Happy Thanksgiving!

While AJ & I spent a wonderful Thanksgiving -- full of great food, delicious homemade wine, and warm thoughts of Jack -- with my family, Susie & Paul were keeping the home fires burning on Mars:

Caramel apple pie, with a gingerbread layer (and a fierce game of Bananagrams)

Homemade apple cider

Feast!

Pickles, meanwhile, celebrated spending a contented week with friends in the way that best expresses her happiness -- snoozing:

Photo courtesy of Amanda, who probably got pushed out of the bed by the dog at least once this week.

We are very, very thankful for the love and support of our friends and families, particularly during this difficult time. Thank you all so much!

Week 37

Last week, instead of working on the house, we flew back to Massachusetts to help celebrate the life of a true giant of a man, Jack O'Brien.

Senior portrait, 1957

There were more than 200 people at his wake (same thing as what's called a "viewing" in other places). He is much loved, and will be missed by many. He was a wonderful partner to my mother, and a wonderful father to me, for the 25 years we had the great fortune to know him.

Here's his obituary, from the Lowell Sun, for those who weren't able to meet him:

John F. "Jack" O'Brien
Obituary

John F. 'Jack' O'Brien
Retired Lowell High School Master
1940 - 2014

CHELMSFORD -- John F. "Jack" O'Brien, 74, a Chelmsford resident and former Lowell resident, died Friday November 21, 2014, following a period of declining health. He was the loving husband of Linda M (Pereira)(Desrosiers) O'Brien of Chelmsford to whom he was married for 17 years.

Born in Lowell on February 12, 1940, he was a son of the late William P. and Beatrice (Ready) O'Brien. Jack was a 1957 graduate of Lowell High School. He attended Salem State College earning a bachelor's degree in Education in 1961. Continuing his education at Salem State, he earned a master's degree in Education in 1967.

He began his career as a teacher at Fitchburg High School from 1961 until 1963. In 1964, he became a teacher at Lowell High School where he would remain and excel for the duration of his career. Jack became a Housemaster at LHS in 1967. In 1992, he was promoted to Master and remained so until his retirement in 1994. Post retirement, he became a staff representative for the United Teachers of Lowell where he currently held a position. Jack was a distinguished educator and his legacy will continue for many years to come.

In his spare time, Jack enjoyed biking, golf, hockey games, and walking his beloved dog, Obie.

In addition to his wife, Jack is survived by his stepdaughter, Christine Desrosiers and her partner, Adrienne Johnstone of San Francisco, CA; as well as brothers and sisters-in-law, Mary and Michael Hubin of Boynton Beach, FL, Roberta and Ronald Martin of Chelmsford, Robert and Marie Pereira of Lowell, Lionel Bolduc of Lakeland, FL; several nieces and nephews, Mary Lou Bolduc and Ron, Linda Krkuc and Michael, Darlene Ballou and David, Robert Bolduc and Joanne, Kurt Knowlton and Cynthia, Dr. Jeffrey Martin and Cindy, Jaclyn Martin, Julie Gray and Jason, Ryan Pereira, Tony Pereira, Brandi Zeitz and Dan. He also will be missed by his beloved canine companion, Obie. He was the brother of the late William F. O'Brien and Maureen C. Bolduc.

Week 36

More progress this week!

Roofer!

It's hard to see in this photo, but there is now a strip of flashing all around the top of the wall, finishing off the last of the roofing work:

Bathroom! Not yet. Mr. Bunkport was going to come by to work on the bathroom, but the baby has a fever, so he stayed home to help out.

Instead, I took another crack at clearing out the yard. This pile of stuff was becoming home to some sort of critter(s) that Pickles is now barking at every night:

After:

Still waiting for Mr. Bunkport to take some stuff out of the garage before we can get everything back to normal in there, so these items remain. The tire will someday be a practice taiko drum for AJ. The wooden box on top of the metal shelf is this large planter (slightly taken apart) that we are going to put at the entrance to the yard, alongside the steps that lead down into the downstairs room. It will be planted with something tall that will act like a screen to give us some privacy when we're sitting on the deck outside that room.

In other news, the random yard-invading lily that the construction guys tried to save for us in Week 7 is actually coming back:

Lastly, preparations for Thanksgiving are beginning. Susie is getting a head start on some delicious cider. Here it is, staying comfortable under a towel:

Next week: Bathroom! Also, the mice found another way into the kitchen, so I'll be working on that, in addition to finishing up the back door.

Week 35

Roofer! Bathroom! No! That all fell through this week, so the project was not able to get much closer to being fully complete. I continued with my tiny-things-I-am-able-to-do list, however.

I put a threshold down between the kitchen & living room floors:

This is the slightly-worse-for-wear brass one that was here when we moved in. I have been meaning to buy a nicer wood one, but hey, at this point, let's just cut to the chase.

We've given up the ghost on Mr. Bunkport's being able to make time to rewire the broken front porch light during this project. When we take the 25 year-old vinyl siding off the front of the house (someday), we can ask him to do it then. We really only need the porch light for food delivery people anyway, so that they know we're actually home -- having no light is not a safety issue because there is a steel gate preventing lurkers, as my mother calls them, from sneaking around the front door. I took a tiny battery-operated LED light that I had lying around & put it up inside the doorframe:

That should illuminate the front door nicely.

Lastly, I moved some more things from the yard into the garage. Pile of crap, before:

From another angle:

After: crap now in the garage, leaving just the pile of ancient foundation stones and other assorted rocks that were dug up when the guys were digging the pit that is now the new room & foundation:

This pile of rocks will be turned into a big succulent planter -- where the stones get stacked in some sort of attractive way & succulents are planted in the gaps -- maybe ringing that bush on the far left. Maybe we'll do that next week. And maybe if we do it right, it won't also turn into mouse condominiums.

Next up: sanding and sealing the back door. Maybe also putting a backsplash on the end of the kitchen counter, if I get around to buying a jig saw this week. And maybe towards the end of the week, Mr. Bunkport will come to work a little magic.

Oh, lastly, we've heard some concerns from a few people that the blog will stop when the project stops. First, there appears to be no danger of the project ever stopping. Second, we keep this blog as a way to share what's happening around the house with far-flung family & friends -- given what a putterer I am, this place will always be a work in progress, so even though posts will become less frequent when the project ends, there's no chance they'll stop forever!

Dia de los muertos!

Today we welcomed the memories of some of those we have loved and lost. We also brought in the memories of some we never knew, but who were killed at the hands of police this past year, including our neighbor Alex Nieto, Bernal Heights born and raised and murdered in a hail of 14 bullets in the park at the top of our hill while having his lunch one March afternoon before he was off to work. You can learn more about his story here: http://justice4alexnieto.org/alex-story/

Kevin, Rebecca, Alex Nieto, Mike Brown, VonDerritt Meyers, Grammy, Grandfather, Vovo, Auntie Beckee, Uncle Joe, Granpa, Joaquina all the people feeling broken and lost...presente!

Week 34

This week, I took a doorknob off one of the doors in the yard & put it on the closet door in the bedroom, which had no doorknob.

Everyone can rest easy now that the closet door has a doorknob.

And I swept the garage. Pickles thought the push broom was an exciting new toy. Then we played soccer in there.

Next week: roofer! bathroom! yes!