afloat
It's been a week that felt like treading water. We were tackling termites and the groundhog infestation and a big broken tree limb from the catalpa tree, looming and Draconian over the boys' play area on the concrete pad. We were feeling fatigued from just staying afloat and spending more money and not making progress on the renovation. We caught 7 groundhogs in 36 hours with Brian's traps. There are 2 more but we gave up. (Unfortunately, we are paying by the groundhog.) The termites are still swarming intermittently. Kevin relocated a big turtle and someone else (thankfully) relocated a dead deer on the side of the road.
We sealed off the kitchen from the living room and the rest of the house while Scott was staining the new hardwood floors to help keep the fumes out, which made us feel a little extra isolated. We ran air purifiers all week and covered the AC intake and that worked well. In some ways it's nice to not even think about that part of the house for a while, just putting it out of my mind while we can't access it or do anything about it, but we are tired of being in tight quarters and having so little living space.
But there were bright spots too! We saw deer in the backyard and spent lots of time outside. We received our custom cushion for the hearth in the boys' bedroom.
Over the weekend we visited the Hillsborough Farmers Market and explored the River Park and bridges over the Eno. We celebrated Nina's birthday at our house and collected our first green beans from the garden. New seedlings are coming up in the beds we planted recently.
The boys played really well together, outside and inside, for extended periods of time. On Sunday it wasn't hot and we played in the grass fields for hours. They were pretending to be Jermaine mowing the lawn and Brian catching groundhogs. We ventured to Great Clips for haircuts for Finley and Milo, followed by everyone's favorite Jersey Mike's subs as a reward afterwards. They took good naps in a very quiet house while Kevin worked at the kitchen table and I went to Ninth Street for a massage at Massage Envy. (Who knew my legs hurt so much?!)
In the afternoon Kevin encouraged us all to explore our own woods and visit the river-- it's officially summer after all! We saw two deer scamper out of the tall grass as Finley and Kevin walked by. We saw deer tracks in the mud and looked for good access to the river based on the the deers' path. Kevin showed us the field of volunteer milkweed, which smells sweet like jasmine and attracts hundreds of pollinators, including a brilliant orange monarch butterfly. I LOVE THE MILKWEED. Even when we bushhog this area later, we are going to leave this section of the field to protect it. We also found a baby tree in the same area that we think is a catalpa and plan to let it grow like its cousins near the house. A few other sprouted maple trees will need to come down though. On our walk through the woods we saw some older, tall trees that perhaps had not been clearcut like the rest of the property. Maybe a sycamore. And I found a sharp rock that looks a heck of a lot like a spearhead or other Native American tool, so I saved it.
On Sunday night we made homemade pizza in our new Ooni outdoor pizza oven, which was lots of fun, and ate dinner outside in the gazebo.
This morning, a local retired firefighter brought a crew of other firefighters and took down the treelimb for us in record time. They took apart the fence to drive their bobcat and put it right back. It was impressive, quick work. Before and after:
We're calling it progress. We've asked the contractor to finish key areas in the living room and master bedroom and closet so we can move our stuff in next week and get rid of the pods. The movers are booked. Let's do this!
We sealed off the kitchen from the living room and the rest of the house while Scott was staining the new hardwood floors to help keep the fumes out, which made us feel a little extra isolated. We ran air purifiers all week and covered the AC intake and that worked well. In some ways it's nice to not even think about that part of the house for a while, just putting it out of my mind while we can't access it or do anything about it, but we are tired of being in tight quarters and having so little living space.
But there were bright spots too! We saw deer in the backyard and spent lots of time outside. We received our custom cushion for the hearth in the boys' bedroom.
Over the weekend we visited the Hillsborough Farmers Market and explored the River Park and bridges over the Eno. We celebrated Nina's birthday at our house and collected our first green beans from the garden. New seedlings are coming up in the beds we planted recently.
The boys played really well together, outside and inside, for extended periods of time. On Sunday it wasn't hot and we played in the grass fields for hours. They were pretending to be Jermaine mowing the lawn and Brian catching groundhogs. We ventured to Great Clips for haircuts for Finley and Milo, followed by everyone's favorite Jersey Mike's subs as a reward afterwards. They took good naps in a very quiet house while Kevin worked at the kitchen table and I went to Ninth Street for a massage at Massage Envy. (Who knew my legs hurt so much?!)
In the afternoon Kevin encouraged us all to explore our own woods and visit the river-- it's officially summer after all! We saw two deer scamper out of the tall grass as Finley and Kevin walked by. We saw deer tracks in the mud and looked for good access to the river based on the the deers' path. Kevin showed us the field of volunteer milkweed, which smells sweet like jasmine and attracts hundreds of pollinators, including a brilliant orange monarch butterfly. I LOVE THE MILKWEED. Even when we bushhog this area later, we are going to leave this section of the field to protect it. We also found a baby tree in the same area that we think is a catalpa and plan to let it grow like its cousins near the house. A few other sprouted maple trees will need to come down though. On our walk through the woods we saw some older, tall trees that perhaps had not been clearcut like the rest of the property. Maybe a sycamore. And I found a sharp rock that looks a heck of a lot like a spearhead or other Native American tool, so I saved it.
On Sunday night we made homemade pizza in our new Ooni outdoor pizza oven, which was lots of fun, and ate dinner outside in the gazebo.
This morning, a local retired firefighter brought a crew of other firefighters and took down the treelimb for us in record time. They took apart the fence to drive their bobcat and put it right back. It was impressive, quick work. Before and after:
We're calling it progress. We've asked the contractor to finish key areas in the living room and master bedroom and closet so we can move our stuff in next week and get rid of the pods. The movers are booked. Let's do this!
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