Red-Tailed Hawk

Red-Tailed Hawk
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

This guy has been around a lot this summer. He must have been bugged that a lot of trees were felled after the storms, because I have never seen him on the wires before.
He or she is a Red-tailed hawk and when he flew off a few moments later the wires were really shaking. He flew right towards the house (and me) and then veered off at the last moment.
Wildlife, trees, it's definitely scary living here right now.

Danger all around

You never know what's going to hit you.
Some people won't let their kids go into the city because they are frightened of all dangers that they think abound there. Well, I'm not sure that living in the incorporated village is any safer.
I was walking the dogs down to the beach this afternoon just before the rain started. It's been a beautiful week, warm, sunny, with little wind so I thought we should make the most of the late summer weather. Just as we reached the end of the road there was a loud crack and I jumped, luckily to my right, because a large maple branch came crashing down six inches to my left. Doubly luckily, the dogs were in front of me, pulling me along as they usually do.
The crash, more like a thud really, could be heard by the neighbors back up the road. Damned dangerous these maples.

Back where we started

This time last year we were bemoaning a damp patch that had appeared on the front stairs that we attributed to the master shower. Our temporary solution was to not shower in the master and use one of the other bathrooms. Then we discovered that the boys' shower was also leaking so we were forced to take action. We caulked the hell out of both shower pans and that seemed to work until last month when the master bathroom starting leaking on to the stairs but in a different place than before.
Our solution, however, did not vary. We closed it down, the leak dried up and we continued using the boys' shower. Until this weekend when I noticed a new wet patch on the ceiling below the boys' shower. So we've stopped using that one again and as there doesn't seem to be a problem with the caulk we are facing the probability that we will be renovating two bathrooms at the same time.
Apart from the imminent expense, the mess and the inconvenience, what is bothering us at the moment is having to choose tiles for these rooms.
We spent all last weekend and Labor Day weekend looking at tiles and we saw nothing we liked for our bathroom, never mind the other one. Everything seems to be either very traditional, or Tuscan or blah. None of it would work in our unique space. So if anyone knows a good resource for inexpensive, modern bathroom tiles in NY metro area, please shout out.

Labor Day is for........

working. Of course. It is if it happens to be the only free day of the summer when you're at home, it isn't too hot to move, it isn't lashing down with rain from the latest tropical storm and you don't have visitors.
So it was that we spent all day yesterday washing windows, inside and out, including the screens. I hate washing windows because they usually look worse after I've done them than before but we still had some wood stain on the window panes from last November so we had to so something before the bad weather sets in again and the stain becomes permanent.
I've tried every method of window washing from newspaper and vinegar to Windex and paper towels. The current method involves a sheepskin mop dipped in a light solution of dishwashing liquid and really hot water and a squeegee to wipe off outside and Windex inside. I throw the upstairs screens in the shower and wash them there and put the hosepipe on the downstairs ones.
The first couple of hours flew by and then we made the mistake of taking a lunch break. That's when the sun came out and revealed that what had looked like sparkling clean upstairs windows were in fact streaked with grey. There was some heated debate about whether the marks were on the inside or the outside and who was therefore responsible but a redo was in order. We finally finished at 5 pm with the kitchen window. It is so badly washed it looks as if it is fogged. We didn't care, we didn't have the strength to go over it again.
Steven has promised to clean it next weekend but I think he will have forgotten all about it by then. It only looks bad when the sun shines on it so if I avoid the kitchen between 4 and 6 pm I won't notice it either.
The plan was to jump in the pool when we finished to cool off but as the water temperature was only 70 F I settled for cleaning the pool and Steve for a hot bath. We were in too much pain to light the bbq so we settled for chips and beer. And we didn't make it to the informal gathering down at the beach to celebrate the end of summer either.

MEM's the word

We did something totally out of character today. We actually left a plumbing showroom on speaking terms, without screaming at each other that "one of us has no taste, and it's not me", or without the despondent feeling that comes after looking at every faucet in the showroom and knowing you hate them all equally. We were so pleased with ourselves we rewarded us with lunch overlooking the water.
And what had caused peace and serenity to envelop us in this manner? The stunningly simple but arrestingly beautiful MEM bathroom faucet from Dornbracht. We looked at it and simultaneously declared it THE ONE. It comes also as a waterfall bath spout, which will make it perfect for the master bath, as well as the large spread for the basins. The only teensy weensy little issue is that we seem to have set our hearts on the most expensive faucet in the store, and we'll need two sink faucets, the bath faucet and a shower system, which flies in the face of our philosophy and promise to do this renovation as economically as possible. Still, it's a small price to pay for marital harmony, no?

Bathroom woes

It's official, we are going to have to do a total renovation of the master bath. I came down the front stairs a few days ago and noticed not only that the crack in the ceiling has got much worse and is bulging and pulling apart, but that there is a new damp spot in the middle that is an ominous blue colour. I don't know if the crack in the shower pan is responsible but as that has been there since we bought the house more than two years ago I would doubt it. I think it is more likely to be a leaky copper pipe somewhere.
A plumber once said that bathrooms weren't meant to be on the second floor and I would agree with that. I'd add that they should never be sited over beautiful waxed parquet floors. I'd be beside myself if the ceiling came down over the floor, so we've stopped using the shower in the master bath and are just using the tub, toilet and sinks. The damp spot hasn't got any bigger and it has dried out so I'm assuming it's the pipes in the shower that are the problem.
We will be spending the Labor Day weekend in the tile shops looking at options and I guess then we'll move on to looking at plumbing fixtures. As the weekend looks like being a washout I suppose it could be worse, but I was hoping we could spend it in the pool and barbequing. We don't seem to have spent as much time outside this summer as we have in the past. I can't believe that summer is over and we'll be thinking about closing up the pool at the end of this month.

Puddles

That's what we've got after four days of relentless rain. Every so often it will stop for a couple of hours and the driveways will dry off but where the new asphalt was laid on the cul-de-sac we have a large pool of water that's been there since Friday morning.
At least the smell has gone. I had forgotten what freshly laid tarmac smelt like, it's quite disgusting and hangs around forever. I'm sure this stuff isn't environmentally friendly. No one has mentioned to us yet why we had a new sealcoat laid only twelve months after the road was paved. But someone did come and remove the remaining "no entry" tape that was tied around a pole on our property. I was so tigged off I was planning to leave it there until it rotted.
In other news, someone called the police on our neighbor opposite because the contractors had started work at 7:50 am instead of 8. I wonder if it was the same person who called them on our roofers last year. The police didn't ticket these contractors though because it was after 8 am by the time they had got into the police car and driven the three houses to the "disturbance".
Strangely enough no one seems to be bothered about the landscaper two doors down who starts at 7 am every week. Or the other landscaper at my next door neighbor who comes every Saturday. Seems to me the police don't care unless someone actually makes a complaint. I wish I knew who it was.

Manners, please

I'm constantly amazed at the difference in what I consider to be good manners in the incorporated village and elsewhere. In our last country if there was to be any disruption to the daily routine e.g. closing the road to do repairs or someone having a grand piano delivered, then the police would be informed and three days before the event they would post warning notices so you had plenty of time to make arrangements to move your car or order earplugs. Whatever, it was considered "normal".
Here, not so much. Last evening going to fetch the mail we found stuck to the mailbox the following note signed by the neighbor: I have just had word that the road will be sealed tomorrow. All cars out by 8 am, should be dry by 3 pm. No sprinklers." Nice to know but this is a private cul-de-sac that we agreed to have asphalted last year. We certainly did not agree to have it top coated, and as there is no wear on it (at least on my end, who knows what damage the trucks and plant did up the other end over the past few weeks) I can't see the reason for it either. The other private roads haven't been sealcoated since we lived here.
I guess I'm just feeling a little out of control but there are actual reasons for my ire other than hurt feelings: firstly, the yard floods and two years ago the village built a 6" berm around the front of the property to keep the flood off our front lawn. With every inch of asphalt that defense is threatened.

cul-de-sac before

Secondly the neighbor across the courtyard entrance from me and I had agreed last month to build a wall at the entrance to smarten it up. We had spoken to the landscaper and ordered the boulders. Now the existing stones are buried under another layer of tarmacadam. Thirdly, since the first layer was laid, the end of the cul-de-sac has formed a nice puddle every time it rains that takes days to clear. I can't wait to see what will happen now. Fourthly, it looks like freakin' suburbia. Yuk, yuk yukkity yuk.
Oh and one more thing on the good manners front. Two cars that couldn't get up the cul-de-sac because of the crime scene tape have parked on the berm. The one that is nicely planted with hostas and day lilies. If they are reading this, please let me know where you live and I'll come park on your front lawn. Yes, I am royally pissed off.

Everyone else is busy

All our neighbors, every single one of them. It sounds like a symphony orchestra from 8 am to 4 pm. To the right hammering inside (floors I think); opposite hammering outside- replacing headers and clapboards; next door to that house is a wonderful stable conversion, they are at the shingles, windows and air conditioning installation stage; to my left new plumbing fixtures have gone in and work is being done on landscaping. Behind them, I haven't asked but a lot of heavy plant has been going up and down the cul-de-sac daily. Next door they just finished a kitchen remodel and behind us the tree guys have been doing their work. Sawing, banging, sanding, power tools.

Everyone. Except us. There is an oasis of calm just here. We are doing nothing at the moment or for the foreseeable future. And I'm madly jealous.

Everything in the garden is lovely

Well, most of it. These lilies are almost over and only the everlasting hydrangeas are still blooming. Except for a couple of tubs, I don't bother with annuals as I'd rather put the money into something that's going to give me a few season's pleasure. But it does mean that I don't have much of a summer display.
I'm giving some more thought to the side entrance of the property. Last year the neighbours wanted to "improve" the entry to the cul-de-sac but we never got around to a proper plan. I've heard via-via that an ornamental half fence is being proposed in place of the arborvitae but there is no fence that will go with our unique house so I'm sure I don't want to go down that road. I nixed the moss stone border idea as large trucks back up the cul-de-sac and it's a tight turn. The garbage truck and delivery vans already move the boulders that are there now. I don't need to spend the $$$$ it costs to lay the moss stones only to find I have pebbles after a few weeks.
Another suggestion was large boulders, which I'm more amenable to but I need to think about planting shrubs there that will fit with the stones, the evergreens and won't be destroyed by the snowplow and the sand in the winter. I'm also thinking if I want to remove the arborvitae I'll want to do it before the big boulders go in.
Nothing will happen before the fall, but these things have a habit of catching up with you if you don't have a plan.

Beach House?

Maybe I'm writing this blog under false pretences. After we signed the contract but before we moved into this house we used to go down to "our" beach, the one we are deeded to, to check out the views and pinch ourselves that we could have ended up in such a perfect spot. Then while we moved in and we were in the thick of opening boxes and cleaning up we walked down every evening to relax. After that we went regularly a couple of nights a week to enjoy the sunsets and most early mornings to walk the dogs.
Last summer we went a few nights for the sunsets and to most of the events held at the beach: lobster bake, bbq etc. We walked the dogs on the beach in the winter when it was mild enough.
This year we have been zero times. Zero. I can't believe it. No sunsets, no bbq, no lobster. We've hardly taken the dogs down there either. Halfway through the summer and we haven't taken advantage of the natural beauty of the area or the facilities that we pay for. It's not like we have to drive to it or make any big effort. I'm not sure what the reason is but I'm certain of one thing: this won't do at all.

Crazy Batcave Bathroom Tile in Boston

07-22-06_1052.jpg
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

Whoa, you go on vacation to the historical city of Boston to escape the renovation mania back home and what happens? On the Freedom Trail of all places? We spy the same bathroom tile we have in the 1970s boys' bathroom in a North End appartment entrance. They also used it on the floor and walls. I thought ours was unique and maybe should be preserved as such but now we'll definitely have to redo the crazy batcave bathroom.

Mr Fix-it

Yesterday was set aside for fixing those little things that have been on the melon list for months. (We're not American so we say Honeydyew, which makes no sense). Steve put three screws in the side gate latch so that it's no longer hanging off, I used the wood hardener on the bridge and I'll fill the hole with epoxy sometime this week. Steve fixed the girls' WC that has been running for months by turning something 180 degrees: zero cost and almost no effort, his favourite kind of repair.
Then we examined the garden gate in daylight. It wasn't a pretty sight: the bottom and one side have almost rotted away and several uprights are looking pretty dodgy too. Steve rebraced it and added some extra pieces to strengthen it but realistically it's due for replacement. The question is whether we make a new one now (or get someone to make it for us) or wait until we re-fence the property. Eventually the posts will need replacing as they all have some rot and there is some old termite damage at the end farthest from the house.


The fence was custom made on site, probably not very long ago but it has some quirks. On the inside of the part with termite damage the original owners put a second layer of fencing in a different style to strengthen it. On each side of the property the fence stops twenty feet from the property line but there's some rather attractive blue nylon chainlink linking the fence to the neighbours' fences. I can't understand the rationale here - you pay a carpenter a bundle to make a really nice fence, then you leave the original chainlink in the corners why? So you can push it down and haul stuff through rather than going through the gates? Because the blue nylon is a nice accent? Because the neighbors have different types of fences and you weren't sure how to tie it together?
I guess I'll never know but I 'm working on a solution to the different fence styles now so we'll be ready to roll when the whole thing eventually falls down. Mr Fix-it thinks we will have to re-think the project timeline and move the fencing up to next year. The question is what do we move down?

Fixing the Gate

Managed to do a temporary repair to the temporary fix on the garden gate last night. Rushed out to the Mom and Pop hardware store before it closed at 6 pm so I wasn't forced to waste an hour looking for what I needed in Home Depot. $10 worth of brace plates, extra long screws and some gungy stuff to harden rotted wood seemed to a bargain. Didn't used the gungy stuff but the brace appears to be holding the pieces in place. Had to stop when darkness fell and someone was in danger of getting their finger screwed to the post. Must buy a flashlight next time I go to the hardware store.

Redoing the renovation Part II

And when I went out back to check the new gutters, and to make sure the guys had closed the gate behind them, I discovered that the gate had finally fallen to pieces. This is the gate we turned upside down because the bottom was rotten on one side and re-hung, attaching the hinges to the "good side", thinking the temporary fix would last a couple of years. It did. Two years exactly to the day.

Redoing the renovation

In a previous life this blog was called So Not the Money Pit because although at first glance it looked like it needed a lot of work the house was far more forgiving than we first thought. Ha. That was based on the engineer's report. A $925 catalogue of obvious statements and omissions that was supposed to tell us what we were getting ourselves into and so save us from severe financial hardship down the road. Spend close to a grand but save yourself from possible ruin. Cheap at the price.
One of my favourite passages concerned the roof, which the engineer said would last another five years. But his contract did not allow for him inspecting it at close quarters i.e. going up on it or looking at it with binoculars, so he was not responsible if it failed at any time. Hum. So his inspection was as good as mine but a lot more expensive. Then there were the gutters. As these were hanging off, he suggested we should replace them. Rocket science.
We, poor simple house owners, followed his advice. Thinking the roof would last a few more years we replaced the gutters as soon as we moved in. Well here's the thing. The roof failed the first winter and ice dams formed cannonballs that rested on the new gutters and buckled them.
I know I should have got the guys to come in and fix it then for free but I knew we had to have a new roof so I thought I'd call when it was all done. Then the roof couldn't go on until the gutter guarantee had expired. When the guys tore off the roof nails and bits of asphalt clogged the leaders. With the torrential rain this spring and summer water poured over and behind the gutters so I called for a repair. Repair, which was free, meant large amounts of caulk that totally failed to solve the problem.
So today I am replacing the gutters and leaders at the back of the house with 6" ones because the gutter guy is convinced that with our large flattish roof we need the wider ones. He's giving me a discount because I asked him if I needed the larger width two years ago and he said not. But it's still costing me almost as much to replace this side as it did to do the entire house last time.
This is why I blog. So I can remind myself never to trust a piece of paper no matter how much it promises; that when renovating you work from the top down: roof, siding, gutters; ceiling, walls floors. So I can vent my frustration without harming anyone. And to let my friends know that renovating houses, be they forty years old or a hundred and forty is always surprising and usually costly.

When are you going to finish?

This post is for my friend Fikirte over at The Concoction who asked me yesterday when we were going to finish the house i.e. stop spending money on it already.
Here's what we've done so far:
2004 Replaced refrigerator.
2004 Taken down 70s vinyl vertical blinds in den, dining room, living room and kitchen
2004 Taken out the faux 70s paneling in three rooms.
2004 Removed the mirrored closets in the master bedroom (mirror on the ceiling I can live with, mirrored closets, no).
2004 Replaced skirting board in master.
2004 Shortened the pantry in the mud room so I can get into my office without turning sideways.
2004 Rewired lights on drives, dining room, kitchen and master closet.
2004 Replaced light fittings in master closet, bath, landing, bedrooms, foyer and dining room.
2004 Removed 70s shag carpets from six bedrooms.
2004 Installed hardwood floors on landing and balcony.
2004 Installed bamboo floors in bedroom.
2004 Removed carpets from front and back stairs and back hall.
2004/5 Refinished stairs, installed bamboo on back hall floor.
2004 Capped the chimney.
2005 Replaced corroded faucets in bathroom. Rebuilt one toilet, fixed two more.
2005 Replaced 15 windows.
2005 Stained 15 windows.
2004/5 Stripped wallpaper from foyer, front stairs and back hall, bedroom
2004/5/6 Painted master, office, two other bedrooms, dining room, kitchen, back hall and the interior of all closets.
2005 Primed foyer and front hall.
2005 Re-roofed house.
2005 Stained siding and painted original windows and doors.
2004 Replaced guttering.
2004 Removed dead and dangerous trees from yard, pruned back other shrubs.
2004/5/6 Replanted, planted, weeded ad nauseum.
2006 New window treatments den, office, dining room, master, bedrooms.
2006 Replaced dishwasher.
2006 Replaced 5" replacement guttering with 6" guttering

Here's what is still needed, with approximate timeframe:
2007 Renovate master bath.
2007 Replace another 7 windows.
2007 Replace flooring in den and dining room
2008 Bring gas to house and replace oil burner and water heater with gas boiler.
2008 Renovate kitchen and laundry room.
2009 Replace fencing.
2009 Marble dust pool and replace pool heater. Replace steel doors on bar and barbecue.
2010 Finish basement.
2011 Sealcoat drives.
2011 Plant up north side of yard.
2012 Whatever else we've forgotten/overlooked.
So my friend, I think the answer to your question is, possibly never. The chores never end and are constrained only by our limited finances.

That's One Way to Get a New Washer

I think I've finally killed the washing machine, or at least made it terminally ill.
I spent all morning power washing the slime off the slate terrace and the brick patio (again, the last attempt was not up to snuff) and when I'd finished I tossed my cruddy clothes and sneakers straight in the machine. I guess there was a lot of sand and grit mixed in with the moss because the washer started making a squeaky grinding noise like a mouse got caught in the agitator and the clothes didn't wash at all.
I'm washing them for a second time but the machine is still squeaking so I'm not hopeful for a happy outcome. Or maybe the happy outcome will be finally putting the thing out of its misery and getting a new one.
On the other hand the new dishwasher washes cast iron pots and delicate stemware and leaves them sparkling, no pre-wash required.

It's here

The new Bosch dishwasher is installed, just finishing up its first load and it's soooo quiet. All this a day earlier than planned. Thanks Appliance World and Harvey the Installer who phoned at 11 am to ask if he could perhaps install the dishwasher today rather than Saturday morning. Could he? If it meant I didn't have to wash any more dishes he could.
I'm waiting for the beep noise to tell me its cycle is complete, I can't actually tell if it's on or not because it is sooooo quiet. I hope the dishes come out clean too.

I bought the appliance

No, not the washing machine. Even though it's July and the new Bosch Nexxus model came out it really isn't much different from the old one. It's still big and ugly-looking and I keep hoping that a new 1200, or even better 1400 rpm, super efficient but cute model will be launched on the market so that when I skip into the appliance showroom it will call to me "Modernemama, buy me and I will answer all your laundry demands with ease while satisfying your need for clean lines and cool design".
No, we had a dishwasher crisis. On Wednesday the 38 year-old cream coloured Maytag dishwasher clicked off halfway through a cycle leaving behind a couple of inches of dirty water in the bottom of the machine. There is no drain programme so Steve had to bail it out with a spoon and a cat dish. Then he took off the bottom plate and discovered that the drive belt had broken. That's a $16 part but he didn't think he could reach in to slip it on and I didn't want to pay a service charge for something so simple (I know, flaky economics) so I seized the moment and rushed out to order this beauty:

OK, so it was $1000 but after thirty eight years I think the old dishwasher has earned its retirement. They deliver the new one on Saturday and I'm sure it will be more efficient and quieter, and it will certainly look smarter. And I'm another step closer to the dream kitchen.