Andrew's View of the Week

Remodel Week 4 Progress

Posted on 06/06/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

I didn’t post anything for week 3 because, well nothing really happened. The electrician did show up an do the rough in work, but this is the week of real progress.

The cabinet installer is here and here’s what we have this afternoon:

Next week we the center island will be installed and the counter top people will be out to make their templates for granite that needs to be fabricated. If all goes well, we’re hoping to wrap this up in a month.

I’ve been working on my deck area and here’s where I was at the beginning of the week:

This is the replacement irrigation line. It took awhile to get to this point and almost a week of work to get it all covered up again to look like this:

Yup, I put all the dirt, sand and pavers back. I have a little more of this to do and then it will be time to work on the wooden deck that will go somewhere near the top of this pictures.

Then, here’s what I did with the old cabinets from the kitchen:

Then are now in my scroll saw workshop. I did put the doors on the upper cabinets, but didn’t take a picture.

and yes, that’s a car jack:

That’s how I lifted the upper cabinets into place — those things are heavy. Now I just need to clean up the rest of the mess in the shed and I’ll be able to get back to my scroll saw work.

And on a final note, the power company finally inspected and approved my new solar installation. We turned the system on yesterday. Just in time for a major thunderstorm to block out the sun. I’m now soaking wet and didn’t produce any electricity yesterday.

That’s it for this week. If you need me, I’ll be in the closet looking for that umbrella, I know I have one …

Posted in General | Tagged diy, home, interior-design, kitchen remodel, life, woodworking | 20 Comments

21 Guns — My Memorial Day Poem

Posted on 05/26/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

This is a poem I wrote many years ago after a visit to Arlington National Cemetery. It’s one I like to post on Memorial Day. Let us all take a moment to remember the fallen.

The tour bus rumbles past
the quiet monuments to the fallen.
Shutters click as the tour guide
speaks the litany of the shrine,
that once was the Lee estate.
Now it is that hallowed ground
where solders come for that long rest.

The Quick rumble past the carved stones
of the Dead, that once placed
boots of war on their feet.
Their soles now silent.
Now day-trippers take aim and fire.
Cameras, not rifles.
Pictures, not prisoners taken.

The bus stops. The microphone is silent.
To the left a horse pulls a caisson carrying a flag-draped box
That contains a name who once walked.
The warrior sent at our command.
The sightseer sees and falls silent
And hears the echo of guns.
Three volleys and then the mournful notes.

Boys became men
And men became names
And names became graves
Gone is the sun,
Day is done.
God is Nigh.

Posted in Poems | Tagged Memorial day | 10 Comments

Remodel Progress — Week 2

Posted on 05/25/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

Here is the progress on the kitchen remodel this week:

They delivered some of the cabinets. I’m told this is about 3/4 of the total cabinets we ordered. There was no other progress. The electictain that was schedule for this week ended up canceling and moving his schedule out to next Wednesday. No progress can be made until the electrical is all roughed in.

sigh …

The scheduled end date for the project just moved out to July 2. I have vague hopes of everything being done by September. I might be expecting too much. In other news, it was warm here today and we just realized that our ice maker is disconnected. This prompted a search for the ice cube trays. Cold drinks will be delayed until tomorrow.

sigh …

With nothing going on in the kitchen, I was able to make some progress on the deck project:

I’m still in demolition mode on this project. Here I’m uncovering an irrigation line that needs to be relocated. It’s a little hard to see, but those pavers are about nine inch hexagon things. I’ve moved about 250 so far and figure I’ve moved maybe 10% of what will have to be moved. I could be wrong, I tried counting but it was hot and there was no ice for a cold drink (see above about the ice maker).

Well, that’s it for this week. This week the electrician is scheduled for Wednesday, my irrigation parts arrive Thursday, and if it really gets hot, I’ll buy a bag of ice from the store. If you need me, I’ll be standing by the freezer checking on the progress of the ice trays.

Posted in General | Tagged deck project, kitchen remodel | 21 Comments

First Week Construction

Posted on 05/16/2025 by Andrew Reynolds

We are one week in to our kitchen upgrade. So far the old kitchen has been moved into the dumpster:

Everything is in there — including the kitchen sink.

On the good news side, the demo crew only took two days to do the demo work. That is three days faster than scheduled. Further good news is that the plumber was able to get in two days ahead of schedule to complete the plumbing rough-in.

On the bad news side, the electrician called and bumped us out a full week so we’re now a week behind schedule. Sadly, the electrician has to complete the electrical rough-in before they can set the cabinets.

On the good news side, my solar contractor called Monday and came out Tuesday to install our solar panels:

Of course, they showed up the same day the demo crew was in the kitchen and it rained the first three hours they were on site. Way too much fun for one day but both crews got their work done on time (I’m afraid to check the budget). Now we wait for the county building department and power company to come and inspect the installation so we can get it connected to the grid.

So far most of our cooking has been in the microwave in Heather’s art studio. Yesterday I did try our air fryer to cook sausage patties. The gadget has possibilities and Heather got an air fryer cookbook from the library. We have set up our outdoor camp kitchen:

Sadly, we haven’t actually cooked out here yet. I was going to cook breakfast out here on Tuesday, but that was the day it rained. Since then it’s either been too cold or windy to cook outside. Maybe Monday.

In other good news, my brother was released from the hospital and is back home. He’s doing well. I’ve managed to catch a minor cold (I blame rainy Tuesday and running around in the rain to keep two crews working) so if you need me, I’ll be looking for that box of Kleenex I bought.