(by Bg Porter)
Some invisible work this week. The electrician was in to put in the new sub-panel so all the new circuits in the kitchen can finally be energized.
(Previously.)
Our second-choice sink arrived at the dealer on Thursday, so Keenan and I drove over and picked up the pieces that we’ve been waiting for:
Everybody like soft serve drippin’ down in the June sun
I tried to shoot a thought, ah but the thought sunk
Nothin’ to do but scratch words in the dirt and
Watch the water roll down
Logging this here for future reference; a technique from ChefSteps that uses dry ice in a stand mixer to make soft serve at home, which I was just explaining to Kiley wasn’t possible.
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/soft-serve-ice-cream
Lost my shape
Trying to act casual
Can’t stop
I might end up in the hospital
(Previously.)
The news that the neighborhood is happiest about this week: all* of the exterior work has been finished: siding replaced, new aluminum flashing/trim in place, and the part of the roof where the skylights were removed from has been re-shingled.
Continue reading “Renovation Week 21: Crosseyed and Painless”
Continuing to inch forward; it’s starting to feel like this may actually come to an end at some point.
(Previously.)
Lots of electrical finish work is happening — new light at the bottom of the stairs:
Fingers X-ed that this 19th week is the last week of the project whose cardinality is expressed using a prime number. Maybe not. 23 weeks is likely, thanks to the cabinet guy. At 29 weeks I cry. At 31 weeks I start demolishing the place again from inside. At 37 weeks we firebomb the place. At 41 weeks the authorities dig through the remains and discover the bodies of my enemies.
After that it starts getting bad.
We moved into the house twenty years ago this week, on 6/1/1996. I had really hoped that we’d be done with this project by 6/1/2016, but that didn’t happen.
Some stuff did happen.
(Previously.)
More Cabinets. The wet wall (pantry, sink, dishwasher, refrigerator) cabinet boxes are all in place now. 
Yes, the space for the dishwasher does seem way too small, but I’ve measured it at least 6 times. This week we’re hoping to see at least the base cabinets that will live on the right side of this picture, surrounding where the stove is going to go. I just got word that the planned Monday installation is going to slip to Tuesday at the earliest. Did I mention that the cabinets are the gating factor for this whole project now? The appliances and countertops are the major remaining pieces, and neither can really happen until we have places to put them. Continue reading “Renovation Week 18: Zeno, Jr.”
We’re now at the point where we’re frustratingly close to seeing the end of this whole thing, which is still better than a few weeks ago when we were frustratingly unable to imagine wrapping this up.
(Previously.)
The biggest thing this week: first sign of cabinets coming into the house:
Continue reading “Renovation Week 17: Underneath the Gathering Thunderstorm”
This week we met a new baby bunny friend who’s living in the hostas by the driveway. Her name is “Shirley Hemphill.”
(Previously.)
Starting to see more signs that things are getting close to being usable/livable.
The kids’ bathroom was mostly wrapped up on Wednesday, enough for them to be using it again. We still need to finish up the linen closet that’s being built, but that’s further down the priority stack.
Continue reading “Renovation Week 16: Don’t Call Me Shirley”
(Previously.)
A Phrygian king who was condemned to remain in Tartarus, chin deep in water, with fruit-laden branches hanging above his head; whenever he tried to drink or eat, the water and fruit receded out of reach.
It’s starting to feel like the end may be in sight. When I think that, I’m reminded of a work trip to Las Vegas where a group of us decided to walk to the Luxor, which looked to be about a 10 minute walk away from where we were. An hour later we were still walking and it looked exactly the same distance away from us. Continue reading “Renovation Week 15: Tantalus”
(Previously.)
(Happy 79th birthday to Thomas Ruggles Pynchon).
Too tired to write many words at the moment. This week:
They built the bathroom linen closet cabinet and installed it into its spot in the bathroom.
Continue reading “Renovation Week 14: Antagonizing The Horn”