Chapter 110...Another Closet, Poles For My Garden Fence, and Cutting Wood

Off Grid...Chapter 110 Wednesday 5-11 Wow, today was a really rainy day so that means Mike and I will have to continue with our inside jobs. Mike wants to redo the office which has always looked like an unfinished room. We are going to take out the desk since we really don't need it and it has become a catchall for stuff. We will also take out the nice white cabinets along the wall and add a real closet from floor to ceiling. We are also going to move the futon and maybe get a new cover and repaint the room. We moved the futon out and this will be the perfect spot for the new closet: I decided to get a jump start on Mike and paint the inside before Mike starts construction We are using the same color in the office/bedroom as we used in our bedroom. We also added a liquid mildicide to all of our paint to help the house with any moisture issues. We haven't had any trouble in the front room but in the very back corners of the house we have a higher level of humidity. Since most people run A/C and have carpeting in their bedrooms, many times the moisture is hidden. In our house we know when we have more moisture...now we are going to fix it It also helps that we are got rid of our propane appliances like the fireplace and the refrigerator. Both of those put out a lot of unneeded humidity in our house....little did we know but I'm telling you BTW, I love love my new refrigerator and it is running completely on our solar system Once anyone is inside our house...you would never know we have a solar house OK..back to the closet Installing the front wall: The wood is up for the front wall and the top of closet: Next we install the wood shelf for the top of the closet. Then it's time for the sheet rock: After the sheet rock is on, Mike spreads the spackle, lets it dry, and then sands it. This had to be done a few times to get it nice and smooth. After that, Mike caulks up any of the openings between the wood and the wall: Now we have to wait for the spackle to dry. Thankfully the day has cleared up so I get to work in my garden I planted squash and green beans today: 5-12 It's time to make the upper closet doors. We are using the leftover bead board from our bedroom closet doors. First we have to measure the bead board so we can cut it down: Then we clamp on a straight edge for a guide while Mike cuts the board. Using the guide so the saw won't slip: Next we painted the rest of the closet, the sheet rock, and the shelf. Just waiting for the doors. While we are waiting I catch up on yard work. 5-13 I called Lowe's to find out of they got our closet doors in. They were out of our doors the last time we went to town. The woman on the phone checked for me and said they just got some in. Mike and I rush to town before they sell them out. For some reason our Lowe's goes through a lot of these doors. By the time we get to town there are only 2 left of the 4 that were in and we got them We get the doors home and start to unwrap them...uh oh....they are different doors than the ones we already have in the room. We didn't even notice that the louvered closet doors come either full louvers or half louvers. Thankfully we just did our bedroom closet. So Mike has to swap out the 2 in our bedroom for the old ones in our office area..and put all 4 new ones in the office.(He will finish this after we paint the room) Here is the closet done and waiting for the doors: 5-14 We start out by installing the top closet doors: Ah..time for painting the room. Mike and I have a system down pat..so it doesn't take us long to paint. First we take everything out of the room and put it in the livingroom....just another mess Next Mike spackles anything he doesn't like in the walls and sands it smooth. I sweep the walls and the floor and then I tape off the trim. After that I get busy with the cut in and Mike does the rolling. We are just about done Mike painting the last wall: Now we have to let it all dry. Later that day I got a cool picture of the sky. It's neat to watch the clouds, fog and storms rolling in 5-15 With all this rain it is tough to get things to dry out but we finally got the closet done The top doors: And we are done: Next it's back to my garden I noticed some prints in my garden. It looks like turkey prints so I am going to have to protect my garden. The animals finally found it Mike is going to help me build a fence. I start out by digging holes for the posts.....ugh!!! And of course I had to hit some rock My 5 poles are in: It actually turned out to be very easy digging We don't have the material to finish the fence but at least the poles are in. 5-16 Wow...it is cold out...Brr!!! We got a call and our chainsaw is ready to be picked up. Whew...just in time. We are going to need a fire tonight Mike and I get the chainsaw and bring it back home. Time to cut some wood. We are going to the hill behind our house. There is so much downed wood back there that it will takes us years to clean it all. It's a twofer...we get to clean up the back hill and get wood to burn at the same time. I love when things work out like that Here is some of the wood to be cut up. Of course, you know who is with us Mike cutting: And Niki being the "farm" dog that she thinks she is, lol. What a life: Mike cuts up the wood and I start to throw it down to our fence. It takes me a few throws for each log but it eventually makes it down the hill Mike helps me finish up and we get the wood thrown over the fence and then loaded into the tractor bucket: We love our tractor We bring the wood down to the house and Mike starts a nice fire in our wood stove. Ahh!! We are toasty now 5-17 It sure doesn't feel like May. It is cold and rainy. Yuck!!! We are stuck inside the house so we spent the day cleaning and organizing. By the time the evening rolled around we were bored Uh oh...bored is never good for us, lol. So we started another project. I decided I was going to paint the kitchen. Hey...might as well...we have extra paint I stripped out the kitchen and Mike helped by doing a quick sand on the walls for me. I started painting and Mike started to work on my oven. I have had trouble since day one with my oven's temperature. If I turned the knob on 300 it would heat up to 400 We called the company last year and ordered the part that is supposed to fix this. Now Mike is ready to do the job for me We pull out the stove and Mike takes the whole thing apart and this company did not make it easy This stove is a nightmare to take apart. Thankfully Mike is persistent Finally Mike gets to the part he needs to replace...but before that he finds another problem that could also be the cause of my temperature troubles. There is a dial that says natural gas, and propane. Well when our stove was installed our gas company never switched it over to propane Either way, Mike got it done Mike got the stove done and I got the painting done: 5-18 It's another cool and rainy day. Mike and I go into town to try and find some pictures and things to decorate around the house. This is not a shopping trip tat we like. Mike and I are terrible at decorating, lol...and we can never find things we like when we are looking. Oh well...at least it will kill a rainy day. We get to town and go to multiple stores and we strike out Really, where do people find pictures for their houses? We did pick up some accent tile for behind our wood stove. I found one that I liked but it was $12.00 for each piece and we needed 5 pieces. Well in the same aisle I found another one on sale for $2.00 a piece. Now that is more my style We got home and Mike works on the decorative tile: After that Mike unhooks out propane refrigerator. We haven't gotten any calls for it and since our new one is working so well, it;s time to get the propane refrigerator out of the house and get the new one in place. Mike's goal tonight is just to get it onto the patio. I hope the two of us can move it We get the door off and the shelves out. Mike and I move it outside and cover it. Tomorrow is another day to figure out how we will get it "up" the side driveway Lisa