Zed in a Shed

Well... sort of. Today's post is a mish-mosh of things that need an update which includes Zed parts. Consider, our over-arching goal is to get out of our existing house and into NewOldHouse in as predictable a way as we can. Sometimes, that means repairs and other times that means moving non-critical things.

Tool Shed not just for Tools

As the post title implies, I got all of Zed's parts which are not fastened to the car moved into the ToolShed. Recall all those years ago when I re-purposed an otherwise unused bedroom for "temporarily" storing car parts? It was the Shed Room, and held all kinds of things. Of course, the first significant resident was Zed, or rather all of his interior and glass. Once the line was crossed, though, it was not long before K2's things were in there, and then some of T's and, of course, some of C's. An extra television, some broken electronics... a box-spring... next thing you know, it's full of random stuff and you can't really get in or out of the store room anymore, and it doesn't really have "shed" stuff in it much either.

So, I spent the last weekend digging through the Shed Room, and moving everything car-related not just out of the room, but into the ToolShed. No, things are not organized there, but they are inside. I hope to fit most of the Zed bits onto the upper deck/shelf since I have to sand and shoot Zed again before any of those parts go on. The picture on the right, here, will serve as a great "before" image, assuming I can get it into an "after" state that's actually useful.

Folks Belongings Sorted

I had thought about a post just about this stuff, but I decided it really was not that interesting to anyone other than me. In my last post, and in another post last year, I mentioned that Boo and I had started moving things out of our old house into NewOldHouse... and then my father passed away. His passing prompted an accelerated effort to find a safe place for my mom to live because she really needs to be on someone's radar all the time. Dad had provided that eyes-on. She could no longer live independently, and the facility we were able to get her into was close to us and among the best in the area. This alone was no small miracle. Unfortunately she would go from a 1 bedroom apartment to basically a hospital bed with a couple of dressers. Setting aside all the emotional difficulty, there was the logistical issue of a 1 bedroom apartment that needed to be vacated in less than 10 days. For a typical move, belongings follow the person. Not this time. Everything still needed to be treated with care, but with an opportunity for family to carefully go through at them since those things which did not go to family and friends were going to donations. Of course, this was all while we were relocating Mom and planning for Dad's funeral service/reception.

A small subset of Mom's clothes and treasures belongings went with her on move-Mom day. Boo lead that spike, transporting Mom while my brother I loaded and delivered the stuff to the new place. Boo organized on that end while E and I made separate run, loading a truck and a van and bringing it to my house. The following day, we emptied the rest of the apartment.... into my dining and living rooms. I mentioned that in earlier posts. Over the course of the next few weeks, Boo and I would host family members to take things that meant something to them, or because they simply liked them. By the time of the service late last month, we were down to about 25% of their things remaining. All family members had gone through, leaving us with boxes of photographs, papers, some donations and a final small collection of things. The photos and papers were hauled over to NewOldHouse this past weekend, and the donations went to Goodwill as well. All that remains now are things earmarked for remote family or the hospice team (like the walkers and stuff like that).

Home Repair Update: Heat

seriously: crawlspace

Well, this post ended up longer, so I'll drop a quick update on what we have fixed since the last time. Boo got under the house again to address some furnace issues. When the crawlspace was done, the guys did a C+job. The main rectangular duct running down the center of the house (off which the individual vents connect) had a huge gap in it. The gap was so big that we could feel warm air wafting through a hole in the bathroom floor where a heat register had been removed. With lots of high-end silver duct tape (not that sticky grey crap), she sealed up the main duct sufficiently to contain the heat leak.

Corresponding to that improvement, I put all of the outlet and switch covers back on. Yes, this actually made a big difference. This is a 1948 farmhouse with it's original siding, so wind can make it through the siding into the outer walls. Yes, new siding would help, as would blown-in insulation, but both of those cost money and we're pretty low on that these days. Outlet covers help hold that cold out, and by keeping the ones we removed, this cost nothing. After the covers were on, I applied clear caulk between the 1/4 round and the hardwood floor, eliminating all drafts from the outside. When these 3 improvements are put together, the newOldHouse is much warmer and waaaay less drafty than it was. This difference is especially noticeable in "the addition" (2 bedrooms added in the mid-1960's).

Camp Kitchen

Boo and I were loaned a 2 cubic foot mini-fridge by our niece so we can "camp" at NewOldHouse while the kitchen is demolished / rebuilt. We will be effectively camping in our house, using camp equipment and whatever else we can put together for a make-shift kitchen while we build the real one. This picture on the right fairly captures the humble beginnings of our temporary kitchen. Similar to the image of the shed in it's great disarray, this will serve as a viable before image for a working camp-kitchen as well as help me remember this period after the real kitchen (thru that doorway) is completed. Other than the kitchen, we are down to smaller things like hanging closet doors and, of course, moving. The bathroom needs a shower curtain rod, and some small wall repairs before it is fully functional, but we are starting to feel close.

There are so many different balls in the air these days, it's kind of hard to keep it all straight, and remember what the next step is. For moving things, we are working our way towards the center from the edges, resolving the outermost ring of our belongings first (like the outside, the ShedRoom, etc). Having a trajectory like that helps when you finish something and need to decide what's next. There is no written list and it would change fairly often if it were. Instead, we look at what is in greatest need and do that first. In a way, it is extreme Agile as applied to moving, reconstructing a house and solving for your aging parents while holding down a job, sending your kids to college and trying to retain a little sanity. Whee!!

Thanks, as always, for following along-