Big Mess

On Saturday night, there was heavy rain. I heard a crack and then a boom and thought this cannot be good.

Jeff went out to investigate and there were 2 large trees down near the pond.

The storm must have raged long after I fell asleep. All I know is that when we got up in the morning, Coop was no where to be found. We heard a thump, thump, thump and realized Coop was stuck under the bed. I don't know how Coop manages to squeeze himself into such a tight spot.

Clean up of the debris has started, but the trees are so large, it will take several days to complete. I guess I know what I will be doing next weekend.

Knobs

After 3 years of looking at the bright gold knobs in our black and silver kitchen, we had enough.

Thank goodness for Home Depot contractor packs. Of course, the pack contains 10 knobs and we needed 51. We chose a brushed nickle knob that Home Depot also sold as singles.

I look the new knobs. However, we now think the cabinets look old. Needless to say, it will be a long while before we tackle a kitchen renovation!

Flashback

My Mother has a portrait of our family that was taken somewhere in 1970's. My Brother, Father and myself are proudly wearing our leisure suits and floral polyester shirts smiling for the camera. Just put that image in the back of your mind while I explain our latest adventure.

During the last yearly maintenance of our heating system, our maintenance technician mentioned we might think about replacing our oil tank that was in the basement. It looked like the tank had some oil on the outside of it, but wasn't dripping on the floor so I figured we had some time. So I talked to a couple people and got an estimate for what it would cost to replace.

The only difficult part to this whole project would be that the oil tank was hidden behind a wall with absolutely no access. When a previous owner decided to finish the basement, they just sheetrocked the whole thing in. I knew there was going to be a little demolition involved, so I got started on it this weekend.

As I pried the paneling off, I discovered the wall had been papered at one time. Look at this beauty! Instantly, that picture of my family in our leisure suits popped into my head. The '70s sure were a strange time...

Butterfly Bush

I think that we may have one of the tallest butterfly bushes in Wilton!

Jeff trimmed the bush to about 2 ft in the spring. Since then, it has grown straight up. My best estimate is that it is 8+ ft tall.

The Great Lowes Heist of 2009

Every now and then, you find a deal so good that you just can't pass it up. The Great Sears Heist of 2007 was one of those great deals.

On Saturday we made a trip to our local Lowes to pickup some supplies so I could finish my projects on Sunday. As we were walking past the tool aisle with a full cart, I spied a big box with a clearance price sticker on it. It was a Kobalt Pneumatic tool set with an Impact Wrench, Air Hammer, and a Ratchet. In addition, it had all the accessories to go along with those tools. The regular price on this set was $99.94.

Now, I don't really need an Impact Wrench. Or even an Air Hammer. In fact, I'm not sure I'll ever use either one. But for $20, I just couldn't pass it up. Now I'm looking for reasons to use one of them! I'm definitely using that tire gauge, though.

Our house

Scenes from our yard

Rhodies

The rhododendrons are back in bloom.

I think the long snowy winter reduced the number of flowers. Also, this was the first year that the deer at the rhodies, so perhaps some blooms were lost to that.

Purple Martin House

Last Christmas we received a Purple Martin House as a gift. Last weekend I finally got caught up with all the other projects on my list and decided to put the bird house up.

Purple Martin Houses are essentially bird penthouses atop a 20 foot pole. When planting a 20 foot pole, you have to dig an 18 inch deep hole 12 inches in diameter. If you live in Connecticut, you know that means about 150 rocks and two shovels worth of dirt. Once the hole is dug, you get to fill it with two sacks of quick-set cement and put your pole in making sure it is plumb in all directions. After 30 minutes, the cement is set so you don't have to hold it any longer.

Hopefully we will get some purple martins in our new house.

Iris Ensata

When we were at Lowes, I spotted pots full of extremely tall (3-4 ft) iris. These were not the typical bearded iris that are often grown in gardens. We do not have iris, but I know that they are deer resistant.

I wandered over and saw that the plants were called Iris Ensata. The label stated that they liked moist soil. Since the area near the pond is always wet, we decided to purchase 3 pots, 2 with white flowers (Queen's Tiara) and 1 with purple flowers (Gusto).

Before planting them, I did some research. It turns out the Iris Ensata are Japanese Iris. These bulbs love to have wet feet. This is a good thing, since when we dug the holes, the soil was muddy.

I am hoping that these iris will find a happy home and multiply over time.

More Lilies

I planted all of the bulbs at the same time, but the yellow lilies flowered much earlier than the pink ones.

How many tools does it take to put up a Toilet Paper Holder?

About this many plus a vice.

Rotted

When I got home from work, I noticed that there was a tree down in the back yard. Looking at the stump, I can see that the tree had rotted.

Luckily, the tree is mainly in the woods, so cleanup is not a priority.

Jeff received a new chainsaw for Xmas, so it will be a good chance to try it out.

Window Treatments

The blind and valance have been installed in the upstairs bathroom.

The granite installer came to the house and created a template for the vanity counter top. The granite should be cut and installed in 1-2 weeks.

Hummer's Here

I spotted the first hummingbird at our feeder. Another unofficial sign that summer is here.

Photo from Birds & Blooms Magazine

Red

When the Country Curtains catalog arrived in the mail, I knew it was the perfect time to pick the bathroom blind and valance.

We packed up two 12x12 travertine tiles, glass tile and paint samples and drove to Westport. There were 6 curtains that I thought might be a good match.

The sales people at Country Curtains were great. They did not blink an eye as we walked in with all our samples and laid them out on a bed. Several customers stopped and commented that bringing samples was the only way to make the right choice.

Some of the curtains were on display, but several were not. The sales woman brought out the missing curtains and that is when I realized that our glass tile is (surprise) NOT red. Upon close inspection, the glass contains shades of burgundy from almost red to almost purple.

We looked at fire engine red, cherry red and berkshire plaid plus several other colors before selecting one that seemed to be the best option. Of course, the colors in the valance did not match the blind that I originally selected, so we had to find another one.

I hope that when the shade and valance are hung they will help unify the bath.

Window Trim

The molding around the window has been installed.

We are hoping that the sheetrock will be completed this week, so we can paint.

Scope Creep

As a Project Manager, one of the most important things to avoid is scope creep. This is when you state that a project will contain item A and then it grows to include items B and C. It seems this phenomenon is NOT limited to software projects....

This weekend Jeff cleaned off the mildew that was under the front overhang. This took several hours and the house now looks great.

When Jeff came back in, he said, "We need to replace the front lights".

It seems that after several hours of close contact with the tarnished and paint spotted lights (bottom picture), he could no longer bear it.

Off we went to Lowes. The new lights are installed (top pictures) and looked fantastic.

Shower Complete

The tile in the shower and on the floor has been completed.

The grout can be installed on both of these tomorrow.

It has taken a long time for the tile to be installed, but I am pleased with the result. I wanted the shower wall to be a focal point and I think it is.

Hudson

These are the Bertch Hudson cabinets which we ordered for the bathroom.

Our cabinet is in a different wood and color. We chose cherry wood with Autumn stain.

Illume

These are the Jado Illume faucets and shower fixtures for the bathroom.

They are in polished nickel.