Almost done!

I put off starting on the plumbing as long as I could this morning.  I made a trip over to see the  twins, they were in a great mood, having breakfast, but finally I headed home to get to work.  It was a long day, but we now have a working sink, dishwasher and microwave!  I am not sure how many times I bumped my head under there, but it is a little sore tonight!  I had one plastic fitting that just would not quit leaking, after taking it apart 3 times and it still leaked, we went to Bredfield's and I got a brass fitting to replace it with.  That took care of one leak, then there were a couple of minor ones in the drain lines that just needed to be tightened.  So far the new deeper, bigger sink and the faucet with the pull out sprayer seem to be just what we hoped for.

Monday and Tuesday

Monday

Monday morning, 27 degrees, but not much more snow than last night when I came in.  I tore out the old sink and cabinets this morning.

Then I studied the piping and made a list of what it would take to put in the sink.  We made a run to Bredfield's and this is what we came back with.  The rest of the day was spent doing plumbing.

Tuesday

This is what it looked like this morning when I started!  It was a big thrill to finally get the cabinets in and go get the counter top.  After it was on and we got the dishwasher panel and dishwasher installed, I started on the sink cut out.  After many measurements and double checks, I sawed the opening.  I had to do a little sanding on one edge to get it the way I wanted, but it is in and looks pretty good.

This is how it looks this evening, if things go as planned, I hope to have it all plumbed up tomorrow.

What will we see in the Morning?

Saturday

I had planned on doing the sink today, but after my fight with the stove on Friday, I decided to take a day off.  I puttered on the computer a lot, did a little work on the counter top and worked on the Stinson.  We also watched it rain, hail, snow lightly a couple of times and there was even a little sunshine!  Jackie called and I had a nice visit with her.

Sunday

Today's weather was just as strange as yesterday, except it snowed more. I got the end cap on the counter trimmed and ready for tomorrow.  Just as I finished it up Barry called, I get poor reception in the shop on my cell phone, so I stepped out the front door.  Big Surprise, the grass was white and it was snowing like mad.  I told Barry and he said that it was in the 70's in AZ and he was outside in a tee shirt and shorts!  We had a nice visit, and by the time we were done, the sun was out and most of the snow was gone.

I finished off my birthday apple pie for lunch today.  I put the kick boards and some trim on the cabinets that are in.  I got the instrument panel made for the Stinson and put in the windshield braces.

This what it was like when I came in from the shop tonight, it was freezing, so I am wondering what we will see in the morning!

Play-Doh!

After my exercises, breakfast and emails, I went over to see the twins while the shop warmed up.  I had a really nice Play-Doh session with them, my chief duty was "Roll Roll", rolling the Play-Doh out so they could use the cookie cutters to make shapes.  You should have heard Harper say rectangle, she did a great job of pronouncing it!  A little later, Vera and I made a mail, milk and banana run to town, the parts for the pellet stove showed up, so I decided to put them in this afternoon.

The job did not go well, the old igniter would not come out, it appears it swelled up or changed shape.  I finally cut it in two and pulled it out the front.  I got done just in time for dinner.  After dinner, I vacuumed the shop and put away the tools I had used.  Then, I stained the seven pieces of oak trim you can see leaning by the stove.  It was a good day, a little frustrating for a while, but it turned out fine!

It Runs!

I made an early trip over to see the twins today, as I knew we would be gone this afternoon for James' game.  They were in great form, dancing and playing, they certainly talk a lot more now.  I put a link at the end of today's blog to a video of them that I took today.

I was going to cut the new counter top to size today, but the shop was cold, so I decided to do a little checking on the Blazer while it warmed up.  Since it had quit so suddenly, I started by checking the ignition and I came up with the idea of using my timing light to check it.  Vera tried starting it, while I checked the timing light and sure enough, there was no spark!  After I got the air cleaner off, it did not take long to spot the bad coil high tension lead.  I got a new one at NAPA and it runs great!  Since it looked a little grungy, Vera wanted to wash it. That took up most of the time before James' game at Coweeman this afternoon.  It was their last 8th. grade game of the year and they won big time.  James played good with 15 assists and several steals.

In this picture, he is bringing the ball up the court after one of his steals.

In this picture, he was going in for a lay up and got fouled, landing hard and hurting his wrist.  I think the wrist is why he missed all his foul shots after that.  After the game, we went to Izzy's for dinner with Mik, Michelle, James and Levi.  It was a nice ending to a great day.

Ava and Harper playing.

Ash Wednesday

I'm almost finished with the under the cabinet lights, but I discovered that one more cover is needed on the Wiremold.  I also got the support brackets installed for the counter top by the stove.  I was going to stain the new molding we picked up last night, but I decided to clean up some others I had that had mildew on them, stain and paint them at the same time.  After the bleach dried, I got part of them sanded before we left for the soup supper and Ash Wednesday service at church.  It was a very enjoyable evening.

It is Here!

Monday

I spoke too soon last night, the apple pie got sampled before I went to bed.  I had my normal breakfast today, then had pie for lunch.   First thing this morning, Fedex arrived with the new sink, now we just need to find a couple of free days to install it and the cabinets.  I worked on the under the cabinet lighting today, cutting the panels to size and getting several mounted.

Tuesday

My goal today was to get all the trim on the cabinets above the sink.   I got that area all done, but ran out of trim before I got to the one over the refrigerator.  James had a basketball game this afternoon, so I decided to pick up some more after the game.

Cascade played Huntington today, they had the lead most of the game, but in the 4th quarter they turned the ball over several times, gave up some 3 pointer's and ended up loosing by about 4 points.  James played good while he was in, getting a bunch of rebounds and several nice assists.  After picking up the trim, we went to Freddie's for dinner and a then took the slow way home.

Saturday and Sunday

Saturday

After a slow start, I finally got going on painting the trim for the cabinets which I had stained last week and I got two coats of clear on them today.

Sunday

Now, this is the view from my recliner looking toward the kitchen.  I got the trim I painted yesterday installed around the cabinets.  The "CAFE" sign was Vera's Christmas gift exchange selection.  I also got the lights under the cabinets on the East side of the kitchen installed.  I still have not eaten my birthday apple pie that I got at Shari's, it may be tomorrow's breakfast.

Happy Birthday, to me!

Boy it was nice taking a hot shower this morning, I am really appreciating having water again.  Vera and I decided to go out for a birthday breakfast at Shari's.  

I had their Cinnama-Sation Platter Style breakfast which is bacon, sausage, eggs, hash browns and a cinnamon roll sliced in two, dipped in batter and fried.  Then it is topped with pecans, caramel syrup with whipped cream on top.  It was great, but I only got one bite of the cinnamon roll before I was full, so we got a take out box.  Vera suggested going shopping for a present at Harbor Freight afterwards, that is a great guy place, so naturally I agreed.

I went up and down every isle and spent an hour and a half in there, leaving with a couple of sacks of small items and a set of scaffolding.  On the way to Costco from there, Barry called to wish me a Happy Birthday, since I was driving, Vera told him I would call when we got to Costco.  We had a nice visit before heading into Costco.

We were barely in the door before I spotted an LED porch lite I wanted.  We picked up a few more things and headed for home.  Right after we got home, Cathy stopped by to wish me Happy Birthday, we got to show her our new cabinets.  I assembled the light and put it up after Cathy left, it looks good and is pretty bright.  Dianne and Steve stopped by and wished me a Happy Birthday a little later.  I got to show them how the light worked, but Steve said it would be kind of awkward holding my hand over the photocell every time I wanted the light on.  We got a good laugh out of that. 

This evening we met Bev, Josh, Mik and James at the El Ranchero for a dinner to celebrate Bev's and my birthdays.  We had a great time, with lots of story telling and laughter.  Thanks for treating us Mik!

You really miss water when you don't have it.

After I turned off the water last night, I was reminded how much I appreciate running water.  The water was still on at the shop, so I made several trips out there.  Then at bed time, using bottled water to rinse after brushing your teeth.  No shower this morning, so I started on the leak right after breakfast.  On my first trip under the house, I turned off all the supply valves and then turned on the water again.  No leaks, so I started turning on the supply valves, when I turned on the one to the hot water tank, water sprayed right beside me, it was the hot water line to the kitchen sink.  In the picture above, there is a small black line right above where the tubing is kinked, it is amazing how much water can come out of that small of a crack.  I crawled out to see if I had the parts to repair it.  I did not, so I measured the tubing under the sink and went to get the parts at Bredfield's.  When we got back, I got the parts assembled and crawled under again, only to discover the tubing down there was a different size!  Somewhere between the floor and the cabinet floor it changes sizes!  After measuring under the house, I made another run to town and got the right parts.  Finally after 4 trips under the house, I got it fixed and the hot water turned back on.  Then I repaired the access panel door which was falling apart, finishing just in time to go watch James' basketball game at Monticello.  They won the game and James played good, getting 9 points and some rebounds.  After a stop at Home Depot, I treated myself to a Turtle Pecan Cluster Blizzard at Dairy Queen on the way home.  I had a nice nap while Vera watched Jeopardy, all that crawling made me a little sore and tired.

Flying

Wednesday was the only day of the week with a decent forecast, so I decided to fly at Toledo today.  3 other people had indicated on the forum that they were going to fly and they all showed up.  It was a little nippy until late in the afternoon, which made the propane heater the gathering place.  I had a good day of flying, putting in about 12 flights total on 4 airplanes and 2 helicopters.

It was overcast the first part of the day, then it started breaking up and we had a pretty good view of Mt St Helens.

This is our friends Audrey and Leonard, I noticed Audrey beat Leonard into the air.

That is one of the advantages of electric planes, put the battery in and you are ready to go, they are also clean and quiet.  The gas airplanes are generally bigger, so the wing has to be bolted or rubber banded on as Leonard is doing, then they have to be fueled up and started.  When I got home Vera had turkey, mash potatoes and gravy ready to eat, boy was it good!  She had also tracked down a noise she had been hearing to the sink area.  When I put my head in sink cabinet, I could finally hear it!  After dinner, I opened the access panel and found the leak.  I shut off the water and that will be my first job tomorrow morning.

An Exciting Game!

I woke up at 3AM this morning, after trying to get back to sleep for an hour, I decided to try my recliner with the heat pad on.  That helped, I dozed off a few times, but never really got sound asleep.  After Vera got up, I went out and did my exercises.  I was a slow starter after that, I finally got started working on the cabinets about 11.  I got the back finished on the hanging cabinets and got the covers for the lights cut.  James had a basketball game at Cascade this afternoon against Mt Solo.

It was a close game all the way, this is during a time out.  James played good while he was in for #13, making a basket and getting a bunch of rebounds.  Mt Solo had beat them the last game, so the coach kept the starters in most of the game and they won by 4 points.  It was very exciting right up to the end.

On the way home, Vera spotted another roof that looked like a victim of the snow.

OK, how did they loose that!

Sunday, I cleaned in the shop and worked on the Stinson.  I got the radio installed and all programmed, now all I have to do is put the cowl and propeller on.  Then I will be watching for some nice weather to test fly it.  I started doing some checking on our sink and emailed UPS as it's tracking information had not been updated since the 3rd when it arrived in Hodgkins, IL.  They referred me to the shipper (Amazon), so I sent them an email.  Monday morning when I checked my email, there was a reply from Amazon that it was lost and they were refunding my money.  We decided to look in Longview again and see if we could find anything that would work.  After a nice breakfast at the Pancake House, we started looking  around Longview.  We did not have any luck there, Searing could order one for $600!  We decided against that and came home to order one again.  Amazon had provided us with links to 3 businesses that had the one we want in stock.  I ordered it from the one with the best customer reviews, and with any luck we should have it in a week or so.  I am glad I did not tear the old one out yet!

More Cleanup

I was thinking about flying today, but one look outside this morning and I decided to clean the shop instead.  It was nice having the pellet stove going again!  By the time I headed for James' basketball game, I had two sacks of debris from the cabinet modifications and some junk I threw away.  The game did not go their way, the other team looked like pro's.  James and the other kids played hard and never quit trying.

James is shooting and rebounding, he pulled down quite a few rebounds and played about 2/3's of the game.

This is James' buddy Levi, he just buried one from the corner that was all net.  It was great to see Levi get some playing time.  After the game, I came home and worked on the Stinson a little, did some more cleanup and tried to stain the brackets we got the other day.  I did not like the color of the stain I have, so it will have to wait until tomorrow after I get a new can.  I had two more of those cookies from last night and they are still delicious!

Cleanup day

Today, since the sink has not shown up, I decided to cleanup the shop.  It was getting to the point where I couldn't find my tools and walking was a real tripping  hazard.  I did good, the scrap pieces of wood are put away, old cabinet parts are thrown away and I vacuumed most of the shop.  I also got the stove fixed and all put back together.  Tomorrow when the sealer has cured, I will be able to use it again.  I did not take any pictures today, but I read Michelle's blog and she used an old picture, so I looked back to see what the oldest picture I had for February 10th. was.

 It turned out that I had one from 1999, we woke up to snow.

This is James, Emmy, Will and Dianne building a snow fort later in the day.

That is all for today, as I just discovered Vera made cookies and they are great!

Cabinet # 3

I was due for a Pro Time blood test, plus we had a list of things for the kitchen to get, so we headed to Longview after Vera finished her walk.  I got in for my blood test fairly quickly today and we were off to Home Depot.  We found most of the stuff right away, but a brace we wanted took awhile to find as the people on the floor did not seem to know what we were talking about.  Then it was off to Freddie's for gas and some groceries.  We had lunch at their deli, as they have a Panini we really enjoy.  On the way home, we picked up the mail and there was the LED counter lighting I had ordered.

After we got home, we put up the third cabinet on the stove side of the kitchen.  Instead of lifting it up to the ceiling, we put boxes and shims under it to hold it up while we aligned it, much easier than yesterday!

Then I installed the LED counter lighting and got it hooked up, I got warm white LED's and it looks really nice.  I went out to the shop after dinner and a nap to clean up.  I got the floor vacuumed and decided to look at the pellet stove, it quit the other day.  It seems like lots of things have quit lately!   I found the auger plugged, this bag of pellets had some long one in it.  I also found a spot where they can hang up on the fire brick I replaced last year.  I will smooth that out tomorrow and reassemble it.  It was a good day and I feel like lots was accomplished.  I got a call from Jackie this afternoon and it looks like she will be going home tomorrow, she was really excited!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were all the same, work on cabinets.  Monday I finished modifying the first cabinet that had to clear the range hood vent and we attempted to install it!  Oops, the relieved area was a half inch too small, back to the shop and I made a small (I went an inch to be sure it would fit!) adjustment.  Tuesday we installed it and I got most of the modifying done on the second one, if the vent had been 3 inches either way, I would have only had to modify one cabinet.  I finished up the second cabinet this morning and after Vera got home from bible study, we installed it.  It seems like each cabinet has it own special problems, but after a couple of hours work, we won!  I had another cabinet ready to go in, but decided to wait until tomorrow morning when we are rested.

It is starting to look like a kitchen again, well worth the effort!

Headway

After breakfast this morning, I got right to work on the counter tops.  It went pretty well, I had the first piece in before Vera got home from church and was making good headway on the second.  It wasn't too long and we had some place to set things on again.  Now I am going to have to pull out the drawer to get a spoon.  Hope you had a chance to enjoy this beautiful day.

Flying

It was a beautiful day for flying at Toledo, I took my mower up because the club mower would not start the last couple of times we tried it.  Of course, today some guys were working on the machinery in the barn and came driving it out.  That had us wondering what we were doing wrong!  It turned out they used jumper cables on it.

The tables had just been moved, so there was some pretty tall grass between them.  I mowed it first, then I mowed and rolled about 3/4 of the runway before I started flying.

Our excitement for the day, we could see smoke over by this A frame, all of a sudden the smoke got real dark, few minutes later we heard sirens and the fire department showed up.  They put it out in short order, our club president thought maybe they had thrown a tire on their burn pile.  Update from the club president, "That Smoke that we saw was a chimney fire that caused a fire in the attic of the house."

Six other flyers showed up today and everyone had a good time.  We stayed until a little after 4 when the wind came up and it started cooling off fast.  After we got home and I had unloaded the tractor, unhooked the trailer and put away the motor home we ran to Kelso for a saw blade I needed for the counter tops.

Not exactly as planned!

Right after breakfast, I got the trailer hooked up to the Blazer and we headed for Longview to pick up the counter tops.  I had a list of other things to pick up first so we headed to Fred Meyer for my snacks (I love their yogurt raisins and  peanut butter malted milk balls).  Then we stopped at Lowe's for some storage shelves to put in the new cabinet.  Last on our list was the counter tops at Home Depot, that went great and we were on our way in nothing flat.  We went up I5 toward home and just before we got to Rocky Point, the Blazer died, no bad noises, just quit running!  I pulled off the road and it would not start (this was one time that "Silence is Golden" is not a good thing!), so I called AAA and got a tow on the way.  Then I called Mik, no answer on his cell or at home ( it turned out he was at a funeral and could not answer), then I called Bev and woke her up.  She had a 2 inch ball and could come pick up the trailer and Vera.  Mik called shortly after that, but Bev was already on the way.  When she got there, we got the trailer hooked to Debbie's pickup and then Bev came around to open the door for Vera and some how the keys got locked in the truck.  Bev called Debbie to come and unlock it.  Just as Debbie got there, so did Carl's Towing.  Bev, Vera and Debbie headed out and I rode with the wrecker as they took the Blazer home.  I am going to finish the cabinet job before I look at it.  After we got home and got all unhooked, we had a nice visit with Bev, while we were talking Jackie called.  She is still at the University of Washington hospital, but it looks like they are getting her blood sugar straightened out and she may get to go home early next week.  After Bev left and we had dinner, I put the new shelves together and Vera has started filling them.

The day did not go quite as expected, but everything turned out OK!

More cabinets

This morning, I started on the cabinets next to the stove.  I thought they would be the easiest ones so far, boy was I wrong!  It seems the floor is not quite level in that area and I had to shim them.  Then when I went to fasten them down, I did not have screws long enough, neither did the hardware store in Castle Rock, so I was done until we went to James' game at Huntington this afternoon.  Vera noticed the twins playing at the fort, so I grabbed the camera and headed out.

They were loving the swings, hollering "Again, Higher".

The game was close all the way until the last 2 or 3 minutes when they got behind and could never catch up.  After the game, we went to Kaiser and picked up Vera's new glasses, then over to Ace for the 7 inch screws I needed.  We had dinner at KFC, then came home and I got the cabinets fastened down.  Vera did a little filling on the drawers and will probably finish them up tomorrow.  Now it is time for Wipeout!

A day off.

I decided to take the day off and relax, made a run to town for a couple of things and worked on my Stinson.  I did some searching online for a new kitchen sink and faucet.  I ended up finding just what I wanted, so I ordered it.

 This evening we went over to Gabe and Des's for Parker and Dianne's birthday party.

We had our normal quiz about Parker and Dianne. It looks like Auna, James and Parker are having a good time with it.

Parker and Dianne while we were singing Happy Birthday!  It sounded really funny when they hit Dianne, with Dianne, Jennifer, Mom and Grandma all running together.

While we were eating cake, Ava showed me how she could wink now.  It was a great evening with so many of the family there.  Dianne thought is was a lot more fun when Cathy, Barry and Myself turned 60!  When we left, Mik, Michelle and James brought Vera a present.

It was a new step stool so she can reach the new higher cabinets.  That was nice end to the day.