Breakfast with Blogger Friends, Highlight of the Week

I finally have something to write about other than the work we are doing on the house!

The highlight of this past week was whent we took a few hours off and met a couple of other bloggers for breakfast.

Smiles all around.  Craig, Kate, Russ and Donna. Kate is local and is also in the process of clearing out a house.  Russ and Donna are from Oregon and are "any-timers". They call their rig Therapy because that is what getting away from time to time is for them.

It was very nice to spend a few hours with people who understand what we are doing.  We discussed the stress factors, and the challenges of running up against unexpected delays.  I felt good after being with them.

Now some boring stuff about work on the house.  

In the post that I wrote early Friday morning, I said nothing had gotten finished this week.  But by afternoon I had finished working with the WATCO Danish oil on the kitchen cabinets.  It is amazing what a difference this stuff makes!  Had I known, I would have done this five years ago for myself.

The same cabinet door before and after WATCO.  I used the oil that also has some stain in it.  For the kitchen I used Golden Oak. For the worse scuffs I did dab on some additional stain before using the oil.

One odd thing about this house is that there are six different baseboard and door frame wood treatments.  The place has been remodeled or added onto a couple of times.  For each improvement, different woodwork was used.  Craig has done two of them. The original woodwork is a rough cut wood that was stained with a black oak stain.  It was very common in the 60's and 70's in California.  Much of it has been replaced, but not all, and that which is still up is faded and scuffed.  Craig is in the process of staining new wood for around his new doors and the areas where we are getting new carpeting installed.   If the house lingers on the market, and everything else is done, he may continue replacing the woodwork throughout the rest of the house. Until then I have taken on the project of giving the old black walnut a fresh coat of stain.  

After and Before

WATCO to the rescue. 

 The result is not perfect, it is still the rough cut wood, 
but it's fresher. I'm almost done with it and then I will go back to working on more  doors with the clear restoration oil.


Craig has also been very busy, but his projects are harder to describe and take pictures of.

 So, I will end this post with an image of a recent sunset. We don't see as much of them in summer when the trees are full of leaves.

Old Wine

[From Craig] Friday our efforts to get the house ready for sale led Merikay and I to confront our Very Old Homemade Wine.

Back in 1977 when we lived in Wisconsin, we sold our first house and bought our second, out in the country (or the cutting edge of suburbia). We found our property was near many kinds of old fruit trees and bushes, and took up the hobby of making homemade fruit wines. In 1977, our first year, we made Apple, Pear, Elderberry, and probably other kinds that we've forgotten.

Most of the first-year stuff was surprisingly drinkable. When our son took it into his head to get confirmed in a religion that had never been in our family before, we threw a party for our and his friends and relatives that featured homemade sausage, homemade bread, and homemade wine. A very homemade party!

The next year we seem to have made Huckleberry wine, although neither Merikay nor I can remember where the fruit came from. Then we moved to Texas where our lot included six persimmon trees. Guess what kind of wine we made those years? Unfortunately we could never overcome the alum mouth-puckering component of the persimmons.

We continued to drink our Wisconsin and Texas wines occasionally, and the remaining ones came along when we moved to California in '83. When we moved into our current home in '88, they were consigned to a wooden cabinet in the closet of our family room, of which one wall is an uphill retaining wall that provided some temperature stability. Occasionally we would try one of the old home-brews and discovered that they were turning to sherry that we didn't care for the taste of. So they have just quietly continued aging in their cabinet for 20+ years.

Until Friday, when my projects came to include painting concrete closet floors. We found that several of the bottles had started to leak, leading to gooey brown deposits in the cabinet. We hauled all the bottles up to the kitchen sink and started to empty them, tasting a few of those that had intact corks and reasonable-looking colors.

 All of the persimmon wine, about two dozen bottles from several batches, was still contaminated with the alum taste.  The few bottles of apple, pear, and huckleberry didn't prove to be anything we wanted to drink. The elderberry has been gone since about 1980.

Which leads to two related lessons: 1) only good quality red grape wine improves with age, and 2) if you make fruit wine or white grape wine, drink it soon or toss it.

Anyway it was a more interesting day than many of ours lately. And yes, the floor of the closet that the wine had aged in got painted.

Any past home winemakers among our readers?

A Little Done Every Day

Nothing exciting going on around here.  I've written several blog posts, but have deleted them because they either didn't make sense, were boring, or I was whining.  

We keep getting something done every day.  

Not huge jobs, but something. 

I'm back to painting again.  

Rooms that I didn't do last year or the year before. 

I finished the upstairs bedroom, and have started on the family room. There are five doors, and one stair doorway, plus a large set of windows, so there is a lot of detail work to do. I was not going to repaint the ceiling, but we noticed some cracking around one of the inset lights. Now that it is fixed the entire ceiling needs a fresh coat of white. Craig is going to "pop" down the 17 lights so I won't have to mask around them. 

The walls will be very easy to paint because I am just going to do one coat using the same color that is there now.  I did all of the lower edging today. I expect the room to be done by the beginning of next week.

I also worked on filling nail holes in the studio room.  Many many nail holes! Craig is our nail hole "expert" and he will do a second pass before I prime and paint the walls. They will have to be primed because there are splashes of things no ordinary paint will cover. 

We have decided to take the shop lights down in there.  There is also an old heater on the wall that was part of the original heating system for the house. It has not worked for years and was behind one of my work benches. It will probably be a few weeks before I can paint in there, but we are moving in the right direction.

We have also removed the sink and vanity in the bathroom that's on the same floor as the family room and former studio. We found there was no tile under the vanity, so we will have to do something to the floor before we put a new one in. I don't want to retile the bathroom, but the top of the old vanity was done with a similar, but smaller terra cotta tile. I think we may be able to use it as an edge if the new vanity doesn't cover all of the presently untiled floor. I'm sure we will figure out what to do when the time comes.

In addition to helping me, Craig has continued to fit and install his new baseboards and wood trim around the doors he replaced.

Slowly, but surely!  It WILL GET DONE!

Work Around the House

It is only Wednesday, but I think we have already done a good week's work around here! 

We decided to skip the large stair area and finish the rest of the railings on the lower deck fist.  It was a good stretch of over 80 uprights, and took most of Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday.

A rainstorm is predicted for tomorrow, so we put away the sanders for a few days and Craig has been working most of today (Wednesday) cleaning up leaves.  About 1/3 of the trees around our house are big maples and drop their leaves in autumn.  The rest are either redwoods, Douglas fir, pine, live oak, or bay laurel which do not.

We seem to be cleaning up leaves almost all year round, since some of the trees mentioned above drop their leaves gradually over the year, and the evergreens are always dropping needles!

Craig started up on the roof. 

Then did the back court area. 

And the upper drive where the Alfa is parked.

I didn't start working on sanding another of the railings today because I had to work on a new order for a couple of animal head sculptures. Business has been dreadfully slow this year, but I still get some work from time to time.  Just enough to keep the  studio room renovation for one of our last projects!

I also just have to tell you about a new sandwich that Craig tried this week.  He read about it in the New York Times.

Peanut Butter and Pickle sandwiches! 

He tried both sliced sweet pickles, and some pickle relish.  It was strangely delicious and may become a new favorite. The bread he used was my home made whole wheat bread. The reason it looks like someone took a small bite out of the face slice was because I didn't take the paddle out of the bread machine before it baked.

What is your favorite unusual food?

Progress

We are Sanding!

And Staining!

We have finished another section of the deck railings.  This area is along the back of the house, family room door and outside entry door to the laundry room. The six steps are not yet done, but will be.  At this point we are almost but not quite half way. 244 uprights complete, 272 to go.

This is the Next Area ...

When I counted the 516 uprights, I counted each of those on the stair well as two.  We will it break down into smaller sections.  In fact we worked on the upper deck, which is outside the kitchen door, yesterday and today.  It is ready for stain, but there is rain coming tonight so we just put a tarp over it to protect the newly sanded uprights.

This is the view from the deck side.  We have not done the floor in this area yet.

And the same place, but looking down another set of stairs that go to the area below the house. 

As I was snapping pictures this morning, I took this one looking down from the kitchen deck.  I thought the image is interesting.

This project is a big one, but it is not difficult. It was time to do it for the good of the wood.  I keep telling myself that part of it is so a future potential buyer will see the decks as a big positive and a wonderful space, not as a humongous job that will need to be done again in the future.  

It should still look pretty good next summer. 

Not all my time is spent on work around here.  I have also been planning our winter trip and have booked our first reservation using our new Passport America membership. 

We just do not have enough experience to just drive and stop wherever we end up.  I like having a plan, and like to know where we will be sleeping.

I hope all of you who have been affected by Sandy are OK.  As of Wednesday afternoon (when I'm writing this) I haven't seen any posts by the few people who I know are there.  I'm hoping it is just because the power is still out!

Sanding, and Planning next trip

After spending a couple of weeks power washing the decks and driveways, Craig started sanding the smaller of several railings. He has decided to only sand and stain the top rails and the floors of the decks, and hold off on deciding if all the 2x2s also will need sanding and stain. 

This is the upper deck that is just outside our dining room. We took in all the furniture except for the glass table.  Sun, rain, and power washing has worn off most of the stain on the floor surface.  We re-stained the top rail, but will wait until we are back from our trip to rent the floor sander.  Craig says he has to check the screws before he sands, and tighten any that need it.  I just counted them.  There are 672 screws, and this is the smallest deck! He'd better wear his knee pads.

I, on the other hand, have been planning our next trip. 

We leave on Tuesday for a long haul down to Los Angles.  We are going to get the little ding that we incurred on our drive on CA Highway 1 fixed, and then take the Alfa to get her oil, transmission fluid and probably coolant replaced.  We have no records from the dealer on past service, so we think these things may be overdue.  We will also have them check all belts and anything else they recommend.

Because of our harrowing experience on Highway 1, I bought the Big Deluxe Motor Carriers' Road Atlas as a planning tool.  

I like it because it is laminated and I can mark a route or area with a dry marker and erase it when the trip is done.  All truck routes are marked in orange, and other roads are marked with two thicknesses of red for thru roads, and blue for roads that are not suitable for trucks (nor presumably RVs).

I did a lot of searching on RV forums before deciding on our route to the Yosemite campground where we have a four day reservation. From the West, there are two routes.  Hwy 120 looks like the easier, but according to the forums it is not.  Although there is a permanent one lane bridge around a slide area where we will have to unhook the toad, Hwy. 140 is the route the tour buses take and is better for a 36' Class A. I figure that since the campground accommodates 40' rigs, it has to be possible to get there!

Other than our Yosemite reservation, I have not booked any campgrounds.  I have several in mind, and they are of the "find a spot when you get there" variety.  It is unlikely that they will be full, but I will bring along my Woodall's, Good Sam book, and KOA book.  

I know we can stay at Alfateers for two nights, and possibly at the Freightliner service center as well, but again I have an alternate location in mind. I also plan on boondocking at the Camping World in Bakersfield on the way from LA to Mariposa, which is our stop outside of Yosemite. There is a garden I want to stop at in Fresno which is half way between Bakersfield and Mariposa.

I've used the internet to find thing to do and see in LA.  A Historic House and Garden, a downtown walking tour, and a hike in a park are possibilities.

I've also found a couple of things in Mariposa including a Mining Museum and a river walk.

Tonight I am going to spend some time reading about the hiking options in Yosemite.  We will not climb Half Dome, but we are up for something more than the walks around the valley floor.

I used to be wary of mentioning our travel plans on my blog.  But now I figure if anyone breaks in while we are gone, perhaps they will cart off some of our stuff for us.  Heaven knows it is all old and not worth much!  

Has anyone ever had a break-in while you were traveling?

What resources do you use to find things to do in a new area?

Craig is working hard!

There just are no "little" jobs to do around here!

While I was in San Diego, Craig started power washing all of the cement driveways, stone walls, retaining walls, deck railings, and decks. He continued last week while I did my jury duty, and will finish this weekend.  Two weeks of power washing!  He has done the same complete job in the past, but there has been some build-up of moss and black algae. He sanded and stained the deck railings a couple of years ago, and the decks a few years before that. So, much of this job is required but deferred maintenance.

Two years ago I bought a product that is supposed to prevent the growth of the algae and mildew, called Wet&Forget. I did a test spot, and it is still relatively clean. I have sprayed it on the walls, and am waiting for an order of two more gallons from Amazon so I can do all the driveways as well.  Hopefully this will help keep them looking nicer thru next year without having to redo the power washing.

Much of the wash time has been spent on the zillion upright 2x2's of the deck railings.  He will sand the railing tops and the deck floors, but he doesn't want to have to sand the uprights. 

We have large decks, and many railings!

I was on a jury for three days, but was able to get one little project done: a wall. I painted the garden wall after Craig had cleaned it. It is very rough stucco, and the painting was not easy! There are more railings along here too.

I'm not sure what the next step will be.  Some sanding I suppose. When he gets to the stain application I will be helping.

We are currently planning on taking a trip in a couple of weeks. I'm not sure exactly when or were other than to go to Yosemite National park  Sept. 18-22. I have reservations! Hopefully lots of people will stay away because of the hantavirus, so it won't be crowded.

We want to go down to LA first to get a small repair done on the Alfa at Alfateers and also to get an oil change at the Freightliner where Alfateers sends that kind of work. I'm not sure how that will work out yet, but I'm looking into interesting things to do near there for the week of September 10th.

Any "Must Do" LA adventures you can suggest?

Another Monday

As I write this, a door man is installing a new door in the tandem garage.  I'm going to wait until next week to paint the exterior wall, big interior wall and the door, because I want to be sure I have enough paint for the painters to do the exterior area above the dining room windows.  They were supposed to do it the Saturday before we left, but it was too windy that day.  We have rescheduled it for this upcoming Saturday. I have two full gallons of the pink exterior color, and I think between the two jobs I might need more. Better it be my job that runs out.


The Alfa has been sitting over at the repair shop for a week.  We wanted the brakes checked, and since we weren't going anywhere were OK with the wait.  (Well I was OK with it, Craig was anxious to get the coach back because there are some things he wants still in it.)


They say the brakes are OK.  There has always been a squeak, but it is louder now. But according to the mechanic, they are not bad. The squeak is caused by having been overheated.  I'm sure our drive down Hwy 1 contribued.  A front brake job would run about $1700.  As long as it is not a safety issue we will wait for a while.  


Craig would like to take it somewhere else because he feels this shop overcharges for everything.


So, as soon as the door man is finished, we are off to bring our Alfa home.  (Update note: it was too late on Monday to go get her, so I guess it will happen on Tuesday.)


You may have notice an absence of pictures lately.  Two reasons.  First there is nothing notable to photograph, and second, my little camera has died.  I'm going to take it into a camera shop and have it looked at, but if it can't be fixed I'll get a new one.  What I want is small.  Craig can carry around his big heavy camera.  My pictures are just to help "tell the story".

Good-by Mr. Moose

Craig is busily caulking the wood siding on the walls of the tandem garage in preparation for painting.  The new door will be installed next week, and then I can paint both it, the interior wall and the new exterior wall. We have never used this space for much.  It has been a place to put kindling wood and garden tools.


Hopefully after it has been cleaned out and painted it will be a plus to the property. 


After we gut the studio room, and convert it back to a bedroom, if I want a place to work, this might be it.  


One of the things I stored in there was the "master sculpture" for my "Huge Elephant" design. I created it as a special custom order some years back, and kept the master (as I have done for most special projects) so that if I ever got an order for another one it would be easier to make.  I have had two somewhat serious inquires over the years, but no new orders.


I am at a point that even if someone did want such a large piece, I'm not sure I would want to make it.  


So, as we worked in that garage yesterday, I took down the elephant master and loaded him into the van for a trip to the dump.  The large Moose has been sitting on a table, covered with a drop cloth since February of 2011. I have made a few feeble attempts to find him a new home, but have had no luck. 


I made the "executive decision" and loaded him in with the elephant form.  I felt a bit sad, but knew this had to be done.  I put a blanket over him so I wouldn't have to see him among the trash in the back of the van, or at the dump.  It was already 3:00 in the afternoon and I knew the dump closed at 4:00, so I didn't have time to change my mind. It felt a bit like taking a pet for that "last drive." 


Good-by Mr. Moose. 

Progress!

We ARE making progress on our house, but none of it is smooth and easy. 


I have heard of marriages that end when a couple builds a house together.  We considered doing that once, but quickly came to the realization that we would not survive!  I just hope we can survive the repairs needed on this place!


Progress:  the painters come on Saturday to finish the overhead painting outside the dining room windows.


We hired a real company, with insurance and workmen's comp to do it.  They say it will only take one day.  It had better, because we will be driving the Alfa away on Sunday!


Progress:  The entry wall to the tandem garage has been replaced. 


A little history here:  in spring of 2011 I reached a "breaking point" when I was consulting with our handyman on the replacement of this wall.  Craig and I had different ideas about how it should be done.  This is a garage size space that has been used for random storage up till now.  


One wall is a former outside wall of the house and has redwood siding. One wall is the pass thru to the main three car garage, and has a flip-type garage door.  One wall is a cement block retaining wall that is the current outside wall of the house, and the fourth is the wall we've recently replaced. 


The original construction of the 4th wall was shoddy compared to the rest of the house.  The studs for the wall sat directly on cement, and got wet every winter. The basic wall was sheet plywood that had rotted out on the bottom, with a half sheet as a swinging Dutch door.  It was falling apart! 

Craig tore it all out a few weeks ago.  I didn't get a before picture. 


So this is the wall as we're starting to rebuild it.

The new wall is now on a nice cement foundation so the water will no longer rot the wood.  Craig has done the trim with ironwood ("IPE") because of the water. 


A new garage door has been ordered.  It is not a cheap one from a "big box store".  It is a custom door with decorator windows, that matches the doors on the three car garage.  It will be installed and painted after we get back.

The wall toward rest of the house had a window and an old air conditioner in it.


In February Craig removed both and re-drywalled the interior wall. This left holes in the exterior siding in the tandem garage.  He removed a bit more of the siding so the patch would look better. 

We had new redwood boards custom milled to match the old.  The patch is white because the wood was  primed before it was up.  We'll paint the wall in August.  (That will be my job!

At this point the space is still very much just a storage area.  But it has definite possibilities.  If you look beyond the junk, you can see that it has a large loft area in the back.  We will be clearing it out, adding some lighting, and possibly using those old interior doors as a couple of work benches. I'll take a picture when it is cleared out and made nice.


I will probably use this space as a studio when my old room is being restored as a bedroom. 


My studio will be the LAST room to be remodeled, but if it takes some months to sell the house after it goes on the market I want a place I can work!


We are so ready to take a few weeks off from this.  We are both looking forward to some ALFA time! Four more days...

This and That!

The last two weeks have been very busy in very many ways.  The next two will be equally so, and the finally we will be taking off in the Alfa for a nice trip!


1. Art work:  April was a good month. I'm starting to see sales as valued in gallons of diesel fuel!  April will fill the tank at least twice.


May was a dud, but I did however receive an order for two sculptures, a Gnu and a White Buffalo.  I started them, and will be scrambling to finish and ship them before we leave.  Their sale  should cover much of the diesel fuel for our trip up to Crater Lake.


2. Painting and safety equipment: Although Craig did consider safety equipment, he decided against it.  He finished painting the area he could reach while seated on the walkway, but has now decided to hire someone to do the highest part.  Today he is once again climbing up and down on his 20' ladder and working on the lower part of the walkway itself. 


One painter came by this morning and will be sending us a bid via email.  He gave us two options.  Do it thru the painting company he works for at a higher price, or have him and his son do it on a weekend.  Since the company has insurance and workman's comp coverage, we will choose that option.  What we could save by having them do it on a weekend would be a small drop in our liability bucket if there was an accident!    A second painter is coming to look at the job  Monday.  


An end to this project may be in sight!


3. Toad:  Blue Ox and AirForce One are installed and we have towed the Accent.  We still have issues with just where we will be hooking up when we leave for our trip.  I'm sure once we get used to doing it, finding suitable hook up spots will become second nature.  It's just that everything new is so scary!  Any words of wisdom on this subject will be greatly appreciated!


4. Alfa repairs:  The back corner fiberglass work came out beautifully.  The entire back end has been repainted and we are still waiting for a new light glass and a new SeeYa decal.  The front spoiler looked pretty good too, but unfortunately we re-damaged it going out of the parking lot of the Hitch Shop.  The spoiler is just badly designed! It is way too low.  Scraping it on the ground was not anyone's fault.  Craig was driving as slow as he could.  Some Alfa owners have the spoiler cut off.  For now we will not have it repaired again. 


Since the Alfa is over at the repair shop anyway, we decided to have them  look for the cause of the increasingly annoying "whistle sound" in the cab area we have been hearing when we drive. It has been getting louder.


The report was that the windshield on the driver side has shifted out of the gaskets around it to the degree that it presented a danger of falling out!  EEK!  


That windshield was cracked and was replaced as part of our purchase in September.  We called the dealer, who referred us to the glass installation company, who told us to bring it back and they would fix it.  So we made an appointment for Friday morning and drove the 30 miles up there.  Although we were told it would probably only take a few hours, we decided to tow the Accent.  It was good practice.


It turned out that was a good idea because the glass installer decided to reset both of the front windows.  When finished he told us we could drive it, but we should be very careful of going over bumps because the goo was still soft.  When asked how long it took to cure we were told "two days."  


We knew there are some pretty rough areas on the roads between there and San Jose. We didn't want to damage the seal, but there was no place at the glass company to leave the Alfa for the weekend.  What to do?


The La Mesa dealership where we bought her is a short distance from the glass company.  We first tried to call them, but got only voice mail connections, so we just drove over there, explained our problem, and asked if we could park her there until Monday.  Permission granted.  None of the people we had dealt with last fall were around.  Since we had not had a good rapport with any of them, we were glad!  They said something about being sure we came back on Monday because they had a lot of rigs coming back from a "show". We didn't leave the keys, but will go up there as soon as we are done talking with the painter at the house!


So that's where we are!  Hope all is moving along for the rest of you.

Exhausting day!

Some days are longer than others!  Today was one of the more exhausting days that we've had for some time.


We started out early by driving the Accent and my van over to the RV repair place and picking up the Alfa.  We left the van there and drove the Alfa and the Accent across town to the hitch place and had them finish the Blue Ox installation.  They hooked up the Accent and we headed back to the RV repair place to drop it off again so they could install the Air Force One.  Craig says he could have installed both, but he wanted to have authorized installers so that we could feel good about the result.


On the way we stopped at a large parking lot and did a series of practice turns around some large plastic water bottles (our version of traffic cones).  We both drove and we each took a turn outside watching to see how the toad tracked behind the Alfa. It was fun. 


We then dropped the Alfa and Accent off and returned home in my van. We will be able to get the car back in a few days, but they are still waiting for our new back decal for the Alfa.  Might as well leave her there.


We have also asked them to do an air pressure test to see if they can find and fix two "whistle" noises in the front windshield.  They are quite annoying.


It was just past noon when we got back home, but neither of us felt like doing any work.  Craig has finally agreed to buying some safety equipment for the window painting project.  I don't know if it is because he is tired of me nagging, or because he has had a number of people tell him he should, as comments or in person, or if he has just gotten a bit scared when he was out on the ledge.  I don't care why.


We spent some time this afternoon looking at safety harnesses online, and then decided we should go and talk to someone at REI that might give us some advice about such things.


At the same time, Craig was reading the morning paper and mentioned he would like to see "Snow White and the Huntsman."  We don't go to movies very often, but since the movie theatre and REI are in the same shopping center, we decided to do both this afternoon.  


The movie was OK.  Not great, but OK.  We did get some information from REI, but they were unable to give us any advice as to what to do.  (Liability reasons.)  We will probably be ordering some rope and a harness over the weekend.


Exhausting! But it felt like progress.

"Big Job" Progress #1

Craig spent four or five days working on the repair and painting of the four foot section below the dining room windows. 

He scraped, Bondo'ed, sanded, caulked, primed, and painted while sitting comfortably on the wood ledge below them.  


He gets to the ledge by crawling out one of the end windows. Although the wood of the ledge looks weathered, he says it is sound.

This is the "after" picture on the section he has done, as well at the ledge he has been perched on.


















Meanwhile, I've moved my sewing machine down from upstairs to the dining room so I can be available to pass him tools and materials as he works.

Sewing keeps my mind and my hands occupied while he's out there.


The only thing I sew are pajamas for Craig. I usually make him one new pair a year.  Craig likes 100% cotton PJ's, but we find the ones commercially available never fit quite right. He is 5'6" and on most of them the arms and legs are too long.  Rather than buying PJ's and remodeling them, I have modified a pattern that I use over and over.  

When the local fabric store has a  sale we go together and he picks out  fabrics he likes. 


This  time he picked out  four great materials. 


The top one (red, blue, yellow, and black) is really fun!  It reminds me of the dishes Al and Kelly from Bayfield found for their new Southwest winter home.


There will be a fashion show when I'm finished! I told him I'm going to put at least two of them away for when we are full timing.  I really don't want to carry a sewing machine along.  There will be storage!

The Next Big Job

Craig finished replacing and painting the outside wood frame around three of the living room windows. It looks good. It took a little longer because we were busy looking for a toad and doing all of the other things needed to get the Alfa fixed and the tow package ordered.


The next big outdoor job is the repair and painting around the five big windows in the dining room. They are on a cantilevered wall that extends out over a rough hill. The overhang also needs painting.


A year or so after we bought the house we painted most of it ourselves, as we have over the last two years, but we hired someone to do that section.  We found a crazy old painter that did it by nailing a ladder to the narrow ledge below the windows.  There are no crazy old painters like that anymore, and even if there were I'm not sure we would want the risk of being sued if they fell.

So guess who want to do it all himself?  The crazy old man I'm married to!


In the picture to the right, Craig is on a 20' extension ladder repairing and painting the very bottom edge.  

picture taken from the safety of the deck

Here he is sitting on the ledge as he scrapes, sands and caulks the section under the windows. 


Yesterday he managed to gouge his leg with his sander, resulting in his getting five stitches.  


We have been arguing about this job for weeks.  I have begged him, scolded him, and threatened him, all to no avail.  


I want him to put up scaffolding, but he refuses.


The man is accident prone.  I could tell a couple of gory stories involving a chainsaw and a table saws, but I will leave them for another time!


I would rather not be a widow. 


My stand is this: 
 If he falls and gets hurt, I will not take care of him.


If he had a heart attack, I would take care of him.
If he had a stroke, I would take care of him.
If he got cancer or any other illness I would take care of him.


But if he gets hurt because he is being stupid and stubborn.  He's on his own.


What do you do when someone you love won't listen to reason?

hands up

first, my post and my comments on other blogs will be without caps because i've been typing with only my right hand.  caps take two hands.

the surgery went well.  it was more like a minor procedure, but it was on my hand so i was a bit uneasy.


i had a little discomfort last night, but am quite ok today.  a major inconvenience is that i was told to keep it elevated above the level of my heart for 48 hours.  a bother, but not hard.

craig continues to work on his latest project. replacing the wood around some of the large windows.  he decided they were too deteriorated to just patch and paint.  progress is slow.  what looks like it should take a few days, takes a few weeks. 


 when craig does something he is a perfectionist.  it is usually far better than a professional builder would do, but also takes much longer to finish.


he is also replacing some interior doors and many of the baseboards inside.  he bought all of the wood, (for several thousand dollars) but staining and installation will probably not be done soon because he has outside work to do.  


we do not always agree on what really needs to be done. 

It Looks Like Spring

But it's still pretty cold outside up here in the Mountains!  We are still enjoying evening fires and Craig says it has to get warmer before he is ready to start the "outside" work!


On the "inside" work, he has completed work on one of three bathrooms.  The other two will come after a long summer of outside jobs.  


Not much happening with the RV.  I did firm up our plans for the Crater lake trip, and made reservations at the Shingletown KOA for the week we will be down near Lassen National Park. 


 I first made a mistake in booking a one night stop over at the Burney Falls State park. I had looked at the reservation sight several times and was under the impression there were no sites big enough for the Alfa, but then I found one. Unfortunately it was a handicap site and I didn't notice that until after I had confirmed the reservation.  OOPS, I called right away, but still got stuck with a cancellation fee.  Lesson learned.  Look at everything twice when you find something to good to be true! 


 I guess we will just be driving up to Burney Falls one of the days we are at Shingletown.  We will have the Prius with us.


On the food front, I've slipped a couple of times.  I remind myself no one is perfect and building new habits that will be good for me for the rest of my life.
I just get so bummed when I hit a plateau like I have for the last week or so.


I am excited about a new dressing/dip recipe that I have been making.  I'm sure all my Vegan  friends know all about silken tofu, but it was new to me.  Silken tofu is sold in water packages next to the firm tofu in the cold case of the grocery stores. I see that it is also sold in "shelf stable" boxes which would be great to have along in the RV when you can't get to a grocery!


The following is a recipe for a very basic salad dressing.  I made half at a time because I don't like to keep things mixed in the refrigerator for very long. It is a "basic" recipe and you could easily add more or other spices or even add tomato and relish for a Thousand Island style dressing.

Ingredients

• Ingredients:
• 6 ounces silken tofu (or soft tofu, drained) (comes in 
• a box)
• 
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 
  
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 
  
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley (I used dried)
• 
  
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 
  
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Directions

1. Instructions:
2. Combine all ingredients in a blender container. Blend until well mixed.

The first time I made it we tried it as a veggie dip.  I guess we were hungry, because between Craig and I we did in a whole small head of fresh cauliflower! At that time I thought the dressing was a bit thin and would have been better as a salad dressing than as a dipping dressing.  I did save the little that was left over and used it on a salad a few days later and it was still good.

I made a second batch with the remaining tofu a few days later.  This time I added a Tablespoon of Chia seeds and put it in the refrigerator over night. The dressing became a nice thick dip!

I had never heard of Chia Seeds before last week, except for when they are spread over a funny sculpture to grow a "Cha- Cha -Cha- Chia pet!  


They are very high in fiber, 5 grams per tablespoon, and can be added to things like breads or smoothies.  If you mix them into a liquid, and let them stand for awhile, they expand into a jelly like substance with  little seeds inside.  This is what thickened the dressing.


By the way, do not mix Chia seeds, almond milk and blueberries in a blender and pour it into little cups, expecting to get a  nice "Chia pudding."  The resulting concoction is not visually pleasing. The blueberries turn gray.