Randmblings

Okay. I'm gonna turn away from depressing myself over the backyard. Let's go inside, shall we? This house had ZERO insulation since the 1950's. Well, no self respecting homeowner would try to kill the Earth, would they? Heck no! You fill every nook and cranny until not a whisper of wind can get in. $30,000? No problem. Whatever it takes to save $14.62 a month on utility bills. It'll only take you like 2000 years to make that money back. Forget about the bulbs. Mice don't use those for nests. Insulation is where it's at, right? Well, blow in insulation seems to be all the rage so I decided in doing it to see how it compared to the batt insulation I used in the living room. It's not as cheap but it beats itching for a week after installing. Mind you, this is when the money waterfall was flowing for me. Easy test: get the bedroom walls done and see how it works.
I thought it all worked well. They came and did it while I was at work and the entire site was spotless when I got home. It's like I hardly knew they were there save for the glue marks on the siding outside. Pretty professional!
Unfortunately, this tale takes a sad turn. Years later I get a home energy analysis. They busted out the near infrared camera. Suffice to say. They missed some spots. The warmer spots tend more towards the red. The colder spots are blue. Yeah. They missed a cavity and above the windows. Time to call the company.....
Does anyone ever read this? I've never gotten a single comment yet have had people get up in arms because I don't update enough.

So this is a follow up based on my saying the backyard is jacked. So when the house was appraised and inspected they determined that the oil tank buried in the backyard was leaking. Therefore it was now under process to have that removed. This all fell on the owners but it ruined the backyard for me. What was once a nice flat area of grass became a sandy pit of despair and sandworms. Therefore I never go out there at night.

Before:

Sometimes people put things in out of necessity. I have learned that this monstrosity that was in the backyard was due to the previous owner winning an RV in the 1970's. Thus, the need for an RV cover in the backyard. Well, eventually there was no RV there anymore. That didn't matter. He still didn't bring down this marvel of engineering. So......I did.
I took this down by myself without any proper tools. What was a rickety contraption of a shelter was actually stable up top. Scary because the legs swung freely on more than half of the structure. I was scared that thing would collapse if somebody was in my yard. Thus, I tore this sucker out. I swear...I've ruined this backyard but THIS was one improvement.

From this:

So, in my last post, I mentioned the door chime. Remember where it used to be? It was right next to the door.

Okay okay. So, these little shelves I thought were going to be so ingenious, so life saving, so helpful.....yeah. They turned into a pain in the ass. It was where they interfaced with the wall. There were gaps all around.

I must say I am lucky to have ended up where I have landed. I bought in a neighborhood that is relatively non-descript by Portland standards. I have to say though that it's a little gem of a neighborhood. I don't say this because the houses are pristine and everyone has a green lawn and perfect rock paths. I say this because I know my neighbors and they know me. We all know names and kids and projects we're all working on. I get neighborhood history from the elders around me and know that we are making our own history while we're doing our projects. We help each other and offer assistance when we can.