Jan/Feb 2024 Island Trip – Day 3

Some good work got done today! It went like this:

• My AN and I buttoned up the side of the house. I was the assistant, and he gave direction. I like to think we were a good team. I took a pic of the caulk he used to piece some of the more shattered pieces of siding and trim back together. He called it ‘Trim in a Tube.’ He double insulated the copper pipe in foam insulation, and we used fiberglass insulation from our stash to top off the interior of the wall before we papered and closed things up.
• I took our magnet on a stick to clean up the antique nails from around the reconstruction site, and also removed a length of phone and coaxial cable that were taken off the side of the house. Both are XXX
• I did the last of the shower clean up: soap scum removal… It’s not perfect, but it’s a hell of a lot better than it used to be.
• The rose and I continued our negotiation. My DH is bringing my long-arm pruners next weekend. There is no way for me to finish fishing rose canes out from under the shallow eve of the dryer shed without this pruner. I can’t get close enough without decimating the rose. Not gonna do that. All the cuttings, thus far, are on the burn pile. The shed itself is swept of rose infiltration.
• I took the pole saw to the sides and gutters of the upper barn, using it like a squeegee, and removed 98% of the tent caterpillar nests. Ewwww. Only that building. Weird.
• My last act today was to dig a channel from the east side of the dryer shed to the unmowed area to the east. The shed has a pond beneath it. I’m hoping this will help drain the water. I’m going to the Island’s year round swap shop to find some 4” pipe to lay in my ditch! It’s been a very wet week, not to mention fall and winter.