What? You don't hold two wires together to open your garage door?
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Shitastic!
Fart jokes and poop jokes are just always funny. I can't help myself but start laughing. So when the drain pipe incident came up, the whole situation was just ridiculously hilarious. As we were taking out the toilet from the drive through bathroom, dad realized that the drain pipe that's supposed to rinse away the poop, well it wasn't doing it's job correctly and we had a few years worth of shit hanging out in there.
It took careful planning to remove the pipe in such a way that any residual poop would drain into our A2 garbage bin (the only container we felt big enough to hold all the shit). It included me tilting the pipe in a certain way, Bob positioning the garbage can and dad trying to seal up the shit as it came out. This would have all worked out perfectly had I been able to stop laughing for even a moment. You see, the A2 garbage can, when opened, smelled like the most foul poop in the world. So Bob was holding it up, gagging, awaiting the river of shit to flow into it, and I was laughing and dad was looking disapprovingly upon us. Well it wasn't working out, so Bob got a smaller bucket and we let the pipe loose. It was pretty anti-climactic, only a small bit of brown pee like substance came out. Apparently, the poop had been in there for quite some time and had caked on.
It took careful planning to remove the pipe in such a way that any residual poop would drain into our A2 garbage bin (the only container we felt big enough to hold all the shit). It included me tilting the pipe in a certain way, Bob positioning the garbage can and dad trying to seal up the shit as it came out. This would have all worked out perfectly had I been able to stop laughing for even a moment. You see, the A2 garbage can, when opened, smelled like the most foul poop in the world. So Bob was holding it up, gagging, awaiting the river of shit to flow into it, and I was laughing and dad was looking disapprovingly upon us. Well it wasn't working out, so Bob got a smaller bucket and we let the pipe loose. It was pretty anti-climactic, only a small bit of brown pee like substance came out. Apparently, the poop had been in there for quite some time and had caked on.
 | |
| The pipe I had to tilt |
 |
| Bob sealing off any potential leak points |
 |
| Dad sealing it up |
 |
| The A2 garbage can in defeat |
Taqwa's Room
We've also decided to take the renovation bedroom by bedroom. We have to redo all the drywall tape and fix the ceilings, so Taqwa's room (Taqwa spelled out in glow in the dark stars above the window), was the first to undergo a transformation. We don't have a linen closet, so we decided to take of part of this bedroom and convert it to a linen closet.
In the picture below you can see where we started to rough in the new closet and the linen closet. On the right hand side to the left of the door, is where the linen closet is going to go. Next to that is the actual bedroom closet
And here you can see the linen closet and new doorway from the hallway.
And the walls drywalled in and the closet sort of finished.
 |
| Too bad you can't see the glow in the dark stars. |
In the picture below you can see where we started to rough in the new closet and the linen closet. On the right hand side to the left of the door, is where the linen closet is going to go. Next to that is the actual bedroom closet
 |
| The closets |
And here you can see the linen closet and new doorway from the hallway.
And the walls drywalled in and the closet sort of finished.
Pink Panties
Between, Orlando, Vegas, DC, VA, Houston, Toronto and China, we've been busy traveling this first quarter. Our busy schedule has also included some major home improvement projects. Whereas 2010 was the year of outsourcing at the Pitt, in 2011 my dad is back in full force and that means that we are too. It seems like we don't have a spare moment in life, but well the renovation is back in full swing.
Some of you may remember our "drive through bathroom" (original pictures visible here all the way at the bottom), that was built on the part of the garage, that was always cold and where the pipes burst, that had a drive through window above the toilet - a very intimate place to do your business. Well we decided to redo this whole half of the house, which means tearing out all the walls and bathroom and re-designing the whole space.
Leave it to the Pitt to present us with surprises. As we tore down the walls, we found this within the walls:
And we found this when we took up the carpeting:
All very exciting and exactly what we would expect from this place. As the walls came down and the floors came up the garbage just piled higher and higher so we've spent the majority of our time cleaning up the mess.
Some of you may remember our "drive through bathroom" (original pictures visible here all the way at the bottom), that was built on the part of the garage, that was always cold and where the pipes burst, that had a drive through window above the toilet - a very intimate place to do your business. Well we decided to redo this whole half of the house, which means tearing out all the walls and bathroom and re-designing the whole space.
Leave it to the Pitt to present us with surprises. As we tore down the walls, we found this within the walls:
 | |||
| Pink Panties |
 |
| Flintstones Doodles |
 | ||
| The bathtub is still in tact. |
 |
| A view from inside the bathroom, sink still intact. |
 |
| Pile of trash |
 |
| Everything cleared out. |
 |
| The lonesome toilet before we tore it out. |
Saturday, December 4, 2010
And Finally a Fence
We've finally gotten to a place with the house where we no longer feel like we're camping. Now when we select home improvement projects, we gravitate towards the ones that show results immediately. We've toyed around with the idea of getting a fence ever since we moved in here. Our two dogs have been very reliable with the boundary, but every now and then they take off after a coyote or some moving bush. And even though they primarily stay in the yard, we can't control what comes into the yard. Also, we swap a lot of dog sitting duties with other folks. It's a always a bit of a pain to leash up the visitor dogs and then take them out. It also doesn't help that Scamp is a bully breed.
While Bob was in Australia, I called a couple of fence company's to give us quotes. We decided on All Arbor Custom Fence. Richard, from All Arbor Fence, was incredibly patient with all our questions, let us change our minds a million times, and in the end he and his team installed our very own awesome fence.
We decided to go with a 5' fence, cedar in the front and chain link along the sides and back.
With the shiny chain link and the gravel pit style back yard, we kind of look like a state penitentiary. But the shine will wear off in the coming months, and once we get some grass and other plants, it should start to look like home again.
While Bob was in Australia, I called a couple of fence company's to give us quotes. We decided on All Arbor Custom Fence. Richard, from All Arbor Fence, was incredibly patient with all our questions, let us change our minds a million times, and in the end he and his team installed our very own awesome fence.
We decided to go with a 5' fence, cedar in the front and chain link along the sides and back.
 |
| The posts go in. |
 |
| The beginnings of the gate. |
 |
| From the front of the house. |
 | |
| The finished product. |
 |
| Off the master bedroom |
 |
| Side View |
 |
| From the front |
 |
| One of the 6 gates. |
 |
| Pepper already enjoying her new found freedom. |
Temperatures are dropping
As it's been getting colder these two guys have been cuddling closer at night. We don't really mind because happiness is two puppies warming your feet.
It's also time for Scamp's sweater season. Before we send him off to daycare or outside, he sits patiently as we put his Fido Fleece on. The cool kids at daycare may make fun of him but he needs it. This seems to be the most ideal coats for Scamp because of the almost full belly coverage it gives. Although Scamp has fur, he's almost bald on his belly and gets cold very quickly. Sometimes we become lazy and leave the fleece on. He loves to lounge in it.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Trees
I love trees. I love jewelry with trees, picture frames with trees, and the trees in my backyard. As much as I love the trees, I hate bugs. And at the Pitt we have female box elder trees, which means I get to suffer through these guys, in the late summer and fall. It's disgusting. The entire side of our house will be covered in these little red suckers. They don't bite, the don't hurt the tree, they are just there. And once it starts getting colder, they creep into your house.
This year was exceptionally bad for box elders, so we made a big decision to cut out all the female box elders in our yard. 4 big beautiful trees. Since we were having those cut, we also had an apple and huge Siberian elm cut down as well. The apple tree was in a really bad place, and the elm was in danger of falling on our house.
One of the large box elder trees was very close to our property line and I being the good neighbor decided to talk to the neighbors about the tree. This is how the interaction went:
Orsi proceeds to house with KEEP OUT signs
Neighbor: Are you my neighbor?
Orsi: Yes. I came to talk by about this tree...box elder problem...
Neighbor: I don't care what you do. I hate tree's. I'd cut down every tree in my yard if my wife let me.
Orsi: Ummmm. Great. I really like trees and would miss them if they were gone.
So I guess we don't have to ask the neighbors about future trees and I was happy they were cool with it. So the trees are gone and the yard is pretty bare. With the geo and missing trees, we look pretty rough out there.
This year was exceptionally bad for box elders, so we made a big decision to cut out all the female box elders in our yard. 4 big beautiful trees. Since we were having those cut, we also had an apple and huge Siberian elm cut down as well. The apple tree was in a really bad place, and the elm was in danger of falling on our house.
One of the large box elder trees was very close to our property line and I being the good neighbor decided to talk to the neighbors about the tree. This is how the interaction went:
Orsi proceeds to house with KEEP OUT signs
Neighbor: Are you my neighbor?
Orsi: Yes. I came to talk by about this tree...box elder problem...
Neighbor: I don't care what you do. I hate tree's. I'd cut down every tree in my yard if my wife let me.
Orsi: Ummmm. Great. I really like trees and would miss them if they were gone.
So I guess we don't have to ask the neighbors about future trees and I was happy they were cool with it. So the trees are gone and the yard is pretty bare. With the geo and missing trees, we look pretty rough out there.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)