Friday, May 6, 2011

This Year's Spring Projects

This lovely stove was my travelling companion, very well behaved and quiet. No demands. It was given to me last fall by one of my good customers who was doing a renovation and up-grade in her house. I delivered it only hours after one of the coils in the old stove had a melt down. We had been doing repairs on it for years.  

We plunked it down right beside the brand new refrigerator that had to be purchased last week. Again, the old one just quit, and in time for the new summer holiday season.

This is the stove in the cabin (cabana) and we feel it might be a collector's item. It is in great shape as a show piece. From the 50's? It is for sale. We are replacing it with something else as it may be a fire hazard and it is an energy guzzler.

Another project was replacing the septic tank covers (two of them) as the original timbers are rotting away. This is what the old one looks like.

This is a new cover that Will built. When he pulled off the old timbers and peered into the hole right in the middle of the driveway, he found an old Toyota and a baby carriage. That explains some old family mysteries. (Just kidding)

Of course, there is always plenty of laundry to do at clean up time. We had great weather so the air dryer worked well.

The center of our beautiful Red Birch was dead so Pete pruned it out. It leaves a huge hole in our green wall that protects us from the hot sun on the south property line.

I tackled a small paint project. The metal outdoor kitchen cabinets were rusting so I sanded, cleaned, primed and painted. These are the drawers drying in the sun.

And the cabinet, looking all spiffy and white. Unfortunately, a brisk wind picked up as the enamel was drying and the finish turned out a bit rough from all the flying pollen and tree debris.  

Will gave our Kubota tractor its annual oil change.

The little ride-on mower was next.

The ancient toilet in the basement suite finally heaved its last flush and had to be replaced. Ken had the pleasure of installing this new low-flow throne. The plunger was used in a panic as the first flush backed up something awful. It turned out that the sump pump was on the same electrical circuit as the crawl space lights that were not working. The result was that the sewer sump did not pump and the toilet backed up. So the last project was to fix the circuit breaker box. All is now well.
Pete also did a huge amount of work on the landscaping and the girls, Herta and busylizzy did major cleaning inside and outside the house.
The resort is all ready for another season of sun and fun.