The Jerome: So much going on!!!!

The month of May has been very busy. Luckily, phones have amazing cameras so I realized that a majority of the month had actually been captured and now I can bring you up-to-date!

We'll start with today and work our way back.

May 31

The street in front of the building is under construction. Since they were there, Dale had them cut a pipe into the building--now we don't have any water. Sometimes, it's just better not to ask. So luckily it rained today so we had running water from the downspout. We're back to filling a 5-gallon pail to flush the toilet. We could always travel the 5 blocks back home for modern conveniences!

This is one of the back doors. Dale was getting ready to throw it into the dumpster when he had a great idea for recycling it.

There have been many pictures with this stairway in it. And for those that live here in Delano, this was the main stairway leading to the basement will all the toys! The top was removed sometime in the past week.

This afternoon, the walls of the stairway started getting dismantled and a new frame was getting installed.

And Viola! Door recycled!

While we were working today, looked out the back door to see these cars! I love Delano!

Ok... so I don't have the whole "selfie" thing mastered. :( Here are some of the piles that will be cleaning up today. I'll explain the process below.

Step 1. Place the empty garbage can on the dolly and begin picking up each piece of wood and placing it carefully into the garbage can. This is done so that maximum capacity can be reached.

Step 2: Wheel the dolly 90 feet to the back door, down the ramp and then up the ramp into the dumpster. NOTE: The second ramp becomes VERY slippery when wet. I slipped when I was pulling the dolling up the ramp. Ouch. Caught a slight nail gauge in the arm... wish I could remember the last time I had a tetanus shot... maybe I should check into that.

Step 3: Once the garbage can is loaded onto the dumpster, unload the wood piece by piece so that it can be carefully stacked to ensure that every nook and cranny is filled.

See how nice and neat everything is stacked! And that would be the wet ramp I slipped on. What a great day we had today!!!

May 30

What?!?!?!?! A handmade piece of furniture??? I thought Dale was working on the building and it appears he's taken up furniture!

As I mentioned before, the street in front is getting redone. Over to the left is Dale and our neighbor, Norm. And up on the scaffolding on the far right, is Craig who is tuck-pointing the side of the building. We found out that back in the 70's (I think), the top of this building was painted to look like a circus big-top tent. Well I think they succeeded! I can't wait to get that painted!

Craig tuck-pointing the brick so that it'll last another 100 years!

See the round circles in the bottom of the pillars? Those are bolts to fastened the loose cement and hold it in. Then they'll be patched in so you won't see them. Dale's so smart!

May 26

Lots of roadwork going on! Soon there will be a new street, 10-ft wide sidewalks and TREES!!!!!

May 25

Window came out of the back of building and the structure is just beyond that to help secure the building until the glass gets installed. Dale tells me that should be in the next 2-3 weeks. So exciting!

The Jerome has been fixed on the left side of the picture. Look just right of the scaffolding. Notice that the brick are very "textured". That's what we're fixing. The entire alley side needs to be done, but for now, we're focusing on the top because that will allow us to put on a new roof and have it go up and over so the water won't leak in. As Dale says all the time, "there's a reason for everything he does"!

May 24