Back!

Hello!  I would LOVE to take this opportunity to share with you exactly what I was doing, where I went, who I was with, yada yada yada... But I kinda forgot to take ANY pics.  Seriously.  So as soon as I get ahold of a few photos that were taken by others who were present, Where I Was will remain a mystery.

Therefore, we'll just move on to what Hubs did while I was gone!  Quick and easy, down and dirty:

This is my front door (Left) and my coat closet (center).  ....or is it??

That's the GARAGE!  Where did all our coats go??? (Hubs stored them in a good place - a.k.a. a wife-approved place - before ripping out my coat closet and reclaiming HIS garage space!)

I know it's blurry, but you don't really want to CLEARLY see all the crap in my garage anyway!  That bright light is my front door!!!

Hubs ripped out this whole part of the wall.

The robin found his way back into our support joist once the wall was open again.  That poor bird isn't going to score himself a mate this season if he keeps making his nest in a place that humans keep throwing it out!   Mamas need to know their babies are SECURE!!!

Hubs decided to dig.  A lot.  At the top of this pic, the main drain where it exits the house.  Cleanout, broken check-valve and T's and Y's to basement fixtures.

This is a close-up of the bottom hole from the previous picture.  Hubs has No Clue what this broken pipe's purpose once was.

But the pipe crumbled in his hand and looked like this.

Did I mention Hubs dug A LOT??  This is from two stories up.  Notice the pile of concrete at the top.  And the wire pile to the right. That gray pile just to the left of center is about 18" high. And just below the orange line, you can see a brown pipe.  That's the main drain to the septic system.

Lots of things to look at here....

The red pole on the right is the temporary support.  The pipes in the middle are there because Hubs knows I'll pitch the worst fit in history if he disconnects my washer and dryer for more than 12 hours at a time, so he can't just rip out random plumbing that's all connected right there.  That center stud is...a stud.  I don't know why Hubs has left it just now.  Oh wait.  Yes I do.  It is holding the outlet for MY DRYER!!!  Oh, sweet husband of mine...  

And just to the left of my dryer exhaust is the main drain to the whole house.  That used to be encased within the external wall.  Hubs doesn't like that design.  He also can't very well stud in this wall until he moves - a.k.a. replaces and then switches... - the placement of that stack.  And THAT requires planning out NOW every last drain pipe of the house in the manner we intend to put them.  

Well, that covers everything that Hubs was able to get done in 3 working days while still caring for his daughter all by himself!  I'm quite impressed, aren't you?

Check back tomorrow for what we got done the night before I left, and hopefully by Thursday I'll have pictures of what I was doing!