Phineas Gets a Bath

We’ve taken to cleaning him here and there, by trying to wipe things down with a damp rag. But today, Liz and I decided we needed to bite the bullet and give him a more formal bath (technically, a butt soaking).
We’ve taken to cleaning him here and there, by trying to wipe things down with a damp rag. But today, Liz and I decided we needed to bite the bullet and give him a more formal bath (technically, a butt soaking).
Today was a big supply run. We were out in the suburbs, running several errands over several locations. It was… a lot.
It’s a difficult thing to do, because we can tell he’s not feeling great. But he also looks so dang cute, when he’s being fed.
He’s not been doing great, though. And definitely needs the Critical Care.
One thing that we’ve yet to fully address/fix is the fact that our cement floor doesn’t quite lead water to the french well. When water collects down here, it routes directly towards the basement door… and we’ve gotten more water/flooding ever since we set this area up.
It didn’t really hit me until much later, when Liz pointed out that today… officially… we were done with all our soil backfill.
The bricks will likely sink a bit, in the coming weeks. And we’ll need to readdress the soil getting compacted down. But for all intents and purposes, all the soil backfill we need to do is done.
Spent some more time with the rotary hammer, trying to clean up this small outcropping of cement. It was slow going, but I definitely had a better handle on things after our prior attempts.
After work today, Liz and I made our way to City Escape Garden Center. Did a little browsing around outside, in the light rain.
Snapped this brief moment, after all the nail trimming was done. Got to see her resting and still for a few beats, where she was ok to be held for just a little while.
The Ford kids are visiting the area, and Liz and I got to take them out for a day in Chicago. We had a lot on the agenda, and really went from place to place to try to do all the things.
I had plans this morning to pick up some mulch for the front yard and parkway. And honestly, that was about it. Get some mulch, and then just relax. But today ended up turning into another house day, despite it all.
Liz, suited up to do a bit more grinding/smoothing work.
Liz got some guidance from Bob, regarding a certain attachment we needed to get for our grinder. This would help take down some of the excess mortar, and also help smooth out some of the rougher spots.
On watching her out the back door, I realized how lovely this moment was. And as much as our home is still very much in a construction-zone mode, we have the ability to just walk out back and pluck a few flowers from the garden.
The basement wall project has been… all-consuming, for several months now. While we still have some follow-up tasks remaining, the core fill was the biggest, final step in that project.
I’m still not sure I’m recuperated from that whole thing.
If you thought our concrete work was over, think again! With our concrete blocks in place, the next step we had was to fill the cores of all the blocks with concrete. Our aim was to make a “soupy” layer, to pour down each core… and to finish the tops with a more solid layer.