I have always depended on the kindness of strangers

Hopefully I am not on my way to a mental institution

Confession: I never read or saw A Streetcar Named Desire so I googled the kindness of strangers quote to get it correct and read about its context. I now know that Blanche's line is her last and she says it as she is being led off to a mental institution. 

Again, I hope that I am not working my way there...but sometimes I feel very scattered as I visit/work on things at Benson Camp, and then return to a lovely home to house/pet sit. Very scattered. 

Here are some pictures of what's been going on at Benson Camp:

They removed the blocked-up original garage door! Yay! This was pretty exciting for me to see, and the neighbors thought so too. This is a view from inside the front room, standing at the front door.

I took this picture outside the fence, standing on tiptoe, with the phone held overhead. Can you tell by the angle of the shot? This is facing the south side of the building.

And this is what it looks like from the sidewalk across the street. It looks like wearing pants will be optional, but a top would be a good idea. 

The garage door has been ordered, but hasn't arrived yet, sadly. We will have a screen door for it so we can have it open and keep bugs out, just like all the cool restaurants. This opening was framed in and covered up so it no longer looks like this. Now it looks like a boarded up building. 

Next, a thrilling look at getting a new roof on a very old building. Ready? 

I thought I was going to spend this morning cleaning up a little and removing plaster from some of the walls. I was wrong. The roofers started removing the old layers of roof and we all discovered that there is far less roof sheeting than is desirable. I didn't take a picture of the floor of the front room at this point...I was practicing lamaze breathing and trying not to freak out. That rather large area is where the gorgeous original boards were too damaged to remain...they ended up on the floor inside along with tons of detritus from the past century. 

The 2 x 4 wall made of new wood is a temporary brace that P and I built to shore things up until we get a better looking support under the main beam. OK, when I say that P and I built it I mean that he did all the work and I helped as much as the shake-n-bake girl helped her momma. 

So, this is not what I was hoping for in my new roof. I love the color of the original sheeting, the trusses provide an interesting and educational look into the past. At this point the roofers decided they would need to put down a layer of plywood before continuing with the insulation and new roof. And I decided to leave the intense mess and meet P for lunch. 

(The product the roofers are using was originally used as pool liners...makes sense that if it keeps water in a pool, it can keep water out of a building.)

So, that is what is happening at Benson Camp. The heating and AC units have arrived and hopefully will be installed next week. There are two rooms that are completely taped off from the mess, the bedrooms, and they stay relatively cool compared to the rest of the building. However, AC is a necessity before we attempt to move in. 

Which brings me to depending on the kindness of friends really, not strangers. Since our new home is not quite move in ready, we are house sitting/pet sitting in town. And while we optimistically thought it would be for just 10 days, we now have house sitting gigs for the next 2 weeks. Which brings me to a new part of the blog: 

My favorite things of yours

Living in others' homes gives you a great opportunity to try out new things. Here are a few of my favorite things from the homes that I have house sat:

The Pets

I have loved loving up Laila, Whiskers, and (spelling?) Mishu. I no longer have pets and I'm not looking to get any soon (DID you look at the pictures above?) but I have loved being a foster mom. 

Whole house audio/visual. 

I love having the radio/music/tv play throughout the house. Since we have pretty much a raw slate to work with, P says we will be able to have our own version of this...on a smaller scale. 

Vacuums.

 I have been ruined for my vacuum. I can't go back now that I've seen what's out there! First, the stick vacuum. I didn't think to get a pic or write down the name and model but I think it's a Shark. I'll get confirmation and if wrong, I'll change it. I loved that thing! 

Second, Bissell Perfect Sweep. It's an electric sweeper and it works great and is fun to use. It sucks up cat hair like that's what it's made to do.

I will add to this list as I remember/discover new favorite things. Or maybe I won't, we'll see what happens.