First steps

Yesterday afternoon was GREAT! I was able to go do a few things around the house that were really satisfying.

Let me start by saying that I found out yesterday that San Mateo County has a subsidized composting program. For $35 I get a really nice composting bin that retails at Smith and Hawken for $129. I'll send in the order form and check today and will get the bin in 1-3 weeks. I figured that it's a great way to plan ahead for spring planting, and a good way to dispose of all the fall yard waste. However, it doesn't resolve my apple issue in a timely manner, so I was prepared to send them to the trash.

When I got to the house, I discovered that the yard waste bin was already full with leaves and grass, so I had no place to put all those apples until the next yard waste pickup (every other Friday, and the next one is 10/5). There are two normal trash cans, so I left one on trash duty and took one to the back yard for the apples. I filled it and still have apples on the ground. However, I have raked them into nice little piles, so you can actually walk around the yard a bit.

After that, I dead headed the roses , raked the gravel driveway smooth, raked all the magnolia leaves into the flower beds (no room in the bin), and swept out the mini-garage, sidewalk and porch before making my first stamp on the place:
Then I went to work on the inside for a bit. I decided to start at the front of the house and will work on one room at a time, gradually working my way to the back, giving it a good cleaning. Even though it's eventually going to be gutted, there is no sense letting the place stay filthy in the interim.

Really, I wanted to see if the living room hardwood floor cleaned up well enough to consider salvaging.

Lots of people thought I was joking when I said they didn't do anything to spruce up the place before listing it. I assure you, they did not, and I have the photos to prove it. So, I vacuumed the baseboards and corners, to eliminate the obvious dirt/dust bundles, then I tried to dry swiffer. It was so dirty that I could hear the grit under the swiffer against the floor. My vacuum does not have a hard floor attachment and it doesn't do too well when I use the rotating brush on the floors, but I figured it was likely to be an improvement over the swiffer, so I ran it across the room.

Then I switched to the swiffer wet mop wipe. This room is NOT large, but it took TWO wipes to get the job done. And here is what they looked like when I was finished (click on photo for full-sized grossness):
EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! But the floor looked worlds better!

By this time, the sun was well into setting, so there was not enough light to take a photo of the floor. In any event, I think they need a good scrubbing on hands and knees with Murphy's Oil Soap and a coat of wax before they really come around. I'll give it a go and if they clean up nicely, I will definitely plan on keeping them and sacrifice my plan for a radiant heating system.

That's it for Day 1. I won't be out there today, but I have a contractor coming first thing tomorrow morning and may even take the day off to spend the day working there. The weekend will be busy for sure.