For the Wealth Of a Nail

If my coworkers wonder why I come in looking like what the cat dragged in, here's an example.


The washer would not drain last Sunday. Reading the owner's manual, I learned that the solution was to open the drain on the bottom, let the water go out (it's near the sump, no biggie) and clear whatever was in the little filter there.

I did not find anything so after several attempts at that I gave up for the day. Last night, I opened the back and checked all drain hoses and returned them. Still no good. I made dinner and thought about it awhile.

This morning I got the courage to pull the pump and drain/filter piece out, pull the pump out and inspect the impeller. Lo and behold, a small finish nail had jammed the impeller. I removed it, jury-rigged a power source to the pump, checked that it still worked, and it's almost all back in. All before 6:45 a.m. (I also made three gallons of iced tea, washed the dishes, fed the animals, and made a hot tea for Jennifer, if I may brag.)

By tonight it should be operable again.

It reminds me of the story "For the Want Of a Nail," except this time I had one and it was all the woe.

Time washer was inoperable: three days.
Time spent working on washer: two hours, cumulative.
Money saved: probably about $200 or more.
The joy of rolling around a wet basement floor this morning & the satisfaction of knowing I did it myself: yeah, that.

The Finished Look

Notice the 'medallion' around the light. Flooring and trim next week.

Putting Wallpaper On The Ceiling?

I gather it's a lot easier on a wall. The most interesting part of the job was the glue - when we squeegeed the paper, the exceess glue would spill out on our hair or hit the floor with a sound similar to a cow pissing on a flat rock.

OK, this is a little more serious

rilly!

silly

That's monster zucchini in the garden.

Outdoor Plans

Our meager estate.
Stare long enough and to the left of the garage a larger vegetable garden will appear (this year we're gonna put Michelle Obama to shame). With a little luck and time, a patio, trellises, and arbors, too.

Somewhere in all of this we're gonna get married, too.

Construction At the MomCat Inn

My parents live in a 180-year old farmhouse north of Syracuse, NY - one my mother lived in (and was born in) when it was her family's farm. Now it is surrounded by houses and streets, and in need of a new roof.







Wow, would I like to be there swinging a hammer.

Color Scheme For the Dining Room

Here's the color scheme and layout that we picked for the dining room (Jennifer made the picture). That will be what the largest wall will look like, the one you see with the newspaper on it in the photo posted earlier.

The dark color is called Merlot and the white trim is Ivory.

Scenes (I know Cogs hates this stuff)

This is the Fishkill, near the cat sanctuary.
Sunset near Garrison.

Catz

Beacon is home to a cat sanctuary. I visited it the other day to see about doing volunteer work. Here are some of the denizens.

"I'm Noko Marie! Don't mess with me!"






A few are FIV+ or leukemia patients.

Dining Room - Getting Started.

We started with some painting. We painted the ceiling dark, but that's only so that the wallpaper we put on it won't show white if there are gaps between the sheets. The wallpaper we chose will make the ceiling appear to be made of copper or cupric metals.

The walls paint is peanut butter, believe it or not.

Jennifer used newspaper to see what wall-frame moulding would look like on our walls.

Dining Room

Here's what it looks like now.




After two hours at Home Depot yesterday, we're ready to get working again.

Where'd we go?

Well, let's just say that a few weekends have been blown on the couch playing Xbox.