DAY ???? - or is it "DAZE"

I just want all of my loyal followers to know that I have not stopped the project.  Yes, I've had some weather setbacks (like today), and also away for some days (election day, security show in NY, etc) but I HAVE been chipping away.

Yesterday I painted two sides of the Laundry Room extension and scraped the roof trim and corner boards. Sorry, didn't take 'after" pictures yet.


.  I've also painted the back of the house where the bedroom and bathroom are. First, though, let me show you what it USED to look like... including a pic of the old shower that was installed on the wall.  There used to be a pool, so at that time it made sense to have one there.  Check it out..............

See that algae or whatever it is on the bottom shingles?  Every shingle had to be scrubbed first.

Here it is after removing the plumbing and then painting..............

I still have to do something with the Bilco door....... I'm thinking of sandblasting it before painting.  Also, I left the stubs of the plumbing there, just in case someday I or future owners would need a faucet or something there.  I'll cap them and then paint them and you won't even notice them.

Also, I've decided to put shutters on all the back windows.  You might say, "Why?  Nobody will see them!"  Well, the truth is, that my neighbor has been looking at this eyesore for ten years.  I seriously think that I am the reason he had his house on the market for over three years and couldn't sell it.  Therefore it is my gesture of peace to do it.

 I also painted the trim on the lake side wall.

I haven't worked on the upper section yet as I have to replace that window.  Don't worry, I'm also going to fix that attic vent!

 

I thought I'd show you the view from those windows in the above picture.  It's especially pretty in the fall as somehow the trees take on a goldish hue.  In fact, it's most prominent when my house falls into the shade of the sunset, but the other side of the lake is still bathed in sunlight.  Take a look.

TANGENT~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For all of you bachelors (and bachelorettes) out there who want to cook a cheap meal quick, here's one that's always been a crowdpleaser.  In fact, I made it tonight.  It's a pasta and veggie dish that uses one pot.  I learned this from She Who Casts No Reflection, but you, the living, can enjoy it too.  It looks like this:

You will need:

1 large pot (I think they call it a 4qt pot?)

1 box pasta of choice (I like the Rotelli, but you could use Penne, Farfalle, etc.  I wouldn't suggest Spaghetti, though)

Veggies ... I normally use broccoli and carrots, but tonight I added variety AND saved time

5oz Canola oil  approx.

butter  1/2 to 1 stick

fresh garlic cloves  4 or 5  WHEW!!

Here's the basics:

What happened is that I went to Costco tonight to finally buy some food, and I came across those Normandy Vegetable Blend frozen vegetables.  It's all the stuff I like - broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and yellow carrots.  Produce Guru Valerie Inzinna I think told me that many times frozen vegetables are better than if you buy them at the grocery as they are frozen right after picking, so I don't feel guilty about using them.

This is so simple that it's almost impossible to screw up.  First, fill pot about 1/2 way with water and bring to boil.

Next, dump in veggies and cook to taste (these took about 12 minutes.  Alternately you can do what I normally have done before today and use "fresh" broccoli and carrots.  If you do that,   cut the carrots in chunks and THROW THE CARROTS IN FIRST!!!  When they are still firm but you think they are just a little too tough to take out yet, throw in the broccoli (that you've cut into bitesize pieces) with the carrots as they don't take long.

When the veggies are done DON'T DUMP THE WATER OUT!!! Just scoop out the veggies into a colander.

Next, use that good nutricious water and put in your pasta and cook normally.

When pasta is done, NOW you dump everything into a colander and wipe out the remaining water from the pot.
Put the pot back on the stove and add your oil and butter.  Oh, I forgot to mention to dice up your garlic cloves.

When the butter/oil mixture is hot throw in the garlic and saute.  MMMMMMMM! it smells SO good!

After literally a minute or so it's ready.  Remove from heat, dump in the pasta and veggies and mix thoroughly, making sure that garlic/oil/butter magic is covering everything. 

So what are you waiting for!!  Dump some on a plate and start eating!!

I put cheese on mine.  I think Val will agree though  that we need some protein in there.  If you use this as a side dish that would be no problem, but as a main dish I guess I should have added some chicken pieces or that seitan stuff mentioned elsewhere in another blog .  Any other suggestions would be appreciated. From beginning to end this is a less than 30 minute meal.  Rachel Ray would be proud.

A glass (or two) of Port afterwards also enhances the meal, as I'm doing right now (any protein in Port?)  Bon Appetit!!!

END TANGENT~~~~~~~~~~~~

DAY XIX? ~ It's all becoming a blur

Don't look for days XVII or XVIII because they're mixed in here.  First of all, in my defense, I haven't worked on the house Tues thru Friday as I was in Rhode Island doing training to become a FEMA inspector.  I've done everything - paperwork, tests, etc.  The only thing left is the background check.  They took my fingerprints at the seminar and will send them to the FBI.  If they come back "favorable" then I just have to submit a sh*tload of paperwork, and then I will be deployable..  hahaha, I originally typed "deplorable".... Hmm, maybe there's something to that.  Anyway, in the few days before today I finished painting the trim and completed the painting of the driveway side wall.

I thought the next logical step would be to do the garage, as that's very visible (check out that snazzy basketball net!).  Even if I only did the front it would give the illusion that the rest was done.  The only thing I've accomplished so far by starting to paint is to highlight how crappy the rest of the house looks!!!

Anyway, I went to Home Depot yesterday and spent $322 on gutters for the front of the house, and trim for the garage overhead door.  My plan was to remove the existing rotted wood around the door and replace it with a synthetic white wood product and my problems would be over.   NOT SO!!!!  Oh no.  When I removed the rotted wood what did I find?  MORE rotted wood beneath it!!!  Now a little project has become a major disaster.   Gee, first time THAT's ever happened. 

 I'm really scratching my head over this one.  Do I just cover up all the damage as if it wasn't there and let the next owners worry about it?  When I took off the top trim I found thousands of ants all of the sudden very agitated and disturbed that their cozy little home disappeared.  I guess that's what it feels like when a hurricane blows your house away.  My big problem now is that the top wood is actually two 2 x 12's which form the header of the door.  Removing that is going to be a real effort so I'm thinking of getting professional help.  Also going to call in an exterminator to get an opinion on what to do.  If I DO have to replace the header I'm going to heighten the door opening to 8ft instead of the present 7ft, so I can get my gyroplane in there.  That would solve a lot of my problems.

So after pondering this situation for at least an hour I did what any self respecting procrastinator would do ..... packed everything up and called it a day.

DAY XVI ~ Still no Camera!

Still on driveway side wall.  Painted 3/4 of the wall!   YAY! Diane came over to help.  What that does is to totally distract me from I'M doing and now I have to become a supervisor and direct her (or anyone who would ever be fool enough to come help me) on what to do, which., in essence, keeps ME from my work.  Result is LESS work done than if I did it myself.  The only way helpers would work out was if there was a very large area to work on.  You tell them what to do and then they're busy for an hour or two.

Anyway, should be able to finish the wall tomorrow and even take some pictures. 

DAY XIV & XV ~ Quickie

Diane has my camera and I've found that a post without pictures is like air popped popcorn.... very bland and boring, so I'll make this very short (and pick up my camera tonight!).

These last two days I'm still working on the driveway side wall.  As you know I scraped all the trim molding so on day XIV I put on the first coat of primer on the trim, and Day XV I put the coat of good paint on the trim.  Again, what makes it difficult and time consuming is using the scaffold and then setting the ladder on top of the swcaffold.

By the way, it just occured to me that today is actually DAY XVI !, so I'll end this here and move on to the next post to keep up to date.

Day XIII ~ Doesn't look like much

,

This was one of those days where you work your butt off and it looks like you did hardly anything.  I washed almost all of the driveway side wall.  It was really scary doing the very tippy top of the peak of the roof area.  I had the ladder extended and sitting on top of the scaffold.

To make me feel a little more secure I went inside and tied a rope to a bed that was just inside the window in the attic, then tied it around the ladder, and then around my waist (you can see it still hanging out of the lower right corner of the top window).  All I could picture was the scaffold tipping over, knocking me off the ladder, and then me looking up from the ground and seeing the ladder on its way down on top of me ...... followed immediately after by the bed!  But, it seemed to work pretty well and was a great psychological help as well. 

So, the day was spent washing the wall and scraping the roof trim.  It's funny, you scrape and scrape at a spot and nothing happens.  Then just for fun you hit it again with the scraper about ten minutes later .... and it almost FALLS off!  I could scrape these things forever and not be done, but it's as good as it's going to get for me.  Let the next owners worry about it (hint hint).

 One other very thankless but yet extremely satisfying job was cleaning my fridge the other day.  I may have already posted about it, but if I didn't here's my cleaning secrets. never before revealed.

The secret is using a solution of some sort of soap ... dishwashing soap, even shampoo will work, in a container of hot water.  I used MelaMagic.  And then add the secret ingredient .... bleach!  Do not substitute anything else for bleach as you want to sanitize as well as clean.

Now, the first thing you MUST do is take absolutely EVERYTHING out of the refrigerator... all food, racks, drawers, shelves, etc.  You can wash these separately in the sink before reinstalling.

Emptying the fridge accomplishes two things:  1) it creates a perfect cleaning area in the fridge.  You can get at EVERY nook and cranny, and 2) it gives you the opportunity to discover and throw out all that crap you've been saving that's in the back of the fridge just taking up space.  You may need a strong stomache for this part but believe me, it's worth it.  Throw out anything expired, spoiled, rotten, or anything even close to an expiration date.

Now, get to work on the fridge.  You should have a scrub brush and sponge. I find it's best to start from the top down (yes, even wash the "roof" of the fridge area).  The excess water will run to the bottom area and help to soak all that crud that has accumulated.... you know, everything you've spilled for the last five years ..... where do you THINK it went, anyway! they haven't come up with a "self cleaning fridge" yet.

Keep  working down the sides, and, finally the bottom.  When you're done you can dry it with a towel and it will shine and smell like brand new!!

Wash the shelves, drawers, and stuff and put those back. 

Lastly the fun part.... Only putting GOOD stuff back in.  It also gives you an opportunity to arrange stuff in some kind of order ... something that hasn"t been done in years either.  When you're done your refrigerator will be the envy of all!  It's amazing how a few cents of cleaner and a little elbow grease will bring you so much pleasure.  Feast your eyes..................

The stuff in the upper right of the top shelf are going to Val's house as they're hers, otherwise look how much room there now is!!  (Oh, and it also helps if you are a bachelor who doesn't cook  nobody ever visits, and never goes shopping.)  So get cracking and get YOUR fridge clean!

FAST UPDATE

Last post was last Wednesday, and now it's the following Monday night.  The weather has been my arch-nemesis, although Saturday was BEAUTIFUL! so I went gyroplaning for the day.  I left the gyro at the airport Saturday night as the forecasts were saying Sunday would be nice too, but that was not the case..... so Sunday I went to the airport and packed everything up, much to my dismay.  (see the little picture just below the blog title?  Click on it and you can watch me do a landing in my gyro.... taken two years ago.) 

Today (Monday) the weather is horrible, so worked inside, then went to Mom's for the afternoon helping her take out air conditioners and stuff, and my sister and her hubby came for dinner.  After dinner we watched some TV and stayed until Dancing With The Stars was over. (I bet you're wishing you were me right now!)

Forecast doesn't look good for rest of week either.

DAY XII ~ Grunt Day

Not much to tell today.... washed and scrubbed the driveway side of the house.  Not totally finished but got a lot done.  My good neighbor Ken has loaned me a scaffold.  Doesn't reach all the way to the top but it's a great help. 

I also scraped the roof trim on the left side of the chimney.... and then it was time for more granola bars.

Why I took this picture on an angle I'll never know!  Makes you sick looking at it.

Oh, and I spent a few hours today going to Dianes, putting my riding mower on my trailer, going to Moms and mowing the lawn, then reversing the process because it was kind of nice out. 'Posed to rain later and tomorrow so I thought today would be a good day to do it. 

And in case you think I'm a slacker and took five days off, YOU ARE WRONG, MY FRIEND!! Now the truth can be told.  I was at a "Wings and Wheels" show at Teterboro Airport over the weekend to display my gyroplane.  They invite me because a lot of people have never seen one and it's usually a big hit.

So, I packed up the gyro on the trailer and it was on to Teterboro!!!

I've done static displays before and am always asked the same questions so I had a sign made up to answer these frequently asked questions.  What this has done is not only NOT lowered the amount of questions asked, but now I also have to keep picking it up when the wind blows it over and such. 

I let little kids sit in the gyro and their parents take their picture, but what surprises me the most is that these kids touch EVERYTHING!!!!  I would be scared to death to touch ANY switch on a plane for fear it would start or something, but not these kids. As an extreme example, (which I thought was pretty cruel, but also funny at the same time), two boys around 10 or 12 yrs old came over and they were kind of wise guys.  The first kid gets on and touches everything, then gets off.  The 2nd kid then gets on.  The 1st kid then notices a switch that I have near the throttle that is clearly marked "EJECTION SEAT" in big letters.  Now, the switch is a joke because you CAN'T have an ejection seat because it would blow you right up through the spinning top rotor! But most people don't think of that.

So they ask me what it is and I tell them DO NOT TOUCH IT as it's connected.  Well, as the one kid is sitting in the seat the second kid puts his arm over the switch so the first kid doesn't see, and...... FLIPS THE SWITCH!!!!  Some friend!

It was a long show, but as always, here is the best part of ANY show.........................

The weather was beautiful both days and when all was said and done I packed everything up and went to Kearny to spend some time with a certain Valerie doing the usual.... you know, killing Zombies and stuff. 

OK, that's all for now..... supposed to rain tomorrow but I still have plenty of crap to do inside.