Home Improvements-- Take 1.

I am starting to equate my summer break with lots of home remodeling and repair projects. This realization came when I was at Lowes for the third time in two days. I'd rather be on vacation, but nevertheless, here is what I've been up to.

1) One of my neighbors attaches soaker hoses to his sprinklers to water his garden. This gave me a brilliant idea for watering my garden while I am away. My brother fixed one of my sprinkler heads with "T" so I could attach the hose. I already had the hose, but there was a hole in it which wasn't so useful. We cut the hose off near the hole and then had to attach a new piece with the end cap. I needed the "male" counterpart to make it work. That was one of my trips to Lowes. And here is the evidence that it worked! I am quite proud of myself.

2) With the siding off my house, I could see that the silicone that was between the baseboard and the cement had all but disintegrated. Hum... maybe that is why water (and bugs) seep in to that corner of the garage. I tore away what was left of the original silicone, swept away the dirt, and started applying the new stuff. I knew I should have gone with my gut instinct and bought the four-pack of silicone instead of just two. It would have saved me both a lot of time and money. Hence my second trip to Lowes on Friday.
3) The siding guys started this week-- finally. This is an "intermediate" picture. It looks dark because it was around 8 p.m. and there were lots of clouds in the sky. But you get the basic idea. The front of the house will have board and batten. They haven't installed that part yet, so I don't have any photos.
4) This is the "before" picture. Goodbye dark brown.
5) No photos-- but imagine a broken sprinkler head. Usually I can fix those, but this one I couldn't. My brother came this morning to do it. He has been out of town for the last few days. I told him that I sure was glad my home improvement consultant was back.

Life is Good!