New House Blog: Episode LCI - Year In Review

Yes, we have just completed our first year of home ownership, and it has been a grand adventure so far.  We took possession of our New House on May 4, 2012, and the New House Blog was launched on May 5, 2012.  This Episode will be a brief review of some of the highlights of the past year, in not-necessarily-chronological order.

We have learned a lot this past year - we have gained some new skills and relearned some old skills.  Pre-House-Buying, or PHB, I had never changed out an electrical outlet or re-piped a drain.  It had been many years since I had done any real yardwork, and even more years since I had done any drywall repair work.  PHB I had never replaced a shower valve, and it had been a long time since I had planted a tree.

Getting The Keys

Obviously, getting the keys to our New House was a major event in our first year of home ownership.  The very first thing we did to our New House was to change out the locks on the entry and exit doors, thus rendering the previous set of keys useless.

Starting The New House Blog

Also obviously, starting the New House Blog was a highlight of year one of our being home owners.  Here is the link to Episode I, the Episode that started kicked off the New House Blog.

Vanquishing The Queen Of The Black Widows

I'm sure you remember, from this Episode, my harrowing escape from, and exciting defeat of the queen of the black widows.  Episode V contains the last confirmed lactrodectus mactans sighting (and killing), to date, at our New House.

Tenting For Termites

Have I mentioned that termites are not rare in these parts?  Our New House was tented, and termites were terminated.  As of this writing it's almost time for our free annual inspection.

Welcoming New Team Members

Throughout the past year we welcomed many new team members to our various teams here at our New House.  These team members include: Longspade, Shorty, Scoopy, Sweep, Sweepy Junior, Gulp, Pick, Spike, Buck, Bari, Sledge, El Toro, Pipey, Pipey 2, Moony, Snips, Fang, Rakey, Reggie, Squarehead, Dusty, Flop, and various unnamed tools.

Replacing Sinks And Drains

We replaced all of the sinks and their associated drains and faucets.  We also replaced the three vanities that were in the three bathrooms.

New Linoleum Flooring

All of the linoleumed areas in the house - the bathroooms, kitchen, and front entryway - received new linoleum.

Painting

We painted the walls in every room in the house, with the exceptions of the coat closet by the front door and the cats' closet upstairs.  The white and off-white walls were just too boring to not paint, and Our New House was crying out for some color.  We are happy with the results of our painting.

Electrification

We have replaced a lot of electrical outlets, and a few light switches, during the past year, and we discovered a few that had actually burned inside their j-boxes.  We also replaced the light fixtures in the three bathrooms, and one of two light fixtures in the kitchen.  In the course of replacing outlets and fixtures we had to do a fair bit of splicing, and we had to relocate a few outlets.  The most involved electrical job to-date was straightening out the horrendous splicing mess that was in our attic.  It was hot and dusty, it was uncomfortable, it was hard to find good footing, it was cramped, and we had to make a Home Depot run in the middle of the job.  We also lost two rolls of electrical tape while doing this job.

Visiting The Landfill

Visiting the Zanker Road sanitary landfill is always a fun adventure, and we had three of these adventures in the past 12 months.  Our first trip was mainly the junk we found piled up on the side of the house.  The second trip was mainly demo material from the three bathrooms.  The third trip was mainly concrete from the back yard.  

Digging Up Concrete

There were a lot of concrete post foundations in our back yard, and we think we have extracted all of them. In addition to the post foundations we discovered a small concrete mine and extracted all of its concrete.  Sadly, we were unable to sell any of our mined concrete and it all ended up at ye olde landfille.

Back Yard Archaeology

We discovered a lot of ancient historical artifacts in our back yard, and a few artifacts in other locations around our New House.  Some BYA highlights include: dozens of blue mosaic tiles, the sand pit of Winnie the Pooh, rusty nails and bolts, rusty tools, one plastic coin, two real coins, broken CD-ROMs, string, a chunk of asphalt (or possibly a meteorite), PVC pipe, romex, and a boy's belt buckle.  We are still trying to piece together the mosaic tiles to see what the original mosaic was.  We are also still trying to piece together the mosaic of pre-Bishopian history.  Who were these people?  Were they pirates?  A Roman legion?  With whom did they trade?  Pirates? Romans?  Extra-terrestrials?  Did they have contact with A. A. Milne?

Moving In

The biggest highlight of the past year was, of course, moving in to our New House.  We moved in on July 21, 2012.

Planting Two Gardens

Our back yard garden was planted in August, 2012, and the plants mostly thrived (throve?), but the also mostly died out during the cold, harsh winter months.  Survivors include the catnip and the strawberries.  Our front yard garden was planted in April, 2013, and so far the plants are doing well.

New Appliances

The two appliances included with the house were not fully operational and they needed replacing.  The other appliances were not included with the house.

Getting An Internet Connection

It would be difficult for me to continue the New House Blog without an internet connection.

Window Replacement

Like the old appliances, the windows were not fully operational and they needed replacing.

Driving Mike's Truck

I got to drive awesome brother Mike's truck on several occasions this past year.

Deck Rebuilding

Our deck also needed replacing.  It was not really safe for occupation when we bought our New House.  Time and termites had done a lot of damage to it, and it had not been correctly connected to our New House.  The new deck is a favorite hangout  for the cats.

New Water Heater

Another item that was old and in bad shape was the water heater, but we did not initially know that it was in bad shape.

Our First Fire

We really like our fireplace, and we made good use of it during the colder months.

Discovering Large Anthromorphic Animals In Our 'Hood

We discovered the Big Crow, and Biscuit, the bear, living in and around our 'hood (neighborhood).  The Big Crow is a happy-looking giant crow that stands at a certain intersection and holds advertising for both car insurance and tax preparation.  Biscuit stands outside of, and wanders inside of, the Black Bear Diner that is in our neck of the woods.  We have not yet discovered why anyone would name a bear Biscuit.  And we also have not determined why biscuit contains an i.

Victory Over The Giant Mutant Ants

We battled the giant mutant ants on several fronts, and due to our superior intellect and tenacity we were victorious.

The Arrival Of Our John Deere Backhoe

DR in the RV said he would give us a John Deere backhoe, and eventually he came through with a John Deere model 315SJ.  Despite its roomy cockpit, great maneuverability, and ease of being stored, it has so far seen very little use, possibly due to its small scoop sizes.

Special Thanks

We want to extend special thanks to those people who helped us with our New House.
Thanks, Dave, for helping us do work at our New House.
Thanks, Amy, for helping us on many occasions at our New House.
Thanks, Derek and Ethan, for helping us move in to our New House.
Thanks, Monika, for helping us move in to our New House.
Thanks, Mike, for the use of your truck on several occasions (and thanks for getting the rear end fixed).  Thanks also for all of your helpful electrical advice, and for giving our fuse box a tune-up.
Thanks, Matt, for all of your helpful electrical advice.
Thanks, DR in the RV, for the John Deere Backhoe.

See ya next
   bIsh