I’m half an hour late getting up this morning. Thick clouds hide the sky, and rain is nearing, if the smell outside is an indication, when I let the dogs out, shaking my head at night dashing madly away to do his business.
Since I don’t have to do my workout this morning, I take my time in my cabin, pleased that the new couch cushions are still in place, and that the dogs haven’t managed to dislodge them during the night. The sitting room looks remarkably neat for a change, and that’s always a pleasure.
I head to the house with only faint beams of sunlight breaking through the thick clouds. I enter the courtyard when I suddenly realize that Trin Trin isn’t among the pack. Apparently I’ve left her locked in my cabin, and rather than heading back up, with the dogs inevitably coming in my pursuit, I ask big brother to get her when he goes to let the pack out of the patio.
Laundry’s the first priority when I arrive, setting my computer bag on the counter and lugging two full baskets out to the courtyard, before I take off the dry batch and deposit it on the table for later folding.
It takes me little time to hang the wet, even though I have to stop halfway through to bring the now released Trin Trin into the house and snap her on her leash. Knight II is being particularly jumpy too, so I leash him to one of the poles supporting the courtyard roof and finish the chore soon thereafter.
All around the rest of the pack comes storming inside, big brother walking in their midst and preceding me into the house where we fold the laundry before starting on our breakfast.
We spent several hours going over the latest book project, getting quite a bit done, with the miraculous number of 1700 words removed in total. We’ll have to do another check tomorrow, of course, but with only a hundred or so to spare, we feel pretty confident that we’ve removed enough.
I still don’t like having to remove literarily pretty words that make the story flow fluidly, but it’s not supposed to be literary. Contemporary with 15.000 words is the limit, so we’re stretching as it is. While I’m editing, big brother and grandpa are avidly discussing world affairs, which occasionally distracts me from my work, until at long last the story is finished and officially edited once.
By the time darkness arrives, and rain is pounding down on the roof, I shut the computer down and head for the kitchen to make dinner. We still have some mushroom pastries from last night, so with that in mind I make a non-lettuce salad to go with it, and disperse it on the plates with the remaining pastries.
The combination works well, allowing for a filling, hot + cold meal for all, and wash up the dishes I’ve used before deciding on starting to put away kitchen utensils and the likes into the new drawers. Oven dishes and tins fit beautifully in one of the big drawers. Another drawer is filled with bowls, sieves and serving dishes, leaving more than enough room for more.
Grandpa went to the home improvement store this morning, and was able to find four more of the drawer handles, making us two short of the plan. We shift around ideas for a bit and then decide to put three of them on the shallow ones, so we can choose between using one, or two to pull them open.
This leaves two each for the remaining two drawers that really should be opened with two hands, because they’re so big and heavy.
It is starting to look pretty darn fancy, I admit, when big brother comes over to resume actual building of “the project”.
Ten minutes later we are once again sawing boards, managing to get most of the required boards from the MDF that got blown off the car the other day–and was torn in three. At least there isn’t too much waste, just bits and pieces from where we have to cut off jagged edges.
Five boards get cut with the powerful circle saw before we’ve got all the required wood, and I get started on sanding the drawer covers for the last time and painting them by the time the sisters come on down to join in. While they’re preparing to start with the primer on the new boards, I quickly roll a thin layer of finishing paint on the remaining five drawers, and set them aside before I get one of the top cupboards and give it its final treatment as well.
What comes next is taking out the elevated center of the island–or technically the peninsula, hah–so we can cut out two rectangular shapes in the centers of both sides to put in grilles that will allow the heat of the oven to escape freely. While I get to work, big brother is attaching three electricity plugs on either side, and guiding the wires through the section.
I’ve just finished sawing the first piece out and am holding the grille against it when we realize that there’s no way to attach it, because the narrow opening won’t allow for a screwdriver to be used. There’s some debate, until we realize that with the removal of six screws a complete section can be lifted away, allowing for easy access for both sides.
Big brother, done with the electricity, takes over the task of sawing out the second piece, allowing me to smoke a quick cigarette before attaching the second metal grating.
By ten in the evening both grilles are fitted, and make the whole actually look even better than before as we put the sections back together and place the bar back in the center of the isle. The good fit still amazes me; it doesn’t even wiggle when it’s settled.
On the other side the sisters are still painting, taking up half of the counters, but by then the drawers have dried enough for the attachment of the handles, to which we get without pause. The primer the sisters have applied is dry now too, so they go straight to rolling on the color paint that is the second to last treatment the wood is going to need.
It is not an easy task to attach eleven, two-plug, handles in such a way that they don’t get uneven, but with only one adjustment throughout the procedure, we manage and start sliding the finished drawers in place.
A pause is warranted by the arrival of little brother, who has made the changes to his trailer clip during the course of the day, showing a wonderful end result that would have had me load the film up immediately, if he hadn’t claimed to have two more tiny little faults to improve upon before he feels confident that he has created perfection. Honestly, to me perfection was there at the start. Still, it is marvelous that he cares so much. We watch the Shape Shifter trailer about four times before we return to work, and finish the last couple of drawers.
Beautiful. It is a single word that describes the end result so very well. The old silver handles make the rather modern design look great, while letting it appear to be very streamlined at the same time. We’re all dreadfully pleased by the overall image.
By the time our part of the job is done, and cleanup has commenced on my side of the counter, the sisters are done as well and help with the remainder of the mess. Rather than all of us moving off to our preferred areas in the house, the sisters and I linger in the kitchen, putting kitchen utensils in the drawers, and creating a nice order in roomy storage.
Except for the cooking pots and pans, everything’s pretty much put away by the time the evening comes to an end.
Cutlery has been washed and cleaned–sawdust is everywhere after two weeks of construction–fitting into their appointed places by the time exhaustion makes us all drag our feet and finish with the last bits well past midnight.
We’re all famished, and while the younger sibs are preparing their usual nightly snack, I take a slice of bread with cheese, and then head on up to my cabin. The rain has gratefully let up while I climb the mountain and cast a glance up at the slowly clearing sky.
My feet are killing me, my lower back hurts like heck, and I’m yawning constantly as I feed the dogs, manage to read about three pages in my book of the week, and then get down to my first session on the Net this day.
Weekends are always slow, so I’m not surprised–and more than a little relieved for a change–that there is not a single personal message to take care of.
For some reason our work hours are increasing, unnoticed to us all. Today we were on our feet constantly for a solid eight hours. I feel every one of them. Hah.
The dogs are fed and sleeping on their individual places around me. Yadzia had his second Leishmania injection and thus all the “must dos” are done.
My day is over. Yay!
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