Drop it like it's hawwwwt!

To facilitate the running of HVAC throughout the house we have begun the arduous process of lowering the ceilings. Don't worry, they're still over nine feet tall. Rachel marveled at just how much of this framing work I had done when she got to the house in the afternoon. Of course productivity ground to a halt as soon as she got there since I had to set up her deck chair and oil her up for an afternoon of sunbathing and nail filing.

Still life of disturbing junk Part Deux

In this, the second of our installments, we have what Rachel considers to be hard evidence of the cartel activity that occurred in our unassuming house. Or evidence of someone scouting Clemson football tickets out of a dilapidated house forty minutes from the stadium. Again. Note the supersecret code that someone has written on the back of the bill wrapper and the number (respectfully obscured) for "Moma." It's nice to see that even drug dealers enjoy going to art museums....Well, apparently the "Moma" picture is refusing to load. So much for drug dealers and their art museums.

Out with the old, in with the new

In our triumphant return to working on the house, it was time to remove the busted old nasty yellowed lucite-handled shower and install....A NEW CAR!!!! Ooops, no. A new shower, ahem, "bath enclosure." The Sterling Accord is not a dependable car but sure is a faintcy shower. The look of tiles is impressed into plastic so you get all the satisfaction of cleaning tile...at a helluva less expensive price. Take a look at me busting up the old shower:
As you can tell, I'm working hard. Rachel was on the front porch having a mint julep. And complaining about the noise. The new tub went in with some pushing and shoving:

Rachel peeled herself off her lounge chair and did some more work in the bedroom -- more painting of trim and more discovery of disturbing objects. The first in a periodic feature known as "Still life of disturbing junk":
Both uncovered in the closet, not included are the punctured card of an Afro'd child from that game Guess Who



and a filthy red Barbie platform shoe. Heartwarming, no? More pictures of the erecting of the shower walls next time. Or maybe some video of CPVC cement drying, oooohhhh....

Lawn Boy

Since the yard of the house had become machete-worthy, Rachel and I decided that it was time to buy a lawn mower. While it was tempting to buy a mower that was tricked out like an 18-wheeler, we went with the more reasonable red Craftsman. While we have no pics of me deforesting the lawn, conjure up a mental image of Pigpen (or click here if you have no such powers) and you will have a good idea of what it looks like to mow a yard in which there is some grass and a lot of dirt.

Rachel cleaned up our nice big front porch and -- in a move that our postman will no doubt appreciate -- removed the creepy broken glass from beneath the mailbox. She also started raking up the disturbing mix of debris under the oak tree in the backyard. Among the fine finds there were:
doll parts
spark plugs
electric wire
a plastic hammer
So basically, it kind of looked like a Hole record had thrown up on our property. Next on the agenda is installing our new shower!

Workin hard

With the house nearing completion, we decided to take a few moments to go to California, ride up US 1 on the Pacific Coast and dine at Beach Chalet. We'll get back to the final cosmetic tweaking of the house shortly.

Desk chair

They said it could never be done... who are "they" anyway?

This looks like every other picture that has been posted of the windows in the bedroom. But looks are deceiving, fool! These windows are stripped and sanded. They are done (if by done you mean, ready for wood filler and sanding and more wood filler and primer and topcoat). Woot! Rachel is ready to stand on an aircraft carrier and fly a banner that says "Mission Accomplished." She was so thrilled with the windows that as a "break" she began to strip the wallpaper in the hall. I think the organic stripper has altered her mentally.