Distractions

I've still been working on the kitchen but there has been some distractions in the garage. After reading about how to make a hollow mast for a sailboat I wanted to try it so I decided that the tile table that has needed a base for years would be perfect. It's called the bird mouth method. Take eight strips of wood and slide them through a table saw with the blade at 45 degrees then flip them over and do it again cutting out a 90 degree notch on one side. First I tried with a 90 degree router bit but they didn't come out very clean and well routers just aren't my favorite too. When done the strips will have a V notch in one side. This picture kinda show what they should look like.



Then line the strips up into an octagon. I wish I'd taken a picture of the glue up since I had such a hard time figuring out how to clamp it all together. Some places I saw used hose clamps but most places just didn't mention how. I ended up wrapping string around semi-loosely and then twisting sticks in the string to tighten it. After the glue up the corners that are sticking out need to be planed down. In the end you end up with a pretty beefy nearly round chunk of wood that is not only lighter but stronger than if it was a solid slab.

Cutting tile and cutting corners

The kitchen came with some decent tile. It's one of the few things in the house that was not torn out at some point. When planning the new kitchen configuration I just assumed that I'd be cutting through the tile for the island wall floor plate. Cutting through tile turned out to be not that easy and it made a toxic awful smell. Seriously, I think my life has been shortened. And so enters the cut corner. I found where the floor joists were and drilled through the tile so that the floor plate can be lag bolted to the joists. A previous owner put the tile under the old counters so I put the new counters on the tile too. I feel sorry for anyone that will try to take out that tile.

Cabinets, new stain and a bumper crop

My parents came up again and helped me install the wall cabinets. It turns out that I wasn't happy with the stain I had gotten for the face frames. It would have been nice if I decided this before staining all of the bottom cabinet face frames. I bought and tested (testing really, still putting varnish coats on them) several stains and the Ace Hardware Colonial Maple stain seems to have won the contest. I really like just the varnish but it doesn't go with the wall color.



The tall nettle there has grown even more since the picture was taken, it is now taller than the 6' fence behind it. Many of the prickly weeds got removed from the lawn yesterday but I just couldn't bring myself to take that one down. Couldn't figure out where to start... Speaking of growing things, the peas are doing great but every thing else has started to drown in the near two weeks of cloudy/rainy days we have been having.

Gutters

The garage now has gutters which means it has soffits (and new fascias) which means that it is less drafty just in time for summer. Really it means that the garage is one step closer to being closed in with insulation so that it can be heated in the winter without just throwing money away. My job is an extra day a week now and I'm looking to buy another house so very little progress will be made on the homestead in the near future. Having to work 5 days a week makes me feel so defeated and downhearted that I've lost all hope of ever finishing this house. I know, whine whine whine. The plan was to get a couple of rentals going once this house was done so that I could quit this job. The plan is now to just get a couple of rentals going.

2 short

Ran out of mastic with only two tiles left to install. Big milestone though. My parents were by today to help and we got the island moved out. Time to cut into the floor tiles to get the new island going. This time done right...

Minor stuff

Things have been happening, just nothing that seemed complete or worth writing about. I've felt like the ADD poster child the past few weeks. Ten minutes into doing something I goto the garage for a tool, find another project and start working on it but then start to clean up the garage when I can't find something only to find another project to work on and evenutally I come back inside to get some water and realize that I forgot the tool that I went to the garage for in the first place over 2 hours ago. Perhaps it is time to get back to making lists.

The yard has 4 rasied beds and the sprinklers are mostly done for the garden and trees.

There are more cabinets in the kitchen but it is still lacking tile on the counters. That weird shape on the wall is test paint. The color was too dark but experiementing with painters caulk has proved the stuff to be well worth the effort.

I fixed a friends chair, built a bow and a cabinet on wheels in the garage. Spent several hours organizing the garage. Not that you'd notice in the picture. Much dirt has been removed as well, the 4 yards of topsoil that was delivered is now less than 1 yard. Next is to get gravel delivered so that the driveway will be less of a mud pit.

Nothing spectacular

Jury duty ate up my Tuesday to work on the house. There was still enough time to move cinder blocks and dirt till I was worn out though. These days that isn't to hard though. It might actually snow this weekend so planting the garden is off but the raised beds are pretty far along and will even have a drip watering system. Once the garden is planted I can go back to working on the kitchen. The plan was to buy a rental house by now. Damn day jobs.