Whew. This is the first time since 9:00 a.m. that I've sat still for more than 30 minutes...and did I mention that it's now 11:30 p.m.? I'm tired, but it's a happy tired because we (Mare and I) got a lot done today. (Today meaning Monday; I'm publishing after midnight so it's technically Tuesday.)
Today we:
took one of the two remaining sawed-in-half doors off its hinges. An ordeal because one of the door halves was attached to the frame with itty-bitty cabinet hinges that had three different types and sizes of screws. After struggling with it for awhile, we pried the thing off the door frame with a wrecker bar.
planed down the edges of the door halves, cut biscuits, and glued the door together. Another ordeal because this door is a newer one that was stuffed with cotton. I kid you not. Cotton. Little tiny balls of it stuffed into the core of the door. Every time Mare cut another biscuit slot, we pulled out more cotton. Why? Can anyone explain this??
boiled a set of steeple hinges in the Crock-Pot for three hours. After I scraped off layers and layers of paint, I found dirt underneath. A lot of dirt. So much dirt that the hinges at first looked smooth with no design. I stuck 'em in the dishwasher and still spent about two hours scrubbing them with a wire brush before they looked decent.
took the rest of the roof off the carport and confronted my fear that some rafters would have to be replaced because they're rotted. Only three rafters, so not as bad as I thought.
ate lunch at Papa Jack's and gave my daughter-in-law a $7 tip.
made a trip across the Missouri River to the lumberyard and discovered that you really can fit three 1x6's that are 12' long into Mare's car, but you'll need a flag to get back home.
knocked out the three rotten rafters and replaced them with bright new rafters, then nailed up furring strips for the next thing that we did, which was...
nailed "closure strips"—three long strips of wavy foam that support the polycarb roof panels—onto the carport roof.
tore milkweed and other yucky vines out of the honeysuckle that covers my back fence. We rolled it into a giant tumbleweed about 3 feet in diameter and left it in the alley. It's very windy today. Heh heh heh.
raked leaves away from what will someday be flower beds to see if the stuff I planted last summer and fall survived. It did. I have daylilies, iris and hostas poking up out of the ground. Hooray!
attached three of the polycarb roof panels to the carport. Only seven more to go, and it looks better already.
ate supper at Papa Jack's and gave my daughter-in-law a $5 tip.
discussed Mare's Big Plan for the bathroom reno, which is bold. It deserves a post of its own, so all I will say here is that it would add three feet to the length of the master bath and extend it all the way to the back wall of the house. Oh yeah, and he wants to get rid of the basement trap-door, too.
realized how many times the number 3 was mentioned in this post, which makes me think of my childhood, and so I leave you with a little Schoolhouse Rock.