End of summer "catch-up" with the Loggers!

Hi all.

So much has happened since my last post - a lot of work, and happily, a lot of play!

I waited and waited for a timeshare week in Hawaii to become available - and by the last weekend in August nothing was available!  So, I decided a visit to logger daughter and family was in order. Their area has been burning since the beginning of summer, and is still burning.  The air quality is horrible and I was hoping that when I visited most of the fires would be out and I'd be able to breath the clean fresh air they usually have.  That didn't happen - the fires are still burning and the acreage lost to this fire is devastatingly large.  But, on to the visit - I had a wonderful time.  The kids were still out of school so I had time to visit with them, too.  Logger SIL, although unable to work his normal job due to fire danger, was busy helping homeowners in the area clear the area around their homes and logging some of the trees that needed to be logged before they burned down!  We had no real build agenda for this trip so Logger daughter and I had a good visit, too.  I managed to visit with my sister-in-law and with a friend from the area.  We picked wild blackberries, too!  Yum.

And, of course, no trip there would be complete without some sort of home improvement job.  So, I "cleaned up" some of the things that were just waiting for someone to have some time to finish up.  And, remember, when I'm with logger daughter, there are no quick trips to Home Depot or Lowes!  If I can't find something to use in SIL's garage or in his wood pile, then it doesn't get done.  So, using what was there here's what we did:

Small bookshelf for master bedroom - to hold business folders and scanner.

Painted door trim - 2 doors - in laundry room.

Painted edges of shelving built and installed a year or so ago!

More painting - drawers built for boy's closet during a previous visit.

More painting - drawers built in granddaughter's closet during a previous visit.

This old style phone didn't fit on the phone face plate and during a previous visit I had tried to make it fit - that didn't work and it was hanging from a loose screw.  I built a raised box like thing to install the phone on to, and attached that to the wall with a french cleat.  It covers up the mess that I'd made last trip!

As of today, September 7th, the fires are still burning - thankfully, the logger family is safe, but so much of the beautiful area has burned and the forests will never be quite the same - at least not in my lifetime.  I'm praying that they have a long heavy rain storm - sooner rather than later!

It's been awhile...

I don't have a darned thing to post about.  How boring is that??  I have been working - hard, building something for my oldest granddaughter.  She turned 14 in July and is heading to high school in just a couple of weeks.  She wanted a new, more sophisticated bedroom.  So, I'm working, working, working...It's big stuff and it's driving me crazy!  

Here's a peek of a thrift store desk that I rebuilt to fit her room - that little breadboard like thing on the top right is where Miss Nail Pro will be perfecting her art!  The cabinet below just might fit her sewing machine and the drawers will hold just a multitude of important things!  

  

Here are some before pictures of some other projects - After pictures will follow soon!  You'll never guess what we've done with that frame!

      

And, I've finally been able to install the desk unit for T, Camper daughter's neighbor.  Not quite finished, just waiting for her to paint the wall!  I've never seen so many holes in a wall before - finding a stud is quite difficult in older homes!  If got to hand it to Mr. T - he kept searching!  I'm not much of a painter - just like I'm not much of a finisher.  But, I figured I could fill holes for T so that she could sand a bit and put a nice clean coat of paint in her office area.  Then I can finish the installation of her shelves.  

Shelves are stained, and will be above the drawer units.  More pictures to follow when I finally finish!

I also installed the upper for her sewing room - another thing older homes are known for are walls that are so far out of whack it's darned near impossible to stand a cabinet up against a wall and get it square and plum!  The space between the cabinet and the wall goes from 1/4" at the base to 3/4" at the top.  I've cut some trim that might work, but my crown moulding will definitely need to be recut to fit!  Maybe I'll post pictures of that once I get it in and it doesn't look too odd! 

The result of all this work is one beat up body!  If I ended up in emergency unable to talk, they'd have to assume that someone had beaten me!  Bruised and battered - and worn out!  Normally I don't feel like I'm 64, but this week, I have to say, I feel older (maybe not 64, but older!).  I'm just not up to these big projects.  But, I've got to finish.  I hate a project that isn't complete.  So, I'll be back at it tomorrow night.

Until I have more pictures, that I feel good about sharing, how about these?  My Fuji apple tree is loaded with apples.  I think they've got a few more weeks until really ripe, but I've eaten a few of the apples that have fallen!  They taste great - and the tree is just beautiful.

  

Fall's coming and I don't even remember having a summer!