7.17.2026

Jim decided to clean the front of the house where the runoff from the copper flashing has caused a scaly buildup on the siding.  He still plans on painting this year, but not until the temperatures are cooler.  He got the Bobcat in place and bucket in the air to work from...

Spraying cleaner...

Giving it a scrub...

Hosing it off...

Starting on the siding...

Hosing...

WOW!  What a difference!  I'm so thrilled with the way it looks!

Jim then had to move the Bobcat over to the stairwell to do the other side.  You can easily see the before here as he sets up...

Scrubbing the fascia board...

Working his way down - off the ladder and just using the bucket...

Final hose off...

I feel like we have a new house!  It looks amazing!

Once Jim got the ladders and Bobcat put away, it was time to walk up to the pavilion to put our new scare owl in place.  We're hoping to prevent birds from hanging around inside and making a mess - they have a whole forest to go into!

It would scare me!  Jim is probably going to hang it up, but for now, he's just sitting and guarding.

High 80.3/Low 56

7.16.2026

Canadian wildfire smoke is making our normally clean mountain air hazardous!  This is affecting lots of the country now, so hopefully it will clear quickly.

Jim did some grass cutting this afternoon and then spent time in the auto bay working on the rings for the wine rack...

 Three more rings in process...

We did decide to go to The Local in the evening, which was nice.  

High 83.1/Low 64.3 - wildfire smoke

7.15.2026

 I had to go into Saratoga this morning, not realizing that we are once again dealing with smoke from Canadian wildfires.  The sky was weirdly orange...

The sky wasn't really this brown, but later in the afternoon, we took this picture of the sun...

So after running all my errands, the rest of the day was staying inside.

Jim did some cleanup and organizing and he also cleaned the headlight lenses on my car...

Using his special rubbing compound...

Then buffing...

Cleaning the residue off...

Beautiful!

High 82.5/Low 76.3 - hazy from wildfire smoke!

7.14.2026

It was warm today, so we made it an inside day.  Jim took apart one of the old planes we got from my printer and is seeing if he can clean it up with the blasting cabinet.  He was exploring different kinds of materials to see how they worked...

He bought a motion sensor light switch for the entry into the wood shop.  Jim doesn't like us to walk into dark rooms, so he was keeping one light on all the time.  We're testing how this one works before he buttons it up...

 

High 89.4/Low 69.1

7.13.2026

 Jim continues to work on the power washer.  He drained the oil yesterday and ordered more.  It came today so he finished up that job.

Rain coming down the copper valley sin the roof have created what looks like white streaks on the front of the house as well as some dark streaks on the trim underneath the overhang.  Jim sprayed it and quickly scrubbed it...

The power washer is working great - there are still some washers that Jim wants to replace.  But a light spray removed all evidence of the black streaks on the trim.  Repainting the front of the house is on the to do list for the summer but it was nice to see it cleaned up well.

Cleaning off the outside lights - birds sometimes like to sit on these...

Then Jim took the power washer up to the pavilion to give it a cleaning.  He first took down the empty bird nests...

There were a lot of nests...

Cleaning the floor...

Looks beautiful!

7.12 - High 82.4/Low 56.1
7.13 - High 86.3/Low 56

7.11.2026

These bucks must like it here on Angel as much as we do - they've been hanging around a lot.  This pair was around all morning, mostly resting!

Jim's new hardware for the power washer came in the mail today, so he got it all back together, including using the blasting cabinet to clean the spark plug tops...

Giving it a good cleaning...

Throwing some water on the trees...

Spraying the washer down after its cleaning soak...

 

High 79.8/Low 59.8

7.10.2026

This afternoon, we went back to playing in the woods, this time concentrating on chipping all the piles we made yesterday.  Getting started...

'This chipper eats big trunks without an issue - makes doing this fun!

This was the before picture of our piles...

Afterwards, everything looks clean and beautiful...

Then we went to the area to the west side of the house, deeper into the woods, where we were working yesterday.  As a reminder, this was our big pile of branches and trees that we accumulated...

All gone!  We spent about 1-1/2 hours chipping and that time makes a huge difference in how things look as well as making the woods healthier.

High 81.4/Low 69.1