An update

We've had quite a July. After our friends left, my family came, and my dad hit the house in a blur of motion. On Friday, he tried to fix the garbage disposal, which turned out to be beyond repair but not beyond smoking up the kitchen. This made him discover that our exhaust fan had been taped shut outside the house, so he fixed that. Then we got a new garbage disposal and he installed it. He also fixed our kitchen faucet (the aerator wasn't working). Having spent enough time inside, he moved outdoors to chop down a scraggly tree, mow over the weeds in the front yard that we'd been waiting for the Round Up to kill, and break up a big pile of gravel and dry dirt with a shovel. We sat inside and watched in awe.

Saturday, everyone (Steven McD included) pitched in to clear out the cedar tree debris. About six trips out to Todd's parents' ranch to dump the stuff took care of it. Dad also pruned the ingrowth on the tree in front (it blooms pink in the spring, but I don't know what it is). It looks much better now, and it will be a lot healthier.

Also accomplished: fixed the leaky faucet in the upstairs bathroom, installed bolt to secure door knob on front door (we have one of the long ones that has a little thumb latch, and at the bottom where it meets the door, there's supposed to be a bolt), caulked around front door, hung begonia from oak tree in back in a way that DOESN'T cause it to fall off (not that that's how I did it...), mostly fixed the window in the office (that I now need to glaze before fall) and other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting.

And David and Dad built a table out of the stump from the tree we cut down. It doesn't look that great from a distance, but it looks fantastic when set for dinner. Plus it's a lot nicer than eating off a box, which is what we had been doing.

After the fam left, Rachel stayed for a few more days. We worked on pulling up the carpeting on the stairs, because there's pine underneath. Though we unfortunately found that the carpet pad was idiotically glued to the floor, it is (happily) water-and-fabric-softener soluble. So it's a pain, but definitely doable. We also painted all the paneling that will go in my office. Now it just needs to be cut and installed.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I owe you a video and some pix, but my card reader has decided to go on vacation, and I know if I save this to update later, I'll never do it. Pix to come.