Where were we?

Hapy New Year. It has been a busy holiday season for pretty much everyone I know, and Boo and I are no exception. Today's post will touch on some of the things we have been getting after since my last post. 

CoViD Hangover

Cooper Spur snow

During one of my holiday social engagements, I had a conversation with my niece where we were both remarking on how could we have been able to do all the things we're doing now plus have to commute to work every day. I recall, back before the whole CoViD shutdown / work-remote thing started, I would take a train into the city, work in an office all day, train to the gym to work out for an hour or so and then walk a couple miles home. Around that work-week schedule, I went out to play or listen to music, attended ball games, visited friends etc like most people. And, of course, fiddled on cars a little bit. Now that we are more consistently mingling with others, I am having a hard time rationalizing how I was able to do it while maintaining that daily cycle. I know many people are returning to offices, and I wonder if there are more people out there trying to figure out how to make it all work again. Frankly, I think many people are failing at it and that's why there is such a growing discontent. Maybe it's the holidaze, but I swear I am encountering more surly people than ever lately.

Cooper Spur

Tuukka at rest

Of course, my holidaze had much more going on and much more positive interactions than just my realization about the world's increasing surly. Boo and I spent XmasEve and XmasDay with Boo's family. This was emotionally and spiritually taxing for a couple of introverts, but we were warmly welcomed and had a really nice time. The weekend before, my younger siblings and their families joined Boo, Tuukka and I at Cooper Spur, on the east side of Mount Hood. Boo and I took Tuukka for long walks along the groomed cross-country skiing paths, and shared meals, crafts, music and games with my siblings' families. It was a great kick-off to a holiday season.

NewOldHouse - 1/4 round

Anyway, back to what I was originally going to post on: NewOldHouse projects. Among the things left incomplete, preventing us from moving in-earnest into NewOldHouse was the 1/4 round along the baseboards. I touched on this last time, but simply identifying which pieces were to go where was only part of the battle. Once identified, cleaned and primed, I needed to install them. For this, I got a finish-nailer powered by an air compressor, and then moved my air compressor down to NewOldHouse. Working with the nailer was fun: point, press and shoot. I had the 1/4 round installed in a couple hours. Next, I spackled the nail holes, sanded them flush and then caulked the top of the 1/4 round to the base board. Last, I slid around with a paint bucket and brush, brushing in the 1/4-round with the same paint that I shot the walls and trim last summer. Start-to-finish, it took me a few days, working a few hours a day (let's say 15 hours). I need to caulk the bottom of the 1/4-round to the floor with clear silicone caulk (at least along the outer walls), and then the 1/4 round is complete.

NewOldHouse - bathroom

bathroom floor done

The bathroom was in mediocre shape when we bought the house, even after all the rubbish was removed and it was cleaned. There are meaningful divots in the plaster, the sink cabinet was nasty and the floor under the toilet was failing. First, the sink and cabinet were removed. The cabinet went to the dump; I don't remember what we did with the sink. Then, the toilet was removed, and set into the tub while the floor was cleared. Once the linoleum was pulled, we could see the original hardwood floor was in pretty bad shape. We removed the pieces around the waste pipe and could see that the sub-floor had been compromised at one point. We were around this point when I posted last.

Since then, the damaged pieces of sub floor have been removed and replaced. New flooring has been installed on top of that, a full floor sheet of thin veneer was installed on top of that and peel-n-stick tiles applied on top of that. The peel-n-stick took a full day, which seemed like a really long time for a room not much more than 8 square meters (5 foot by 5 foot). Details take time, though, and tiles will not fit exactly without trimming. So, for aesthetics, you want the trimming to be behind the toilet or under a cabinet with the uncut tiles along the main walls that you can easily see. This means, though, that you need to lay everything out to figure out where the cuts need to be for the heat and the waste. Also, orienting the tiles one direction of another takes some laying out, thinking, and laying out again. Quality takes time; slapping things together is fast, but it will always look... well.. slapped together.

Our last hiccup was with the toilet waste flange in the floor. The studs to which the toilet should mount were stripped and rusted to the flange. They needed to be cut off, drilled out, tapped and then new studs threaded before we could install the toilet. Once ready, though, it was a fairly simple process to set the wax ring and install the toilet.

Bathroom Next

cleaning hardware

The sink and cabinet remain ready for install. We purchased a new cabinet / sink / mirror combination at Lowes and the low price is definitely reflected in the workmanship (or lack thereof). Still, it will work, and after some fiddling with the hinges, the doors close without rubbing. The holes for the pulls were not put in the right spots, so the handles are wonky, but again, it will work. We have all the bits and pieces, just with all the holiday events and family in town, we have not installed the sink and cabinet.

Once the sink is in, we will hang a shower rod, and re-hang the door. The hardware for the door has been cleaned up, though. Prior owners had painted without taping things off nor removing hardware so every door handle, strike plate and hinge was covered in multiple coats of paint. I have spent many otherwise-idle hours picking off paint and then rubbing down with steel wool door hardware, yet more remains.

Moving

With the 1/4-round complete, I have started moving things over to NewOldHouse. It is difficult living in one house, wanting to be in another. So, the items selected to move is not easy. I am finding things that we 100% want/need there but can live without for the time being in the current place. Obviously, this makes the move harder, and slower, but until the bathroom is fully functional, we can hang out there, and even sleep there, but it is not quite ready for full time living.

Around this work, Boo and I have been combing through all of the belongings moved here from my parent's old apartment. It has been a considerable undertaking. We have found homes for over half of the items, and while in some ways we are picking up steam, we also realize that the easy things are running out, and we will soon be left with things which only represent value to their original owners. By this, I mean things like personal correspondence, notebooks, etc that are very personal. It feels wrong to simply discard these things, but I think we will just have to work through that.

Canopy Calamity Again

example wrath of Jerry

It seems that no matter what tricks I try, the canopy known as "Jerry" just will not stand. After more windstorms, that canopy lifted and flipped onto it's side, scratching Zed again. Fortunately, the chrome around the rear window and windscreen has not been further dented, nor have either sheets of glass broken. Still, I have had enough risk of that for one winter. So, Boo and I deconstructed Jerry, leaving the poles in a heap. We used the canopy like a tarp, covering Zed for the winter. To prevent water from pooling in the hole where a sunroof will one day be, we placed a large rectangular sheet of stiff foam under the tarp. After a couple gusty days, the tarp has held firm, so Zed is hopefully protected until Spring. I think, between all of the scratches, the disappointment in both the final finish and the olive-green shade within the 9mm color, I will be sanding and re-shooting Zed before I install the interior. Since every time around is a learning opportunity, I expect this next round will be much better than the last, which was better than the one before that. Of course that means Zed will not be driving around next Summer unless we get a freak warm dry spell in April/May.

With the holidays behind us, our next significant event is the memorial for my father, planned for 21-January. For that, Boo and I will be providing our current home to my sister and her family while they visit from the Bay Area. Boo and I are marking that as the drop-date for when we can live in NewOldHouse without having to run here for various things. Please wish us luck. Thanks, as always, for following along. I hope you have a happy, healthy, and emotionally stable NewYear-

Fare Well, Nemo

Brief post today.

Nemo Departs

This past Spring/Summer, I thought I had sold Nemo (1997 Audi A4 Quattro) to our friend Garry. After repairing the driver rear bearing and replacing the axle with it, the power steering blew a hose and he lost interest. So, it came back. Truth be told, Nemo never left the driveway; Garry did the repair here. I figured I would do what was needed to get Nemo through smog and then figure out what to do. So, I repaired his exhaust, replaced the catalytic converter, downpipe and O2 sensor. I was ready to take him to Oregon DEQ when  the NewOldHouse purchase happened and so Nemo just kind of sat. Fast forward a few weeks and I get a text from Garry, now living in Idaho. His friend expressed interest. So, I shot some pictures and video with my phone and sent them on. 2 days later, he is here, with a friend, a truck and a tow-dolly. They crawled around on Nemo for a while, took him for a drive.... paid me cash and drove away with him. Just like that, the herd is thinned my one.

Mom Moves

With my Dad's rather sudden decline and then final departure early this month, my Mom lost the person who had eyes on her 24/7. Her health has been an issue for some time, so having her living alone in a somewhat basic assisted-living facility was no longer safe for her or the facility. So, she is moving to a stepped-care facility 4 blocks from here. That move is today (29-Nov). Since her space is significantly reducing, we will move her and her most treasured belongings to the new place. Everything else is moving here, so it can be gone through with heat and beverages and comfortable seating.

NewOldHouse Update

Since my CoViD battle ended, I have returned in earnest to the restoration of the NewOldHouse. When the flooring guys were here last Summer, they removed all of the 1/4-round. As they removed it, they clumped it by room and taped the clumps together. Unfortunately, some of that careful work was undone, and some of the 1/4-round went to the dump. What remains is semi-documented. I have been puzzling-out which pieces go where, re-marking them and then shooting them with BIN primer. Once dry, I set the pieces where they will be re-attached to the baseboard. Prior to priming, they get the nails removed and then a good cleaning. I have a small pile of un-matched pieces and a larger pile of not-yet-attempted pieces. I will be continuing this game next weekend.

Other than playing with 1/4-round, I resolved the canopy catastrophe, consolidating 2 damaged canopies into one viable one. You can see things are back to "normal" in the picture on the right, with the "Jerry" canopy restored. If you look closely, you can see stacks of 1/4-round under the canopy on the left (Phil). I have also cleaned, rust-converted and painted the heat vents. We decided that the original vents could be salvaged, and if they were painted a color that roughly matched the floor, they would sort of disappear into the wood floor. For the most part, this turned out to be correct, though I don't have a good picture to share.

The bathroom progress was temporarily halted by the discovery of the sub-floor damage. Boo crawled back under the house to see how extensive it was.. and it is really quite contained. There are 3 1x4 (sub-floor) boards that rest between the top of the beams and the wood floor which need to be replaced. But even then, the section that needs replacing is only between 2 beams, and the beams themselves are in great condition, showing no damage from the leak.

As part of the preparation for a bunch of mom's stuff appearing here, I tore down the living room stereo equipment and moved it out of the way. While this isn't terribly interesting stuff, it does further prove that life is either Tetris or Monopoly, and today it's Tetris.

With each passing day spent at NewOldHouse, it feels more and more ready for occupancy. Sure, we don't have a functioning bathroom yet, nor will we have a functioning kitchen for some time. Still, we believe that we will be moving into NewOldHouse by the end of January. I guess that's it for today. I know there isn't much car content these days; that is also true of my life, and I feel it. The sooner the house is ready, the sooner I will be back wrenching on Hapy. Thanks, as always, for following along-