No real work today - just a lazy weekend on the island. Cool weather and good breezes. Had to snap this photo of two best friends out for a boat ride - Peanut's first. She now insists upon being called Salty Dog.

Stealth Project

OK, so the next project which is in the works: The bathroom for Harry's study. This was the red-headed stepchild of the house -- the last room to receive only superficial "help" since we bought the house in . . . .1993? Anyway, this one was done in a devious and totally unethical manner. It's real simple. One evening there I am minding my own business -- probably reading one of YOUR blogs and messing around on Facebook - when it APPEARS (the jury is still out on this) that I am asked by Miss Lisa: "Bing, what would you say to getting _____ to demo the study bath and then getting ____ to replumb it and then getting _____ to install new tile and then getting _____ to finish up with new fixtures?" Of course, glass of wine in hand I undoubtedly said something like, "Sure. Sounds good." Well, la-te-dah come a Monday only a short while later ___ shows up, crowbar in hand! What the . . . .??!! Comes to turn out that my "Sure Whatever" response was met with an immediate desire to hire all of these folks, and now we are completely . .. . demo'd. Pictures attached. Stay tuned as we take you through the process. Next Installment: "Bathtub, bathtub, who's got the bathtub?!"

New Projects

OK, ok, we've been silent. But that's not because we're not trying. Mainly, we've been starting new projects an working from there. Two new projects to report on: Rain gauge and study bathroom. First rain gauge.

The rain gauge is a little device which sits by our irrigation system control box and collects water. When the water over a certain time period reaches a certain level, the gauge tells the irrigation system "brains" (roughly akin to the processing power of a No. 2 pencil, I suspect; I call it HAL) that it does not need to water that day. Great idea, poorly executed. Mainly poorly executed because it does not work. I've looked out the window during howling rainstorm gales and seen the irrigation system irrigating away. So, it doesn't work. However, it looks neat. So, of course, I need to keep it. Anyway, that's not the point of the story. The point of the story is that this gauge was mounted on a board which stuck out above HAL and while ostensibly serving as a rain gauge mainly served as a way to keep HAL from getting too wet. The other day, through the fault of no-one, this board broke. It had NOTHING - nada - to do with the fact that one certain Houston attorney whose initials are BMB leaned on it while doing unrelated maintenance. It just broke. So, I had to re-situate the gauge. Not so that the gauge would work, but so that HAL would stay protected. My solution? A subtle yet effective use of left over floor tile from the island and WonderSubstance (a/k/a Duct Tape). The photos are attached to this blog. Enjoy the beauty and creativity of the simple solution. I now see where my children got their artistic talent, including the talent of the architect.

Lisa and The Glue Gun

Today we resume our work on the island. You may (or, if you have a LIFE, may NOT) recall that on our last visit we painted the new, post-Ike trash bin. Today, Lisa got out her glue gun - a deadly professional grade Aleene's Model 4376GR top-o'-the-line machine for use only by the fully trained - and created a sign board for the bin, with our address and some local seashells. I then mounted it on the bin, and voila. Not bad at all.

Lisa has a way with glue guns. Unfortunately, she is also a danger to anything in the neighborhood. I generally try to stay far away from her when she uses this machine, lest I find myself glued to some basket or frame. Better safe than sorry.

So, to occupy myself and stay out of range of the glue gun, I managed to finally - after a long 1 1/2 years - oil our kitchen counter tops - nice and shiny now. I'd post a photo of that, but I can't figure out how to make this thing put THAT photo at the bottom of this post instead of the top, so you'll just have to imagine how it looks.

Anyway, Harry is away with some friends, so it's just the two of us on the island. We can't cook since the countertops are . . . all oily. So, maybe the best treat of all: CMB - Cafe Michael Burger for dinner!!

Galveston - Tiling the Kitchen

Well today we managed to get the backsplash up for the kitchen. This was next (and last) on our list of projects on the island when Ike hit. Ike, of course, set us back a half a house, so it took us a year to recover from Ike. Now we have finished most of the pre-Ike projects. The only major project left? New deck. Anyway, photos are on Facebook or somewhere, but a few great examples are shown above.

More painting!

This time, at the bay.

We are on the island for Labor Day weekend. What was supposed to be rainy and dreary has in fact become beautiful, sunny, breezy and almost cool. And because of the weather forecast errors, not too many tourists. Great stuff.

Anyway, there is no rest for the weary so last night - about the time of my second (third?) glass of wine, when my defenses were down - I was somehow persuaded to paint our trash can bin. Lisa says it was entirely my idea, but I think there was some chicanery involved.

In any event, this is the wooden box which holds our trash cans, so the local dogs and whatever don't get into our trash; you get the idea. The one that was here when we bought the house washed out to New Orleans with Hurricane Ike. So, we had to have a new one built. The fellow who built it for us "forgot" to paint it, so it was bare wood. We would not want our neighbors in Louisiana to get our hurricane jetsom unpainted, so this was a task we needed to complete before the next storm came along and carried all of our possessions across the Sabine River.

Again, I normally would not be fooled into an undertaking of this nature, but as I have said, my defenses were down. It was totally unfair.

To get to the point, this morning we went off to the hardware store and loaded up with paint and rollers for this should-be-easy task. Three hours later, we were done. The results? See for yourself.

I think we are through with
projects for the weekend.

So, not too bad - one chore.
Sure, it's not like painting a HOUSE,
but it is a LOT more work than it looks like.
Promise.


More later.

Time to Change the Living Room

Last weekend I decided to paint the living room. I took off from work early on Friday and picked up all the essentials - paint, brushes, drop clothes. And on a whim -- a Wagner automatic paint roller. Perhaps, I thought, I would be able to entice my "I don't do paint" husband to help with the job. After all - what real guy can resist a gizmo (even if it is paint related).

The initial reaction from Brad was as expected -- "I doubt seriously that thing will work" -- "It will probably be a big mess" -- "Undoubtedly a piece of junk" -- and of course - "That thing is going to be hell to clean!" In response to all comments I simply nodded affirmatively and kept my mouth shut... biding my time. The hook had been baited -- just had to reel him in.

By Friday night, he had read the entire instruction manual. By Saturday morning, he had unpacked the gizmo. By Saturday afternoon, he offered to "set it up" for me. A few minutes later -- he was busily rolling paint onto the living room walls -- and refusing to relinquish the gizmo to me.

I never rolled on a single drop of paint... not one. The "I don't paint" husband was painting. And not because of my feminine wiles or an altruistic desire to help -- but because the gizmo was so irresistable.

By Sunday evening all the furniture was moved back into place, the art rehung and we enjoyed a glass of wine in our new and improved living room. Of course, Brad said that he really didn't see why we need to change the color in the first place. But he did like that power roller...