Rainy Day Project

My lovely wife and I decided to work inside due to getting some much needed rain. We finished laying down flooring in one of our loft rooms. All the materials were salvaged. It was a bit more time consuming to reuse rather than buy new. However, we saved a bundle of money. The job would not have happened otherwise. All that's left is to install the baseboard.

My adult niece has already been using it as an art studio. She likes the space and it beats working in her room. Her art has started so sell, so that's a good thing. The space is big enough that we can still use it as a guest room.

We are making progress on reorganizing and clearing up clutter. That job is made a bit harder by the ongoing projects. Home improvements tend to make clutter of their own. In spite of that, things are starting to look better.

One of my next indoor projects will be moving the washing machine. It's in an addition of the house that extends past the basement. For years we've been dealing with freezing water lines. My “temporary” solution was to install a heater that could be turned on to thaw the lines. The solution worked well enough, but I was always bothered by having to use a heater. Plus, it was annoying. Our reorganizing has cleared out a space in the house where freezing won't be a problem. Of course, the supply lines and drain line will need to be redone. Such is life.

That will wait a bit, as some sunny days are in the forecast. Looking forward to wrapping up some outside chores.

-Sixbears

The advantage of a long busy day

My lovely wife and I headed out early and got home late. She went off to round out the Christmas shopping, sparing me the pain. Instead, I got to play plumber at my friend's house.

My off grid friends are just now getting around to getting some plumbing. They didn't have time to work on the house during the warm months. The guy's wife is a real trouper. Not many wives would put up living in a partially completed house with no plumbing. However, even for her, the situation is getting old.

Today we hooked up a couple of sink drains. The kitchen sink is a re-purposed soapstone monster that's so big, two strong men could barely lift it. Let's just say hooking it up to modern drains was interesting. We accomplished it with only one trip into town to hunt down more plumbing parts.

The bathroom sink is brightly colored and was bought in Mexico from a street vendor. An old dresser was modified to accept the sink and plumbing. Fortunately, I didn't have to do the carpentry on that. The plumbing was interesting enough.

Left that job just in time to catch up with my wife and take her to a late afternoon appointment. Had a quick visit with one of my daughters who lives in town. Finally made it home well past our normal dinner time.

The big advantage of having such a busy day is that I didn't have a chance to see the news. No news, nothing to get angry about. It felt like a mini vacation. Best of all, I got to build things with my hands and help out friends.

It was a good day.

-Sixbears