Shock and Excitement!

These were the emotions I felt when I looked out our back window and saw this in the bushes just three feet away.

14 EGGS!

Our silver laced Wyandotte named "Night" started laying eggs but instead of putting them in the nesting box decided that this would be the perfect place. So after 14 days of laying eggs I finally noticed the pile. We had been making comments for two weeks now about her making "egg laying" noises but could never find any eggs. We took 12 of them inside for us to use and moved the remaining two into her nesting box.


After placing her in the box the next day she had taken to it. Just this evening I went out there and the two eggs had become three. Including a blue/green one from a different hen!

It's exciting to start getting the fresh eggs from our own chickens. I'm sure the other two will start laying in about 1-2 weeks. Oh all the excitement at our house!

New Roof

Thanks to the help of many family and friends we have a new roof! It was NOT the easiest home improvement project that we have tackled to date, but it made doable by lots of help. We had several people help with the actual construction/ deconstruction of the roof, watch kids, make food, and take care of other odd end jobs that needed done.


As you can see we had to remove the two layers of shingles that were already on the roof. It was a full day's job.

Along with the normal roofing we also had to jack up sags in the roof line over the garage were the tresses were spaced a little to far apart of our heavy Michigan snows. We also had to demo the flat roof where it was completely rotted and build a new one.


Putting the paper and shingles on was mainly a two or three person job on the roof. The rest of us did what we could from the ground while the guys rotated turns on the roof.

As you can see roofing is not an easy job. Even watching the work going on can tire a guy out! Working from sunrise to sunset for 4+ days is not a job for the faint of heart.

Here is an upclose shot of the finished roof. The shingles are so beautiful and classic looking. The project turned out just perfect thanks to everyone's help and Derek Vanderwall's expertise. To see more photos of the project check out our flickr site.

We've been a little distant lately

Especially here on the blog. Life always seems crazy, then they somehow become more so.

First, our camera died. Attempts to revive it were fruitless. Then Mom came to the rescue and lent us her old one. Well, I'm not sure if we ever got around to telling you, Mom, but it lasted about a week - maybe two.

But we weren't totally cameraless. We took some great video of the girls... and never got around to posting it. Ug.

Then, we thought we had this whole bathroom redux planned just right. I do think that it would have been... had the plumbing not proved to be too much for me. Even though the plumber was able to come out the next day, it set us back just enough to throw off the weekend, then I was out of town on business. It's taken a lot longer than we would have liked. But we're getting there.

On top of that, our roof leak has returned.

Well, we finally replaced the camera. After much research, out past experience and our new priorities, we finally settled on one. We like it a lot so far and I'll post some of the first pictures at the end of the post.

The bathroom is nearly functional again - we'll be showering at home this weekend. We still have some drywall and flooring work to do, but that will come along.

During one of my many, many trips to Lowes, I found an elasimeric product for sealing roof leaks. I've applied two coats already and am hoping to get one more on before it turns too cold.

Despite all of the crazy projects going on, we have made the choice to slow down from time to time. We've been thoroughly enjoying Addie's soccer games. We'll be signing her up for the spring league, so there's more to come. She loves it and is one of the best on her team. Emily has been taking Margaret once a week to the Bouncing Babies story hour. They both have fun with it. I've signed up to play league basketball this winter on my department's team. We've been playing pick-up games this summer and had a lot of fun. I must say that I am one of the very few who shows up with his own cheering section - complete with pom-poms!

We also got a nice surprise the other day. Lynn and Marv Freeman, our friends from Austin, were in town. They were here visiting some family, and discussing how nice the area is. When they were told that a lot of it was because of Whirlpool, they though, "Maybe this is where Emily and Michael live!" A quick review of the phone book confirmed it. We had a nice visit. Short. But it was great to see them.

So much else has happened. Too much to list.

Fear not, family and friends - we're still here and we'll keep blogging.

Oh, yeah. Emily has been canning apples. She and a friend are splitting the duties and using their own kitchens. Emily plans to do 50 quarts for each family. Her friend has been canning pears and will do apple pie filling. That's three cases full of apple sauce next to Addie. The new camera has a wide-angle lens which allows us to get so much into this shot taken from the dinning room table.

Deer feasting on the apple scraps. Emily's big requirement for this camera was a large zoom. It has 10x zoom and she has already put it to good use. Taken from inside the house.

Margaret is growing and changing all the time. She seems to be taking a parallel path on the walking and crawling. She seems to get better at both at the same time.

Our soccer star! Before the game, getting ready with her team, and some warm up kicks before-hand.

The last piece of cultured marble going up and a close-up of the Mountain Granite pattern that we chose.

More pictures here.

What did you do this weekend?

We worked our butts off in the kitchen, but not cooking or canning.

before

before

old countertops out

color going on

our painter

yes, that is a black handle on the dishwasher

finished product

Prep work for the walls took longer than expected, but it was worth it. The electrician came back out on Monday to finish the wiring. We were 98% done on by Monday night with everything functional. Just a couple loose ends to tie up.

In an odd twist of fate, our supposedly black dishwasher turned out to be stainless steel. But once we got to installing it, we found that a black handle had shipped with it, instead of one that matches the stainless. Correctable (and I already have a lead on one), but annoying for the time being. Fortunately, the dishwasher works very very well, and is dead silent.

We love the black countertops, though it and the cabinets together make it look a bit like a chemistry lab! Unforeseen, but we still like it. After a crazy weekend of getting all of this done (we started on Friday), we're getting back to normal. We've passed a head cold around, with Michael and Margaret still suffering a bit. More pictures of the remodel are up on flickr.

Kitchen Update

We did it! We as of last night we have a functioning dishwasher in our kitchen. Last Thursday we started our large weekend kitchen remodeling project. We actually had all of it done for the most part by Sunday night but we had to wait for the electrician to come back and put in a new breaker box for our house (goodbye fuses!). It felt great to be able to wash dishes in the dishwasher last night.

Michael will be expanding on the remodeling project soon including before and after photos. What we did was move some cabinets (already posted that info), installed new countertops and sink, added a disposal, hot water dispenser, and dishwasher. We also painted the kitchen while the countertops where off. The only other things we have left is to replace the one light fixture and put new outlet/light plate covers on. It was a big project but did not take as long as most of our other projects seem to take.

We are both every happy with the finished kitchen. And of course the best part is... the dishwasher. :)

A Step Closer

It took a combination of 5 different stains to get something close to the rest of the cabinets. I knew it would not be easy, but didn't think it would be this tough. There's now just a bit of work to be done on the left side where the door hinges used to be. The hinges left black areas where I'm assuming some moisture got behind them and ... patina-ed.

Cabinetry Hackery

This weekend we took the plunge. We have talked about adding a dishwasher for quite a while, but knew that there was no way we could do it with such low water pressure. The well is in now and the pressure is much much better than before. The drillers estimated 17 gpm (as opposed to our previous 1.9 gpm). I already removed the floorboard heater that was in the way (hadn't been used in years). Now all that stands between us and freedom a dishwasher is the cabinets....


The logical location was next the the sink. Unfortunately, in 1964, the didn't have modular kitchen cabinets, or at least not in this house. We knew what we had to do - modularize them. The theory was simple enough. Split the 36", 2 door unit off of the rest and push it ~24" to the left. Then we would have to replace some wood, match the stain, and put a new side wall in. Still, it seemed daunting. We called a professional cabinet shop here in town and had them come out for an estimate. $600-800. US. He was guessing that it would be about 8-10 hours of work @ $80 per hour. Suddenly, doing it myself seemed much more doable. The cabinet guy even recommended it.


Enough was enough. We consulted with Emily's Uncle Mike Lantz who knows a thing or two about finish carpentry, and he said we should be able to pull it off. That was all I needed. I bought a $12 backsaw to use for the fine, flush cuts, as well as some supplies to build the new pieces. I cut and cut and cut. 2 hours worth of cutting. There was no turning back once I cut the face of the cabinets.

Monday was all the cutting. We made a last minute change of plans to cut on the sink side of the cabinet. This would leave the 36" unit totally intact (surely easier to move), we wouldn't have to horse around with the cabinet shelf (finish nailed to the sidewall that would have been staying next to the sink), and the remaining cabinet would not suffer for the weight of the sink as the counter would still be supported by the traveling cabinet.

My handy backsaw for fine, flush cuts (blade is 0.5 mm thick)

Coming through the toe-kick.

A little help from an old friend.

Flashlight stand. West Lafayette style.

Tuesday after work, I unscrewed the countertop, removed the quarter round at the bottom for the linoleum, and moved the cabinet. Left over from Emily's sewing table, I had about 26" of countertop with a jagged edge. After trimming a half inch off it was a perfect fit. A perfect temporary fit. It won't be there forever. Anyways, we'll not only gain a dishwasher, but also 24" of counter space!

FREEDOM!

In it's new home.

The ghetto countertop extension.

Now it's down to finishing out the new pieces for the right side of the opening, electrical, and plumbing which will come from under the sink and not be nearly as difficult as it was sweating the valves on. Not so big on local water shut-offs in 1964 either. That was Saturday. Getting solder to flow up, not so easy. No leaks though!

Sweatin'

It was a busy weekend in Benton Harbor. We had finally made the decision to pull the trigger on replacing the water softener. Nothing stays clean, soaps won't suds, and we go through water filters way too fast. During the week, I had unhooked and drained the old water softener (via a new 1/2 inch drain hold near the bottom). With it pulled away, we decided to take advantage of having one less appliance on that wall.

On Saturday, Mom and Dad came up for a visit / work day. Dad and I worked on prepping and sealing the basement wall, while Mom spent some quality time with the girls. This gave Emily a great opportunity to get a few things done. By the end of the day, we had two coats on the wall and the new water softener in the basement. The only hang up was that the existing plumbing was about 3 inches too long to work with the new, larger bypass valve.
On Sunday, Tom and Patty came up for a visit / work day. Neither of us had much copper plumbing experience, but how hard could it be? Not very. YouTube was a big help.


We picked up some supplies at Lowes, and then it was time to do some SWEATIN'. Tank tops, short-shorts, and afro haircuts!

Ok, not really, but the pipes and fittings we definitely oldies. We removed the old fittings, cut 3 inches off of each pipe, and then re-sweat the old fittings back on. A short time later, the new softener was up and running.

One more coat of Dungeon-B-Gone on the walls and that project will be done. What a weekend!

Trying to keep warm

Well, it's the end of October and we finally decided to breakdown and start the boiler. Wednesday night after Addie went to bed (thank goodness!) Michael turned the gas on to the boiler and light it. No problems... then I went upstairs and cranked the thermostats up to get the boiler to running and the house a little warmer. As soon as I turned the thermostat in our living room own I heard an explosion sound in the basement and all the electricity browned out. As you can imagine it scared the you know what out of me and went running to the basement screaming for Michael to make sure he was not hurt.

Thank God he was alright. One of the water pumps on the boiler had the motor burn up and there was a bit of smoke in the basement. We turned off the gas and electric to the boiler and called it a night. We all just slept with lots of blankets and toughed out the cold house in the morning. I was able to get a heating guy over here yesterday afternoon to replace the motor. I had the same guy come out who the previous family used. He's a great guy who has been doing this for 30+ years. He was saying that our boiler is the oldest one that he as serviced and that he thinks that it will probably be the only one that he will see make it to 50+ yrs in age. The boiler runs great and has no problems so he thought that we still have a few more years left. That's good to hear!

As most of you know I've been making baby legs. My test pair for my neighbor was a hit. I just made her 7 more pairs yesterday so that she will always have a clean pair for her daughter to wear. She loves them that much. There is another thing you can do with baby legs that is kind of fun and that is to use them on your arms for the older kids. Addie has some t-shirts she just can not give up (like her Girl's Fly one) but with no heat in the house it was to cold to where them by themselves. My solution was to have her wear a pair of Margaret's baby legs on her arms. She loved it! Here are a couple photos Michael took of her with them on.

I need to make a few more for us to use but I have also decided that it would great to make some extra pairs for others. I would like to give the extra pairs to the Sisters that run the Readiness Center and Social Services Programs for Benton Harbor through our Church. It might be helpful for a family on a tight budget to be able to extend the use of their kids clothes during our cold months. If anyone has any gently used ladies knee hi socks, that are not being used, please feel free to send them my way. I'll make them into baby legs/ arm warmers.

Fall Colors

Over the past week we have been busy but not to busy to watch the leaves turn to their fall colors. This morning Addie and I had the chance to take one of her school friends along with her mom to Fernwood with us. We spent the morning walking through the gardens and the trails. It was a great chance to slow down and take in the beautiful season. After our walk we enjoyed a picnic lunch. I'll post a few pictures here on the blog but feel free to check more of them out on our Flickr site.




This afternoon Michael's uncle Don, aunt Terri and cousin Kelly came over to pick up a new appliance. The girls had a chance to play while the rest of us where able to get a great visit in. As usual it's never long enough but at least we are close enough to get any visit in!

I know that I have not had a chance to post in a little while so just to update those who are interested... I made a few more baby legs this weekend along with some other sewing projects (Christmas items I can't talk about). I also cut and froze a bunch of fresh herbs from my garden. On Monday Addie and I put up the last of our apples (made apple sauce). She loves it so much she wants to take it to school tomorrow for her special snack to share with her class. This weekend Michael and Addie where busy with building a kitty house for our outside cat. It is almost done. He also finished the new storm doors he installed the previous weekend. He added with the weather striping and did some other little things to them.

Week 28

Yesterday I had my 28th week baby appointment. At this appointment they did the lab work to check for diabetes and for anemia. Since I have not received a call yet I'm assuming that all is well with those two issues. The baby's heart beat was strong and she is growing as expected.

Michael was able to put the new chimney caps over the to flues on the roof before we went to the appointment. We where both glad to have it done before the next storm rolls in. Hopefully that will keep us a little drier.

More Apples!

What a busy weekend. I'm finally recovering from our busy weekend. Saturday we put up 51 quarts of apples. We made 22 quarts of apple pie filling and 29 quarts of apple sauce. We also made 3 apple pies. Peggy and my neighbor helped with it. We started at 8am and finished at 8pm. I still have a lot of apples left but I'll be working on them a little at a time in the afternoons until I get through them all. If you are wondering how we will be able to eat all these apples don't worry, only half of them are ours. The other half is our neighbors.



Michael and Bill kept busy on Saturday as well. They hung two new storm doors and repaired the third one. Then they tarred the roof where it is leaking and measured the chimney for a cap.
Addie spent her weekend with my sister and her husband who live in Ohio. She had a great time. She was so wore out though that she asked to take a nap twice on Monday! They must have done some serious playing for her to be that tired.