Emergency Bench Repair — Part 2

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We have an old bench in the front garden.

After removal of the limb the damage was apparent.

A tree fell on it and now it looks like this.

I only need to replace the back slats.

The back had been destroyed but the uprights were in place and still viable.

We ganged 2 pieces together to for one sturdy board.

When my plan to trim the inside of the conservatory closet failed due to a shortage (literally the boards were too short) I decided to use the same ranch casing for the back of the bench.

I held the boards while Charlie screwed them in.

I cut the lumber the same size as the marble bench seat, then Charlie screwed the pieces into the uprights.

The bench has a new back — in spring we’ll clean the marble seat.

The whole project took about 10 minutes.  The most difficult part was lugging the chop saw up from the basement and setting it up.

Before

After

Now we have our vintage bench back in action.

The bench echoes a small section of fence in this part of the front garden.

Can’t wait until the daffodils bloom in early spring behind it.

Jo

Rose Bowl Champs

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My alma mater is Penn State.  I have never been back to campus since I graduated in 1976.  That’s riiiight.

The Nittany Lion is Penn State’s mascot.

However I have recently become a lifetime member of the PSU Alumni Association along with Charlie.  He didn’t have an alma mater so we joined as a couple which Penn State is happy to acknowledge.

I’m not really a football fan but I never missed a home game when I was a student.

This year good old State was selected to play in the Rose Bowl so we gathered with about 40 other local alums at a convenient grill to watch the game on multiple big screen TVs.

Final Results

Wonder of wonders — Penn State won the Rose Bowl with a score of 35 to 21 over Utah.

We are Penn State!

We had a lot of fun and plan to attend other events.  I might even get back to campus someday.

Jo

January 2023 — Objectives

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I can hardly believe 2023 is upon us — in the year 2000 it seemed sooooo far away.  I am truly looking forward to more travel, more camaraderie, and more projects with less stress, less worry, and fewer obligations.

I love a good fireworks display to welcome the New Year. (This photo is from the fireworks over the ocean in Maui when we were there last September.)

I don’t make resolutions but I do regularly set goals and have been mostly successful by listing them each month and accounting for the results at the end oaf the month.  I try to put enjoyable items on the list as well as chores.  Here are some of the things I have planned for January.

  1. Adjust automatic reinvestments.
  2. Get rid of 10 books. (101 in 1001 #14)
  3. Drink 60 ounces of water everyday for a week (#48)

    I’ll need to drink 3 of these 20-ounce Yeti cups each day.

  4. See a movie:  A Man Called Otto.
  5. Read a book about Egypt by  Elizabeth Peters. The Laughter of Dead Kings

    A promising novel to start the year.

  6.  Pack up Christmas decorations.

    My plan is to add a little more organization to the Christmas storage containers.

  7.  Hang trim in the conservatory closet. (The casing boards have been lying in the living room for well over a year now.)

    The inside of the conservatory closet has never been encased in trim.

  8.  Remove one box from the shed.
  9.  Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: PREPARE.
  10. Write a goal list for February, 2023

Wishing you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Jo

December, 2022: Well Intended

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We started December out by planning an impromptu movie screening party of a Christmas classic.

10 inches larger than our everyday set.

I bought a big TV so we could all see it well.

The entrance to the Planetarium was “out of this world”.

I went to a local planetarium for the program Mars.  It just so happens Mars is currently very visible in our night sky — it’s one of the objects I can actually locate on my own.

Before and After

I spiffed up our winter outdoor mats with some spray paint.

Our small tree between the living and dining rooms.

Charlie rescued an old artificial tree from a trash heap which we decorated with special Charlie and Jo ornaments.

The dining room —  ready for Christmas.

Now for my December list of good intentions:

  1.  Attend a concert. I used our season tickets to attend a classical music concert featuring  Bonecos de Olinda, Music from Romeo and Juliet, and  a Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto.  The violin soloist was phenomenal.

    Holly Jenkins entertained us with her virtuosity.

  2.  Celebrate Christmas!  I have a new theme for this year: Aloha Spirit Christmas.

    An Aloha Spirit Christmas in red and turquoise.

    I had a new color palette which always inspires me.  My sister sent us a new ornament that encapsulates the entire theme.

    The caption is “Pearl, Pineapples & Kona” — Pearl Harbor, Pineapples and Kona Coffee.

  3.  Send out 3 handwritten notes. (101 in 1001 #96) So many kind people keep in touch with me it’s not difficult to find a few to write to. These were not Christmas cards — just a few lines to a few people.
  4.  See a movie.  Early in the month I saw the movie Devotion.  I loved it; it was emotional and sometimes heartbreaking.  I wasn’t ready for the ending. Then I saw Babylon — at 3+ hours it is an ill-advised commitment.  Editing would have done wonders!
  5. Do something fun we’ve never done together. Charlie and I cruised through a local Journey to Bethlehem on a night that allowed us to stay in our car to view it.

    Some of the tableaux even had live animals.

    On the walk-thru nights Sug was one of the costumed participants.

    We had a fun time skating and would do it again.

    Then at the end of the month we went roller skating at a local rink.  Both of us had been skaters as children but neither of us had skated for at least 40 years.  Charlie had no trouble reestablising his old form.

  6.  Get rid of another box from the attic. (Perhaps the excess from our Christmas collection.)  I expelled lots of unused Christmas ornaments and emptied an extra box.
  7.  Read a book:  Last Christmas in Paris: A Novel of World War I by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb.  I had a slow start with this novel which is a series of letters between friends and family during WWI.  After about 70 pages I was engrossed in the lives of the letter writers and eagerly finished well before the end of the month.

    Last Christmas in Paris

  8.   Finalize details for February and March trips.  I have arranged accommodations, air flights, car rentals, and activities schedule (including special meals).  Ready to pack.

    We’re hoping to see the Greek-heritage sponge divers off the coast of Florida.

  9.  Pick a word to focus on for the month. My word: REMEMBER.
  10.  Write a goal list for January, 2023.

Jo

Merry Christmas 2022

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We’ve learned to cope with the pandemic so this Christmas doesn’t seem as distanced as the past few.

We have small trees spread throughout the house.

Maybe because we’re celebrating Christmas Eve on Saturday night and plan to show up the very next morning again at church to celebrate Christmas Day our spirits are brightened.

Almost everyplace we’ve been Charlie is asked to play the organ or piano.

Charlie is always busy at the year-end holidays since he is a musician — he can play just about any keyboard instrument.  He is the organist/pianist at 2 churches as well as a highly sought after entertainer at local venues.  This year was no different.

The dining room is ready for Christmas.

The tree theme continues on the dining room table.

But after morning church Charlie, Sug, and I are planning a quiet dinner in dining room at The Glade.

Rory and Dash — best buds.

We three along with the pups wish you a very Merry Christmas.

Jo

Shore House Kitchen Floor

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I bought a fixer upper in the spring of 2019. My son, Sug, and I have been working on it ever since.

The kitchen was rough when we first looked at the house — holes in the ceiling and floor.

The kitchen needed everything done to it, however, we didn’t replace everything — just the ceiling and floor.

After the subfloor was laid Sug and I painted the room.

My son has finally decided to work on the floor and get it finished.  He had already laid a subfloor.

The luan is installed and appears to be a neat, even surface.

The next item was to install the self-stick tiles I had purchased.  In order to do that he had to face the subfloor with luan.

The tiles were carefully placed starting from the center of the kitchen.

Once that was complete his friend carefully (following these instructions) stuck the tiles onto the luan.

Before

During

The entire kitchen floor has been tiled.

The only thing remaining for the floor is to add a baseboard around the perimeter of the room.

Before

During

After

I can’t wait to see the finished floor in person.

This heavy cabinet will add lots of handy storage space.

Hoping to build a supporting platform under the cabinet and paint it to match. (Mock-up)

Now that the floor is in we can permanently install the large cabinet at the back of the kitchen.

Jo

Replacing a Light Switch

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I live in old house.

Light in the upstairs hall is connected to a similar fixture at the bottom of the stairs.

I flipped the switch to turn on the hall light on my way downstairs and nothing happened.  GREAT! Just great.

The light above the coffee bar had shorted out and damaged the dimmer switch so we called an electrician.

I had recently had our electrician in to fix the lighting over the kitchen counter so I was not inclined to pay for another service call.

The old switch.

Charlie took off the switch plate to reveal the actual switch device of which I  took detailed photos.

The old switch was marked “3-way” and “10 amp”. We replaced it with a 15- amp, 3-way switch.

The switch was marked “3-way”.

This switch is readily available.

I looked on the Lowes website for a similar (3-way) switch and discovered one would cost less than $2. Sounds like a bargain.

Since we had left the old switch wired up we didn’t even need to google the process — we just removed one wire at a time from the old switch and attached it to the new one in the same place.

Charlie turned off the fixture at the fuse box (this old part of the house is not on breakers). One wire at a time Charlie removed each connection from the old switch and attached it to the new one.

The new box fit in the old hole with no trimming necessary.

We made sure the corresponding downstairs switch was “off” then Charlie reconnected the fuse. He turned “on” the downstairs switch while I watched the make sure nothing sparked or caught fire at the newly installed switch.

PAINT ME!!!

I then turned off the light with the new switch and it worked fine so Charlie replaced the switch plate.  Woo hoo! This repair cost 100 times less (literally) than calling the electrician. The only downside is that the photos alerted me to the need to paint the walls in the stairwell.

Jo

Souvenir Ornament

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Charlie and I were fascinated by the enormous snails in Hawaii.  These are Giant African Snails which are actually invasive predators that Hawaii is trying to eradicate.  If touched the snail can cause meningitis in humans.  YUK!

Giant African snails can grow as long as a human arm.

Often they carried what looked like heavy shells on their back. The shells were surprisingly light and delicate.  I was able to find a discarded shell that had become damaged  — presumably too damaged to be reinhabited.

After gluing the eyelet to the top, bend down the rivet phalanges.

I added a hook by gluing an eyehole rivet to the top.

The groove created by the eyelet was deep enough to channel the wire hook.

Then I wrapped a piece of green wire around the groove.

Ready to hang!

I glued some glass beads at the opening where the shell had been damaged.

The shell ornament complements an aloha spirit Christmas.

A nice remembrance of the anniversary we spent in Hawaii.

Jo

Quick Christmas Party

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I had not planned to have any parties until after the new year.

Our previous party was early September.

Then I thought that would be a long time to go without seeing my friends so I concluded: “why not show a holiday movie and invite a few folks over.”

The stars are talented and the music is first-rate.

My favorite holiday movie is White Christmas! I went looking for my DVD of the film — I searched high and low — but could not find it.  Then one day Charlie surprised me with a White Christmas DVD he found in a secondhand store. So the party was on.

In the invitation I tried to tell the invitees everything they might want to know.

I only invited a handful of people via email and I knew some of them would be busy since everyone is busy in December.  But seven of us gathered in our conservatory on a Saturday evening and watched White Christmas while snacking on dessert and other offerings brought by guests.

A holiday nod to my sister — there were never such devoted sisters.

I suggested putting on the captions on if anyone wanted to singalong with the Irving Berlin classics but everyone was happy to just watch and giggle. (I’ve watched this so many times in my life I pretty much know all the words by heart.)

The conservatory set up as a movie theatre seats nine.

My own menu for the event was very limited — unusual for me.

  • Mini apple pie a la mode with caramel sauce

    I remade the dessert I served on Thanksgiving.

  • Popcorn
  • Potato chips
  • Sweet Chex mix

    Chex mix

  • Nuts – cashews
  • Cheese/crackers
  • Chocolate Mousse gifts

    Not everything was homemade.

  • Coffee, Spiced cider, Glade Fizz

Others brought cookies, bubbly grape juice, and gifts — not necessary but much appreciated.

Cued up and ready to watch.

This was a seriously easy last-minute gathering to arrange. Give it a try.

Jo

Welcome Mat Uplift

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This is how the mats looked when I first purchased them.

In 2017 I bought polar bear welcome mats.

The mat on the front porch in December, 2020 still looked pretty good.

I have been using them on the porches at the front and side doors.

My poor white bear has succumbed to many foot wipings.

When I got them out this year they looked plain grungy — even after cleaning them as best I could.  They were still in substantially good shape but the design was wearing off.

I did not purchase paint — I have lots of colors in my supply cache. (These were not the colors I used.)

I decided to try my go-to rescue technique — spray paint. I already had white and turquoise on hand so there was no cost involved.

See what I mean by “carelessly”?

First I carelessly (not a typo) taped around the outline of the bear with masking tape. Then I sprayed the bear until he/she looked white again. ( I had to wait for a day above 50 degrees to paint in order to get best results.)  Before removing the tape I also sprayed the rest of the mat with turquoise.

I corrected overspray with a localized hit of the opposite color.

I removed the tape and, carefully this time, touched up both the turquoise and white.

I think the whole project took less than 10 minutes.

And voila!

The polar bears don’t know that their color supports the Aloha theme inside the house.

Now the mats are back to work keeping shoe dirt out of the house.

Jo