8.4.2021

 

Did you know that today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day?  Hopefully you celebrated this important day - we did!  But then the rest were packed up to go into the freezer.

Jim took down the temporary door and then brought up our bedroom door this morning...

Putting the hardware back on...

Looks perfect - just that little tweak took away the fit issue when the wood expanded.

Jim cut and fit more moulding pieces in the second bedroom...

This corner looks pretty!

Jim had to find where he had stored the hitch for the 4Runner - he thought it was in the shed but a trip up there proved futile.  He found it in the auto bay attic.

Then it was time to do more dirt work - this is the last area in the triangle to grade...

Done - we're going to use gravel or stone from this point to the house.

The side of the driveway to the side of the pole barn is the next area to fill in...

This area was harder to grade with the Bobcat so Jim did a lot more manual work...

Continuing to spread dirt...

Good progress!

Jim got things cleaned up and then did a little lawn mowing to finish out the work day.

High 76/Low 56 - beautiful!

8.3.2021

Jim started doing baseboard moulding in the second bedroom today.  Must be a funny trick of the light - we really don't have neon blue strips - ha!

Doing this tiny piece before the closet...

Plywood backing starting down the wall...

Attaching baseboard...

And cap moulding...

Jim wants to put the hitch on the 4Runner so it went up on the car lift for the first time.  He had to put extenders on the lift for this size vehicle so he is letting it sit for now before taking it up higher.

In the afternoon, we went back outside.  Jim consolidated and turned over the dirt pile...

Then we picked out rocks from a few areas...

It was time to move some dirt...

Doing some hand shoveling - captured an action shot!

We got another big section done.  I used up the rest of the grass seed we had; I'll get more when I go into Saratoga this week.  Looks really nice!

After we got all that cleaned up, Jim went back up and did more dirt consolidation/cleanup.  At the end of the day, he did some trimming...

High 74/Low 54 - beautiful!

8.2.2021

Jim got the door moved from the workbench and got everything cleaned up.  He's happy with the way it turned out so he did a big cleaning of his paint gun.  Then he got more cap moulding primed and ready to go... 

In the afternoon, we headed outside to do some work.  Jim used the excavator to pick up big rocks and loaded them in the bucket.  He took the loads over to the rock wall area...

Then we filled a bucket full of smaller rocks by hand...

Doing some grading...

Starting to extend the driveway slope...

Of course, there are always huge rocks to get out but it sure is easier now with the thumb!

Continuing to grade...

Grading looks great...

A to do task is to grade the edges of the driveway now that the concrete is in.  So Jim brought down some dirt - he had to carefully position the Bobcat to cause as little damage as possible to the grass already there...

I picked out rocks as Jim would back drag the area...

A little hand crumbing...

Once an area was graded, I threw grass seed on in the hopes that it will grow!

Continuing to bring dirt and grade...

Once we were done for the day, Jim back dragged over the seed to set it better in the loose dirt...

A very heavy wheelbarrow full of rocks!  

Looks great - we got a good start to this!

High 73/Low 51 - beautiful!

8.1.2021

 

Jim got the bedroom door all sanded this morning but wanted to continue to use the wood shop so went on to other tasks after that.

He continued working baseboard moulding - he wanted to finish up the other side of the hallway and behind the hutch - so I took down anything we thought might fall and Jim moved the hutch...

Fitting the plywood backing piece...

Then attaching the cap moulding in the hallway...

Figuring out the baseboard moulding around the corner and adjoining the cabinetry in the kitchen...

Attaching cap moulding...

This area is all done - the hallway looks so amazing!

Then it was time to paint.  He first hand painted the edge where he cut a little sliver off and then sprayed the rest.  He's been working with the paint gun to get it to work - he soaked the tip overnight in lacquer thinner and continued to clean it.  

The gun worked great and the door looks perfect!

High 71/Low 56 - rain late in day