My playoff beard going into Round 2 of NHL playoffs. Hols hates the scruff...and reminds me every day. :)

Well, here are our first views of the kiddo! Holly is 10 weeks and 3 days along at the time. Our due date is November 13th. The nurses were boasting that we have a perfect looking baby! AMAZING to be able to see digits and distinguishable facial components. :)

Just for reference here's some before and after pics of the roof...

Well, not much to speak of today after finishing the roof yesterday, but I did get some pics of the finished product...

A good look at the new ridge vent.

The skylight from the roof...reminds me of a vent opening to a camping trailer. :)

A great-looking roof!

Interesting shot of "new" atop the "old".

Strong storms a'coming!

The 20-foot dumpster FULL.


Pics of an almost finished pathway thanks to my parents' hard work...

Here's a good look of what the skylight offers our bathroom, which, previously, had no exterior light and was only lit during the day by a nightlight.

Now, it's time to clean out the gutters from last season's leaves and whatever roofing materials trickled into the downspouts. I think some of the tubes are jammed up, and more strong storms are on their way. One project always leads to another!

No pics of the roof today because we were working with our backs against the wall with the weather. We awoke at 6am to the sound of rain and thunder. Thankfully, we prepped the roof to resist precipitation by tar papering what we couldn't finish shingling. The weather stormed for a little while, then moved on giving us our window to get back to work. The weather afterward was on-and-off showery, but we kept working knowing that stronger storms were in the forecast.

We finished shingling around 1pm...this after stripping the roof well before lunch yesterday! I was blown away with the speed at which we were working. There were still a few smaller things to polish like the flashing around the chimney as well as finishing the new skylight installed over the bathroom.

Another project involved installing a new exhaust fan for the bathroom. The skylight was installed in the same opening as the original exhaust fan (because it was centered on the ceiling), so I moved the fan over the shower tub and toilet.

My parents and a few others got started installing a three-foot landscape pathway leading from our driveway to the backyard patio. It's looking great so far! Should be able to polish that project by midday tomorrow.

I have to give mad props, too, to the crew that helped clean the yard from all of the trash we were pushing off the roof. Just as amazing as the short amount of time it took to finish the roof was the cleanup that finished around the same time as the roof work. If people found out how fast everyone was working, we might be getting a few calls from people for their own new, fast roof!

Now it's time for homemade lasagna and cheddar bay biscuits in a packed kitchen!

FINALLY getting to reroofing the house. An early start awoke a terrible-looking roof.

Some sheathing needed to be replaced, and we patched the roof vent holes to prep for ridge vents.

And just like that, we're laying tar paper!

Totally different look to our disgusting roof.


New architectural shingles.


Jason rockin' the roof!

Perfectly sunny and hot day (the house thermometer said mid-80s).

Working hard AND hardly working!

It's Friday night, sunny and 75 degrees outside. Yet I reside in my basement continuing the bathroom renovation. Now that I have the shut-off valves installed (below), I can now demo the shower stall wall (2nd below in the cyan oblique). After that's done, it's time to prep for drywall and tiling. This project won't be finished by next week. *sigh

Shortly following March Madness is pro hockey playoffs!

This also means the traditional playoff beard now starts growing. Holly is not a fan of facial hair, but tradition is tradition. I'm also observing my tradition of wearing some form of Detroit Red Wings paraphernalia every day...be it a baseball cap, jersey, boxers...whatever. So, the next two months will be a lot of red clothing and itchy faces.

First Wings game is tonight! GO WINGS!

Yet another project added to the 12-mile-long list. This one is making a pathway from the driveway to the backyard patio. We've absorbed another resident (and two more moving in next weekend), so I made a backdoor access for them. The pathway (once it's finished) will, hopefully, make the trip to the backyard slightly easier and drier by not walking through the grass on wet days or dewwy nights.

The project also involves moving some vegetation away from the side of the house because these veggies get very large, and the moisture and bug life isn't good to have right up to the house. So those plants were moved away and will create a flower bed along the pathway.




After a couple hours of work, the pathway takes shape, and the plants are moved.


It's a messy job.