Small progress today

Today I went to the city planning office to get answers to some permit questions and fence height issues. Since our grade is below that of our neighbors, we wanted to know how hight the fence could go (i.e. is the height based on our grade or theirs?). It turns out the fence height is based on the lower grade, so we will try to raise our grade to get better coverage. We need to have protection for our future dogs, and sadly enough, people in the neighboring apartment building have started to throw trash and cigarette butts in our yard. I am concerned about getting our permit closed by January 20, which is when it expires (it's been a year already). Due to the lagging efforts of the general contractor, we aren't even close to closing it. I may have to extend it, which will cost more money.

I managed to get one more window ready for trim today. I can't put the trim on because the general contractor has not finished patching the windows. So far, 1 of the 13 windows is completely done (trim and all) and now this one is ready for trim. The other 11 are in various stages of completion. Each window has to be done in phases so the shellac doesn't stick to itself. Each surface needs three coats of shellac, which a steel wool buffing in between. The surface is finished by polishing with old denim. It's a lot of work, but they really look great and we are saving thousands by doing it ourselves. The progress is slow though - I try to work a half an hour a day on the windows. It's easier than trying to find a 6+ hour block of time that would be needed to do an entire coat in one shot. A lot of the work is tedious too, so it helps to break it up.

I also spend about an hour every day cleaning and unpacking. It helps keep the chaos at bay and makes a difference over time.

We've only had one dog poo left in the last week, which is progress from one per day. The spray seems to help, if not stop the problem. I have noticed the dogs seem a lot less interested in our median strip. I think the smell of the spray obscures the previous dog smells which makes current dogs less interested and less likely to go potty there. I've been diligent about spraying daily, and the cumulative effect seems to help.