skip to main |
skip to sidebar
We managed to apply one more coat of paint to the ceiling on Tuesday night and since that used up the rest of the paint, we decided we were finished. This weekend, we will start putting up crown molding.
I had some puttering around to do this evening and it was nice enough to putter out of doors. So I did a little soil prep and planted some grass seed. Whether or not it take remains to be seen but I have done my part. Now it is up to God to remind me to water and to keep the bird away.
We were thinking of planting small shrubs or something along the walkway but ended up going for more grass.
This area here is just a corner that we haven't paid any attention to. I'm hoping this will come in nice here as well. I used a grass seed that doesn't require a lot of sun light which describes our front yard.
I'll keep tabs on it here. The important thing is that I have a post for the day I planted so I can have a reference next year when I have to plant it again.
We started our Memorial Day with a hearty Biscuit and Gravy breakfast, the perfect breakfast for some with heart issues. We then went shopping to spend some money.
First, we bought some ceiling paint. We were going to buy more Kilz Primer paint but the guy told us that there is not very much pigment in Kilz and we would need a lot of coats before we were happy with it.
We ended up getting three coats out of the gallon.
After buying the paint, we were off to Shopko who was having a big plant sale. We spent about $125.00 on foliage...and some steer manure...but most foliage.
We returned home and did a little work with planter boxes and then got to painting the ceiling. As I said, three coats.
We are now happy with the ceiling...or at least, as happy as we are going to be. The hump is much less noticeable and any issues we have we will hide with stenciling.
We ended the weekend with a little burger barbecue with corn on the cob and coleslaw.
My four days went really fast.
We believe we have achieved victory over the hump. We painted today and it looks better. We need to put up at least one more coat and probably two and then we will be happy.
Besides painting, we did some stuff around the yard and I hired a neighborhood kid named Tiras to mow the lawn for me. I'm not really all that interested in having someone else mow the lawn, but this is a low income kid who needs some work experience. I'm paying him ten bucks an hour which is about how long it takes to mow. We'll see how it works out.
We had a fire last night and disposed of a lot of detritus material. We will need to have many more fires to eliminate it all. It began to rain lightly so we moved to the front porch and lit up the candles. I like the following picture and nominate it for Memorial Weekend M.L.A.A.H. Picture of the Year.
Not nearly as much was accomplished today as yesterday. I'm still on an accomplishment high from the clean Carriage House. Still we have stuff to do this weekend.
I started my day by going to church and mowing the lawn. Afterwards, I retrieved a tire I dropped off at Les Schwab the day before. It's for my new Wheel Barrel. Well...new to me.
Susan sanded and we now believe we are at a point where we are ready to paint again. This time, no Satin Sheen, just Flat Primer.
I had a piano lesson at 1:30 so that really breaks up my day to try and get stuff done. I puttered here and there as did Susan.
We had planned on a movie night and went to see the new Star Trek movie, "Into Darkness". It was okay...not as good as the last entry into the new franchise. They did bring back a lot of old themes though.
Day is done and time for bed.
8:10AM: It is the start of my four day weekend. I'm going to try and be productive and my coach to push me to be productive is this post. Let's see how much I accomplish.
Of course, one could postulate that while I am sitting here tapping away, I could be elsewhere being productive. What a maroon that person would be! Tapping away is the most productive thing I will do today. The stuff I tap away about is ancillary.
I have already been productive in that I have just returned from the Lowe's Home Improvement Center where money was spent and questioned where answered.
Now I have a Carriage House to clean and organize. But first...breakfast!
9:22 AM: I just got off the phone with the guy at Lowe's. I bought a bunch of metal caps for the arbor over the deck. I came across this idea a couple of weeks ago.
We were on a tour of homes and I noticed these caps on top of the beams. I knew that was exactly what I needed for our beams.
Okay, it's after 9 and I gotta get to work.
11:48 AM: Here are a couple of shots of my progress. More to do! Gotta go!!!
2:23 PM: I have completed my task and am generally pleased. However, having the Carriage House being clean has led me to the Garage, which is the next nightmare. I need to try and do some work on it today, but first, the Hub Tavern.
5:00 PM: I don't think I'll get to cleaning out the garage today. I'm going to try and designate a block of time over the weekend to accomplish that task. It will require some time as I need to pull EVERYTHING out and try to reorganize it.
We ended the day with a Pit Fire and some roasted hot dogs. The Christmas Tree is now gone.
Last night, I put the chandelier back in the Living Room. The light was to make the decision for us as to whether or not we would have to re-plaster.
The chandelier has spoken. Loud and clear. The picture above shows the problem. We cannot have that hump stretch across the width of the living room. It will require us to plaster that area and smooth out the hump. The plastering shall commence this evening.
The weather here has been unbelievable. The temperature has been well into the 70's for several days. It's been tremendous. I had to install the white trash window air conditioner last night in order to sleep comfortably.
In turn, I turned the gas off to the furnace this morning. I'll have to check back in these posts to see if I have noted turning off the gas and when. I think this may be the earliest.
My Hops and Grape Vines are loving the sunshine. Too bad they only are exposed to it until noonish.
I've measured 9 inches of growth in one day on the Hallertau Hops plant. The plants shown in the photograph above are (from left to right) Gewurztraminer Grape, Sterling Hops, Sauvignon Franc Grape, Hallertau Hops, and Concord Grape.
On top of all this activity, we have a bunch of sky walk to get decorated. They are really keeping us busy. That's great for our bank account but not so good for our evenings.
Our progress on the Living Room project is proceeding like most of our projects: Glacially!
We put up another coat of paint on the ceiling last night, hoping it was to be the last. The goal is for a velvet smooth ceiling surface and we don't quite have that. There are a couple of places that contradict that goal and just simply laugh in its face.
I'm going to re-install the chandelier tonight and then we will assess how the ceiling looks from the point of view of the light that will be in the room.
Susan says she can fix the problem areas but it requires more plastering and I've had just about all the plastering I can take. Of course, it's not me getting plastered...figuratively. I am handling the plastering with the help of my Kokanee.
Today is the Fifth of May but I relate more to the Fourth of May, Star Wars Day! It's not that I'm a Stars Wars fan...I'm much more of a Trekkie. But I relate to Star Wars more than I do some Mexican Holiday that nobody knows the significance of. So, I shall refer to todays' post as Cinqo de Star Wars.
Susan ran Bloomsday today. We believe it is her 24th consecutive appearance in the annual Spring Rite of Healthy Passage. I think that is pretty impressive. She dismisses her achievement because her time is not what it used to be. But whose time is what it used to be?!
I should also mention that the weather today was spectacular. What a great day to showcase Spokaloo.
I did not run but I was the Transport Chief for Susan and Mark. I saved the table at the Onion Bar and Grill which is the traditional after run spot on Bloomsday.
We got home around 1:30 and proceeded to ensconce ourselves in inactivity. We decided to revel in the inactivity to made it last well into the evening. I am typing this at 7:26 while watching "60 Minutes". Susan is bathing and I am blogging.
It has turned into a great day. May the Fourth be with you!
