End of the Month; Inside/Out; Floors and Stains; Knotty Pine; The Yard; Old Photos of Yard and Sam

It's the end of the month and so far I've managed not to resort to going into overdraft. Of course, the $500 payment I got for the car helped. But most of that went to pay the overdraft from August.

Each time I make a pass through the house, I try to decide if something can go into the one of the garage sale bins on the carport. Having the bins has helped tremendously, not only in terms of sorting items for the garage sale, but segregating items inside. Before, I might find rolls of tape, or screwdrivers, or pins and needles in a dozen places. Now I can either put it in one of the bins or set it in a single designated place inside.

I finished cleaning the hall closet, and it looks fine. Save for the floor. There are still stains and splotches that I can't seem to get rid of. In particular, there is something that looks like flakes of black paint. It appears in about a dozen areas of the house; it's especially bad in my bedroom.

I've tried various spot removers to no avail. Cleanser does nothing. Fine sandpaper is a waste. Steel wool pads don't work either. I've even moved up to paint stripper, but I'm not sure what that will do. I tried it in the closet, and all it did was to lighten the color of the floor under the stain. But did not remove the stain.

A big question in my mind is what is the stain. I've tried to figure out what the various locations would have in common. Or it may be multiple factors.

And yes I've searched the web to no avail. I'll need to do a slow methodical search if I'm ever to find anything.

The kitchen is pure knotty pine like some Alpine lodge. All the walls are knotty pine. All the cabinet doors are knotty pine. All the shelves are even knotty pine. Do you realize how much surface area that creates. It seems like acres, but it most likely several hundred square feet.

I'm not sure what's the best way to clean knotty pine. I'm not even sure how to tell if it needs cleaning. Maybe those dark edges and streaks are natural.

Yes, I've also searched the web for an answer. The same type of search as previously mentioned will also have to be done for this problem.

A never ending task.

I'm still at the far back on the south side border. There seems to be a tree about every ten feet. And this massive tangle of vines and roots that makes it very difficult to rake. It's this undergrowth that creates the thickest jungle.

I'm able to get a lot more into the garbage containers if I clip as I go. Then if a limb is too big for clipping, I comes back to it in a day or so with the reciprocating saw. In fact, I spent about an hour yesterday afternoon, chopping up limbs that I'd previously cut. Each type of limb has its own peculiarities. Pine is the easiest; even a thick log is fairly easy to cut. Hedge is a pain; the thicker parts are not bad, but the saw will "catch" on the bark of the smaller sections. Cedar is the worst; the wood is so tough that it's not unusual to see smoke coming from the blade.

At present, I have about a 75-foot row of straw and debris that needs to be bagged for the garbage.

Actually, almost all of the remainder of the back needs raking.

By the way, as I was going through some of the old photos, I came across a couple from when we first moved here. There was not a tree or bush on the property. There were a few plants in a bed at the front of the house. Other than that, it is barren.

Try Front yard in the summer of 1960.

Or try Back yard in August of 1961. The lettering on the photo says "me and Sam in back yard." The "me" is my father. Sam is a surprise. I so want to remember Sam, but I don't and can't. And that makes me very sad.

PAX!