The Red Door

I have always liked the looks of a red door on a house when I have seen one.  Never had one before, but wanted one and now my wish has been granted.  Our old front door was pretty blah and after getting the new storm door and the new siding on the house, Pat suggested that a red door might be nice.  Needless to say, she didn't have to convince me.  The following pictures show the door before and after Pat did an excellent paint job to create our new red door.

 

This is the door before the paint job.

 

 

 

This is the new red door and it looks great if I do say so myself.

 

 

Patrick

Finished At Last

The new siding project is finished.  It has turned out real well and is a big improvement in the house.  The following pictures show the finished product including the new front storm door.  The old one was made of black rout iron and Pat said it looked like a prison door.  It is gone and the new door does brighten up the front.  Here are the pictures.

 

This is one view of the front of the house.  You can see the newly painted garage doors and how well they matched up to the new siding.  Pat did all the painting on them as well as the trim around the doors.

 

 

Another view of the front of the house

 

 

A side/back view of the back of the house and some of the gazebo.  You can also see the new sliding glass door going into the lower level of the house.

 

 

Another view of the back of the house and the gazebo.  The gazebo also got a new sliding glass door and 3 new windows so that all of the windows are side sliders with screens.

 

 

This is the old "prison" front storm door.

 

 

This is the new front storm door.  Nice flowers also.

 

 

Patrick

Poor Guy

This poor male Bluebird has been sitting either the apple tree or the evergreen tree trying to attract a female for the past three weeks.  We see him every day but have not seen a female at all.  There was another male around earlier but he didn't stick around for long. 

 

I read where the male Bluebird will select the birdhouse and then sit in a tree, fluffing his feathers, trying to attract the female to build the nest - all by herself - in the house he selects.  I wonder how long they wait.

 

 

 



The Painter

There are a few trim pieces that we have to paint because of their shape or size.  This morning Pat climbed the scaffolding and painted the arced trim piece around the window in the dining room outer wall.   After she finished that she painted the trim pieces around the two garage doors.  Their size and thickness makes them difficult to put the siding trim on them.  The new paint matches the siding trim pieces color very well and it is a job well done by the very good painter.  The following are some pictures taken during the painting process.

 

She had just finished the arced trim board and was doing the small trim board between the two windows here.

 

 

She is pointing to the new soffit on the inside of the arch.  It is the new steel siding material.

 

 

Painting all done and the window was washed.  Now to get down.

 

 

She has finished the trim boards around the double garage door and is now working on the trim around the third garage.

 

 

Just stopped to wave hello after I let her know she was being photographed.

 

 

One of the workman must have said something as she is laughing about it.

 

 

Patrick

Siding Update and River Receding

Just a couple pictures of the latest on our siding project and of the river receding.

 

This one shows work being done on the front of the house getting it ready for the siding.

 

 

Another shot of the front of the house.

 

 

This is the east side of the house, the outside wall of our bedroom.  You can also see a little of the Gazebo in the lower left of the picture.  It will be the last thing to get the new siding.  They have already put in the new windows and the new sliding glass door.

 

 

We are starting to see our dock again.  Just happened today.  If the river keeps going down at this rate, we might be able to go for a pontoon ride in another couple weeks.

 

 

Patrick

 

Latest On The House Siding Project And The High Water

Good progress is being made on our siding project.  Today they are doing the end of the house that is the highest to reach.  The back west side of the house and the back of the garage are all done.  The following pictures will show some of the latest work.  After that are some pictures of the high water in the river and our "bench" in the water.  Looks like there won't be any riding on the pontoon for awhile now.  Maybe the river will go down as fast as it came up.

 

This is the high point of the house for siding.

 

 

Another shot of the high point and you can see the lower part is all done.

 

 

This is the back west side of the house all finished.

 

 

This is the rest of the back west side of the house and the back of the garage.  Looking good.

 

 

You would definitely get your feet wet getting to the pontoon now.

 

 

The pontoon is still on the lift and not floating.  Another 6 inches and it may be afloat.  Hope the river is going the other way now and we don't get any more rain for awhile.

 

 

Patrick

Progress Report

The house siding project is underway.  The weather has been cooperating too - so far.  The removal on the back is done but they're saving the best til last - the peak.

 

 

 

  The new siding; just a few more strips to go. 

The father/son team at work



Let the Work Begin

Last Wednesday evening Patrick mentioned he was going to get up early on Thursday and go rent a tiller to do his garden spot.  Sometime between Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, the decision changed courses and turned to "renting" a person to do the tilling.  After a couple phone calls, he found someone.   Evidently, this person does big tilling projects as he said he had a tractor.  Patrick told him that he didn't think he needed a tractor as our garden spot isn't that big and a tractor may not fit.  I guess it did.  Needless to say, it didn't take him very long to do the job and sure saved Patrick a lot of work in renting a tiller.

 

 

The next project began this morning.  We are putting new siding on our house.  The current siding is cedar siding that has seen better days.  Our new siding will be steel siding.  We're already finding "surprises" with the little bit of siding that has been removed - should be an interesting project.



Red, Yellow, Blue & Migrating Birds and New Bird Feeders

This is a mixture of different birds we have been seeing on a regular basis the last week or so and also two new bird feeders I just finished for use in Arizona next winter.  We will use one and the other will be used by our friends Carol and Dan.  Enjoy the pictures.

 

The blue bird is an Indigo bunting and the one in the background is a female Rose-breasted Grosbeak.  We see the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak quite often but didn't get any pictures.

 

 

This is of course a Goldfinch.  We have several visiting the feeding now.

 

 

This is our resident Cardinal.  I think he and his mate stay here most of the year.  He isn't as red right now as he will be later in the summer.

 

 

This is the backside of the two new feeders.

 

 

This is a side view showing the hooks that hold one side of the roof down.

 

 

This is the front side of the feeders.

 

 

This shows the roof open and ready for the feeder to be filled with bird food.  The red things inside are "V" shaped inserts that will get the seeds to flow out under the sight windows.

 

 

This is a temporary visitor on the way to Canada where he will spend the summer.  It is a Yellow-rumped Warbler.  If you look closely between his wings, you can see some of his yellow rump.

 

 

This is another shot of the Yellow-rumped Warbler

 

 

That's the show for today.

 

Patrick

 

This 'N That

Never know what you'll find in the garage.  I think I passed the door on the storage cabinet a couple times before I noticed this sign hanging on it.  Patrick said he found it at the swap meet in Arizona but didn't have the right hook to hang it until this week.

 

 

Another thing that happened while we were in Arizona (besides both of our birthdays) was our 6th wedding anniversary.  Good thing we have Google to search to find out the "appropriate" anniversary.  The 6th one is wood or iron.  I got a wooden lap tray to hold my laptop computer (no photo needed).  This is what I got Patrick (the iron part).

 

 

Now, we're waiting for some of the Arizona weather to arrive in Minnesota.