Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

 We attempted work on the TV Room this weekend, but we did not achieve great results.

We tried to hang the closet door and ran into a problem. It wouldn't close. There's no reason it shouldn't close. It came off the same door jam. However, stuff might have gotten moved around during dry walling, trimming or passage of time.

We made note of where the door was hitting and went about the task of really screwing up the door.

This picture does not show the problem very well but there is a wide gap in the middle of the door on the strike side.

I took a belt sander to the side of the door to try and remove some wood where it was hitting the jam. I was too aggressive. I tried working on the door today but I'm really not sure yet what I'm going to do.

I had better luck with the crown molding.

Here's a picture from last week when we put it up.

Here's a picture from today after I caulked around the top and bottom of the crown.

Once it's painted, it will be totally awesome.

First Fire

For the first time in what may be four months, we have received some rain. About a quarter of an inch according to my rain gauge. To celebrate, and because it's a little chilly, I built a fire.

It's wonderful to have the flames back in the Living Room, even though it contributes to the smell of smoke in the house. It also contributes to the warmth and comfort of the house, so that's a plus that cancels the smell of smoke.

I should add that this in no way effects the outcome of the boiler game. I am hoping the conclusion of that is still a few weeks away.

Finally-Crown Molding

I hired out for professional assistance today in order to put up the crown molding and the picture rail. The picture rail went better than the crown molding. It is now up to the Queen of Spackle to clean up the problems.

 

Finally-Radiator Day

The smoke has hung around all week. Some days were better than others. I haven't really seen the sun all week. Just an occasional glimpse of a glowing ball in the sky.

We got a little rain last night and it was enough to knock down the smoke. It's a cloudy day but I actually saw some sunshine and a little blue sky today.

A milestone was reached today in terms of the TV Room project. For the first time in two years, the radiator is back in the room.

Mark came over to help while Susan panicked. She was very worried about the tile floor in the entry way where the radiator has hung out for two years. She was also very worried about damaging the floor that we had just refinished. 

All I can tell you is we did not damage the tile.

We loaded the radiator onto two furniture dollies I use to move the piano. We got one under each end.

In the course of rolling it into the room, one of the wheels on the dolly created a little divot in the wood. It's not a disaster, but we are going to see it for years to come...and be pissed about it. That radiator has to be about 700 pounds.

Once in place, it wasn't too much trouble to reattach the nut on the left side and sweat the pipe on the right. It's not very pretty so stop looking at it!

Now came the moment of truth. Is the radiator really properly and securely attached. The only way to find out is the fill the system. It took about an hour and it was very tense while waiting for all the radiators to fill.

We kept a very close eye on the pipes while it was filling. I had to run around to all the other radiators (eight of them) and open the valve to bleed out the air as they filled.

I am happy to report that it looks like all is well. I can find no leaks on the newly installed radiator or any of the others. That means that the Boiler Game has not been canceled due to Covid or any other natural disaster and will carry on.

The days are getting cooler so we are close to the conclusion of this year's Boiler Game.

Susan finished painting the other side of the closet doors and then helped me paint the crown molding that will be installed tomorrow, along with the picture rail.

Once that is complete, we will be very very close to being finished. It doesn't seem possible.

7:07 PM: Because of the Covid-19 Pandemic, lots of stuff that we like to attend every year isn't happening. Pig Out on the Park took a year off. The Greek Festival is canceled. Bloomsday was moved to this weekend and has become a virtual event where you go out and run by yourself. And the Interstate Fair is not happening. 

They are trying to salvage what they can by having some of the competitions...like Wine Labels. (Susan won) And they decided to offer up a Drive Thru Fair Food Event. That way you can satisfy your hankering for a Corn Dog or Deep Fried Oreo.

We went out last weekend and it was canceled due to smoke. We tried again tonight and were told that the line was 2 1/2 hours long.

We ended up at the Union Tavern and had a nice dinner of bar food.

I'll have to wait until next year for my Corn Dog.

Varnishing Point

It is another smoky day of smoky smokiness. It seems it is worse today than yesterday. It is after 3PM and I can finally see that filtered glow ball in the sky for the first time today.

The authorities say our air is hazardous. The index is up to 468. I don't know what 468 relates to. Dirt units? Smoke Modules? Nasal Impairments? I'm told the scale goes to 500.

In any event, it's not terribly healthy out there. We see very few people walking around the park and the basketball court is silent.

The good news for me is I don't feel terribly affected by the bad air. I'm not coughing or wheezing (any more than normal) and I don't feel particularly burdened by the smoke.

We made a little more progress on our remodel project. Susan got the doors painted on one side and we varnished all the trim and baseboards I installed. I would show you a picture but it doesn't look any different than what I posted yesterday.

Trim Time

The weather has been hot and sunny for what seems like an eternity. We have had very little rain since July and every day seems to be the same as the last. Clear, sunny and hot.

Until today! It is cool with an overcast sky. The unusual thing is the forecasters are saying the clouds are from fires in Eastern Washington and as far as California.

They have issued a warning concerning our air quality that extends through Monday. 

While it is overcast, I do not smell smoke, which has been the case so often in the past. I have never really had issues with poor air quality in the past but I am getting older and my respiratory system is certainly compromised because of my heart.

We shall see how I fare over the next couple of days.

I made major progress with the TV Room yesterday. The trim is up. I am mostly satisfied with the results but I can tell you that I am no finish carpenter.

I have one little mistake to fix.

I did not notice this gap when I put the door trim in place. Susan noticed it right off the bat of course. It is a huge faux pas but totally correctable, as you shall soon see.

12:15 PM: I guess I spoke too soon about the smoke. When I left the house and headed towards downtown, I could see the smoke was substantially heavier. I also started to smell the smoke. That's a heavily filtered sun in the upper left corner.

I was easily able to remove the side rail of trim from the wall, remove the nails, fill the nail holes and replace without a gap.

Wow! That's is a crappy picture. Let's see if I can do better.

Ah! Me happy now.

4:41 PM: Susan has spent the afternoon working on the closet and hall door for the TV Room. She's got them all cleaned up, patched some screw holes and now they are ready for paint.

 I completed trim installation by putting down the base shoe. I was surprised at how fast it went. Everything fits really tight and I almost feel like a finish carpenter.

It all looks pretty good if you don't look too close because despite how I may feel, I am no finish carpenter.

Labrador Day Chill

11.32 AM: We have been so efficient this weekend with organizing and completing our projects, we have a lazy Labor Day Monday to look forward to. It is sunny and a little windy, with threats of it becoming more windy.

We are just puttering around the house, eating some left over brisket, washing clothes and cleaning up the barbecue and cooler from yesterday.

If the wind doesn't become too much of an issue, I think I'll chill out at the pool for a while. 

12:25 PM: I'm thinking of mowing the lawn, but I'm not terribly motivated. Chillin' by the pool is not in the cards. Too Chilly!

3:47 PM: The most important thing we have accomplished today is going to Michael's so Susan could purchase some tiny fake pumpkins. Then I drove us over to Jo-Ann's fabrics and bought some iron-on patches to fix a hole in a pocket of a pair of cargo pants.

We stopped for a small pitcher at the Hub and have now returned to the house.

The patch has been applied and I shall be testing the fix tomorrow with actual on the job testing.

Now we are just hanging out and preparing to retire to the front porch with beers.

So ends our Labor Day Weekend.

Labrador Day B

Today was filled with excitement because we barbecued the brisket today. Here it is after sitting over night with a gentle rub of salt and fresh ground pepper that we drizzled over both sides of the meat.

Before going into those details, lets talked about varnishing.

After getting home from church, we went to work on the floor. Today was coating number three for the varnishing.

As before, the sanding was hard and took some time, the varnishing took ten minutes. We are happy with the results and consider the varnishing project to be complete.

Now lets talk about barbecuing.

I got up at 7:00 and fired up ten charcoal brickets in my chimney. I had already prepared the 116 bricket snake that lined the perimeter of the kettle. I placed five chunks of hickory evenly around the snake.

I modified this picture in Photoshop to show the snake. It was really dark. You can see the 8 inch gap in the snake at the bottom of the picture. The pans held 6 cups of water. I guess to keep things moist.

I poured the starter charcoal into the right end side of the snake, replaced the grill and put the meat on so that the fatty point was over the gap.

I stuck a meat thermometer into the thickest part of the point and left for church.

By the time we got home, the meat had been roasting for three and a half hours and was already at 170 degrees.

We opened it up and wrapped the meat in foil. This method is called the Texas Crutch. I added a chimney full of charcoal to the gap, replaced the meat in the same position as before and let it go. The plan was to leave it on for another two hours or when it reached 205 degrees.

At this point, we were way ahead of schedule. It reached 205 degrees in about an hour and 15 minutes. It was only 12:15 and we told our guests to arrive at five.

We were in the middle of varnishing so I shut down the vents and let it stay on the grill.

When we got back to it, a half hour had passed and the temperature was at 210 degrees. It had been on the grill for five and a half hours. We had been planning on eight hours.

We pulled the brisket and put it upside down in a cooler. The recipe called for it to be in the cooler for three hours were it would drop to 160 degrees.

We pulled it out after four hours. The cooler was warm and the meat was 140 degrees. Still warm enough to eat.

It came out perfect. It was tender and juicy and melted in you mouth.

The recipe we followed came from "Cook's Country" on PBS. We recorded the episode and watched it several times, writing down the details until we felt pretty familiar with what to do.

We definitely plan on doing this again and using the same method to slow cook ribs or a turkey.

The only thing I would do differently next time is to close the top and bottom vents half way. We left them wide open and I think that is why it cooked so fast.

Labrador 2020 - Day One

 It's Saturday and we are prepping for all kinds of events. The main events today is to get the Brisket seasoned and apply Coat Number Two of varnish to the floor.

As I type, both are completed and it is approaching 2PM.

I'm going to do a little clean up on the deck and Susan is finishing her painted carpet project on the front porch.

The 146th running of the delayed Kentucky Derby is set for 4:01 PM, PDT. We'll be heading over to the Hub for that event.

I guess that covers all the events for today.

5:49PM: No big surprise, we lost. Neither of the horses we drew finished in the top 5. Oh well, we got to wear our fancy derby hats and we had a walk and we had some beer.

Labrador 2020 - Day Oh - Day Ay Ay Ay Oh Day I Say Day I Say Day Ay Ay Oh

It's Friday at the start of the Labor Day weekend and I am on a mission. I have a lot to get accomplished today and it is not being helped by me sitting here and tapping away at this keyboard.

I'm about to head out to acquire a bunch of stuff. Varnish, a varnish applicator, a new roller pan, and a few chunks of hickory wood.

One of the main goals we have for the weekend is to barbecue a twelve pound brisket on our Weber. We have a concise recipe to follow and it should take about 10 hours to create this jewel of steaming meaty goodness.

If you're a vegetarian, this is not a post you want to hang with.

I shall continue upon my return from the errands.

12:27 PM: It took all of 10 minutes to get this first coat of varnish down.

I did great with my errands. I first stopped at the General Store, my "Go To" neighborhood hardware store. I managed to find one of the items on my list that I thought was going to be difficult to find, chunks of Hickory. It's a main ingredient for my barbecue project.

I also scored on the star of the barbecue...

The Brisket! It's 12 and a half pounds and it cost $45.00.

I made a few other stops and got back to the house about 11:15.

Here it is now, just before one, and my goals for the day are complete. I guess I need to find some new goals.

Oh! I thought of one. I need to give the cue and good cleaning.

7:21 PM: I cleaned the barbecue. I weed whacked the back yard. I went to the pool. I am pleased with my day.