I went down into the crawlspace yesterday and was shocked. It was slightly damp, but there was no standing water anywhere. I haven't heard the sump pumps turn on since last fall, so I figured they'd either tripped their breakers or it was dry down there. With all the rain we've had this spring, I would have guessed there'd be more water down there...but who's complaining? ;)

Anyway, I went down there to turn off the water so I could replace the spigot on the front side of the rental unit, which froze last fall and broke. I learned that "freeze-free" means "freeze free only if you disconnect the hose" - and I forgot to unhook the hose from the spigot before the first freeze, so the ice blew out the vent plug.

I got that done, cleaned up the garage a bit, and did some figuring about what needs to be done before the snow flies this fall:

Exterior of the house needs to be painted (it's almost half done)
Trim needs to be painted (about 5% done)
Fence needs to be built around both front yards
Roof needs patching in places, possibly a vent or two need replacing, and snowjax need to be installed
Install security light on the back of the house
Find a locking security screen door for the tenant front and back door
Laundry room- finish sheetrocking, mud/tape/paint, install underlayment and floor tiles, put hinges and a handle on the floor hatch, replace light fixture(have all supplies except underlayment)
Kitchen- replace copper water supply risers with CPVC, cut away old floor, paint walls/ceiling, replace underlayment(?) and lay down laminate flooring
Bathroom- demo all sheetrock, including ceiling, lift up tub, put down new subfloor/underlayment, install marmoleum flooring, replace all sheetrock, retile the tub surround, replace and replumb sink and all fixtures, sheetrock/mud/tape/paint
Garage- mud/tape/paint, install separate electrical box, hardwire water heater and garage door opener, install outlets throughout garage
Replace old, loose outlets and switches throughout the house (practically all of them)
Install new light fixtures, trim doorways, install baseboard, paint interior rooms, install transition strip between flooring where none exists
Finish building shelves in the office closet
Replace hollow-core garage people door with a solid fire door
Dig up the junk in the back yard and landscape
If time and finances permit, build front porches for both sides, lay a gravel parking pad beside the house, re-plumb the oil line on our side or raise/move the oil tank.

I'm sure there's more that needs to be done. I just can't think of it now. Needless to say, it'll be a busy summer - and with the lack of people available at work, I probably won't be getting much time off this summer.

Speaking of which, two of my cow-orkers received release dates recently (a release date basically means they've been offered a job elsewhere with the FAA and my boss said, OK, I can let you transfer on such-and-such a date). One is the middle of September and the other is October 1. So Oct 1, we'll be down two people. We have the authority to hire three replacements, but the chances of having any of them through class and fully trained by Oct 1 are slim to none. We'll see what happens...

That is all for now.