First off, let me apologize to anyone who's emailed me and I haven't been the swiftest in replying, if I even replied at all. I assure you that I do read my emails daily, but it's usually a quick check from my Blackberry in between picking someone up from work or school and peeling potatoes for supper. So let this be an update from me on all things house-related, and hopefully I can sit down to email or chat with friends and family individually, at least sometime before Christmas!
We have been very busy. Actually, Rod's the one who's been busiest, I'm just doing my best to lend a hand here and there as needed, and try and keep everything else besides the renos up and running.
A few weeks ago, Rod had a few of his friends over to tear the front porch off the house, and this is the aftermath:
See the original stone foundation? There were a few holes that some critters had obviously dug in an effort to get in.Luckily we can burn things here in Beamsville, it'll save on costs associated with taking it to the dump.
Our wonderful doors, awaiting a final coat of paint.
We found these layers from shoe soles underneath where the porch was. I think they're from more than one shoe, as the toe on the middle one is quite pointy. They were all narrow and on the small side though, which leads me to think they're from women's shoes. Also, as you can see on the one on the left, they're quite old, as you can see nail-holes in the heel. I said to Rod that I thought I remembered reading something about a superstition about burying shoes somewhere in your house. Sure enough, after looking it up on the Internet, I learned that people would sometimes bury a shoe underneath the doorstep to keep away evil. I'm not sure if that was the intent here, but we've decided to leave them where they are when we put the new porch on, and perhaps add one of our own to them.
I took this one today, after Rod, Wyatt and I installed the first upstairs window. It's really starting to come together now. Rod and his friend Don removed the pebble-dash a few days ago, and Rod wrapped the house. He ran out of wrap right at the top, and unfortunately we were caught without it when Hurricane Sandy came calling last week! Actually, they're calling it Superstorm Sandy now, as it was no longer a hurricane by the time it hit us. Regardless, it was one very strong storm. The winds were blowing off the lake, and Rod was running around the house blowing in foam insulation to fill the cracks and crevices. We currently have no insulation in the front walls of the house, so it's pretty chilly and drafty. With some afghans and a space heater it's manageable, but with 100km/h winds blowing rain straight on the house, it's a different story. There was even water spurting in through the keyhole in the front door, which I then stuffed with a tissue. The windows seemed to almost bulge in, and every once in awhile something would hit them from outside. We were joking around, saying "Oh, I think that was a bird." and "That sounded like a fish." Surprisingly, the power didn't go out, which is a blessing since we rely on it to pump water from the lake. The wind also blew the concrete pineapple off its pedestal in the garden; Rod purposely tipped over the pedestal after that so it wouldn't come crashing down too.
