Entry for May 30, 2006

Saturday I removed the dry wall from the kitchen sink wall, the old sink and cabinet. Painted the bead board wall with one coat of primer and started building the new cabinet. This will be a slow process since it is being build in place and has the most exposure in the house. I made reference lines on the floor for the base of the cabinets. The bottom shelf supports and section dividers were cut and assembled.


Sunday I was able to rough set the sink to determine supports and the position of the old table legs in the front. I cut some oak boards to connect the two legs together and to the cabinet face. The table legs are from the kitchen table most of you sat at for breakfast after the wedding (something old). We will be making a new table some time soon.Gin painted the bead board wall and the two table legs. The rest of the day she spent painting the living room windows.

Monday I installed some crown molding above the sink area before I got to carried away with the cabinet work. I also did some of the mudding to the drywall above the stove and along the narrow wall between the kitchen and dining room. I installed the sink fixtures to temporarily restore the sink to operational status for the week. Unfortunitely the new faucet connection leaked and so did the old water supply valve. Repairs and modifications to those two items is set for tonight's work. Patrick and Jessica stopped by for lunch and a game of Blokus. Caris and Gin went shopping for wedding dresses.

I am still trying to decide how to run the stove exhaust system. Hopefully I will be able to work it out before next weekend and make more progress with the sink counters and cabinets.

P@

Snakes and Road Kill

What's up with all the wild animals for the last two weeks?


Last week I saw several dead squirrels on the roads to and from work. This week it changed to cats and raccoons for no apparent reason.

As far as snakes go, I caught 3 black snakes around our house this weekend. The first snake which appeared on Saturday decided to sun itself along the back of the house near the new french doors. He had reservations for a flight to the vacant field next door. The second visitor was checking out the flowers on the front porch. He was smaller but determined not to take the same trip the first one took. Eventually, he too departed via the friendly skies.

The next snake was at Patrick's house on the front lawn. Jessica's dog chip found it and Debbie found Chip snapping at it. Patrick brought me a shovel and I was able to send it to the train tracks for a rail road experience.

The third snake, at our house, was at the back door steps on the ground. Gin saw it when I was trying to let her out at the door after returning from Patrick's. She informed me of the situation and that she would remain in the truck until it was gone. He did not survive the shovel head and all was clear again.

In summary, I believe it has been all the storms and heavy rain we've had over the past several days. The rain is welcome, the snakes are not. Although they do help with the rodents, we do not need to see them hanging around or looking for hand-outs. This is very unusual for this house since we have been here. I will do some research on preventing their habitat from being shared with ours.

On a happy note, the yellow finch population appears to be returning from what I believe to be a nesting period.

P@

Entry for May 21, 2006

First of all the picture for this entry is from Upstate NY, last September when I was traveling on business. I have some recent pictures, but my memory card in the camera needs to be reconfigured to this computer and I am trying to save what is on the disc. Back to the picture above...It was taken while heading to Syracuse from Albany via a detour to Cooperstown. The rainbow was to my right rear as I was heading west.


This week included a full plate of paper work in the office. I was swamped from several directions and manged to still make time for a little renovation work in the kitchen/dining room.

I installed a little bit of sheetrock over the sides of the light boxes Wednesday night. Thursday night I applied the first coat of mud on the back wall, the false (maybe I should say faux...I hate the use of that word) header beam and some of the corners of the light boxes.

Gin painted some of the old glass panes from the old windows. She made a mountain scene, which will be mounted in an old window frame to be hung on the dining room wall between the kitchen and the french doors. I'll post pictures when it is complete and installed.

Friday night we went to downtown Greenville and the Greek Festival. Gin and I split four main course items that I will not try to name. Everything was delicious! We topped it off with some Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, they were also delicious!

Saturday I worked on the rest of the first coat mud application to the remainder of wall surfaces. Gin added some mud to some of the nail holes throughout both rooms. We did not do anything else to try to pace our selves into next weekend and the 3 days we can really get something done around the sink.

We went to Patrick's and Jessica's Sunday afternoon to review the wedding pics and play a few rounds of Corn Hole. The pictures were great and we also saw the video. I will try to burn copies of the video for those who are interrested. FYI ... Corn Hole is a game Joe Sloan introduced us to a few Turkey Days ago. The game is a combination of horse shoes and bean bag toss. Patrick and Jessica won 2 out of 3 games. Both Jessica and Gin played as well as the boys.

I'll be in St. Louis this Wednesday through Friday on business. Next weekend the new sink will start to see some service.

Stay tuned for more,

P@

Entry for May 17, 2006

I will resume the updates this weekend.

Stay tuned!

P@

The Wedding Weekend May 04 - 08, 2006

Thursday started out with a little yard work at Patrick's and Jessica's. Mowed the front and back yards with the bagger, which took a while to do. The very back field which was the back drop of the wedding was cut without bagger. That took up most of the morning but allowed time to get home and complete the weed eating around our place. Picked up some strawberries in the afternoon and sat down to a simple dinner with Gin, Jean and Susan. After a quick meal and conversation, I was off to Patrick's to hang out with the groom party.

We drove out to the mall to pick up the monkey suits, then back to Patrick's porch to shoot the breeze.

Friday started out with a wake-up call from Patrick informing us to get over to his house and start helping. I brought back the weed eater for some final touches to the yard. Gin worked in the house preparing the evening fare for the party. Patrick and I hitched up our trailers and picked up the chairs and tables from down town Spartanburg. We unloaded the trailers just in time for me to head back out with Dad to meet another Hairston.

Dad and I drove out to Taylors to meet Helen Hairston who was born and raised in Greenville, SC. I met her a few years ago after her daughter met me in the hospital. Dad and Helen discussed family trees and were trying to find the connection between families.

After Helen's we made it back to Patrick's and a delayed rehersal due to the rain storms that rolled through. Dinner started late, but was worth it. I grilled the Demo's pork chops on my grill while I tended to burgers and hot dogs on Patrick's. We finally walked through the rehersal just before dark. The rest of the night was spent catching up with friends and family.

Saturday morning was an indication that it was going to be a beautiful day, and it was. Mom called and made a wrong turn on the right road ending up on the west side of Spartanburg. I helped her find the way out and arranged for her to meet Caris and on to the beauty salon. Patrick stopped over for a while and we rode out to the grocery store to pick up some final items for the day. Chris called from inside the store and with a wild guess figured out we were there too. We met up with Chris and Alicia and talked a little. We decided to meet at our house for lunch and to continue the visit.

Lunch was a pot luck chicken and rice stir fry and a few games of Blokus. Mom stopped by as well as Caris and her friend Summer. Gin made it back in time to get ready to head back out for the wedding.

We made it Patrick's after picking up Jean. The photographer was late and the waiting was boring. We finally had pictures tken around 4:30. Then it was the anticipation of the feature event.

The wedding was fantastic. Jessica was so beautiful and emotional, the tears of joy spread like wild fire. I would see her and tear up a little, then I look at Caris and so was she. OK, so I'll look at Gin, nope that didn't work, she's crying. How about Mom, nope same result. Let's take a look at Debbie and Jeff, same thing. OK look at Jessica's sister Nikki, hey now there's a happy face. I found out later she cried her self dry earlier in the week. Well the saving grace from the flood of tears was the two cat fights over in the kudzoo field. It was hard to contain the laughter after the first fight. It happened some time around Patrick saying his vows.

The marriage was finally complete and the celabration began. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was festive. There was dancing and laughter as friends and family enjoyed the new couple's union of love.

I am so proud of Patrick and how he has handled himself with Jessica, in his dating, proposal, engagement and wedding. He has set the bar high for those who follow.

I am pleased to finally be able to call Jessica my daughter-in-law. She has been a blessing to our family and we look forward to the seeing their own family develop as the years greet us.

Sunday morning Gin and I entertained all the Sloan and Hairston visitors for breakfast and conversation. Not to mention a tour of the project we call home. The kitchen recieved a great test of functionality and the breakfast will help in the final design details.

Gin and I went back out to Patrick's and Jessica's to clean up the rental items and prepare them for return. Monday morning we went back again to pick up everything and return to the rental store. Then a short trip to the dump with a trailer full of trash. One more retun back to the wedding site to pick up my grill, weed eater and corn hole game for a cook out Tuesday night with the Glengarry Bhoys.

We will rest next weekend, so will the BLOG.

Entry for May 05, 2006

Today was day one of Patrick's and Jessica's first family reunion. Their marriage will be the connection that will bring so many people together as a new family. There is so much love for these two people that is genuine and sincere. Both have touched so many lives with their love and caring personalities. I am proud and honored to welcome Jessica into the Hairston family. She has been family for a long time and has a special place in my heart.




P@

Entry for May 04, 2006

Tecnically we came to a stopping point on in the kitchen on Tuesday. I will recap what I can remember.

Monday, Gin worked on finishing the poly coats on the cabinets. I worked on the final coats of mud for the old door entrance and the gap where the old wall divided the two rooms. I also installed the header above the stove to close that gap between the rooms. I would have tried to match the bead board ceilings but the slats are off line by about an inch. The header hangs down7.25" like the ceiling light boxes. We put the last box up and I wired all the lights and tested them with success.

Part of the day I spent cleaning up the upstairs area and removing the refuse bags from the attic work. We made a trip to Home Depot to pick up new paint in a better color to satisfy Gin. The first batch we picked out was too dark and home mixing to lighten it up did not work for what she wanted.

Back home I installed and wired a light for the back side attic. The walls with the mud work were sanded and prepped for painting. We moved everything out of the way and painted all the walls except the wall at the back french doors (muddin' later).

Tuesday the final coat of poly was applyied to the cabinet doors. We finally were able to start putting everything back, at least temporarily, as we prepare for the wedding. The corner cabinets were first and took a little extra effort. The floor, as you may recall was jacked up and resupported a few weeks back, but it still has a slight slope away from the walls. They were finally level and anchored, so I ran upstairs to get the matching counter top. Gin helped me set it in place and it fit really well. The walls are out of square by a little bit, but not overly bad.

I then set the long section of cabinets which went really fast. The couter top fit very well and both looked great. I brought in the stove and leveled it, then set 2 one foot cabinets on either side. I cut some old type counter top to place on those, until I build their tops.

Patrick and Jessica came by laterTuesday night and liked the changes. We visited with them for a while discussing their big day this Saturday. Caris was here briefly Tuesday to complete her exams then head back to Charlotte on Wednesday to work.

Wednesday we spent cleaning up most of the house, cutting grass and running errands. We drove up to Charlotte to pick up a tent for this weekend. I will have another update soon on the wedding portion of the week.

P@

Entry for May 01, 2006

First I'd like to talk about a mystery. I walk through my house bare foot and manage to step on a tiny piece of grit. The house is 1600 square feet and the piece of grit is maybe 1/128th of an inch. The ratio in size is probably astonomical. Now the wierd thing is I'm not looking for the piece of grit at all, but I manage to find exactly where it is. It's a wonder I don't brake my neck stepping on my lost tape measure that has been missing for a week. I need a mathmetician to calculate where I left the tape measure.

Last Tuesday I flew to Champaign, Il with an engineer to meet with a client about a biodiesel project. Flying takes so much out of the normal work week. While I was out of town Gin managed to get the dining room ceiling fully covered wth primer and eliminated the water stains that were showing through the paint. She also stained the wall mounted cabinets.

Saturday Gin worked on staining the floor mounted cabinets. We moved all of them outside to the porch so I could have room to work inside and not get dust on her work. I finally closed of the gap in the ceiling between the dining room and kitchen. The gap was from where the old wall was secured. I installed some 2x4s and drywall about 7" down to match the same distance as the light fixture boxes. I build the second light fixture box and with the help of Gin had it installed. The end of the afternoon I rewired the light switches for the new ceiling lights.

Sunday work started with the first coat of drywall compound to the kitchen wall where the door was relocated. After that, I cauked and painted a second coat of primer on the ceiling. After dinner I built the light fixture box for the kitchen. Gin worked on removing the glaze from the old windows, scraping and priming them. She came in the kitchen after dinner and painted the third coat of primer. All that work and no major cursing outbreaks.

This will be a busy and fast week. I will be working on the kitchen/dining room through Tuesday and part of Wednesday. Grass needs to be cut here and at Patrick's on Thursday. Pick up my tux on Thursday as well. Friday we will be working with Patrick and Jessica to prepare the house and yard. We are also bringing our mud room fridge to their house sometime in between.

Stay tuned!

P@