The journey of building our new home!

Monday, May 18, 2026

5.18.2026

The hose reel that Jim uses up near the pavilion needs some work. The handle had broken off so Jim worked to get that off and he hopefully found a replacement. While he had things apart, he is replacing some o-rings on the connections...

This afternoon was our first outside clean up day after the winter. Jim started cutting down a few scrub trees that were hanging over the driveway...

Cutting a few branches off. We made some big piles of downed branches and trees that Jim cleaned up.

Doing some trimming along the front rock wall...

And along the back of the wall...

High 90.7/Low 55

Sunday, May 17, 2026

5.17.2026

Yesterday, Jim painted the toe boards gray...

He's decided to glue them onto the island, so today he brought up the two end pieces. He first put spaces down...

Then the caulk...

Putting the toe board into place...

He put some tape on just to hold them ion place...

Jim did some clean up work outside - he took the door of the Bobcat and got it stored away for the summer. He covered the hoses on the snow blower and got everything set until next winter...

We bought Mom a leather recliner when she moved to the care facility and brought it home later. We've had it stored in the auto bay until Jim was recovered enough to move it upstairs. Today was the day! Jim got out our moving straps...

We loaded it up in the bucket of the Bobcat...

The chair we had in Mom's room before got lots of use while she was here!

We got the recliner all tucked up in the corner and it looks nice, plus it's a nice reminder of Mom.

5.16 - High 78.2/Low 43.5
5.17 - High 83.4/Low 58.8

Friday, May 15, 2026

5.15.2026

Jim attached the hinges to the newly-painted doors today...

Attaching the first door to the cabinet...

Perfect!

Putting the other door on...

I unloaded everything from the cabinet and Jim attached the bottom shelf to the cabinet...

He attached the hinges to the other side of the cabinet...

The doors are attached and the cabinet looks beautiful! Jim still has to make door stop blocks, so those will be coming. I love the way it looks!

A coat of primer on the other side of the toe boards...

High 63.8/Low 47.1

Thursday, May 14, 2026

5.14.2026

Jim was back in the shop working on the toe boards for the cabinet. I love that he made these out of just scrap wood - waste not, want not!

Trying out the fit and marking locations...

Once he got them all sized, he put a coat of primer on...

The next job was to glue down the granite countertop to the cabinet. Jim made some blocks so that he could get it perfectly centered onto the cabinet...

When Jim drew up the countertop for the company, he had wanted 1-1/2" all the way around. However, the piece of granite that we chose was a smaller piece, and the most they could get on the width allowed for 1-1/4" overhang. Jim made two different blocks...

Then he attached them to two sides with clamps to get everything centered...

In order to be able to glue it down, Jim lifted up one side and I inserted another block in between the counter and the cabinet...

Then he caulked underneath and we repeated that procedure on the other side...

We're just leaving it to sit up and dry but it looks beautiful!

Today is a holy day so we are off to church and then we're going to go to The Local afterwards.

High 53.5/Low 48.4 - light rain

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

5.13.2026

It doesn't happen often, but Jim had a frustrating Craigslist experience this morning. He was supposed to meet someone at our local Stewart's and the guy never showed. He texted and said he was on his way and then nothing. Sigh.

Jim painted the moulding for in between these cabinets and gave it a last trial fit. He'll attach it soon...