electricland

So as I told everyone by email:

Good morning all! It has been a weekend full of incident and
productivity.

On Friday Robin was
getting ready to leave for work when she heard a loud "TWEET!" followed by
an even louder knocking from the southeast corner of the roof. She looked
out the window and saw a woodpecker. It appeared again on Sunday.

Also on Friday Jen talked to a man about repairing the eavestroughs,
flashing, etc. He made remarks about Jeffrey Dahmer when he saw the back
of the house but was very nice and fixed one of our downspouts.

On Saturday Dan came. He and Robin cleared boxes out of the third floor
crawl space until Stuart and Gill arrived with the drywall (twice, because
the first time it wasn't firecode). Then he worked on prepping the large
crawl space (the breadknife made a return appearance).

Jen moved lumber to the front porch, sorted stuff, and tidied. Gill pruned
the hollyhocks that had fallen over, then cleaned windows and other
things. Robin, Gill, and Jen built Robin's kitchen drawer unit, which got
rid of four Ikea boxes at one stroke. Jen and Robin had a fine production
line going for drawers.

Jen, Gill, Dan, and Robin ate lunch at Gabby's. Robin's friend Alex came
by and admired the house. She says the southern slope of the roof would be
a fine location for a solar panel.

On Sunday Dan and Dave came and resumed work on the crawl space. Robin
unpacked boxes and put things away in her kitchen. Gill came by and
cleaned, particularly Jen's bathroom.

Jen and Robin moved: (1) the saws from Jen's front room to the middle
room, (2) Jen's sofa from the porch to the front room, (3) things around
in the basement, (4) the saws to the basement, (5) Jen's sofa cushions and
five chairs from the basement to the front room. Then they cleaned them
and put the feet on the armchair. Then they sat on the couch.

Jen and the Hooligans ate lunch at Gabby's. Gill took away some wood. We
hope it was scrap wood.

Kelly and Jean came by to admire the house and take Robin and Kathryn to
lunch at Il Fornello. A fine time was had by all. In the meantime, Jen
caulked her bathtub. She did not apply grout sealant, as this requires a
gas mask. Jen and Robin set up Robin's doorbell.

Accomplishments:
- There are no longer any power saws in the main part of the house.
- Robin's kitchen is looking great and is almost completely functional.
The drawer unit is everything she hoped it would be. She found her toaster
oven and borrowed an electric kettle from her parents, so she is now
equipped to cook anything that doesn't require a stovetop. This morning
she had coffee and a toasted bagel with cream cheese.
- Dan and Dave have finished the ceiling of the large crawl space.
- Robin has a doorbell.
- Jen has things to sit on.

Nothing Is Ever Simple dept.:
- On Friday Sears called to say that the order for Jen's fridge has gone
through and it is a fabulous fridge that she will love. Unfortunately,
it's back-ordered until the first week of October.
- The eavestrough guy said that we don't really need to install new
eavestroughs yet and in any case we'd need to rip them off again when we
did the other things on the outside of the house. However, we do need to
do the flashing on the outside of the windows, and a few other things.
Unfortunately, he can't send a crew out for a job that small. We would
need to be his grandmother. Jen and Robin need to investigate DIY
flashing.

Status of selected rooms:
- Jen's bathroom: Clean. Functional. Mirrors, cabinets, some overhead
lights, and toilet paper dispenser to be installed. Template for the last
is taped in place. Drain still needs to be sealed.
- Robin's kitchen: Clean. Functional. Lights need to be made to work.
Stove needs power and gas. Two wall shelves are assembled and need to be
installed. Various minor finishing bits and bobs to be done.
- Robin's bedroom: Mostly clean. Functional. Fan needs to be installed.
Lights and fan in bathroom need to be made to work. Washing machine needs
power. Crawl spaces in progress. Lights in main area need to be wired.

Deadlines:
Jen needs to move in to the House no later than two weeks from now, as
Calypso McK is moving into her room at John and Helen's.

That is all.

Your friend,

Robin