New project underway

I would say of all the seasons, fall is the one where the Manor really shines the brightest. Even with the house still technically in "dilapidation phase", it almost looks "normal" with all of the beautiful trees that surround it.

We don't have ONE tree at our house in Kansas City but here we have almost 3 acres of some of the most beautiful and unique trees I've ever seen. I don't even mind the raking....it's therapeutic and my inner pyro gets satisfied when the burning begins! ;)

SO! It's been a while since I've updated this thing but it hasn't been because we are running out of steam. It's because we're repointing the brick on the front of the house and I didn't think it would be very interesting for you to read 50 blog updates of the most boring house project in the world. It would go something like "So here's a section of freshly mortared brick...oh, here's another section of freshly mortared brick...oh, and this brick was gone so we put a new one in"...you get the idea. However, repointing brick compared to rebuilding soffits is like comparing getting a root canal to going to an amusement park.

Well, we might as well get started with this. Here's a section of freshly mortared brick.

Here's another one!

...and yes...I almost killed a tiny tree frog that was hiding in the brick. My job has been to scrape the old mortar out & the little guy just about met a pretty horrific ending from my scraper tool. You never know what kind of animal or bug is ready to jump out at you. Example #1! Paw prints that were INSIDE of the kitchen cabinet from some critter that walked through flour. Horrifying! Do you know how many heart attacks I would have simultaneously had if he had still been in there when I opened this thing up?

We'll be heading to Bevier this weekend to continue this project so look forward to more brick wall photos next week!!!! *sarcasm* All joking aside...baby steps. The exciting part is that once this front is repointed we are rebuilding the front terrace & that is going to make a BIG difference on the appearance of the front of the house. It may even take it out of "delapidation phase"!