Miscellany

No blog entries for nearly 3 weeks - not for lack of material to write about.

The events of the last 3 weeks told through pictures:

It's hard to believe that we had just started painting a month ago.

Annika turns 4.

The best part of the birthday cake.

Grout pumping truck for the geothermal wells.

This picture - March 16 - just starting to see the mud beneath the snow.  Currently - March 27 - and still plenty of snow in the back yard.

Spent a night at Lowes buying light fixtures.  We're hoping the exterior wall lanterns will look good as interior wall sconces.  We'll see.

The blood red bathroom... with the blood red stain on the floor from where I dumped a good part of a gallon on myself, the ladder, and the floor.

Living room color.  Future fireplace mantel is on the ground.

Girls' bathroom color.

Ella's chosen bedroom color. She thinks its called "Invitation to a Princess."  It's actually called "Glamour."  Not sure which name is worse.  And this is a toned-down version of the original choice!

Annika's chosen color: "Sugared Pansy Pink"

Our room painted.

The play room painted.

I've been spending a lot of time wiring outlets and light fixtures.  The temporary bulb here is just to test that it works.  It's still like magic to me every time I flip a breaker and everything works.  I did have one glitch this week when I turned on power to Ella's room.  All the outlets test okay and the switch box gets power, but any time I draw power (to a light fixture or outlet) the breaker trips.  I'm thinking it's an arcfault issue - maybe a nail or screw in the wire - but will need to get an electrician in to figure it out...

One of the geo wells piped and grouted.  Now we just have to wait for the sludge in the back yard to dry enough that they can dig a trench to the house without it falling in on itself.

The machine needed to drag the drilling equipment through the muck in the back yard.

Regular truck/trailer tires are no match for the muck.

Underlayment for master bath tile.  Met with a tile guy to look at the shower pan and walls.  While talking things through with him I realized that the spray foam around the tub actually lifted it off the floor when it expanded.  I spent a good part of yesterday, with the help of Amy, Jeff, and dad, disconnecting the plumbing, cutting free the tub, removing the excess insulation, fiberrocking the tub deck, and reinstalling the tub.  Not a very gratifying job...

Wasted half a day staining half the boards for the kitchen ceilling.  When it dried they looked pumpkin orange.  Decided to scrap them (reuse then on the other side for the front porch roof) and start over.

Tiling in girls' bathroom haulted for lack of a tile saw to do around toilet flange. 

New boards waiting to be urethaned (no stain this time).

The results of a couple weeks of on and off tiling activity.  No running water yet, so the 5 gallon water cooler jug and the  blue cooler transport water from the Stro's house to ours.

After a week of sand, clean, urethane, repeat my dad and I started putting up the kitchen ceiling today.  We got this far before breaking for Buzzy's 85th birthday party.

14 boards up, 20 more to go.  Average 12 minutes per board... It might have been faster, but the 10 ceiling fixtures and range hood vent that had to be measured and cut around slowed things a bit.

Nearing completion of one of the first really rewarding jobs that had a clear start and finish.  Thanks for all the help dad.