general handiness notes

Michael has been on a little home improvement kick the last couple of weeks. Improvements:

-installed magnetic latch on the door into the space under the eaves upstairs, so it doesn't swing open all the time. This space had been a haunt of the cat, and when he poked around in there, Michael discovered why: piles and piles of walnut shells suggest a squirrel cosy.
-filled squirrel access holes by the rear dormer with that insulation-foam-in-a-can stuff. This has been pretty successful - if the level of noise on the part of the Ceiling Squirrels is any indication, they have been greatly reduced (though not, I think, eliminated.)
-hung a hose cosy under the deck.
-replaced protruding nails on the porch swing with countersunk wood screws (and boy did he have fun buying the special drill bits!) and generally made the swing more sturdy and hung at a better angle.
-excavated 3 feet of roots and compost from the porch gutter downspout, and built a splash zone at the base of it out of granite pieces we had lying about. (Next stop: my rain barrel.)

Meanwhile I have started painting the upstairs bedroom and have re-started refinishing our dresser (which is planned to be Peter's dresser). Plus gardening.