andrewandtracy.com

I wish I could come up with a more clever headline, especially with The Dark Knight currently in theaters. But seriously, what could be more impactful than stating I just killed a bat when I really did just kill a bat?!

Here we are on a sprinkly Friday morningin August, both of us working at home before we leave for a weekend of camping, when I spot a weird-looking thing just above the rear sliding door.

After speculating with Tracy on what the hell it might be (suggestions ranged from “bug” to “turtle”), I rattle the back door as Tracy watches. She sees it move slightly and tells me it’s a bat.

Great.

I’m hardly dressed. I have no cool armor for protection, and my only weapon is a broom. Still, as the man of the home, the responsibility falls squarely on my shoulders.

After one quick sweep, the little bat falls to the deck. All while Tracy is screaming, safe inside the house taking these photos.

After seeing it drop and not soon fly away, I set the broom on top of it to keep it from going anywhere. After setting the broom on it, I heard some minor squealing, which meant I had to go in for the kill. My only available weapon: my flip-flop-wearin’ size 16 right foot.

WARNING: my feet are gross, and this is the only time you’ll see them in a photo.

After a quick squish, I had to confirm the kill.

Finally, the cleanup.

I am man…hear me roar!

Brought to you by:

Geddy Lee of Rush, and…

multiple, delicious, frosty 12 oz. cans of Bud Light.

We’ve got a stretch of visitors swinging by over the next few weeks, so we’re under the gun to get some chores done around the joint. Since Tracy’s folks are already booked for visits on all of those weekends, we found ourselves on our own for once. And of course…

This weekend was Oregon’s first real heat wave of 2008. Record-breaking temps and awful humidity made the work just a tad more interesting.

Saturday took me to a Shriners’ event while Tracy slaved away on her project for the weekend: the garden.

Tracy cleared out an unfinished area of the back yard (previous owners kept their kids’ swing set on the wood-chipped area). Raking away wood chips led to a weed barrier cloth, which could be described as faulty at best).

A few bricks, some fresh soil and a few colorful flowers later…

add some bark on the top and VOILA!

While she was in gardening mode, Tracy restocked the wine barrels with some fresh ingredients. Here are a few more weekend accomplishments:

The front tree just off the driveway. (Ignore the neighbor’s boat in the background. He informed us today that it was only temporary. It’s already been more than a month, so we’ll just see.)

Front bush near the driveway and deck.

Smaller front tree just off the deck.

Another angle of the smaller front tree.

Larger front tree to the right of the front yard.

The result of Tracy’s hard work in the sun. I’m jealous because she will be golden brown in about 24 hours, whereas my Irish pasty skin would simply burst into flames if this happened to me.

While Tracy gardened away and Obama spoke to 75,000-strong at Portland’s downtown Waterfront Park:

I (once again) painted more trim. I feel it’s all I do anymore. There’s still more left, but the pile of unpainted trim is definitely reducing in size. Once this is done, if I ever paint more trim after that, it’ll be too soon. Now we have six days of extremely long (avg. 16 feet) pieces of baseboard and crown moulding sitting in the entry way, blocking the hallway. (I just stubbed my toe on it as I took a break writing this, which I probably deserved after warning Tracy the klutz not to run into it this week. Serves me right.)

My indoor painting station, out of the heat and sunlight until around 5:30 PM. (Check out the new height- and width-expandable sawhorses! No more sore backs!)

The outdoor drying station. The lone advantage of a hot day like today.

Wondering what the Geddy Lee reference was all about? While I work in the garage, I listen to Buzzsaw, Sirius Channel 19, which is heavier classic rock. Today I heard four songs by Rush introduced by awful classic rock DJ’s. When they weren’t playing Rush, the signal decided to cut out for extended amounts of time. To think I could have listened to six songs by Rush today is too much to handle.

After a couple Bud Lights, I’m reminded that it’s time to take the recycling back.

Our new toy, and we picked the right time to get it.

One last thing. Tracy wanted to show off what she believes is to be the largest dandelion in the neighborhood. This came with the house, and we are almost afraid to cut it down out of fear that it might eat us.

Coming soon: more trim in the living room, wainscoting in the bathroom, and AIR CONDITIONING!!!

After more than our share of delays (in the form of one of Oregon’s worst storms on record and Home Depot being their usual selves), we’re now at 95% completion on the new bathroom. That means the bathroom is functional, and has only non-essential decorative items remaining. The shower, toilet, sink, exhaust fan and wall heater are all in working order. The stuff that remains:

-Mirror (some would say this is essential, but we have two other bathrooms with mirrors for the time being)
-Ceiling paint
-Vanity toe kick
-Bull nose (garage side)
-Wainscoting (entry side)
-Crown Molding
-Closet door
-Closet shelves
-Closet light

All that stuff could be done in a single weekend, but I think everyone would agree we deserve a small break, so we’re not gonna rush it.

Overall, our first remodel project was a fun learning experience. I won’t say what we spent (and I honestly can’t recall right now…I can ballpark it at best), but I’m comfy to say that the ROI is probably about 10 times what we spent thanks to Tracy’s handy folks who’ve done things like this in the past enough times to know how to do it right.

Alright…onto the photos!

The color scheme shot. Paint is Juniper Green (thought it was more turquoise on paper, but we like how it turned out). Tile is Asian Black (porcelain slate). Vanity is a natural blonde. All trim will be white once installed.

Pre-tiled vanity. Purchased from Parr Cabinet Outlet. Delivered by some guy in a tiny white truck.

Tracy dad (and project foreman) Jim prepping the vanity.

Jim posing for his next company ad.

Setting plywood on top of the vanity w/ extra counter space (you’ll see it in later photos).

Making a mess of the new tile.

Jim cutting a hole for the new sink.

Mixing some mud for the counter-top tile. Great for bathrooms. Bad for backs.

Cutting tile. Tile saws are fun, but not when it’s under 50 degrees outside…that water gets cold quick!

So many opportunities for toilet humor in our blog, so I’ll let this one simply pass.

Tracy goofing around in the kitchen while making us hard-working He-Men a steak dinner.

AND NOW…THE (almost) FINISHED PRODUCT!!!

Just imagine a mirror between the electrical outlet and light fixture.

More natural color without the lights on.

Black/white shower curtain with hotel luxury curtain rod.

My favorite feature: brush nickel showerhead at 7 feet high!

Closer view of the counter tile, brush nickel faucet and light fixture.

Extended counter beyond vanity base, wall heater and control. (The bathroom, minus the closet, is shaped like the state of Nevada, so we had to make use of the angle there.)

Well hopefully this is the last of the remodeling blogs until the summer. We have our next project in mind, and it’s exterior, which means it has to be done in deep July or August in these parts. Until then, we’ll just blog about things like what we had for breakfast and what we thought about the latest Coen Brothers’ movie (”No Country For Old Men” sucked!). Until then…toodle-ooh!

You guessed it. We did more work on the house this weekend. But it wasn’t just the new bathroom getting all the love. As you probably know by now, we laid down the concrete board (a.k.a. Wonderboard) for the new tile. We also finished the drywall by running it through a hopper and air-hose combo that is incredibly messy and hardly a one-man job.

Jim in our ”workstation” (driveway) deciding which tool is best for the next round of creation / destruction.

Cutting the wonderboard…it’s dusty. ’nuff said.

Kids…always be safe with your tools.

The 2nd bathroom as it sits today. Primer and paint going on later this week. Tile and vanity in two weeks.

Since some jobs in the bathroom were better off being completed by one person, Jim introduced me to the magical world of installing trim. I gotta say…I LOVE it! It’s easy, and it comes with instant gratification. Jim had already put new trim in the entry way many moons ago, so now it was my turn to put it in the kitchen and dining room.

Look carefully and you can see the ugly pink color that used to coat the entire wall. Ugh!

Captain Harry Armsmith dismantles the old trim.

New trim in place on the pantry and kitchen door going into the laundry room.

New trim on the kitchen window looking into the back yard.

While Jim and I slaved away inside, Tracy and Georgia did some shopping for vanities, fixtures, and other random stuff (and groceries since Tracy and I can’t seem to do that ourselves during the week). They also did some outdoor work thanks to the lack of rain.

I don’t know the name of this flower, but it’s in the front yard near the hose.

Yeah, I don’t know the name of these either. And since Tracy doesn’t blog, your stuck with my lack of knowledge.

Since the ladies were tending to the yard, the guard gnomes decided to take a make-out break.

Tracy gets all arty and crafty at times. She was inspired to make this piece for the Spring.

Our neighbor’s dog sneaks a peek to see how the progress is…uh…progressing.

Finally, I left around 11:30 on Sunday for Seattle to see my favorite band (and former employers) The Vandals. It’s rare for them to tour anymore outside of Southern CA when they’re not on the Warped Tour. But they got an offer to tour Australia with Pennywise in April, which means large venues and lots of fans wanting a professional show, not a band who hasn’t played in a long time. So The Vandals decided to do some short weekend tours around the country for a few weeks as a warmup. The closest one to me was last night in Seattle, so I decided to take a day off work and make the trip. The place was packed and ready to be entertained.

My former boss (and current morning radio host on LA’s Indie 103) Joe Escalante plays bass and is normally the quiet one on stage.

There were signs in the venue that said “No Stage Diving” and “No Crowd Surfing,” but I guess kids in Seattle can’t read.

By the end of the show, the fans were obviously very pumped.

I took this video of the end of the show, when singer Dave and guitarist Warren traditionally switch duties. They’re covering of of the better Queen songs “Don’t Stop Me Now.” Always a great closer.

I’ll give you one guess at what we did to the 2nd bathroom this weekend. Let go straight to the photos.

Here’s the boss laying down some mud.

We filled in the attic access with a new fan and light. The existing light will eventually be removed, but we obviously need it for the time being.

The path between the laundry room and the new bathroom is no more.

The new attic access point is now in the garage.

With the nice weather going on, Georgia took it upon herself to work on the yard. (I wasn’t about to stop her, but she did express concern over the fact that she’d be “breaking in” our new lawn mower before I could. I was quickly over it.)

Little bit of sun on a frest-cut lawn.

The arbor in the corner…my summer hangout.

$5 half-wine barrels now serving a higher purpose.

Finally, last weekend I went to see a comedy show and met a pint-sized legend.

Some of my former co-workers at THQ will be very jealous of this photo. The others…I’m sure they could care less.