Inspired at last to action and sequestered inside during a fairly uncomfortable heatwave, I spent time during the first half of June tackling some much-needed projects inside the house. Here's a run-down of some of them.
Future Library
Two years and two months ago, during the height of the pandemic and its initial shut-down phase, I was drawing slips from a task jar to keep me busy and productive while sequestered safely at home. One of those projects was to pack up the very junky room that is (or will be) the library. My rule for myself was to put in at least an hour even if I couldn't finish the specified drawn slip assignment, and my intention was to work on it a little bit on a lot of days. But after I made the libary even worse, I did not get back to it until this past June 16 and 17. With a late evening start that Thursday night, and a full day of labor on it the following day, I managed to completely pack it up, clean it out, clean it up, and set it up:
Hanging of Latest Artwork
A few more pieces by local artists had been added to the Roediger House collection, but they've been waiting in my study for me to get around to measuring and hanging them. That was also one of my June projects. I do wish I had a better eye for the right positioning/placement/spacing but it's nice for them to now be on display. I put five of those pieces along and at the top of the stairs (this page has a photo; scroll down to the 28th one), and another piece in a guest bedroom.
This is the painting I placed outside the master bedroom in the main downstairs hallway:
Collinwood Cooler Clean-Out
When the attic was renovated into a man cave and entertainment hall, one of those cool gables was turned into Ray's the Bar with a full commercial double beer cooler installed under the bar counter. I had a love affair with a couple of choice seasonal beers and always stocked up on them during their limited availabilities. (For instance, see this blog post from February 2018 regarding my absolute most favorite of beers: Bell's Best Brown Ale.) Bell's also had a great Christmas Ale and a rare offering called "Hell Hath No Fury," too. Starr Hill Brewery's Amber and their seasonal Snow Blind Doppelbock Lager were worth buying up in bulk because they are limited in availability; Duck Rabbit also has a terrific doppelbock. Abita was great for several beers: Amber, Christmas Ale, Mardi Gras Bock, Andygator, and Turbodog. Alas: when I went on a big weight-loss push in 2018, I pretty much gave up beer. I'd rather have desserts or sweets if I'm going to indulge in calories. At the same time, with the pandemic, there was virtually no company and no entertaining here at the house for well over a year. What I'm left with was a mix of okay but aged beers that were always in the cooler...and quite a few cases that I'd stored away deep in the cabinets, including some from as far back as 2015. It all had to go.
This was understandably a multi-day project, with a small beginning a few months ago, but by June 15th I'd gone through and poured out all of the beer in the house, washed out all the bottles, and put them into the recycling barrel. We are talking cases of awesome beers that were just not any good any more. It broke my heart. That did allow me to really clean up and reorganize the cabinets under the bar and counter in Ray's the Bar, though, so that was a bonus.
Recycling of Crushed Cans
While I have also given up soda, there's still a lot of it consumed here at the Roediger House, plus increasingly quite a few canned beers, seltzers, and so on from guests. I've always washed them out and crushed them and, once before, took them to a paying recyling center. There were 12 or 13 paper grocery sacks that had backed up near the crusher in the cellar, and I got them taken care of. They went into the 11th huge garbage bag of crushed cans that were piled up at the other end of the cellar. I decided to load 'em all up in the back of the pick-up and took them to a different recylcing center, where the total weight of them all was 260 pounds. But hey: that was $127.00!! On another day, I gathered up the old cleaning fluids, rotted gas can, and other old hazardous chemicals from the cellar and took them to the appropriate recycling center.
Cleaning Up the Laundry Room
Situated just inside the high-trafficked back door from the parking lot is a cozy laundry room, only big enough to accommodate those appliances, cabinets above, and a utility sink. It's where I keep my yardwork clothes and gloves, the food for birds and the dog, and bottled water.
Unfortunately, especially with my bigger yard projects of the last couple of years (like the irrigation system), it became awfully easy to come in from a very long work day and drop all the stuff I needed on top of the dryer...because I'd be right back at it again the next day.
No surprise when it becomes an accumulating monstrosity.
I present these photos with insufficient shame.
After achieving what felt like a great victory over the devastation in the library upstairs, I was inspired Saturday a week ago to knock out this last clean-up challenge. It's not suitable to Southern Living, but it's ideal for RoHo living.
Weeding and Mulching
While I am celebrating these terrific interior advances, I must say that it is pretty disappointing that I've done far too little out in the yard. Before it got so freakin' hot (I still prefer summer to winter, however!!), I was aggressively weeding and even got around to some mulching. Alas, I have yet to go buy any plants or flowers and so these are now just dressed areas that ain't going anywhere.
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