Pumpkin Pie

For Halloween we purchased this pumpkin for the table.
My beautiful wife cut it up today and made a few cups of
this orange stuff.
Then she poured it into this homemade crust and stuck it in the oven.

Out came the best pumpkin pie I have ever had. I didn't know pie could taste so good!

Being the seed saver my wife is she set aside all these for the garden next year.

Wow! I am so lucky.

It was a great Thanksgiving!

Paint & Treasures from the Dumpster

This past weekend we painted the back room, installed the light and the face plate covers on the outlets.
Yesterday I drove by a dumpster and spotted two picture frames next to it. One of which we took the cardboard painting out of and replaced it with foamcore, covered by fabric. We cut a hole out for the thermostat and now my wife has a place to stick ideas right above her desk. It is nice to have a frame shop in the studio because of the tools that makes quick work of a project like this. We thought about showing a "how to" demonstration on the blog, but you know how you feel when you watch New Yankee Workshop and Norm has all those cool tools that you don't have. (yeah me too)

Planted

After a few long days all the plants are in and alot of the beds have been filtered. We doubled the size of the garden for next year. I used up all the compost so a new batch is starting for the Spring. We have 4 apple trees now. I was reading the garden should always have apple trees. The second coat of mudd has been put on the walls in the back bedroom. I hope to have the room painted by the end of next week. Still along way to go but I think our house can now safely say it is no longer an eyesore in the neighborhood.

Still digging

I woke up this morning and said the garden looks small. I think I will rent a machine and make some new beds. I found this one below at a contractors rental store. Oh how sweet it is to cut through the rocks, coat hangers, glass and trash in the yard. So now we will get out our screen device I made and filter the new beds. The other cool thing we found today is plants at 75% off. So I bought about 40 potted plants to sink into the ground over the next 4 days. All that good compost is about to come in handy.

Plant some bulbs, get a free pocket knife

The other day I found a store closing out Spring bulbs for 50 cents a pack. I bought $6.50 worth and now we have 250 bulbs. Today I planted 48 Hyacinth's and 60 Crocus here in this space for next years show.
Of course digging in the dirt requires one to first filter the garbage, broken glass, rotted garden gloves and this Old Henry Pocket Knife. I must say it is the first time I have found anything I could use.

Garden Progression November 10th

Another garden progession shot. From then until today.

In the back corner of the yard I have been gathering leaves for the garden. People bag these things up and just throw them away. I steal them from the curb late at night. I hope to get another 50 or so bags. For the garden composting of course if you are wondering why.

Re Motar

Re-motared the foundation today and installed the forms for the steps. Now I just need to cover them with the bricks.

Big Screen

Boo Boo is a big screen nut now. Of course this being Sunday I am sure there are more than a few guys out there who have the same problem.

She cleaned the garden today

While I did the house my wife made the garden nice. Just look at all the food still growing.

Before & After

The outside painted

I finished painting the new siding this evening. It is Nov. 7th and it was 76 degrees outside. All week it has been beautiful which is nice since it took me 8 days to install the door, put on new siding and a new roof. I still have to re-motar the foundation. That will only take a day and then it is back to the inside room.

Working outside

It looks like a mess but, this week we have put on new siding a new roof and I am in the process of getting it ready to be painted, hence the pink primer paint.

Progress 2

Progress

The sliding glass door is in and today I started the tear off on the old siding. Even tar paper looks better than what was there. The door lets even more light into the kitchen.

Things seem to get worse before getting better

Have you ever noticed that sometimes life is like our back bedroom. It becomes this total mess that you don't even want to live with, so in order for it to get better it gets worse first. We could have left the back room like it was and not been so judgemental. I mean after all, just because the floor bounced, there was no insulation, the wiring and plumbing was bad, the framing was laughable and there were a few unwanted guest living within the walls, that is no reason to not appreciate the character of the room that is present, right? Actually it was enough to send our backroom to rehab. It went through some shakes and feverish nights but now our back room is in much better shape.
The first coat of mud

Drywall

The last sheet of drywall went up today.
Now it is time for mud. We are going back and forth on the fancy light, should we keep it or not?

Insulated & Wired

So the pink foam stuff was moved today and placed over the old window. So in a little while there wil be a 6' patio door to look out at the garden.
That is what you see framed here.
Here was the old door spot. Insulated all up now.

I still have to cut a dryer vent and install the washer box.

New roof and walls

Today we have finished new walls and a new roof for the back bedroom. The framing that was there wasn't up to code. So I rebuilt the skelton of the room from the inside. I roughed in a new patio door so we can sit and look at the garden. The old doorway will be sealed up later this evening. Then it is time to insulate. Once this room is done it is only minor things that need to be done on the house. We look foward to seeing what is next in this life.

From bad to worse to getting better

This is the back room as it was and is this morning. Click on it to see it larger.

So it has been a while

So remember way back in April when we started the back bedroom? Well this week I started at it again.The floor was insulated and the decking was laid down. The above picture shows the old window removed and the new wet wall installed for a washer & dryer.
Friday I was going to just put the plumbing in for the washer and decided to put new copper on everything going back to the main shut off. The bathroom and kitchen was complete already so it wasn't so bad. Except for when I broke the main shut off and water shot into the basement. I was prepared however with a main water shut off key for the access panel out on the street. The only problem was, my key didn't fit the city meter. So I ran into the house with water still gushing into our basement, I ripped open the filing cabinet to find the water company phone number. They answered the phone right away and tranfered me to a field person. After a short wait on the phone I explained that I was making an indoor pool. They would send someone right out, they said. So I waited for them. Have you ever waited patiently by the curb while your house is being flooded? They arrived and afterwards I went to the hardware store and bought the right key to shut off the city water out at the street. Now you know the real reason I replaced all the plumbing in the house.
The garden is getting tired. We have winter lettuce, spinach and such, but the peppers and tomatoes have slowed way down. I will miss the them.

Red and yellow

A few shots around the house today.

House painting progress

There is still much to do on the house but this is where it looks today and what it looked like a year ago.