Late night munchies.

I am no longer the night owl that I was in my twenties, these days I go to bed before Dave. For the past few weeks, before falling asleep, I have heard little chewing sounds coming from one corner of our bedroom. That shouldn't happen, the spray foam insulation, in addition to keeping us well insulated, is supposed to deter pests (insects and rodents) from getting into the walls. When I told Dave about hearing the little scraping, gnawing noises he dismissed it as a branch rubbing against the roof.  ~ I would like to point out that there are no tree branches touching the roof of our house. Garage, yes. House, no. ~

This past Sunday night, at 3:30 am, Dave & I woke up to a loud scraping noise. At first we thought something was in the furnace duct. Then we realized that something was chewing in the walls. Dave tracked the sound to the window at the top of the stairs, near the ceiling. No amount of thumping on the walls scared our late night gnawer away.  ~ I should also point out that over the years we have become very familiar with the little scurrying and wall chewing noises of mice. One or two good thumps on the wall usually gets them to stop and the humans can go back to sleep. ~  Dave took the screen out of the window, leaned out and pounded on the outside of the house. The critter seemed oblivious. I very helpfully pointed out that maybe it was deaf. The gnawing was LOUD, this was no demur little mouse. In keeping with the law that everything sounds bigger in the dark, this thing sounded to be about the size of a woodchuck. Exasperated, Dave finally gave up trying to frighten the intruder and returned to bed. As we lay there, the gnawing stopped and a minute later started up again, in a corner of our bedroom near the ceiling. Dave let a few expletives fly. After a few more gnaws, our nocturnal party animal quieted down for the rest of the night.

Two more nights have passed, both with pretty miserable weather, without our late night visitor.

We think whatever it is, probably either a chipmunk or squirrel (don't they ever sleep?), has been getting in somewhere along the roof line of the new construction and running around in the rafters - where there isn't any spray foam insulation. Time to do some sleuthing to find the port of entry and plug it tight!

Bandaloop!

Now this is worth sharing...
Dancing on the side of a building?
It was WICKEDLY cool to see!

ps: Sorry about the video quality, it degraded after upload - but you get the idea, this was cool.

Busy guy

As if the man doesn't have enough to do...

yesterday I caught him vacuuming the roof and gutters.

How to Vacation Like the Eckersons

Step 1: Locate your pry bar and sledge hammer.

Step 2: Be certain to plan your vacation for the absolute hottest week of the year, 90+ degree temps and high humidity are favorable.

Step 3: Tear the walls out from at least one room in your house. This activity is much more fun if the walls of your room are covered with chicken wire and plaster.

Step 4: Right at the start of day two of your demolition project, one of you should hurt yourself in a manner that is not life threatening but does require icing and elevation throughout the day consequently leaving your partner to mostly do the remainder of the work on his own.

Step 5: Cap week one of your vacation off with a large section of an old weeping willow tree falling across the power lines that run to your house.

Step 6: Remain upbeat knowing that there is a second week worth of fun & surprises yet to come!

We're baaaack...

It's in the air...

Happy Valentine's Day
xo

Colder than...

It's cold here, single digit temps that creep into the low teens for a daily high. Not as cold as some regions but cold none the less. While some of us hunkered down with a good book and a quart of tequila - interspersed with desperate internet searches for last minute deals to some place warm & sunny - my brother headed to the Adirondacks (where it is even colder) to do a little ice climbing.

Colder than...an ice climber's ass in January.

Passing Muster

It's official, we passed our final inspection.

The last thing that the inspector needed to see properly installed was the handrail - for safety.

We purchased a nice handrail, newel post & balusters but there is a lot of measuring & ciphering to do to cut and install the balusters so that they are straight & level. Dave has barely had a spare moment to himself and no time to devote to that project right now. Plus, everything needs to be stained - which will not be happening in the house until all windows and doors can be left open. Time was running out on our building permit so he improvised.

 He rehung the "temporary" handrail that he made back in December 2010. He carefully measured, remeasured and then measured again before drilling holes in his brand new drywall.

Two 2x4's screwed and glued together make one sturdy newel post. The sanded edges and rounded corners are a nice touch.

Dave made a phone call to the inspector and found out that we did indeed have to have the balusters installed to pass inspection. For safety. You never know when one of us might tumble down the stairs, somehow bounce on the 4th step from the bottom and fall sideways out the hole onto the living room floor. So, in about 30 minutes time, the night before inspection, Dave made and installed rough balusters.

Now Dave can focus on finishing the wallboard in the living room and building a little access door to his cupboard under the stairs. In his spare time.

Supportive & Non-lumpy Bliss

Last night we slept in our own bed, for the first time since July 11, 2011.
It felt wonderful.
Turns out, it was a little bittersweet as well.
537 nights.
Not that one of us was counting.
Hang on, 2012 was a leap year.
538 nights.
Not quite 1001 Arabian Nights, but we sure had fun with it, sleeping in the Westy and sleeping on the futon mattress in front of the big window - looking out onto our back yard and the fields, seeing the sunrise every morning - and sleeping under the Christmas tree. In fact, we were a little sad to leave that view from the big window behind. It's pretty special. But now we have the luxury of having a choice of where we want to sleep at night, kind of like having a weekend home, without the nuisance of packing!