Summertime

It is hard to forget that it is the lazy days of summer despite the work of the bathroom going on.  Cocktail is a good exhibit of chilling in his Gatorade box.
Bounty from the garden, which is progressively falling by the wayside from neglect. Poor garden, please forgive us.

Diesel loves broccoli.

Summer equals baseball. We made it to Cincy for a Red's game. Jenny's roommate works for the Red's so we got the hook up for a Sunday afternoon game against the Dodgers. We had delicious ballpark grub and even got a stuffed monkey.

Week 11

This week brought window prep for the replacement windows this week, which included taking down the trim in the spare bedroom. The bathroom window is also being replaced at the same time. A total of 6 windows are up for a face-lift this round. So officially the next project is underway, despite the bathroom being unfinished. New trim and new paint is on the agenda.
The winning tile from the epic battle of installer vs. floor tile. In the end the tile is split down the center (per the original recommendations of Missy). Most of the seam will be under the seat of the toilet, undetectable to the naked eye. 
The floor tile is down and ready for Midnight Blue grout. 

Week 10

The bathroom renovation is now in the double digits, enough said.

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