Nothing update

...as in nothing is really happening at the house this week. Some subs have been by to take a look at things and the contractor is planning putting the dumpster in the garage but nothing really happened this week. Depressing.

Junk and grass

This past weekend with the assistance of friends I was able to get the garage cleaned out enough that a construction dumpster can be put in there. I am hoping that it is delivered sometime this week and that the demolition starts soon after.

All of the metal objects (ranges & some heaters of varying kinds) were loaded up on a trailer and taken to Grossman Iron & Steel for recycling. It was pretty neat watching the crane with a magnet empty the trailer and toss the items up onto a huge pile of metal junk. The photo above was one of the nicer ranges starting on the journey to meet its maker (or at least a giant metal shredder). I got a whooping $25 for what we took down there. I guess that is better than having to pay someone to pick the stuff up.

Tonight I mowed the yard with my new reel lawn mower. While it cuts the grass pretty well, it does not cut the plantain seed stems. This is a problem as that is mostly what needed to be cut. Hopefully I can make it through the summer with the reel mower and by next summer have the yard landscaped and/or plantain free.

Latest update

Last Sunday my brother and family came to STL to help get some of the stuff out of the garage. In relatively short order we got the car out, then up on a trailer and stuffed with junk (metal stuff). All that will now go to a recycling place somewhere near Jefferson City. He also chopped down the big ugly bush that was in front of the house. I will have to dig the stump out sometime later this summer. When we removed the same type of bushes from in front of our parents’ house we simply hooked a log chain up to the bush, then to a tractor and yanked them out – I don’t think that would be possible in the city.

Tonight I am waiting for friends from Kansas City to arrive. Tomorrow they are going to help me tackle the rest of the stuff in the garage so the construction dumpster can be delivered next week. The first order of business tomorrow morning will be to load all the appliances and other similar metal objects (there are some small furnace like things) onto a trailer – these will be taken to a recycling center here in STL. Probably will not get much money for them but at least they will all be removed and also won’t be filling up landfill space somewhere. After that is done there is some old crappy furniture that will need to be dismantled (i.e. chopped into pieces) and then some stuff (lumbers & doors mainly) that needs to be moved to the other side of the garage (stuff that might have some use in the future). I am hopeful that this can all be done in less than 5 hours so my visitors can do something in STL besides work.

Earlier tonight I bought a reel type lawn mower as I need to trim the grass. I decided this was probably the best bet as gas engines and I never got along when I was a kid. An electric mower would be an option except the power is not on over there. There isn’t much yard to worry about so I think the reel mower will do fine.

Schedule and whatnot

I met with the contractor yesterday at the house to discuss commencing the renovation. Basically things are starting next week with a variety of subs coming by to take a look and provide estimates. As early as the week after the major demolition – the additions – will start. The partially depends on me (with assistance) getting the larger side of the garage cleaned out as the construction dumpster is going to be “parked” in there. Tomorrow the brother and family are coming to town and the plan is for the car to go back with them – he has space to store it while we figure out what can be done with it and he has access to a car trailer. Next weekend friends from KC are coming to town to finish clearing stuff out of the garage plus to help with other demolition related tasks. Right now I am stranded at my apartment waiting for the gas meter person to stop and install a remote reader which will allow readings to be taken from the street. The “appointment” was for 8:00 to noon so he/she has a little over an hour before I leave to do other things.

Kitchen cabinets

Like this, maybe darker. And without the glass front cabinets - I think.