Painting Almost Completed

I decided yesterday to finish painting the south end of the cabin.  I tried hand sanding the Spackled areas and could see that wasn't going to work so went to Ace and purchased a small Black & Decker hand sander.

After draping the bunk area with drop cloths...

...I started sanding...







It got the job done but there were a couple of issues.  The "clear plastic housing of the [dust] canister" as referred to in the enclosed instructions, would not stay on.  Without it, apparently all of the dust was just going out into the room.  The canister, which was supposed to be emptied every five minutes, was totally empty at the end of the job and although the dust on the furniture was not intolerable, I did have to go over everything with a duster when I was finished.   I'm going to take it back to Ace and see how they'll handle this complaint. 

The other thing was that the sandpaper wore out almost immediately...

...I guess because 1) I'd already "damaged" the sandpaper when I bent it to insert it (why don't they make these sandpaper sheets with flexible edges that don't crack?), and 2) I was using the edge to get down into the cracks of the bead board, so was putting undue pressure on it.  I managed to get the worst of the rough Spackle sanded off with four pieces of sandpaper.

Then I started painting.  Of course I knew what to expect--pinstripes--but it seemed worse in this end of the cabin...

Prep always take longer than the actual project.  I didn't get started painting until 4 p.m.  The ceiling was the worst...

After I rolled the paint on I had to take the brush and try to fill in all the crevices.  I'd think I had them filled then I'd look at them from a different angle and could still see white.  In fact, even after all my repeated efforts, I can still see areas that I'm going to have to go back over perhaps with a very stiff artist's brush...or a cotton swab dipped in paint...or a toothpick!  I'm not sure, but I know I won't be happy until all of these white areas are covered with paint.

I even got the curtains taken down and window taped off and painted...

...and the door sort of painted.  I need to open the panels and the door itself and paint the edges. (My brother-in-law carves walking sticks and these are a couple he's left here that I've put in an umbrella stand I found in one of my thrift store forays).

Anyway, it looks pretty good...

I finished about 8 p.m. and then had to drag everything that I'd moved out to the deck back into the cabin in case the wind came up in the night or it finally decided to rain...

This photo should be labeled "In Search of the Perfect Shelf."  With the goal of displaying more porcelain, I've bought three shelves, each with the groove for plate display.  Does that have a name?  I'm almost at a point now where I can decide where, if anywhere, these might go and then I can paint them. 

I had painted the mirror in the foreground preparatory to taking it to Wild Bill's in Rollinsville.  It had been in perfect condition, but I thought the black paint would be better than the original dark green for resale.  I had just got it painted and Dixie knocked over the space heater and gouged out a little place so now I've got to fill that, sand it and repaint it. 

By the way, guess who returned today?

The Boyfriend cruised by earlier, cop shades firmly in place, when I was eating brunch out on the deck, Dixie at my feet.  I ignored him. 

I felt as if I'd been run over by a truck earlier today, but I think I might have enough umph now to trek some more of this wood over to the privacy fence and cord it up before our weather changes.  NOAA is still showing 20%-30% chance of rain and or snow right through Saturday starting tonight.

What projects are you checking off your list?  Oh, and to my few and reticent followers, you are allowed to comment!  Teddee

Happy Easter!

This is probably it for me.  I had one of these for breakfast...

...now I can see that would have been cheerier if I hadn't already eaten the yolk.  What is it with eggs and Easter?  A holdover from pagan days?  Fertility?  Oh, no.  Let's not have any of that again.  I was aghast not too many weeks ago to read a blog on which everyone was congratulating the blogger because her sister had just had her tenth....I repeat, tenth...child!  Whatever happened to Zero Population Growth?

I digress.  I did not find any sander at Walmart yesterday to compare to the one I'd seen at Ace and by the time I returned to Nederland, Ace had been closed several hours so I'm not spending Easter Sunday sanding.  Of course I had had to stop at Savers and Goodwill in Boulder even before I headed out to the Longmont Walmart.  My friend Paula had alerted me a new Goodwill would be opening in Longmont, but that isn't until next Saturday.  That's going to be a crazy day if I allow myself to get caught up in it because it is also, finally, a 50% off Saturday at all Goodwills.  They haven't had one for some reason for several weeks.

I had a filled punch card at Savers, so used the 30% off on some fabric and tie-backs I may eventually use to curtain off the bunk area.  The tie-backs were $4.99 each less 30%.  One of them still had an original shop tag on it of $8.50.  They are both luscious and well made.  I think the one created from ribbons is the most interesting.

The orbs are apparently Christmas ornaments or were used as such--they have monofilament loops on the tops (color coordinating again!).  They are really heavy but I can't determine of what the core, around which the wire is wrapped, is made.  I got the pair for $2.99 less 30%.

I love the colors in the fabric, which is a drapery panel ($6.99 less 30%), but think both the fabric and colors might be a heavy for summer.  It can actually get hot in the afternoons here even at this altitude and when that occurs it takes a while for the temperatures to cool off after the sun goes down and you're opening all of the windows and praying for a breeze.  I think if I get the rods in place, I can use something lighter and paler for summer and switch over to this for fall and winter...or I may just forget doing anything this summer.  We'll see how it goes.  I did purchase an off-white king-sized flat sheet the other day for possible use this summer, but it doesn't have much character.

I also nabbed these little fake wooden books to use as risers to bring things up to the proper height in tablescapes and shelf vignettes.  They are individual pieces so can be used separately or stacked in whatever combination needed.  If you enjoy arranging your "finds" on table tops and in bookshelves then you can't have too many plate holders, small easels and pedestals and other items you can use to change the height of items. Grab them whenever you see them, especially if, as in this case, they're only $1.99 less the everyday Colorado Goodwill senior discount of, what?, 10%?  I think it's 15% on Mondays.

My "big find" was this case of 60 watt standard light bulbs or bombillas if you prefer. 

These will no longer be made after January of next year I understand and I am going to be quite sad and frustrated as I detest the light the "new" energy saver bulbs emit...and no one can tell me it is more "natural" than that produced by incandescent bulbs.  I kept trying them when they first came out and not only is the illumination reduced, but there's something just plain weird about the color of the light.  But I'm going out in real sunshine right now and take a walk.  It is truly a gorgeous day.

Is the weather cooperating where you are?  Teddee

Waiting with Guacamole

I feel as if I'm just waiting right now.  Waiting for the dough--the settlement check from Sears for the botched auto repairs and the reimbursement of the double-dipped payment from the IRS--waiting to determine if the few things I dropped off at The Wild West Mercantile Co today will be accepted, waiting for the weather to improve again so I can continue this painting project and get the mattress off the table and back onto the bed and get my clothing bins put back on the top bunk so I can move around in this one room.

I slept fine last night on the foam pad and two sleeping bags...

...I threw on the electric blanket and a woven throw for a little weight and didn't get cold until this morning when the electric blanket automatically went off.  It was chilly this morning.  My neighbor said she saw tiny snowflakes (she and her husband had been camping in Utah those two weeks they were gone, I found out).  According to NOAA it was supposed to get down to 33F degrees last night.  The wind came up making it too cool and windy this morning to drag things out on the deck to make enough elbow room to get the piece of plywood down off the top bunk and take it outside and paint it...
































...and I need to do that before I can paint these...

But I did get the paint for the above when I stopped at Ace today to get fire starters...

...now I'm really anxious to see what this looks like when applied.

It's supposed to be mostly sunny tomorrow with a high of 54F degrees so I should be able to use the deck as another room and move some things outside to make it easier to maneuver in here as well as get the piece of plywood outside so I can paint it.  I'll roll the same color of paint on it as I'm using on the cabin walls and ceiling and just use the bronze Glitter Blast on the springs and wires.

The owner of The Wild West Mercantile Co. was not in when I dropped off a few "test items" this afternoon.  His assistant said he didn't want anything he couldn't price for a least $50!  That seems pie-in-the-sky for Rollinsville.  I'll have to take some photos of "main street" Rollinsville the next time I'm there and post them!  The assistant did agree to keep the items and let the owner decide.

In the meantime, I'm on page 244 of Elizabeth George's Believing the Lie and I made guacamole tonight...

I make really good guac.  I sort of cook by the seat of my pants, so just take two ripe avocados, cut them in half, remove the pit, scoop out the pulp and mash it up with a fork.  I suppose you could use a food processor, but I've never owned one and I like my guac really chunky.  Slice a bunch of green onions including a little of the green top, chop up a couple of cloves of garlic and a couple of plum tomatoes--you can use more tomatoes if you're trying to stretch your avocado.  Add the onion, garlic and tomato to the mashed avocado.  Add salt, chili powder and powdered cumin to taste.  I like lots of cumin.  Serve with your favorite chips.  I've been liking Nash Brothers Yellow Corn & Flaxseed Tortilla Chips for the last several years.  They have a lot of uumph to them.

So how do you spend your time while you're waiting?  Teddee

A Matter of Perspective

Welcome to the Sistine Chapel...

This is the ceiling of the area of the cabin above the bunks.  I spent much of the day on my back either Spackling or painting this and the walls of the bunk area.

I had been procrastinating on this part of the painting project because I knew it was going to be a challenge.  All winter I had the excuse that the ceiling and walls were too cold.  Now that it has warmed up, that was no longer the case.  In fact, we had another beautiful day.  It's 60F degrees on my thermometer at 5 p.m.  My 80-year-old neighbor was starting to garden so I was challenged to get on with this project

I had to move some things out onto the deck to clear the way for the White Whale, this mattress with which I do battle on a regular basis.



I don't know what it's filled with, but it's heavy, really heavy.  I managed to wrestle it onto the table, but it was blocking the door so I wrestled it up onto the couch...

but it didn't stay there long, falling off when I tried to access the plastic storage bin that serves as my tool box that was on the couch.  I fought my way around it all day.

I also had to move my "closet."  These storage bins that I keep on the top bunk are my only clothing storage.

Once I got the decks cleared, I Spackled the deep cracks in the bead board on both the ceiling and walls, scraping off the excess with a small Spackle knife.  I got Spackle in my right eye and had to get down and irrigate my eye with artificial tears and then I put on my safety glasses.
 
When I was finished filling the cracks,  I opened the paint I had purchased on Christmas eve....

Yech!  I needed more Spackle anyway, so took this back to Ace and had them put it on the shaker again, came back and started painting.  Painting this bead board, especially since I am switching from a light to a dark color, is difficult.  Paint rolled on doesn't permeate the cracks in the bead board so you have to go back over everything with a brush.  If you get enough paint on your brush to fill the cracks, it starts running down the handle.  It was a pretty messy day, but I got most of it completed...

 ...but I need to remove this upper piece of plywood, take it outside and paint it and then paint these springs...

This is what is over my head when I sleep.  I've had the idea ever since I started living here that I'd like to hang short strands of mixed glass beads at random from these...Might as well have something interesting to stare at.  I was even thinking it would be fun to spray paint these wires and springs some metallic color.  I'll see what I feel like tomorrow.  If I spray paint I'm definitely going to have to go out to the woodshed and retrieve that huge drop cloth and drape everything in the immediate area.

I didn't want to move the mattress back until everything was done and dry, so I'll be sleeping on a piece of foam and two sleeping bags tonight...

...and hoping the White Whale doesn't flip over on me in the night.

Did you meet a challenge today?  Teddee

Hard Day's Work

I only got part way to my goal today of replacing the old shelving on the west wall next to the stove with my brand new bakers rack.  I started by clearing everything off the shelves.  Then I removed the shelf with the Pennsylvania Dutch motif. 

That came down easily because it had not been there long.  Then I attacked the old counter-high shelf.  I knew this would be a challenge because it had been there, I think, since the cabin was built in 1939.  Too bad I hadn't had this idea before I painted because this paint I bought at Ace that has the primer in it is really tough paint.  I could see two screws beneath the paint and dug out around them and cleaned out the slot in the top so I could get a screw driver in there.  Then I squirted a lot of WD-40 in and around them.  They came out much more easily than I had anticipated, but the shelf didn't budge when they were removed.

I could see a small nail head under each screw hole, but could tell there was something higher up that was keeping the shelf in place.  I used a screw driver and hammer to drive down between the wall and shelf.  Good thing the screw driver was already damaged! 

I finally determined my Dad had driven in nails on an angle, one on top and one in from the side, on each end of the shelf.  I was able to get one out because the wood was so rotten it splintered and left the nail exposed, but the other three weren't budging.  Time to go to Nederland for a pry bar.  I needed to exchange two library books for two more anyway and pick up a few groceries, so cleaned  up and made the run into town.  Couldn't decide which of a myriad of pry bars at Ace to buy, but with an eye on the budget, figured I'd start out small so paid about $6 for one. 

Came home and, with an apology to my Dad, started prying away.  The pry bar is my new favorite tool!  It really worked.  Had the shelf off within ten minutes. 

Had to knock out all the old, rusty nails from the shelf since they looked like tetanus to go.

Then had to address the damage to the wall behind the shelves.  (While I was thinking about that, I cut up all the cardboard from the packing box the bakers rack came in.  I am low on kindling and am having to buy fire starters, so this will come in handy).  I could see that some of the damage on the wall was just paint edges from my and other previous paint jobs.  But there was some rotten wood behind the lower shelf. I tried sanding by hand, but it seemed as if I was making little progress.  Decided I would just build up the areas with a product I had purchased several weeks ago called Erase-a-Hole.  It's Spackle in what looks like stick deodorant form.  I think it worked fairly well. 

 I'm waiting for it to dry so I can sand it and then paint.  I think it probably needs to dry over night. At any rate, I'm using that as an excuse to stop and start one of my new books.  Tired.

These are my new helpmeets:

 

What are your "must-have" tools?  Teddee