It has been another busy week. My main activities have been (1) completing the installation of the hardwood floor (DONE! Whoopie!) and (2) dealing with back pain. You might wonder, as I did, whether the two are related. I doubt it, but I have to admit that being hunched over, on my knees, for hours at a time, is not a recipe for a healthy back. The pain has been sufficiently severe and has lasted for a sufficiently long period of time (nearly two weeks now) that I actually got off my butt and went to see a doctor. I was actually worried that it might be a kidney problem masquerading as a bad back, but the tests seem to indicate that my kidneys are ok. Good news there. Now if I could just stand up straight without wincing, I could fully appreciate my gleaming new floor.
I still have a bit of finish work to do – installing a narrow strip of wood along the baseboard to cover all of my installation sins. A couple of minor blemishes that need a little lipstick. And I still need to paint the trim in the closet. But all of that is maybe 4 hours of work. The big job is done.
Jett’s brother, with assistance from Jett’s son, have also completed the carpentry on the deck. We now have handrails, for the first time ever – something that we dearly missed over the past 7 years whenever the steps were icy. This renovated structure will last 10 years, easy, before needing this kind of work again. Good job, guys.
Again, some finish work is needed, but I plan to get my side of the family involved in that. My son Frank will fill the nail holes, sand the surface and paint it all. But we have had a lot of rain and all of that needs to wait until it dries out a bit.
But those are the last two big jobs that we had on our “prep the house” list. Everything else is small, by comparison, and, frankly, not vital. I think the house is just about ready to take on some new residents. And there is progress there, too: we have a potential renter who seems very interested and a potential buyer is coming by for a viewing this morning. First one to hand us some cash wins.
It’s going to happen, folks. We are going to be outahere in September.