For Liz’s birthday this year, we headed back to a favorite spot: Giant, in Logan Square.
It’s been nearly 5 years since we were there. And the last two birthdays for Liz have been at-home celebrations, due to Covid. So we were looking forward to being out in the world again, albeit a little nervous and hesitant about it all.
After picking up Liz’s apple trees yesterday, today was the day to put them into the ground. We got these 4×4 posts installed last year, but had to wait until now to get the trees.
More digging under the deck today. The weather was incredibly warm, and it was a great day to be outside (and somewhat sheltered from the heat). In addition to digging, we started to take down the old wall on the North side of the basement steps.
We got food on the way up, but showed up in time to join everyone else for breakfast. Liz noted that we were living like hobbits, with our second breakfast lifestyle.
This weekend, we resumed our digging under the back porch. Got another Bagster and started a bit on Friday afternoon. But today, we put in some time (despite the overcast skies and a bit more rain than expected).
Liz has started working on the front door, this time doing a lot of the work in-place. Setting this guy up on some horses means that we’d actually be absent a front door for several weeks… and would need some kind of temporary door (for both weather and security protection).
Brasso on one side, a dram on the other. And some bunny rabbits in the distance, to round it all off.
We’re planning on introducing the Scotch Malt Whisky Society to the Denlers this week, and Liz was taking the matter incredibly seriously.
Went down to the basement, and saw Liz and pulled out all (and I mean all the house hardware she’s hunted down and located, over the years). She was doing an inventory of everything, and figuring out what to keep, what to clean, etc.
Bob was over today, helping us improve the electrical situation in the basement. While we’ve had the basement lights working in a temporary manner, we’re slowly getting them wired up more officially.
I wasn’t quite expecting the maze-like interior, but we got taken downstairs and to some far back room. Because there were eight of us, we got seated in a room off the main area… and though some other folks sat at the nearby tables, it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.
A fun and incredibly beautiful day today, with the weather in the upper 50’s and a hint in the air that Spring is just around the corner.
Liz and I had a mix of house tasks today. While I was outside working on the yard, she was inside cleaning up a lot of hardware.
With the wall clear, there were a few more things we had to do before adding drywall. First up: installing some wood header pieces, inside the joist spaces, so that the drywall had something to grab onto. And we also wanted to add some soundproof insulation to the walls (a future plan for this space down here is to convert it into a bathroom).
It’s really quite amazing to see how bright things look, and how many details really stand out now. Quite the transformation.