One Failure and a Few Successes

This was a long weekend, and Douglas and I had big plans. It is rare that we get a full day to work on the house. Douglas normally has to work on Saturday, this one was no different, and I often having grading to finish on Sunday evenings. We also do not like to get out of bed early, so we often have only a few hours on Sunday afternoon in which to work. This week we had all day on Sunday. I guess it speaks to how crazy we are that we planned to work on the house on the gorgeous October day we had free. Or at least my insanity because I am fairly certain that Douglas would have found something better to do with his time. I just cannot seem to help myself.

Douglas had hoped to get these rotted boards replaced on the porch.

Rotted beam on porchRotted beam on porchRotted beam on porch

Is it normal to be able to pull wood apart with your hands?

Rotted beam on porchRotted beam on porch

Unfortunately, the rot went back further than we had anticipated. I am certain that we would be able to fix it, but it would take a lot more time and effort than we are able to extend this time of year. We are going to pay someone to do it for us. This will allow us to stay married, since arguments over this board have been detrimental to our union.

Rotted beam on porch

In the meantime, we have become those neighbors. You know, the ones that live on the block and repair the holes on their property with plastic and tape. Every neighborhood has to have one, so we stepped up.

Rotted beam on porch covered in plastic

While Douglas was “fixing up” the porch roof, I decided to tackle the porch itself which was looking like this. I am not sure why, but no matter how often we clean the porch, it always seems to collect junk.

Messy porch

The newest items in the collection are these crates. They have the word “Merlot” stamped on the side, so Douglas thought they were wine crates, which I love. He found them in the dark and carted them home for me. He is so sweet. Unfortunately, in the light of day these turned out to be grape crates which are the less well made cousins of the wine crates.

Grape crates on porch

The grape crates came on the porch to join the collapsible tray table and wooden folding chair that Douglas also brought  home from the trash.

Curb sale finds on porch

The worst part was that when I went to open up the shed to put some of these items in there, it looked like this. I swear that crap reproduces and multiplies on our premises. We are waging a never-ending war with junk around here. It would probably help if we could refrain from picking up trash and stopping at garage sales.

Messy shedMessy shed

I set to work and now the shed looks like this.

Clean shedClean shed

As you can see, a few of the grape crates were repurposed to corral tools and other items. The rest went back to the curb for someone else to rescue.

Clean shed

The porch also looks much better.

Clean porch

Douglas raked and mowed the lawn. Ah, the little Cape of Dreams looks and feels so much better! Oh yeah, except for the plastic on the porch.

Cape of Dreams on October 13

Happy Homemaking!

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About

I am a teacher, traveler, artist, writer, homemaker and a whole lot more. In January 2009, I bought the Cape of Dreams. It was the second house that I had ever owned, but it was the first that I bought by myself. I now live in the house with my husband Douglas, our dog Kahlua, and Crème de Menthe, the cat. Because, what life is complete without a little Kahlua and Cream? I love arts and crafts of all kinds, and I refinish furniture as well. We are slowly redoing our entire house. You can read about my projects on my blog www.CapeofDreams.com

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