Floor Varnishing & House Painting

We returned to floor refinishing last night by sanding the floor in the TV room to get a smoother finish. We have accomplished that but our floor looks rather ratty now. We have been told by several semi-knowledgeable confidants that this ratty look will disappear when a final coat of varnish is applied.

That therefore is our goal for the night. The house painting is continuing and is going along quite nicely. This is a job that we have farmed out to Ronnie the Painter which means our only input into this job is to sign the checks. We were planning to do the east side seen pictured below, but she is cruising along so nicely that we told her to keep going on the south side as well...if she so desires.

You can see from the picture below that she already has a good start on the south side. If she completes it this season, we will finish our house painting project a year ahead of schedule. We don't finish ANYthing ahead of schedule.

We have been contemplating a trip to Walla Walla to see about acquiring Grapes for some homemade wine. From everything I can find, it is still too early for harvesting yet. Besides, it's not like I'm going to announce here when the house will be empty for the weekend. I might as well leave the front door open.

Skunks and Paint

My trap remained empty throughout the night. The good news is that there was no digging. That means I have the opportunity to try and block any further access. When I get home from work today, I'm going to place every large piece of lumber I can haul over in front of the Carriage House. That should be enough to keep them from digging in before I get something permanent down.

The house painting is coming along nicely. It's not done yet but she's getting there. I think I can re-set the hot tub but I have to find out from Ronnie if she is finished in that area. I want to get it running again only to get a good read on how much it costs to operate. I have this past months electricity usage and if it stays somewhat warm for a few more weeks, it should be enough to give me a comparable reading. I just want to know whether the hot tub costs me $20.00 a month or $87.50 a month.

Skunk Free Zone - Not!

There was evidence of digging under the Carriage House this morning so I have set two traps for the night. Unfortunately, as I was returning into the house, Willy bolted out the door. We have both tried to coax him in but he is not responding. I would rather catch a couple of skunks than a skunk and a cat. But then again, spending a night in a trap might do Willy some good.

Another Skunk Rides the Bus

I got up at six to check the trap I set. I was pleased to see I scored! I now believe we have them all rounded up and re-located to the Se7en Mile Hiking Area, an area I would not recommend for a pleasant hike. If I get one more, that will be thirteen skunks I have re-located to that area.


I'm not sure this one will last long. The first thing he did when I set him free was to cross the road. All the others went deep into the forrest.


Number Twelve was also rather agitated and expressed that agitation the way skunks express stuff. I was not hit by the expression but I was definitely in the blast zone. Enough so that I was smelling skunk during our morning SpokeFest ride.


We rode the nine mile course which was actually almost ten. My big accomplishment for the ride was to make it up Doomsday Hill without stopping. I was breathing pretty hard at the top and smelling skunk.


I have just gotten out of the shower and changed into clean clothes and I till think I can smell a faint hit of agitation.


I'll have Susan smell me.

Later That Day: We have returned from the Spokane Interstate Fair where we learned that we scored Red, White and Blue Ribbons in the Wine competition. Our Pinot Blanc got a third place ribbon. I received a Second place ribbon for the label for the Pinot. Susan got a First Place Blue Ribbon for her Coastal Red Label. The Coastal Red Wine itself got nuthin...as I expected it would. It' drinkable but nothing special.

I still kind of smelled skunk on me off and on during the fair and it still is mighty pungent out by the garage where the little stinker let loose.

In Fair news, we ate lots of crap on a stick and looked at bunny's. That's about all I can say for the fair this year. It's getting very expensive to go. Fortunately, we have all that prize money to look forward to.

Final Assessment

We have critiqued our floor refinishing project and have regretfully come to the conclusion that we are not satisfied. We are therefore withholding payment to the re-finishers until they return for a final treatment. That treatment shall involve a light sanding of the entire refinishing area and another coat of varnish if required...and we believe it will be.

We are not happy about any of this. Especially the part where the re-finishers told us they are not available until NEXT WEEKEND. Apparently, they have lives and things to do during the upcoming week that will prevent them from finishing the job in a timely manner that ends before tomorrow.

What we have learned from this experience is:
Do not trust some fly-by-night husband and wife team who seemingly have the knowledge and experience to complete such a job only to discover later that they are us...and us are not knowledgeable or experiencentational to do this right the first time.

Okay, it's not a disaster. But we really feel we should sand very lightly in order to get a more smootherness finishment. If we have to apply another coat of varnish, so be it. We can do that. The only issue is that we can't completely return the house to semi-normal until we get this job done. That means the Living Room will continue to be filled with furniture and the doorways will still be blocked off. I cannot re-install the radiators which means if it does get chilly, and it has been, we are without our main source of heat.

But we do have alcohol!

Have a nice weekend!

The End of Camping

We awokened awake at 5:00AM as the blare of several alarms collided to send our dreams packing. That's the kind of flowery prose I can produce first thing in the morning.

We have now applied four coats of varnish and my mistakes made on the first coat appear to be hidden by the fourth.

We shall return home tonight and hopefully can start to walk around in the forbidden area. Then we can move furniture back on Friday.

Divorce Averted

I really screwed up on my varnishing last night. I was spreading varnish like I was mopping. The result I looked at this morning was a streaky mess. Susan has been castigating me severely and I think she called a lawyer last night.

However, I believe I redeemed myself this morning. The alarm went off at 5:30 and we got up to get a second coat down on the floor. I'm happy with my result. I got a much smoother coat down and the divorce has been deflected...at least delayed.

We will get a third coat down after work today and that should do it. Then we need to let it sit for about 36 hours before we can move furniture and return to normal.

We're still camping!

Varnish Day Coat Number One

It feels like we're camping!

The house is like a maze and there is no direct access to the upstairs. We have to go to the front door and walk across a plank to the stairs or go up the back staircase, which is already a gauntlet of obstacles.

But, we are getting it done. We got the first coat of varnish down and it looks pretty damn good.The picture below shows it going down and it looks pretty glossy. It dries to a satin so it won't be quite that shiny.

We got the first coat down tonight in less than an hour. The plan is to get up early in the morning and get down a second coat. In this manner, we can get the varnishing done in a timely manner and keep us from having to sand in between coats.

Time to stoke the campfire and roll out the sleeping bags.

Refinishing Day Trezz

Official Stain Info Notice:

TV Room Stain - MinWax English Chestnut #233 Apply to 6 board width. Wait 12 to 15 minutes and wipe.

Second Coat - MinWax Dark Walnut #2716 Apply to six board width. Wait 10 minutes and wipe.

Entry Hall Way - Lowe's Brand Kobel Special Walnut. Apply and wipe within 5 minutes. More like 2 to 3 minutes.

Susan was not satisfied with our first coat. It looked good last night but was much lighter looking this morning. So, another coat of a darker stain that we had was decided upon.

We got that done in about an hour and a half and then prepared for the hallway. We wanted to get all our staining finished today. And that is just what we did! I don't mind telling you...We are awesome! Here are some random photos.

I'll try to get some more pictures posted in the next couple of days.

Tomorrow is the deadline to get the wine into the fair. As usual, I have been waiting until the last minute to get my label created. I got up this morning and went to work on this little gem that Susan and I have been mulling in our minds for a couple of days.

MilBurDue is a compilation of Miller, Burke and Dueber. We all joined together to purchase this rather costly wine kit...$180.00.

So this will be the label for the wine entry as well as the Label Contest...duh!

Sanding Day Deux

I think we have now captured all the skunks in the yard. We woke up this morning to another skunk who took the bait. We loaded him into the truck and took him out to the Se7en Mile Release Center that I now call Eleven Skunk Acres...cuz that's how many I have transplanted there.We did ride our bikes down to Pig Out and enjoyed the musical stylings of Junior Cadillac as well as some food.

After a couple of hours, we returned home and returned to the sanding. I did the second sanding with 80 grit paper and smoothed out all the roughness. It only took about 30 minutes and two sheets of sand paper.

Then we went to work on filling all the holes.The picture above shows the back hallway where I replaced much of the flooring. There were some giant spaces between boards that required much putty.

As soon as I finish typing here, I shall begin another round of sanding to remove the excess wood putty. Providing that goes well, we will return the floor sander and try to find a stain to match the living room as seen below.

Blast Off to Sanding

I jumped out of bed at se7en this morning to check my skunk trap.I was victorious...at least partially. I know there is at least one more. I shall set the trap again tonight.

I loaded the little stinker into the truck and took him out to my skunk dumping ground out past Se7en Mile. It's right next to the ORV park. Probably not the best place to hike seeing as how I have now transplanted 10 skunks out there.

I returned to town and headed for the local neighborhood Hardware store to procure a floor sander. Sadly, the local neighborhood Hardware Store was out of them. So I had to go to Home Depot and of course, had no problem acquiring one there. It's not a bad thing, I just prefer to give my money to the locally owned neighborhood Hardware Store.

I got the sander, brought it home and went to work...after getting Susan out of bed.

It went remarkably fast and with very little sanding dust in the air. I started at 10 and I finished my first pass over all 235 square feet at about 1.

There are the befores and afters in the TV Room. It went even faster on the hardwood in the hall and entryway. We still have a lot to do around the edges but that will have to wait as we are biking downtown to Pig out to listen to Junior Cadillac and have some food.

I should also point out the Ronnie stopped by and continued the painting project. She is cruising right along and I expect she will be finished in a couple of days.

Off to Pig Out!

Countdown to Floor Refinishing Continues

We did not accomplish anything last night concerning Floor Refinishing Preparation, because of the intense competition with "Pig Out in the Park".

We decided to go down to the park and listen to "Too Slim and the Taildraggers". They are a popular local band that is getting some minor national exposure. They are a great rockin, bluesy band.

I took the opportunity to show off my high profile cutting edge technology T-Shirtdown at the park. The T-Qualizer was rocking and I probably could have sold 10 of them last night. maybe more. You knows!


So now we have lost another night towards getting ready for Saturday and the big sand. I'm not suggesting we would have done something toward getting ready...I'm just saying we didn't do anything tonight.

Countdown to Floor Refinishing S'Mo

The sanding the other night went well and I accomplished what I wanted to accomplish. The hand sanding hopefully will be limited to small, tight areas as it is kind of tedious. I still have a little work to do around the radiator pipes. Looks like there is a little water damage going on around there.

Tonight, we begin to move the furniture out of the TV Room. We will attempt to arrange it in an orderly fashion in the Living Room.

Tomorrow night, after a trip to "Pig Out", we will begin taping up plastic to prevent the sanding dust from going everywhere...even though it will anyway.

Another project for the weekend is to ultimately and finally and completely remove the two skunks from under the Carriage House. Not exactly sure how successful I will be but it will be chronicled here in these electronic pages.

Stay Tuned!

Countdown to Floor Refinishing

In order to complete the upcoming Floor Refinishing task within the confines of the Labor Day Weekend, we are preparing some pre-refinishing chores.

The main job will be moving all the furniture out of the TV Room. No big deal but it is a little cumbersome and bulky and will require some pre-planning so we're not stumbling all over everything.

The other thing will be some edge sanding. I am starting tonight to use the palm sander and get areas like the corner shown below. This is in the hall in the corner where a radiator will go. If I can get all the edge sanding accomplished, that will go a long way to getting us ahead of the game. Being ahead of the game will allow for more goof off time.Speaking of goof off time, we just finished a weekend where we were visited by my childhood friend, Mike. It sounds like I changed his name to protect his anonymity, but it didn't. His name really is Mike. He came to town from Bellingham to visit his mom and hang with us.

We concluded the weekend by going up to Arbor Crest Winery last night for their Sunday Concert. It was a great Swing Band called Timmy Swing and the Vino Swingers. They all wore Zoot Suits and had a great horn section.

I captured this lovely sunset to commemorate the event.

Asked and Answered

I did a little research over the weekend and found the answers to my questions about the work occurring in the river bed.

I found that Avista Utilities is in charge of what's going on in the river bed. They are studying techniques to enhance the aesthetic qualities of the river flow. They want the rapids to look better. Who would ever think of something like that other than a utility with lots of money to spend.

Actually, I can't blame them. They have to do this to be in compliance with their permits to operate dams on the river. I think the rapids are the rapids and they look like they look. How can you possibly enhance them?! Make them bigger? Make a giant surfing wave? Perhaps something in a nice curly-cue?

We made some progress on the new bookcase in the upstairs landing. We put a second coat of stain on the thing. The first coat was with dark walnut and the second coat was with red mahogany...just like we did on the stairs.

I have to finish up the shelves and then we can varnish.

The other project I'm working on is the little pieces of trim under the stair treads.I finished cutting and coping and shaping and finally, installing. Now we have to get a coat of varnish on them and that is one more step to completing the three years stair project. These things are a very small detail affectation that probably nobody will notice other than those who read this. Just remember, it's all in the details!

We starting to get geared up for the big Labor Day Project, also known as Floor Refinishing Weekend. I believe I have it arranged so that I don't have to tend bar that weekend. The sander is arranged and we are starting to figure out the logistics. There will be the moving of furniture and the hanging of plastic and the sealing of orifices.

I'm really looking forward to it.

Lazy Bastard

I have ridden my bike to work the last couple of days. I was hoping to go all week without using the car but I ran into a problem this morning. The problem is: me!

I just couldn't get my lazy ass out of bed this morning. No reason other than not motivated. So as I laid there in bed, against the warm cuddliness of Susan, I told myself that I probably needed to drive today.

"Um...let's see...oh, I know! I need to buy some trim for the new door in the entryway. Yeah, that's it! Okay, 35 more minutes to lie here and snuggle."

So I reference the bike riding to bring up this question.

What the hell are they doing down there?

As I ride home through Riverfront Park, I noticed all these workmen in Bobcats cruising around the riverbed. It looks like they are placing large packs of sand bags in the riverbed. How long are those sand bags going to stay in place once the spring run off kicks in and the current turns into a roiling torrent?...he asked incredulously!

So I'll be keeping an eye on that.

In the realm of home remodeling, I'm going to buy some trim today for the new door in the entryway.

Carpet!Carpet!Carpet!

The carpet runner has arrived!

I arrived home last night to find a large box on the front porch along with another package containing two rolled up carpets.

The two carpets are for the hallway upstairs next to the landing and the hallway downstairs next to the stairs. They match the runner so we have a tied in color scheme going floorally.

We layed out the new carpets and, as you can see, they look great. They are also quite plush.We immediately started planning our schedule to install the runners when Susan remembered our coming plans for Labor Day. We are planning on refinishing the hardwood floors on the main floor. It makes no sense to get our runner down only to coat it in a heavy layer of hardwood sanding dust.

So the installation is off until after Labor Day, which I think is fashionably correct...although I do plan on wearing white. But just my shoes and a belt, perhaps a nice pair of flared polyester slacks.....and a big collared shirts with chains.....Disco Floor Refinisher.

Hot August Stump Fire

I still have a ton of twigs and branches to clean up in the yard and that gives me the perfect excuse for a Saturday Night Stump Fire. Below is one of about 10,000 pictures I took trying to make my crippled camera get a good picture. Tonight we are hosting a couple of friends for a nice little evening barbecue. I am making my second attempt at a barbecued rotisserie chicken. My first attempt was okay but not what I would call a success. I'm going to attempt to create a smokey flavor by adding some hickory chips. The results are coming up in the next paragraph.

After obtaining some butchers twine, I trussed the chicken to keep it from flopping around as it roasts.

It took a while to get the coals to cooperate. My barbecue has a propane starter and I haven't been able to refill the bottle because it is old. I think I know a place where they will fill it. I'll try them this week.

In the meantime, I just used the ol' charcoal chimney and finally got a nice heat going. I put the chicken on the spit and started it over indirect heat. I cooked for about an hour and a half and was perfect. It really came out good and we were all pleased.

All in all, it was a lovely evening with good friends who will remain anonymous because of their reviled status in the community of local city governmentation.

Not So Protective Tape

The brass keeper bars for the stair runner arrived last night. I didn't even bother opening the package yet. We had a family dining event to attend so there was no time. I'll bust it open tonight and inspect the contents. Or not!

In the meantime, we have removed the protective tape from around the balusters and discovered it wasn't terribly protective. We have some touch up to do. In some cases it is just a little scraping but in a few instances, some mineral spirits or similar chemical will be required.

Beyond that, we've just been trying to stay cool during the hot August dog days of Summer.

The real tough thing to keep up with is the lawn watering. You can't neglect it or you're toast.

We watched two fairly young skunks cavort about the yard last night. I think that is all we've got. I have been feeding them hot dogs in order to introduce them to the fabulous flavor and make them crave it.

Traps to come!

Where's the Points

I had the opportunity to take a day off from work yesterday and I jumped at it. I was pleased with my accomplishments.

I started the day with a visit to the doctor. Just a regular check up. Everything seems to be okay, although I believe I am in the worst shape of my life. I need to lose 20 and get me some energy.

To celebrate the successful Doctor's appointment, I had me a big fatty breakfast and pondered new ways I could lose weight.

One project I have been putting off for over a year was to get some electrical outlets on the front porch. I finally got that done. It took me only a couple of hours. Actually, it probably only took about 20 minutes to do the actual wiring. The rest of that time was spent crawling under the front porch, realizing I didn't have the proper tool I needed, crawling out, going to the basement, getting the tool after the obligatory 5 minute search and then returning to the under belly of the porch to discover another tool not at my immediate disposal.

Another project that I have been putting off since we moved into the house is to replace all the windows that are plexiglas with window glass. I can think of 5 such window spaces throughout the house. I decided yesterday was a good day to take care of two of those plexi-problems.

There was a small 9" x 9.75" window pane in the kitchen and another 26" x 28" pane in an adjacent window. I ended up removing the glazing from a number of panes and re-glazing. That took a few hours. Partly to go get the glass but mostly because I'm a loser dumb ass!

I know I have glazing compound and points, the little metal things you stick in the frame to hold the glass in place. I have even seen them recently and I remember putting them in a special spot so I would have ready access to them when needed.

Where is that special spot? Beats the shit outta me!

I looked all over the place. I pretty much scoured the basement and found some other stuff that I'll have no idea where it is when I need it. Finally, after a good hour of hunting, I drove over to the General Store and paid eight bucks for a new bucket of glazing compound and points, the little metals things you stick in the frame to hold the glass in place.

So I got that done and I am happy.

On Sunday, we got a second coat of paint on the balusters and we are good with that. We are calling them done. We started removing the tape last night and things look pretty good. We have a little touch up to do but for the most part, the stairs look pretty good.

We are now awaiting the arrival of the stair runner. Once that is installed we will complete the three year project with the installation of the keeper bars, the little metal things you stick on the stairs to hold the carpet in place.

Sedulous in Spokane

It is FRYDEE and I have the day off. I have the WHOLE DAY all to myself. Susan has to work her regular job and her extra job, so I am stuck to fend for myself ALL DAY. I have plans and things to accomplish. I will check in here throughout the day to chart my progress.

It is currently 6:48 AM and I am off to borrow an Grass Cutting Machine. I plan to take my car in for an oil change at 8:00. I'll take my bike with me and ride to Dolly's Cafe for some breakfast. I'm not exactly sure when the Lawn will get mowed because the weather does not look like it will be cooperating with me.

9:27AM: I have returned from Dolly's and the Oil Change. Both went flawlessly. Now, to the stairs.

12:04PM: The placement of the trim went very quickly. It looks great and fit into place perfectly. Here are some pictures.You will notice the giant gap in the trim. That is a Dumb Ass Gap. The top picture shows a gap in the trim at the bottom of the stairs. The next picture shows the gap at the first landing of the stairs.

The gap is because I am unable to find the pieces that went there originally. I very carefully removed all the trim pieces and clearly identified the order and placement of each piece with a paragraph on the back with circles and arrows. I then placed all the trim pieces in the closet of the back bedroom. Of course I did that a year ago so they had plenty of time to escape.So, I had to replace the lost pieces. And of course, I could not find matching trim so I bought some stuff that was close and then milled it myself. Considering my saws and my skill level, I am pleased with my finished pieces. You can see in the picture above that it is not a great match on the top angle, but I'll take it.

3:49PM: Once I got it stained and varnished, the pieces fit in pretty well and I figured that was a good days work.

7:26PM: I have just returned from a little paddle trip on the Little Spokane River. It was a great way to end my day. Being on the river, jumping into the ice cold water, it's just about my favorite place on the planet. Plus, I had beer!

11:59PM: Susan has had to work all day. She is still not home yet. I have a nice stump fire going in the back yard but the Sand Man is starting to attack and I have to bar tend in the morning. I'll give it another half hour and then it's off to bed.

All in all, it's been a good day for me! Yup! It's all about ME!

Blue Berry Wine Update

We ran a test on the wine tonight and it was well past the gravity reading where we could transfer it to the secondary fermenter. So we did. I seem to have a problem with the seal on my primary fermenter, also known as "the bucket". The yeast has been churning away the whole time but there must be a leak in the buck or the lid that allows the gas to escape. The vapor lock that goes in the lid never bubbled at all.

I think we are okay and now the wine is in a secure carboy with no leaks and the vapor lock is percolating nicely, thank you very much. We shall keep a close eye on it and see how it goes. I'm certain the monks at the Chateau Pape du Nerf had the same issues at some time or another.

I was watching the must during the transfer. The yeast was really churning. You could see it causing little eddies in the wine. I got so involved watching it that I didn't notice it overflow onto the floor.

Carpet the Stairs

The staircase project is progressing along quite nicely, thank you. We are ready to order carpet. Susan has ordered some samples from an on-line carpetorium and they arrived today. The first thing we needed to do was figure out how much carpet we need. We used an ingenious method that Susan came across somewhere. We took a string and taped it to the stairs. This allowed us to divine that we need 20 feet for the first main staircase and 10 feet for the second staircase. Using my advanced math syfering skills, I deduced that we need about 147 feet of carpet.

Next we needed to check out the samples and see what we liked. Of the four samples Susan ordered, we narrowed it down to these two.

After further consideration, we went with the one shown below. It is of course, the more expensive one. With the brass keepers and all the carpet accessories, I am anticipating we are spending about $800.00 on this portion of what is becoming an ever increasingly deep money pit.

The one thing I have learned throughout all these projects is that it pays to spend the money. In a year, I will not remember how much we spent (until I refer back to this entry) and the quality of the material will continue to give and give and give and then I die.

You can see a short sample of the carpet keeper to the rght of the carpet. We are obtaining those through the same place we are geting the carpet runner and therefore hoping for a little extra discount. I have a local outlet for the brass carpet keepers and I would prefer to use him. However, the difference is about $135.00. Do you know how much beer $135.00 will but? I do!

Wine and Birthdays

Things are not going well with our Blueberry Wine. I threw the yeast in on Thursday and it has not yet began percolating. I'm going to Jim's Home Brew today to get some more yeast and advice on how to pitch it. I assume they will have me start the yeast in a small container of sugar water or some of the wine.

It was a very hot weekend. I think we got close to 100 degrees yesterday. We spent the evening down at the park for the 32nd annual Royal Fireworks Concert. The concert doesn't start until 9 but we got down there about 6 to stake out our seating area and enjoy snacks and drinks with the assortment of friends we dragged along.

Now of course, I must turn my attention to the birthday of my lovely wife, Susan. By coincidence, her birthday is today and therefore the reason I must attend to it. I am revealing no indication of this years' gift but rest assured, it will not be as good as last years Vacuum Cleaner gift.

Here is a hint.

Waverly Place Vinery & Wineyard

Fred Meyer's has a great sale on blueberries right now...eight bucks for five pounds. So we bought 15 pounds and decided to make some wine. We are going to be into this wine for about $38.00 which is far better than the $125.00 for a kit or the $50 plus dollars it would cost to buy huckleberries.

Last night was wine night. We used a Foley Mill to crush the berries and then placed that mash in a nylon bag and put that in a large bucket. Then we added 10 1/2 pounds of sugar, five gallons of water and an assortment of chemicals like yeast nutrient and stabilizers.

Right now the nylon bag is still sitting in the mixture with the berry mash in it. I need to stir it and squeeze juice out of the bag. Then, I'll add the yeast tonight and we'll be off and fermenting.

We are anticipating entering this wine in next years fair IF it turns out okay. I'm getting my chickens before the cart here a little bit to even be thinking about entering this in ANY competition. It still has a looooooooong waaaaaaaay to go.

Painted Balusters

We finally finished the first coat of paint on the long naked balusters. We will begin a second coat soon but that should go pretty fast compared to the drudgery we just completed.

Anyway, here's a picture of as much of the stairs as I could cover in one shot. We think we'll remove the tape when we're done but I'm getting used to the way it looks.We are fortunate to have a picture to show off at all. My camera is on its last legs. I dropped it a couple of months ago and it broke one of the clips that keeps the battery door secured. I have a piece of duct tape on it to seal the door tightly but it doesn't seem to work and it appears to be getting worse. I have to struggle with it more and more in order to get a picture.

Next on the stair agenda is to get some final pieces of trim stained and into place. We have some carpet runner samples being sent to us and I am looking a the brass carpet keepers today.

The Productivity of Us

Susan and I had the whole weekend off and we were fairly productive and then totally non-productive. It was great.


Our friends who were up at Priest Lake returned to town on Saturday and we all went to the Spokane Indians Baseball game. It has become a tradition after a week at Priest. The Error-Infested Vancouver Canadians got their back-bacon handed to them. The Indians won 8 to 1.


On the plus side of getting things done, I successfully trimmed the big tree in the back yard without electrocuting myself on the power line. I hauled most of the debris away but still have a lot of sticks for future stump fires.


I finished a sign project I have been working on for a couple of weeks and will deliver that after work today.

Return from Vacation

Susan and I have just returned from a lovely but short vacation up at Priest Lake. We went up on Tuesday morning and returned last night.

I was amazed at how hot the city felt as we drove in. The lake has been perfectly comfortable and of course, if you get too hot, you walk a few feet into the water.

I am also amazed at the number of bugs who like me. I don't ever remember being so badly effected by bug bites, except of course for last year when I was feasted upon but thousands and thousands of insectoids. (See entry for July 30th , 2009)

Well, it's back to reality now and I have a big weekend of chores planned. I have a van with a lift on it and I am going into the trees to prune, prune, prune. There will also be baseball and some time with out of town friends.

Also, I should say that we got the Corbin Park sign up last week and except for some damage we caused putting it back, it looks good and I'm more or less okay with it.

Happy Independance Day

I noticed the counter on the blog is about to turn to 2000 visits. It's probably an accurate count but most of the visits are from me. The unique visits counter doesn't really work properly because I am sure it recounts this computer all the time. No big deal. I'm not writing this for anyone but Susan and I AND the future owners of this house.

We are in the midst of a three day weekend. Susan and I both had to work yesterday so not much was accomplished around here. Add to the fact that we stayed up late around a stump fire and drinking, which did not compliment my aura this morning. I think we got up at ten. Yes, we missed church!

We did spend about three hours on balusters. Don't they look great?! We think so. We made it to the top of the first landing. I would say we are almost halfway done. There are a bunch of balusters upstairs. To make matters worse, we will be painting a second coat.

But now it is Fourth of July time. We generally go down to the park via bicycles and watch the fireworks. Like last year, Mark and Ron and Kelly will be joining us. We're doing a little burger barbie in the back yard before going down around...oh...whenever we feel like it. A Little Later: The bombs bursting in air were fabulous. The was a huge crowd downtown which we didn't mind because we rode the bikes down and we were in and out of there in no time. Ron and Kelly were going to ride our tandem bike but had an issue with Kelly's seat. There was also the issue of Kelly's recent Gall Bladder surgery. So they ended up driving down and meeting us. We beat them back to the house after the fireworks because of all the traffic they had to deal with.
We returned and had a little stump fire and then made it to bed at a reasonable hour.

A Huge Injustice

We are PISSED!

A couple of years ago there was a story in the local newspaper about a couple of guys who had purchased an old house that had been turned into apartments. The story was about their journey to restore this beautiful old house called the Muzzy Mansion. I could give you all kinds of history about the house but they have a website that does it much better than I ever could. Visit www.muzzymansion.com to see the real deal.

Mike and Steven are great guys doing an extraordinary job of restoration. And they are Media Whores. I have told them as much and they know that it is out of jealousy that I castigate them so. Even more impressive is the hours of research they have done on their house. It has been very inspiring to Susan and I and gives us perseverance to keep going with our research...of which we have barely scratched the surface.

We ended up meeting them because of the article but they have become friends and we've really enjoyed watching their progress.

Last year they decided to try to make a modest living that will help keep them in the house by turning it into a Bed and Breakfast. They have jumped through a shit load of hoops to make the B&B work but this chicken shit piece of crap city government comes up with one new obstacle after another. I am amazed anyone is able to do business in this city.

Tonight, we received an e-mail that Mike and Steven sent en-mass chronicling their struggle in which they announced that they are throwing in the towel. They are putting the house on the market at a substantially reduced price and if they can't sell by the end of July, they might just walk away.

Congratulations Spokane! You've made the city safe from another potentially profitable business that could pay taxes.

I am so incensed over this that I can hardly stand it. You may think that we work hard on this place but trust me, we are amateurs compared to the work and research that these guys do. It pisses me off soooooo much that the city should make it so difficult for two hard working decent human persons who are really dedicated to a proper restoration to try and make a little money in order to continue to live in the house they care so much about that I write run on sentences that seem to have no end or congruent subject matter any longer.

Best of Luck to you, Mike and Steven. I'm looking forward to the final party with tears streaming down my face.

Precision Solsticing

The weather has been a major topic of conversation with everyone recently. Newspaper articles tell the tale of one of the coldest, dampest Springs in recent memory. We have experienced record single day rainfall. We have had several cold high temperatures recorded. You can't plan anything outdoors without some sort of indoor backup.

Yesterday was the Tenth Annual Solstice Party. I had been pensively watching the weather forecast for Saturday all week. First it looked sunny. The next day the forecast said rain. The following day foretold of partly sunny conditions.

As it turned out, the day was perfect. The weather was made to order for a Summer Solstice Extravaganza. We had a great turn out and there was (again) shit loads of food. The party petered out around 11 and Susan and I found ourselves fast asleep shortly after midnight with most of the clean up done.

We woke up this morning to rainfall and it hasn't let up at all. The timing was just perfect. We slept in until 10:30. I went out to get a couple mocha's and mine was free because it's Fathers Day. I even got a call from my son. We had a nice breakfast made up of left overs from all the food. We had strawberries, some turnovers and deviled eggs.

Today we are enjoying a true rarity for us. We are doing NUTHIN"! And loving it!! We have a fire going in the fireplace and we're just sitting around doing whatever. I'm trying to refrain from doing anything productive. As I write that, I hear the vacuum being put into service downstairs. I better go down and put a stop tho that right now.

New Night Light

Just in time for the Summer Solstice Party, I got the Newel Post Light installed. We are pretty happy with it although it is essentially a useless light. Perhaps that's a little harsh. It's a superfluous light. We certainly don't need it to light the entry way. But it does add a different texture to our lighting and it makes a wonderful night light.
So, to our list of remodeling expenses for the ol' money pit, add about $250.00 for a night light. Even more if you add in the time it took to drill the hole, the cost of the several drill bit extensions and the basement ceiling I have to repair.

Stairway Then & Now

The very best reason for keeping this blog and for all the inane amount of pictures I take can all be ground down to the wonderful composite picture below. On the left is our staircase as it appeared on March 6th, 2006. On the right, the same staircase as it appears over FOUR EFFING YEARS LATER. Geez we work slow!

That's all we are going to get accomplished before the Solstice Celebration. Now it is on to cleaning.

One minor note before signing off. My affinity for the human race has taken another blow. I had a meeting at our church after work tonight. I pulled up into the parking lot and parked like I usually do. I locked the car like I mostly do. After the meeting...about two hours later...I returned to my car to find the passenger window has been smashed. I large rock is lying on the ground next to the scattered remains of my former window. This was done between 5PM and 6:30PM on a bright sunny day in a wide open parking lot.
Something must have scared the low life scum sucking tweaker because he didn't take anything except a bracket that holds my phone that was suctioned to the windshield. My backpack was in the back seat and held my check books, a GPS, my camera, a sport radio, a brand new ipod and you're not getting any of it you MuthaFucka!

Sorry! I had to let that out!!!

Whirlwind Weekend Wonderland

When there is a suggestion that it's time to take it easy and relax and kick back and doing nuthin', I can be counted on the be at the front of that line. I'm lazy by nature and probably wouldn't accomplish much of anything if I wasn't married.

But I am married. And so we spent most of the whole damn weekend on projects, the main one consisting of decorating four skywalks downtown for the upcoming Hoopfest tourney.

While I am quite happy to sit back and do nuthin', I must say that there is a certain amount of pride and sense of accomplishment from going out and doing a moderately good job of painting windows.

Here are the pictures.

I really like these shadow pictures. The sun creates some cool images.
When we paint skywalks, we are at the mercy of the elements. Sure, we're indoors so we don't get rained or snowed on. But the nature of a skywalk leaves it less than well insulated. If the heat goes off as it so often does in the winter evenings when we paint, it becomes quite chilly. If the sun is blazing down as it was today, we are incased in a sauna. The picture below shows the direct sunlight staring us in the face as we paint.

When it's really cold, the paint freeses on the glass. When it's really hot, it dries almost instantly. This is when it is important to concentrate on how much money we are making. Among the many other activities of the weekend, held a yard sale on Saturday, earning a few sheckles and disposing of a lot of crap. We left that at noon to the capable hands of our friends Carine and Randy and went to a graduation picnic, left that after filling our gullets with sublime epicurian delights and headed downtown to watch a live broadcast of "A Prairie Home Companion" at the arena.

Afterwards we met some other friends who attended the show and had some drinks. And then we went back downtown to paint some more.

We were out for se7en hours today and got everything done...thus giving us our sense of accomplishment which allowed us to go out for dinner and spend some of our earnings. Before that however, Susan attempted to fix her little screw up at the top of the stairs. She laid down a coating of varnish and everything appears to be back to okie-dokie.

Now we are in the final week showdown to get the house ready for the Annual Summer Solstice Party on Saturday, June the 19th. This means that the tension will start building at 5PM tomorrow when we arrive home from work to begin to scouring process. The tension will continue throughout the week and ease about 7:48 PM Saturday when Susan has had her fifth glass of wine.

First Night of HoopHell

We finally got the design nailed down for Hoopfest and got to work painting the first for four skywalks tonight. It went very very slow and we did not finish. The first skywalk we paint of any given skywalk season goes slow but this one was particularly bad. I think we'll have se7en hours into this one alone. that is bad!


I spent the first hour and a half cutting the giant stencil I had penciled out on butcher paper. Unfortunately, the best place to cut the stencil is when it's on the window. It's a nice hard cutting surface and there is lots of room.


We hope to have all four skywalks done by Sunday but with everything we have to do, I am not optomistic.

The End of Varnishing

We are now done varnishing. Susan has made that official declaration. I am all too happy to follow her edict.

The section of railing that Susan varnished yesterday dried sufficiently over the night to allow us to believe that varnishing the rest of the railing would solve the whole slow drying problem.

Usually when we have a screw up of some type with some project, the story begins with, "Stan took a paintbrush..."! Paintbrush could be replaced with hammer, power saw, sledge hammer, back hoe, or dynamite.

Today's story of a screw up begins with, "Susan took a paintbrush."

Yesterday, while varnishing, Susan attempted to do a little repair on the wood floor at the top of the stairs. It wasn't that bad, but the area needed a bit of a touch up with varnish or possibly stain. Susan decided to try both. The result was a streaky unattractive mess. Susan was quite despondent and upset with herself. I was quietly very happy that it wasn't me.

Tonight she went after her remedy. She used some very fine grit sandpaper and applied a small amount of Liquid Gold and lightly sanded the area. This technique worked. The floor has returned to its original luster.

I was quietly upset that I had lost leverage for the next screw up I cause.

Soggy Weekend

I am amazed at the amount of rain we have been getting over the last week. I haven't had to water the lawn or any of the plants for a good solid week. Today I noticed this little plant taking root and starting to grow. Unfortunately, it is growing out of the fungus laden outdoor carpet on our deck. That is not a good sign as to the cleanliness of our deck. We got some more varnishing done today and I bounced around the neighborhood doing a variety of things. We removed the park sign from the posts today and man oh man, was that a heavy mofo. There were three of us and we did an okay job of getting it to Mac's front porch, where I will install the decal.

Susan varnished a small section of the railing that was not drying and we will see if that does anything to facilitate the efficacy of the drying.

The Unvarnished Truth (about our rail)

Saturday is my day to work at the bar and Susan usually gets to have a relaxing day to herself without the burden of me. Today however, she had an all day sort of affair with the catering company she works for. I think she had to be at work at 10:30 this morning. Here it is eleven o'clock in the P.M. of the evening and she is not home yet.

That means that I had better do something productive here at the house tonight or I will be the main ingredient in the shit sandwich of life that is clearly coming my way.

Fortunately, I am able to read the writing on the excrement and headed directly to the staircase to lay down another coat of varnish. It went much faster this time. With the first coat going down, it soaked into the wood rally fast and required quite a bit of varnish. The second coat went down with nary a soaking issue in sight.

The problem we are having is getting the hand rail to dry from the stain. The main rail is still very tacky. I put a heater and a fan into the area and that does not seem to be doing much to dry the stain. I've been thinking that the high humidity we have been experiencing in the form of deluges of rain has been hindering the drying process.

So far, it's still just a wait and wait and wait kind of process.

Cats and Varnish

We began the varnishing here on the eighth night of Memorial Day Weekend and we completed the whole staircase. Not the newel posts or the railings but all the risers and treads all the way up. Or all the way down since we started at the top. And when I say we, I mean Susan. She did most of the work. However, instead of just sitting around watching TV this time, I actually put myself in a support kind of mode. I fetched beer, kept the music going, answered the phone (except for the one time it actually rang and Susan got it), and ciphered out a way to keep the cats away from the stairs.

While I was doing that, Susan suggested that we close the pocket doors in the living room, block off the door into the TV room and somehow block the hallway. This reminded me of the backstairs discovery I made when Susan told me about the backstairs. It was pure genious on my part...the part where I listened to her. I keep wondering when she is going to figure out that I married much better than she did.

This picture doesn't show the blockade very well and of course, it remains to be seen if we have really outwitted the cats. They are crafty little mammals and usually figure out a way past our previous blockades. I guess it won't be too bad to have cat paws and cat hair permanently infused into the varnish.

Skunk Free Zone

We have been living with the impression that a skunk has taken up residence under the Carriage House. This impression was created by me when I saw a skunk go under the Carriage House. There were also lots of telltale digging signs.

I have set traps several times over the past week and have come up empty. I filled in a big hole the other day and it remains filled in. I am therefore declaring us a "Skunk Free Zone" and going on about my business.

Concerning the stairway, Susan put another coat of stain on certain parts of the stairway while I banged around on my table saw and created new areas of work from the damage.

As such, the Memorial Day Weekend continues.

Memorial Weekend Day Four

Anyone who says we can't finish this project over the Memorial Day Weekend is not familiar with my ability to play fast and loose with the data involved in determining the actual length of any given Holiday-ish type of Federal Event. Clearly, we have completed our task of staining and only now have to complete the varnishing over the remaining three or four days of the aforementioned Holiday-ish event, thereby completing our project on schedule and on time and with limited run-on sentences.