Kitchen Drywall and Tile

After a suitable amount of procrastination, I got help with the drywall and tile. It's nice to no longer look at studs and a hole in the floor.

Master Bedroom Light Switches

Perfect indoor project for a cold spring day... rewiring light switches! The old switches worked just fine, but I had to get out of bed (*groan*) to operate them.

These new switches are connected via wifi to a hub that I can operate from my phone... anywhere in the world. I know if future generations read this, they'll roll their eyes and wonder how humanity survived with such medieval technology. But for now, I think it's pretty cool.

Guest Bathroom Tweaks

Just a few updates... the bathroom previously had a bare bulb suspended in a rusting metal box. The new light and fan combo isn't sexy, but does the trick. The components are wired together, so I added a timer switch to turn the fan off after a short while.

For some reason, no one (including myself) can ever remember how to work the guest shower. (In fact, during the home buying inspection, the inspector, the agents, and everyone in the house failed at this... we had to call the seller.)

Simple solution: computer graphics and laminating plastic.

K9K8 Year In Review: 2016

Multiple interpretations of the word “bed”

Beau cools his belly in the puddle

Mountain Goat Maddox

My Sadie girl had a tumor in her eyeball. A melanoma distorting the lens, so she’s already blind in that eye. I suppose her surgery will be a bigger adjustment for me than for her.

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Snow at 70B

I love waking up to brilliant white snow.

Popcorn Ceiling

After confirming that the popcorn ceiling doesn't contain asbestos (mail-in DIY kit), I set to spraying and scraping down the ceiling. I used big plastic sheets to funnel all the droppings into a garbage bag, which minimized the amount of nasty cleanup.

Kitchen Demolition and Appliances

Cutting out the wall separating the dining room from the kitchen gives the refrigerator door to open. With the wall gone, the light switch needed to move to a different wall.

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The vent from the previous microwave recirculated air back into the kitchen. I wanted the new microwave to vent out into the carport, so I needed to cut another hole in the house. Someday I'll repair the siding so it looks nicer, but for now, it'll keep the bugs out.

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Connected... love the apps!

Tribute to a 27-Year Old Fridge

This fridge came with the house, and chugged along for much longer than should be expected. My appraiser described it as ‘serviceable’, which seems to be the politically correct way to point out that it works but probably will require TLC to keep it working.

It must have sensed that the new appliances would be arriving the very next day, and decided to crap out. Let it be known that I got every last minute of useful life out of this thing. RIP, my old fridge.

You kept my food cold, sort of
Lack of storage helped me diet
Missing kick plate showed your workings
None accuse you of being quiet

Broken shelves empty by gravity
Delayed ice rinsed my flooring
Rotten produce feeds my compost
Energy efficiency is so boring

Front Walk Garden

The arborvitae hedges smelled nice, but had grown beyond an attractive shape. I initially tried to prune them back, hoping the woody lower half would fill in. It didn't. So out they went.

Finally I decided that I didn’t really want a row of matching, unappealing hedges. I picked new plantings that will hopefully give the area more interest all year long.

• Dwarf Alberta spruce
• Oenothera 'Siskiyou Pink'
• Salvia
• Missouri Primrose
• Spirea
• Butterfly bush
• Hydrangea

Update December 2016: My little spruce is adorable dressed up for Christmas.

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Update Summer 2017: a few plants didn’t survive the winter, but for the most part, my plants are thriving. I love the variety of heights and textures and colors and flowers. The scent of flowers and a flutter of butterflies greets me every time I walk out the door.

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