Putting Sugar On A Turd!

The neighborhood project continues. Slower than I desired but still plugging away. Since I had no volunteers for Saturday, I actually got some work done on my own house! Nothing exciting, stripping wood with steel wool and alcohol.

Anyway, we must get stopped 7 or 8 times while at work on the old theater building. We are all tired of having to explain that we are just fixing up the facade of the building and that it will still be boarded up when we are done. So we are now describing what we are doing as "Putting sugar on a turd" which is how one of the volunteers described the project. There seems to be considerable drug traffic in the area and quite a few drunks. So, when some crackhead or alcoholic asks what we are going to turn the building into the standard answer has become "A drug rehab center!"

I am almost done with the stucco work. Here is the building this week....

What is a Committee?

This has been a week of committee meetings. First there was the Wayne\Wilmington\Stewart St open house on Wednesday, which wasn't a committee, but a public meeting. Then there was the "Sub committee of the Neighborhood Stratagies Task Force Committee" on Thursday afternoon that I am a part of. The topic was how to force lienholders to assume responsibility after buying a property back at sheriff sale as a result of a forclosure. Interesting meeting because it included a banker, a pair of real estate investors, a resident from the Downtown Priority Board, two members of the City Legal department, the head of Housing inspection, the County Clerk of Courts, two members from the sheriff's department and little old me.I can't say that we achieved a whole lot but did learn a few things about how the law works..
Tonight we had our neighborhood fund raising committee meeting and have set a date for a neighborhood yard sale.
Lets see, next week is Neighborhood Stratagies Task Force Committee which is about 80% city employees who won't say what is really on their minds for fear of offending someone and then a Priority Board meeting on Thursday. So, not alot getting done on the house I'm afraid. If you have ever been on a committee then you may find this amusing. My step father told me this one.

Definition of a committee;
A group of people who, as individuals can not make a decision and who, as a group, discuss reasons why they shouldn't......

Black and White are out of site.

Well, it seems that only a few of us proud housebloggers liked the idea of prison stripes. If you ever venture out to Eureka California, look out for a guy in rhinestone covered carpenters overalls saying "Thank you, thank you very much..." That would be "Petch House Greg" AKA Elvis Petch. If you see a guy in Russelville, Arkansas dressed or undressed in chains ranting about his "Devil Queen", giving the impression of an S & M convention near by, ignore him, it's "Crazy John".
I think Aaron, Jeanne and Grace would have looked great in Prison stripes at their convention this week. You could have certainly picked them out of the crowd and I'm sure the Chicago PD would have. Oh well. You all have the web site so you can order your outfits and strait jackets individually. I think I'll dig out my copy of the "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack and sing along

"IIIIIIII am the maaaaaan of constant sorrowwwww, I've seeen trouuuuuuuuble all my days....."

Up His Sleeve, In His Hat, In His Coat Pocket

Weekend two of the neighborhood project!



I guess when you have volunteer labor you certainly get what you pay for. I had 15 volunteers before the project began. Nine came to the pre project meeting. Ten enthusiastic volunteers arrived on day one. All of these numbers count me as a volunteer.
Day two of the project produced 3 of us. One week later there were three again and on Sunday there were 2. My wife stepped in and did most of the lower painting that you see in the picture so our #s went up to three on Sunday. If I had two more people, the painting would have been almost complete except for the upper part. So, all you young un's out there who believe that the "World is your oyster", realize that 90% of the work is done by 10% of the people otherwise your future is going to be a clam! Fortunately, I have learned to have low expectations when it involves the work of others. That way I am rarely disappointed and easily impressed.

The good news is that there are some really dedicated people in this neighborhood. There is much drive by interest in the building. The colors were picked by just two of us making decisions by committee null and void AND..... most importantly, I am getting REALLY GOOD at doing stucco!

I think a good old Catholic style guilt trip is in order for my work force!

Houseblogger uniforms?

I found the perfect uniform for housebloggers! You can view it HERE. I was thinking the 5th one down from the top. In the jump suit style. We could have them screen printed with "Houseblogger" on the back.

If ten people are interested we could get them for around $55 a piece with all the shipping. If 24 people are interested, it would be less!

Of course some of us might want the delux model found on THIS PAGE for $150. It would be the 4th item down on the left. Especially for those plumbing moments.

Both are ageless and would certainly be a conversation piece if you chose to wear in public!

I can see my house from here!

I went to our local county real estate page (www.mcrealestate.org) and looked at our tax bill and plat map for the hell-of-it. Then I started playing with the layering icon and got this!



The picture is from 2001 or earlier because the "Art Theater" (porn movie house) that used to be across the street is still there and that was demolished in February 2002. The only picture that I have of the place is this view from our roof in August 2001.

Just what I need. More house pictures!

Pulling a rabbit out of my hat......

We started the neighborhood project this weekend. Here is a picture of the building now...



It got pressure washed, scraped, tuck pointed and some stucco work done. There was a hole in the wall where a car had hit it. That got bricked up with some of those bricks I picked up last week! So, now it actually looks worse than it did a week ago..... but like they say, it has to get worse before it can get better. I emailed the housing inspector so he doesn't write a ticket for chipped paint.
If you want to know about stucco, you can read all about it HERE. It is like doing plaster work. My wrist hasn't been this sore since going blind as a teenager......