The Weekly Smile for August 17, 2020 #weeklysmile

51 Replies

weeklysmile2b

I did have a lot to smile about this week, but it is so hard coming up with something.  There are the normal, like kayaking.  But that is boring, and my kayaking wasn’t epic ;)  I do “all of the small things!” too often, so that is out.  OK, I got it:  The painter is finally done with my house on Cape Cod!  Well, almost…  There is still some touch-up.  He also found a few rotted places that were beyond him, but luckily I have people in working on my barn, so they are doing that work.  I think the painter might have to paint what they do when they are done, so…  But, for the most part, the painting is done!

Here is a photo taken at sunset.  In the left you can see part of the barn.  If you look closely, it looks like barn has black and white trim – the black is the paper they are putting under the new siding the will put up.  They also finished the roof and pretty much all of the trim on the barn. (Note – this is not a vacation house – I will eventually live here full time.)

house-01

Funny, more of my neighbors are stopping me as i walk the dog to ask about the work I am doing.  I think some waited until they saw work being done to become friendly ;)  OK, that is bad on my part – I think it is more like they now have an excuse to stop me and talk to me :)  So I talked to several neighbors while I was down over the weekend.

That is my smile, a lot of progress on the exterior of my house on Cape Cod.

What made you smile?

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Come on, I’m sure you smiled at least once last week.  Why don’t you share it?  I hope you can join in!

Here is list of “rules” and guiding ideas.  If you don’t have time to read it right now, just remember that this is an exercise to spread positivity.  Don’t smile about the misfortune of others.  Don’t smile in a way to excludes others.  Make sure a 12 year old can read it.

To join in, write a post to share your smile and then leave a comment on this post with a link to your smile.  Or, if you prefer, do a pingback to this post (pingback = have a link from your post to this one) (Note – pingbacks have been very inconsistent – please leave a comment :) ).   You can post any time until next Sunday evening (to be simple, I will say midnight GMT, which is 7 PM Sunday for me).   Next week I will compile all of the Smiles and do a separate post of them on Monday morning just before the smile.  (I will shoot for around 7 AM EST).

51 thoughts on “The Weekly Smile for August 17, 2020 #weeklysmile”

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  9. dprastka

    What a wonderful smile! I LOVE your house, old houses have so much character. It does look big, but I like big as we have been living in a small house for 15 years. I am ready to go big and stretch out! I had to look up Cape Cod on a map and you are at the ocean and I can see why you would want to live there full-time. So awesome! :D Here is my weekly Smile post;
    https://myhorsestories.blog/2020/08/18/my-weekly-smile-aug-18-2020-surprise/

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Old houses have a huge amount of character. I was talking to my sister last night about big people say the house looks. She pointed out that her house, build about 120 years after this one, is just as big, but has 10 windows in total, while this one has 10 windows just on the second floor on the front of the house. that does count the first floor, the sides or the back… OK, I get her point ;) This house is close to two landings on a large tidal river and about a mile from the ocean…. I’ll be by to see your smile in a minute :)

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. Doing well here, I hope you are too. A lot of my “smiles” have been walks, runs and kayak paddles in nature, so I understand 100% (last week was “running” into a bear on my usual run – I was just a few feet away when I realized what the large animal was!

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  12. SHL2

    Beautiful house and it is very large. I am glad you found someone else to paint it that would be quite a chore to paint. I love the barn take a picture of the barn for me. Is this the front view or the back sometimes it is hard to tell. We have been looking at property and houses. I want to downsize but not too much when you are used to the extra space it’s hard to give it up. We each have our own office but most of the time the dogs are under my feet. When you are done fixing this house up will yall move there full time?

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Hi Sonya – it looks huge, but is merely big ;) (I haven’t said size anywhere, but it is about 2500 sq ft). It would be a huge chore to paint, and the painter ground all of the paint off to bare wood! A huge amount of work. Technically this is the front. It is a corner lot, so the drive comes off of the side and we use the back doors. Our “back yard”, where the dogs play, is behind the barn, diagonal from the intersection, so off to the left in this photo. We both have offices and there is a workout room, so the space fills up quickly! We plan on moving in full time after I retire. Minimum 3 years, but maybe up to 5 1/2 years. We are putting shingles on the barn as siding, so I will take photos when that is done (shingle siding is huge on Cape Cod).

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      1. SHL2

        Our house is that exact same size but its a one story ranch style. It sounds like you had a wonderful experienced painter. We have 3 entrances to our house but the way its situated we use the front door when we come and go. Have you thought about adding a portico to the front door maybe a arched roof one with some pretty round post? If you can send me a before and after pic of the barn I would love it I love old barns.

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        1. trentpmcd Post author

          Something like a portico would be a long way off… Too late for before photos of the barn, but I’ll send after (I’ll dig through old photographs and see if I can find any before, but I doubt it).

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              1. SHL2

                I think I want a fixer up for our retreat whether its a full time or part time retreat. Since we are getting older most of ours will be hired out but in the past we have always done stuff our self.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It is huge, though the looks are deceptive – it isn’t quite as big as it looks from this angle. There will just be two of us, but we each have a home office and there is an exercise room (a small bedroom made with shelves for equipment and mats on the floor). I’ve also been spoiled living in a large house for quite a few years.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks. It is a big house, though in some ways photos make it look bigger than it really is – some of these old houses are narrow and rambling, with odd sections added on over time, so there is a lot of front, but not as much space as you’d think, but huge amount of character!

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      My current house in New Hampshire is huge, so it would very hard to downsize too much ;) It is great that, at least as far as the exterior goes, it is shaping up and major projects are coming to an end. I’ll be by in a few minutes to check out your smile :)

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Yes, it is a big house, which is why I wanted to point out that this will be my permanent home – it’s a little much for a second house or vacation home! Kayaking is not boring, but I use it for my smile every other week :) I’ll be by to see your smile in a few minutes.

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