Tupperware Party

I finished the shelves and installed them a few days ago. I made them from 3/4 plywood and edged them with some red oak and covered the surfaces with Formica.They turned out pretty nice, I think. Wifey likes them so that's all that matters. The pantry, as it sits now, is in no way organized. I piled a bunch of stuff that was stored under the old breakfast bar because I had no place to put it. We need to sort through it and streamline our operation. We have enough Tupperware and other plastic storage containers to fill 4 or 5 refrigerators. She is also compelled to save all of those disposable containers that people give you when they insist you take leftovers home. There are two drawers full of more of the stuff, still to be dealt with, as well as more overflow in the garage storage closets. I realize now that we are typical and why these rental storage facilities are everywhere. Americans have too much stuff and we are unwilling to part with any of it. We would rather pay a hundred bucks a month to store a few old lamps, a bed frame and a set of worn out tires than to toss the crap out. Every little knick knack has some perceived value and must be saved, even though it's been stashed away and unseen for 40 years. Our house needs a high colonic.

No Visible Means Of Support

Part of my plan for the kitchen has been to remove the existing breakfast bar and cabinet and move it to the other side of the room.However, I do not want a cabinet under the counter. This way, we can sit on either side and we don't have to worry about grandkids who seem to enjoy kicking the cabinet and scuffing it up. So, since the counter will cantilever out from the wall and I don't want a leg to support the end, I built a steel support. It is bolted to a wall stud and the concrete slab at the bottom and lagged into the header at the top. There is very little deflection when I put my full weight on the end, maybe 1/16". I made it from 3 inch square, 1/4 wall mild steel. It might be a little overkill but I had a stick of it here at The Fongderosa just lying around collecting rust, so it was pressed into service. Free is good

Growing Old

While growing old is not, entirely, bad, it is not for the faint of heart. Those that we love also are ravaged by the years. This year has been, especially rough. I lost two of my, beloved, Aunties. The were both, nearly, 90 and had been in declining health for some time. Their race was run and it was time to cross the finish line. I will miss them both, as they were special ladies and two of the last links to my parent's generation. In June, my baby cousin died. She was 51. She had been ignoring her health for a while, but at that age, nobody thinks that there is any real urgency. She woke up, sat up in bed, had a heart attack and was gone, just like that. We were pretty close. We all went camping together at Thanksgiving, with a few other people and had a great time, eating a full on banquet, sitting around the fire and taking snake bite medicine, telling off color stories and acting like kids. I will miss her all of my days. Yesterday I got one of the worse possible phone calls. My brother, Jeff, died. He was 61. He had some health struggles related to a severe infection that he had gotten that resulted in the amputation of his left leg. This was over a year ago and he had fully healed and was running all over on his prosthetic leg. He came to visit several times and seemed just fine. He had a mild case of diabetes, but he controlled it with diet and an oral medication. His doctors told him that his heart, blood pressure and cholesterol were all good. I'm not sure we'll ever know what happened. I guess it really doesn't matter. This is really hard for me to deal with. We were fairly close. Jeff was a bit of a hermit and would be incommunicado for months or years at a time, so it's only been in the past few years that we began hanging out more often. Sadly, that is over. There will be no funeral or gathering, as far as I know. I don't, necessarily believe in funerals, but without some sort of closure it just seems empty, as if a goldfish or a hamster had died. I need to get with my other brother and my niece so we can grieve together. It's what humans do.

Counter Measures

Today, we said "Bye bye" to the old breakfast bar and cabinet. Moving it by myself was a chore as it had cement board, mortar and tile. It weighed about 400 pounds, I would estimate. Archimedes said, Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand and I will move the earth." I set a few 2X4s on the floor as skids, lifted one end with a jack and set it on the skids. I then levered it, a few inches at a time until it was out of the back door and on the patio. No back strain or hernias. When I jacked it up about 5 pounds of kibble was under the thing. The previous owners had dogs and allowed them the run of the house. Mice got into the food and stashed it under the cabinet base where it has sat for 27 years. Yeech!!! Oh yeah, there was also a petrified mouse as well. I'm glad Wifey was away for the week so she didn't have to see the "icky" stuff. She would have made me stop while she scrubbed and disinfected everything with buckets of Lysol and other chemical agents. I try to do the big stuff when she's not home. I don't really require a lot of "advice" nor do I need to deal with certain womanly compulsions.

Phase One is coming along, nicely. The pantry and fridge enclosure are done, other than a bit of sanding. The electrical has been moved as well as the water line for the ice maker and water dispenser. I installed a ceiling fixture in the pantry and a switch. I had to move a switch in the hallway since, after closing off the old doorway, it was in a bad spot. Of course, this entailed tearing into the wall, even more. Crawling around in the attic, pulling wires and sweating copper lines was never fun. At almost 65 years old, it is torture. Tomorrow I can finish all of the drywall in the hallway and get a coat of mud on it. I need to finish the inside of the pantry so I can build and install the shelves. So far, I'm going to put shelves on two walls, in an "L" shape. I may put in some drawers or some bins for spuds and onions. We'll see. It's sort of an evolutionary deal or design as you go. Phase Two should begin in a few days. It will involve removal of the old dining counter and cabinets and building the new counter on the opposite wall. Until the final counter tops are decided upon, I'll build a temporary one so we have a place to chow down.

And To Dust Ye Shall Return

I have not begun the kitchen project yet. I got down to the shop to begin some preliminary work and it became apparent that my shoddy housekeeping habits have slowly turned the woodworking side of the shop into a catch all and an overflow area. Three days of cleaning and trash removal have gotten me to the point that I now have a nice, open, workable space. One thing, in particular, that has been an issue for a while is my dust collection system. I ran ducts, a few years ago, but they turned out to be poorly designed, so I yanked it all out and redid them. I now have a dedicated line for the table saw, which is actually a European combination machine with three, 3 hp, motors to power the saw, the planer/jointer, the shaper and the mortiser. There is also a line for the band saw, an 18" Laguna. I also added a drop down line from the ceiling that will be used for all of the portable machines, like the router table, the drum sander, the spindle sander, etc. There is also a floor sweep, for the once every year or so that I grab a broom and clean up. I should now be able to transform a great deal of expensive hardwood into firewood without breathing in too much dust.

Someone's In The Kitchen, But It Ain't Dinah

At least for the time being, the bike is done. I will continue to tinker with it, of course, but the major work is done, for now. It's time for a new project. We've been in this house for 27 years and the kitchen looks like hell. It didn't look that great when we moved in and time has not been kind to it. The floor had numerous divots in the vinyl, the cabinets, which were cheepo builder cabinets, are shot, the sink has no porcelain left on it, the disposer doesn't work, the lighting is lousy, the pantry storage is dumb, the counters are chipped, the grout is starting to fall out and a few of the drawers are sticky. Other than that, it looks great!?!? The plan is to do the remodel in phases, to keep disruption to a minimum. This will be a total redo. The fridge is new and will stay. The dishwasher is old, but it still works, so it stays, also. Everything else is headed for the landfill. Like the bike, there will be no, hands on, outside help. Framing, drywall, cabinets, minor plumbing and electrical are no problem, for me. Wifey has given a, reluctant, thumbs up. She knows that I tend to drag my feet at times. I intend to work on this project every day, all day, until each phase is done. Phase one will be the construction of a walk in pantry, an enclosure for the fridge and a small wall desk. I will begin next week, when she is away so that, hopefully, when she returns there will be substantial progress but more importantly, no mess. Oddly enough, she is far more tolerant of mess and clutter than I am. The new pantry will be in the spot now occupied by the fridge.