Surprises

I entitled this blog "Surprises" because we have had a couple of them in the last two days; one was great and the other one turned out not bad in the end.

We ordered out a metal address plaque from Michael Healy studios, and after five weeks we still have not seen it.  The mailman brought a package to the door on Saturday, so we both thought our plaque had finally arrived.  However, when Rick picked it up, he thought, "If this is supposed to be a metal plaque, they forgot to put it in the box." He thought that because the box had no weight to it at all, like it was full of air only.  As it was, the box was not from Michael Healy but rather from Amazon.

Pete enjoys his perch in our palm tree.

Inside the box was surprise #1: a parrot for our palm tree, sent to us from Stephanie.  I had mentioned that I needed a stuffed parrot to sit in the tree both for a pop of color in that corner and for a bit of whimsy in the otherwise quite formal room.  Stephanie said that she did a LOT of research before finding the perfect parrot.  He has bright colors, is the perfect size, and actually came with wires on his feet to easily attach him to the tree.  Since he is very lightweight, he does not cause the branch to sag at all.  Lindsay named him "Pete," so Pete now has a place of honor in our house.  (After all, it has been a while since Gladys had a pet, and this one we don't have to feed, listen to, or keep in a cage.)

Our rain ended yesterday, so today we were able to get outside early.  The only problem with this morning was the cold (Rick had a tee shirt, long-sleeved shirt, and sweatshirt on to keep warm) and the wind.  At one point, the wind picked up the paint tray liner from the metal paint pan and dumped paint all over the grass.  He was able to paint the prime coat on the fascia and soffits of the bedroom front portion of the house without blowing off the ladder, however, so that was a success.

Surprise #2 thankfully was "dead."

After that, Rick moved the dirt away from the kitchen portion of the house.  That's where surprise #2 came in.  He called me out to see a potential "problem."  As the pictures show, the problem was an electrical wire which was buried under a plumbing pipe that we did not know existed right next to the driveway. Our priority was, of course, to see how far the wire extended from the house and if it was live.  Careful excavation showed that the wire was cut about a foot from the house, and further careful exploration showed that the wire was dead.  We were cautious, however, because this appeared to be the other end of a supposedly dead wire we found in the kitchen wall last year.  That "dead" wire gave Rick a shock that knocked him half-way across the room!

The only thing we can figure out is that the wire at one time was hooked to an outdoor light post that was a popular feature of 1960's landscapes.  The pipe that traveled illegally over the wire was a later transition from a galvanized steel pipe to a copper pipe.  Apparently when the plumbing was updated, it traveled from the middle of the kitchen wall over to the driveway and then back out to the city hook-up in the front yard.  The "jog" that we currently have may have been done to accommodate the palm tree that is in front of the kitchen windows.

Since the pipes are intact and the wire is dead, we will just cut the wire closer to the house and rebury the pipe when we get done painting. Surprise # 2, thankfully, turned out not to be a problem at all.  Whew!

The kitchen area now has a sealer coat to make the house
waterproof in this area. 

Rick did the work of two today while I took care of simpler chores inside.  While I baked homemade peanut butter cookies and completed the laundry, he put the colored sealer on the walls of the kitchen front.  Gladys definitely needs two coats of paint in that area, but having a somewhat uniform color is starting to bring the whole "look" together.  Our goal is to get two coats of finish paint on the bedroom soffits and fascia so we can add the shutters to Gladys.  That will make a huge difference even if we do not get any landscaping in this year.

Pieces of the north gate come down.

Our last task of the day was to remove the north gate.  That little bit of beat-up fence was the last remaining part of the fence that surrounded Gladys when we bought her.  We have kept it up to hide the garbage cans and to somewhat close off the back yard, but we needed to take it down before we can start work on north side of the house.  Since building refuse pick-up is with our Monday garbage only, we wanted to get the cut-up fence and gate out to the curb so it will be gone by tomorrow afternoon.

Rick said he was disappointed that he did not get a first finish coat on the fascia and soffits, but I was amazed that he completed all that he did. He always underestimates the time that tasks will take.  I think his accomplishments today were great; I get tired just writing about them! Our surprises turned out to be positive, so all-in-all,  today turned out to be a good day.

The north side actually looks better without the
ratty old fence and gate.  The new fence (next year)
will be located in front of the heat pump to hide all of the
HVAC from the street.