I have been told in no uncertain scolding that I need to finish up the trim and baseboards in the kitchen. In accessing what I have left to do, I realized I need more wood.
So yesterday, I spent $225.00 on four door trim boards (hemlock), 50 feet of base shoe and three 8 foot corner moulding pieces.
It’s a beautiful Spring day outside so I’m out there prepping and staining all the new wood I bought.
It has been a while since the last post and today is a good day to break the silence. There are two momentous things happening today. Cabinet Pro will be showing up to install the Quartz Countertop we ordered for the bonus cabinets against the west wall. One may recall that these are bonus cabinets because they sent the wrong size for the island. They are 30 inches wide rather than 36 inches. So they ordered new cabinets and told us to keep the three that are wrong. We figured out they would go nicely against this wall.
Because of the radiator, we decided to go with quartz so we don’t have to worry about delamination.
We are still waiting for the Countertop guys to show up. They finally called about 20 minutes ago and said they would be here about 3:00.
And so we wait.
3:25 PM: Okay, the guys are here and the counter top is going into place. Here are some pictures.
The last event of the day is mostly inconsequential because we really don’t have a dog in the fight. But we are going to David’s Pizza to watch the championship game of the NCAA Basketball Tournament. UConn is playing Purdue and Susan and I are rooting for Purdue. If they win, we might be in the money of the bracket challenge we entered.
Note: Purdue lost so we are out of the money. But Susan won some $16.00 coming closest to predicting the combined final score.
We’ve had a couple spots in our new kitchen floor start to separate but we were easily able to pop them back into place. In order to prevent that from happening again, we spent the day placing shims against the wall at the ends of each plank we laid.
I am sitting here in the kitchen watching Susan hang the last piece of wall paper on the west wall. Each piece has been very frustrating for her to put up. She talks to herself a lot and kind of mutters.
I’ve been staying out of the way for the most part, helping in small ways when I can but this is basically her show.
Here is the progression of the installation.
I don’t have a precise estimate of the time it took but I would guess she’s got six or seven hours over two days.
I think it looks good. Next job is to install the cabinets against the wall and get the quartz counter top in place.
Today, Susan is working on the last wall papering project for the kitchen.
This wall paper is especially difficult to work with because it has no self adhesive. She has to apply the glue to each piece. The reason it doesn’t have its own adhesive is an indication of how old it is.
While this is going on, I’ve been watching a crew take down a tree down the street. The have bunch a guys, a chipper and a special little Bobcat that carries large branches around. Plus, it’s pouring down rain. It looks like a lot of fun!
It looks like I’m going to get to use the snow blower today!
I got up at seven and checked to see if it had snowed, as the forecast indicated. It had not.
By the time I got out of the shower, it was snowing and in no time, it was snowing pretty hard.
It’s still coming down as of now (11:21 AM) and there is about an inch on the ground.
I just returned from a dentist appointment and let me tell you, it’s really fun driving around out there. I saw one accident on the way to the dentist, and a couple more driving back home.
This is one of those days when I’m happy not to have to be out there.
One of the weather apps I keep an eye on indicates snow for another 70 minutes and then more after 3:00.
Besides getting to use my rebuilt snow blower, I’m excited for this snowfall because I’m going skiing tomorrow. It’s my first time up this season and I’m really looking forward to it.
I’ll keep this post updated as the snow progresses. In the meantime, this seems like a good day for a fire.
4:50PM: I was able to blow and there was about 2 inches of snow on the ground when I went out. I did the block and half way up the alley…pretty much like I usually do.
The snow blower worked beautifully. The one thing I noticed right away was that it turned much better than it used to. I don’t know if that had something to do with the larger tires or something else.
The snow was pretty heavy but it went through the blow with nary a problem. At times, it seemed like it was pushing a big mound of snow in front of it rather than sucking the snow in through the blades and into the auger. When it did that, it left a bit of a berm coming off the side. It just meant I had to do another pass. No biggie!
Anyway, I’m glad it worked and I’m glad I got to use it at least one more time this season.
One of the Christmas presents I asked Susan for was a shower bench. I told her I wanted a wood one, made of teak or bamboo because I thought it looked classy. See my post for December 26th.
I received my gift, promptly put it together and have been enjoying long luxurious showers ever since.
I was sitting on it about two weeks ago when it made a sudden cracking noise. One of the slats had split. A couple days later, another split occurred.
I did not save the box it came in or the little instruction page. We can probably look up payment info from Susan's credit card statement.
The bench only cost about $40.00 and it seems like a lot of work to recover 40 bucks. But I don't like the idea of a company getting away with substandard merchandise.
It didn't even take a month before the first crack appeared.
So, I will be searching for this company and request a refund. Then, I will buy something plastic and non classy and enjoy it for years to come.
Kitchen Remodeling in the kitchen has resumed.
My job will be to move that electrical outlet in the lower left of the picture. It needs to be raised to 38 inches above the floor. That will give us access to plug in the coffee pot in that area.
All our counter material is in at Cabinet Pro but we have come across an issue that we did not anticipate.
Perhaps you noticed that it is separating in the area above the radiator. I called Jess to ask if that was going to be a problem with the new counter. They were unable to give me a good answer but admitted it will separate in a few years.
I know it’s too late to change our plans because the counter material was special ordered and is here now. But I asked them to give a quote on quartz or marble or something stone that will withstand the heat.
We are going to go and talk to them tomorrow and it is possible we will be able to get a stone counter top. I’ll let you know.
I got the piano tuned today for the first time in probably six years. The guy said it sounded pretty good for a 100 year old piano. A piano tuning in 2024 costs $160.00.
We have also been spending a large amount of money on Delilah…the cat.
She’s not eating or drinking a lot and her cat box is not showing much activity. We’ve had her to the vet, who sent us for an ultra sound at the Pet Emergency Clinic who sent us to the Valley Pet Emergency Clinic for an evaluation and hydration. We’re into her for about a thousand right now.
We still don’t really know what’s going on other than there might be a kidney stone.
We’re taking her to the vet tomorrow for an X-ray and another $200 into the cat fund.
I am happy to report good but expensive news on behalf of the snow blower.
I got a call from Roger at Ace’s Valley Power Tool and Repair on Monday and he said he had a snow blower there that he could cannibalize and make mine almost like new. It would cost just over $500.00. (It’s like he knew my number.)
He sounded very excited about the whole affair and the tone in his voice convinced me to go with it.
I got the call yesterday that it was ready and I drove out there today to get it.
Roger was right. It’s like a whole new machine. Along with the axle replacement, he gave me larger tires, a new breaker bar, new auger belts and he replaced the plug for the electric start feature, which had lost the grounding connection.
The total was $539.35. I was happy to pay it and it seems my 25 year old snow blower has been given new life.
The fact that I have had this work done almost guarantees there will be no more snow this season.
We got another couple inches of snow over the night and I went out with my trusty snow blower to take care of it.
I got the driveway all cleaned off and then I went to work on the alley. I got that all cleaned out as well.
Next I went up the block to Cleaveland street and handled that sidewalk. I was blowing along when suddenly, the snow blower did not want to travel in a straight line.
Then it just stopped moving. Upon inspection, I realized the drive wheels were at a precarious angle that did not look right.
The damn axle broke.
I have just returned from hauling it out to a repair shop in the valley to have it looked at. They are going to give me an estimate first and then I will decide whether to get it fixed. The higher above $500.00 it goes, the less likely I am to get it fixed.
I bought this snow blower new in 1998 from Sears. I spent nearly a thousand dollars on it. At the time, I had a very long driveway and I wasn't about to shovel all that real estate.
Now it's 26 years later and Sears is out of business. Apparently the parts are still available but I'm not sure if I want to keep throwing money at this old snow blower or spend the money on a new one.
Susan and I were looking at them at the repair shop and we found a couple nice Cub Cadet models for around $1200.00.
I don't expect to hear from these guys until Monday so I hope we are through most of the snow for now.
10:02 AM: Winter has now officially arrived in Spokane for this winter season with a nice little snowfall. There's about two inches out there and I'm waiting for the snow to stop falling before I take on some snow blowing.
It's supposed to stop in about half an hour. So here I sit and wait.
12:30 PM: We’ll, now the weather apps say the snow is going to continue until 4:30. We’re easily up to four inches now.
I’ve been keeping the front walk and steps clean but that’s about it. It doesn’t make sense to go out and blow until this stops. So here I sit and wait.
5:30 PM: I finally went out about 3:30 and got to work snow blowing. It didn't take too long and the snow had pretty much stopped by the time I finished.
There's more snow on the way so I guess I'll be back out there tomorrow.
The forecast says it is going to snow tonight. It could be our first substantial snowfall of the season. It has snowed a couple of times but it was very wet. It was impossible for my snow blower because it was so wet. Fortunately, because it so wet and the temperatures were warmer, the snow was gone quickly.
To capture and commemorate the event, I took a picture of the house just now.
Wednesday, Jan 17th, 8:34 AM: The forecasts came through. It’s snowing. It’s been snowing. We have about two inches on the ground. It’s very light and fluffy. The world outside has that muffled silence of a first snow. Here is a shot I took this morning.
My weather app says it’s going to snow for another hour. That will allow me a window to get out and do my first round of snow removal.
More on todays' activities will appear in the next post.
We’re on Day Three of no water. I have put space heaters in all the cold crawl spaces and I’m still frozen up. It has not been pleasant.
I called a plumber just now and they are getting me into their schedule. I hope they will be here today but I don’t know that yet. As you can imagine, they are busy right now with temperatures hovering at zero.
I managed to find a leak in the line. Fortunately, it’s in a valve so my hope is that can be fixed fairly easily.
I don’t know if we have any other cracked pipes. I’m hoping we don’t but am worried we do.
3:30PM: I just got the call that the Plumber is on the way. All we can do now is think positive thoughts. Ooh! There’s the doorbell,
It’s 4:30 right now and there are two plumbers downstairs and, like me, they have no clue why we don’t have water. I have them working for 1 hour to see what they can do but time is running out and they can’t figure it out. It’s going to cost us $461.00 for no results.
This is a real pisser!
Three minutes after I wrote that last line, the water started running. Thank you, Lord and Platinum Mechanical. They got it working with 18 minutes to spare.
I’m going to go take a shower.
It's -8° this morning and our pipes are frozen.
I was semi prepared for this eventuality. I put a space heater down in the space where the water line comes into the house. However, the heater I used was a tiny little thang and it didn't provide enough heat.
So, I've got a big one down there and we are waiting for it to heat things up. I'm just hoping we don't have any major damage.
Stay tuned!
It's 3:30 and we still don't have water. I've got space heaters in the basement but it's so cold they don't seem to be making a dent. I'm not sure where to go from here.
The temperature is 5 degrees outside and Susan and I have tested positive for Covid. So, that’s how our New Year is going.
We’re just laying low and trying to get better. We both have a cough and our sinuses are stuffy. Speaking for myself, I’m feeling better and hope to be clear of this in a few days.
Of course, as a guy in his 60’s, l never feel completely fine. There’s always something.
As I reported earlier, Susan has done some wall papering and that’s about all we have done in the kitchen in the New Year.
In an effort to draw more, I have started another guy featuring the Adventures of Retired Guy. (Write what you know.)
You can find it and my very convoluted website.
www.the-retired-guy.blogspot.com
Okay, as Retired Guy would say, “Time for a nap!”
