April showers not rain but $

The stage of the reno that friends warned us about is now underway.

The "peeing money" phase officially began last Friday with payment to Demo man Mike and first instalment to contractor Peter Wanless. A phone message from the township also explained that our first payment wasn't nearly enough -- a second, much larger one for the septic and garage was due.

But....yeah! We finally have our permit and are legit. The windows for the old house arrived and have been installed. And the nasty south side of the house is being dealt with. It's mostly wood dust but a few sturdy timbers have survived to keep the whole mess from tumbling down. Husband looked at layout for the garage and was alarmed. Our massive old maple might be at risk. I head up tomorrow for a second look.

A case of the Shingles

Saturday April the 17th, I rose @ 6 a.m. and coffee mug in hand and eyes partially open, navigated by automatic pilot to the farm to find a scene of devastation similar to the wake of a twister. Gone were our two handy junk rooms, which were now piles of timber strewn over the lawn in semi-organized fashion by Mike, the Salvage King. The back end of the house had been ripped off leaving a platform -- the floor of the old kitchen and bathroom, with so many ancient layers of vinyl and wood flooring it looked like a cross section of a tree.

The weather, so lovely the day before, was vile - cold with occasional pelting snow. But despite that, my willing workers showed up. Three fantastic local teens, the StokReeve brothers and Christophe Boker, attacked the cedar shingles on the sides of the old house and garage with gusto. I have always found that teenagers are very good at demolition. Amazingly, they cleaned up this job in less than six hours, as well as polishing off an awesome number of sandwiches and brownies during the lunch break.

Then I wandered around the house to check on some rot they had found on the southwest side under the windows. Actually, they had even found a snakeskin in one of the disintegrating windows, a little momento from one of the garter snakes that freely enter there each fall to hibernate in our basement. (I figured they took care of the mice so did not worry about this.) On looking at the rot, it was evident that probably the only thing still holding up that side of the house was the chimney! So there it was -- the first big zinger for us and the contractor... what's next?

Above, our teen workers rip & tear the cedar shingles off the old house circa 1900 that we will be keeping, that is, if it doesn't fall down first.

A wreck after preparing for the wreckers

THIT means Thank God it's Tuesday -- our day of deliverance from a grueling Easter weekend spent endlessly packing or tossing a huge amount of s***. Even though we put in three whole weekends before Easter preparing four rooms for demolition, we were still in a mad rush to be ready for plumber, electrician and wreckers. One nasty surprise: Bob and I had quite forgotten about the two freezers in the basement that would be decommissioned when the electrics went off -- both full to the brim with apple juice made by Bob, and various foodstuffs. Incredibly, the freezers in the garage took almost everything except a turkey, now defrosting in a puddle on the counter of our townhouse, where I have fled. Bob is staying over in the dark of the farmhouse while I have returned home to the comfort of a hot tub and meal guiltily enjoyed.

At this moment the wreckers, having disposed of debris left behind, are now pulling down the drywall. The pink insulation, stained and old as it is, is still recycled by a company that reuses the fibers so long as they are dry. The entryway to the part of the house to be kept has been sealed and boarded up and sheets are over all the furniture. Down in the basement, the water heater, which is loaded up almost to the brim with iron and other mineral sediment, sure won't ever be of use again in this area of hard, hard water and is lying on its side near the oil furnace. It also will be replaced. We will be using an air-to-air heat exchanger, which is like a geothermal system only not so wildly expensive and almost equally as cost efficient.

The cliff-hanger is: will we ever get our permit? Tay township still asking for more and more information. Out in the field, Ross Hastings is making test holes for the new septic, which represent yet another piece of the information puzzle before this important document can be issued. And where is the Johnny on the Spot? Not just our family dog, but the wrecking crew are using the bushes until it arrives.

It's Good Friday & shortly we're heading to the farm, our personal purgatory. The last three weekends there have been an orgy of sorting and packing that brought into sharp focus our two totally different approaches to this job: I want to throw everything out; Husband wants to keep absolutely everything. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on your point of view), we have a huge barn that makes stashing stuff easy. H has equipped this barn with numerous heavyduty locks, not that anyone would have the patience to wade through mountains of what are mainly superfluous objects to find the few nuggets that are worthwhile!

Plumber dropped by to look at the water disconnect job last weekend and encouraged me to get out and choose fixtures etc. for small bath in old house that is to be remodelled. Who has time? Maybe I can hire a personal shopper. He and the electrician will arrive bright and early Tuesday morning and then, no lights, no water, and no place to stay! What are the options? Considering a granny flat - or a trailer.

Above: Bruiser, our husky-border collie mix, takes in early spring sun in front of the addition soon to be demo'd.