New Beginnings and New Set-backs...

I am sure that you can tell from this post that we have begun the demolition of certain features of the house to make way for some improvements that will (hopefully) take place soon.
Before I get into that, I do need to let all of my dedicated fans know that you've unfortunately missed an opportunity. Jack Sparrow of the crazy room is gone. He will only be remembered by this picture here:

So sorry to those of you who where hoping to get a glimpse of him as he is seen here or have your picture taken with him. He is gone - reduced to a sticky pile of thin plastic on the floor by a dear friend that visited this weekend. He went without a fight, sword and all.

Now back to business.

We have an uninvited guest in our home. I was shocked upon seeing him, wondering why oh why of all of the places to live in south central Alabama I would pick the ONE house that had hairy tarantulas in it. So, I was delighted when I came back to my senses and realized I was staring at a bat.

Here's our new house guest (sorry I didn't rotate this pic for you - the white and wood parts are at the top). After we got over the shock of our visitor and decided the best thing to do was let it sleep since we had nothing to catch it with, we began taking down the rough paneling. This brings us to setback #1. There is no sheet rock or any sort of wall under the paneling. There is insulation in some spots, but the rest is open air. Though this is an unexpected expense (we knew they were hiding within the house, you just never know where), I'm glad we found it. I imagine that this was not only a haven for bugs, spiders and, perhaps, bats, but also energy inefficient. I g .

Next we decided to see what might lie behind the paneling on the top of the wall. The answer was nothing, of course, which brings us to setback #2. This set of paneling is directly next to the attic, so I am sure that hot air was easily making its way into the house in the summer and out of the house in the winter. Again, I am glad we found this out. Maybe that's why the A/C went out last summer because it was cooling the attic.

So, that's all for now. Sam had several sub-contractors come out this week, so maybe we will rip out the carpet this weekend in prep for the upgrades and find some other hidden gems!