I Think We've Got It! (And I'm using way too many of these: !!!!)

Almost all fixed!

We pretty confident our friend/handyman Steve has finally figured it out.  Our powder room pipes will (hopefully) likely not be freezing this winter.  Rather than pulling up the floor tile, and after a bunch of discussion, he went through the wall in the garage.  And yep, there's a several inch wide gap through to the stucco covered outside wall that had no insulation.  And also, yep, there was insulation between the pipes and the inside wall (which is puzzling -why-ever would we want to keep the warmth of the inside of the house from those pipes?).

So, insulation between the pipes and the inside wall:  removed.  And lots of insulation has been stuffed in the open cavity.  What a huge relief this is to not only have the cause figured out, but also to have remedied it with as little cost as possible.  Yay! Another sanding and some paint and it'll be better than new!

It was so lovely to be out on the trail again this morning.  Some of the things I saw:  a lone shoe.  And a lone sock. A mama and her three ducklets. This row of trees - first was the peach tree, next to a pear tree, next to an apple tree.  How fun to see the fruits in their just-recognizable-beginning-to-grow state, I'm more familiar with the finished product.

I have so enjoyed being able to accomplish a few things around here, i.e. re-grouting the shower, fixing the frozen pipe issue.  Next up - we're sending our metal railings off to give them a fresh powder-coat, ridding them of the rust that has occurred.  In order to do that (isn't that the way of projects:  one thing leads to another, or requires something else and it just balloons out of control?) we've got to remove the plants around the rail.  Lots of groundcover roses, a couple quince bushes (really menacing thorns on those!), some random volunteer strawberries (the robins love them!) and the ever-present-ineradicable morning glory. We've got our work cut out for us - it's gonna look just fabulous!

I'm so grateful for the ability to hire someone to do things we can't do ourselves around here.  And that we've found a conscientious, reliable guy who seems really decent.  I'm grateful for my glasses that let me see clearly.  And for the songs of the birds.