Kitchen Remodel III

It's done!

New range and dishwasher arrived last week, several weeks later than we'd hoped.  Mama very happy, has already used both the convection and conventional ovens, and the dishwasher a couple times.

Before above, after below.

For the benefit of LHC area homeowners, I offer these comments about our contractors:

     1.  In my first post on the remodel, I said 'more later' in regard to Flakes-R-Us Cabinetmakers, aka Bob's Cabinets and More.  They do quality work but: they didn't build one of the cabinets to my specs, it took twice as long as they said it would, their phone etiquette is non-existent as is their customer service.  I sent Bob a letter, detailing my experience and requesting a substantial cost reduction.  He apologized and discounted the final invoice as requested.

     2.  Arizona Decorative Concrete did the floor and they were everything Bob's was not: good work, courteous, timely and accommodating.

     3.  Painting was done by Tim's Custom Painting and they get high marks, also.  And, they're surprisingly affordable.  I gave them the extra $ I squeezed out of Bob's, even though Tim didn't ask for it.  He had to make several extra trips because the new cabinets weren't here on schedule.

Finally, sarcasm aside, I have to admit that I'm quite pleased with the results, also.

Trump

I'm apolitical, avoid politics like the plague.  Hell, politicians are a plague.  We should fire the lot of them.

This is about the person, not his politics, not his party.  I have these observations:

     1.  He has to be a major factor in global warming, given the amount of hot air he expels.

     2.  If he were a centipede, he would still run out of fresh feet to insert in his mouth, probably within 24 hours.

     3.  The hair.  Oh my God, the hair!  

Kitchen Remodel II

Continued from my December 3rd post on the same subject.

4th step: paint is sprayed randomly on the concrete overlay,

3 colors that tied in the granite counters and the red base cabinets.

Last step: 2 coats of urethane.

Looking good!

We had John (owner of Arizona Decorative Concrete, good guy) apply a 2nd urethane coat because there was considerable sheen variation when the first coat dried.  John said he would arrive mid afternoon to do the work but his schedule changed and he arrived at 9:30 AM.  Trish was already out and about, had left a bag of frozen chicken in the sink to thaw for a crock pot dinner dish.  I was just leaving for pickleball when John arrived.

I returned home around noon, floor all done but not dry yet.  Throughout the afternoon we kept checking the floor to see if it was dry enough to walk on.  We wanted to get the chicken from the sink, and coffee, tea, cereal, etc.  No way, darn floor was still tacky at 8:30 PM.

Said I to Trish, "I think I can get to the sink by walking on the counter."  She beat me to it though, grabbed the stepladder that was nearby (we'd been decorating the Christmas tree) and crawled over the bar.  She sat down on the counter and shuffled sideways until she got to the open space where the range was removed.  That space didn't get the 2nd coat of urethane so she was able to step on the floor and gain access to the next counter area - and the sink.  And the chicken!  She grabbed the chicken and back she came.  I cheered her on and gave her a high five when she returned to safe ground. I then told her that she would hence forth be known as Scuttle-Butt.  

Not content with just one heroic deed, she made 3 more scuttle-butt trips for spices and what not.

It took 3 days for the doggone urethane to become thoroughly dry, well worth it, though.

Sunrise, Sunset

There's no lack of glorious aerial displays in LHC.

These 2 pix were taken in the last few days.

Sunrise

Sunset

Kitchen Remodel I

She wanted a new range and a microwave that was easier to access than the old microwave/vent unit above the range.  He wanted a concrete overlay floor.  Both she and he wanted a range hood with more suck, less noise and effective enough to avoid setting off the smoke alarms and driving the dogs bat shit crazy.

And, she wanted to paint the cabinets, said the golden oak was dated.  He likes oak, but - mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.  And, she said she'd like to get a new dishwasher, too.  And, what did, he say?  Okay, of course - but now he's wondering how darn happy does one little mama need to be? 

This summer while he and she were on the road, he said, "Let's do it."  She said (Surprise, Surprise!), "Yes!"  Upon returning to LHC, she selected the painter; he selected the floor and cabinet people.  He and she would like to say, "The rest is history."  But no, that's not the case, thanks to Flakes-R-Us Cabinetmakers, Inc.  More on that later.

First step was removal of the tile, which created one hell of a mess.

Although plastic sheeting was taped up around the work area,

 dust invaded every cabinet and drawer.  She spent a week cleaning up the mess. 

In retrospect, they should have sealed every door and drawer with masking tape. 

Above picture shows cabinet doors removed for painting, 

although they were still in place when the tile was removed.

  

Second step: apply epoxy adhesive and cover with sand for 'tooth'.

Also, glue down the pebble transition strip.

Between steps 1 and 2, the painters did the cabinet frames,

deep red on base units, warm gray on uppers.

Third step is 'the float', aka overlay.  

A layer of cement is applied, bringing the new surface

 up to the level of the adjoining tile.

Now the floor is smooth and seamless, ready to be colored.

To be continued.

Topock, AZ

Topock is a marina/restaurant located just north of where I-40 crosses the Colorado River.  Topock Gorge, a popular kayaking run, is the stretch of river that runs southward from that intersection, toward Lake Havasu City.  Yesterday, 7 of us (5 in pedal kayaks, 2 in a canoe) did the 15 mile trip: Terry & Lisa, Louise, Roger & Lynn, Trish & I.  A big thank you to Tom & Nancy for loaning us their kayaks and shuttling the vehicles back to Castle Rock, where our journey ended:

Preparing to launch shortly after dawn. 

It was a chilly 56 degrees when we started but it warmed up nicely by mid morning.

Roger in the men's room at Topock Marina.  

It's always a good idea to take care of business before starting a long kayak trip.

The Bridges of Mohave County.  

Natural gas pipeline in distance, I-40 bridge in middle, railroad bridge above.

I-40 in this area used to be Historic Route 66.

    

Smooth water makes for great reflection pix.

Twas quite the enjoyable adventure.  No one drowned, no one flipped their 'yak, no one fell flat on his/her face upon exiting the conveyance.  It was a near thing though, at least for me.  It takes a few moments to get your land legs back after several hours of pedaling,
need to e-a-s-e into it. 

Bless Me, Father.....

"Bless me Father, for I have sinned."  Even folks not into Catholicism may recognize those words, due to all the movies and TV serials that showed confessional scenes.  In case you don't recognize them, they are the first words spoken by penitent to priest when going to confession.  Then, the confessor continues to speak, stating how long it's been since the last confession and providing a list of sins (and number of occurrences) committed in the interim.

Sins come in 2 flavors: venial and mortal.  Mortal sins are nasty: murder, rape, adultery and such.  If you die prior to confessing a mortal sin, you're going straight to hell.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.  Go.  To.  Hell!

Venial sins are less serious.  If you die prior to confessing them, you have to spend a few decades in purgatory before going to heaven.  No biggie, right?  Purgatory may be cooler than hell but nobody knows.  Purgatory may have an early release policy for good behavior but again, nobody knows.

The above is background only.  I wanted to bring readers up to speed before getting into the meat of it, which is this: how do Catholics keep track of their sins?  Do they carry logbooks and pencils at all times, entering tick marks every time they swear or lie or, God forbid, have an impure thought?

I will now confess how I went about it.  Just prior to entering the confessional, I'd think up a list of sins (all venial of course) and number of occurrences.  Realizing the priest most likely recognized my voice, I would be creative: delete an old sin, add a new one, vary the number of occurrences.

One aspect of confession always bothered me: murderers and criminals and other scumbags go straight to heaven if they confess just before they die.  However, if I died with one itty-bitty lie that wasn't confessed - with nary a mortal sin on the score card - I'm going to cook in purgatory for God knows how long.  That's a miscarriage of justice if ever there was one.

Anyway, I want to hear from others who were raised Catholic: did you do what I did when you went to confession, make up a plausible list of infractions?

FYI: I was raised Catholic, was an altar boy, went to church every morning when I was in grade school, studied bible history and catechism.  But, it didn't stick.  Religion isn't my thing.

Finally, one more confession: I grossly understated the number of times I had impure thoughts in my adolescent years.  In my defense, the priest was quite old and I feared he'd have a stroke if I dropped the bomb: impure thoughts, 2,138 occurrences.  Well, gees, it had been a whole week since my last confession!  In retrospect, I could have passed it off as one really l-o-n-g thought, or even 7 not-that-long thoughts.