2 Dead Birds in My Yard

I found 2 dead birds in my yard today when I took the dogs out. I am working on recovering from being a bit sick, so I didn't go out there yesterday, but I know for sure neither dead bird was there this weekend.

The dead birds were about 1.5 feet apart. I am pretty sure both were Starlings. Two dead so close together is strange. I hope this is not an indicator that West Nile is making a resurgence in Chicago.

One of them looked like some of it had been eaten by one of the dogs. My vet says that dogs can carry West Nile Virus, but are rarely made ill by it.

Time to break out the mosquito spray!!

New Bistro Table for our porch

We found a very cute Bistro Table and Chairs on Craigslist.
This house has a beautiful covered porch, and now we have a pretty table and chairs set so we can eat out on our porch!

Countertop is in

The countertop is in!!
We went with 'tan brown' granite.


I think it looks really good.



We went with a darker color to ground the kitchen, since the kitchen has light cabinets, light walls, and light floors, we felt we needed something a bit darker in a countertop to tie it all together.



We also put in a light fixture. Thanks so much to my dad for the electrical work.



All we need now is plates on the outlets, trim on the windows, and baseboards and the kitchen is good to go.



Let us know what you think.

Our Windows

We have 26 windows.
9 of those are 3, 3 window spreads.
8 are single upstairs windows
8 are single basement windows
1 is a stained glass window, which was rehabbed by Goodwood Studios
I am including a few pictures that provide an overview, but not all windows
We would like to rehab the windows, and leave them as a stained wood, rather than painted white.

I hope this is possible, but right now I can't even get someone out to look at the windows at all.
I want to do a lot of it myself, and really want a contractor around to rebuild what I cannot rehab (it will be extensive), and help make sure I am on the right path. But maybe I should just start on myown, and see what I can do.

Living Room


inside outside

Dining Room



Bedroom



Bathroom



Basements


There are 3 different types of window in the basement. One basement window is completely missing.

Just Sashes tomorrow

John from Just Sashes comes to tell me if rehabbing our wooden windows is a do-able thing tomorrow.

UPDATE:

He didn't make it last Wednesday, so we rescheduled for today (5/12) at 7:00 am. It is now 8:00, and I haven't heard anything yet. I really hope he calls back.

UPDATE AGAIN:

He never called back. I have called every day since Monday. It is Saturday now. I hope nothing happened to them.

I am also beginning to worry that it is me. Does he just not want to work with me, so he blows off 2 appointments without calling to turn me off without him just saying "I don't want the job"

Continuing the kitchen

Thursday my dad and I worked on wiring the cooktop, oven and dishwasher in the kitchen.
This was quite a project. It was fun though.
We called the city to see what we could do ourselves, and what we needed an electrician for, and decided that we were okay doing this by ourselves.

My dad and Rob ran the greenfield through the cabinet (we paid all this money for these beautiful cabinets and then cut HOLES in them), through the floor, and into the electrical box. My dad and I ran the wires through the greenfield. My dad ran a "pull wire" through, then we soldered the actual wires to the pull wire, and wrapped the joined end in electrical tape., then he went downstairs, and called me on his cell phone, and we both put our phones on speaker to keep in contact while threading our wires through. This worked out very well. My dad did all of the actuall connecting.

We also ran gas to the cooktop. My poor dad toured 5 hardware stores looking for a 3/8" black pipe union, and could not find one, so we had to go with 1/2" and use a reducing nipple. It worked out well. The cooktop works, and looks very nice so far. Although it is just resting ion the cabinet since we do not have a countertop yet. I am hoping the countertop will come in next week.