232 Green Street

Summer Garden Beauty

2008-06-29T11:07:00.005-04:00

It's been a while since we posted and I wanted to share with you how my garden's are doing. I'm really happy with how everything is coming along. I still have plenty more ideas and things I want to plant but now it will have to wait for the fall.

Here is a picture of the lilies that my mom brought down and we planted last summer.

Here is one of the friends that is living in our garden. This praying mantis is not full grown yet. He is only about 2" long. These guys are great for the garden because they eat the bad bugs.

Here is the newest shot of our vegetable garden.

We currently have 8 baby butternut squashes. Here's one of them

However, I think that the happiest plant out there now isn't in our garden at all. It's taken over our compost heap! I'm not sure what kind of squash this will become but I'm thinking it's a pumpkin....just a guess. It's completely covered the compost heap and has started heading into the parking space behind our house.

We also have a lot of great looking apples. I've been spraying them with a natural pesticide and they're looking pretty good so far. I can't wait to try them in the fall!

Hope you enjoyed the garden. I'll keep sending pics at different stages. I can't wait to eat some of the fruits of my labors!

The Cat's In The Tree, It Must Be Spring

2008-05-04T21:06:00.004-04:00

If you look really carefully in the top right of the picture, you might see two beady yellow eyes staring back at you. That would be our mischievous cat Sphynx, of kitty-under-the-floor fame. Today she decided she was going to climb up to the top of the weeping cherry and bat at the gnats flying about. She stayed up there for a good half hour or so, nearly rolling out of the branches a few times. Nothing unusual there, in that our cat is without a doubt the most ungainly feline either of us has ever encountered.

We spent most of the day outdoors; Amy working on mulching and planting some herbs, me working on sharpening the lawn mower. It seems our lawn has some particularly tough bits of crab grass, which tend to make mowing a chore. Maybe one of these days I'll actually start mowing it every fifth day, instead of around every tenth. There's few things in the world I like better than the smell of freshly cut grass... that is, at least until it starts me sneezing.

Our new groundhog-proof herb garden

Amy also moved a bunch of our excess patio stones to the area between our two sheds. It makes our brick patio look nicer (no big piles of flat stones), plus it also conveniently plugged up a hole made by an unwelcome guest. Hopefully ol' Tubby will take the hint and move on to friendlier pastures.

After a hard day's work, we both relaxed and enjoyed a tasty meal of leftover grilled steak sandwiches with swiss cheese and caramelized Vidalia onions (my onion loving sister-in-law would be pleased). I also roasted some tomatoes with a little sea-salt, pepper, and parmegiano cheese. The steak was from earlier this weekend when I decided to introduce Amy to Chimichurri, one of my favorite ways to cook steak.

All-in-all, our second spring in the house is off to a great start!

We're In!

2008-04-12T10:36:00.004-04:00

Well, we've finally moved in to our new bedroom. After over a year, we finished up the last of the work around two weeks ago. The trim is painted, the ceiling light wired and hung, and even (albeit makeshift) curtains are up! It's a truly wonderful feeling to have taken a room from bare studs and plaster dust to what it is now.

Last January, here is what the room looked like:

Now, it looks like this:

Even six months ago, when the room was still mostly barren and unfinished, it felt like things would never be complete. More than once I thought about calling it quits and hiring a pro to finish the work in a matter of days. But instead, we trudged on. I have to give Amy a lot of credit; she's really pushed us along these last few months to get the work done. If it weren't for her drive and energy, I don't think this would have ever been done. But now that it is, it's one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

It's been a long journey, one filled with setbacks, headaches, muscle-aches, all-over-general-aches, and arguments. But it's also been filled with joy, laughter, companionship, and camaraderie. I can definitely say it has brought Amy and I closer, as we've learned even more about each other and grown together through the process. It's taught us patience, perseverance, and the value of small steps and teamwork.

Almost Done!!

2008-03-13T21:33:00.004-04:00

My parents came down this weekend to help Josh and I put some finishing touches on our back bedroom. We are almost done! Just a little paint, some lighting, and a radiator cover (that will come this summer - I hope).

Mom and I spent most of the day making the closet a functional space. Here is a picture of us getting in out of the crazy rain outside to put the finishing touches on the closet cabinet.

While Mom and I were working in the house, Josh and Dad were out in the shed working on the window and door trim. Anyone recognize the radial arm saw? It was the one that Mom and Dad used to build their house almost 30 years ago!

Mom and Dad have gone back to Connecticut and we have a few finishing touches to put on th place but it's almost ready for move-in day...which I hope will be this Sunday. The picture below is Josh filling the nail holes so that we will be able to paint the trim this weekend.

Here is a picture of the finished closet. All we need to do is add the clothes! I can't wait to move in!

This has been quite a journey! Who know that one room could take so much time and effort. But it was well worth it. One of the next posts will be a before and after! It has come a long way!!!

Laminate Flooring is Wonderful!!!

2008-02-18T20:07:00.003-05:00

We have taken another big step with our back bedroom project and we are really excited about it. We have finished laying the laminate flooring! Woohoo! It was a great learning experience! Below are pics from the installation

Here is Josh posing with our first row.

Each board is tapped together...tap, tap, tap

Here I am doing my bit.

Here is the finished thing! All we have to do now is the molding and we'll get to move in!
If you're considering doing this type of project, go for it!

No, we haven't disappeared...

2008-01-20T15:47:00.000-05:00

Hi there house-bloggers!

Well, I'm finally getting around to writing a post. We've actually been busily chugging away working on the back bedroom (yes, the same back bedroom we started working on more than a year ago), laying subfloor, and other tasks.

We now have crown molding installed, painted, and sanded. It really adds some great depth to the room. It was definitely a bit of a pain to install though! Cutting miters in a house where the walls are anything but square is a real challenge.

We first started by trying to cut a traditional "coped" joint, but failed miserably after several tries. We were just about to give up, when we found salvation on YouTube.

This video does a great job of explaining a far simpler method of cutting the pieces. In the end, we were able to get the cuts close enough that we could fix the remaining gaps with putty.

We've also nearly finished laying the luan subfloor in preparation for the laminate flooring. Amy has been patiently chiseling away at the door molding, so that the floor can be as flush as possible. We've broken several drill bits and many a screw securing it to the 100+ year old hardwood already on the floor.

Stay tuned! Next weekend we hope to be laying the laminate flooring, and after that, we move in!

Royersford Is Famous!

2007-11-29T18:39:00.000-05:00

So lately we've been noticing an awful lot of commotion about our usually sleepy little town. There have been police barricades blocking off parts of Main Street, and some shops have undergone a remarkable transformation.

Yesterday we finally found out why.

See that guy in the green jacket, down with a bunch of other people, directly in the center of the picture? That is none other than Peter Jackson, of King Kong and Lord Of The Rings fame. Turns out he's filming a new movie called The Lovely Bones, starring Mark Wahlberg, Rachel Weisz, and Susan Sarandon.

To be honest, it's been a little bothersome from our perspective, since our travel through town has been completely impeded. Just tonight, it took my wife almost half an hour to go the ~2 blocks between the river and our house, due to multiple detours. The center of town looks like a football stadium at the moment, with bright lights all over the place. I'd go down and check it out, but there are police everywhere!

So I guess for the moment, we are living in a movie, literally!

Note: thanks to westmontcopa.blogspot.com and mommyblahblahblog.blogspot.com for the pictures.

A Much Needed Break

2007-10-27T17:18:00.000-04:00

Last weekend Amy and I took a much needed break from the rigors of home ownership to go for a hike along the Appalachian Trail in nearby Berks County. It was a wonderful reprieve from the endless project list that always sits in wait for us.

For anyone who hasn't visited this lovely spot, I highly recommend it! The views were gorgeous, despite the alarming lack of fall color. It's known locally as "The Pinnacle", and is located just east of Hamburg, only a few miles of I-78.

View Larger Map

My only suggestion is to arrive early (we started our hike at approximately 8:15am), as it is a very popular place. We encountered two groups of scouts, numerous school groups, and even a few through hikers that had come up all the way from West Virginia.

This weekend, we're looking to get back on track with some paint in the back bedroom, as well as finishing up some electrical work. We had a friend do a good bit of the work, including ripping out most of the remaining knob and tube. He also found evidence of old gas lines in the ceiling above the second floor, leading us to believe that this was the original source of light for the house. Pretty amazing what you can find out when you rip up a few floorboards!

On Being A (Low-Budget) Green Homeowner

2007-10-15T18:50:00.000-04:00

As some of you know already, today is Blog Action Day! All over the globe, thousands of blogs are all posting on the environment, including my favorites Lifehacker and Zen Habits. So here I am, trying to find something profound to write about our planet.

I'd like to think we're fairly "green" as new homeowners go... but truthfully we'd like to do so much more. I would love to put solar panels on our roof, replace our aging hot-water heater with a nice tankless unit, put down renewable bamboo floors, and insulate our house to the point where not a single watt of energy is wasted. But practically speaking, that will never happen. Just as with most new homeowners, we find out budgets and our wits stretched to their end just trying to keep up; an unfortunate reality is that to be green means you have to spend money. Or does it?

10 Ways to Be Green (Cheaply)
Recycle everything. I would like to think that everyone is doing the minimum at this point: cans, bottles, and plastic. But what about things like batteries, cell phones, and even construction waste? In our area, there happens to be a Habitat store that will accept old cabinets, furniture, even faucets or other fixtures. Why not try and find a location near you next time you rip out those old kitchen cabinets, or replace the 50's bathroom faucet? Need to find a local spot to recycle batteries? Check here. Cell phones? Here too. That's right, I'm talking to all you new I-Phone converts (of which I hope to be one soon. Ssshhh, don't tell my wife. :) )
Decorate green. Do you really need all that cheesy holiday decor that either sits in tupperwear (or worse, ends up in the garbage) for most of the year? Personally, the only thing tinsel is useful for is making a nice rockstar wig for the cat. Instead, use some renewable decorations like pumpkins (if you want to be really responsible, you can keep your own self-replenishing patch going) or other plant materials like pine-wreaths or willow sticks.
Low wattage light bulbs. We have them in just about every light in the house, and it has made a noticeable decrease in our electric bill. And with the newer technology available, the house doesn't look like the inside of an operating suite either!
Use cloth napkins instead of paper. It will make you feel like every night is a special dinner! While you're at it, turn off the lights and use some candles. Your spouse will thank you!
Use microfiber cloths in place of paper towels. I don't think we realized how many of these we go through until we stopped using them! The microfiber cloths are great; inexpensive, easily washed, and soak up more than those puny Brawny things.
Turn on your ceiling fans. Yes, they are good for more than looking bad and collecting dust. Studies show that using these allows folks to raise their thermostats by three to four degrees, which can easily save 25% on your A/C costs. And don't forget to use them in the winter time as well. Just make sure you flip the switch to change the fan's direction; by reversing the blades, the fan will break up the stagnant hot air sitting at the highest point in the room.
Break the bottle habit. No, i don't mean that bottle habit, though I'm sure your liver would thank you. :) Instead of drinking bottled water, buy a filter for your faucet and drink from that. We've been doing this ever since we bought the house, without any ill effects. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go get rid of the pink elephant romping around my kitchen.
Install a programmable thermostat. Ours is set to come on at 6AM, off at 9, back on at 5:30, and off at 10pm (no comments on the early bedtime please). It has doubtlessly saved us a considerable amount of money; certainly more than the $25 it cost to buy.
Dry your clothes with sunlight. We did this all summer, and the only thing missing was the "thump thump" of our Maytag (don't every buy one, but that's another story).
Bring canvas bags to the grocery store. We always bring three or four with us, so as to avoid those awful plastic bags. The one exception is for meat, which I'll gladly excuse you for using plastic for (anyone ever tried to get meat juice out of canvas? ugh).

So there you have it! 10 ways to be green without breaking our ever-tighter "New Homeowner Budget".

How do you save our planet without breaking the bank? Share your wealth in the comments.

Tackling Our Front Garden Project

2007-09-11T07:27:00.001-04:00

This weekend was a busy one for us. A while back we decided that we needed to do something with our front hillside. It was very difficult to mow due to the grade of the slope... Here are some before pics to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.

As you can see, besides having the slope to deal with, we also had a very uneven front walk in need of some TLC. This project was no small task and we knew it. So we invited my parents (who are skilled in the art of moving rocks) to come and help us tackle the project in one short weekend...

We scheduled our plans for "a weekend in September with no rain". We succeeded with no rain but Saturday was terribly hot. We got up early and were out working on the yard at 7:30am. I was surprised to have Josh up that early, especially on a Saturday! We started with the heavy manual labor of removing all of the grass and removing and stacking the 2' x 2' x 2" thick pavers. We were really glad to have that all done by around 10:30am when the heat started to kick in.

With everything cleared we started to dig a trench for the retaining wall. We left the guys to tackle that task and my mom and I went off to the wonderful world of Lowe's for the first run of the day. We picked up 4x6x8 pressure-treated lumber and rebar for the retaining wall along with bags of stone dust to level our walkway. Once we had our heavy load we headed back to the house to help with the next stage of the project.

We did take a break for lunch before we continued digging. After lunch we determined how high we wanted the walkway to be, leaving it slightly slanted to allow water to runaway from the house. Once we had this done we were able to see how much more we needed to dig to get he top of the retaining wall in line with the top of the walkway. We dug A LOT!

At around 5pm we were tired and hot, so we decided to call it a day, take showers and get some food! It is amazing how a little food and a shower make you feel great after a day of hard work. We all went to bed early (around 9:30pm) to be well rested for another early day! I know I slept like a log!

Our Sunday morning started out just as early. Mom and Dad went to work laying the stone walk and Josh and I tackled the the hillside with topsoil, gardeners cloth, and mulch. Planting hostas and day lilies that my mom brought from her garden. The lilies were originally from my great grandmothers's garden. We are very happy with the outcome. It was well worth the hard work!

For images of the process and the final outcome check out the following link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/davcroy/AmyAndJoshGardenWalkProject

A Scary Thought

2007-09-04T21:23:00.000-04:00

I was just watching a show on PBS that used to be a favorite of mine as a kid: NOVA. It's always fascinating and highly informative. But on this occasion, it also served the (no doubt intended) purpose of scaring the daylights out of me.

Global dimming is the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface that was observed for several decades after the start of systematic measurements in 1950s. It is thought to have been caused by an increase in particulates such as sulfur aerosols in the atmosphere due to human action. The effect varied by location, but worldwide it was of the order of a 4% reduction over the three decades from 1960–1990. The trend reversed during the past decade. Global dimming has interfered with the hydrological cycle by reducing evaporation and may have caused droughts in some areas. Global dimming also creates a cooling effect that may have partially masked the effect of greenhouse gases on global warming.
From Wikipedia

Pretty scary stuff, huh? I'm no climatologist, but the mere thought that one of the very things we are trying to eliminate (air pollution) may be shielding us from the full brunt of global warming is a pretty sobering thought. As homeowners go, I would say we're on the good side; we recycle everything, compost our garbage, turns the lights off, and keep the thermostat down. But ultimately it will take all of us making a concerted effort to effect a change.

I challenge everyone who reads this entry to visit the site below. Judge for yourself just what the situation is. I don't want this to turn into a free-for-all, but I'd be curious to know people's thoughts on the matter:
Link to the show's website

The Continuing Saga Of Windows

2007-09-03T14:45:00.000-04:00

After a few more days of hard work, we finally have both new windows installed in the back bedroom! Both have been secured, insulated, caulked, and partially trimmed. All that remains is to install interior trim for both sides. It was a long and arduous task, but ultimately, the rooms looks much nicer. And I swear that it stays cooler with the A/C on, though I'm sure scientifically that doesn't make sense.

We started by shoving insulation into the cavity where the old balance weights were. Should you ever wish to attempt this, I highly recommend long sleeves; that fiberglass insulation made me itch something fierce (and this was the "low-itch" stuff!). I just used a spare piece of trim to push it up as far as I could. At the end, the cavity was completely filled.

Next we framed out the window opening, since the windows we bought we slightly smaller than the original openings (such is the price we pay for not spending huge amounts of money on custom windows). Here's Amy screwing a 2x4 with a 1x4 on the bottom into the top of the original opening. Note the shims; as with any old house, the openings were anything but level.

By the way, have I ever mentioned how drop-dead sexy my wife is when she's using power-tools? That bulky respirator and the snazzy safety-glasses only add to the whole "Tool-Time Girl" appeal she's got. Honey, Amy-Wynn whatever-her-name-is ain't got nothing on you! :)

After all the prep work it was actually pretty easy to install the window itself. All we did was lay it into the space previously occupied by the sashes, and secure it with screws to the sides of the frame. We caulked around the inside and outside of the window to help seal it in place and prevent drafts (no point in buying a brand new window if there's gaps the size of a canyon around it).

The trim around the outside was actually so rotted that we ended up replacing it as well. We used 2x3 posts that were primed and cut to length, secured with screws. Before putting these up we used a good half-can of "Great Stuff" expanding foam in the space between the bricks and the inner frame. Hopefully that will help eliminate and air pockets. That stuff is great, by the way, albeit a pain to use after the initial run. The little delivery tube always clogs and is impossible to clear, and the stuff is impossible to get off anything it touches. Still not as bad as that blasted fiberglass stuff.

The second window actually was far easier to get in. Probably a mix of experience (from the first one) and pure luck that no unexpected twists came along, other than Amy's drill (Christmas present from our first year together) finally bit the dust. Hmmm... that brings our total "Tools Killed" count to three. No matter, it was quickly replaced by a brand new DeWalt heavy duty model. That thing could drill a hole through a tank.

Now all that's left is to paint the walls, put in the laminate flooring, hook up the electrical power, and we'll actually have completed our first big home project! It only took, well, let's see... errr... I'll get back to you on that one.

Two Local Shoutouts

2007-09-03T11:58:00.001-04:00

For those of you who live in the Spring-City / Royersford area, I wanted to let you know about two great family businesses Amy and I have discovered nearby. I'm a big fan of supporting little Mom & Pop operations over the big chain stores when at all possible, especially when their offerings are as good as these two.

The first is called "GreenWorld Farmer's Market", and it's just over the river from us in Spring City, next to the car wash on Bridge St. Now despite it's name, I wouldn't really call it a farmer's market in the local sense of the word, seeing as the produce I've bought has sticker saying "Grown In Canada." But regardless, they have some really nice food for dirt cheap. Red peppers for $1.69 a pound, romaine lettuce at $0.99 for 3 heads, etc. I got all the food shown in the photo to the right for less than $15! Already it's saved us a ton of money on our weekly grocery trips. I will say that you have to pick through the stock at times, since some of the food appears a little bruised. But for as little money as we're paying, a little digging is fine with me. They also sell a really mean batch of wasabi peas at prices way cheaper than the local Giant, for those of you with adventurous taste buds.

View Larger Map

The other local standout is Renninger's Farm on 2nd Avenue, just south of where Royersford is. All summer we've enjoyed their wonderful peppers, peaches, and tomatoes (I especially recommend the peaches, they are amazing). Some of their tomatoes have been the size of large softballs! They also sell fresh herbs and flowers. As fall approaches, I'm excited about seeing what their squash offerings will be.

More Windows

2007-08-14T21:58:00.000-04:00

Wow, has it really been a month since we last posted?!

Well, to be honest, it's not like we've done much. It's been so blazingly hot lately that we've managed to only do the bare minimum maintenance. Mowing the lawn, some occasional weeding, and of course, fending off the various insect invasions. Among them, we have 1) a yellowjacket nest in the yard, 2) a plague of japanese beetles intent on eating every plant in existence, and 3) a "cicada-killer" wasp nest under the front walkway.

But lately we've been focusing really hard on finishing our window work. We finally settled on buying a set of new, double-pane windows, rather than completely restoring the original ones. It turned out that the more paint we scraped away, the more problems we found with the basic structure.

So we headed off to Heeby's to spend some cash. For those of you not from the area, Heeby's is a building surplus store in nearby Reading. If you're ever in the market for windows, doors, or other fixtures, and you're willing to be flexible with sizes, give them a try. Just be really sure you measure before you buy; they are famous for refusing any and all attempts at returns or exchanges.

We ended up buying two 29" x 58" double-pane windows for around $100 each... not bad! We've managed to get one in and almost finished, and are planning to install the second one between this weekend and the next. I have many pictures of the process, and promise I will post them soon. Our lives have been so damn busy lately, it's been hard to find time to blog!

2007-06-29T07:01:00.000-04:00

Window Scraping - Part II

Window restoration has been an adventure and we have learned that patience is a virtue when it comes to this sort of project. Without patience the 100 years of paint build-up don't come off very easily!

The picture to the right is me scraping the first window, the one from the previous post. We'd let it sit for about 4 hours and I wanted to start scraping...I don't have much patience considering that the stripper said it would take 4 to 24 hours to work. Guess I should have listened. The first couple of layers of paint came off but the remaining ones stuck fast to the wood.

After scraping most of the first of the two sashes, we decided to let the other frame sit a while longer. You can see the difference in the middle picture to the left. The sash on the left is the first one we attempted. The sash on the right is the second one. See the wood grain! No more paint...well on the flat surfaces that is. The sides have been more of a challenge because of the tiny details. But once you have the right tools - a fine pointed scraper and a wire brush - the job becomes a little bit easier.

So at this point we haven't gotten very far. I don't think we quite realized the project this was going to be. We are only partially through scaping one side of the window! We still have the window frame to scrape and rebuild, sash cords to re-install, and then we need to put in all back together again. I'm just glad we only took out one window and not more!

This project also makes a big mess! I guess that's what happens when you're dealing with 100 years of paint!

2007-06-24T13:14:00.000-04:00

Fun With Windows

One of our next big tasks for the house is to clean up the glorious original windows. We priced out replacements, and our options were: 1) order high-cost custom replacements, or 2) reduce the size of the openings so that standard windows would fit. Needless to say, neither seemed a very good option. So instead, we decided to remove, strip, and recondition each of the windows in the house, one at a time.

Now, for any of your who haven't ever had the pleasure of stripping paint, it's, well, not a very pleasant experience to say the least. The fumes alone from most paint strippers could kill an ox, and if you happen to get any of the stuff on your skin, it feels like that time in chem class when you spilled the "Caution: Do Not Spill" bottle on your hand. To top it off, most are highly toxic to the environment.

So, being the eco-conscious citizens we are, we set out to find a eco-friendly stripper that wouldn't singlehandedly change our yard into a Superfund site, but would still take off 116 years worth of paint and crud. Enter Ready-Strip.

Courtesy Ready Strip Outlet

This stuff promises all of the above. I have to say I'm a bit skeptical, since it's one of those products you see on midday infomercials, but all the reviews seems pretty positive. So, we headed down to the local paint store and bought a nice big bucket of it.

Right out of the gate, I can tell you that it smells just about as strongly as the normal version. Albeit, its odor is a bit more pleasant; I would describe it as strong blue cheese (yeah, call me crazy, my wife did until she smelled it too). Its consistency would best be described as, well, like snot. It's goopy and gloppy, and if it wasn't meant to remove paint, I'd almost say it would make a good stand-in for the above-mentioned bodily fluid.

The directions say to leave it on until it turns a pale green / white, then to scrape off the paint with special scraping tools designed for this purpose. Our plan is to get the windows as clean as possible, then re-paint them a nice off-white to match the rest of the trim. One window already will need some more structural work, including re-gluing the bottom rail (I think that's what it's called), and of course we'll re-glaze the lot as well.

Now comes the tricky part... in order to get the windows out, we had to remove the two "stops" holding them in on the window frame. Seems like an easy task, no? Well in this case, it turned out to be a bit more interesting. Whether it was years of paint, or some other mysterious cause, they proved a real bear to remove. In the process, we seem to have uncovered a bit more work to do!

Help Us!

As you can see, our frames look a bit worse for the wear. It turns out they've been pieced together from several different chunks of wood, seemingly without any particular plan. The question now becomes: how do we fix it?

So, fellow bloggers, we turn to you for advice. We've already read several books on the subject, however we'd love to get some practical advice from anyone who has already taken on this task before we dive in. Do we rip out the whole thing and frame it from scratch? Or can we just patch the damaged sections?

Luckily, we have storm windows, so they can provide at least some protection from the elements while we're completing the work. Still, I heard somewhere that storm windows aren't too good all by themselves. Kind of like lime juice, tonic water, and gin... by themselves, not too appetizing. But combine them together, and voila, a nice refreshing G&T. :) Sooo, if anyone has some tips to help us, it would be greatly appreciated! Stay tuned as the saga of the windows continues to unfold.

2007-06-19T20:29:00.000-04:00

We Have A Winner (#2)!
Congratulations to L from itsalwayssomethinghouse.blogspot.com, for correctly identifying the plant as Clematis Jackmanii, also called "Jackman's Clemati". Wikipedia tells me it's a vine native to temperate climates, and that this particular variety is native to England. Apparently it's native blooming season is July - August (which makes me a bit nervous, since they appear to be doing just fine here in early May).

Thanks again for your helping us with our new found garden!

2007-06-11T18:38:00.000-04:00

It's Time For Another Episode of...

Name That Plant!

Our next mystery plant is a gorgeous purple flowered vine that is growing in several places on the fence between our neighbor's yard and ours. It smells lovely, but unfortunately seems to be almost past its prime at this point in the year.

As always, your victory will be eternally preserved on our blog, so that all may know your expertise. Let the games begin!

2007-06-08T19:59:00.001-04:00

A Zen Living Room

A few weeks ago, Josh and I received a lamp as a house warming gift from my Aunt Pat and Uncle Paul. Last weekend we finally had the time to put it together. Here are a few pics of the assembly process.

It has added a very nice element to our living room.

Each little element we have added to the living room has made it feel that much more like home. We added the lamp, some pictures behind the couch, hung our marriage promise on the wall, even a coat rack by the door. What a great place to call home!

2007-05-22T18:56:00.000-04:00

Yummy Food for 5/22/07
As those who know me will tell you, I'm a bit of a food nut. I love cooking in general, especially when it's off-my-head, spur-of-the-moment style. I can't bake worth a damn (all attempts usually end up either flat as a pancake, or exploding in flames), mostly because it requires such precise measurements.

So, in the great tradition of food bloggies such as Jennifer from Last Night's Dinner, or even Houseblogs.net's own Reluctant Remodeler, I've decided to start posting some of my own creations from time to time. So, without further ado, I give you:

Seared Bay Scallops With Tomato Dill Sauce

This was my first attempt at using the more petite cousin of scallops, and I'm happy to report I found some success with them.

I've been told that the most important thing when picking out scallops is that they smell fresh and salty, and not at all fishy. I then thoroughly rinsed them to rid them of any leftover sand (I don't like my seafood that crunchy), and patted them dry with a towel.

Before searing the scallops, I sauteed some turkey bacon and garlic in the pan to release a little fat and flavor. I then set the bacon aside, and sauteed the scallops for about 3 minutes with just a little salt and pepper as seasoning. You don't want to overcook them because they will become very rubbery.

Next, I poured in about a cup of Chardonnay (Jacob's Creek, of course :)), half a can of diced tomatoes, and a palmful each of dill and parsley (I used dry but I'm sure fresh would be nice as well). This mixture was simmered for around 5 minutes, at which point the scallops were put back in to be warmed through.

For an accompaniment, I steamed some edamame and snow peas. Edamame is a wonderful side that both Amy and I enjoy... too bad it's so expensive!

Finish by sprinkling some of the bacon over top of the scallops, and voila!

2007-05-22T08:26:00.000-04:00

We Have A Winner!

Thanks to Larry from Old House Gazette who identified the plant as a Weigela, which Wikipedia states is a shrub native to eastern Asia. Apparently there are a number of different species, but it looks like we may have a Variegata. Congratulations Larry, you are the first winner of Name That Plant!

2007-05-20T17:39:00.001-04:00

In Which Our Homeowners Purchase A New Toy, And Ask For Your Help!

As you can see above, we finally decided to bite the bullet and purchase a nice gas trimmer. After using it, I can really say it makes a world of difference in how the lawn looks. Previously we had been using a pair of large shears to trim where necessary, which was obviously not terribly efficient. But with this new gadget, weeds were falling like logs!
Here's Amy taking it to a patch of grass near our laundry line. Because it's so close to the fence, getting in here with a mower was just about impossible, so we had basically let it just grow out. Not the most visually appealing of stratagies. But now the grass is no match for our gasoline powered killing machine! :)

We also spent a good part of the day weeding our flower beds. It seems that chickory root has a particular liking for our yard, as it seems to sprout up every few inches. And since we've decreed our lawn to be chemical free, it means we have to get rid of it the old fashioned way, with our trusty Cape Cod Weedah (yes, I'm told it is spelled that way) and some elbow grease. In the process we also discovered an ant colony hiding under one of the beds, which was fun until the inhabitants decided to swarm out en masse to meet the intruders in battle. Guess we'll have to come back to that part, huh?

And now, dear friends, we need your help in a big way. You see, we inherited this lovely garden along with the house, but have several plants that neither of us can seem to identify. So without further ado, I proudly announce the first of our series:

Name That Plant!
Our first mystery item is a medium sized shrub that sits in the corner of our yard by the house. It recently burst into glorious white and pink blossoms, and smells somewhat like honeysuckle. As you can see in the picture below, it has a green and white variated (I think that's the technical term for this pattern of color) leaf as well.
The first reader to give us an answer (and I'll have to trust you're right, since I've no clue what it is) will receive a wonderful prize!

Um... ok, so we don't really have a budget for a great prize. But you will have the distinct honor of being the first to answer our little quiz! That and our eternal gratitude of course (not sure if that has any value on the market these days, hehe).

Let the games begin!

2007-05-17T21:32:00.000-04:00

We Have Grass!

Yes, I am happy to report that after 3+ tries and two bags of grass seed, we are finally seeing some growth! Apparently lots and LOTS of water and a little fertilizer does the trick. Hopefully by next year we'll have a nice green lawn where there was once an ugly patch of dirt. And no, the whole lawn doesn't look like this! It's only a specific section that we turned up. It was so full of weeds I suppose it was just easier that way. Now if only I can get the rest the stop growing quite so fast!

2007-04-23T18:41:00.000-04:00

A Weekend FULL of Beautiful Weather!!!

When you own a house the work NEVER ends - event on beautiful Spring weekends.

This weekend we tackled the crabgrass, and massive intruding roots in our backyard.
Here are some pictures of our adventure...

We started bright and early, right after breakfast, pulling out the crabgrass . . . we didn't even take time to change our clothes! Here Karen (my sister) and I are working away and the big, green tufts in our pjs.

Josh even jumped in on the bandwagon. Here he is contemplating eating the large worms and grubs we found for breakfast.
Lots of protein!!!

Jared helped too but all of those pics were on Karen's camera!

Josh also took on the tree roots with a pickax. All those years of chopping firewood really paid off! No more bumpy patio . . .

2007-03-24T12:31:00.000-04:00

Spring's Here!

Well, it's that time again... when flowers bloom, birds sing, and....

Oh yeah, allergies too. *Sniffle* Thank goodness for the wonders of modern allergy meds, or else I swear a good portion of humanity would be outright miserable this time of year. Guess that means it's also time for:

Spring Cleaning: the period in spring time set aside for cleaning a house, normally applied in colder climates, where the house is difficult to clean during winter. (Thanks to Wikipedia for the definition)

Today we gave the first floor a thorough cleansing, vacuuming, and dusting. It's a sure sign of an old house when dust just seems to collect in places where it has no business! We've also discovered one of the pitfalls of pet ownership: cats shed. No, really, they do! Thankfully Sphynx is a short-hair, so she doesn't leave as much as some. Still, it's great finding little balls of fur scattered around. Hmmm... think she would let us shave her?

A Cat Named Sphynx,,,

2007-03-21T18:57:00.001-04:00

Around two weeks ago, we had a surprise visitor, in the form of a little black cat. It was unusually warm out, so we had the back door open. I was cooking, when I suddenly heared the distinct sound of a cat meowing. I looked out, and sure enough, there was a little cat sitting on our back porch, looking expectantly at me.

After some coaxing and a little bit of food, she came over and allowed us to pet her. She was very friendly, if a bit on the skittish side. Given her beautiful black coat, and her decidedly Egyptian look, we decided to name her Sphynx.

Over the last few weeks, she's become very comfortable around us. She now comes inside every so often, and is always sitting on our porch looking for her daily meal. We're guessing she's about a year old, and is very well behaved. It makes me wonder if she was someone's cat, who was left here. I really don't understand why anyone would do that though, since she's one of the sweetest cats I've ever encountered.

...And The Trouble She Caused

About a week ago, Sphynx was inside visiting, happily curled up on the living room floor. At some point, Amy's phone rang, which must have startled her. Before we could blink, she had bolted up the stairs and into the back bedroom. Yep, that's right; the one we've been working on for months. By the time I got upstairs, she had crawled into the hole in the closet, and disappeared under the floorboards. I could hear her crying, and tried desperately to coax her out with no luck. Then without warning, her meowing suddenly vanished.

Needless to say, we were both rather concerned, since there are plenty of places for a cat to get hurt crawling around in an old house. This feeling grew even stronger as we pulled up a few of the floorboards in the hall, and found lots of old knob and tube wiring. Not a safe place for a kitty! We tried calling and shining lights everywhere we could, but we never even caught a glimpse of her. Eventually, we gave up and went to bed, thinking we would find her when daylight came.

No sooner had we gotten into bed when the crying began anew. They were just muffled enough for it to be impossible to locate her, but loud enough to put us in a terrible state of mind. Then, to our frustration, her cries became softer and softer, until they vanished entirely.

Over the course of the next 6 hours, this process repeated itself three times over. We even tried putting out food in an attempt to lure her out. It worked perfectly, except that she always managed to run back into the wall before we could grab her. Finally, at around 5:45 in the morning, I managed to snatch her up as she poked her head out of the floorboards. I quickly handed her off to Amy, then proceeded to seal up every hole in sight with wood and screws. Our neighbors must have wondered about the sound of power tools at 6 in the morning!

Ever since then she's stayed outside for the most part, lest we suffer a repeat experience. She's now had all her shots and a clean bill of health from the vet, which I suppose makes her officially "our cat." Here's to hoping that's the last bit of mischief she gets herself into!

2007-03-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

Electrical

Project History:

Now as many of you know, Josh and I (and our friend Shane) have been tackling the old electrical wiring in our house. That has been quite a task. NOTE: To anyone out there who is looking to buy a new house...just because they say the house has been updated to have 220 AMP service doesn't mean they rewired the whole place. In our case they converted a few corners into cubbies and ran wiring so that all floors have at least (2) new outlets. Bah Humbug. How naive of us!

We are taking it to the next level and updating ALL of the wiring in the house. When we first moved in, Shane took on the living room and ran all new wire and installed new outlets. That was easy becasue he full access from the basement. Then we took over the back bedroom which is being redone anyway.

Takin' on the tough stuff:

Now we've encroached on our living space and that has made things even more challenging. This is where the story from last weekend begins...

The first thing we had to do was hook up the fan. We purchased a timer for the fan so that it would shut off after a programmed amout of time. This is another electric saving addition to the house. However, to install it we needed to change the wire to work with the fan. This sounds easy...until you see the hole I needed to fit in to do the work...

I learned a lot about wiring and Josh talked me throught the whole thing.
Here is the finished project.

Now that we had the fan hooked up we moved on to the light over the bath tub. We removed it when we first moved in because it was ugly - and by doing that we also found out that the wiring wasn't safe. So the progress began to replace the light...it became more of a task than expected.

The first time the light was wired, a box wasn't put in the ceiling to hold the wiring. We found out that there was no beam near the center of the tub to put one. Below is a photo journey of how we fixed that problem.

Josh - in Darth Vador gear to protect him from who knows what that was living in the ceiling...

He used a long drill bit to reach through the whole and into the floor boards and carpet above to locate where we needed to cut the carpet.

Next, I cut away the carpet surrounding the hole so that we could gain access to the space below.

This is the section I cut out with the drilled hold in the middle.

This is when Josh got to have fun with the sawsall.
I'm glad the 'rents let us borrow this tool. It has been helpful in many situations like this one.

Once the hole was cut...

And what a beautiful view into the bathtub below.....

Here is Josh getting to install the box.

Here it is nailed into the two joists.

And of course you'd think this is the end of the story...NOPE! When we attempted to fit the light on the ceiling, we found out that the machine screws that came with the light were to short to go through the fixture, and 1/2" depth of plaster and lathe. So Josh and to go our and buy new ones. Of course by the time we figured this out it was 7:30 on Sunday night and no hardware stores are open. I finally got the light up on Tuesday morning before I went to work.

Here is the light fully installed.

Who knew that a simple project could turn so ugly so quickly....

2007-02-17T18:14:00.000-05:00

Current Projects

Josh and I have each taken on different tasks to keep the house moving forward. Some are small and some are quite large.

My project, for the past couple of weeks, has been spackling and sanding the back bedroom to get it ready for primer. This has been my "outfit" for the project...

And I sound like Darth Vador!

Josh's project was smaller, but just as necessary. Once of the annoying things with our kitchen was the doors on the fridge opened the wrong direction. Josh tackled the task today. Here are the pics from his adventure.

2007-02-13T19:50:00.000-05:00

Our First Homeowner (Semi) Emergency!

On Sunday, our washing machine decided it was going to quit working in the middle of a load of wash. We tried various methods of coaxing it into working, ranging from asking it nicely to slamming the lid in disgust. When the latter actually brought about some change, I guessed the problem had something to do with the lid switch. So, I pulled out my trusty voltmeter (thanks Dad for reminding me to get that) and cracked open the back panel of the washer. One problem: the washer is in a position that can't be moved very much, so I was forced to climb behind it!

Needless to say, this was not a particularly comfortable position! First, I had to drain the supply lines (hence the re-used Philadelphia Eagles popcorn tin), then crawl behind the machine to unplug it. Let me tell you, there are very few places filthier than behind the washer and dryer!

Here's a pic of the necessary tools assembled:

So I didn't electrocute myself, or wreck the machine in the process, I acquired a wiring diagram for the machine. Well, OK, we found one stuffed into the back panel. But I would have gotten one if we hadn't found this one! :) Here's what it looks like:

Thanks to www.applianceaid.com for the diagram.

First, I tested the switch for continuity (that's a fancy way of saying I wanted to see if the lid switch actually worked). Here's a great diagram of how to accomplish this:

Needless to say, the switch failed miserably. I basically ended up hot-wiring the thing so that it always behaved as if the lid was closed, by connecting the red, black, and yellow wires together. After plugging the machine back in, I crawled out and turned the washer back on. Thankfully, it worked on the first try! We're ordering the part from a local appliance shop, and it will hopefully arrive soon. Until then, at least we have a working washer!

*WARNING*: I did this because we don't have kids, and neither I nor my wife plan on sticking our hands in the machine while it's running. I don't recommend it if you have little ones running around.

2007-02-11T09:40:00.000-05:00

Winterizing our Home:

We got our second oil bill the other day and were a little freaked out by how high it was. So we decided that we really needed towork on winterizing the parts of the house that were letting the cold air in and the hot air out. Some tasks have been easier that others.

• Adding foam outlet gaskets to the outlets/switches on the exterior walls vastly reduced the draft coming through the walls (see image to left). This is a very cheap and effective way to reduce those annoying drafts from coming through the walls. It's amazing what you can learn from a little searching around the Internet!

• We also took the time, finally, to go around and close all of the storm windows. Unfortunately that wasn't as simple as it sounds considering many of the windows in our house have been painted shut. A little elbow grease, a rubber mallet, and a utility knife did the trick on most of them.

• We had installed a programmable thermostat a while ago and it works wonderfully. The only problem was that the boiler seamed to be kicking on a lot during the day even though we had the temperature set for a constant 65 degrees. We decided to try turning it down to 63 degrees to see if that would help and it has drastically reduced the amount that the boiler kicks on. Saving money where we can is always a good thing!

Our biggest problem, however, didn't start out that way. Removing air conditioners is usually a pretty easy task. That is if the air conditioner was built in the last 20 years! We had a behemoth of an air conditioner in one of of first floor windows circa 1965. It also appears that it had never been removed since it was installed. I can only assume that the last homeowners didn't take it out of the window because it was a huge project - the bolts were all stripped and rusted solid, the windows were jammed making it difficult to unwedge.

This picture shows what can happen to even the correct metal saw blade when dealing with difficult, rusted bolts. Josh made it through all the necessary cuts before the blade finally called it quits.

Once the bolts were cut we faced the challenge on unsticking the window to loosen the decades of paint that held it in place. It took a little coaxing from our trusty rubber mallet and a little wiggling of the air conditioner to finally break it free.

I got to stand in the warmth of the house to "catch" the air conditioner as Josh shoved it through the window. This took a little elbow grease and teamwork because the air conditioner came out in two parts. I've never seen an air conditioner like this before!

Here is Josh giving the air conditioner the heave-ho from the outside. After we removed the brackets that bolted it to the wall.

And here I am once the beast was removed! I definitely can say that this monstrosity will be making its way elsewhere - maybe a landfill or the home renovation sculpture I am planning in all of my spare time...

And here she is. The beast that Josh and I defeated!

2007-02-06T07:36:00.000-05:00

This was my project this weekend.

Our kitchen has a great amount of space. However, the stove is off in the corner by itself with NO counter top nearby. The kitchen cart has helped out a lot. It's been up for only two days and has already gotten a lot of use.

I highly recommend this idea for anyone who needs a little added counter space in their kitchen. It was really easy to assemble.

http://www.kitchensource.com/kitchen-islands/hs-5216-95.htm

There are many different kinds out there but this one is very affordable

2007-01-31T21:26:00.000-05:00

Whoops!

Guess I forgot to turn the comment feature of Blogger on! My apologies for anyone who wanted to leave any tips for the last post.

Anyway, here's another pic of how the bedroom looks at the moment. As you can see, we have drywall everywhere. I actually saw a story in Dwell about a house where the owner left the drywall unfinished. Hmmm... laziness or avant garde artwork? Your guess is as good as mine, though I think we'll stick to traditional methods. :)

Speaking of art, that's actually Amy's dad David in the picture, who, by the way (*warning* shameless father-in-law brown-nosing coming up), has a wonderful business creating kinetic artwork. We actually have several of his pieces in our house, and visitors are always intrigued by them. Check out his site! www.woodthatworks.com.

2007-01-30T12:18:00.000-05:00

It's Beginning To Look Like A House!

Well, after a weekend of hard work, I can say with all honesty that our first floor is done! With the exception of hanging a few pictures, we're just about where we wanted to be. Shelves are all hung, walls are painted, and we even had time to string up some lights in the front part of the floor. It feels really good to see one part of our vision of the house coming together.

We also spent a good part of the time working on our soon-to-be bedroom on the second floor. This was one of those projects that went from simple to ugly fairly quickly. To give you an idea of the history, the room originally looked like this:

Originally we were just going to re-paint the room, but then we discovered that a) the walls were all some kind of hardened masonite board, and b) the wiring was all sorts of crazy. In the end, we decided to tear out the plaster and start from scratch. For anyone who attempts this route, my two words of advice would be to 1) use a good mask, or else your lungs will punish you; and 2) realize that the demolition is probably the worst part of the process. We may well hire that part out in the future, if only to avoid carrying bags of debris up and down flights of stairs. Although, it is a lot of fun to carry out sanctioned destruction via a sawzall!

Several weeks, three garbage cans worth of plaster debris (and let me tell you, that stuff is HEAVY), one roll of Romex 12/2 wiring, and 12 sheets of drywall later, we are now taping and sanding the room in preparation for painting it. Once that's done, all that will be left is putting in a laminate wood floor, and we will have completed our first full out renovation!

Oh, and if anyone out there has some tips for putting in laminate floors, feel free to leave them here on the blog, as we've never tackled that before. Come to think of it, we've never really tackled any of this before!

2007-01-28T10:48:00.000-05:00

Well, we've officially killed our first tools. Yesterday my poor loyal Dremel tool decided to bite the dust (literally) while cutting openings in drywall. With a blood-curdling shriek and an awful smell, it left us to use a utility knife to cut holes for outlets. Luckily, we only had one more to do!

Then this morning, Marji's (Amy's mom) drill also died as we were drilling holes to mount shelves in the dining area. Guess old house wood can be pretty tough, huh? I felt bad since they were kind enough to drive down from Connecticut to help us with our never-ending To-Do list. Thankfully we had a few extra drills.

Two tools in two days... this house is starting to take its toll!

2007-01-27T11:41:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is, my first blog post! Or at least, my first blog post on here. :)

Owning an old house is going to be an interesting experience. Already I've been covered in plaster, drywall dust, dirt, brick dust, and various other substances. I've crawled through tiny spaces that previously would have triggered my oh-so-mild case of claustrophobia, all in the name of a new electrical outlet (note: it was rather important to do so, since otherwise we lost power to the fridge if we wanted to turn the juice off for the second floor... go figure!).

Amy and I decided when we bought the house that we wanted to share our experiences of slowly fixing the house and making it our own. We're hoping for a solid mix of encouragement, how-to, and maybe even some good old fashioned commiserating at times! From reading the posts on the various other fixer-upper blogs on the net, it seems the task of repairing old houses is equally challenging and rewarding.

So sit back and enjoy our stories as we experience this love-hate relationship for the first (and hopefully not the last) time. We're certainly looking forward to it!