The Amazing Summer of 2014

We are just a few days into autumn, and I am taking a break to ponder what we have accomplished during this past summer.  As I consider the photo on our home page, I am struck by the amount of change that has occurred, particularly since spring!  I wonder if there will ever be another summer when we work as hard as we have this year?

Seeing the trim work take shape was certainly inspiring.  While Robert Mills worked hard on that transformation, Rob and I continued to restore windows.  I recall that when we first started window work, we laughed--not without hysteria--about tackling more than 50 windows. But as the balance tips in our favor and we realize we have more windows completed than waiting to be repaired, we start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This summer, so much transformation has taken place that our neighbors are starting to get excited.  Heck, strangers are getting excited!  People waiting for the light to change at our intersection shout words of encouragement.  People strolling by stop to ask questions.  I am learning that positive reinforcement is not just a good thing, but a necessary thing.

Stripping, repairing, and painting the uppermost trim took several months.  Finally, all that remained was the west-facing gable and all those rotten shingles.

But our progress was halted as we waited for a 60 foot lift to become available.  I lost my patience on more than one occasion as we were told the construction boom in Columbus had all available lifts tied up. What could possibly be more important than our project?  Of course we waited, and eventually our lift did show up!

With only a week in which to accomplish a great deal, I switched my focus from fretting about when the lift might ever arrive to how smoothly everything would go inside of one short week.  The old shingles came off very quickly.  Check!  One task down.

The new shingles went up a little more slowly, but how lovely they looked!

Almost a shame to paint them, eh?  Nah....

And to think, I very nearly chose to paint all the shingles one color...

Our painter gave us several choices on the north gable, and this is the combination we chose.

Makes us smile every time we look up...