Remodeling Day Off

We took a day off from remodeling to attend to our financial health. We drove over to Coeur d'Alene to see our Financial Advisor, Glenn.

While we did not have a very good year (Thank you Stock Market), we are still cruising along and not in any danger of financial insolvency yet. We are both managing to live on our Social Security payment. I get a little help from my 401K, which is why I have it.

Afterwards, we went to Costco where we purchased gas for $3.09. The cheapest we found here in town was $3.50. Then we went to lunch at Paul Bunyan's. It was okay, not great.

On our return trip to Spokane, we stopped at the Cabinet Pro warehouse in the Industrial Park to check out how big a package of boxes we had. I think we can fit them in the garage except for the really tall ones which we'll bring right into the house and put them in the Living Room.

After a quick pass through the car wash, we went to Fred's Appliance and bought a down draft fan for the kitchen. It was a G.E. product marked down from $1199.00 to about $900.00.

We got that home and unloaded into the aforementioned Living Room just in time to take a nap.

I have several small items to attend to tomorrow before our big day on Friday of removing more cabinets, the oven and the remaining flooring under the fridge.

It looks as though I am going to have to open up the ceiling in the laundry room in order to lay the exhaust fan pipe as well as get access for some wiring.

It's getting to crunch time were we will be without the convenience of a kitchen. That means no sink (we'll use the bathroom) no cook top (we'll use the toaster oven and microwave) and no storage space. We need that period to last as short a time as possible. Perhaps two weeks.

I told Susan that tomorrow night is her last chance to use the old oven. It's coming out on Friday.

I would be enjoying this journey if I wasn't so uncertain about what we're doing...skill wise. 

Remodeling Abides

We made some really good progress today that I did not anticipate.

I made really quick work of removing the remaining soffit so I thought we should adventure on and get part of the cabinet down.

It took us about an hour to unload the contents and stow them away. We are taking a lot of wine glasses to our church basement sale.

It was a bit of a struggle because the screws that secured the cabinet were mostly immovable. But, once we realized we weren't trying to save the cabinets, the sawsall did it's work and the cabinet came out pretty easily.

Once the cabinet was removed, we took a trip to the dump to unload all the drywall we had.

We have been vacillating over the cooktop. We started to think we might go with an induction cooktop. It's the hot new thing. But it's not the economical new thing. We stopped by a local appliance store to check out induction. They are an easy $1500 item just for the cook top. It will cost $1100.00 to lay the gas line and we already have the gas cooktop. We think we are best off to go with our original plan to use the gas cooktop.

That means I am likely tearing out the ceiling in the laundry room to get access for the gas line. It will also help me lay the duct work for the exhaust fan.

Kitchen Remodel Continued

It's been a week since I started the kitchen demo. I didn't make as much progress last week as I had hoped but...oh well.

Today I continued taking out the soffit.

I made it half way across the kitchen.

I'll finish the last section tomorrow. I haven't taken out all the framing of the soffits yet because I think they are holding up the cabinets. 

We have our friends Randy and Karen coming on Friday to help with the destruction. Our main goal is to get everything on the south wall out next Monday. One week!

While I worked on the kitchen, Susan worked on the stenciling in the TV Room.

She made great progress. She wanted to completely finish the south wall so we could get the TV back into place.

It looks really good.  

Kitchen Remodel, Phase 2, Day 2

 My goal for today was to get the soffit down. It actually went pretty easily. However, it was a giant mess.

The next project is to attack some walls. I need to move a couple of light switches and add a switch or two.

Kitchen Remodel, Phase Two, Day One

This is it! 

This is the day we start on the second phase of the Kitchen Remodel. The first phase was tearing up the floor. Phase Two will be removing the various cabinets and getting the drain and gas lines in place. Phase Three will be installing the new cabinets and Phase Four will be the Flooring.

Also during Phase Two, there will be some electrical work.

Today we are taking out the cabinets in the pantry. Here are some before photographs.

1:35PM: We have been working for about two hours to empty the cabinets of all the stuff. A good portion has gone in the garbage. Another large portion is going to our church basement sale. I found a can of whole white potatoes that had a "Best by" date of 2011.

5:17PM: Whew! I’m glad that’s over. I was hoping to get the cabinets out in one mostly intact piece. That was not to be the case however.

The question now is whether I cut them up for firewood or just take them to the dump. I'm thinking I'll go with the firewood route. We already have a rich history of the burning the parts of the house when we remodel. Might as well continue.

Here are some final photos to peruse. 

Rain & Kitchen Remodeling Date

I am not sure how much rain we have received in the last few days. Not as bad as what they have been getting in California. Their three year drought has come to an end. At least until later this year when they say it's back. They've had lots of flooding and several weather related deaths. Still, we have had three days of pretty constant rain. WAIT! I'll go check my rain gage.

Well, how about that. Isn't that interesting. The gage is almost full. Unfortunately, I don't remember the last time I emptied the gage. However, it's not completely full so I'm guessing that a good portion of the measurement came in the last three days.

Anyway, the nearly 14 inches of snow we had on the ground is all but gone. My snow stake is just about kaput.

Fortunately, the moisture has been falling in the mountains as snow so Mt. Spokane is still doing great. Although it looked like it was raining up there this morning.

So that is my very confusing weather update for the day.

February Second is the day slated for the plumber to come and start laying the drain line for the new sink in the kitchen. That gives us three weeks to get the cabinets out of the way.

We have decided that we will start with cabinet removal in the pantry on Monday.

So I am a little nervous because this means it is about to happen. The thing that makes me nervous is our history with past projects. One bathroom took three years. The other bathroom took two years. If we are without a kitchen for an extended period of time, I'm going to have a very unhappy wife.

A Post About Nothing

I feel compelled to write something today but at this point, I’m unsure what to write.

We’re about to head to the Mall for our walk. We haven’t been very religious about walking. I walked the park last week and it still was precarious out there. Lots of chances to slip on the ice. I find that now I’m no longer in my 30’s, or even my 40’s, slipping on the ice is something I want to avoid. 

Perhaps something will come from the walk to give me interesting content to place here. But I don’t think you should hold your breath.

2:30 PM: We are back! We ended up being out for a while. It took us just over 30 minutes to walk our 2.25 miles. I was out of breath at the end. I wasn’t holding it…just out of it. The good news is that I recover quickly.

From the Mall, we went to Michael’s, the craft store. Susan is looking for paint for the stenciling she wants to do in the TV Room. We also went to Hobby Lobby. I get to feeling very creative when I’m in those stores. I was looking at canvas and oil paints and felt like painting.

Instead, I’m going to take those creative juices and work in the Carriage House. Maybe I’ll do some paper mache.

Something

The train has been put away. The tree is on the front porch awaiting it's trip to it's final destination.

We still have some stuff to stow. We have a lot of Christmas gear.

Things are slowly getting back to normal.

I had a plumber come by today and give me an estimate for getting a gas line into the kitchen. This quote was about $2,400.00. 

I have at least one other company coming by to give me a quote but I don't have an appointment set yet.

We need to get over to the mall for our daily walk. The only other thing on my agenda is to do something in the Carriage House. I have yet to determine what that something is. It's going to be moving something to a better spot or throwing something away. But it will be something!    

Warm New Year

It continues to be unseasonably warm. We had all this snow on the ground and now we have had a substantial melt. My poor snow stake in the backyard is down to 4 inches.

I probably shouldn’t be complaining about the temperatures. This is much better than that deep freeze we had two weeks ago. But I am of the opinion that if we’re going to have Winter, let’s have Winter.

The other reason I am happy about the melt is that I let my snow blow area get a little out of control. This will help clean up the sidewalks before the next round of snow…if it ever comes.

I got all the Christmas lights down from the front of the house. That went quite smoothly. We still have to clean up the Living Room and take down the tree. I’m going to take the train down later tonight.

So here’s a final look at the Christmas Train.

Obligatory Post

I believe it is obligatory to end and start the year with a post to your Blog. After that, you can just coast. But at least people will know you're still alive.

And so here is my start of the year post.

It's New Year's Day so we have taken it easy. We are starting to get to point where we will be working on the kitchen but we're trying to get organized before the destruction begins.

So I did a little messing around in the Carriage House, Susan took a nap, and I got some nice photos of the Christmas House before it all get packed away.

So that's what we did! 

Year in Review 2022

It's the last day of the year so I have to get in some kind of post. Even if it isn't very informational or interesting.....the way the rest of this year has been.

So, to start off, we got up. I hopped into the hot tub which we have not been using very much. The problem for me with the hot tub is that I come out of it very very relaxed. Almost to the point of comatose.

Plus, I have a sweaty forehead for the next hour after I'm out. I attribute these effects to my excellent health, which is to say, sarcasm. 

We are having Randy, Karen and Mark over tonight. We will be having Susan's traditional New Years meal, Hoppin John. Karen and Randy are bringing some smoked salmon. It should all be fabulous.

We're going to a movie to see "The Fableman's". I'll elaborate after.

Then we will return to the house to play cards until we tucker out...about 12:01.

End of Night Recap: Karen was down with a severe cough she couldn't shake so it was just Randy and Mark and ussuns.

We ate, we saw the movie which was okay, and we played baseball while we rang in the New Year. I think it got to bed about 1:30. That's pretty impressive for me.    

Still Warm

 I managed to get in a ski day yesterday. It was not one of the better days on the mountain. Very foggy right up to the time that we left.

There was a slight skiff of snow over night but it has been warm all day and now it’s just sloppy out there.

My snow stake is down to se7en inches.

Susan did some repair work in the Dining Room and has pretty much fixed the wall problems and the ceiling problems. Now we have to hope that the musty smell goes away.

The damage to the side of the armoire where we keep the stereo is not repairable. The water got under the veneer and made it bubble in a few spots.

The Big Warm

The weather service says we received over an inch of rain yesterday. It’s gone from sub zero temperatures to 40° in a week. My snow depth meter has gone from 13 inches of snow to 8 1/2 inches since Monday. 

It’s quite sloppy out there but it has cleaned up my sidewalks and driveway. I allowed them to get in a horrible state after the last snowfall. We got about 3 inches last Friday after getting about 5 inches. I snow blowed the five but left the three.

It was bad news for the sidewalks but my shame has been washed away.

I’m expecting someone to show up today from the construction company that did our roof. I’m hoping they will have some suggestions for solving my ice dam problem. I think the solution is heat cable. I hope they will help me install it.

The only other thing on todays’ agenda is a basketball game betwixt the Gonzaga Bulldogs and the Eastern Oregon Fighting Mormons. (I don’t think that is really their mascot but I’m too lazy to confirm it.)

6:15PM: The roof guys showed up about 1:30 today. When I showed them what was going on, they jumped into action and actually went up on the roof and tackled the problem.

Here is a picture of the flat spot between the two peaks. That black tarpaper area is where the water builds up and pools when the icicle forms a dam on the eve. There are plenty of seams there for the water to get under and then flow into the house.

They repositioned my heat cable to cover that whole area which will warm up the water as it rolls of the roof. That should be the end of the icicle.

Christmas and the Day After

It is the day after Christmas 2022, but we are only getting to it today.

We got up yesterday morning and went to church. Susan was the Worship Leader, which meant she did the introduction, opening prayer and so on. For the last several years, she has read a Christmas story on Christmas Eve that is accompanied with pictures on the big screen from the book. The first time she did it, she read “Christmas Day in the Morning” by Pearl S. Buck.

This year she read "A Christmas Candle” by Richard Paul Evens.

When church was over, it was back to the house to prepare Christmas dinner. My son, Scott was coming from Northport with his girlfriend, Erica and her daughter Janey.

We told them to come at 1:30 which gave us enough time to get everything prepared.

Just as they arrived, we discovered  a major problem in the Dining Room.

Water was dripping from the ceiling at a pretty good rate. This picture doesn’t really show it.

This picture shows the aftermath, after the water had stopped.

We originally ran into this problem several years ago and it is chronicled in this blog. I found a post from November 30th, 2010 where I explained laying out some heat cable on the roof to mitigate this giant icicle and ice dam that forms to cause the leaks into the Dining Room.
This picture shows a few little drops coming down. I suppose I should post the video I took.

We solved the problem by having Scott climb up to the edge of the roof and break the icicle away. Then I used some heat cable I have wrapped around an outdoor faucet and we threw that up into this little valley where the roofs come together and cause the problem.

I had heat cable up there for many years but it was removed when the new roof was installed. I was told that the new flashing and tar paper they put up would fix the problem but that is not the case. Heat cable will be returning to that portion of the roof as soon as the weather permits to get up there...like August. In the meantime, I think we have patched it. Now Susan will go to work on whatever repair is required for the walls and the ceiling panels.

 Anyway, the leaking had stopped so that is our Christmas Miracle.

Here is the picture of the destruction for today. We finally got around to opening our gifts. 

We done good! I got some new flannel shirts, a belt and a device that helps me put on my socks. It's not something I need but Susan saw it at the Church Rummage Sale and thought it was hilarious.

Christmas Cookies

 Today is pretty much over which means there are only two days left for Christmas Shopping. I think I’m done with my shopping but it seems like I always come up with some last minute ideas.

It is currently 4° out there. It is cold! It was below zero this morning. We are supposed to be warming up in the next few days.

In the meantime, tonight is Christmas Cookie Decorating Night. A night that Susan loves and I tolerate. Pictures to follow.

9:00PM: It’s time for Christmas cookies!

Sub Zero Solstice

Now is the time of year when I consider cleaning out the freezer. It is cold enough to put everything in a cooler long enough to defrost the freezer.

The temperature has been around 7° all day. Currently, it is -1°. The skies are clear and it is cold. I would take a picture but the camera would just freeze.  

Next Round of Snow

While snow blowing this morning, I happened to check my makeshift snow stake and saw that it measured 12 inches. We got about 3 inches overnight and 2 to 3 inches are expected today.

As I look out the window on the back yard, it looks like the next round of snow may have started.

I’m glad I got ahead of the snow by getting out there early.

Along with the snow, we are expecting some pretty chilly temperatures. It is currently 18° out there but it’s expected to go as low as 6° tonight.

Another Snowy Day.

8:01AM: The snow was forecasted to start falling around 3:00AM. It was coming down strong at 6 and continues now just after 8:00. My weather app says it’s going to turn to rain soon. That means I need to get out there and get my area blown before the snow gets too heavy. The question is how long do I wait.

I don’t an exact number yet but I think we have over a foot of snow on the ground. I’ll get an accurate reading off my Weather Table some time today.

As I look outside now, it seems that the snow is turning to rain. I guess the time is NOW!

8:17AM: I have my official snow depth report.

You can see I have a yardstick placed in the middle of the snow in the Weather Table. It measures 11 1/2 inches. Okay, time to blow!

10:25AM: The snow blowing is complete. I did it at just the right time. It was snowing when I started but had turned to rain about half way through. I’m glad I have kept on top of it.

11:13PM: It rained off and on all the rest of the day. I'm glad I got my snow blowing out of the way because we were engaged in many activities pretty much the whole day after.

We went downtown with Randy and Karen to see the Christmas Tree Elegance show at the Davenport. It's a fund raiser for the Spokane Symphony that has become a tradition for us. We purchase tickets and deposit them into bins associated with a tree display. One was giving away a motorcycle. Others included gifts and cash. 

I've never known anyone who won one of these drawings but I'm hoping we will be so drawn upon. Note: We did not win.

The drawings are tomorrow.

After that, we spent the afternoon at V du V Winery. It's owned by a friend and he has hired us to help out in the tasting room when he is out of town, which he is. Today, we sold three bottles of wine. We're making John rich!

Festivous!

 

Snow Blowing with a Real Blower

I did some actual snow blowing today.

We woke up to a light dusting of snow that started falling last night. I would guess there is about a half an inch on the ground. Not enough to breakout the snow blower for but just right for a snow blower in the form of a leaf blower.

It worked quite well for the small fluffy amount we got and cleaned everything up quite nicely without all that back breaking shoveling and scooping and bending.

We’re heading out to Northtown for our morning walk and then I have to finish reassembling my Traeger Grill.