Here it is Wednesday already and I have only shared one post
from our stay-at-home-and-work-on-on-the-house vacation. I can explain. It is
called “EXHAUSTION”. I found muscles I forgot I had, and some I never knew
existed.
The goal for Monday morning was to remove the old roof and
lay the insulation. The roofers were to be here Tuesday so we had no time to
waste. I had already alerted Jim that I would do my best on the roof but even the 12 foot roof above the deck gave me the willies. Jim, oh my courageous Jim,
diligently climbed the ladder to the roof. I heard him shuffle across to the other
side, and then …nothing. After seeing him remove the chimney the day before I
was only concerned with my own fear of heights. The loose stone from the
chimney mortar caused him to pause a moment, then, with a wavering voice, he called me to the bottom of the ladder and said “I don’t think I can do this”. To
which I replied, “Thank goodness you have come to your senses. Now get down
here, there is no shortage of work to be done.”
I heard Jim’s phone ring while he was up very high on a
ladder. First delivery of the day was just around the corner. A box truck
carrying our four new doors pulled up and quickly place the doors neatly
against the wall. One down, one to go.
It is good to have
someone tall in the family when trying to paint the exterior of the house. If
you didn’t notice in the photos from Part 1, the very peak of the house was not
painted. We had to wait till Ethan was available to reach the spots us people
of average height cannot. Luckily he showed up Monday morning. Ethan and Jim
wasted no time slapping a coat of primer on nearly the whole house. Oh darn. Both
ladders were occupied and there was none for little ole me. I figured I would
just have to find something to do where I could keep both feet on the ground. 
Donning a face mask, gloves, and steel toed shoes I set to work clearing out
drywall and debris we had demoed on the second floor.
As I was tossing debris out the window from the top floor I
witnessed a very large truck trying to make a very sharp turn at the end of the
street. Second delivery had found its way. This time Ethan had to come down
from the porch roof to move his car. The truck went from corner to corner of
our driveway. The driver was very intrigued and impressed with our little
cottage. After placing the insulation in the garage he wished us well and went
on to his next delivery.
Tuesday was more of the same. Scraping. Priming. Painting.
Tossing. Cleaning. Jim did get kudos from the Duke Electric Project Manager. He
came to give Jim a preliminary inspection of the new electric service Jim
installed. He said it was better than a lot of contractors and we would have no
problem passing the city inspection scheduled for later in the week.
The roofing company called to let us know they would be out
in a day or two to get a signature on the new Statement of Work so that they
could remove the old roof before installing the new one. $2,800 is a lot, but
definitely worth it to avoid any injuries or visits to the ER.
We had intended to participate in a fund raiser for Queen
City Bike that was taking place at Rhinegeist Brewery on Tuesday night and felt
we should not disappoint those counting on our contribution. So, after cleaning
up we drove downtown once again for a little well-deserved refreshment.
We had a lot of discussion about what type of ceiling we
want in the bedrooms, now that the insulation will be on the inside of the
house, as opposed to the exterior of the roof. I think we settled on planking
or bead board to stick with cottage theme.
I felt I should avoid any libations the third night in a
row. We decided a good German meal at Ron’s Roost was in order.
We made it past the middle of the week. Here’s hoping we can
endure another several days of physical exertion. With all the back-and-forth getting rid of debris and up-and-down on ladders we both achieved nearly 15,000 steps, according to Garmin.
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