The Project Continues

This morning a truck backed into our driveway.



The 2 fellows in the truck came into the house, looked around and deposited their tools. Lots of tools.




Even their radio looked like a tool!



Once they got the important stuff taken care of and the radio tuned to their favorite station, they realized they had to leave. They had forgotten to bring the sink!

When they returned they went right to work, bringing in the new countertop. First they brought in the little pieces. After the little pieces, they attached a a metal bar to the sink counter and brought it in. Last, they brought out the biggest piece and set it on a set of wheels and brought it in. The counters were starting to look pretty good!







It was necessary to make a seam in one area of the counter. They lined everything up very carefully and then mixed epoxy with pigment to match the counters and filled in the area where the counters joined. After it was dry, they buffed it all up nicely. Special holders kept everything in place until it was dry.



Next they scraped the putty off the wall where the old backsplash had been attached. Just think, maybe back when this house was built, this spider was entombed there!



With the counter in and the putty gone, they next made the template for the new backsplash. The template is made of thin strips of wood which are glued together to show the size the new backsplash will be. The strips are then taken to the shop and used to make the new backsplash the correct size.






After they left, the next problem was to reattach the water, drain, dishwasher, etc. It took 5 trips to various home improvement and hardware stores, but we emerged victorious. The dishwasher is running and nothing is leaking!





Here is the result from today's work:



Next week they will return to install the backsplash.

A job turns into a project

Our kitchen needs to be repainted. It has been quite a while, and there are lots of little dings in the walls, not to mention splatters on the walls are next to impossible to clean because of the type of paint that was originally used on the walls. It has been driving me crazy. The trouble is, due to other changes needed in the kitchen, some other work needs to be done first. Hence, the job turning into a project. Through a series of mishaps of one kind and another, the counter tops are not in the best of shape, so if we are going to change the counter top, we should do that before we paint, right?

This is what we started out with.





We have something else in mind to re-purpose the large counter top piece in the foreground of that last picture.

Since the new counter tops are to be installed in 2 days, and being the 'thrifty' people we are, we decided to tackle the demolition today so as not to have to pay for the counter installers to do it. We were not sure how long it would take, so wanted to give ourselves plenty of time. It actually went better than we thought it might.





I guess that is just about enough work for one day. Tomorrow will be the time to clean behind the stove and remove the faucet and disposal from the sink so it can be connected to the new sink.

In our free time, we have had another project in mind. We took the large piece of counter top to the basement where Roger has his 'office'. Of course that meant we first needed to clean out the office the other day. Today the office has become the 'carving studio' so Roger has a warmer place to work than the garage for when he wants to sit and carve. We're looking forward to seeing it all set up and in operation!



Oh...did I mention that the new carving studio is also the furnace room?

The girl who thought she was a cub scout

Once upon a time there was a little girl who thought she was a cub scout. Her dad was a cub scout leader. Her mom was a cub scout leader. Her big brother was a cub scout. Cub scouts came to her house to do cub scout things, so I guess it is only natural she would think she is also a cub scout.

The cub scouts were all required to make tool boxes. When it was time for them to make their boxes, the little girl's grandpa helped by cutting out the boards so they would be ready for the cub scouts to make into tool boxes. Just in case a new cub scout came along, the grandpa made an extra kit. The little girl thought for sure that her grandpa made that extra kit for her. The cub scouts learned to use various tools and worked hard to make their boxes, but sadly for the little girl, there was a new cub scout, so the kit she thought was hers, was given to the new scout.

After some time passed, the little girl's grandpa heard how badly she wanted a real tool box of her own. She could use it for her tools, and to carry toys, and to make into a dolly bed, so since it was almost time for her birthday, he decided to make her a tool box of her very own. Just to make sure that the cub scouts wouldn't want to use her box, he painted it pink and decorated it with ladybugs. Then he made special tools for the toolbox....a bowl, biscuit cutter, a little rolling pin and some other wooden kitchen tools. Then her grandma made a special little apron just her size.


They wrapped that box full of kitchen tools and gave it to the little girl for her birthday, and that very night, she got to help her mom roll out the dough and make the breadsticks for their supper.



Happy Day!

The Drama Finally Ends

Just as an update to the previous post the 90 foot tall tree has now been removed from my mother's yard. In the spring, we'll redo the fabric on her garden area and rake all the twigs off her yard. The fence in back of her yard has already been replaced, happily by the sort of fence that never needs to be painted, so perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. The side fence is not yet replaced, but hopefully that will happen soon.

The little hole in our bumper is now all new looking. It only took a week longer than anticipated, but they gave us a Toyota Rav4 to drive during that extra week, so we were not really inconvenienced.

Daughter's car was declared to be totaled, much to her sadness, but they gave her a bit larger check for it than she thought she'd be getting, so they were able to purchase a used Honda Odyssey which really is a much better size car for her family.

I'm sure son will try diligently to stay out of the way of crazy shooters and probably prefers NOT to be pictured in the newspaper in such a way ever again.

As a family, I think we are ready to keep a low profile for a time.