We Have Lift Off

 Word from Les. 

Let’s Give that Plate a Spin

            If you’ve read Jeannette’s last post, you learned that the kitchen makeover project was finished last week . . . or actually 99% complete to be precise.  There’s so many things that are vying for my attention – each one saying “me next, me next.”  I used to love watching the guy in a tuxedo on the Ed Sullivan Show who could spin 8 or 10 dinner plates simultaneously on top of pool cues.  But since spring weather has been so inviting to step outdoors lately, I decided it was time to finally light the fuse on the much anticipated window replacement phase.  After all, we’ve had 23 brand new, energy efficient windows staged and ready to go since the second week of January . . . in our living room.

We Have Lift Off

            Last Saturday was a perfect “Cape Canaveral kind of” launch day with blue skies, green grass, and bright sunshine all singing the Hallelujah Chorus.  I knew the 104 year old windows were the rope and counterweight type, but I didn’t know exactly what to tear out and what to leave alone.  I started removing the inside trim around window #1 in order to get a good look at how those things were put together and devise a removal strategy.  After getting the top and bottom sections of the old window out, it took a while to figure out how to secure the new window unit into the old framing.

 

            Altogether, window #1 took five hos to replace.  Three of those hours were doing the wrong things and realizing what the right thing was.  So, my hope is to do the 22 remaining windows at a blazing clip of 2 hours each . . . or possibly 1.5 hours each.

Green Acres in Reverse

            After a lot of thinking, calculating and shopping around, we were able to purchase a second hand commercial riding mower that was posted on Craig’s List (in Stephenville of all places).  It’s been well maintained in really good condition and it cuts a 50” wide path.  We had some time on Monday to fire it up and start mowing our back 40.  I sad we . . . but it was she.  Once she got on that thing, it was no turning back.  I just walked around humming the tune to Green Acres, picking up rocks and sticks while she whisked away like a true golf course maintenance pro.

            She’d pass me by on that monster machine grinning ear to ear . . . just like she did last summer when she’d pass me on her jet ski spray me with her rooster tail.  I don’t think I’ll ever have to be asked “honey, when are you going to mow the yard?”  I’ll never get to operate it!  In fact, I’ve already had to tell her “no, the yard doesn’t need mowing yet because the grass hasn’t had time to grow since it was done two days ago.”

Here, Spin this Plate

            Today was not a sunny day although the rain has been very welcome.  I couldn’t move on to window #2 and I wasn’t inspired to do the last 1% in the kitchen.  After taking a brief nap, I decided to inspire myself with some much needed organizing in the over-cluttered storage facility that is supposed to be my garage.  I think this must be my favorite past time, building shelves, organizing tools, paints, gadgets, etc.  Memories flood my mind of the many times my Dad worked in his little one car garage, always rearranging, with a thousand nails in the walls to hang up every tool and thing-a-ma-jig he owned.

            I love doing those things that remind me so much of him.  He’s been in Heaven with Jesus now almost 25 years, but these little projects make me feel he is right there with me.  It seems nearly every day I find myself doing things that would have been an absolute joy to him.  I’m so blessed to have good memories of him and all his eccentricities.   I’m especially blessed to remember all the things he was so sentimental about, and to embrace them deep down in my soul.  Ask me sometime to tell you the story about my Dad, his riding mower, and our first July 4^th parade in Stephenville.  J    

One Room Down! Whoopeeee!!!

You all know that we have been working hard on the kitchen. Last week, we (by we I mean Les) finished. It is so great to have one room completed.
This is Les applying texture. He did a great job with the tape and bedding and texturing. 

Then, the paint. We chose a dark beige tone for the kitchen. The other rooms will be a shade lighter. 

 

And... the end product. 

What I like about the kitchen...bright open space, lots of cabinets, gas stove, plenty of dining space. Oh, and the ceiling, I really like the ceiling. 

Here I am baking cookies for our big Easter Cookie Giveaway. (See cottonwoodwomen.blogspot.com for to find out about the cookies.)

Does This Garage Make My Car Look Fat?

A report from Les

          

      Back behind our modern (1960’s) detached garage is the original 1909 Carriage House that’s big enough to hold - let’s say . . . a VW Beetle.  It was originally built for horse drawn carriages which were the typical SUV’s of the day.  Later on the homeowner may have had a Ford Model T which also fit nicely in the same space.  When we bought the place we could see the carriage house was warped and the outside siding was swollen, but we just figured that was a sign of being 104 years old.  The day before we took possession, an exterminator was called in by the previous owners to treat the carriage house. They discovered that the walls had apparently been the place of choice for a swarm of honey bees . . . for years . . . maybe decades.

                It seems the bulging walls were not caused by the affects of weathering on those aging boards at all, but that the walls were full of honeycomb!  He advised that all this be removed before the bees came back in spring.  He said “they WILL come back.”

 

A Whole New Meaning to “Honey Do’s”

 

            A friend came over this past Monday to lend a helping hand at whatever I wanted to work on, so we did some debris cleanup and stacked boards from last week’s shed demo site.  Then I decided it would be a good use of his time to help me tear out the bee hive wall on the carriage house – after all, spring was upon us and I knew the bees would be returning to Capistrano.  No bees were in site and it was a good day to execute the plan.

            We tore off most of the back wall of the carriage house which was the side where Bee Ground Zero was.  We couldn’t believe our eyes as we unveiled a ginormous hive that was about 3 feet wide, 3 feet tall, and 6 inches thick, o-o-o-o-o-ozing honey out the bottom.  Too bad the hive had been treated back in December because this mother-load of localized honey was worth a fortune.  We tossed the boards into the trash trailer.

            We had no other option but to pull the honeycomb out by hand (with gloves of course).  Based on how heavy a chunk about the size of our hand was, we estimated the hive to be 100 pounds or more.  I never saw so much golden honey, and it broke my heart because I’ve been buying locally produced honey this past year and I know how expensive it is.  After a couple of hands-full of this sticky ooze, we realized we had a problem.  We had to do something special to dispose of it because it was too messy to try and bag it, and we couldn’t just dump it in the garbage can or in the trash trailer.  Heck . . . it would go everywhere because it was already going everywhere!

 

How About a Honey Hole

 

            The best thing we could come up with was to dig a hole . . . a big hole.  There was enough hive-n-honey to fill a wheel barrow, so by the time it all got dumped in and covered over, it looked like we buried a person.  Sounds like a murder mystery for sure:  you know, a recent grave located out-of-sight behind the old shed, having the suspicious markings of some kind of foul play.  Well, there was a mass killing that took place when the exterminator killed the colony of bees.  So, I guess a grave is fitting.

            Thankfully, honey washes off easily so our gloves, shoes and tools were saved in the aftermath.  Not a trace of guilt left.  Except for one thing.  The trailer.

 

 

Calling All Bees

 

            Yep, they returned the very next day . . . with friends.  Apparently they sent out the memo on beehive.com to all available honey bees to come back and start a harassment campaign on these murderers.  Remember the sticky/oozy boards we tossed in the trailer?  Well, they seem to be a kind of “batman logo” in the honey bee sky.  The trailer is buzzing with activity.  I’m wondering if I can safely haul this bee hive on wheels to the landfill and unload it fast enough without getting stung several thousand times?  J

DANGER!!

I came home this afternoon to find this. 

Yes, that is Les, my 63 year old husband in the top of the tree, cutting limbs. Don't worry, he had help.

That's Wayne, our friend, who is 86. Apparently, they are not too old for anything!
They had already town a shed down.

 I watched a while, and even offered to help, but was told there was really nothing I could do. Thank GOD for that! I couldn't even watch very long. Here is Les sitting near the top of a tree, trying to start a chainsaw which was giving him problems. If he sawed off his leg, I didn't want to be there to see it happen. Did you notice he is wearing my pink hard hat? I thought that was pretty funny, like, what good was that hat going to do him if he fell out of the tree. Wayne should be wearing the hat, in case something fell on his head!

AND THEY DID IT! AND, they both survived! Here is the final result. 

 And here is the view of that part of the yard now.

And, here are the battle scars. The reason he was wearing my pink hard hat was that he had already been hit in the head while tearing down the shed.
While he was working on the tree, a branch broke loose and hit him in the chest. Could have been worse.

I kid about it, but really, I am so grateful for what Les and Wayne, Brent and his Dad, and others have done on this lot. It is going to be a beautiful place to be this summer.

Kitchen Cabinets

Les completed one big project this week, the kitchen cabinets. We took the doors down and the drawers out weeks ago. Last week, he started the process of sanding and painting, since we definitely wanted to keep everything. Here are the pictures. 

Sanding the doors. 

Then he painted them, but I guess I wasn't home to document that. Then, he stood them up outside! 

Attaching the renewed hinges. 

And, here is the finished product. 

 Woah, those shutters are disgraceful! We have new windows, so we don't want to do anything to the woodwork around the windows until the new ones are installed.

The kitchen is just about finished. We still have to texture and paint the walls, then we can move our table and chairs in. You all will be invited for dinner when that is done! 

Oh What a Beautiful Morning . . .

Posted by Les

     Yesterday I was sick with a 24 hour stomach bug and didn't get much done.  You know the routine, work a little . . . rest a lot . . . work a little . . . rest a lot.  Went to bed last night still having those nagging cramps, but thank the Lord they didn't wake up with me this morning!  Today was a different story altogether and as I've said dozens of times throughout the years:  "It feels so good to feel good."

     The sun was breaking through the overcast morning sky; the birds were singing their hearts out; the dozen fruit trees are budding with delicate little blossoms; garlic plants are bursting out everywhere; and a good number of the million or so Iris plants are blooming.  In other words, our "outback" is turning greener and more colorful by the minute.

     A great day I'd say to finish up the cabinet door painting project, so I've given them the final sanding and lined them out like an assembly line, got my radio tuned to soothing classical music; and last, but definitely not least . . . my faithful cup of coffee.

Wow, what a difference a day makes!

Kitchen Hardware Restoration

One of the things we really liked about this house was the kitchen cabinetry. There are a lot of cabinets, which meant a lot of hardware. The hinges had been painted, the door and drawer knobs were worn and rusted, and all of it looked bad. We bought a new faucet with a brushed nickle finish, and wanted hardware to match. The large amount of cabinets was a very good thing, but buying new hardware for all of them would be a lot of money, so we set about restoring them.

The knobs were shiny chrome that had a lot of rust spots and grime on them. The pictures don't show how bad they really looked. You wouldn't want to use them.

We used a fine grade sandpaper sponge to sand off the grime and the rust, and the shiny finish.

And, the result was a clean knob with a finish that matches the brushed nickle faucet.

They look great.
The hinges were a little harder (actually a lot harder.)

First, we had to soak them in ...something...that took that paint off (in this process I used "we" loosly. I had nothing to do with it, but I am the one posting.)

Then "we" put nails in a board to hold the hinges down while "we" OK...Les worked on them.

 
He used a wire brush to get the remaining paint off.

This made them clean and shiny, but they did not match the knobs.

The next step was to spay paint the hinges with a brushed nickle spray paint.

And, VOILA!

 Even the screws have a matching finish.

So, all attractive and matching hardware, and we only spent a few dollars on paint.