Where are the Woods?

It's Wifey. I've hijacked the blog. I know we've been missing for quite while, but we're doing fine. As it always seems to happen as the weather warms we are finding our lives in fast forward.

The month of May passed quickly with lots of yard work to bring it up to the standards of a picky, control-freak and a detail-oriented, designer of fine landscape architecture. We're not there yet.... but we're working on it. We had our first house party on May 16th and it was a huge success. We never actually counted the number of guests but various parts of lives were well represented in the attendants. As we had suspected the house and it's layout are great for entertaining.

We also attending a wedding of our good friend "Pemberton" in Newport on Memorial Day weekend. It was a beautiful day in a lovely setting with an absolutely stunning bride and her groom.

We're famous ......

Had we have known what the weather in June would bring, we probably would'nt have tried so hard to keep up with the lawn. The greater Boston area (the Northeast in general) had 22 days of rain in June. It was enough rain that the dog smelled moldy, plants were drowning, the grass was mown wet and we finally gave in and just started doing things in the rain for fear one more day inside would cause cabin fever (red rum, red rum, Tobey red rum).

The highlight of June was dog training. In addition to the Woods missing from the blogging world you might have also noticed that the "Mockador" has also disappeared. Our little rescue dog turned out to be a wild monster without any manners. She's incredibly fortunate that she was adopted by a man with the patience of Job and a woman who loves dogs. There were definitely days that I threatened to drive her back to Indiana where she came from. As frustration mounted we enlisted the help of Laurie of Professional Pet Services in Pembroke, MA.

She and her sister Michelle were not our last resort for the Mockador but they were very close to it. They have a "Dog whisperer" mentality to dog training that allows one on one sessions broken into 4 classes to raise a calm, submissive dog. Today I'm happy to say that while Bella is not yet perfect, I'm no longer thinking of a road trip to the Hoosier state.

"I love my gate!" (thanks Auntie)

"Is there a treat in this for me?"

Father's Day weekend found the sisters taking our Dad the Bear for a "Christmas" fishing trip on the Sandy B of Gloucester MA. It was one of the rare days in June that the sun shone and we were actually able to head out into the ocean. Although we didn't catch any fish we made memories to enjoy for years to come.

The fog's just lifting. Throw off your bow line, throw off your stern.
You head out to South channel, past Rocky Neck, Ten pound island.
Past Niles Pond where I skated as a kid.
Blow your airhorn and throw a wave to the lighthouse keeper's kid on Thatcher Island.
Then the birds show up, black backs, herring gulls, big dump ducks and green legged coots. The sun hit ya , head North, open up to 12, steamin' now. The guys are busy, you're in charge. Ya know what? You're a goddam swordboat captain!Is there any thing better in the world? Sebastian Junger, A Perfect Storm

We took our traditional trip to the lake for July 4th weekend. Bella went on her first road trip to meet Sister, TC, EE, TE and the King at my parents cottage. It was a busy weekend filled with a "Flamingo" sighting, a Clarkson reunion, blanket sunbathing, a Mama Ruthie feast to feed the masses and the 4th of July Schamel party. Although the weather was not ideal, "the friendliest boat on the lake" did it's part to make the most of it.



I can't seem to find any other pictures from the weekend- I know it happened, maybe EE can help me out with a link to her photos here.


One of the highlights of the party was when my sister decided to break dance. Yep- that's right she was Jenny B from the block.






Do we know how to have fun or what?

That brings us up to now... the entire reason I've hijacked husbands blog- MY TOMATOES!!! Thanks to my Mom's monster garden growing up I've always enjoyed having my own plants in the summer. With the addition of the house I've stepped up my usual plantings with Earthbox planters. We'd like to thank "Fred and Wilma" for the very kind gift of 2 EB planters. We have a total of 2 tomato plants, a zucchini and a cucumber set up on the sunny, South side of the house. The staking of the gigantic tomatoes has been an ongoing task as they continue to grow. They're currently taller than my shoulder and covered with tons of flowers and lil' green 'maters. I'm so excited I could burst! I am trying not to love them to death as I wait for them to rippen. At this point it looks like our crop will be big enough to supply the neighborhood and possibly a farmer's market! The zucchini so far is a disappointment- the plant is gorgeous but the zukes seem to be ornamental in size. I've just read up on growing them so I'm going to attempt to employ some patience and wait. Right. The cukes look like they'll be ready in 2-3 weeks with healthy vines.

In addition to the veggies I have the usual flower boxes freshly updated with a nice mid-summer selection. I had great pansies (that came from the supermarket-gasp!) that got too leggy in the rain.



I was inspired by the inherited pot of chives from the previous owners and have a little perennial herb garden that hopefully will be in the ground next Spring. That's a list for another day :)

That's all for now. I hope this finds all of our friends and followers enjoying their summer. Husband is in Cairo for work this week. I'm hoping that he'll take some pics and update you when he returns. As for me, I might take a swipe at the "Laura Ashley violets" wallpaper in the downstairs bath. Or.... I might just relax. - Wifey

Our 90 year old neighbor sun worshipping (I've seen her in a bikini- no joke)

green goblin

Small Steps

One of the FIRST items on our "to-do" list was to address the rotted shingle siding on the two small attic dormers of the house. The previous owner, for some unknown reason, decided NOT to have these replaced prior to sell. We did our best to confirm that there was no leaking or severe rot in these areas and began to research replacing / rehabbing these spots.

Of course, the purist in me wanted to replace the old cedar-shake siding with a matched material type, which would require standard wood siding maintenance( painting and such ). The location the third floor dormers are a tough one to reach, even for experienced contractors, which I am NOT. So research of an alternative material began. Certain Teed has a very high quality polymer "Cedar Impressions" siding which, when employed properly, I think looks very nice. Given the amount of siding being replaced, the location of the siding and the subsequent maintenance ( or lack thereof ), we opted for the Cedar Impressions product. The cost for our job was about the same or a little less than if we used pre-treated cedar siding. We also decided to provide a slight color accent to these dormers; nothing extreme, yet we have been begun to replace and add planter boxes to the house which are painted in a dark blue/ gray. The new dormer color relates to this accent color and we are VERY happy with the results!


Here are some shots of the dormers BEFORE.. notice the lack of color and wood rot on the siding, trim and window sills. Also note the odd purple flower boxes with the fake flowers at the front entry ( this shot was taken in early December, the PRIME blooming season for vinyl florescent plants )





Now the after shots... New dormer siding, trim and soffits. We also opted on a bit darker, blue / gray accent color, to correspond with the new painted flower boxes. Three boxes are going to be added to the second floor porch this weekend ( we hope )



We also replaced the dining room light with what we are calling a " house appropriate" light fixture, one that is more along the lines of a craftsman style home. The upgrade in our mind is a great improvement to the already impressive dining room. MUCH thanks to Moms and Pops who were in town for a visit and helped in selecting and installing the fixture.


The old fixture in all its glory!!! ( We still love all the natural light that we get in this room the majority of the day )


And now the new fixture. A bit more appropriate to the style of the home and interior.

We are also planting, seeding and cleaning the small landscape... and we are in DESPERATE need of a lawn mower, though Bella Mockadore seems to have no problem eating the grass we do have.
Lastly, as stated in an earlier post, we still may attack the downstairs bathroom prior to the big Trifecta Party in mid-May.. yes.. we are a little crazy in our tasks.

Recession...

One of the "simple" and "early" tasks on our update list included minor updates to the upstairs bathroom. We wanted to remove the somewhat dated and misplaced recessed medicine cabinet and replace the system with a more "house appropriate" style recessed cabinet and new vanity light. We happened to find one that we felt was good match at Restoration Hardware. It was also on sale at the time of purchase, which is a bonus! I was pretty sure that my measurements were close enough for the switch, yet after removing the existing cabinet I realized two things.
A. The existing cabinet was sung TIGHT between to studs, leaving no room for play on either side.
B. The light above the old cabinet is ACTUALLY part of the cabinet, not a separate unit, thus making the height of the system and resulting hole on in the wall larger than I expected.



SO... a bit of extra work was needed. difference in width was approximately 1/4 of an inch... it was a bit too much to try to sand down, and not near enough to justify moving the studs. The only remaining option that I could think of ( this being my first time dealing with recessed cabinets) was to create a small notch in the stud to receive the new cabinet. With a new hand saw being the only cutting tool in my possession, I began the tedious and painful process of trying to cut a 1/4 inch notch in a stud. it didn't take too long to realize that better tool was needed. Luckily enough, a good friend and colleague offered me his Sawzall, which reduced my work time from hours to minutes.


Once the notch was sufficient, I placed the new cabinet in, added a new cross stud, and patched the excess opening with a small piece of sheet rock.

The wall paper MUST go, and soon after some patching and sanding, we should be ready for prime and paint. The color we are going with is a slate blue. The finished product pictures should be coming along soon.

NEW PICTURES....

primed...

and painted



Must admit.. the color is a bit more " green" than we initially anticipated in certain lighting.. but all in all, a great improvement!

NEXT - the downstairs bath room / laundry room!!!

From Lowes to Petco

I promised Kate a long time ago that when we had a home and once things got somewhat settled that we could bring a dog into our lives. She has always grown up with dogs while I have never had a pet in my life ( outside of fair goldfish and random minnows I caught in my friends creek). So when she asked me if now was the time for us to FINALLY get a dog, I broke down and said yes. True, we are newly and freshly in our first home and yes there are many projects on our list... but to be fair, there will always be a project on our list.. and I did make a promise.

We opted to get our first dog from "Adopt a Lab", an organization that rescues Labradors that have been left behind, many of which are at risk of being euthanized.
We went back and forth on whether we should get a puppy or a older, grown dog. When Bella came up available for adoption, we noted that she was supposedly 1 to 2 years old, not quite a puppy, and possibly, hopefully a little more grown. In the end, we wanted to be sure that we were able to leave the dog at home for an extended time while we work.
So, Bella arrived on a Saturday afternoon in this:

We were quite amazed the she along with 22 other dogs were in this little get up!

When Bella was finally brought to us, she was FULL of energy and quite confused, after the 17 hour long journey with all her dog palls.

We also quickly determined that she is not a full bred Labrador... but she is, in fact, a Mockadore... a dog that ACTS like a Labrador. We think that she is either a Lab / Beagle mix or a Beagadore, or a Lab / Pit mix or a Pitadore... at any rate, she is mostly Lab and she is all together a cutie!

Yet we have a very happy and somewhat tearful Kate.

Once in the car, she fell asleep and was sweetly ( and somewhat oddly ) quiet the whole trip home.

And here is the happy couple together, home at last.

Well, Bella has some learning to do. She is pretty good in the house. She sits when asked, she is quite lovable and playful, as a lab should be. She was crate trained with her foster parents, so we have a crate for her which she likes quite well. Outside she is VERY, VERY excited and interested to see, smell, and taste everything. She is quite strong on the leash as well.

In the end, we think that she will learn very quickly and become a very loving and fun member of the family. And who knows, she may end up helping out with painting some walls!

catching up with...

I've been told by friends and family that I've been slacking a bit on the blog works.
As they all know the best ways of guilting me into action, I've decided to place a few images up of the slight progress we have made.
I mentioned before about the small transition of switching the fold-down ironing board in the kitchen into a spice cabinet. Wife took on this task full force and did an excellent job. Previous to her rehab, TE and TC had removed the old ironing board, which was completly unuseable due to the proximity of the kitchen seating island.
After a quick trip to our home away from home, ie Lowes, Kate was armed and ready to complete the task.



Wife helping to guide EE to the home

EE Excited to see the spice cabinet

the new cabinet

original latch... we think

clean when closed... we still need to do a little sanding to certian exposed wood areas in the house... but that time will come.

from sandy feet to snow and sleet

One great thing about a trip to Mexico in the depth of February is the escape from the sometimes harsh Northeastern winter.

The bad part is the return to multiple feet of snow!

We are strongly considering a permanent move to southwesten coast of mexico; with its many palaps, avocados stuffed with shrimp, racilla and bogey-boarding. Yes, the temporary departure from the sub-feeezing temperatures to literal weather perfection was wonderful. But we did miss our new home, and have now retruened, trading flip-flops for grotex lined boots; sand pails for snow shovels; and yes it is a bit odd to have a sun-burn while speading salt over icey steps...

Below are a few shots from our lovely getaway. Be sure to check out the link to our friends who call Arroyo Seco home!

Our Casa for the trip
View of the entryway
Beach-Side view of the funky lil' shack

View from the lower porch out to the harbor

T.C. and Big M back from a morning fishing trip with the catch in hand


Ladies on whale / dolphin watch

Also a great spot to catch the nightly sunset show.. still no Green Flash



One of our favorite local "Gringo" restaurants... home of the Marta-Ritta!

All in all, a great vacation. We can't wait for a return visit!

... as the dust settles...

I apologize about the pause... we have been quite busy arranging and rearranging. Things are becoming a bit "normal" in the new place, though we often feel that we had more time to spend at home...

We had our first "guest test" over Super Bowl weekend with around 20 guests over to watch the game (and commercials, of course) which turned out to be a great evening.

We have also taken on small weekend projects like switch our old ironing board closet which was in our kitchen into a space closet ( pictures to come soon) and spray painting some lovely gold track light fixtures a more appropriate brushed steel color.

A few boxes still linger in odd rooms, but for the most part we are all moved in and loving the home!