Floored!

It took all weekend to refinish the hardwood floors in two rooms. I think they will look great!

The living room floor finish was worn thru in the center, and worn or faded or stained all around.
























Bedroom was in even worse shape (pic below), with gouges left by probably years of bed frame moving and sliding around. I won't go any further with that one. The Home Depot drum-sander was $50 for 24 hrs use. Picture BELOW shows part of the original finish, and the lighter wood is what I had sanded thus far. How to sand: Sand by going from coarser to finer grit sandpaper. The drum sander uses special band sleeves that slip over the drum. You can see an unused sandpaper - black thing in front of sander. I used the following grit-sizes: 24, 36, 60, then finally 80 (higher number means finer - or smoother - grit). It took about 4 hrs per room with drum sander, then the edges took 12 hours.



































The edges took TONS of time! Because the drum-sander does only comes to 3 or 4 inches from the wall, can you see? Around and around and around the rooms. I finished 3AM Sunday morning. Here I am covered in saw dust. The orange machine by my shoe is a Black & Decker "Dragster" 3" x 21" (sandpaper size) sander - $40 at Home Depot . Same as with the drum sander, I used 4 grit-sizes. The Dragster has a low profile front, good for getting under baseboard heaters!!!

































After sanding and much sweeping, vacuuming, equipment repair (I accidentally got a drop cloth wound into the sander!), showers, scrubbing the walls, not without chiropractor break then sandwiches with Heather at Plum Tomato, then more sanding, I was ready to lay on the polyurethane. I did not stain the wood, because I am going for a "natural" wood look and feel, and want the floors to be bright and cheerful.

Bedroom after 1 layer polyurethane is shown below. The brand I used: "Pro Finisher by Parks - Water-Base Polyurethane for Floors - Crystal Clear Satin finish". I applied successive coats with lambs wool pad on a paint pole attachment.






















Living room floor, from stairs. The diagaonal streak is sunlight thru front door - the bright streak is the "real" floor color!

















Some floor-finishing goodies: Sanding belts, drywall sanding strips (150 & 220-grit - good for buffing between polyurethane coats), vapor mask, lambswool pad (yellow package).



View of apple blossoms from deck chair, on which I collapsed after a ton of cleanup such as washing poly & sawdust out of buckets, wiping sawdust off tools and electrical cords, organizing. I made 4 trips to Home Depot during the weekend!



And more spring blossoms.






This week, 2 more coats poly then done! I can put furniture back next weekend because you should wait a few days for the floors to fully cure.

Sunflowers Part 2

This evening I arrived back from hydraulics training at Storrs to find the sunflowers have begun to sprout! To me, the early arrival of sunflowers is a spiritual sign.

The sunflower seeds were planted 8 days ago 3 varieties (listed as planted from east to west): Russian Mammoth (could grow to 8 ft), Rainbow mix (pretty small) and Italian White (about 5 ft when mature).

The Russian Mammoth package said 15-20 days to sprout but these mammoths sprouted in 9.

Photo of Three sprouts !!! (not including the weed in foreground)

















Hebron sunset, neighbor's garden sheds in foreground



















Planting last weekend was a row of veggies: zucchini, carrots, spinach, watermelon, marigold.

Part 1 - planting of the sunflowers - has to be a future post...the picture disk is at the office.

What did you mean by Ferdydurke?

Gosh my last post might have sounded a bit gloomy. A wee ache is all.

A Haiku for what was not a Mensa moment:





My dreams for this weekend were crushed

when I pulled my back trying to lift manure

The garden will have to wait

because I am a Vertebrate


_________________________________________

Surfing the internet over the years, I have saved images that I find to be artistically interesting. This morning, I filled a barrel with manure at the dairy farm then tried to lift in to my Jeep. The barrel didn't budge, but I pulled my back. The cows were all, moooo, moooo. I emptied my barrels then went home and lied down.

In place of the garden-tilling blog that did not happen to day, here is my collection of Cool Art by Others.........

More Blog Soon

Posted from the office

The house move was all good cheer & a perfect day. Before the day was thru, the TV was up and running with the Kansas vs. Davidson game, and the four of us went through a Heineken minikeg & a growler of Berkshire Brewing Pale Ale. And the neighbors came by with welcome cake.

It might be a week before the next post, because of the move & DSL will not start at the new home of The Histories until next Tuesday!

We the People

The Declaration of Independence, and now my report, two great documents penned at Philadelphia….

Visual observations and permeability testing indicated that a peat and clay layer may significantly impede vertical migration of contaminants. An average flow gradient of 0.01 ft./ft. and approximate velocity of 40 ft./year in the water table aquifer were estimated. No significant tidal influence on groundwater at the site was observed.

- me, earlier today.

After the progress meeting, and before writing more brilliant prose, Chris was kind enough to take me into the city for its fine offerings. 15 or 20 minutes down the Old Marl and back over the Ben Frankin Bridge gets you into the historic district! But not before the best lunch ever!





Cheesesteak district (South Philadelphia near Passyunk & Washington)




Three kinds of peppers & and a jar of pepper-sauce are condiment options at Pat’s King of Steak.

I went for all three. The pepper-sauce was reddish brown and gritty with ground-up powder like paprika. Magic.

Pat’s or Gino’s are where they say you should go for cheesesteak, according to Chris.



Pat’s would be better, I said, because the signage at Gino’s is way too flashy. And flashier signage means worser food...in my experience. My contribution in deciding at which cheesesteak emporium we shall eat.
























Pat’s sells mainly cheesesteaks, 8 options: plain, American, Provolone, or cheese-whiz; with or without onions. Order by saying “American Wit” (with onion), “Provolone Wit-Out” etc., or get back in line till you say it right!





Philly cheesesteak is best eaten outside so we ate outside at the tables with our Pepsi's. The steak in my American Wit was thick n meaty, very good compared to the thin shredded variety served in New England in my experience!!!



Celeb pics absove the ordering window!






















Through the plexiglass these gents tend the grill.

Lunch, Part 2

…these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.

- Declaration of Independence



In the spirit of brotherly love, Chris showed me round the Independence Hall area. We parked on the second level underground. Up the staircase to a large open grass area surrounded by two visitors centers & independence hall! The weather was high 40s.





Hear Ye, Hear Ye!



The Bell is roped off, in one of the modern visitors centers, but no longer in a glass case.

Independence Hall plaza was entirely rebuilt in the last couple years. Foundations for slave quarters were discovered during construction. The Liberty Bell is inside a new building, and the Indepencence visitors center is huge and modern (but we didn’t have all day to check out ). The Philadelphia Mint is around the corner.





Free admission to the Liberty Bell. It’s a National Park.





















Visitor Center Gift Shop

What is not brilliant about this tee shirt as a gift for Samantha’s 5th (March 31) along with fake Ben Franklin glasses?!

































…except the shirt didn’t come large enough for a 5-er. I ended up with the glasses for $3.99 & will have to find a larger-sisze kite shirt online!