Linoleum Liquidators

We have spent our day pulling up flooring.

Susan worked the area south of the island and I concentrated on the floor in front of the doors to the deck.

It took us about three hours and then another hour and a half to clean up.

Now we need to take a trip to the dump. The last load I took was a bout 250 pounds and cost about thirty bucks.

I think we have pretty close to that amount for todays' dump run. Gotta go. The dumps closes at 5:00.

What To Do Once You’re Retired

11:58AM: Today we are continuing the destruction of the kitchen floor. Ideally, I would like to get the whole rest of the linoleum cut up with the saw and be done with the messy part of this project.

I have completed the first half, cutting up everything to the south of the island. I even moved the fridge and cut up the floor under it.

Susan is presently vacuuming while I am writing this portion of the post. When she is finished, we will move the Piano Bar and mini fridge and other assorted items that are in the way so I can proceed to cutting up the remaining linoleum near the doors to the deck.

3:00PM: The floor is cut up in to nice bite sized squares. I do not feel like pulling up any of those squares. We are concentrating now and some dust remediation. Now that the floor has been completely cut up, the dust storm this house has endured is at its end. So we can dust and clean the thick layer of dust I have been creating since this started back on the second week of August.

But first, I think I deserve a dip in the pool.

Mo Flo

Susan took a Covid test this morning and she tested negative. Finally! She has been feeling better the last couple days. She was feeling good enough yesterday to help with floor removal.

We pretty much got the pantry room completely linoleum free. I have a little to do along the edges where the cabinets are. It seems the flooring is under the cabinet so it’s giving me some grief about coming out.

I figure we still have 340 square feet to go.

Cabinets and Radiators

We met today with Rick from CabinetPro. He took and bunch of measurements and talked about what we had in mind for the kitchen. He's going to work up a plan and give us some ideas plus a quote of what it will cost.

I'm anxious to see what he comes up with. We should be hearing from him by the end of the week.

In the meantime I am dealing with this radiator...my nemesis.

It's giving me trouble because I cannot disconnect it. I've drained the radiators so I can pull this and the radiator across the room out of the way to get to the flooring underneath.

I've got the left side disconnected, which only required loosening the connection with my pipe wrench. The other side is soldered into place and so far, it's not cooperating.

I made no progress on the floor today as I had a golf date with Mark.     

Kitchen Kontinuation

I'm slowly plugging away on the kitchen floor. I figure if I do a little work on it everyday, I will have it done in no time...which is equal to about two or three weeks.

One problem I have run into involves that radiator in the picture up there. I need to drain the system and remove the radiators in the kitchen. That's not going to be too much of a problem, but it will take time and will be my project for tomorrow.

When they put the linoleum down, they did not remove the radiators. They put the linoleum around the radiators. I can't get under them without removing them. 

Don't worry. It'll be fine.
 

Kitchen Man

Today was the first day of the rest of the Kitchen  Floor. We are going to be in battle, that floor and I. I will eventually win, but it will NOT be without casualties.

I started about 10:00 and stopped for the day at 1:00.

I have removed 18 square feet of a 400 square foot kitchen space.

I can tell you that a sharp saw blade makes all the difference. I've also gone from 60 to 24 teeth so it tears it up pretty good.

I am doing this by myself right now because Susan is down with Covid. This is Day 2 1/2. So far, I feel fine.

I'm happy to be doing this on my own right now because I'm trying to figure out the process. One thing I learned today is to cut small squares. It's much easier to pull out a small square of floor in one piece, which saves on clean up and searching for nails. 

Kitchen Floor

I am not counting today as the start of the Kitchen Remodel. But I did take some distinctive action.

I got out my circular saw and cut out a section of the kitchen floor. I wanted to see how easy and/or difficult it was going to be. It turns out that it is going to be easy but difficult because it's going to be slow going. 

I didn't do any more than this small section because my saw blade is so dull. I went out and bought a couple new blades that I hope will work for a while.

I went on YouTube to look up some videos on removing a sub floor and it appears I am doing it properly.

So, tomorrow, I'm going to hit it hard as soon as I finish mowing.   

Plugging a Hole

A while back, I discovered this fairly large hole in the base of our foundation right next to the basement door.

Susan discovered it a couple weeks ago and insists that it be fill in. Susan is the reason that anything gets done around here.

So we went out and bought an 80 pound bag of mortar today and went to work on the problem. In addition to the hole, Susan worked on a couple of other areas in the outside stair well where the mortar has turned to sand.

We found rocks around the yard to fill in the bulk of the hole and then slobbered mortar into the space.

It looks pretty good and now the mice will have to have to find a new way to get in. I'm sure there are plenty of other holes.   

Se7en Two Six

The heat continues its onslaught here in Spokane. I think it was close to 90°.

Susan has been working all day on cleaning the main floor of the house. I have been working on the Play House. I got up early and drove to Coeur d'Alene to get two 10 inch by 10 foot cedar boards for the Play House siding. Cost: $69.00!

I've spent the day struggling with them. Cutting to the correct length, priming them, fitting them into place and a crap load of nailing.

The old boards rotted from the nails and fell off a couple of years ago. Here's one of them.

I'm happy to say that it looks half way decent now. I'll do the final painting tomorrow. 

Then I have to get to work on a thorough cleaning of the front porch.

I should also mention that today is Susan's birthday. We will be enjoying her traditional birthday dinner of cheeseburgers, corn, potato chips and cottage cheese.   

First Day of Retirement

Today is the official first day of Susan's retirement. Friday was her last day of work but today is the day she didn't have to get up and go to work.

We celebrated with a mile and a half walk and a pair of Bloody Mary's afterwards.

I was out checking the garden and found my first ripe tomato.

It's a cherry tomato and there is another right behind it. Oh boy! Here they come.

By the way, it was delicious!  

Major Investment

In the world around us, we are enduring a tremendous rise in inflation. Gas is hovering around five bucks. Food prices are going nuts. The value of my retirement fund has dropped 70 Grand.

We decided to stop some of the bleeding and make a huge investment.

Our mortgage is set to be paid off in May of 2025. We accelerated that a bit.

So yesterday, after moving some money around with our financial advisor Glen, I called Wells Fargo Mortgage Services and paid off the remaining balance on this house.

We are now home owners in the truest sense of the word.

It doesn't feel life changing yet. But it will when we restructure our monthly expenses.

Needless to say, we are pleased with us.   

Garden Update

Back in May, I repaired this little garden space on the back of the house. Then I planted a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, basil and chives. 

Amazingly, I never took pictures after I planted everything. I’m a huge fan of before and after pictures, in case you haven’t noticed. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.

Other than turning on the water every day or so and doing a little weeding, I really haven’t paid the garden much attention.

Tonight, my son stopped by and asked how my garden was doing. We went out back to look and he was amazed at how well it was doing. Upon closer inspection, I have a crap load of tomatoes. I have a nice little bush of basil ready for harvesting and there is something that looks like a jalapeño pepper, which I am not interested in. But Susan can use it.

Preppin' for a Party

 I don't know if I've mentioned it before now but we are having a Retirement Party. I have been retired for a year and Susan is fast approaching her date of July 22nd.

Among the many things we are doing to prepare for the party is to paint these old resin chairs that have been out in the weather for who knows how long.

I painted a couple earlier in the week and they turned out good enough that Susan wanted to do the rest.

She bought a bunch of cans of green spray paint and went to town.

I was toiling elsewhere in the yard while she painted six chairs.

They came out looking great in a couple of cases and acceptable in a couple of other cases.

I worked on forever sealing the skunk access to under the garage. I hope I have been successful. Don't worry. I made sure the skunks had moved on before I filled in the hole.

My other project was to drill into this stump in an effort to remove it. I drilled the holes and then poured Roundup into them. Later this week, I shall light it on fire and slowly burn the stump away.

You can look into the archives here and find other examples of Stump Fires.

Holiday Float

We took advantage of what appeared to be the only sunny day of the Fourth of July weekend to float the Little Spokane River with our friends, Karen and Randy.

It was a great day although someone fell off their diet and also got a little sunburned.

It was an excellent way to spend the afternoon.      

Cuckoo for Clocks

When Mom died last year, I inherited her Cuckoo Clock. She never had it running so I was surprised when I set it up and it ran beautifully.

Susan also had a clock that had been a gift from a German Exchange Student who lived with her family when she was growing up. It has been sitting in a cabinet in pieces since we got married. I took it to my local clock guy and he put it all back together.

Mom's clock is upstairs on the landing and Susan's clock is in the living room. They can both be heard throughout the house. One of my jobs every morning is to wind the clocks (the weights keep the clock going for one day) and keep them ticking. 

I have become a little anal about getting them to Cuckoo as close together as possible. At the present moment, they are right on!   

Summer Musings

We have just ended and cool and rainy Spring. On the first day of Summer last week, it was a summer day and we broke 70° for about the third time this year. It's been nice warm summery weather ever since. It looks like we are heading into a hot Fourth of July weekend.

I got out and mowed today. Including the front, back, side yards and blow job, (Leaf Blower) it took me about two hours. I'm much slower than I used to be. 

I'm heading for the dump shortly and then meeting my friend Geoff for a beer. There is likely a visit to the pool in my future as well.

1:25PM: Back from the dump and off for a beer.

10:16PM: The wind has been pretty gusty all day and that kept the temperature down a bit. I still find myself sweating no matter what I'm doing. I think I need to change clothes about twice a day. At the very least, I need a set of clothes for when I'm working around the house and another for when I go out.   

Skunk Family Update

What we have suspected for a while has come to fruition. We have baby skunks.

Along with Mom Skunk, there are four cute little stink bags as well. They're very timid, running for their hole whenever we make the slightest noise when they are out.

My plan is to wait until they're gone and then fill in the hole really well. Better than I did last year.

They are cute but they are quite annoying as well.    

Kegerator

Today I took a road trip half way across the state to purchase a kegerator. I have been after one for years and I finally connected on a nice one for a reasonable price, $150.00. They can cost an easy grand and up for a new one.

Although the price of gas is as high as it is, I decided to make the trip. It cost me another $100.00 to pick it up, not to mention the better part of my day.

The guy that sold me the beer fridge lives in Orondo, a small town on the Columbia River about 15 miles north of Wenatchee. It was a nice day for a drive and it took almost three hours to get there.

I got it set up in the Carriage House for now. The next move is to brew some beer. I'm planning to do that soon.

In the meantime, I have a half keg of beer that has been sitting (unrefrigerated) in the basement. I hooked it up just to see the thing work. I got nothing but foam. 

After the foam dissipated, I took a small sip and was pleased to find the beer drinkable. I am currently in the process of adjusting the CO2 pressure to eliminate the foam. 

It is a work in progress. 

Solstice

It’s the first day of Summer and the weather matches the season. After a very wet Spring, Summer looks like the sun is finally here. 

Today’s major task is to power wash the deck. It is finally nice enough to do it. I’ve been waiting and waiting for the right day and it appears that this is it.

So far, it’s slow going because I have stop and rest often. Gotta pace myself if I want to be allowed to do stuff.

Another Brisket

I'm going to cook another brisket today. This time I bought just the point. The roast is only 3 1/2 pounds so I think it is going to cook pretty fast...probably less than 5 hours.

I got the brisket on the grill at 12:25 and once the Meater program calculated the time to get to 170°, it indicated an hour and a half. Then I need to wrap it in aluminum and get it up to 205°. After that it needs to cool to 160° and then it will be ready to eat. Hopefully around 6PM.

I have discovered that the Meater lies. It starts out by giving you a time but as the cooking progresses, it does not recalculate. It slowly counted down to an hour and then it stayed there for quite a while. The actual cooking time to get to 170° was 3 hours. This is fine but I wanted a more accurate estimate of time.

The brisket cooked much quicker than I expected and it was quite tasty. Another successful cookout.