T Minus Eight Days Until Tile Day

Susan and I are both working in the bathroom and it isn't going well. I'm in my corner trying to finish the dry walling and cement boarding and she is in every other corner creating sanding dust and general mayhem.

Here is one of the problems I'm trying to get through. I need to place a piece of dry wall in that space shown below.

There is a six inch gap in this 2x4 so there is nothing to affix the drywall to at the top. So I'm going to splice a 2x4 into the space. 

This is what one gets when one splices a modern era 2x4 with a 2x4 from 100 years ago. One hundred years ago, 2x4's actually measured 2 inches by 4 inches.

So I had to find a shim to make it a half inch thicker. I didn't quite make it but it's enough to secure the dry wall so I can live with it. Any imperfections I leave to my bride who is a world class mudder/taper/imperfection fixer! I mean, crap! Look what she's done with me!

My other project is getting the cement board up in the shower area.

This is how far I got today before the clash of the sander. However, I'm told I need to remove the board on the right and make the hole bigger around the shower handle. I thought I was being really exacting with my precision hole cutting, but I forgot I had to leave some room to attach the handle fixture.

So, that looks like that's about all that is going to get done this weekend. We shall see how we proceed through the week in preparation for Tile Day.

Compulsory Saturday Post

It's time for a Saturday Update just because I haven't written anything since Sunday.

It looks like tile installation day is going to be next Monday, February 8th. That's the day after the SuperBowl. (Can I say that or must I refer to it as "The Big Game"?) To hell with it; SuperBowl! SuperBowl! SuperBowl!

I still have dry wall to install and finish the cement board around the shower area. I can't do it right now because Susan is in there mudding.

When she is finished, I'll get in there and do my work.

In the meantime, we have picked up our accent tile so we now have everything we need to start the tile installation...except our professional tile installer, Ron. We are expecting him to come by tomorrow and inspect the site. 

At that time we will figure out the best way to proceed.

This is one square foot of the tile we ordered.

This is one square foot of the accent tile we ordered. It's a dark glossy green.

We want to create this effect.

We could not find any tile that had the accent with the color we wanted, so we adapted, we improvised, we overcame.

We will end up marking the pattern we want on the tiles that need to be removed in each one of the 95 square feet we have, removing the individual un-accented tile notated in the pattern, and integrating the lovely, accented, glossy green individual tile into the aforementioned pattern.

Sunday Toils

We have returned from church and are watching the Seahawks being manhandled by Carolina. When we got in the car to drive home the game had already started and the Seahawks were down 14 to nuthin'. By the time we got home, it was 21 to nuthin'.

The Seahawks have the ball at the start of the third quarter and the score is 31 to zip. They have just had a great drive and scored. So here comes the come back.

We plan to continue working on the bathroom but not until this game is over.

7:40 to go in the third, Carolina 31, Seattle 14.

End of Game: Carolina 31, Seattle 24.

Crap!

Well, time to get to work. Susan's in the bathroom and I'm out in the driveway trying to clean up some snow.

I am pleased with my efforts.

I wanted to get out and get these piles of snow beat down, and to an extent, I did.

But my best accomplishment was getting this little pathway cut out of this berm in front of the house. I did that with a shovel, and in my depleted, out of breath condition, that's a pretty good accomplishment to accomplish.

Saturday Snow Day and Work

It's 3:33 on a snowy Saturday afternoon. Susan is busy going at the taping and mudding in the bathroom as threatened in the previous post. I am trying to get up the gumption to place a couple of small pieces of drywall in place. However, gumption appears to be thin at the moment. I'm thinking life as it is is ultimately going to require Susan to complete the bathroom on her own.

I have managed to thicken the gumption enough for me to go out and run the snow blower. It's been snowing since this morning and it is finally petering out. So, it is time to go out and do my duty to clear the sidewalks of dastardly snow and ice.

Oops! Side trip! My $400.00 drug was finally approved by my insurance and now costs only $40.00. I have to go get it.

Dumbass Alert: When one goes to Costco to get drugs and such, one should takes ones wallet. Otherwise one cannot get in door, much less pay for ones purchases/drugs. That was a waste of ones time! One could have been out shoveling...well blowing.

However, it appears I don't have to. My neighbor James is out there doing it for me. What a great guy!

Now it is time for Gonzaga Basketball AND Green Bay vs. Arizona at the Hub.

6:54PM: We have returned from the Hub. Gonzaga won and Green Bay is just coming out of half time, down by one point. 

It is now time for Dinner, which is going to be a salad and Split Pea Soup, which Susan has been simmering all day.

YUM!

9:00PM: Green Bay lost in overtime. It was a great game. Aaron Rogers threw a fabulous Hail Mary Pass in the last seconds to tie the game and send it to overtime, but the Cardinals prevailed.

Now we are going to kick back and get caught up on some recorded television.

Main Floor Bathroom Update

It is the start of what I am hoping is going to be a productive weekend.

We will be returning to work on the main floor bathroom. To recap, we started remodeling our main floor bathroom last May. That is roughly eight months of being without a bathroom on the main floor, which is why we call it the main floor bathroom.

Susan is going to start mudding and taping the dry wall tomorrow. The means that I have to finish dry walling. Here are pictures of the four corners of the bathroom (the one on the main floor) as it looks right now.

So you can see, we have some work.

The Official End of Christmas Season

It's Christmas Take Down Day. I got the lights down from the front of the house. I now am in compliance with my Christmas Rules.

Susan is in the process of removing MantleVille.

In this case, it's DisMantleVille. (I'll allow time for you to stop L.O.L.ing)

So it's a lazy Saturday with the temperature in the 30's. That allows me the chance to go out and try to clean up the snow mounds that have gotten away from me.

I've also been playing with my new camera. I discovered the continuous shooting mode which allows me to get an action shot like this one.

The action is the water drop falling from the icicle in the middle.

Okay, I'm going to go a stow some Christmas frockery and then I'll be back with more words in the form of sentences that say things about stuff.

Christmas Light Take Down

I've really been trying to get out on the front porch at night and take down the Christmas lights. But I can't seem to muster the energy to actually do it.

I'm attributing it more to laziness than stamina issues. I'm really going to try and get it done tonight. It would be a good night to do it. It will be a relatively warm night. It should not be snowy or rainy. There really is no good excuse to not get it done.

I'll include pictures of my progress later on in this post. Pictures that might indicate I got the job done. Tonight!

               *Note: No Pictures!*

I usually have my lights down long before this. I'm not a fan of Christmas lights being on too late OR too early.

I believe your Thanksgiving Lighting display should be quite cold by the time Christmas goes up.

Next you gotta get the Christmas Lights down as soon after New Years to get your M.L.K. lights up.

Then, once that Observance is over, it's time to get your Valentine Display up and going no later than the following weekend. That way, the public has a good three weeks to enjoy the flashing hearts and cupids.

And don't even get me started on my President's Day Spectacle.

Great Power

We have a Neighborhood Social Media Website called Corbin Park Spokane. It is a national website that creates little neighborhood websites. If you live within the borders of our neighborhood, you can join and see what's going on. 

A lot of it is neighbors reporting on break ins or suspicious people they have seen.

Yesterday, someone posted that they were awoken by a snow blower at 4:47AM. I replied that I am guilty of early morning snow blowery but never before 6AM.

The thing I didn't mention was that when I snow blow, I light up the neighborhood. I do almost all of my block, and a good portion of the alley. I follow the philosophy of Spider-Man; "With Great Power comes Great Responsibility!"

My electric start two stage Craftsman Snow Blower with 5 speeds forward and two in reverse and a 26" deck is the epitome of Great Power.

I do feel the guilt of the loud snow blower and so clearing your sidewalk is my way of compensating. Sorry to the people across the street. 

Most of the responses are in support of the snow blowers.

The Return of the Snow Blower

I broke out the snow blower at 6 AM this morning and got to work on the fresh snow that had fallen over night. It took me about 40 minutes to run the machine across all the sidewalks and driveway I cover.

Towards the end, I was out of breath and pretty labored. When it was all over, I sat in the kitchen for about 15 minutes trying to get my breathing back to a normal level.

The newly repaired snow blower performed just like it always does. I have to make a couple of adjustments to the shoes and tighten a bolt on the shute.

It was nice to have it back.

Snow Blow Return

It is once again a sunny cold day. The temperature is about 16 degrees. 

I have just returned from getting the Snow Blower from Richard at Spokane Small Engine Repair.. The total was $85.00 with tax but I gave him $100.00 and told him to keep the change. He got that done quick and deserved a tip.

Richard helped me load it, which just about killed me. I was way out of breath after that maneuver.

Then there was the dilemma of unloading it at home by myself. Fortunately, I have this long thick plank I use for such occasions. I laid the plank onto the tailgate of my SUV and slowly rolled the Snow Blower onto it. Then it was just a matter of sliding it down the plank until it hit the pavement.

Even so, I was wheezing like an Emphysema patient...which I might be. But I got stowed it away and ready for the next snowfall. Who knows when that will be though?!

Now I'm back inside and trying to regain my breathing.

Happy New Year

We have made it to Twenty Sexteen!

It's a little after ten in the morning. It's sunny out and 26 degrees. 

We are having a lazy morning around the estate today while preparing to go and watch the Rose Bowl this afternoon. Susan's Alma Mater, Iowa is playing the Stanford Cretins. The game is at 2:00. I think we are going down to the Red Lion Barbecue to watch the extravaganza.

I will of course be taking lots of pictures with my fabulous new camera. Here's one I just took.

I still have a lot to learn about this camera. I'm trying to figure it out but I'm considering taking a class at the Community College to get a better idea of how everything works.

I'm going to prepare myself for the day now. That means getting a cup of coffee, reading the paper, flouncing about, getting another cup of coffee, surveying my snow blowing area of influence, and so forth. I might even bathe.

7:12 PM: Well, that didn't go so well.

Iowa barely showed up for the game. Stanford killed them. Iowa finally got on the board in the fourth quarter but they were never in it.

We are not going to take this as an omen of the year to come.