Happy New Year! Things kicked off fantastically here the first work week of 2022! On the 1st, we gave the house an awesome new year’s present: We signed a contract with CB Specialty Roofs for replacing the mansard part of the roof. We decided that if we’re doing this, we may as well DO THIS. We never want to do the roof EVER AGAIN, so we’re choosing the most durable material we can. It has a lifespan of, like, 175 years or something insane, and we’re pretty darn sure it was what this roof was originally. Have you guessed what it is yet? 

It’s SLATE!

OMG I can’t wait until you see what we’re coming up with, it’s going to be so awesome! I’m certain as the roof happens, I will have a blog post dedicated to it, so I won’t go any further at the moment, but let’s just say we are PSYCHED about our decision to pay the manor the justice it deserves! Here is a sneak peak of the sample pieces., leaning against the porch by the front door. Beautiful, right? 

This week our old friend, the big green lift, came back too, so Troy can keep working it up high on those dormers! How I missed its wailing alarm and humming motor. If you notice in the picture there is a dormer now missing. It’s because that area is getting a different treatment: we’re turning it into a doorway instead, as another exit from the third floor. It’s vital on a big ‘ol 3 story building like this to make sure there are plenty of safe ways to get out in case of a fire, so we’re not messing around! While he’s up there, he’s stripping the old shingles, putting up some kind of special paper stuff, repairing stuff, and stopping all the leaks. The worst leaks at this point were contained to the bump out on the east side. The pouring rain on Saturday took no less than 10 buckets to try to contain, and even then we failed. But now this weekend, between Thursday night’s snow and today’s ice? Not a drop made it inside! Hooray!

Maybe it’s not immediately apparent to you from the picture, but something else HUGE happened this week. HUGE. The guys from WB Electric worked SUPER hard, and got all the new panels and boxes and such completed and ready to go, and PP&L finally managed to get here to hook up our new meters! YES!! Now that this work is complete and we are living a much safer existence, I can finally share with you just how scary our electric situation was. All of our power came from a big live bootlegged power line that went from a house two doors down, then went underground, then over the property, draped in a scrappy tree in a pile of debris, then came in through the upstairs porch door, snaked across the floor, and winded down the back staircase to a temporary box. I am SO RELIEVED to be done with this! And we can finally, FINALLY, close the dang door it came in! Between that and finally being able to close the door to the former upstairs of the former outbuilding, the house is sooo much quieter, and a heck of a lot less drafty! 

Next big project of the week! Excavation began on the dirt and rock pile along the side of the property. Eventually, that will be the beautiful new home of a dumpster. Excavation king Ronnie helped us out with this project. While we had the skid loader, he was able to load up the two impossibly heavy welder thingies (I’m told this is the proper terminology) and the stupid baby trailer with the flat tires. YES! Those things are now out of the yard, which is another big heavy project crossed right off the lift. In this picture you can see the scary wire still, now a smidge safer on the makeshift telephone pole instead of the tree. 

Hmm, what’s next? Well, let’s see! Guy and Dennis and Paul and Zach and Dominic, all in some way shape or form at some point or another, managed to get the paneling off, the bathroom wall framing removed, most of the ceilings removed on the second floor, and most of the remaining debris from the outbuilding got hauled away.. The rooms that will be our future apartment are now huge! And such fun colors! 

I went around the house and took off as much wallpaper as I could, especially on the water damaged walls, to give everything a chance to dry out and breathe. I’m still not nearly done, but it’s getting a little closer, and I’m discovering lots of fun little signatures and names and dates, the earliest dating to 1940. Once we get some lights going on that side of the house, I’ll be able to work much later. Here is a picture of Leroy, royal dog of Pigeon Manor. Usually, he hangs out in our apartment, but for whatever reason, one afternoon this week, he was determined to oversee my progress. 

I began sorting through more of the treasures, and I’ve been putting a lot of the pictures on instagram. You’ll find lots of bonus pictures there, if you’d care to take a gander.

Well that’s it for this very busy week, here’s hoping this coming week is just as fruitful! On the 11th, my dad, Dick Laudenslager, affectionately known as Pop Dick, celebrates his birthday. In honor of him, here is a quote of his:

“How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator? You open the refrigerator door and put it in. “

I think it’s the perfect mantra for all of us, especially here with a big project like this. Sometimes if you’re looking at a problem, you might be surprised at what you can accomplish by just simply getting started. So go put your giraffe in the refrigerator!