It was a race

 From the very beginning, it was a race. And, we knew it.

The house was taking damage every time it rained. For the past few years, sitting abandoned, it grew worse and worse.

When we took over the place, we knew our first priority was to stop further damage. In order to do that, we had to make the place waterproof.

I don't know if you've heard, but it rains quite a bit up here in western Washington.

We knew that nature was going to put a hard deadline on our efforts to improve the outside of the house, but we didn't know when that would be.  Last year, around mid-October, it started raining and didn't stop for three months.

We finished putting the final part of the first coat of paint on the house about three hours before the rain started.

Had to get paint deep in the crevice

The little things often take much longer than the big ones.

One, thin coat

I'm going to call that a draw.  Photo finish.

We were pretty happy to get even that done.

This gave us the occasion to look back at what we have accomplished.

Day one.  No RV.

The arrival of the roof.

All that tall grass?  Gone

RV? gone

Jet skis?  Yep, gone.

The first day of exterior demolition.

Cutlass?  See ya!

Mega-Spider! Gone, but his many, many cousins remain.

Progress

Ninja house

Little helpers

Starting to look like a home.

Getting there.

Almost there.

Of course, we also have to take a look forward at what is still left to do. And there is a lot.

It's a long winter that will be filled with indoor projects.  Like the bathroom.

 And the kitchen.

But even now, as the rain starts in earnest, work goes on.

R.I.P. Big Stinky 1994-2016

Meet Sunny!