He Does It AGAIN!

So ... guess what he did this time? He backed the truck INTO the house! Terry has a mark in the dust on the running board of the truck that he lines up with the crack in the driveway to know when he needs to stop. Obviously he didn't line them up very good! Ya just gotta laugh!
Well, we didn't get as much done last Sunday as we had hoped. Things always seem to take longer than we anticipate.
We did get the trim board back on the peak - that was a feat in itsself ... cuz I had to go up the ladder WAY further than I was really comfortable with ... but I managed. Terry was on the roof and reached over and nailed the trim in place.
When Chad came home from work, we sent him up to remove some gutter. I really get nervous when the guys are on the roof like that.
We also got the pillars up on the porch to form the arch-way I wanted. It looks really nice!
This weekend is suppose to be very nice again, so hopefully we'll be able to progress to the north or south sides. The boys are here, so they help tremendously and do some of the strong-arm stuff to give us a break.
HAHA ... had to come back and amend this post ... the little yellow kitty sitting on the steps is not one of ours. Murphy is one of the neighborhood cats and is very friendly. When we're outside, he is usually with us. I think he gets lonely. I've heard that he 'belongs' to the people a couple of blocks away, but I'm not sure.

No Mishaps

Its was a great day for us Saturday and we felt like we really made progress. The entire east side of the house has at least the first coat of paint!!
I will finish up the porch today putting on the second coat of trim. Terry will second coat the green and trim above the garage.
Chad will be home from work mid-afternoon, so we'll send him to the roof and have him start pulling the gutters.
We had a lovely anniversary supper last night at LaCasita. This restaurant is becoming our mexican fav. We been there off and on for many years, but lately we've become regulars.

Will We Turn the Corner Today?

The snow is all gone and it's nearly 60°. It will be a beautiful day for painting. Notice that Terry is covering the truck with plastic? LOL ... hopefully there'll be no repeat of last Sunday's fiasco.

Oh! and Happy 6th Anniversary to us!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

We woke up Wednesday morning to the ground blanketed in white. It was beautiful!

It's a good thing he's cute!

I've been told that I'm falling down on the job ... so I will try to get caught back up. We haven't done anything on the house since the splatting paint last Sunday. That's not to say other amusing events have not occurred.
As most of you know, we have a rather large extended family which includes our cats. The newest addition - and youngest - and naughtyest - and most entertaining - is Little Stink Pot. This is not his 'given' name, Socks, however, I believe we're going to legally have it changed.
Terry and I retire to the bedroom about 9pm each evening. There's usually a show that we watch and then the news and then Jay Leno's monologue. (Usually after the first commercial during the news I'm usually watching my eyelids). Stink Pot invariably finds something to haul onto our bed and play with. Various toys have been ponytail holders, hair clips, rubber bands, mini scotch tape dispensers, rolled up plastic bags - you get the point - whatever he can find anywhere he thinks is his for the taking and amusement.
A couple of mornings ago, Terry was soaking his contacts and left the contact case ON the bathroom cupboard. Yep, you guessed it, when he went back to put them in - they were MIA! Where were they? They could be anywhere in the house by now! We looked high and low ... finally Terry spotted them - even being as blind as he is without his eyeballs in, as I say - they were under our bed. They were not simply under the edge of the bed ... oh no, Stink Pot was having a hay-day with them ... they were under and about in the very middle of our king size bed. So consequently Terry had to find something long enough to drag them from under the bed.

Today's Adventure IN Paint

Where, oh where, to begin!!?? LOL ... I'm SO glad Terry did it and NOT ME!!!!
Today started out very uneventful ... but that's NOT the way it ended!
I guess I'll start at the beginning ...
Again, another very beautiful Colorado Fall day met us when we stepped out the door this morning. The sky was blue with several pure white, fluffy clouds and there was a slight breeze.
By-the-way ... the first thing I did was check out my painting job that I did by trouble-light last night ... not too bad if I may say so myself.
Terry started with putting the ladder in the back of the truck and going high to work on the fascia - cleaning and caulking. The peak vent came down for a good cleaning and scraping. That'll go back up shortly, as we saw a few bees buzzing around and discovered the open attic. I trimmed in the porch, so it is all ready for a 2nd coat now. I also painted the 1x2 boards green that will be vertical on the front of the house.
At lunchtime I called and talked to Mom and Dad. It's good to talk to Mom. She sounds really good and I'm glad that she's well enough to be able to be home on Sundays with Dad. I'm sure they enjoy the time together. I called Trent and it sounds like he's keeping busy too. He was at my brother, Terry's, house. I got the crop report from Terry and it sounds like the bean harvest is good despite the rocky start to the crop season in Iowa.
So ... now back to the adventure here ... Terry decided to put on the first coat of green above the belly board (I'm not sure why it's called that, but it is - it's the horizontal trim board above the 2nd story windows). So, up the ladder he goes. Now ... don't forget that the ladder is still in the back of the truck so that we can get the height that is needed. I did cover about half of the truck bed with some plastic. There wasn't much paint in the tray on the first trip up. He came down to fill-up and up he goes again. Now is where the adventure begins!! He hooked the tray on the ladder ... but obviously not a very good hooking job ... cuz DOWN IT CAME! There was green paint EVERYWHERE - down the side of the house, in the garage, on the garage door frame, on the driveway ... but worst of all - ALL OVER THE TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so glad Terry made this mess and NOT ME!!! Terry rolled out what he could that was down the side of the house. Meanwhile, I'm holding up the plastic which did cover some of the truck, trying to catch other paint that was dripping.
I do think we 'saved' the truck and managed to get all the green washed away. Terry then worked on the house and driveway some more. Thankfully we have a power washer or we would really have been in trouble!
We did manage to laugh pretty hard at it all ... but the day ended sooner than we had planned and with not quite as much accomplished as we had hoped.

And, no, Terry, you're NOT banished from painting - good try though!

Did I mention that we're still on the FIRST of the four sides of the house?

Oh ... and for the record ... the FIRST thing out of my mouth was 'Are you OK?'.

Let the Painting Begin!

What a beautiful Colorado fall day! The skies were a perfect blue, the sound of fallen leaves crushing under foot, an ever so slight breeze. And a perfect painting day. We FINALLY have more than a few square feet of new color on the house. Terry and brendan finished caulking above the garage doors a few days ago, so it's had enough time to cure and ready to paint. Time to break out the body color! Terry painted most of the front of the house - I really don't care to be that high on a ladder. I painted more on the porch. Terry finished on the front about 6 pm. There was still a bit of paint in the bucket. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away and I hadn't trimmed the porch. Those little Craftsman lights are pretty bright! I finished up the paint in the bucket about 7.
What a looooong day! Chik-Fil-A for supper cuz I'm not cookin!

(notice your name is mentioned SEVERAL times Honey!)

LOL ... Terry said I haven't been mentioning him enough ... so here it is!

I suggested Dualing Blogs ... but that would mean he'd have to type ... so I'm sure that won't happen! LOL

Happy Birthday, Terry!

Well, it's Terry's big 4-5 today ... he's now officially as old as me again for about 6 months!
I gave him the day off from the house. Granted I'm not sure we made 50° today, so too cold to paint or caulk. We had frost last night for the first time. Considering Sept 15th is our average first frost date, this is pretty late for us. It didn't seem to be very heavy either as the flowers by the house don't look like they got hit at all.
Tomorrow thru Saturday are suppose to be upwards of 70, so we'll have some good weather and can hopefully make a good dent on the house work.
I took Chad and Brendan for physicals today ... they're both healthy and doing well.
We're going out for dinner for Terry's birthday, so signing off!
TTFN!

Buuurrrrrrrrr

It's 11am and only 44°. We started working on the house early this morning, but we didn't get anything noticable done. The sprinkles started about 10:15. I turned the shop lights on in the garage for some warmth and sanded and painted a few of the window trim boards. They should be dry later this afternoon and I can turn 'em over and do the other side so they'll be ready for tomorrow. However, tomorrow is suppose to be even colder than today. This weekend may be a bust for working on the house. For tomorrow that isn't all bad as there is a program at the PPLD (Pikes Peak Library District), Depression Days in Colorado. Terry and I reeeally would like to go to that, so if it's cold and yucky again tomorrow, that wouldn't break our hearts.

Slackers

Nothing new to report the last 2 days. Yesterday it was kind of chilly and windy here, so we didn't manage to get anything done.
I did manage to prime a few window trim boards during lunch today, but that was the extent of what we did.
It's difficult during the week ... by the time we get everything pulled out of the garage, it's starting to get dark. So we may need to defer most of the work til the weekend.

Monday the 6th

This is what we started with today. You can see the colors on the right side of the porch. Terry went to the office and will pick up the new boards needed for the window trim on his way home. I need to call Sherwin-Williams for the shutter and door paint (I think it goes off sale today - and we need to save our pennies where we can!)
I may post tonight before bed again too. Chad and Brendan come back from Chance's today, so we'll have some extra helping hands.

Now you're caught up

It's Sunday night and I just finished getting you caught up on our house painting. We're still working on putting the house back together. I did however get to start painting with the real colors rather than just primer! The porch is beginning to look renewed! The colors look reeeally nice! Terry decided a couple of days ago to take a progress picture every morning. Since we've worked into the darkness a couple of nights, it's not possible to take a picture at the end of the day. Terry started putting the 1x2's and window frames back on! And it started raining ... so that kind of dampened our day. Terry worked as late as possible - even in the rain - until he discovered that some of the window frames were cut the wrong size. So it will be back to Home Depot tomorrow to get a few replacement boards. Just a minor bump in the road. Did I mention before that we only 'see' the East side of the house right now? Much less overwhelming when we think of it this way!

Choosing Colors

Picking colors is a major challenge. I am NOT a color picker! After gathering several, actually, make that MANY paint chips and exterior color schemes, I think we have finally made a decision. We're just praying that it looks good on the house! We decided on Sherwin-Williams (this is suppose to be the best paint - and I have a feeling that we will not be in the mood to paint this house again for many, many years!). The body will be SW6178 Clary Sage - above the garage door on the right (the first pick was Softened Green (above the garage door on the left), but it was a bit too light). And I really would like a dark red/burgundy door! Don't ask me why ... but I think it would be stunning!
So ... the body color is decided! Whew - one color down!
We also need new gutters. Why is it that when they start leaking, they always leak right where you walk out? So, again I called several companies for estimates. One company (Intrawest Seamless) didn't even bother showing up. The other two estimates were within a few hundred dollars. We decided to go with Costa Seamless Gutter Service (I really liked Jim's wife/office manager when I called for the appointment - so they had the advantage). Now the gutter colors helped us decide on the trim color. We wanted the baked on and decided on Egg Shell. So, off to Sherwin Williams I went - and they color matched the trim to the gutters. Is there anyone else who decides on trim color based on gutters? The trim is kind of Antique White. Thank goodness for Sherwin-Williams' Color Visualizer. The accent (this will be the shutters) will be SW6181 Secret Garden and the door will be SW2904 Poppy Flower (deep red - yippy!).

Still fixing

Fast forward about a week ... we are STILL removing/repairing and still not painting. What did we get ourselves into? The south garage door was rotten on top, so we needed to tear it out and replace it too. That was not much fun! When will we actually get to paint?

Scraping

Brendan and Chad get in on the action too. They love tearing stuff up!

Wasps!

Let the repairs begin! The verticle 1x2's were rotting ... so down they come! When we pulled the trim board off the front ... oh my! all the wasp nests!!! And I do NOT like wasps!

House Painting

To get you caught up ...
A little over a week ago, I decided it was time to paint the house. Terry is such a good sport about my spur-of-the-moment decisions! HaHaHa
I called several painters for estimates and the quotes kind of overwhelmed us. So we decided it needed to be a DIY (Do-It-Yourself). The house should have been painted several years ago, so several repairs were needed before the paint brush hit the house.
The picture of the house is several years old, but it pretty much shows what we started with.

First try at blogging

Well, I've never blogged before, but thought I'd give this a try.

Terry and I are doing some work on the house and I thought it would be fun for friends and family watch our progress ... at least I 'hope' we'll be progressing!