train wreck

30-apr. took the 17.32 train again from randolph. it seems to be my friday routine right now. the ride generally passes fairly quickly, i have my ipod to listen to & keep a book in my bag as well. this trip though turned somewhat exciting after we left the 11th street stop in michigan city & were about half-way to the 2nd stop (my stop at carroll Ave). as we crossed michigan boulevard, the train suddenly started stopping & the horn was blaring non-stop. in a matter of seconds, we all realised there was a vehicle in the path of the train & we were about to impact it. as the train continued to slow & the horn sounded, we looked out the windows to try to see what we were heading into. luckily the train just clipped the back of a car blocking the tracks. there was a slight bump felt and then the train came to a (slightly) abrupt halt. we sat there for a few seconds before the conductor came on the PA and told us we had just clipped the car, the police were right there and that we would be proceeding on shortly. the train proceeded within five minutes.

after arriving, i dropped my bags off at the house and headed to the dollar stores to check out the latest wares. i made a quick stop @ MCD for a shamrock shake (the availability "for a limited time" seems to be a lot longer than years past). i proceeded on to family dollar & then to the dollar general ... there wasn't anything new this week so i left empty handed. i even decided against stopping @ virk's for a can of beer for later ... figured i usually forget about it until the end of the night anyway.

friday night i continued on with painting the kitchen & bath. the kitchen is nearing completion, just a bit more touching up in corners. the smoke stained foam green is now history ... though i left a ring of it under the ceiling light fixture since i didn't remove that to paint (it will be there as a haunting reminder whenever the fixture is removed).

the new medicine cabinet fit the old spot perfectly, there was about 2 inches of space at the top, the plaster covered part of it, but it was uneven in depth so i improvised w/a piece of wood trim to fill the gap for now. the wall is in such poor shape to begin with (pockmarked & pitted), i think i may buy some textured wallpaper to cover it & paint that. this will all be removed anyway once the bathroom is gutted for rehab (in a few years). but for now, it will do.

slept in saturday & was intent on doing nothing all day ... but then i decided to take the rain-free day as opportunity to caulk the new gutters (they had some leaks @ the joints). after i finished the caulking, i continued on with removing the furring strips from the sides of the house on the upper portions (requiring the ladder). i nearly worked up the nerve to hop on the roof of the back porch to remove the furring strips from the rear attic portion, but then decided that fun will wait, possibly until i replace the attic window (currently still boarded up). the roof is pitched & i don't care for heights.

as i was working my way around the exterior on the ladder, jackie from next door was on her porch w/a friend talking & we spoke briefly. her friend wondered if i was looking to rent the house out (2nd person to enquire), but i said i was not presently looking to rent it out. i did leave the option out there for the future though.

after i finished up with removing the furring strips i decided to remove the indoor/outdoor carpeting from the front porch. once the carpet was removed, there was an equal amount of dirt left behind on the floor. i had to open storm windows on the porch to let fresh air in to clear the dust in the air. will eventually repaint the floor, but need to check under the boards to see the condition of the framing as the floor boards in the far corner seem to be a little bouncy ... the corner post (brick pier) is crumbling & there may be some insect or water damage underneath.

saturday night continued on with another round of painting in the kitchen & bath, nearly done w/both rooms. once this is done, i'll continue w/painting the living & dining rooms & the front bedroom. the back bedroom is covered in wallpaper so will need to remove that before i paint.

in 2 weeks (mid-may), plan to start work on the temporary foundation repairs in the basement. still need to buy a sledgehammer & some rebar for the project. plan is to create some temporary bracing for the wall. also have some lumber to build a temporary loadbearing wall, in case the foundation wall collapses before replacement can be done. the cement mix is in the basement ready to be set into forms & the lumber for the load bearing wall is in the living room (will need to get it out of living room eventually b4 i can paint room).

sunday spent the morning/early afternoon cleaning up the house & planted some bulbs in the front yard along front of the house. took the 15.40 train back to chicago & then hit big chick's for a few beers.