Saturday’s Story

I didn’t set the alarm, but an amber alert on the cell phone woke me up at 6:05 a.m., anyway. I made a cup of coffee and it worked! Better yet, it didn’t taste like vinegar!!! I posted the Blog entry and made another cup, just because I could.

I shaved, showered, got dressed and hit the road, driving in the rain. First stop was Margaret’s house for my massage. Then she insisted on helping me unload the branches, in the drizzle. She gave me four 8-foot pieces of primed cedar siding. She bought them to try on her garage, but then decided to go with vinyl siding instead. So, I loaded them up.

Next was my haircut. From there I went to Home Depot to look for replacement hinges for the base cabinet (they are unusual). They had one pair that “sorta” matched, but they were chrome, not gold, and the kid wants gold. Sigh…

Then I went to Meijer’s and got two more pairs of walking shorts, some green onions and a box of small mixed tomatoes, called “Wild Wonders.”

I got back home around noon. I left the truck outside. I was hungry, so I warmed up the last two pieces of pizza, watching a DIY show (for inspiration). When I finished lunch, I was going to go to work. But. I passed the kitchen window, I saw a Canada goose walking across my backyard. I ran in the office, grabbed my camera and took a picture of it out the bathroom window.

Sidebar: I hate those damn birds!

First up, I finally painted the birdbath. The wind was blowing from the south, so I couldn’t do it on the side lawn (not with the truck outside). So, I put a board in the middle of the front lawn and sprayed it there. I got the first coat on and went inside to check the time (you have to repaint within one hour).

Sidebar: It’s a slightly darker color than the original. But that’s the closest I could get in Rust-o-leum paint.

Then I moved on to the next project: sanding off the wood putty from the newer cabinet doors. I set up a sanding station and got out the palm sander. 

Note: This only applies to the three flat panel doors that were over the stove, BTW. There was one damaged base cabinet door I had to use wood putty on, but I’m not worried about that one today.

So, I used 60 grit paper to get through the old polyurethane on the front and then 100 grit to smooth it out. The edges of each door were the worst. When I got all three doors cleaned up, I got a base cabinet door and measured from the edge of the door to the raised edge (the edges were routed out). It was exactly 1/2 inch.

So, I measured in 1/2 inch on the three flat panel doors and then measured for the lath strips.

Sidebar: Yes, this is similar to what I did on my own cabinet doors, but I did mine to give the doors some depth. Also, I mitered the corners on mine. These I made like the base cabinets, with the side ones full length and the top and bottom just filling in.

I went back out and gave the bird bath a second coat. Then I set it on the front porch to dry. It had stopped raining a while back, but looks threatening every now and then. Instead, it was hot and muggy.

I turned on the air compressor, got the brad gun and Elmer’s glue and attached them. I took a photo for you.

Sidebar: No, it’s not a perfect match but, once painted, it won’t look noticeably “different.” Especially because it will be hung across the room.

I went inside and got the spackling paste, only to find it was rock hard. So, I changed clothes (again) and went and got some at Home Depot.

Back home, I changed clothes (back into shorts - it was too humid for anything else) and spackled the doors. I left them all to dry.

It was getting late, but I went out back and refilled the feeders. I checked out the raised bed vegetable garden and pulled some of the many weeds (I’ll do the rest when I plant it). I also pulled all the dead herbs from the raised bed herb garden. The winter was hard on it and, sadly, only one sage plant made it. I took some catnip in for Caley.

Back inside, I thought I’d make tacos for dinner (that’s what the tomatoes were for). So, I started getting things out. But, when I got out my flour tortillas, I found they were moldy! Dammit!!! I could have gotten some at Meijer’s this morning.

So, I threw them away and put everything else back. I was not about to change clothes and go out again, so I made tuna and peas for dinner, instead.

It was after 7:00 p.m. My legs hurt from standing on the garage floor and my back hurt from bending over while sanding. I realized I had totally blown my morning massage. So, I laid down to rest and watch some TV. I fell asleep before an hour was up.

I woke up near 11:00 p.m., so I watched the news and Saturday Night Live. Then I went to bed for real.