Spring! Finally!

The past month and longer have passed by quickly. After the ice storm in early March we had only a few light snowfalls and some rain. We ended the winter wit a total of about 80 inches of snow. What made it miserable is that nearly all of it came between about Christmas and the middle of Feb., so that period was difficult while it was not so bad after the ice storm.
Janet stayed in India from mid Jan. until Mid April- nearly 3 months and managed to enjoy warm weather while Jim struggled with winter at home. Temperatures are quite pleasant now , but the insects are starting to come out along with all the leaves on the trees.
When we returned home just over 6 months ago we were surprised and disappointed to find the front of the house and garage stained a sort black sooty color. We concluded it was some sort of mold that formed while we were away and were not looking forward to painting over it or cleaning it away. However, over the intervening time we learned of some detergents that are not supposed to harm plants that remove mold and mildew without scrubbing- so we tried one. We are happy to report that it only took a few hours to spray the stuff on and wash of the surfaces to find they look quite nice again- not freshly painted, but quite adequate!
Also while away for 2 years we did not have the house air conditioning/ dehumidification running and were even more displeased to find mold in our basement when we returned. At first we did not think this would be a big problem, but realized that sheetrock put on the walls by the previous owners was intended to hide a dampness problem and some mold, so we concluded that we needed to have this fixed. Thus we could not move anything to our basement from the India delivery and it all sits in the garage and attic while we had workers spend what seemed to be an endless 3 week period in late Jan. and early Feb. tearing up the basement. They were not so busy in the dead of winter, but the frequent snows made their stay seem like forever... and the basement was completely unuseable. We had the air tested at a ridiculously high cost after they finished, but unfortunately it showed mold spore counts that were considered too high. Since the contractors were busy by then it took awhile to have them come back and they cleaned a little more and Jim was cleaning his office too, which is adjoining the basement. When we had the air tested again we were relieved to hear that the levels were now considered in the normal range. This was all unplanned for time and expense that was unexpected upon our return. The particular mold appears not to be one of special danger, but good to be rid of it anyway.
the basement now needs to be put back together at added expense, but we are thinking of making an "India room".
Meanwhile, our house on Cape cod is getting new windows put in and some siding replaced. In this case this is something we had planned to do in 2008, but we delayed because we were going to India.
Altogether, it has been 6 months of catching up on "delayed maintenance" of essentially 3 years- 2008 plus the 2 years we were gone. We are starting to feel like we have passed to worst part at least.
Ziggy and Zoe seem well. Zoe has gained weight after her thyroid radiation treatments, but she seems active and otherwise healthy.