles, soffit, and fascia. The entire home will be repainted and we will wrap the cement chimney to give it more character.
When I first looked at this home I knew I wanted to do something different with the colors. The starkness of the white with the cedar color is just not very inviting especially when you see the white on the garage as well.
My first choice would be a medium gray with white trim and a black roof. To me it says neat and maybe a little stately. The problem with this choice is that the home just to the left is painted exactly this way. You can see just a bit of it in the photo above.
My second choice would be something green tones with cream trim and dark roof. The only problem with the greens are on either side of the home two doors down in either direction are green homes, different greens. Adding a third green to the mix might just be too much.
My third choice is maintaining the front color of the house and painting the rest of it to match the front color with almond accents and a black roof. It would tie all of the house together and we wouldn’t have to worry about the fascia or soffit fading over time if it were painted almond. I think is would still have a stately look to it.
So many of the homes on Main Street are painted white, light gray or almond that I want to stay away from those colors. There are also two different blue homes in the near vicinity so I don’t think blues are in the running either.
So many choices… so little time. Am I putting way too much thought in to this? We need to pick out colors this week. Open for suggestions.
Fools Rush In…
This afternoon after working our “day jobs” my husband and I headed to 309 S. Main Street to continue our work that we must get done before the carpenters come to work on installing the dormer and replacing the roof, etc.
We made a lot of progress in the three short hours we worked. Dean worked on cutting the hole for the new stairway from the second floor down to the first floor.
We started with a clean home…….
At the end of our three hours he had the hole cut for the new stair location. I love when a plan comes together and no one gets hurt.
I spent the afternoon removing sheet rock and insulation in the other half of the upstairs. The goal is to have the upstairs gutted to the studs and ready for the carpenters as soon as possible.
My favorite part of the afternoon was finding a picture of Queen Elizabeth tacked inside the roof rafters. I would love to know the story behind the picture.
309 Chronicles
Life is an adventure. This our latest.
We purchased this home on March 20, 2012. Our intention is to fix it up and rent it or sell it.
As you can see it needs some help. We hope that what we do with it will improve its curb appeal, square footage and the overall flow of the interior.
The great part about this home is the fact that even though it was built in 1947 it was well kept and CLEAN!
This past week we have met with the carpenters about replacing the roof, adding a dormer, and changing the roof line on the garage. Everywhere we go we look at homes as we drive by trying to get an idea for a color scheme for the exterior. We are narrowing it down.
This week on Wednesday evening while Dean was at a school board meeting I began demo on the upstairs. We are taking it down to the rafters and studs upstairs. I removed 1960 style paneling from the walls and the insulation. Itchy, itchy, itchy. The shower felt great when I got home.
Last evening we continued work upstairs. One of the major improvements we are making is moving the interior stairway to the upstairs. It is presently a widow maker. Very steep, narrow stairs. Dean began pulling up floorboards for the location of the new stairway.
We’re excited about the project and hope that we don’t end up on one of the home improvement shows like “Over Your Head”. I will be posting more pictures of our project.
Dad at His Best
Today is my Dad’s 76th birthday. This picture was taken this past summer on Big Birch Lake. For as long as I can remember sailboats have been a part of my life. The first sailboat I remember was one that Mom gave Dad for a Christmas present and he built-in the dining room during the winter months after Christmas. They had to do some remodeling in the kitchen to get the boat out in the spring.
Next it was a bit larger version that he rebuilt in the backyard. It was an old wooden boat that needed much TLC. There were many trips to Johnson Boat Works that summer. Dad had this boat when I was learning how to drive so I learned how to back the boat behind a large van down the boat ramp and into the water. It’s a skill that my husband has come to appreciate over the years as we’ve launched our speedboat at the public access on our lake.
This sailboat we pulled on a trailer from Minnesota all the way to the South Padre Islands in Texas in the middle of winter so Dad could try sailing in the Gulf of Mexico.
After that it was the more adventurous stage in sailing when he bought a catamaran sailboat, There were many wild rides on that boat. One ride in particular I remember well because it was the Fourth of July and we tipped the boat over and were bobbing in the lake for a while as boats passed us on all sides including the sheriff.
His current boat is the one in the picture. The past few years I haven’t gone sailing much but made a point to go one afternoon with Mom and Dad. Mom packed wine and cheese and crackers for our afternoon. A pleasant afternoon with many pleasant memories of past sailing adventures.
Happy Birthday Dad!
Out of My Element
This week is an exercise in stretching myself. My husband will be out of the office most of the week and I will be fielding most of his calls and handling whatever comes my way.
It’s exciting to try new things. Most days I see how he does his job but ultimately he does it without much advice from others. I watch and listen to how he evaluates vehicles, how he interacts with the customers, how he tries to put out fires without losing a customer when problems arise. Until you are actually in the position without someone else to consult you really don’t know difficult the job is on a daily basis.
He brings approximately 35 years of experience to his job in buying and selling vehicles as well as being a mechanic which doesn’t hurt if you are going to sell cars. I’ve done bookkeeping for the business for many years and do the paperwork with the customers for buying and financing vehicles. It’s a whole different ballgame giving enough information to the customer and putting them at ease in the car buying experience. He is definitely better at his job than I am and I will be happy to have him back. I’ve got just enough information to be dangerous.
One of the most difficult areas is determining the trade-in value of a vehicle. If you give the customer too much for their trade in you may lose money on the car you are selling and not make any on the trade when you sell it depending on what work it may need to get it ready for the lot.
If you give the customer too little they may feel you are stealing their vehicle from them and are insulting them. The key is to have enough trustworthy evaluation information available to back your dollar amount for the trade. We always give the customer the option of trying to sell their own vehicle and buy our vehicle without a trade.
Most of what I planned to accomplish on my own to do list didn’t get done but phone calls were answered, appointments were made, warranty work was done, and cars were sold so I guess it was a good day.
Tomorrow is another day with the opportunity to grow and learn.
I May Be Coming Around to His Way of Thinking…
After spending most of my treasured day off from work peeling, scraping and scrubbing a border off my kitchen walls to make way for new paint and wallpaper I was reminded of a remark my husband has made often that goes something like “If it weren’t for women, men would be still be hunting for their dinner, cooking it over an open fire and living in a cave.”
I put the border in my kitchen nearly twenty years ago and it definitely needs some updating but after I complete the projects I always start looking at what needs it next. We extensively remodeled and added to our home when we purchased it in 1992. The time has come when many things need updating and I’m thinking a smaller home with less to do sounds pretty good.
Most days of the week we don’t use a third of our home. It has been a great home for raising our four kids but now that they are all moved out the upstairs three bedrooms and 2 bathrooms go unused. A couple of years ago we finished off a family room in the basement which doesn’t get used either. We planned well, looking forward to our empty nest years, by placing everything we would need on the first floor but having all the extra space to heat, cool and clean leaves me thinking a lot about how it could be better used.
That one room cave is sounding pretty cozy with an open campfire and no walls to scrub.
Mission Accomplished
It’s been a while since I’ve kept these old bones up until midnight on New Year’s Eve. The last couple of years I’ve headed to be early relishing the extra sleep instead of welcoming the New Year.
Tonight I stayed up and watched the ball drop with Dick Clark announcing the last few seconds countdown. It seemed rather anti-climatic after staying up late sacrificing sleep.
The wind is howling around our home this evening which sounds and feels violent. We are under a Wind Advisory until tomorrow evening. Perhaps some foresight into the New Year???
I’m looking forward to another year to to try new things, get better at old things and mostly try to live life a little better than I have in the past year.
Blessings to All in 2012!
Not My Ordinary Day Off
Last week my husband and I took a rare day off. We traveled with eight others in our church van to the Science Museum of St Paul.
Our next door neighbors are retired missionaries from Peru. They donated their collection from Aguarana Indians to the Science Museum and we were invited to go see the private collection.
When we arrived at the museum we spent some time individually to see the exhibits and had lunch at the museum.
At 1:00 we met as a group to go to the collections area of the museum. Our neighbor, Dennis, directed us to the part of the collections where his collection was cataloged and stored in special cabinets at the museum. I didn’t take any photos of the collection because that requires special permission.
I was impressed at the collections that are stored in the museum that will probably never see the light of day to the average person because of the lack of funds and time to display them in the museum. They are hoping to post the photographic images of the collections online so people can see what the museum has in its collections department. People are welcome to see the collections if they ask permission and have a guide to show them.
While we were waiting to meet someone for our tour at the museum I looked out the window to the south of the museum and saw this riverboat.
When I was processing this photo I enlarged the sign on the boat to find its name and was surprised to discover that it is a bed and breakfast named the Covington Inn. I think it would be a very interesting place to spend a night or two. I may have to investigate the possibilities.
Another view out the museum window was of these trees. I loved the way it depicted a cheerful winter day. The science museum is about 100 miles south of where I live and it is unusual for there to be snow there but not at home. Right now our yard is nothing but brown grass and barren trees except for the pines.
One of my favorite inside photos was of this sculpture. In the entry of the museum an entire wall is covered with these blue acrylic tiles that look like sails complete with rigging. I loved how the tiles changed colors as the sun hit them. I love sailing and I had no trouble picturing hundreds of tiny sailboats at sea when looking at the sculpture.A lovely reminder of one of my favorite summer memories.
Our day off ended as many do combining business with pleasure. On our way home they dropped off my husband and I at a transportation lot to pick up two vehicles for our lot. It was not without a bit of trouble. One of the vehicles had a dead battery. We had sent the others on their way home before we discovered the dead battery so we needed to go buy a set of jumper cables to get it started before we could finish our trip home.
Perhaps last Thursday was a glimpse into our retirement years when we will ride in vans or busses in large numbers to a designated destination. We were the two youngest in the group. The oldest was an 80 something retired teacher. I hope that when I am her age I will be interested in going to new places and seeing new things.
Every day you learn something new is a good day!
