February- 2024

 Basement

Level 5 grunt task-moving this hill of compacted soil/clay from the basement. It doesn't look like much, but it was.

We finally finished the French-ish drain started way back in summer 2021 by adding rocks to the trench.

Downstairs Hallway/Entryway

Pete and Joe framed out and installed these double doors in the main entryway. I often feel like a four year old asking my dad if I can "help" with projects, since we have graduated to more skilled house tasks that I can not contribute to. I was pleased I could shave down these tiny dowels to fill these holes where the new hinges were getting installed. Yay!

Are we hoarders? It it a hoard if its organized?

We hung all of our picture frames, silver teapots, chandeliers, sconces, and other hangable metal bits in the upstairs front bedroom. It looks like a lamp store on the Bowery. There are definitely some things I would like to purge. My sister-in-law is so kind and encouraging "You can always sell what you don't want"  I think at this point we have two sconces for every 10 linear feet of the house.  

Flora and Fauna

There were an invasion of lady bugs in the house this winter. I trained this one to climb on this pencil. 

We invite our neighbor Kevin to dump his grass clippings on our compost pile. I found this smelly,  soupy mess percolating in Kevin's cart" I saw a deer, I thought it was gonna charge me, so I took off. I forgot about dumping the grass."  he told me. Deer attacks are exceedingly rare; he must have felt guilty about his meet eating.

Also in the "disgusting and smelly department", I found this decomposed bag of vegan chop meat in the back of our fridge.