Two Weeks Later - the Latest on the Swamp House Renovation

It has been a wild couple of weeks (plus I just haven't felt like updating this blog). That Denver post took me forever and I didn't want to spend forever on a post again. So, please forgive us.

I am trying a new software Windows Live Writer that Stefanie recommended. It's supposed to make posting easier. We'll see. I haven't figured out all the features yet, so just bear with me.

Here's the latest:

Ethan working on sanding...he thought it was fun---too bad that enthusiasm won't last long

The house after new sheetrocking, taping, mudding, and sanding---awaiting the next step: priming

After: Dave spent five hours priming the whole house

This is Dave after priming the house...and himself...he wore a mask, but looks like he needed more than just a mask.

Well, over the past couple of weeks we have had more than our fair share of fun. First, our garden tractor finally gave up the ghost. I guess it was entitled after being under water for 5 days last August. Derren and Dave managed to get it to work for the past 8 months so we really did get more out of it than we should have. After repeated attempts to revive it, we finally decided it was time to face the inevitable and set out to buy another. We searched for something that would do what we needed and be reasonably priced....thankfully this black baby was on sale. It has a 54 inch deck too, so mowing is going to be a little more efficient! When we brought it home, we all had to check it out and it seemed to do well.

Then, Ethan decided he needed to check it out

Of course, Stefanie had to try it out too---in action

Then Papa had to take Ethan for a ride. He was a little afraid at first, but ended up enjoying the adventure.

The second round of fun was our dead well pump. Again, it was compromised by the flood, so we weren't too surprised when it died. Sadly, we learned that the cheapskate previous owners had put the bare minimum into a pump in this deep well (180 ft) and the cost of replacing it with one that would not be taxed made us gasp a bit. But, you need water in a house, so we consented to the work (and we got a deal because the pump guy was a friend of a friend). We also asked him to hike the housing up so that it would keep the well protected from future floods. It looks a little funky, but we're OK with funky. :-) Sadly, I still need to figure out how to sanitize the well -something we haven't done yet because we haven't had any fixtures that allow it to run. But our water is clear and beautiful, so hopefully, it won't take much.