Nature Experiment

Okay! This is going to be fun. We're going to conduct an nature experiment. 

This is our Chestmut Tree in the front yard. This is the Eastern Chestmut pictured above. We also have a Western Chestmut.
(Editor's Note: The Author realizes that it is a Chest NUT Tree but is too proud to admit a spelling mistake. Therefore, he will continue to refer to it wrongly.)

Susan and I were trying to figure out how many Horse Chestmuts one of those flowers will produce. I was thinking that each little flower bud will produce a chestmut pod, which contains two chestmuts.

Susan thinks the pod only produces one chestmut and is not sure how many pods will be produced by the flower.

So I have taken a picture of the lowest flower in the eastern chestmut tree.

I shall take progressive pictures of the same flower and watch what happens, recording our findings here and thereby, conducting an Scientific Experiment on the nature.

Prepare to get learned on. I only hope that Global Temperature Change will not mess up my findings with an over production of CO2, which is a gas scientifically proven to exist.

Work & Relaxacation

12:48 PM:

Today Susan is down at the Arena tending to the needs of those who have chosen to watch the big skating competition that has come to town. 

The event is the Kose Team Challenge with three international teams competing. There is Team North America, Team Europe and Team Asia.

All the promotion for this thing would make one believe that it is a BIG deal event in the world of skating. The number of people in the seats tells a different story.

I am here at the estate doing my sanding in the bathroom. I did my mudding in my little area of responsibility. Susan will cover her area tomorrow. 

Now I'm waiting for the mud to dry but that should really take until tomorrow.

So I think I shall venture over to the Hub and see what is going on for their 4th Anniversary Shindig. I'll check back later!

8:05 PM: I have returned from much fun, frivolity and progress on the work front. First of all, the Hub was fine. I left there and came home for a nap. 

Then I went over to visit Mom and tried to figure out why her printer won't print. My conclusion is that she is trying to print from an iPad which is an Apple product, of which I am not a fan. They are supposed to be so simple and intuitive...and yet, they are not.

Then I went to church to help clean up after the day long Yard Sale. They had a good day and sold over a thousand dollars worth of crap. I got there at four and just got home now. I'm not complaining. There were folks who were there all day.

It's been a cloudy day where the rain has threatened, backed off, threatened again and then let loose. 

I think I shall now sit back and relaxicate myself.

Plaster and the Tax Man

We made excellent progress this weekend in the bathroom. We are closer to installing a toilet...but not there yet. 

We still need to finish mudding and sanding, which seems to take forever. Our good neighbor Lou stopped by Saturday morning for a brief mudding seminar. Susan was concerned about the amount of build up she had to do on one of my walls.

I concentrated on the shower area. I had been planning on tiling all the way to the ceiling in the shower but was informed by unnamed wives that that would look stupid and it was forbidden. Therefore, I had to do some major re-work to the corner and the walls in order to make them look good for painting...or wall papering. 

Susan would prefer to wall paper, but cannot find a pattern she likes. It seems like the day of wall papering is coming to an end. There just simply is not a lot of choices out there. It is easier to create your own customized design but that is still very expensive.

Susan ran the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer race today in preparation for the Bloomsday. She was happy with her performance and is getting ready for the big race, which is two weeks away.

The only thing left to do today is finish our taxes. We've been holding out because we owe almost $900.00. That's because we made sooooooo much money painting. I guess that's a good problem to have.

Return to Remodeling

We are happy and celebrating as we have completed a week and a half of sky walk decorating.

It is Spring in Spokane and we have been part of the effort to promote all the fun activities going on here in the Lilac City.

Susan painted the "Celebrate SPRING in Spokane" lettering and I painted the text for a bunch of events. I think I have already explained this. 

Here are some pictures to 'splain it mo.

We finished the last of eight sky walks tonight.

That's another couple of grand in the Remodeling Account.

Out Like a Lamb

The weather has turned fabulously Spring like. That has nothing to do with anything so I don't know why I'm reporting it.

There is no progress on the bathroom project at this time because we are busy decorating sky walks downtown. We have eight to do and we have completed two. Well, it's a little more than that; let's call it two and a half.

Susan is working hockey games last night and tonight. So I'm taking advantage of the time off to go down and at least get a couple of sky walks lined out. We are using stencils on this round of decorating because all we are putting up is text.

The promotion is "Celebrate Spring in Spokane". That goes on one side of the sky walk in big letters and reads to the outside of the sky walk. In other words, you can read it when you drive under the sky walk.

On the other side and reading to those walking through the sky walk, we are putting up the name and dates of various upcoming events like Bloomsday, Hoopfest, the big skating competition and the Gay Pride Parade. 

I'm not very thrilled about putting up the Pride Parade because it is a freak show. I don't think the LGBT community represents itself very well in that parade because every bizarre fetish is displayed in some form or other. I'm pleased you're proud but keep it in your bedroom. 

For that reason, I have discerned to split the sky walks with the Pride Parade and Bike to Work Week. 

Nightdark Losing Time

We lost an hour overnight as the genius of phase shifting the clock kicks in for another season. I wish they would just leave it alone. We took advantage of the lost hour by losing it last week and then not getting up this morning.

We are going to celebrate by skiing. The weather has been questionable and rain was forecast for today.The rain has not materialized and so we are heading to Mt. Spokane and not getting a shut out for the season.

6:50 PM, PDT: You cannot imagine the scope of the conspiracy that took place on our ski trip today. It is the giant weather conspiracy that exists to prevent us from skiing this season. 

For the record, we have not been shut out. We skied. The speed with which the weather turned from a nice day to shit was in direct proportion to our placement in relationship to the ski area.

While we slept in to compensate for the lost hour, the skiing was excellent. There was just a hint of fog kissing the crest of the mountain when we left the house.

When we arrived, the fog was a bit lower but conditions still looked good. On our first trip up the lift, the snow started to gently fall. The first run was fine but the wind had come up so it was a little chilly.

Our second and last run down the hill was enveloped in fog, the wind was blowing and the snow had turned into little darts that burned your face. 

We left $71 dollars up there and got in two and half runs. 

That was an expensive day.

We got home around 4 and unloaded the car under bright warm sunshine.

Saturday Around the Estate

It is just after ten o'clock on a rainy Saturday morning. I am happy to declare that the dry walling in the bathroom is finished! We started it last August when we had Phil put in the bulk of the dry wall and we officially finish se7en months later. That may be a speed record for us. 

Now it's up to Susan to get in there and mud.

I should get into the stair case there and clean out all this crap. And I just might. And I just might not.

We are hoping to go skiing tomorrow but it does not look promising. I have never been shut out of a ski season in my 51 years of being an amateur ski enthusiast. I do not intend to let it happen this season. I may have to take a day off from work in order to get up on the hill for a decent day of enthusiasm.

Since I am finished for the day in the bathroom, I'm going to see if I can make some sort of order out of the Carriage House. It's a mess.

Here's what it started out as.

Here it is after my extensive reorganization.

Not much difference.

Let's see what Susan accomplished in the bathroom.

She's almost done mudding. Next is some sanding and then more mudding, followed by additional sanding and then a little bit more mudding and then some sanding...followed by a divorce, reconciliation, a fabulous second wedding at the Coeur d'Amore and then some more sanding.

Two Steps Forward

I came home tonight to find Susan working in the bathroom. She was mudding the drywall. That's her thing. My thing is...well...we haven't quite figured out my thing yet. I know it involves destruction.

I spent some time in there yesterday. I'm trying to finish up the dry walling so the mudder can get back in there and finish. The mudder can't finish until I finish. So when I finish, then Susan can finish. Is this making sense?

Well, it is taking up space, allowing me to write a post that really contains no information at all.

Ski or Bust

As far as skiing goes, our big ski weekend has been a bust. We woke up today to a light but steady drizzle. Again, not a condition conducive to skiing.

We are not considering the weekend a loss. Just the skiing part. We have had a wonderful time here in the Silver Valley.

So, it's back to town and reality for us. But first, a little breakfast at the Red Light Garage. Then we will have a nice drive home and be back in time to do some things around the house.

Or not!

Ski Weekend Day One

We have settled in to our home away from home here at the Hercules Inn, Unit Number 1. All is well except for the continued rolling up of businesses in Wallace. 

We drove into to town last night and after getting unpacked in Unit One, we promptly set out for dinner.

Our plan was to go to the 1313 Club for dinner and watch the opening round of the WCC tournament, featuring Gonzaga. The 1313 Club was closed...at 7:30 on a Friday. It turns out they are closed for some remodeling. The Smoke House was closed. The Fainting Goat was out of business.

Fortunately, the City Limits Bar and Grill was open and accommodating, except for the part where they closed at Nine. 

After dinner we returned to the Hercules to watch the basketball but I was unable to find the game on the telly. So, we dissolved ourselves into the Downton Abbey Marathon and I promptly fell asleep.

I have since learned that Gonzaga plays tonight instead of last night. I'm not sure how I misread that but it is not the first time.

We awoke this morning to a steady rainfall. It was decided to drive up to Lookout and check things out but we were doubtful that we would be skiing.

And we were right.

So we continued our drive to the east and drove to the Fifty Thousand Silver Dollar Bar. It's a gaudy tourist trap on the side of the highway that we enjoy visiting to see aisles and aisles of crap.

One could hardly imagine passing up gems such as these.

After we were done rambling the aisles, we returned to the west and drove to Kellogg. We checked out an Antique Shop and then found a bar, Dirty Ernie's, to have a couple of beers at.

We returned to the Herc for nap time and then out to dinner at the Moose Creek Grill. It's a new place for us and we liked it.

Now we have returned to our little suite and are crashing in front of more Downton Abbey.

Day of Toil

I have the day off today so it's not a good day for scoundrels to come prowling around the house. I'm going to be all over the place today and accomplicating many things and items.

Already this morning I have made the coffee, cooked the breakfast for me and mine Spouse, showered and cleaned the shower, at least partially, and it's only 8:30. 

I shall now continue my efforts to be something of a productive member of society. But first another of the 156 Flag pictures I took yesterday.

Several hours have elapsed and I have been quite productive. I am not going to get too high on myself  yet as that seems to be an invitation to disaster. I'll come across something I've done that requires unnecessary re-working.

I already talked about my shower but one can safely assume that I was naked. I have completed my project in the bathroom (not naked) of a drop down wall above the cabinet area. Including the dry walling. I shall let my photo genius pictograms tell the story. 

I have run to the BIG BOX STORE and returned some cement board that I purchased months ago...like August. I got a nice store credit and turned around and bought a new saw blade and some wood to fir up a wall prior to more dry walling.

I have dropped by the horrible Gubmint office to renew my License Tabs. That took 20 minutes of waiting and four minutes to complete the transaction with the gal at the desk.

I had the same sort of fun on Wednesday when I renewed my Driver's License.

Friday is Garbage Day. Every Friday I have to haul the garbage and recycling cans out to the alley. I have now returned the cans from the alley and loaded my final two bags of last seasons' leaves in the container. I might have gotten a bit too greedy trying to fit two bags in but I wanted to be rid of them. I have been putting one bag a week in the can for the last several weeks. With only two remaining, I got antsy. 

I have done a serviceable job of vacuuming out the car and putting the ski racks on. I also cleaned out the vacuum and then did some much needed vacuuming in the Carriage House.

It is now just after two and I'm hoping Susan will be home soon so we can take off on our Big Ski Weekend.

I feel comfortable writing something about it here because I will not be publishing this until after the weekend is over. 

So SUCK IT, Thieving House Prowling Blog Surfing Scumbags!

Journey to the Belly of the Bathroom

This should be very exciting for you. I shall be taking you on a journey to the crawl space below the bathroom to give you an idea of where I have been working.

The Door to the Belly

The Stairs to the Belly

The Hole to the Belly

The Belly

Oops! 

The Belly of the Bathroom

As you can see, it's a tight little space.

But it looks to me like the flange is sitting in the hole I've made. That means I can secure it to the wall and floor and get about to replacing the cement board.

6:18 PM: What you are looking at is a shower pan that is (more or less) attached to the wall. I shall now continue to the next step in the process.....if someone can tell me what that is.

Craftsmanship and Me, I mean...I

Once again, my desire to be a precision craftsman has bit me in the ass.

The shower pan is not setting properly because the flange that attaches the pipe to the drain is larger than the hole I cut in the floor. 

I have slid a couple of 2x4's under the shower pan to lift it off the floor as high as I can. My plan is to crawl under the house with my sawsall and enlarge the hole from underneath. The reason I must do this is because we have glued the drain pipe to the drain flange and so, the shower pan is not going anywhere.

I shall report on my progress in the next paragraph.

Here we are at the next paragraph and a few hours have passed. I think I am successful with my shower pan project but I won't know until tomorrow.  That's when I will crawl back under the house and inspect the hole I've been trying to make bigger. As for crawling in and doing the inspection today...I'm done! I'm old, I'm sore and I have bad knees. Inspection can wait until tomorrow.

I have been working in a very confined space, made smaller by electrical wire and water lines running through my work space.

I started with my sawsall but it was too big to fit in the space. Next I brought the drill down, hoping to make some holes that I can fit my jigsaw blade through. 

The jigsaw kind of worked but I couldn't maneuver it very well and I simply could not make it move into a couple of spots. So, back to the drill and drilling a series of holes.

The shower pan appears to be laying flat but a good inspection from below will let me know how that flange is sitting...and hopefully be done...and able to move on to the next project.

All of this fallderall could have been avoided by making the hole big enough at the start when I had easy access to it.

Shower Pan

We have finally gotten to the point where we were able to place the shower pan.

 As of this morning, it's not quite right yet. But it is attached to the drain pipe, which has been a battle for a few weeks now. 

Part of the problem with the picture above is that it is on it's side and none of the water is going to go down the drain that way.

There! That's better.

We still have some minor placement issues to deal with, but I hope to have them resolved this weekend, perhaps even by this evening.

The we can move on to the next issue; Wainscoting!

Quirky Floor

Just a quickie post and a picture of the floor after it has been cleaned off. We still need to add more grout and even the whole thing out.

One of the things we've noticed is that the green tiles are slightly higher than the white tiles. I thought that was the case but I thought it was negligible. 

Well, you can feel it when you walk on it. It's subtle but it's there.

At least we have our floor the way we want it despite the constraints that the flooring industry "Man" tried to oppress us with.

Grout Day

My close personal friend, Ron the Tile Guy came by today and performed some grouting duty. (I probably shouldn't call it duty when we are working in the bathroom, but I believe the other one is spelled "dooty") At this point, it's hard to tell how it looks because it's still smeared with grout over the top.

Nonetheless, it's another step closer to a working bathroom. Next up, we are going to have to go shopping for the wainscoting boards and the shower tile.

Also, we still have to select and purchase the light fixtures and the medicine cabinet.

The other thing I'm starting to think about is how I'm going to get the bath tub into the bathroom. It's going to take some major muscle which to me means bodys.

I'm think of putting up a sign up sheet at work and request the big strong brawny boys out back to come to the house for pizza and beer and then, when they show up, spring the bath tub on them.

Accent Tile Victory

It still doesn't come out in the pictures but by light of day, the green accent tiles do look green.

After I stopped tiling last night and sat and relaxed, my body tightened up. I got up to go to bed and could hardly move. I'm still pretty stiff this morning but once I got up and got to moving around, I loosened up.

I had to take the cats in to the Vet today for their annual check up and shots. Oscar has gingivitis and Willy has lost a couple of pounds.

Now I'm back and it is time to get back to tiling. I'm going to get that finished today!

12:05 PM: V I C T O R Y ! ! !

I have finished the tiling. Shown above is the last tile. Me Am Happiness!

Now, before I rest on my laurels, I need to get to work on the shower and fix the hardie backer problem with the shower pan.

It's about four o'clock now and I have solved the shower pan dilemma. My original plan was to cut off the bottom part of the hardie backer rather than remove the whole board. Well, hardie backer is...um....hearty. My Dremmel Trim Saw wouldn't cut through it. And the blade on my skill saw was not up to cutting through either.

So, I just removed the boards.

Once I got the boards off, the shower pan slide right in to place. The drain was still a little cockeyed so I had to cut a bigger hole around the drain pipe. Again, I thought I was being so crafty cutting a nice tight hole for the drain pipe. Instead, it just screws with me down the road.

Therefore, the lesson is, in areas where it doesn't matter ascetically, give yourself plenty of room. Stop trying to be such a prima donna.

Now the shower pan fits in place nicely and I am happy for the moment. I am kind of concerned about the height of that drain though. It seems like it should fit tighter to the drain pan.

The Worlds Easiest Puzzle

It's a little before ten on a rainy Friday night and I'm taking a break from my tiling duties to stop sweating. 

I suppose I should be wondering why I'm sweating whilst doing a relatively simple job on my knees that involves nothing more than a caulking gun and placing little tiles into the proper spaces. I'm essentially doing the worlds easiest 100 square foot puzzle.

However, it is hard to be hunched over for that length of time doing that tedious work. It's a good thing that I am my own general contractor otherwise I would have fired my whiny, wimpy ass a long time ago.

I've covered some good ground and I'm going to keep going until Susan comes home from the concert she's working tonight.

Here's all I have left to do. It really doesn't look like all that much. For the record, I did a rough calculation and it comes out to 899 tiles.

It is now 11:11:37 PM PDT and I am finished for the evening. I have about 240 tiles left to place and they can wait until tomorrow.

I am very very close!