Week 9

The floor is laid, about 90% at least, which is a step in the right direction.  The remaining 5% is the tricky cut around the sanitary hole and water supply, which are on the same tile. After one attempt of cutting the holes, the tile won by splitting entirely down the center, but in a bad way.

Joe 0 Tile 1

 We thought it might be best to leave it to the professionals to attempt the cut.  Joe brought the dimensions to our tile vendor and had them attempt the cut with the big fancy tile tools.  

Tile Professionals 0 Tile 2

So Plan B was put in effect with a straight slice down the center with the giant hole in the center, this worked better. All of the seams will be under the toilet, so it should be fine. The final pieces were put in place a week later and now the floor is ready for grout.

The walls are now entirely prepped for tile for the next weekend. Also on tap for next week is the installation of the replacement windows for the bathroom and the spare bedroom.  Another side project will come with rehanging all new window trim and paint. The list never gets any shorter.

Bounty despite the Perp

The bounty from the garden this week has been pretty good. We have our first cucumber, although a little friend accidentally came along for the ride. The carrots are getting pretty big and we randomly thin out the crop, they are delicious no matter what the size is. The tomatoes are turning a little more everyday. The miracle broccoli should be ready this week as well. Squashes are getting bigger, possible variety is spaghetti squash.

The heart of the matter is that we are still fighting off the perpetrator everyday from eating the beefsteak tomatoes. They have no interest in any of the other vegetables or even the Roma tomatoes. We purchased some animal repellent, but it doesn't seem to be working that well to date. There have been a few more possibilities of intruders lurking around the neighborhood, both sighted this week.

Albino Squirrel- seen from Roosevelt to Target, a wide range of terror

Alligator- True Story, a 3' gator was found in a garage a few streets over

Week 8

Progress is still slow on the bathroom but still moving forward. All of the walls are now fully enclosed and ready for the vicious cycle of mudding and sanding. Finishing the drywall will be no small feat, the walls are still less than square still with new drywall up. The corners will prove the hardest part of getting things to look finished. The plan is to paint the ceiling and the walls the same color, hopefully to distract the eye that the corners are whack. Each night this week has been sanding and putting another skim coat on the walls. This weekend is tile time.

Diesel is still less than enthused with any remodeling efforts done in the house. This is his overall mood most of the time while the house is destroyed, sad and pathetic. He does enjoy the box that the light fixture came in and frequently hangs out hoping for little interruption from his brothers.

Possible Intruder Line Up

Wombat Baby
Ranger Rick

Easter Bunny

Opossum Family

Mole

Meatball, the neighbor's cat

Giant Catipiller

Dingo

Bugs Bunny

Blue Jay

Army Squirrel

Small Garden Miracles and Intruders

A garden miracle has arrived in the form of broccoli. Two tiny heads have started to grow after all hope was lost that they were planted to late in the season. It is such a shame to see giant broccoli plants but no broccoli veggies anywhere to be seen, until this weekend.

The tomatoes are still hanging onto their green color and are slowly turning. Intruders of unknown source have taken claim to some of the first red tomatoes and some Roma's on the vine. There are plenty of tomatoes to go around so it is not that devastating, yet.

Banana pepper are still to date the most prolific crop at the Berardi Farm. Lots of peppers and no appeal to any intruders.Delicious edamames, we heart you. The first plants were tiny and produced barely enough for dinner. Luckily there are bigger and taller soy bean plants growing to fuel our consumption. Soy beans are really fuzzy, really really fuzzy. Said Intruder, may or may not be the same tomato loving enemy, decided to take out the two big soy bean plants right at the stalk. Left the entire plant behind along with our precious edamames. It happened sometime on Sunday after 10am and before 6pm. In broad daylight said intruder is violating the garden. An action plan is being formed to ward off against the violator.

Some of the squash, of unidentified species, is starting to grow. We need to do some selective trimming of the squash plants before they take over the entire garden. Hopefully intruder doesn't like these either. This little guy is suspending in the air, so any woodland creature should be off limits.

Week 7

The framing the nub of the existing sanitary vent stack was a big accomplishment for Saturday. Making a secondary support system to attach the build out was equally as tricky because the former chimney left a big giant abyss of nothingness in its place. Of course the top flange of the stack is bigger than the lower flange, making the bump a little bigger than anticipated. Hopefully, the toilet will still fit, stay tuned.
The remainder of the bathroom has been enclosed with drywall, minus the door wall. This should make the neighbors happy that there is only 1.5 sheets of drywall on the front porch instead of 8. I believe that the sheet that was cut to look like a giant middle finger has been reallocated to the bathroom filler pieces. I am sure that the mailman appreciates that the most.

After another pass of all of the screw heads, the bathroom should be ready for some mud this week. There were several places where the screws absolutely wanted nothing to do with actually be driven into the drywall, instead just stop all together and stick out. There are no less than two dozen screw heads that are not countersunk into the wall for no apparent reason.

The last two sheets of cement board also need to be installed on the long shower wall. Cement backer board is about the worst material to work with on the planet and nearly impossible to cut without using 5 fresh razor blades. Luckily we have some extra from the medicine cabinet.

Week 6

Flooring is on the radar. The original marble hex tile has made its way out of the bathroom to make way for a level floor for the new tile. Tune Sea navy fingerprint tile has finally arrived fresh off the boat from Italy and now resides in the living room until the final resting place in the bathroom. The bathroom pile is growing larger by the week as it slowly makes its way upstairs to the bathroom. The cats love nothing more than playing on the material pile, especially the sink box, one of their favorite to play king of the mountain on.

The built-in shower holder has taken shape, hopefully aligned with the master tile plan. Stay tuned for the developing story when the tile goes up. There were extensive tile layout mock-ups to help decide the placement of the built-in, hopefully all will go accordingly to plan.

Some of the walls are finally being closed up. Slow progress, because everything depends on another piece which isn't quite done yet. In total, approx. 1 wall is done and three to go. The long wall with the vanity is waiting for the light fixture to come to rough in the junction box. Estimated delivery is Tuesday of this week. The sanitary stack also needs to be framed up and giant hole in the ceiling needs some blocking so the ceiling has something to fasten to.

The squash is hanging in there, literally, as it takes over most of the garden. Hopefully, it is not going to cross pollinate with the tomato's or peppers near by. We still have peppers a plenty and more keep coming, it has been the most prolific crop to date.

The soy beans are getting ready to be picked, they are really really fuzzy.

These beans were picked fresh for dinner and they were delicious. We have some other bean plants that have tiny little beans started, so this plant is about done and we can move onto the next.

Weekly garden post. No weeding done this weekend, a must this week to keep everything in check. The rain barrel is ready to water the garden this week and keep things moving along. Some of the tomato's are turning orange so those aren't far behind.