Well….it feels pretty darn good to have all of the sanding done in the kitchen and finally getting ready to paint after two months of hard work…and that makes for a nice afternoon as I just take it easy after working all morning…and the only thing that I have left to do before I get started is washing the walls and ceiling tomorrow to get all of the dust off of them…it has been a long, long journey to get to this point and I’m pretty sure that I’ve done some permanent damage to my body doing it…my right thumb never stops hurting anymore and my back is the same but I don’t know if that will get better if I rest it some after I paint next week….going to really try to finish it up next week and then take some time off again to let things heal up before I get to work on the dining room…don’t have a lot of prep to do in there other than the baseboards and the two windows but I think they will each only take about a day for that and then I can get to painting after I get some TSP to clean the walls…but, right now I am going to just sit for a bit and start to plan for the lasagna I’m making later…I need something to eat that will give me the cals I need to keep working…ow…now my right side hurts, too….darn…
Good on ya, Formula 1…
Well..just finished up the kitchen work and shoveling the snow and have settled in to have the rest of the coffee and read a little news…and that news made me smile a little about the world of sports…with the announcement yesterday from UEFA that they are pulling the Champions League final from Russia after Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine…today brought another welcome bit of news when Formula 1 announced that the Russian Grand Prix, scheduled for later in the year, has been cancelled for the same reason, that Putin can’t be rewarded for his thuggish behavior and has also forced one of Putin’s favorite cronies, Mazepin, to get the hell out of Formula 1 and stop sponsoring the Haas F1 team…with the additional good result that his son, Nikita, the worst driver that F1 has ever seen is out of a drive that should go to Piero Fittipaldi now…a vastly better driver and he didn’t get there just because his daddy had deep pockets…now, I’m looking toward the Premier league in England to sanction Roman Abramovich and throw him out of the league and find someone else to own Chelsea…and any other Russian that has anything else to do with the league needs to be gone permanently….and the thing that pisses me off is that everyone knew that Abramovich was a Putin crony and got his wealth by stealing it from the Russian people but nothing was done about that…it’s about time that everyone that has anything to do with Russia who hasn’t disavowed Putin pay for being toadies to this asshole…now is the time…geez…
February 25th
Well…running really late today with not getting up til 6:33 and it’s almost time to get on the bike and I am just starting my first cup of coffee so I need to rush to get back on schedule….have a long day of work in the kitchen today that will start as soon as I get my miles in…it’s going to be dusty so I need to put up another air lock on the door into the dining room to try to control it…but, I don’t think it will be as bad as when I did the cabinets since I didn’t use nearly as much filler….and I’m going to try to vacuum as I go with the sander hooked up to my shop vac…it should take about 3 hours or so to get the sanding done and then another 2 to clean up so I can use the kitchen later to make lasagna…need to make something big since I have had three days of only one meal a day and I know that an egg salad sandwich and some chips is not enough to support the work I’ve been doing….and I need to get out to do the 5 inches of snow we got out here last night but that won’t be til later….I am going to have to take a rest day Sunday since my hands and right shoulder are in pain today from the sanding yesterday and it won’t get better without rest….not much to do today…just the dust eating and clean up and I am looking forward to the relief I’ll feel when I get done….and I think I am going to try my new mop on the kitchen floor today to get the dust up….more later….
Okay, I’ll stop whining…
Well…okay, I really think I need to stop whining about all the work I’m doing on this house…especially after bending Tom’s ear this morning for quite a while…after all, I have a house that belongs to me that many people would love to have and would also love to be doing the work that I keep complaining about….I do hurt like crazy but damn, I’m old and should hurt after sitting cross legged on the floor…okay, that brought up the song by Chicago called “25 or6 to four” that I like and that’s how my brain works…it always goes back to music…and I can’t get that out of my head since I thought of it…so, I’ll quit whining about working on my house and take the rest of the afternoon off after putting in over 4 hours today…tomorrow is going to be a huge dust day in the kitchen getting the rest of the filling sanded to get ready to paint everything..but I am going to attach my sander to my shop vac since that seems to keep the dust down…and I forgot that I do need to wedge a day in to wash every surface to make sure I get the dust off so the paint will stick….and I think that will be Saturday so I can start on painting the trim Monday…hope I have enough paint….more later…
Couldn’t have made a bigger mistake….
Well…with the moron Putin invading Ukraine and the world’s response to it, it looks like he couldn’t have made a bigger mistake….starting with Ukraine shooting down at least 7 Russian aircraft and the widespread protests across Russia against the invasion, there are even reports that there have been some Russian troops who have surrendered once they understood that their mission was to kill Ukrainians. Let’s add to those events the fact that the Russian stock exchange is down almost 45% since the invasion started and sanctions are coming fast and hard from all across the globe including cutting Russia off from the world banking system and the start of sanctions against Putin’s cronies that include seizing their offshore bank accounts where they have stashed all of the cash they’ve stolen from the Russian people…and almost every country has ceased allowing any Russian to get a visa to travel…so no business or pleasure travel until Putin gives up his thuggery…oh, and to Putin’s big reason for invading that was to stop Ukraine’s joining of NATO and it’s expansion? It appears that Sweden and Finland are meeting with NATO today to talk about membership that would ensure that if Putin tries any bullshit with them, section 5 would be triggered and that means that if they are attacked, it is an attack on everyone in NATO and there is no way Putin can deal with that. So, moron, nice job, Putin…this is going to go down in history as one of the biggest mistakes ever made and I think it will mean the downfall of Russia for good….and the Hague is waiting for you if you ever leave Russia again for the war crimes you are committing right now….very smart, asshole…
February 24th
Well…up early today and feel a little worn out…probably from only eating one meal yesterday since I worked on the kitchen until after one and that is too late to make lunch….so I just had an orange and called it good…and that pattern is going to happen again today since I need to finish up the sanding and filling on the trim…not looking forward to moving the stove out and discovering what is under it and cleaning that up before I work on the baseboard behind it…..and my right heel has developed it’s first cracks of the winter and that is going to make it pretty painful to stand on it all morning but it has to be done…I did get quite a bit of work done on the kitchen yesterday and I am edging toward just ending the work after today since I could keep working on it forever if I don’t….and this place is 82 years old and will never be perfect without spending thousands and thousands of dollars that I am just not going to spend…and I am not going to do that much work….since I started, my goal was to just make this place liveable and clean and I can accomplish that without making it perfect….and I can always come back to do the detail work after I get the major stuff done….not sure why I feel depressed this morning but I think it just one of those cycles that happens every couple of months and part of it is all of the work I’ve done on the kitchen and I feel like I’m no closer to finishing it than I was a month ago….I mean two months to do just one room? And I’m still a good two weeks away from painting the walls and ceiling but that will go pretty fast once I get to that point…and I still need to buy a range hood and hang it but that has to wait until the painting is done….so, you can see how this could contribute to being a little depressed…I think anyone would be….not much to do today…just the normal routine but I am not going to stop on the kitchen until I’m done with the prep in there…so it looks like a 5 hour day today and will probably use up the new tub of patching material before I’m done….man, I’m tired…more later….
Not enough sanctions…
Well…with the bullshit that Putin is pulling in Ukraine…just announcing that he recognized two regions as being independent countries…after he spent the past 5 years attacking those provinces by sending Russian soldiers disguised as Ukrainians in to cause mayhem and give him an excuse to send in un-disguised troops that is essentially an invasion based on lies…and the rest of the world, other than China, is standing together to make Putin pay for his unlawful behavior. But, with the sanctions that have been announced by both the US and the EU along with the UK, I still don’t think there are enough of them and I don’t think they are targeting the right people…I do agree with going after the banks in Russia and all of the Duma who voted to give Putin permission to invade…but I also think the next round that should be announced today in my opinion, should go after all of the oligarchs who have been Putin’s cronies and have stolen all of the wealth of Russia over the past 20 years…and that should start by seizing every damn villa, super yacht, bank account, and everything else of these thieves and make sure they can’t travel anywhere in the world or they will be arrested as part of the plot against Ukraine. So, I’m waiting, Biden…and the EU…get after it and make the pain for Russia so great it’s economy crashes and then maybe the people of Russia will get tired of his crap…it’s happened before…geez…
Getting tired of the cold…
Well…damn, even though I’ve lived in Michigan my entire life and endured 60+ winters here, every year about this time I get tired of being cold…and going out to do the grocery run today and walking back to the car that really hit home…especially since Meijers is only about 2 miles from here and my car doesn’t even hit normal temperature or produce much heat by then….and with it being only 18 degrees out there, the car cools right back down during the 10 minutes I was in the store and then it was cold again on the way to Aldi’s…and that cycle repeated on the way back here so I might just as well have had no heat at all in the car…and my hands were damn frozen by the time I parked the car in the garage and got the groceries inside…they are still cold after being back here a half hour…and having some coffee…oh, well…and looking at the weather out 10 days, it is not going to change much at all with lows still in the teens to twenties…this is the grit my teeth part of the winter here in Michigan…where you just have to take it day by day…and keep looking forward to the spring I know is coming…sometime…and knowing I survived another winter…and in Michigan, that’s not an easy feat….more later…
February 23rd
Well…that was okay…didn’t wake up til 5:30 and was able to roll over for 45 more minutes and still be on time to get to this and on the bike before I head out for the grocery run today…and it’s going to be another week of about 30 bucks for groceries and that is cool…might even be less than that since I got 17 pounds of protein last week and the ingredients for lasagna that I’m going to make tomorrow…can’t remember when I had a grocery list that has less than 15 items on it for two stores….might have to thaw my garage door lock again with the rain we had yesterday and how cold it is now…will probably drag the wd with me when I go out since that worked to thaw it last time…with the rain yesterday, I think the trails may be almost melted and I may suit up and take a look at them the next time it gets to be over 40…and that will be early next week…I did get some work done yesterday and need to get the rest of the trim prepped so I can get it sanded by the end of the week but that may take me two days and I won’t get to painting til next week and then I need to do some prep work on the walls and I may do that before I sand the trim so I only have one cleanup day before I start to paint…and I probably should do the second door frame that I was going to leave til later so the entire kitchen will be done in a week or so….I wonder if I will have earned another week off after that? I know that my right hand and elbow will need the rest after I’m done since it is already hurts like crazy after just one part of the trim and the door frame from yesterday….not much to do today…just the grocery run and the rest of the baseboards and then on to the door frame tomorrow….should be able to sand Friday…I hope….and then do the cleanup…crap…forgot about prepping the walls and ceiling and that will take a full day so I probably won’t get to sanding til Monday…but I should still be able to paint next week…but I need to buy another gallon of gray paint since I don’t think I have enough to two-coat the walls with what I have…but that will be okay since I’ll need some touch up paint to maintain everything in the kitchen as I chip them…more later….
3 hours of work for one door frame?
Well….I really did have plans to get all of the rest of the trim for the kitchen sanded and filled today but the door frame for the door to the basement had another idea…after taking my good putty knife to chop off the extra plaster that was left on it and painted over, I started to scrape the rough edges that looked pretty beat up and I thought it was in the wood but it was only in the layers and layers of paint that was on the trim and that had been chipped and painted over with no prep for 40 years…so, after an hour and a half of scraping and chipping that paint off, I finally got to the sanding for all of it to get ready to try to smooth it enough to fill the bad spots…oh, after I used a screwdriver and a hammer to set most of the nails that were working loose…the I finally got to filling all of the flaws trying to not use as much filler as I had been using to keep the dust down when I start to sand it in a few days…but I am going to wait until all of the trim is filled and ready for sanding so I’ll only have one cleanup to do after I’m done…still…3 hours for one dang door frame? Way too much work and I’m glad that the rest of the house is going to be much less work…I hope….