Well friends, so much for good intentions: I will blog every day, every week … well, at least once a month … to keep people up to date on progress and to chronicle our efforts to repair and restore our new home. Going forward, I’ll stick with posting as frequently as possible and trusting that is enough. 🙂
Today marks the end of the second week of non-stop renovations at the house. We discovered termite damage and dry rot in the space from which the bees were removed. Basically, the corner of our house was floating. Fortunately, my grandfather’s quality construction has enabled the house to stay steady despite its wound.
There were also drywall repairs to be made due to roof damage prior to our arrival and some floor sagging. And, since our carpenter friends were in the house, we decided to take the opportunity to build some shelves and a shirt closet for Jim — really, who can live with a 3′ x 2′ closet between two people, even if it is cedar?
As some of you saw from my FB post, construction also included a new fence for the dogs: about a 1/4 acre of the backyard and orchard — which Jim will invite you to identify given it no longer contains any fruit trees — for their roaming pleasure. Surprisingly, they have not leapt at the opportunity to enjoy their newfound freedom — some combination, I suspect, of anxiety about the size of space and the constant influx of workers. All the same, the fence is very exciting!
We also added insulation in the attic which has both dropped the temperature – thank goodness – and greatly reduced the wasp population upstairs.
Yet somehow it all seemed a bit much today. The noise and dust combined with Trixie’s incessant barking at the “intruders” became overwhelming. For me, the answer is another trip out of town, but for Jim we agreed a quick respite from renovation action was necessary. Hopefully our respective breaks will have us well prepared for foundation repairs which begin next week.
So all is well, if busy, here on the farm.
Vali & Jim
p.s. – We are continuing to struggle with enabling comments for the blog. Thanks all who are viewing the site. Hopefully you can post on the BonnieBourneVA FB page.