Mr Cool was back–and is hopefully gone forever

First, to all the hundreds of readers who wrote notes of concern, even called 9-1-1, regarding our inability to open the rear door, the good news is:  we can open the rear door again!  The swelling has gone done as the pine has dried out in the summer heat (there is a reason Congress adjourns in August–it’s that bad out here).

So here are some tidbits to bring you up to speed:

*  I’ve been busy at work–yes, I had “fun” working over 4th of July and other weekends.  So anyway, we lost a few weeks.  Need to get this kitchen put back together.  The end is in sight.  Emily chose cherry to be our wood on the floors.  Full thickness; not engineered wood (veneer on plywood).  Not as hard wood as I wood like, but heck, we won’t be here when it starts to wear out, right?  Sure is pretty!  Her next decision:  paint colors for the kitchen and powder room (drywall is essentially done; will sand and prime this weekend).

Yours truly, trusty with a hammer and saw, built a soffit for the fridge side of the kitchen.  Took about 3 hours for all that detail work, but came out great; cabinets, at 108″, should fit right under the 109″ finished edge, with a trim piece concealing the gap.  Now 108″ is tall, mind you; we’ll need a step stool to reach the tallest shelf.

After another two months of calling Mr. Cool, our a/c guy, and after chewing him out when he didn’t show when he said he would, he finally showed up and got the job done.  We we’re ready to have ductwork extended through the basement laundry room into the kitchen floor.  Mr Cool does excellent work once he shows up–he builds beautiful ducts out of sheet metal.  I don’t know how he stays in business.  Anyway, Emily got the finally sign-off on the permit, paid him the $300 due from the original contract (always withhold some money till the job’s done!), and sent him on his way.  Unless something breaks under warranty, he will NEVER step in our house again.

Em sold our washer/dryer which had been covered up with plastic on our back porch for three months for $145.  With free ads on Craigslist.com–ads that pretty much all buyers read–no wonder the newspapers are going out of business.

Em’s big score came the other day at the local salvage warehouse.  She had identified two tall (101″) but not too wide (33″) pocketdoors that we can turn into half doors.  The shop owner said they were made out of American Chestnut.  If you don’t know how an introduced virus wiped out billions of these trees from 7 million acres of our forests, check out http://www.acf.org/Q&A.php#4 .  I’ll post a picture soon.