skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I was going to try and mow today but the weather is not cooperating. It's cold, windy and a strong chance of rain.
This doesn't seem to be a good day to start the Boiler Game, but it is done. I turned the heat off this morning. The Boiler Game is of course, the game where we turn off the furnace and see how long we can go until it must be turned on again. We have made it well into October before. In any event, let the game begin.
To celebrate the re-opening of stuff, we went out to breakfast with our friend Mark. We were going to go to this little place within walking distance called Cabot's Kitchen. But they were still closed. So we went to the new location of the Kalico Kitchen, which used to occupy Cabot's place before moving to this new locale.
Breakfast was good and the place was as full as they could make it under the new reduced occupancy rules.
I am about to conduct a search of this blog to find out when we re-did the floors in the TV Room. I'll let you know how I fare.
2:16PM: Success! I was beginning to think I had blogged about the staining but not written done the formula. As it turns out, I did write it down.
It's the same formula we are currently using on the trim. I discovered it in a post dated September 6th, 2010. The surprising part to me was learning we put down 5 coats of varnish.
My project for today is to mill the lumber for the baseboards in the TV Room. Susan wants to match the baseboards everywhere else on the main floor and that makes sense to me.
However, they are not simple baseboards.
Here is a picture of what I'm trying to recreate. I'm going to use my newly acquired Dado blade and make the baseboard out of one piece of wood. I'll add the base shoe at the end.
I also need to make a trip to Costco and I want to do that early. However, Costco doesn't open until ten. So I have a couple hours to get some stuff done, take a Costco break, and then get back here and get to work.
12:36PM: I've been to Costco and back.
I set up everything in the backyard and went to work. First I had to cut my boards down from ten inches to about eight and a half. That all went reasonably well.
I changed out the saw blade for my half inch Dado blade and decided to try it out on my shortest board. I'm cutting nearly two and a quarter inches out of the board and it appears to be very stressful on my saw. It tripped the breaker on the saw. I was able to reset it but even taking it really slow didn't prevent the saw from tripping the breaker again.
My plans have been foiled by a malfunctioning table saw. Specifically, the reset button on the table saw. I have just returned from a venture out into the world to procure another reset button, but it's specific enough to the table saw application that I have to try and find it on line. Here I go!
1:07PM: It is possible I have found the part and it is available in Spokane. I found it through Grainger.com, who seem to have everything. I'm waiting for an e-mail telling me to go and pick it up.
In the meantime, I'm dead in the water with my baseboard project until I get this part. I guess I'll go clean up.
2:30PM: I just returned from Grainger in the Valley with my new part. Unfortunately, it is not even close to the part I ordered. I should have checked it before leaving. Now I have to go back.
Shit!
I can't make it there before they close for the day. And they're not open until Monday. Unfortunately, they close at 3 which is most inconvenient.
SHIT!
Time to go to the pool.
We have just returned from the re-opening of the Hub. It was so nice to be back in our little neighborhood bar. They cut the capacity from 49 to 24 1/2. It wasn't terribly busy but people were just happy to be back.
It's amazing how we miss the little things. I'm going to try and appreciate the stupid stuff we take for granted. Like drinking beer in the privacy of your own neighborhood bar.
We are deep in the grips of the Memorial Day weekend. I've been off since Friday but I really didn't accomplish much that day. Everything I wanted to do required being outside and it kept raining...like it has all week. I really need to mow the lawn even though it pretty much looks like a step above a waste land.
My big project for the weekend is to get all the trim stained. It's a two stain process in order to achieve the color we like. The above picture shows about half of my boards.
This picture shows me getting ready to stain. Notice I am social distancing AND wearing my protective mask.
Susan is out beautifying the front yard with some flower planting. I'm heading out for round two of my staining.
I still have one more trim cutting project to do. I have to cut all the baseboard but Susan wants it to match what we have in the rest of the house. That will require some special milling which I will get in to when the time comes.
In the meantime, here's some of the stained wood from yesterday.
Okay, a little time has passed and I have completed the staining. Just by the hair of my chinny chin chin. I got right down to the bottom of the can. I have just returned from the General Store where I acquired another small can of Dark Walnut. I was worried the General Store wasn't big enough to stock a bunch of colors. I also had a slight fear that they discontinued Dark Walnut.
But I lucked out and found it.
Here is a picture illustrating the difference between the first coat and the second. This picture doesn't quite show how much darker the board on the right is from the one on the left.
Anyway, we have a formula to follow and follow it we shall.
Susan has completed her farming almost and now we look respectable enough to be in this neighborhood. Don't look at the back yard.
So now, it's time to mellow out and enjoy the rest of the day.
It is a beautiful Spring Saturday and we are going to do some stuff today. I don't want to be more pacific than that for fear of sounding stupid.
We've just returned from church where we dropped off some food our Pastor is collecting to deliver to the food bank. It looks like we are making a nice haul.
While there, we observed the damage from the fire on Wednesday that burned up a good portion of our shrubbery.
I counted at least 40 to 45 shrubs that need to be replaced. We have no culprits regarding how this happened but we suspect smoking kids.
I spent a good portion of yesterday with my power washer. I cleaned Mom's patio and washed her patio carpets. Then I came home and power washed the deck. Man...did it need it! I'm going to break out the chairs at some point this weekend.
Today I'm going to continue with the power washing theme. We have two outdoor carpets for the front porch that need a good scrubbing. While I have it out and operating, I'm going to wash my car and hose down the barbecue, which we will be using tonight for to make a fabulous Saturday evening meal. Steaks and asparagus! Yum!!
It's approaching noon o'clock and we are just now having a breakfast burrito that Susan made. Yum!!
We are still in the midst of the Covid-19 Lockdown where we are all staying home and trying not to interact with each other. People are starting to get antsy and many are calling for the opening of some businesses. It will probably be a while before we can return to the Hub but there is no problem going to the store or anywhere else as long as you maintain a 6 foot distance from others.
Okay, time to get outside and not spread the Covie.
