This Weekend's Weatherproofing & Other Things

The weather is much colder this weekend -- in the 50s. Too cold for some of the things on my list, but I still got pretty far:

Project #1: Sealing The Gaps In The Front Door

The front door generally needs to be refinished -- the finish is so old that about a third of the wood is exposed, & it's scarred with all kinds of nicks & scratches. It's too cold to crack open the can of polyurethane, however, so I just spent my time putting some silicone caulk around the panes of glass to stop the drafts. I'm also hoping it will stop the rattling that happens every time a truck goes by, or our neighbor backs into her garage.

Before!

While I was hard at work, Jon came over to visit. He took this action shot from inside the house:

Unbreakable concentration! Precision application!

After!

Project #2: Sealing Up the Haunted Garden Shed Windows

These windows & the framing inside the Haunted Garden Shed will eventually be replaced by some sliding glass doors, so I hadn't originally planned to do any maintenance on them. I had some glazing left over from the front of the house, though, so I figured I might as well use it & keep the wood from deteriorating any faster than it needs to while we save up for the construction project.

Before!

After!

While I was working on this, I noticed that the vinyl siding directly under the windows had warped & opened up toward the sky, getting ready to catch all that nice winter rain. You can just make it out in the pictures above. I fit the pieces back together as well as I could & sealed them up with the left over glazing & silicone caulk from the front door.

While working back there, I noticed that the finish on the wooden posts holding up the back stairs had also worn off. It's the windward side of the house, so it really should get done before too long. Looks like I have some more painting in my future. 

Meanwhile, Zoey once again offered her assistance, this time by squeezing herself into the tiny square of sunlight on the kitchen floor.

Project #3: Repotting Some Jasmine, Planting Some Seeds

A couple months ago, we started talking about getting a climbing plant to put on the front porch to cover the lower portions of the security gate. Something that would buffer some of the the dirt and noise from the street, that would provide a visual screen, that would be quick growing & smell nice, & also, ideally, something that would also attract some of the several species of butterflies we have around here. After a summer visit, where she got an idea of what thrives up here on this hill, Adrienne's aunt Jennifer suggested we try jasmine. As it happens, there is a very large jasmine plant growing out of the floor of the Haunted Garden Shed (you can see it in the photos above), so taking a couple clippings for the front porch was easy peasy.

Roots having been well established, they made their debut in the great outdoors this weekend:

Someday it will be a mighty mighty monster!

Another one in the far corner, plus a new planting of lettuce.

Adrienne also requested that we plant a new kitchen garden. This time I'm trying it out in a 30-inch planter in the front window:

The herb garden in the back yard is actually still there -- it's just all gone to seed. It will be interesting to see how things in that bed develop in the spring.


Project #4: Dog Shelves

The clutter of the dog corner on the kitchen counter had begun to destroy my soul. Made some shelves. Feeling human again.

Yes, that's a can of Easy Cheese. Easy Cheese makes nail clipping possible!

Project #5: Television on Mars Enters the 21st Century!

Now that we have a nice screen for projecting movies & the tv shows we stream on our laptop, Jon thought it was high time for a birthday present for us: two tiny tiny media-streaming boxes -- a Roku & an Apple TV!

Everything is now set up in our living room shelves:

Roku, Apple TV, & Wii are on the left, second shelf from the bottom.

These magical little boxes are about the size of a cocktail napkin.

We spent Saturday afternoon watching episodes of Good Times, & Saturday night with Amanda, watching episodes of NewsRadio. Thank you, Jon!

Still to be done on this monster list: finish painting under Adrienne's office, paint the posts under the stairs, finish Pink Trim Eradication Project, recaulk the shower, put the horrendous mess of tools & brewing supplies away, & sand the trim above the garage door (the damn thing is scuffing the paint at the top of the door). That's not bad -- that puts me about 75% of the way through!

I now need to add one more thing, however: Zoey, always so considerate, must have worried that I might get bored if I reached the end of my list. To help me avoid that peril, last night she decided to shred up her bed, so that I could spend time putting it back together today:

What happened is that we took the fabric cover off to wash it, & left the inner pad out for her to lay on. It's basically just a papery fabric bag full of loose stuffing. We've done this a hundred times before without a problem. Last night, though, she apparently decided to treat it like one of her toys, & pull all the stuffing out.

This is what, 20 gallons worth of stuffing? Nice work, dog.

Time to sit back, put Sanford & Son up on the big screen, & get sewing.