Home Improvement: 2020 Shower edition

The morning after our new dishwasher made its triumphant way into the kitchen, T was taking a shower before work and I was helping myself to an extra cup of coffee when I felt a drip from the kitchen ceiling.  Unexpected water is never good.  A glance overhead confirmed that initial reaction.  There was a leak from the shower overhead.

The upstairs bathroom is directly above the kitchen and I am sorry to report that water in this location isn’t new.  The last time it leaked, in 2010, a whole new bathroom was installed.  

A plumber and tile installer confirm the problem: some loose tiles in the upstairs shower.  They’ve been re-grouted before but that repair is term-limited and it’s likely a new tile job is in our future.  In the meantime, T engineered a temporary hold to prevent continued dripping: a shower curtain against the wall, held in place by some duct tape.

This will get us through the next few weeks and buy some time for big decisions.  It’s not elegant but it will do the trick.  Stay tuned, because 2020 is looking like another year in my home improvement saga.

Our Posh Lifestyle

For Christmas, T and I received new wood window blinds for our bedroom.  These are both prettier to look at and much easier to use than the sad blinds that proceeded them.  So sad, apparently, that I made no picture of them.  All you get are the pretty new blinds. 

Window blind technology has made some real leaps in the years since I last acquired blinds and these go up and down easily, without the unpleasant yanking-on-a-string process that always found me losing my mind because the blinds were not even.  And how could I survive looking at such a window every day?  I could not and thus, the window blind battle was enjoined.

I never won.

From our perch on the Princess and the Pea bed we are quite pleased with the view and the tidy line of even window blinds.  They feel quite posh.

Obituary for a Dishwasher

On Saturday, December 28, my dishwasher died.  Strictly speaking, it passed to the great appliance beyond sometime the night before.  I started the dishwasher before I went to bed on Friday night and when we opened it on Saturday morning we found that the water pump had failed.  Fittingly for this workhorse of a machine, it had spent the past 10 days being run 3 to 4 times a day, to keep up with our busy holiday season.  It was never pretty but it always got the job done.

This beast of a Whirlpool machine joined the family in May 2005 when I moved into Sassafras House.  The previous owners had taken their shiny new dishwasher and given me this well-used transplant from their new house.  From the outset, it looked rough, with dents and scratches that suggested it had been in more than one fight.  The push button start mechanism was already worn through and that was the clue for how to start the machine.  But start it did and for years to come, it got the job done.  

In 2005, it was no Spring chicken, though it washed like a dream.  Inside it looked a little rough.  Over the years that appearance continued to decline as it began to rust and shed parts.   

When I first started it in 2005, I figured we’d ride this dishwashing wave as long as it lasted.  That it survived another 14 years is a surprise.  But golly did this beast earn its keep year after year.  For its faithful service, I offer a hearty and grateful thank you.

A new one has been summoned and installed.  Like the last dishwasher at this house, it’s a Whirlpool. Also like the last machine, we plan to enjoy it for a very long time.  Welcome aboard, washing beauty.  We already love you.

Front Yard Flowerbed in January

This year’s first-of-the month garden feature is my front yard flowerbed.  I see it every day from the front window and over the porch railing.  In the late Spring it is splendid.  

This time of year is not the finest view, though please note that the ivy, badly in need of a trim, continues to thrive in the cold.

This flowerbed is inside the retaining wall by the side of the driveway.  In season, there are hostas, an assortment of daffodil and tulip bulbs, and pink azaleas.  In the front yard are some evergreen bushes that T has disliked for years.  Now that they are dying, they are slated to be removed in 2020.  This will please T and result in a better looking front yard as well as friendlier neighbors in this flowerbed.  I’m excited for the changes that are coming and will be sharing them all year long in 2020.

Grateful

Some years ago, a sump pump was installed in my basement.  Before that pump went in, basement water was a semi-regular feature of Spring life around here.  Since the pump, basement water is pumped on out to the street, thus saving me from a whole lot of anxiety.

The fool in the White House doesn’t see it, but climate change has brought greater extremes to New Jersey.  One of those extremes has been more precipitation.  My corner of New Jersey has had nearly ten inches of rain in November.  Four inches fell in six hours on Saturday; another inch fell yesterday afternoon.  The basement pump is getting after it and every 30 minutes or so I hear it come on and do its job.  When I hear the sound a chorus of gratitude echos in my mind.

Thank you little sump pump.  Thank you.

Fall Chores

In my town, September signals the start fall clean up.  The town distributes large paper bags for us to collect our leaves.  Each week after that, a big trick rolls around and collects the leaf bags for mulching.  Many of my neighbors start leaf collection as soon as leaves begin to fall in October.  I suspect this is because they are overly fond of the leaf blowers they have on hand.  I am in no hurry to start the chore and wait until November to get after it.  By then, the leaves on my trees have all fallen.

Yesterday was the appointed day and T and I set out with our leaf bags, the rake, out leaf-grabbing hands, and an ingenious new device to keep the paper collection bags open.  

We collected the leaves in the drive way and front curb.   I mulch most of the back yard leaves into the garden for poor man’s fertilizer and there is no hurry to get after that chore.  Our leaf bag tool worked like a charm and in a few hours we had filled 14 leaf bags for the town to collect.

The driveway looks a lot neater now.

After the job was done, I rewarded myself by planting tulip bulbs in various flower beds.  They will bloom in the Spring, a nice treat to contemplate.  That’s happy!

Ahhhhh, Refrigeration

As locations with 4 seasons go, New Jersey has a reasonably mild climate.  Though we are prone to heat (and humidity) in the summer, it’s not omnipresent.  Many people don’t have central air. and survive quite nicely  My first home in New Jersey was cooled with window units and, for the most part, that was fine.  My current house was built in 1931 and central air conditioning was added in the early 2000s by the previous owner.  It’s easier and nicer than window units and I’ll be the first to admit that entering a refrigerated home on a hot summer day is one of life’s nicer pleasures.

Until it fails.

Last Friday, a heatwave moved on to the East Coast and my air conditioner couldn’t keep up.  I installed a new air filter in the air exchange unit and crossed my fingers.  We are not a heat tolerant people and nothing reveals that like failing a/c.  On Saturday, JT gratefully decamped to cooler climes, on a trip with A and her family.  By Monday, as the heatwave expanded, it was clear that something was very wrong in Sassafras House.  The temperature inside the house approached 90 and the a/c gasped its last breath.

A repairman came and declared my system DOA. Repairs could be attempted but with 17 years on the ticker of a freon-dependent system that had been working at capacity for the last few years, that’s a tricky business.  The system was, among other ailments, leaking freon, a problem easily discovered but not easily solved.  Pouring in pricey freon is costly (not to mention environmentally unsound).  Repairs on freon-based systems are pricey because the  systems are out of date.   So repair seemed risky, like burning piles of money and hoping for an elusive lottery win.  

I consulted with my dad and several a/c contractors and we decided that it was time for a new unit.  I have radiator heat, so the air conditioner here is a two piece system: a compressor and fan outside and an enormous air handler installed in the attic, to move the cold air through the house.  Replacement was an all-day, 3-man-crew-process.  God bless the folks who work on Saturday.  

By then, the inside of my home was a smoldering 87 degrees.  While I waited through the heatwave, I stayed with T, camped at my own house, and used a borrowed window unit for my bedroom, which I chilled to the temperature of a meat locker.  After a lovely weekend with low humidity and mild temperatures, this afternoon promises a return of the heat. I am gratefully back in business with the chill and quiet whir of central air and incredibly grateful for the help that made it happen.  

Rescue!

It’s installation day and I’m pretty excited about the return of central air to Sassafras House.  The old unit was removed by 8:30 this morning and the new units are being installed.

Naturally, the heatwave has eased.  But I’ll be ready when the next one rolls in.  That’s happy!

An Updated Porch

I’ve been planning to refresh the paint on my front porch for more than a year but the chore always felt like it could wait.  So it did.  In advance of the party we threw to celebrate JT’s graduation, I really wanted the porch painted.  For various reasons, the job waited.  And so in true Sassafras-fashion, I spent the last week of school (the week before graduation) getting after the job.

First I painted the porch floor, taking care to put some extra coats of paint on the newer section of the porch by the steps.

I got after the trim, including what seemed like dozens and dozens of intricate spindles.  I bit off almost more than I could chew and did it on purpose, knowing that once I started, I would have to finish.

To be honest, it was exhausting.  And since it happened while regular school was in session and JT had his end-of-the-year athletic celebration and then prom night, I did the job in pieces.  I started on a Sunday and finished on Thursday evening, with just enough time for the paint to dry before my parents arrived on the Friday before graduation.

Whew!  

It turned out beautifully and now that school has ended, I’m out here whenever I have a free moment.  That’s happy!

Floored, Part 2

We couldn’t stay in the house while the floors were being sanded, stained, and re-finished with polyurethane, a 7-day process.  At the start of the week, JT and I hit the road to visit some colleges (more on that later).  We returned to floors in the process of being re-finished.  

  

To finish our week away, JT headed out to wrestling camp at a local university.  I stayed with T.  That was last Thursday and from that day on, I stalked my house every day, checking out the progress on the floors as the stain and polyurethane were applied.  The floors are a similar color to before, a slightly more golden brown with a semi-gloss finish.  I like the shine and think it coordinates nicely with the 1930s chestnut woodwork that trims the first floor of the house.

A week after our departure, on Monday, June 26, we picked up the cats and came home to our newly refinished floors.  The shiny downstairs floors had a hollow echo in the half-empty house, and this freaked out the cats.  Tiger and Lucy spent the next 48 hours meowing their displeasure at the indignities they endured.  

JT and I lured a friend into helping us unload the Pod storage bin.   Once our things were back inside, I began to unpack and generally return our house to it’s homey status.

There was chaos, of course.  The antique farm table in our dining room had to be put back together, a task left to the organized and capable T.  She also got the TV back in business and had already left me in good shape to resume internet connectivity  I took on the rest of the house and piece by piece, things came back together.  The living room and book corner were first, because these books are my happy place.

The dining room and china cabinet came next.  My collection of antique dishes was unwrapped and stored away.  Craft projects and pictures were stored back into my corner cabinet and the dining room is now tidy and organized (well, except for JT’s pile of messy shoes…..some things are eternal, I guess).

The pictures and knock knacks that make our house a home are back in place and the study is unpacked. 

There is nothing like being away from home to remind you how lovely and nice the comforts of home make life.  I love my house and home, no matter it’s disarray.  But the charms of the newly renovated floors in my tidied and organized home are even better.  That’s happy!

Floored, part 1

We have lived in Sassafras House for 12 years.  The house has wood floors both upstairs and down. The upstairs floors are the original 1930s pine, stained in a warm golden color, with a polyurethane finish.  They were in good shape when I moved in and remain in good shape today.  The downstairs floors are oak, likely replacement floors, and sealed with a wax finish.  They are also lovely but wax is a less durable seal and over the years, the floors have been worn in places.  And so the month of June has been devoted to re-finishing the downstairs floors, an easy task to contemplate in February when the plan was first made, but a whole lot more insane as the deadline approached.  For most of the past month, we’ve lived in a house with boxes of our things tucked into the corners.

Step one was to hustle the cats off to a pet boarding facility.  Driving these cats anywhere is no easy task, but JT helped and the job was done.  I’d been packing first floor boxes for weeks, so the packing was nearly complete.  It’s rather a big job to sift through twelve years of accumulated things and it was a long overdue task.  Plenty of items were sent on to their next chapter in life,  but a whole lot got packed up and stored in a Pod storage bin that sat in our driveway, which was a clever and relatively easy solution to our storage needs.

That left us with an empty house and pretty clear evidence that these floors were overdue to be refinished.  

Dining Room

Living Room

Study

Kitchen

 

Pretend Grown Up

I don’t have a desk at home, I have a laptop that follows me wherever I choose to work.  Most often, that’s a corner of my sunny dining room near a cabinet that contains my craft projects, a basket for those essential things we all seem to have, and an assortment of chargers for the family electronics.  

My essentials basket has a collection of items: address labels, bookmarks, stickers, JT’s schooI pictures, and the odds-and-ends of daily life, including the few bills that I don’t receive on-line.  Essential papers like car insurance and car registration renewals are also stored in the basket, which I keep to a reasonable size so as to prevent the accumulation of crap.

Of course, crap still accumulates.  When it seems especially over-flowing, I clean out the basket to find things I’d forgotten I had and plenty of things I should never have saved.  This week, I’m finishing up a project to pack up the entire first floor of my house in preparation for my wood floors to be refinished.  This means that the whole cabinet gets cleaned out and packed up.

That process has convinced me that I am barely a grown up.  For starters, the sheer volume of stickers that I’ve found in the cabinet suggests I’m a child.  For another, I unearthed my car registration just days from its due date.  The alarming fact here is that I had completely forgotten the registration was due.

As each corner of the first floor gets tidied and then packed up, I look forward to putting the house back together when the floors are complete.  I fantasize that I’ll return a tidier and more well-organized adult.  

After all, one must live in hope.

Life with Foamy and Whiny

The wood floors on the first floor of my house are being re-finished later this month.  Among other things, that means that Tiger and Lucy, the cosseted indoor cats who rule our world, have to be boarded away from the house while the work is completed.

To be ready for kitty hotel, the dynamic duo had to have up-to-date vaccines.  That meant a trip to the vet.  The vet who is closest to home did not have any appointments this week, so they sent me to another branch, just 6 miles away.  When I made the appointment it was with the knowledge that the cats don’t like to ride in a car, but as the saying goes, “needs must.”

On Friday, I set off with two annoyed cats in a carrying case.  JT, the in-house cat-wrangler, secured them in the case and loaded them in the car.  He gave me strict instructions not to screw things up, to text him with updates, and then he set off for a track meet.

I fired up the wagon and hit the road with two very unhappy cats.  Lucy began howling at once, stopping only to catch her breath and begin foaming at the mouth.  Tiger, increasingly covered in his sister’s drool, was more resigned to his fate, occasionally issuing a pathetic meow while his sister was loading up the drool works.  This let me know that he was alive.  And annoyed.

Six miles of travel on an early Friday afternoon in New Jersey involved nearly 30 minutes of stop-and-go-traffic.  Accompany that with the howling of very troubled cats and you’ve a recipe for one woman to lose her mind.

My frazzled nerves and I made it there, secured the required vaccines (and proof of said-vaccines) and then my furry friends were stuffed back in the carrying case for the journey home.  That was slightly less-eventful, because some of the traffic had thinned out.  When we got home and inside the house, I unzipped the carrying case.  They burst out and took time to look at me in an accusing fashion before they bolted upstairs, Lucy still frothing at the mouth and Tiger covered in drool.  There they have largely remained.  

Tiger has likely forgiven me the whole experience.  But I expect that Lucy has already made contact with PETA and is drawing up the papers for a magnificent lawsuit against me.  

They head to the cat hotel next Saturday meaning that this story isn’t quite over.

Headin' Out to the Back Deck

My back deck is the back yard equivalent of the front porch, an alternately sunny and shady place to relax and enjoy the outdoors.  We spend a lot of time out here in the warmer months.  But over the last few years, the large back deck has been in need of some TLC.  In mid-April, the back deck was power-washed and repaired, in preparation for staining and sealing.

Then it rained and rained and rained so it was several weeks before the job was completed.  Finally, there were enough sunny days to stain and seal the deck.

Now it’s done and the results are lovely.  The deck is back in business as relaxation central and it’s more welcoming than ever.

The months ahead will see a lot of lazy days spent out here.

That’s happy!