Closing In On the End

We got up another row of tile on the ceiling. And this row is momentous because it was the last row we had to contend with obstacles. We had to deal with two lights and I’m happy to say that everything went quite swimmingly.

We only have two rows to go but I think we have a little work to do where the south wall meets the ceiling.  There are some sizable cracks that the tile is not going to be able to hide.

We’ll get up one more row and then try to figure out what our next move is. The crack shown in the picture above is probably the biggest problem we have to deal with.

Difficulties with the Difficult Part

We managed to finish the other two panels where lights are but we ran into a little problem with the western most island light.

The box in the ceiling that we hang the light from is not in terribly square. That means that one of the screws that the light attaches to is a little higher than the other. When we tried to reattach he light, that one screw was barely showing through the face plate of the light.

So, after a brief diversion to the Hub, we had to run over to the General Store and get an inch and a half 8/32 screw. That set me back 25 cents.

In the end, it all worked out. That first light is the one I’m talking about.

We still have to finish the rest of the row to the west. That’s only 3 and a half panels. 

Then, only four rows to go. We’re getting close.

The Difficult Part of the Ceiling

We got started on the difficult part of the ceiling today. We didn’t get a whole row up. We had a late start because Susan wanted to complete some caulking.

While she was doing that, I removed the middle light above the island in anticipation of placing our first light hole cut tile there. The light came down easily, as I expected it would and I did not electrocute myself as everyone is expecting I will.

Our first tile placement for this row was between the lights. It has worked out quite well that there is a full tile in between each of the lights. Having a tile edge to measure from makes everything easier.

We used a cardboard template to locate the hole and make sure we liked the placement before we cut an actual tile.

It all went just as planned. The most difficult part of the whole operation was holding the light up while I reconnected the wires. That wore me out!

I expect we will finish the whole row tomorrow. The first two tiles we will lay will have the light hole cut outs. After that, it’s smooth tiling.

The only other concern is that we have enough tiles to finish the job. My math says we do. However, I can feel the hot rancid disapproving breath of Mrs. Bridge breathing down on me.

Mrs. Bridge was my fifth grade math teacher. Fifth grade was the year we learned fractions. I was lost. Didn’t have a clue. It seems so funny now because I turn fractions around in my head with no effort at all.

Half Way Finished

Today, we put up the remaining ceiling tiles on the north end of the kitchen.

My concern was covering the hole patch I did the other day. It wasn’t quite as secure as I had hoped it would be. It had a little more movement to it than I would have liked.

But, it served its purpose.

We only needed four tiles to finish the row. They all went pretty smoothly. Even over the patch. We had to add some extra glue in that area and it ended up working well.

We got down to this final piece in the corner. It was tricky because we had to make two cuts. It ended up fitting nicely and we are quite happy with the results.

Now we move on to the difficult part. The area with all the lights.

Caulking and Patching

We had to take a break from ceiling tiling today to get a little caught up on a couple of aspects of the project. 

Susan wanted to caulk all the seams from the tiles we put up this past week and I had to patch a hole in order to finish the remaining tiles on the last row at the north wall.

My plan didn’t work out exactly as I had planned it but I was able to make the patch and I think it will work.

I’ll know if it worked for sure when we place a tile there and you can’t tell there was a patch there.

And so, we wait.  

A Little More Ceiling Tile

We made a little more progress today and our fix on the corner tile worked beautifully.

The only way anyone will ever know is by reading this post. So stop right now.

More Ceiling Tile

We got up another row of ceiling tile today. Actually, we got up a row and a half. We are now over half way finished.

The one problem we had was with the tile that goes into this corner.

We ended up cutting a little too much and there was a pretty noticeable gap against the shaded side of the wall.

Susan came up with a brilliant plan to save the tile. She glued the strip we removed back into place. We hope we can recut it and use the tile rather than waste it.

You can see the cut line in the picture above but I think we are going to be able to use it. It seems as though the glued joint is strong and once we add a coat of paint, I’m betting it will be nearly invisible.

According to my ciphering, we only have one extra tile. So screw ups are not going to be tolerated.

By the way, having only one extra tile may not be correct. Because we are cutting such a small sliver off that final row shown above, I’m hoping we can use the rest of the tile sheet when we finish on the other side of the kitchen.

After finishing up this final section against the north wall, we will be moving to the most difficult part of the installation because of all the light fixtures we have to work around.

Stay tuned.

Yak Red - Day 2

 It has been two days since we started the Yak Red Blend. That’s what I’m calling it.

The yeast took off almost immediately. The vapor lock I have on the Must Bucket started bubbling within an hour of pitching the yeast.

Here is what it’s doing right now.

When I’m sitting alone in the kitchen, the bubbling is quite pronounced. It makes me think there is something wrong with my stomach.

2025 Red Blend

One of the gifts Susan gave me during my Birthday Week was a wine kit.

We didn’t make it down to Prosser this past year to get any grapes so this kit will end up being our entry into the Wine Competition at the fair this Fall.

The kit purports to be grapes from the Yakima Valley. It’s called a Red Blend. Not much more detail than that.

We started the kit today. Making wine from a kit is just about as simple as you could make it. This one comes with a variety of chemicals, grape juice concentrate and wine yeast.

After cleaning and sterilizing my fermenter vessel and all the assorted tools, we completed the Day One tasks. That involved mixing up some Bentonite with 12 cups of warm water, which works as a clarifying agent, adding the grape juice, topping off with water and pitching the yeast. That’s it!

The Original Gravity was 1.082 which gives this wine the potential to be 12% ABV.

We tasted the must and it tastes like good ol’ Welch's Grape Juice.

It’s just sitting there now, waiting for the yeast to activate. We will pretty much leave it alone over the next two weeks, at which point we’ll take another gravity reading to see if it’s ready for the next step, which will be racking to a clean fermenter and more clarifying.

In any event, we are back in the wine game!  

InterWeb...the Necessary Evil

 I am writing this post in the notes programs of my iPad because I cannot presently get on line.

We just had a visit from Dillon, a technician with QuantumFiber, the internet provider we are switching to. I would like to say good bye CenturyLink and good riddance. Unfortunately, Quantum is the company that CenturyLink is being absorbed by.

Dillon told me that because CenturyLink is slowly going away, they have reduced funding to their Customer Service. I am ready to attest to the fact that their Customer Service is pretty bad.

Dillon came in and installed the new high speed modem we will be using. Dillon was a 25 year old guy who seemed quite competent. 

Dillon has just left and we still don’t have our internet back. Apparently, there is a problem in Dallas (the one in Texas) at one of their facilities that is preventing them from contacting our modem. 

Our phone is still working, so that is good news.

Dillon hopes the problem will be resolved by noon but definitely today. They told him to move on to his next job and whatever the problem is here can be resolved over the airwaves.

That, of course, remains to be seen.

So, once again, here we sit without interweb connection. It makes me feel sad, alone and very sarcastic.

Stand by!

A Good Productive Day

We’ve had some pretty great weather over the last few days. I went skiing last Thursday and it was a really great day. Sunny, good snow, I could get used to that.

Today we did a pretty good job of cleaning up this free standing closet that we have had down in the basement for years. I’ve used it in the past to store my summer shorts during the winter and and winter shirts in the summer. Lately, it’s just taken up space.

Today, Susan and I went through the whole thing and put the clothes in boxes designated for Goodwill or our church Rummage Sale.

Then we were able to dismantle the thing and open up a whole bunch of space in the closet it was blocking.

As I said I the title, a good productive day.

No InterWeb

We have been without internet since noon on Friday. Every time I call CenturyLink, they just extend the time until it will be repaired.

The only thing that pisses me off about this whole thing is the realization of how addicted to the Internet I’ve become. It finally came back on this morning.

Ceiling Continuation

We got up another row of ceiling tiles today.

It’s looking pretty good.

We took a break in the process and Susan caulked the seams of what we put up. We’ve been having some problems with alignment and she wanted to be sure she could fix the visual incongruities with caulk.

I’m confident in saying that, “Yes, she can!”

The one tricky spot we had to deal with today involved the end of the run on the west wall. We have this little outcropping of wall to deal with and it made placing the last tile a little challenging.

As you can see, we met the challenge and overcame it.

We are thinking we are pretty awesome.

Boiler Update

We got the quote for the boiler installation today and whoa…it is not pretty.

We were thinking that because we already have the boiler, this would be a much less expensive proposition. We were wrong.

For some reason we had it in our heads that it would be somewhere around ten to fifteen thousand dollars to complete this project. 

We already have the quote to remove the old boiler. That’s $5,000.00.

To install the new one is $20,388.69.

So we’re looking at 25K to do this job.

Fortunately, we have the money in our 401k account. We need a meeting with our financial guy to see what kind of a dent this is going to do to us. I think we’re okay but Susan, being the more frugal of us two, is not very thrilled at the moment.

Boiler Replacement Prep

We managed to get another row of ceiling tiles in place yesterday. 

We had a problem with alignment in the area where that hump is. It took some doing, but we think we have it fixed as best we can. It will require some creative caulking to hide the problem and then only you and us will know it’s there.

I just had a couple of electricians in the house to look at the boiler to see what they had to do to accommodate our power needs for the new unit.

I told them that I had done a lot of the wiring in the house and they were not allowed to laugh at my work until they left. They didn’t seem too shocked by what they saw and they should have a quote to Zane at Element Air by tomorrow. Then we will know the total cost of this Boiler Replacement Project.

For another day, the snow continues to fall. It hasn’t been much of an accumulation so far today and I think it is going to turn to rain soon. It’s very wet coming down.