Playing catch up

We have been at the new house just less than three months. Around eleven or twelve weeks.

We have had visitors for ten of those weeks.

Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed and appreciated every one of those visitors and they each are invited back to spend as long as they want starting as soon as they arrive. Heck, come live here.

But it has kept the blog post total down a bit.  There are only so many hours.

So, let's play catch up with some pictures and see if I can get a routine started. 

Ha! Routine.  I crack myself up.

When last we left, the front of the house looked like this:

Torn apart and mid rebuild.

 Fast forward a day or so and it looked like this:

Ninja house. You only see it when it's too late.

The two windows under all that tar paper were broken. We went to our normal supplier to get replacements and they were out of that size. The next shipment was two weeks out.

Two weeks.  Yikes. 

We are at that time of year here in western Washington where it could start raining one day and not stop for a few months. Two weeks is risky.  Oh well, can't be helped.

As previously noted in this space, Sarah and I had been sleeping in the house, lovingly named Big Stinky, since her parents came up to visit. Well, her Dad had a birthday and it was decided we needed to hook up our new Craigslist oven to bake the cake. And, since we had an oven, we should buy a table and have a meal or two. 

It was kind of cramped in the RV.  So, this happened.

Just don't look down. Or at the wall. 

Did I mention rain?

I did.  Well, we had a sudden rainstorm. The forecast read sunny for days until it changed to rain tomorrow. We expected a casual shower, but no, it rained all day. It rained pretty hard too.

Now worries, the house is pretty water resistant. Of course, that night, during the heaviest rains so far, we found a leak. In the RV.

Yeah.

Water was pouring in from the back corner in the bedroom. I climbed up to the roof with a headlamp and found the problem. I tried flashing tape and putty tape and anything else I could think of, but I couldn't get anything to stay in the quarter inch of running water going right across the broken seam.  Luckily, we have the blue tarps. So I tarped the roof and it stopped the leak for the night.

The next day, I got up topside to see how bad it was.

It was pretty bad.

Right where the roof meets the end-cap on the back of the RV.

I knew I needed to redo the sealant, but I didn't know it was that bad.

There were other places too.

I had been planning to fix those spots when the moment came, but I got busy and didn't get to it.

I guess the moment came and got me.

I already had the stuff, so I spent the next morning on the roof of the RV repairing the leaky areas.  Had to be done.

With the threat of rain, and honestly, just to see some of it done, we decided to hang some siding.

Yeah, we need more practice. 

With the siding up, Sarah went to the paint store and bought some paint to test. They kept telling her the color she like would fade. Of course, they told her all the colors she liked would fade.

I think the only color they had that wouldn't fade was one that started out as the color of faded paint. 

We decided to go with the color she liked and just let it get to that faded color naturally.

Our spider problem just keeps chugging along no matter how many we get rid of. I just imagine a huge spider arising from one of the many holes in the floor to find this huge area where other spiders should be. Finding none, he declares himself King Spider of this new...hey, is that a ShopVac?

Michael, the animal lover, doesn't like us killing anything we don't have to. So, he rescues the poor little guys when he can. 

Better him than me.

Several generations of my family shuddered seeing this picture.

Michael, "Awww, he's just a cute little guy." 

Yeah, no.

Whatever suits you kid. I'll use the ShopVac.

Sarah and I kept working.

Don't laugh, the trim will hide most of the irregularities.

The trim may have to be a foot wide or so.

It's going to look good, I think.

Eventually.

Of course, it rained again. So, we had to leave it at that for the day. Luckily, there were other projects.

Sarah wanted the sink moved to directly under the window. Now is the time for that stuff.  So, I moved the drain and feed lines. 

To mark this occasion, I have composed a poem.

Ode to Blue Hawk Push to Connect Fittings

By Eric Gaden

Blue Hawk Push to Connect Fittings

You are awesome.

I freaking love you.

The End.

Moving the drain line meant glue and cure times and mess.

Push to connect turns this...

To this in minutes allowing me to look like I know what I'm doing.

Awesome.

So, Sarah's parents left. Sarah and I were going to move back into the RV until we had one of the kids bedrooms ready and maybe their bathroom too.  But, the kids had other ideas. They wanted to move into the house with us.  So, we cleared out the study I had been using for lumber storage and had this.

Stephen King story time.

It is weird having the RV and not sleeping in it. So much of our lives is still in there. So much always will be. 

Until next time.