Time for an update to the story

Well I guess its time to give you an update as to what has gone on around here. I'll start with a small project that I build early in March. I decided to make a small cart that could be rolled back and forth into the small cupboard above the basement stairs beside my office desk. This cart would have two levels and be just wide enough and long enough to fill up most of the floor space in the cupboard. Once complete I placed my larger inkjet printer on the top shelf with some small items and placed a few other items on the lower shelf. This is now wheeled into the storage area to free up some floor space in the house. Here are two photos showing the cart empty and then filled. The uprights on the left side are the handles used to move it around.

For the rest of the  month I worked a few extra days and did little in the house. I did find some time to clean  up the garage enough that I could bring the remainder of my tools to the garage from Mom's garage. I now have just a few items left at Mom's to bring over.
For the first week of April I spent time in the garage building a few cupboards to store items and arranged the tools around the perimeter of the garage. Some items may still move around but I think the large tools will stay where they are. I took the second week of April off from work and used the time to do some more work around the house. I finished up the Board and Batten on the rear deck and here's a picture showing the almost completed work.

With that done I could hook up my gas line for the BBQ and have even had the first BBQ on the deck. I still need to get some furniture and finish cleaning off the deck before the first full dinner can be had out there. Along with waiting for warmer weather as well. However, the weather was warm enough that I could spend time moving and sifting dirt from the topsoil pile that was at the front of the house. This dirt was spread over the ground at the side of the house and the front as well. Before doing this I carefully staked out the area and used a builders transit to site the area and calculate a proper slope to allow water to run away from the house and then down a swale to the front of the house and into the ditch along the road. I have managed to get a 1.5ft slope from rear of house to the front ditch a length of 110 ft. Once the dirt was spread out I leveled it and then rolled it. I then added more dirt where needed and rolled it again. Once the ground was all leveled and rolled I used a rake to loosen the top portion and spread out some grass seed. After the first spreading I raked it again and then spread out some more grass seed. Once this second layer was down I raked it again and then rolled it to ensure the grass seed would stay in place. I then watered the area and Mother Nature was kind enough to water it as well over the past week. After ten days I see the grass has started to grow. Hopefully in an other week it will actually look green there. Here are some photo's showing the side of the house and the front of the house during and after the seeding was all done.

After this was done I spent some time making up a small bench for installation at the rear entrance. This would be used to sit at while putting on your footware. The framework was made from some of the leftover Oak used for the board and batten and the top was make from Maple and Teak strips. Here is a picture of the seat in the back entrance. 

Lastly I took some time to line up and calculate some heights for the next small retaining wall outside. This wall will be along the East side of the house from my back entrance towards the rear of the house. I then bug a trench about 4-6inches lower than the first course of stone and filled it with tamped down gravel. Either next week or the following I'll install the actual stones on this base. Here is a photo of the area.

For the coming month the plan is to work on the door jambs for the interior doors and possibly start work on building the doors as well. Also I want to do more landscaping outside. I need to build one more set of steps to the rear deck and I also need to look at putting up the trim over the decks as well as finishing off the railings. How long all this takes depends on weather and how much time I have. 

Lastly I now have all my appliances in the house. The last three arrived on Apr 12 which was the stove and washer and dryer. Since the dryer and the stove were Natural gas I had a gas fitter come in and hook them up. Unfortunately the dryer went "clunk, clunk, clunk" once it was turned on. Turns out the drum was hitting the skin panel. Also unfortunately the repair company and or Maytag screwed up and sent the wrong colour panel for the repair. Then the second panel they sent was damaged in shipping. So 18 days later I still do not have a working dryer. They now hope to fix it this coming Tuesday providing the panel shows up and it's the right one and undamaged. 

So that's all for now. See you again maybe towards the end of May or if something big happens sooner.

Harold