Phantom of the Peeps

Yesterday Young Son and I were doing some staining. (Yes, we are finally moving again on the bathroom remodeling project, though still quite slowly.) We had a door, several crown molding corners and a couple of corbels to stain.

Young Son went out to the workshop to get some sawhorses. When he came back, he asked me if I'd seen the dead chick in front of the feedroom door. Rats! No, and I'd been out there just a couple hours before.

There's a hen sitting on eggs under the workshed, but she hasn't shown up in the yard with any chicks in tow yet. Maybe one of her eggs hatched early? At any rate, I figured I'd check it out when we took the sawhorses back and did the evening chores.

Sure enough, there was a tiny little form on the ground in front of the feed room. Poor little fluffball! I touched it with my toe to scoot it out of the way until I could deal with it... and it peeped! Whoa! Buzzing flies notwithstanding, the little chick was still living. Guess the vulture flies would have to wait for a meal.

On first glance it looked it really bad shape, like something stepped on it, just catching the side of the head and taking the feathers and skin off. I wasn't sure if I shouldn't just put it out of its' misery, but I like to give every critter every chance to make it. I decided to take it inside and see if I could doctor it up a little then put it in an incubator for a while.

Once I cleaned all the dirt off, and used some Visine saline drops to clear the junk out of both eyes, I could see that although it was nasty looking, it wasn't as bad as I feared.

Actually, it sort of reminds me of a 'Phantom of the Opera' mask.

I'm not positive both eyes are undamaged, but they're open and the chick is moving around. The little peep is now residing in a brooder box with a nice heat lamp to keep it warm, and a teddy bear to cuddle up to.

Hopefully the little Phantom gets to grow up and make lots of operatic clucks.

Update from the farm...

I'm soooooo far behind on everything and anything these days! Briefly, the facts are these:

1) We're still working on the bathroom. The new (again!) counter/sink was delivered, and this time it is all in one piece, so The Farmer is going to install that tomorrow if all goes well.

2) The place is awash with blooms. There are azaleas blooming, and also coral bells, ajuga, iris, lenten rose, tea roses, tiarella, honeysuckle, geraniums, and all kinds of wild flowers. I have clematis vines blooming in purples, blue, variegated and white.

This particular clematis is on a fence alongside the yard. The blooms are about 6" across.
3. We've got a new occupant in our pond, a great big turtle. That's okay until The Farmer decides to stock the pond with fish. We don't want to buy sushi for the turtle, but for now he can subsist very nicely on frogs and tadpoles. We have a bazillion of those, ha!

4. I still haven't got the sheep shorn. Note to self... set a date SOON!

5. I've also been trying to give away 3 roosters. No luck. They're tearing the feathers off the backs of the hens. They need to go one way or another.

That's the short version. I just don't have time to write about everything that is going on right now. Why? Well, I'm taking a 6-week class, and it is INTENSE. I barely have time to keep up with regular chores, let alone any extras.

So if my posts are sparse, you'll know why!

Look what FedEx delivered!

While I was out doing chores this morning, I saw a BIG FedEx truck maneuvering to get into our driveway. I was trying to think what in the world I had ordered until I saw the HUGE package the guy was taking out of the truck. Aha!
Hooray, hooray! Our new counter and sink arrived in ONE piece this time!!! Guess I know what the Farmer will be doing next weekend. Yes!

Update on the Bathroom Project

The bathroom is usable again, but far from finished. We tore out the particle board flooring and found there was a little black mildew even on the bottom layer of plywood. I cleaned the wood as best I could, then gave it a couple of coats of Kilz primer, and The Farmer covered it with a layer of roofing tarpaper, then put a new layer of plywood down on the old layer, another layer of tarpaper, then underlayment board, and finally the new vinyl flooring. It looks fantastic! The “Old World Fresco” faux finish on the walls and the pattern on the flooring blend beautifully together.

The new toilet is in place. It takes a little getting used to. We got one of the taller ones with an elongated bowl, so it’s a little different seating! It only uses 1.6 gallons of water per flush, and the flapper closes back almost instantly leaving half the water still in the tank, so that’s different too. But it does the job, and that’s what counts!

The guys got the vanity lifted in place and it looks lovely. We still need to buy handles and pulls for the drawers. That should make it look even classier once they're attached.

Then after all that work, the big moment arrived to finally see the cultured marble vanity top. I was so excited to finally get to uncrate it and see what it looked like! And what did we see when we opened the box?

Yep, one corner was broken off, so there we were, finally ready to use it and no can do. Bummer. Worse, this is a special order deal, so it’ll be around 3 weeks before we get another. We had to take it back to the store, get a refund, and order a new one. In the meantime, we just put the old top back on. It wobbles a little as this vanity is a different size from the old one, but it’s usable.

There are still a lot of odds and ends to finish up. I have to stain the new door on one side, and paint it on the other. We put the old door back in place for now, so we can use the bathroom.

The Farmer needs to change the hanger placement on the corbels, then I need to stain them. They’ll go up first, then the cupboard over top of the toilet will sit on top of them. We also need to put the medicine cabinet back up, but need the new vanity top in place first so we can see where to place it between there and the light bar over top. The crown molding and baseboard and trim around the tub and surround needs cut and put in place. We need towel bars, the toilet paper holder and light switch covers put up.

Since we have to wait for a new vanity top and we can’t devote another week to working on the bathroom full-time, it will be a while before everything is done.

But it’s gonna look GREAT!

Primal Scream Therapy

This morning when I went out to do chores the peacock was strutting his stuff and screaming.

I joined in.

Hey, I’m not the only person around here that does it. Sometimes neighbors walking down the road scream back, and last week I even heard one of the garbage guys screaming at the peacock while hanging on the back of the garbage truck as it went rolling by.

I figure it’s great therapy, doesn’t cost a cent, and that peacock and I can scream at each other for a good ten minutes before we get tired. And this week I need any stress relief I can get, so Primal Scream Therapy it is.

The problem is that bathroom we’re remodeling. Getting the wallpaper off was frustrating, but that hasn’t been the only problem. (Naturally!) After that, the Farmer had to disconnect the plumbing from the sink, and he and Geek carted the vanity out. No problem there.

However, the commode refused to leave in one piece, as the bolts were rusted in place. The Farmer ended up having to bust the bottom apart to get the commode loose. We now have a dead, slightly fragmented gold commode setting on our front porch awaiting final disposal.

Worse, once the water was disconnected, even though the valve was turned completely off, it wouldn’t quit leaking. We put a bucket under it, but it filled up so fast we had to empty it every hour. The Farmer went to work that afternoon, but thankfully stopped and got a new valve on his way home, and made the repairs that evening so I didn’t have to get up once an hour all night to keep water from overflowing.

Yesterday Geek and I painted all day. We trimmed out and painted the ceiling twice, both coats of “Cool Gray” (white with the barest hint of gray). I couldn’t believe how dingy the ceiling was once you could see the difference the fresh paint made.

Next we worked on the walls. That mess required trimming out three times, a coat of primer, and two coats of our base color of gray. We finished about 5pm, and decided to wait until today to do the faux “Old World Fresco” finish.

That took most of the morning as it’s tedious work. Brushing on lime wash, then color glaze, then brushing them together… the lime wash dried quickly, so you can only do a little section at a time. When we first started I wasn’t so sure I was going to like it, but now that it’s done – Wow! I can’t wait to see how all this looks together.

Of course, we aren’t done with problems yet. We ripped the old linoleum off the floor this afternoon, only to discover there were TWO layers glued together, AND glued to the floor. Part of it came right up off the floor, but part of it stayed firmly attached. We’ve tried various methods of removal, and none have been too successful. Since it’s only a thinner layer of paper and glue left, and we’re putting finish board on top, we may leave it. I’ll have to see what The Farmer thinks of it.

Last but not least, what do you suppose was under the linoleum? Remember, this is a bathroom. You know, lots of MOISTURE!!! So let’s use particle board, right? ARGH! The floor has gotten wet from leaks on more than one occasion, and one end was particularly nasty with black mildew. There are a couple of cracks in the board, but there is a layer of solid plywood underneath, so… once again, we’ll see what the Farmer thinks needs done.

For now, I’m just taking a rest until it’s time to go out and do evening chores and get in a little more Primal Scream Therapy.

Remodeling the Bathroom

We’re in the midst of remodeling one of our bathrooms this week, and I’m really wondering, who’s Bright Idea was this?

…. Oh yeah, I think it was mine. Somebody just slap me up the side of the head the next time I get such an attack of insanity!

This is our second major remodeling project in this house, the first being a kitchen makeover. It had wallpaper that was not put up properly and came off in little tiny bits. This bathroom also had wallpaper, which thankfully came off in somewhat larger pieces than the kitchen wallpaper did, but left tons of glue behind. I’m talking about a wall GUNKED over with glue. I was actually a little afraid when we got rid of the glue the wall might fall down.

At any rate, I have come to the following conclusion: Anyone who puts up wallpaper in a slipshod manner in a house to hide imperfections on the wall so they can sell it to some poor unsuspecting soul who will then have to deal with it and try to somehow fix the mess deserves to be put in the 9th level of hell (as in Dante's Inferno), and in fact, I think we need to invent a 10th level for such deception. It’s just too evil.

Young Son (aka to Ellie as “Uncle Geek”) and I worked on that mess today and we’re still not done. Understand this room isn’t that big, only about 4x8 feet, with one wall mostly taken up with the space for the tub & surround.

We rolled the liquid enzyme stuff on the wall to soften the glue, then scraped, scraped and scraped some more. Then we rolled more enzyme stuff on the wall, and scraped even more. We found holes we had no idea were hiding behind the wallpaper, and in some places a second layer of wallpaper. Preparing a satiny smooth wall for a paint job just ain’t happening. No, it would take more time and energy than we’ve got, and probably only new wallboard would actually do the job.

Instead, we formulated a plan B which supposedly works well for imperfect walls, and decided to use a Faux Finish, namely Color/Lime Washing to make what the paint company calls an “Old World Fresco” kind of finish. Since we bought a new pale gray commode, and the cultured marble countertop & sink are creamy white with swirls of gray and black, but the cabinetry and trim is all oak with a light stain so will put a lot of wood color in there, we decided to use some gray on the walls.

Specifically, after a primer coat, the base coat of color is going to be “Argent Gray”. (Who names these colors anyway?) It will get a lime wash and a tinted umber glaze.

We’re going to pick up the umber tint in the flooring, which is a good grade of vinyl with a pattern that looks a little like diamonds of slate in varying shades of taupe and cream with just an occasional slight brush of gray undertones. (Don’t I sound like a decorator? Ha!)

Tomorrow morning The Farmer & Geek are going to take out the old vanity and sink, and the old commode, then we’ll get the wallpaper hiding behind them off and finish prepping the wall and go from there.

We’re hoping to get the majority of this project finished this week, but you know how it goes with these things. There’s always surprises, and usually not good ones!

It’s gonna be interesting!