May 2003
May 5, 2003: We're opening this month's journal entry with a certain housekeeping matter. We received in the mailbag recently a comment that the text on the website shows up too light when viewed in certain browsers, and is therefore hard to read. As an experiment, we darkened the text in last month's April journal entry, and have darkened the text for this month's entry as well. If you've been having trouble reading the journal entries, and this is an improvement, or if you just like the darker text, email us and let us know. Alternatively, if you just don't give a flying ****, or have no clue what we're talking about, you're still welcome to email us and let us know! So... on to more substantive matters.
For those of you who were unaware of "The Plan," here's the deal... before we even moved into the house, we spent a great deal of time devising this absolutely perfect five-year plan for the renovation of the house and surrounding grounds. We detailed exactly what our priorities are, planned our work around the seasons, spaced the large and expensive projects far apart enough to fit within the budget, and sensitively scheduled enough light work weeks and down-time to retain our sanity. The Plan... is perfect. Reality? Leaves a bit to be desired.
But it's ok. We're mature adults, and we're willing to admit that, so far, in our first year at Brickman House, we've had to deviate from The Plan occasionally for minor details. Alright, maybe it was more than just a few details, and we've had to be a bit more flexible than we thought, but we're still on track, so it's all good, right? Ok... well... we hate to admit it, but maybe, just maybe, The Plan was just a wee bit ambitious and optimistic, but we refusetobelievethatwe'redelusionalandneeddrugs...
THE PLAN IS STILL VIABLE!!!
Ok? Ok... we're better now.
So, having admitted that we may have made a few, very minor miscalculations in The Plan, we're here to bare our souls publicly on the 'Net, healthily admit our flaws, and embrace that which makes us human and motivates us to strive for self-improvement.
Grrrr... selfimprovementmya**... &*#$^&#... IcouldgrowmoreasapersonslurpingdaquirisinAntigua... *deeeeeeeeeeeep calming breath*... *shot of Scotch*
Ok? Ok... we're better now.
Often during this renovation, circumstances have dictated that we change gears, deviate from The Plan, and focus on some unexpected project that we just hadn't planned on dealing with at that particular time. This week, our "unexpected" project involves the pool.
Now, for those of you that have already read about our garbage-dump-turned-pool, you know that we never really wanted or cared about a pool, but when we moved in last Spring, we put a cursory bit of work into the overblown aquarium that we found ourselves with. Then we invested in a heavy-duty, stainless-steel BBQ grill (truly worthy of stimulating the highest volume and quality of testosterone production, especially when you pair it with a set of BBQ tools made of stainless steel with ultra-long, solid cedar handles). What a combination-- hot, sticky Mid-Atlantic summer days, 25,000 gallons of cold water, and a big honkin' grill cooking up steaks and salmon.
Add in a healthy dose of cold beer, and we didn't care what folly it was, we didn't care that the 35-year-old pool was as neglected (and therefore needed as much work) as the house, we didn't care that it was a big, huge honkin' hole in the ground that was leaking like a sieve... we were sold. The pool would stay. We employed the chewing gum-and-spit method to keep it going through Summer 2002, and figured we'd deal with the plumbing problems, well... ummm... next year.
As these things tend to go, "next year" has arrived. Never mind that "next year" has arrived in the middle of our project to revitalize the exterior of our house. Now that the weather's warming up, we've got to get the pool open. The longer we wait, the more likely 25,000 gallons of warm, stagnant, unchlorinated pool water is to erupt into the biggest biological experiment since Pasteur cultured penicillin. So, reluctantly, the siding project must yield to the Pool Plumbing Project:
No, we haven't been invaded by big mutant junkie groundhogs-- those are the trenches we dug this weekend from the pool filter to the return lines. Now, we're awaiting the arrival of our piping order to start installing the pipe and filling in the trenches. And, in the While-We're-At-It category, since half of our concrete pool deck is now laying in pieces atop the other half of our pool deck, we're going to remove the rest of it, and enlarge it on one side to create a poolside patio. Instead of the very ugly, very outdated and very hot on the feet concrete, we're going to do the new deck and patio in Pennsylvania Bluestone.
Yeah, it might be a while until we get back to the siding, but it's holding out just fine so far. It'll be nice to have a decent pool deck for outdoor grilling (a necessity since the kitchen's holding on by a mere thread at this point), happy hours (a necessity since we're holding on by a mere thread at this point), and midday plunges into the pool when it just gets too hot to hold a paint brush on a 30-foot ladder. It delays the siding project somewhat, but we think a decent pool deck will make the project eminently more enjoyable when it does roll around in a month or so.
Now, stay tuned to see if the pool piping order actually arrives in time to plumb the pool according to plan...
May 12, 2003: Happy Mother's Day to all! Here at Brickman House, we celebrated Mother's Day with a huge Sunday brunch which gathered three generations of family. It doesn't matter how you come to be a mother, be it biology, adoption, fostering, or mentoring... we celebrate them all. We invited all those who are important to us, mothers in all ways, traditional and by the heart, and with a huge spread of food and drink, we enjoyed the company of family. We ate and drank, talked and shared, and after a long weekend spent preparing for our celebration (and after a few Bloodys) we decided, to he** with the siding and pool plumbing...
Cheers, and Happy Mother's Day!
May 19, 2003: Well... now that all manner of daughters, mothers and grandmothers are feted, fat and happy, it's time to get back to business.
Unfortunately, the great Mother of us all, Mother Nature, was not appeased by our Mother's Day Brunch Feast last weekend. Despite our best efforts, and offerings of fat shrimp, fresh fruit, pastries, mimosas with fresh squeezed orange juice and spicy, ice cold Bloodys, Mother Nature saw fit to rain in spits and starts all over our weekend plans.
We plugged away at the pool area nonetheless. Being ones who never pass up an opportunity to operate a really. BIG. TOOL...
We rented a jackhammer to start breaking up the old concrete pool deck:
Of course, all the chunks we had to take out of the deck to repair the previous plumbing leaks made it easier to tackle what was left of it, but it still took the better part of a day with a jackhammer to get halfway around the deck:
As for the power tool operator... the negative impact on the "stud factor" due, of course, to the absence of the kilt, was definitely offset by the forearms and bicep muscles that developed after four solid hours of operating a jackhammer.
While the jackhammer was going strong, a good ol' fashioned sledgehammer made short work of a concrete block half-wall that was the remains of an old dog run (roll your mouse arrow over the image for before and after views, or click on the image for a larger view):
The building's still ugly as sin, but at least we don't have to walk around the wall to get through the door. Hey, we freely admit we're pathetic-- we'll count not walking an extra six feet around a dumb wall as an accomplishment. And if we actually manage to convince the County inspectors to delay issuing a condemnation order for the building, well... that's an accomplishment too, right?
Yeah, the poor building's sorely in need of a remodel, which we'd hoped to do this season, but it's looking like we were a bit too ambitious in formulating our plans for the Spring and Summer of 2003. We've been fed a dose of reality, and gotten real humble in the last few weeks. We figure if we can get the pool plumbed, the deck replaced and the patio laid, and get the clapboards repaired/replaced and the house painted this summer, we're happy. The pool liner replacement and the actual construction of a pool house will just have to wait until next season, when we've got a fresh supply of time, energy and money.
Our final project this weekend was to begin re-plumbing the pool:
Yeah, it may look like the mutant junkie groundhogs have been replaced by a bunch of ADD-afflicted astronauts who've just mainlined a carton of PEZ candy, but we swear nobody's custom building the new spacestation HVAC system on our lawn-- we're just beginning to glue the connections and lay the flexible PVC pipe to repair the return lines to the pool.
This weekend, we're hoping to get the pool plumbing completed, and turn our attention back to repairing and replacing siding and trim, while we wait for our newly-discovered bobcat operator to load a pool-deck full of concrete into a dumpster. Yes, we have a "new best friend"-- a bobcat operator that comes cheap and highly recommended by trusted friends. We remain skeptical, but we're planning on shifting our focus to the house and waiting for miracle heavy equipment guy to come excavate the patio and pool deck.
Maybe he comes, does a great job, we cut him a check and we all live happily ever after. Maybe he never shows up, or shows up and does an awful job that we just have to do over...
BOBCAT GUY:
Frog or Prince? Stay tuned to find out...
May 27, 2003: Well, it rained. For forty days and forty nights, it rained. And in fact, it's still raining. Needless to say, our grand plans for our three day holiday weekend were cruelly dashed against the soaking wet concrete of our pool deck because of... rain. Jeez. It's no wonder poor Noah drank...
See, around here we live for long holiday weekends. We plan an entire three day renovation blitz-- we spend days ahead of time gathering materials for whatever project we're going to undertake, amass an impressive supply of take-out menus, and plan on working like maniacs for three straight days, fueled mainly by caffeine and MSG-soaked Chinese take out.
For this Memorial Day weekend, we were going to spend a day jackhammering to bits the rest of the old concrete pool deck, finishing the pool plumbing, and getting the pool filled, chlorinated and operating. Then we were going to devote the rest of the weekend to the siding: beginning to repair and replace rotted trim, damaged clapboards, and maybe even getting some priming done.
Well, it rained. For forty days and forty nights, it rained... oh, wait, we already said that. We guess that means you've already figured out we're soaked and sorely disappointed that we didn't get anywhere near as much done this weekend as we wanted to. We did manage, during the occasional, hour-long breaks in the rain, to get the rest of the pool deck jackhammered, and we did get the pool fully plumbed. We haven't gotten it up and running, because we've only been able to fill it while we've been around to supervise to make sure our plumbing connections were tight and there weren't any leaks. It should be filled and fully operational within the next few days, though, and when it is, we'll post pics.
Anyway, as you can well imagine, the only siding that actually got prepped and painted around here this weekend was the clapboards to be installed on our daughter's dollhouse:
Yes, that dollhouse. Yes, it's the same one we've been working on since the beginning of April. Didja have to rub it in? Ashamed as we are, we have to be mature enough to admit that two intrepid DIYers who, armed with a bunch of books, an account at our local lumberyard, and a friend at the county code inspector's office have tackled just about any project an old house could throw at us, have finally met our match. Ok, well, maybe we just have to be out with it and admit that this dollhouse has thrown us over its knee, spanked us hard, and made us its bitches.
We thought, for a while, that we were making good progress on the thing. We got the interior done and painted, and the staircase, fireplaces and built-in bookcases installed:
We had come to terms emotionally with the fact that the house had individual clapboards that needed to be painted, custom cut, and installed, and had even cultivated a degree of equanimity about the hundreds of individual 1/2" by 1" shingles that had to be stained one by one and glued on to the roof. But when we finished the interior of the house and actually started working on the exterior, we realized that, along with the siding and shingles, the house had no less than five layers of molding and trim around the doors and windows, each to be individually painted in one of three different coordinating shades of trim paint, depending on its placement. At that point, we almost cracked. Almost, we say, because of course, our pride will not allow us to give up on the cursed structure. Admittedly, though, dejection drove the level of discourse in our house this weekend to an all time low:
Me:
Oh my Gaawwwd, we are never going to finish this
$%&*@ thing.
Him: (ever the encouraging optimist) Sure we are... don't
worry, we'll
just keep working on
it bit by bit until it's done.
(A few moments of silence, as we sand and prime miles of dollhouse trim)
Him:
Besides hon, what are we going to do when we actually finish
this
thing? Go out and buy another
excuse to drink?
Me:
Uhh, no, hon, we already DID that a year ago. We're now living
in it...
On the bright side, however, The Powers That Be must have taken pity on our sorry, sodden selves, because you will never guess who called tonight? Yup...BOBCAT GUY!
Wanting to know, bless his heart, soul and all other assorted parts, whether we would find it more convenient for him to begin work Friday evening, or Saturday morning. We about dropped the phone and fainted where we stood. Is this guy for real?
We dunno. Stay tuned for next month's Journal entry to find out...
return to journal index / continue to next month
home / about us / gallery / journal / links / mail