Small Successes

Every once in a while, everyone needs to have a day where little successes build into a feeling of relief and accomplishment.  This was one of those days, and I am very grateful for it.

First of all, let me go on record as saying that Daylight Savings Time has me totally messed up.  I know that a human's sleep cycles are determined by light and darkness (regardless of what know-it-all-teenagers say), and I had no problem getting up at 7:00 a.m. EST as the light began to slip into our bedroom under the shades.  With Daylight Savings Time, though, that same light does not appear until almost 7:30, so recently our days have gotten off to a delayed start.  Since we are working outside, that is probably good because the dew in the morning would prevent us from doing too much painting too early anyway.  How is that for rationalization?

This morning started with inside paint again.  Rick put a final coat of paint on the shutters while I used the last of a gallon of paint cutting in selected places on the bathroom closet.  Rick then opened the new gallon and rolled a second coat on the walls and on the shelves.  Those were two tasks completed.  Now all we have to do for those two jobs is to literally sit around and watch the paint dry.

I changed the linens and towels today, so a load of laundry was next on the agenda.  Walking through the kitchen to the laundry room, I also remembered that I wanted to set the oven to clean itself.  I don't remember how it got that dirty, but I do know that the time had come to let the oven do its thing.  Self-cleaning ovens leave a terrible smell in the house when they first start, so we were glad that the day warmed enough for us to open the windows and air the place out.  By noon, the laundry was washed, dried, folded, and put away, and the oven was sparkling clean.  Two more tasks completed.

As the sun rose, Rick went outside and used elastomeric caulk to tackle the cracks and holes in the front of the house.  Thankfully, the cracks were all small (although plentiful) and the holes were easy to reach.  We are not terribly worried about the cracks.  This is a block house, and after 54 years, things start to shift and to settle. Gladys is fighting gravity, just like the rest of us over-50 crowd.  We are happy that we were able to patch her up so she can fight the elements for another 50 years.

While the caulk dried, Rick used Steve's transit to try to figure out elevations for our someday-paver-sidewalk and stone edging around the house.  Then he ran some line at the proper elevations, and he dug out around the front of the house.  When we purchased Gladys three years ago, she came with a bricked-in  rose garden next to the front door and a railroad-tie front garden that had nothing but weeds growing in it.  Stephanie and I dug out the bricks and transplanted the roses to the back yard two years ago when we put in the new, double front doors.  Earlier than that, I had removed the rotting railroad ties (and the black snakes they harbored) and let the earth just slope away from the front of the house.  That slope, now, was what Rick started to remove.

Dirt piles in front of the house away from the foundation.
Tomorrow, I will move it to fill in some indentations in the
front lawn.

Once the ground was moved away from the house, a little scraping and brushing had the front ready for the masonry sealer.  We are keeping an eye on the weather which promises rain on Sunday evening and all day Monday.  We wanted to get the sealer on the front today so that we could paint the first coat of yellow finish coat tomorrow morning.  The "dry time" is four hours, so if possible we would like to get a second coat on either tomorrow afternoon or Sunday.  If all goes well, once the front is painted, we can concentrate on the fascia and soffits on the south side and front (west) part of the house.

Gladys has the front bedroom wing sealed with tinted masonry sealer.  Each
task finished is a step closer to completing the entire job.

Our pest control contractor came today to give the house an inside and outside spray against spring bugs.  He also told me that when we go to Wisconsin in May and leave the house idle, we must put bleach in all of the toilets and make sure the lids are closed.  When I asked why, he told me that when the plumbing systems are not "active," rats will find their way into the houses via unused systems. He seemed sincere, although I have my doubts that rats would travel via a plumbing system.  Aren't those systems closed systems to outside critters? At any rate, I suppose what he said will not hurt anything if I follow his advice.  He also said to put closed drains or rubber plugs in all sinks and to seal any other places where bugs and rats can find their way into a home.  Ah, the wonders of living in wildlife-rich Florida!

While the great accomplishment today was sealing the front bedroom wing of the house, the other tasks completed also rewarded us with a feeling of satisfaction.  As with all remodeling, one step leads to others.  We know that by removing the slope of dirt from the front of the house, we now must purchase longer downspout extensions to move the water more into the yard.  We need to do the same for the gutters in the back of the house, so I foresee another trip tonight to Lowe's.

Since we worked hard, I am sure that as we pass McDonald's on the way home from Lowe's, I can convince my darling husband to stop for an ice cream cone.  Sometimes, when everything goes right, we deserve a treat.