Just wait...

Silly me.  I didn't take a photo before we started work today and only now realized I didn't have a "before" picture.  So.... the top photo is from Sept. 2 when Bruce & John put in the new window upstairs.  However, putting in the window was all they did inside the room.  Today we spent time and energy getting that room back together again.  Lost count of the number of times we went up and down the stairs and out to the garage.  When we'd made 4 trips for the top trim over the window we decided it was time to call it a day.  I know that wall looks a bit cobbed together at the moment but just wait.  The next time I post a picture of this room it's going to have a whole new look.

Coming home to roost...

How on earth could I forget yesterday to take a photo of "Debby's chickens"?  They look perfect perched on the porch posts.  In case you're wondering, they won't fall off.  There's a double ended screw securing them to the posts.

P2 - Finishing the last, we hope, of the trim on the door wall.

P3 - My artistic shot of the day.  I call it "John's World"...  (Actually, he's putting in the last piece of base molding we had to replace.)

P4 - Upper left corner - Yesterday there was a hole; today it's a carpenter's answer to a patchwork quilt.  Now for a little paint, a little caulk, or is it the other way around?

P5 - Out with the chairs; up with the clothes hooks.  John's "wardrobe" takes a step up.  Personally, I'm waiting on a closet...

A rainy day...

Nothing new that's exciting to report unless you agree with Bertha that getting your basket back by the window is exciting.  Gus is still trying to figure out where his seat of choice is.

The rest of the day is a blur not unlike these photos.  Hung the mirror in the bedroom; installed the door closures on the storm door, top and bottom; primed and painted odd bits of trim for here and there; decided to put the pencil sharpener under the desk. (Bertha thought this was great fun but my bet is it will probably not make it to your top 10 fun things of the day.)  What's John doing on the ladder?  That's anyone's guess.  He did mention something about wondering where his gloves were...

We're back!

Our "show me" friends, Jeannette & Don, decided that watching our progress on this blog just wasn't good enough for someone from Missouri.  Their visit was a perfect opportunity to enjoy some great fall weather with friends while we wait on our siding nailer to arrive.  (Sorry I forgot to get their photo...)

P1 - The trim is now around the upper window and work continues on the corner to the left of the ladder.
P2 - A few more clapboards up, enough to allow the wiring of the outdoor outlet.  VERY important since the electrical inspector was coming.  We passed.
P3 & P4 - Thanks to Debby & Susan the furniture got rearranged this afternoon.  Seems to be much more sociable.  The 3 of us didn't have a problem conversing, i.e. no shouting across the room.  Of course John has yet to test the new arrangement out during nap time...
P5 - Can you see them in the photo?  The geese are V-ing up and going on practice flights.  At least we gather this is a practice flight.  They were heading due west...

And then there was the treat of rain...

The trim on the porch front is now complete plus, wonder of wonders, we even put up the clapboards and did the caulking.  On a roll, the porch ceiling was a piece of cake.

P2 - can you see what's different?  The first clapboard went up.

So that's it folks.  Between the weather and guests and other obligations there won't be another post until next Thursday.  Expect us to return refreshed and ready to wrap this project up before the snow flies.

Back to trim...

If you think this task of trimming will never go away,  trust me, you're not alone.  However, the trim on what I'm now calling the "odd end" is now all in place (we hope).  And the porch has been started.  Company brought today's project to a halt just in the nick of time.  John's knees from going up and down the ladder were just about to rebel.

Thank heavens for cats!

Whenever I forget to tell you we'll be up to other things, I can always fall back on a photo of the cats.  Gus is beat.  Early this morning he caught a mole and left it at the door for us.  (So far we've seen his "gifts" but it's probably only a matter of time before our feet...)  A bit later we looked out the window in the right of the photo to see a deer standing there snorting and stamping her foot.  Sure enough.  There was Gus on the porch having a stare down with her.  This afternoon he had to chase away a stray cat.  No wonder he's asleep while Bertha is on guard duty.

A little rain, a lot of rain...

Rain sent John into the basement to finish the plumbing on the heating system.  It's now all hooked up and tested for water tightness.

Rain saw the TV installed on the "short" wall and our first piece of art hung.  It's by Leigh Yardley; one of her early pieces.

Rain saw the cats racing back and forth throughout the house, then going out, only to want to come in again minutes later.  Didn't we know it's wet out there?!  They've had a hard day.

What's new pussycat?

Gus knows but he's not telling.  He's a very thoughtful cat though.  Today while I was having lunch on the patio he brought me a chipmunk (live of course).  Dropped it in my lap.  The chipmunk proceeded to run up one arm, across my shoulders, then take a flying leap into the asters before disappearing into the lilac bushes.  I remained seated.  Just call me cool, calm and collected.

Someone asked yesterday what the siding will be.  We'll be using cedar clapboards that will hopefully blend with the rest of the house.  The good news is that they were primed at the factory rather than by yours truly.  Yes!

Today we finished the trim on the window sides of the new room... the trim right up there under the roof.  Don't ask how many times we went up and down the ladders...

How many ways?

Perhaps I should make this into a puzzle.  Rather than telling you what we did, let you compare to "pictures of the past" and find the changes.  There are only so many ways/angles I can take photos from and it must be getting a bit boring for you.

But I'll be nice.  Look low and you'll see we got the rest of the base trim in place.  Look high through the branches and you might be able to see we got upper trim over the large sunroom windows.  And the unseen work continues.  Connecting pipes for the heating system.  Painting ceiling bead (also called wainscoting if installed on the walls) in preparation for putting up the ceiling of the porch overhang.

Planning ahead...

3 more windows trimmed out this morning before we were out and about doing other things.  Looking at this photo I just realized the more trim we put up the less space we have to cover in siding.  Oh, the possibilities!

New meets old...

On a roll this morning - trim around the big window; the "last" corner trimmed; the sheathing up on the ceiling of the back porch overhang; figuring out and trimming the back side so it marries nicely with the old house.  All this after John finished hooking up the supply side of the floor heat in the new room.  Wonder of wonders, we even had time for a coffee break.

This afternoon we decided to tackle the corner on the front (the one behind the yellow ladder in P1 on the left).  It turned out to be a problem child.  Nothing was straight, level, matched.  I cut back the clematis (they've never really been satisfactory anyway) and took down the trellis on that white wall behind the yellow ladder.  John took down the gutter and pulled off the old trim.  By trimming and fudging and holding our mouths just right, we finally got the old trim back and a piece of new trim in place on the "green" wall by quitting time.  We still have a bit more to do on the lower corner but that will wait for another day.

A friend from NYC commented yesterday they still have 12.5 hours of daylight.  Would we like some?  Are you kidding?!  In our youth perhaps but we were more than ready to quit for today!

The race is on...

Finally - photos of the outside.
Bottom flashing is complete (can't believe we actually completed something).
Some of the corner trim is up.
Two of the windows are trimmed.
The door is trimmed.
The siding was delivered.
Cool weather is on its way and the days are shorter.  (It may be John will have to shorten his nap time too...)
John got the return side of floor heat hooked up this morning.
The race is on to see if we get done before the snow flies again.  Do you remember?  It snowed just after we started this project oh these many months ago.

And then it was night...

P1 - Even though I didn't want to paint the door again, the white just didn't look right.  So while John was opening wide for the dentist I turned the door the same color as the woodwork.

P"not there" - We started work on the outside trim but I had a meeting and forgot to take a photo.  Then it was dark.  You'll just have to remain in suspense.

P3 - Cats in overflow mode...

Rearranging...

With errands to do followed by rain, we "played" with moving furniture around.  P1 - the bed in a new spot.  Somehow I think John's idea of a closet (3 chairs in a row) might have to be reconsidered once the siding is on.  For now it will have to do.  P2 - We're still moving things around in the new room.  If you thought one of the legs on the "coffee table" looked a big wonky, it is.  It turns out NOT to be one of my better purchases.

We'll be otherwise occupied for a couple of days so don't look for another post until late on Wednesday.  Have a good few days!

Now what's John up to?

I thought one room was relatively safe from construction but it was not to be.  Because we took out the cast iron radiator and replaced it with a thin line wall version (soooooo much easier to clean!) the plumbing to it also has to be replaced.  With fall on the way, that little project has finally come to the fore.   Because the wall with the radiator sits on a 2 foot stone foundation, the tubing to the radiator has to come up in the room about a foot from the wall.  The only way to do that "discretely" is to bring it up under the platform the wood stove sits on, a challenge in itself.  Luckily John likes these types of construction dilemmas.

P2 - Tired of looking through the plastic coating on the windows, we peeled it off today.  A room with a view!  Finally!

P3 - Our siding has been back ordered but there are still things to be done. Today we started putting the flashing along the bottom of the walls.

Multiple choice...

P1 - Suspect you don't see much of a change from yesterday but it does have the second coat of blue paint.

P2 - What is John up to now?
a)  Looking for the jumper cables he knows he put somewhere.
b)  Playing hide and seek with the cats.
c)  Doing yoga stretches in the privacy of his own closet.
d)  Trying to find the easiest route for the tubing to connect the radiator.
e)  All of the above.
f)  None of the above.

And then there was blue...

Nail holes filled - check.
The "odd" crack caulked - check.
Everything hand sanded - check.
Everything dusted - check.
Blue paint on all primed surfaces - check.
Second coat of blue on blue surfaces - check.

Need I say more?

Meanwhile Gus, with those saucer eyes captured on camera, practices for Halloween.

White...

And then there was primer...
(And a little BBQ & wine because it was Labor Day after all.)

A room with a view...

P1 - At last!  Photos of something different. (Weren't you all getting a little tired of looking at the same old, same old?)  P1 is of the upstairs bedrooms betterly (Google tells me that's not a word.  What do they know?) known as the Adirondack room.  The view from that room had to get a bit smaller because of the new room downstairs.  Up until today, that room has had to make do with a construction tarp (not too inviting for guests).  Oh, yes.  That's Bruce on the inside.
P2 - John on the outside.
P3 - Bertha inspecting during coffee break.
P4 - Bruce securing the new window from the inside.
P5 - John doing the same from the outside.
P6 - Recognize that?  Just thought I'd toss in a photo to show folks other than us have projects.  Bruce has been replacing the mantels over the windows in their beautiful old barn & is doing a great job.  And, in case you're thinking that's a bluebird house, it's not.  That's a kestrel house where a pair of kestrels raised their family this year.

Awaiting paint...

Finally (I thought this day would never come) the trim in the new room is all in place (every last pesky little piece I hope!).  We were almost ready to send out the word that we needed a wood stretcher for the baseboard when John located a scrap that was just long enough (we only needed a foot).

On the hole in the yard front, John brought in 16 buckets of dirt from our spare dirt pile (doesn't everyone have one of those?) and raked it over after I took this photo.

And, yes, it was another beautiful day in upstate NY.  As a friend likes to say, "We are soooooooo lucky!"