The Wirerabbit

Merry Christmas from 1800s Rockport

2009-12-22T20:21:00.000-08:00

Back to Work

2009-06-09T16:07:00.000-07:00

We are finally working on the house again!

Last Saturday Karen and Taylor started building the floor for the living room while I worked at the Mansion and Spencer went fishing (hey, we gotta eat). Fortunately they figured out all the hard mathematical parts that day, so with Spencer and myself helping on Sunday, we were able to get the floor almost totally finished. Here are some photos.

We are desperate for space to put some of the stuff now being stored in the "garagio." Taylor can't even move around his studio area because of all the extra building materials, so the weekend before, Karen was our buddy in helping us build a storage building (Spencer was doing equally important work off-shore inspecting an oil rig). Karen is a really great construction helper AND she can ask Taylor questions about how he's doing things without getting in trouble!!

It's a cute little storage building.

Coming Right Along

2009-02-22T15:41:00.000-08:00

Marsha is shoveling it on pretty thick these days. She's adding nice compost and cow manure to the garden area. First, though, she has to get it out of the truck. Where am I, you ask? Well, somebody has to take the pictures.

Marsha set some concrete pieces from our old patio into the ground to make a nice path to the garden.

She also spent time fitting some more concrete chunks and old pavers into a path and bench spot at the center of the garden. She filled in with gravel. Should lock everything in pretty good. We will design and make our own garden bench from concrete. I like making molds.

The Caesar and Cleo Memorial Garden

2009-02-18T15:00:00.000-08:00

Almost two weeks ago we said goodbye to our second basenji, Cleo. It was hard, but we had delayed it long enough. Cleo was a good girl. Here is a picture of her with Marsha and Bucky on her last day with us. Cleo was our first dog as newly weds.

I tend toward lazy on the MSS (Male Slothfulness Scale) as you can clearly see that Marsha is doing all the work. Here is a shot of where the garden is going. Marsha has planned a nice spot between these two Live Oaks in our front yard.

First thing to do is trim away the dead branches (many) and take away the low hanging branches. I call them hat dusters, Marsha calls them dangerous.

Next comes the border to define the space. Good thing we have demolished a concrete patio in the back and several defunct planting areas in the front yard. We should have plenty of stuff. Go Marsha.

Well, time to rest. Taking these pictures is hard. Marsha is waving to you. See you around.

My creation

2009-01-30T09:17:00.001-08:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by wirerabbit

I'm currently sitting in a Web 2.0 class here at the library and needed to show you how crazy some librarians can be. Go check out Flickr and search the tag librariantradingcards.

Hosting Thanksgiving

2009-01-03T14:08:00.000-08:00

The 9 months of work were to culminate in us hosting Thanksgiving for the Crawford family - Mom, Dad, Molly, Noel, Johnathan, Carl, Elliott, Mac, Amy, Jessica, Makayla, Millie, Kevin, Paul, Anslee, Kirby, the bulldog, and Chloe, the dachshund. Here's proof we did it!!

Yes Millie, the stove actually works! Don't look so surprised.

Even the younger ones helped make a mess in the kitchen.

Getting it all on the table.

The gang's all here. (Except those of us taking photos.)

Entertainment was provided by Wii. Here are Mom and Molly playing hand bells to Wii Music. Millie is conducting.

A bowling tournament got everyone involved. Here's Dad wondering how he missed that strike.

Of course, the big "backyard" needed exploring.

Paul and Anslee are demonstrating what Taylor and Marsha
would like to do for the next 3 months!

Final Project for Awhile

2009-01-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of the pass-through countertop.
This was tiled just hours before all the gang showed up for Thanksgiving.

There's a hole cut into the bead board so we can access the corner of the cabinet for storage. Taylor will put a door over the hole.

Crap!

2008-12-20T15:15:00.000-08:00

Well, just about to clean out the garagio so that I can start making for the February Bountiful Bowls Pottery Fair here in Rockport, and...

Ah, how sweet it is.

History of event here in old Caller-Times article.

Garage Conversion Update

2008-11-10T12:05:00.000-08:00

In case you haven't heard, we are not going to have the room finished by Thanksgiving. We decided we needed to slow down because of Taylor's shoulder injury. We ARE still hosting Thanksgiving, though. The walls will be bare sheet rock and the floor hard concrete, but we have AC, electrical, doors, and room for everyone.

We were most encouraged the last week of October when Mom and Dad came to visit, and we took an extra day off to work. I failed to get any photos of Mom and Dad working! They helped me with the large bookcase which will hold our entertainment systems. Dad stripped and sanded shelves while Mom and I painted the cabinet part. We also did some yard work which I have fallen desperately behind in. Also, Mom and I volunteered at Halloween on the Harbor. Here we are in our costumes:

Mom was a mouse, and she made me a gypsy costume for this year.

While the rest of us were doing easy projects, Taylor worked on knocking out the opening for the walk-through from the kitchen to the room and also the opening for the pass-through between the 2 rooms. Here are the photos:

You can just make out Taylor's white shirt and overalls.

As soon as we had the hole, Euni had to get on the counter to check it out. He's not allowed on the counters and is usually very good about this, but it was just too interesting to ignore.

Here's Taylor working on the last of the electrical.

Here are the 2 openings framed-out and sheetrocked with 3 new pendant lights
hanging above what will be a counter.

Here is the front wall which we finally were able to sheetrock this weekend! We had to wait for a Jeldwen contractor to install a new door because the one we installed was defective and the wood began to split. However, the company was great and took care of the problem with very little hassle on our part. Then, we had to get our final wind storm inspection. Piece of cake!!

Garage Conversion Update

2008-09-26T13:33:00.000-07:00

The first sheet of sheet rock goes up!!

And some more.

I know it's very exciting, but this is the last piece of old sheet rock coming down.

Kitchen Before & After Photos

2008-09-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here they are (finally):

2 BEFORE photos of main kitchen area

AFTER

BEFORE of stove area

New Stove area

BEFORE of "eat-in" side

AFTER

We still have more trim work to finish, so don't look too closely. Also there is a tile piece to install on the wall behind the stove and the opening to the new room still to knock out and build pass through counter.

Hurricane Ike

2008-09-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

I forgot to plan into the "dreaded list" a week of hurricane preparation and evacuation. Turns out we didn't have to evacuate because the storm has changed course and is headed right towards my parents in Galveston County. However, our house is boarded up and all outside items have been moved into the garage/new room. We won't be able to work on it this weekend, but of course, I have a back-up plan.
We'll be praying for our family and all the others in the path of the storm.

New Side Door

2008-09-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

This used to be a window. We needed a door to go from the new room to the front yard. Don't worry, we'll remove the red shutters now that it's a door.

Before Photos

2008-09-08T20:31:00.001-07:00

I forgot to show the before photos of the garage exterior. I took these with the camera when it had condensation after going from the cool house into 90+ percent humidity. That's why they're foggy.

A Window & AC

2008-09-08T19:58:00.000-07:00

It seems like I should have more to report because we had the long Labor Day weekend and then we took 3 days off to work on the house, but the going has been slow.
Here is Taylor framing out what looks like a balcony but is actually the opening for the window.

And here's the window!

It took us 3 days to get that baby in!

When we first moved into the house we were dismayed by the horrible condition of the garage doors. In fact, they were in such bad shape, whenever I locked myself out of the house, I would just kick in one of the panels and crawl through. It was very exciting to load those sad things into the truck and haul them off to the dump. Here's "Extra Cat" lounging on the debris.

The rest of the work isn't too exciting. Taylor did a bunch more electrical work. We also put in another door, but I failed to take pictures of it, so I'll add that later. However, if you need to see more, here's a photo of THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB we accomplished.

Yes! We are now working in an air conditioned room!! We have 2 vents in the space and even though we haven't put sheetrock on the ceiling or walls, we remove those cardboard covers when we're working. It makes a huge difference in energy level and brain function. Did I mention that Taylor did the duct work on the hottest day of the summer? (I assisted but didn't even have to put my head up into the sauna area very much. Taylor had to crawl all the way back to the main unit area.)

New Front Entrance

2008-08-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

It took 4 weekends to drill 8 holes into the concrete so that we can FINALLY frame in the two openings for the garage doors. We placed our new front door this weekend. The weather was sweltering (notice the blue canopy - it rained on us), and we worked until we were out of light, but WE HAVE A DOOR!!! (and Exhaustion is our middle name.) Next weekend we'll install the new window and close in the other garage door. Then, after we install another door where a window currently is, we'll have the wind storm inspector out to approve it all. After that hurtle, we'll feel pretty good because the tricky engineering stuff will be over.

It's a fiberglass door, by the way. We didn't want to spend all this energy
and have it rot out in our harsh climate. Isn't it pretty?

Getting Nowhere FAST

2008-08-11T18:27:00.000-07:00

We don't have much to show for the last three weekends of tears and sweat (well, the only tears were the ones caused by the rivers of sweat running into our eyes). We've been trying to work on enclosing the openings where the existing garage doors are. We've spent hours trying to drill into 40 year old concrete in order make holes deep enough for wedge anchors which we need to connect to the new construction. We finally got to consult with a wind storm inspector to make sure we are doing the correct things to get the new work certified for wind storm insurance coverage. Living on the coast makes remodeling jobs doubly difficult. However, the wind storm guy gave us some good advice, and we should save some time and money doing what he suggested. Here are some photos of Taylor and I working on those stink'n holes.

I'm working with a hammer drill.

Taylor's working with a star drill which means he's doing it the old-fashioned way by manually breaking up aggregate so I can come after him and drill out more concrete with the hammer drill. I know - it sounds like so much fun! How can I complain?!? What's amazing is how much faster the job became when we got the star drill and started working manually. We had two 3-inch holes drilled in 3 hours - WHAT INCREDIBLE LIGHTENING SPEED!

The other big job on the garage conversion has been running the electrical wiring.
I like the way Taylor makes notes on the walls to keep track of what's going where.

We're currently 4 weeks behind according to the dreaded list, so be patient with us.
Some day we'll have something pretty to show.

Garage Deconstruction

2008-08-11T18:16:00.000-07:00

The job I had most feared during all this remodeling work was tearing out the sheet rock in the garage. I expected to have lots of roach poo and dead roaches falling on us as we removed the ceiling. Turned out it wasn't too disgusting. Taylor did find a snake skeleton in the wall, but it looked pretty cool. Here is a before photo of the VERY messy garage and some photos of the tear-out.

Kitchen Update

2008-08-11T18:10:00.001-07:00

We've been spending our weekends working in the garage, so we are trying to fit the remaining kitchen jobs into the evenings after work. Here's a photo of one corner that is completely done (except I still haven't found the perfect convection microwave so the microwave shelf has stuff on it). Notice the upper and lower trim on the cabinets and the counter top edges. Those are the types of things we still have to complete. Of course, I have to go to IKEA to get more materials in order to finish everything.

After the Rain

2008-07-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

Last weekend's showers which culminated in Saturday's water spout has left us with little somethings.

Surprise!

Big Bad Wolf

2008-07-06T17:55:00.000-07:00

This year Marsha and I volunteered at the Rockport Arts Festival. It was a great way to help out a friend, our Arts Center, and ourselves. We figured we'd be able to take a few minutes before things shut down at 6:00 on Saturday and check out some of our favorite potters who come every year.

This year was a bit different.

When we arrived at 3:00 the weather was sweltering. It was hot and humid, and I spend most of my time wiping my face and neck. By about 4:00 or so, the temperature suddenly dropped and one of those Texas downpours began. I saw people running to get under cover. Boy was I glad we were volunteering under the Kids tent.

Things were getting pretty wet and the rain was coming down pretty hard but we were all under the good sturdy professional tents. I was surprised when the rain began falling much harder and the wind picked up. At one point I saw the rain driving almost horizontal and unsecured items began to fly away.

I saw a tent with paintings and jewelry try to fly away with a couple of artists holding onto the legs, so Marsha, the Arts Center educator, and I went out to help. By the time all the art was taken down and we secured the tent from collapse, I was soaked to the bone.

People held on until it was all over or until their tent collapsed. This was a food vendor who was out in the open. Most of the artists were lined up beside the three long tents that surround the festival grounds.

I don't think anybody flew completely away but several vendors took pretty big hits with damaged art work as well as mangled displays. Both Dale Neese and V. Chin lost at least one piece, but I think they were able to batten down their hatches alright.

Here's a few people praying to the Rain God.

I love volunteering. And so does Marsha.

I'm on the Road to Somewhere

2008-06-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

One of the unfortunate realities of living in Rockport is working in Corpus Christi. The living here is great, the working is nonexistent, so I have had to settle for working down the road in another fishing village, Corpus Christi.

Thirty miles one way, every work day, both ways, thirty miles, in a car, by myself, every day to work, driving.

Thirty miles.

Windshield is cracked and the sourgum is done.

Cotton is up.

Bridge rusts.

Back Splash

2008-06-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

Well, the last 2 days of our "vacation" were pretty grueling. They were LONG, we didn't stop for meals until really late, and things did not go Taylor's way. But, we're getting close. Here's Taylor cutting tile on the wet saw that my sister, Millie, and her husband, Kevin, bought when Taylor tiled their bathroom in San Antonio. It sure is nice to have our own saw.

It took both of us working pretty quickly to put in the back splash tile. Here's me putting in the next-to-last piece.

Here's Taylor putting in one of the final pieces on the wall at the sink.

It's not a very good shot and there are still holes where electrical outlets are hanging out, but this is the biggest wall of tile. We still have to grout everything.

Taylor spent the last day trying to install the sink and the dishwasher. The dishwasher wasn't such a big deal, but the sink is quite large and did not want to fit and then clip into its hole. Taylor had to do a lot of problem-solving and creative wood working to get it in. Then, there were the problems with plumbing parts not fitting properly. One part was defective, and he needed different extension pieces, but of course, we didn't find that out until the stores were closed. Here Taylor is working on the dishwasher.

Now he's fighting with the sink, which, by the way, is a granite (silgranite) sink. Taylor calls it plastic, and we've argued over and over about it because it's 80% natural granite stone that has been chemically polymerized with resin. 20% resin does not make it plastic!!! Granite sinks are highly resistant to chipping, scratching, and staining. They can also withstand really high temperatures. They're also not cheap, so again, where he gets off calling it plastic?!

Here's Bucky taking a break from following us around and getting all anxious when there are loud sounds like power tools and frustrated humans yelling.

Here's Taylor sweating pipe with the propane torch. Too bad the flash from the camera wipes out the cool blue flame blowing almost into the wall. Taylor is working on the backside of the kitchen where we have a closet in the extra bedroom. He's had to do a lot of plumbing work from this location, which has been convenient for him, but we've been without our second closet for several months now. Can't wait to put it back in order. Here he's doing the last of the plumbing, so the closet wall will get closed up soon.

Today I finally bought the correct plumbing piece for him so after we went to dinner to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary which we both almost forgot, he came home and finished the plumbing. Here I'm finally getting to wash dishes in the new sink. Yipee!

Taylor took a picture of one of his hand-made tiles. He made several with a variety of textures in them. This was one of my favorites but there was only one with this design, so even though it was a bit warped, I put it in this prominent place anyway. It looks pretty cool against the glass mosaics, but we haven't cleaned off all the mastic or grouted yet.

So here's what we have left to do... install the edging on the counter tops, put the trim, toe kicks and space fillers onto the cabinets, tile the small counter top near the stove, and finish out the pass-through wall and counter when we convert the garage into the living room. We will do most of this finishing work on the evenings during the weeks because this weekend we start on the garage. FUN!

Counter Tops

2008-06-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

On our first day off, we were all ready to do the counter tops when we realized that we had several things to do before we got carried away with the fun stuff. First we had to finish parts of the floor cabinets. However, the main thing was building up the counters so that the rather large tile edge pieces would not cover up the drawer and door openings to the cabinets. This means that we have higher than average counters, but the edge pieces are quite nice, so it was worth the extra work. Here is Taylor working on adding more wood to the tops.

Taylor has injured his right shoulder and has shooting pain down his arm, which means that he should be going to physical therapy and NOT using his arm, but there is no injury recovery scheduled into the dreaded list. I am trying to do all the heavy lifting and other things that strain his shoulder. Here I'm putting in screws in a hard-to-reach area. It means that I get to work some power tools. Taylor doesn't share his toys very well, but now he has to.

All of our animals are terribly neglected these days. They aren't getting all the love and attention they are used to because we work through the evening. Here is Eunie, our male cat, trying to climb up the back of Taylor's legs to get his attention. This is a new behavior for Eunie, so we know he's getting desperate.

This morning Taylor put in the backer board. He thinks he's bad 'cause it's all going so smoothly now.

Here I am laying out the tile pattern on the floor. It will go on the wall at the sink.

It took 2 and half days to finally get to install tiles, but when all the preparation was done, it took Taylor only about 3 hours to lay all the tiles for the main counter. He's really pleased with my choice of granite tiles because they butt right up to each other and there will hardly be any grout between them. Tomorrow we will do the back-splash.

One last photo of Taylor being crazy. He's filing a rough edge on a tile piece but pretending it's a violin.

Exciting Installations

2008-06-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

It's time for the new cabinets to go where the ugly ones used to be.

Obviously this is a posed shot since IKEA cabinets aren't installed using a hammer!
How embarrassing.

Take that back, this guy should be embarrassed!

OK. He's too cute.
Notice the new ceiling fan. One of my "favorite" things about the old kitchen was the lighting variety. There was a white ceiling fan, a spot light fixture with 3 lights, and a wood and rusted metal chandelier-style fixture. Now, there are 5 recessed lights and the ceiling fan. The next photo shows the pendant lights that hang down over the pass-through counter top areas. There will be a total of 6 of those.

(Can't wait to have things neat again!)

Here Taylor is laying one of the final pieces of flooring.
None of the old kitchen is visible any more!!

It's time once again to build more cabinets. Notice the glass cabinet on the wall. I am forcing myself to wait until construction is finished before installing the glass shelves, although,
you see I am risking a few plates in the plate rack.

IKEA cabinets install very quickly. The open cabinet above Taylor's head will hold the convection microwave which I have yet to find.

That brings us up-to-date. We are taking off several days this week to try to finish the kitchen. Can't wait to blog the rest of it!

And MORE Demolition

2008-06-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

The old bottom cabinets are finally coming out.
All I can say about this photo is, "like father, like daughter" - Cleo and Taylor
put their best side forward.

Boy am I glad to see this ugly stuff go!

And talk about ugly stuff. One big benefit to this work has been all the new electrical wiring Taylor has installed. There was some pretty worn and badly installed wiring in this house.

The highlight of my birthday in May was going to the local tile store, C-Side Decorating, to pick out the counter top and back splash materials. But, I forgot that all those wonderful materials could not be installed on wood paneling. Oops! Had to add another step - tear out old paneling and install sheet rock.

Man! That was hard work!!

Taylor has become so good at installing sheet rock that the extra work didn't mess up the "dreaded list." Behind him you can see the rest of that load bearing wall where we will put a pass-through into the new living room.

Custom Vent Hood

2008-06-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

While the over-the-range microwaves are great if you need to save on space, I really wanted a strong, quality vent hood. However, the traditional ones are boring looking and the fancy one's are too pricey, so I talked Taylor into creating a custom cabinet around our new vent hood. It took a lot of talking to convince him that this was a good idea. Once I got him on-board, he came up with the design and had it built in no time!
Here Taylor is on the roof cutting the new hole for the vent.

Here he is looking through the hole and you can see the framework for his cabinet.

(Notice that he's smiling in all these photos, but you know it hasn't been all giggles and grins! I'm leaving out all the angst!)

Now he's adding bead board for the cabinet finish. We will do something interesting with tile or metal on the front.

More Demolition

2008-06-17T13:37:00.000-07:00

Finally, the old cabinets are coming out!!

As you can imagine, Taylor tried to salvage as much of the wood as possible. Storing all the salvaged material from the kitchen is a bit of a challenge.

Here's Taylor about to take a break with 2 of his favorite snacks - jalapeno chips & a giant jar of pickles.

Installation

2008-06-17T13:22:00.000-07:00

Here you can see the first cabinets going in. One will have the new prep sink.

Now Bucky is helping Taylor prepare the IKEA butcher block counter top for installation. (Don't worry, Mom, this was the only time he was allowed on the counter, and it's been sanded and sealed many times since then.)

My other big job has been keeping us fed. On the weekend day that we have off together, we enjoy 3 hot meals. We have been able to use the kitchen during the whole process because the stove was moved to the new side, and we added the additional sink. For some reason, the challenge of cooking in a kitchen under construction has caused me to make some really good meals. For example, I made crab cakes for the first time the other day - go figure!?
In this photo you can also see the new laundry room walls and the new supports for the load bearing wall that became a large opening.

Construction

2008-06-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

Here is Taylor building the new walls. We had some discussions (somewhat heated ones) about where to put up the walls. In the end, it all depended on the ceiling joists and existing walls. We didn't gain as much space for the kitchen as I had hoped, but the new walls are well-built. Turns out this was Taylor's first time to frame-out walls all by himself. As with most of his projects, it will take a mighty powerful hurricane to cause any damage to his work.

As a last minute idea, we decided to cover the old popcorn ceiling. Our first attempt was to use 4x8 paneling. Too bad we don't have a video of us trying to get that first piece up, it would be pretty entertaining. Paneling didn't work, so we used pine planks, and Taylor got a new tool out of the experience - a power nailer. The planks went up easily enough but need quite a bit of work to make them look smooth.

As always, I have the painting job. Taylor wasn't too sure about the navy blue, but the dark color really makes the white kitchen cabinets pop, as they say in the design world.

One of the easiest and most gratifying jobs was installing the wood laminate flooring over the hideous green vinyl. Buckaroo, our rat terrier, is standing by ready to lend a paw.

Rip-Out Begins

2008-06-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

We started on the "eat-in" side of the kitchen. The plan was to move the stove to this side of the kitchen and add a prep sink, cabinets, and lots of electrical plugs. Once the sheet rock was removed, Taylor began to run wiring, and in this photo you can already see 2 new boxes. That wall with no insulation goes to the laundry/cat room. That wall will be demolished and the room reconfigured so we can gain some extra space in the kitchen.

Taylor is about to climb back into the attic to do some electrical work. He's smiling now because it's February. He doesn't smile now that it's June!

One of my jobs was to assemble the cabinets. We decided to purchase IKEA kitchen cabinets. I got a recommendation from my Uncle Dean and Aunt Katie who had just remodeled with IKEA, and Dean did his mom's house a couple years ago with IKEA. Using IKEA meant that we could afford more cabinets with nicer features than we would've been able to purchase using traditional cabinets. For example, we have 3 corner cabinets with lazy susans and a pull-out pantry cabinet. We purchased from the store in Round Rock which is in a short driving distance from my sister's Millie's house. While it's almost a 4 hour trip to IKEA from our house, we get to visit our nephew, Paul and niece, Anslee which is always a great excuse to go to Austin.

Before Photos

2008-06-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

These 2 photos show the "eat-in" side of the kitchen. The floor plan is so bad that the traffic flow makes the area too small to really use for eating, so it was not a very efficient use of space.

Our Ambitious Endeavor

2008-06-14T19:14:00.000-07:00

We (to be honest, I, Marsha) decided that it was time to do a blitz of home improvement to gain extra space and fix our yucky kitchen. The goal is to have it done in time to host Thanksgiving at our house. We started mid-February, so we have 9 months to remodel the kitchen and convert the garage into our living room. We only have the weekends to do the work, and we only have 1 day off together, so I made a list (the "dreaded list") of what we have to accomplish each weekend. In the end, we will add 440 square feet of living space to our 1200 square foot house.

These are the before photos of our kitchen which was probably updated in the 1980s (on the cheap). We will completely gut it and do it right!

These 3 photos show the u-shaped kitchen arrangement of mustard yellow & white cabinets with dark green laminate counter tops. The stove is a new one, but the vent hood is a scary, disgusting one.

The back splash is going to be a mix of hand-made tile (thanks Taylor) and commercial tile. It will be really nice.

Note the 1949 fridge inherited from my grandparents, which isn't being replaced (much to Taylor's chagrin).

Some Days the Door is Closed to You

2007-09-20T19:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes even though you have the right to do something, to walk boldly through that door, the best thing to do is wait until dark. Sure with just the slightest lifting of the hand, you may be able to brush away whatever has interposed itself between you and your goal. However, you may find if you are patient, things that seem to be hindrances have, of their own accord, dispersed into the dark...

to eat mosquitoes!

Over the Brink...Dale Brink, Brink Construction

2007-09-11T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well, that wonderful white ash trunk I was hoping to mill and put up for later projects is probably on my neighbor's property rotting away. The "contractor" I hired to put in a sun room at the back of our property took it all the way over there to get it out of the way. This should have been a sign to me as I had already told him of my plans for the wood.

Dale Brink the contractor of Aransas County Texas has turned out to be a dud and I've turned out to be an idiot for paying him anything before the job was done. Never again. Over four months of mud and debris in my back yard has driven home the lesson: Pay when the job is done, not before a stick has been laid.

In addition to being out a load of white ash, I am stuck with very deep ruts throughout my back yard, tear out debris all over the place, a destroyed pecan tree, multiple water supply line breaks, cast-off rebar littering my backyard, a bucket of worthless hand tools, and NO SUN ROOM.

We have filed and have learned that this is the way things often go here in Rockport, Texas. Fool me once...

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Brink Construction run by Dale Brink. I have great insight into how he runs his business.

Alex and Sabrina from Mannheim!

2007-04-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Email us as soon as you see this. We miss you!

Now the Real Work Begins

2007-02-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

We have been wanting to add a sun room on the back of our house but haven't had the time to take out a tree and bust up the patio slab in the way.

Finally got a great tree guy here in Rockport to take down the white ash that was lifting up the patio slab. It was a great tree but at the end of it's life span. Had some pretty dangerous limbs. He topped it off and left me an 8 foot stump so someone could bring in a cat and pull it over. I was looking at that stump for the last day or so thinking "Man I do not want to have to dig that thing out."

While I was at work on Friday, Marsha saw a backhoe working on the neighbor's property and asked him if he would come pull down that stump.

He came over, pulled and broke up the concrete patio, piling it up on the side then went to work on the stump. He had quite a time excavating around the tree. Lifted up his front end a few times I hear. Finally he wrestled that hunk of wood down and pushed it out of the way. I hate thinking about how I'm going to split that thing.

Marsha wants to recycle the concrete pieces for a flagstone patio at another location on the property and I would hate to see that beautiful piece of white ash go up in smoke in my pottery pit, so we are going to recycle. We are stacking up the pieces from the patio and I've hooked up with a local mesquite artist who has a saw mill. I'll have him slab that wood for me so it doesn't go to waste.

I have a sinking feeling all that was the easy part. Wish me luck

Happy Holidays From Rockport

2006-12-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

Here is wishing you and yours a happy and safe holiday season.

Let us go a nutting

2005-10-30T18:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't really counted the number of pecan trees on my property but the former owner planted over 100 I am told. Poor irrigation techniques and substandard pipe took their toll. Many trees are missing out of about 6 rows on probably 6 acres. These are some nice hybrids I'm sure. Some of the trees are actually regrown branches from root stock and have our small native nuts. I'm holding some of those in my palm. The larger, hybrid nuts are in their rind in the second picture. I will try and keep as many of the remaining trees alive if I can.

Things are looking up

2005-07-14T18:58:00.000-07:00

It may be dreadfully hot here in Rockport, but the sunflowers are starting to bloom and we've got quite a few on the property that are much taller than Marsha. This scrawny one is at the front of our drive. About two steps behind Marsha, just beside the sunflower is a fire ant nest. Can you guess how we know that?

See our pecan trees off in the distance?

Our first Christmas

2005-07-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

This has to be a picture of Marsha and my first Christmas together. I can't remember where this was taken. Our apartment? That's my Fender in the background. Mom is laughing at me and Ralph, my brother is trying to keep up. So that is what I looked like when I was young, Edouard.

Miss the stuff you like looking at

2005-07-10T12:53:00.000-07:00

7 and a half acres is a bunch of grass to mow. That poor John Deere yard tractor is really over matched.

My philosophy is miss the stuff you like looking at. It's a good philosophy ... as far as it goes. Things work out just dandy when I miss the indian blankets. The problems occure when I don't really know what I'm missing. Take for example the field thistles I let grow. These are 2 foot monsters that spread their thorny lower leaves in two foot circles while sending up their attractive purple flowers. Unfortunately they can take over a field and render it useless save for thistle growing. I relented and mowed them over.

Of coures we must remember that Rockport is mesquite country and just a week or 10 days of "missing" a mesquite sapling will inflict serious pain to your tires or fingers.

I'm still missing, but now I'm being selective in what I miss. Mexican hats, brown-eyed susans, and silver-leaved sunflowers - in. Field thistles, mesquite volunteers, and poison ivy - out!

Outside the Workshop

2005-06-26T19:34:00.000-07:00

Often we become so fixated on the goals we set for ourselves in our various workshops that we forget that much is happening just outside the window. I know that behind me, for example, in another room waits a door wanting its case molding and a bathroom in need of a water hook up.

But through the screen, just there on the left is the bamboo in my back yard that grows 30 feet tall, under which the chickens love to scratch. Beneath its litter of long lancate leaves peek the handful of emerging shoots that will slowly build themselves skyward this summer. They too are taking care of business.

Behing the workshop a colony of golden paper wasps set up house inside the fill tank of an old toilet. I was meaning to take it to the well house but I never seemed to have time to get out there and move it. I finally did, hoping that the wasps would stay calm enough while I moved it that a quick trip to the medicine cabinet would not be necessary. I survived and am hoping that this years crop of caterpillars will be greatly diminished because of my neighborly attitude to our local population of Polistes.

So many things are happening out there beyond the workshop window. I'm going to have to get out there with the camera and take a few snap shots for posterity.

Remember to get out there yourself and take a look around sometime, but be sure to stand clear of the stinging things.

Old Pot

2005-06-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

pot
Originally uploaded by wirerabbit.

So when am I going to have time to make some new pots? Who knows.

You can never go home again

2005-06-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

While this may very well be true (I wouldn't know), thanks to the blogiverse you can simply make a new home for yourself when you want to go to it!

Case in point, I'm moving stuff from the old blog site http://wirerabbithutch.blogspot.com/ to this one.

God, it's good to be home.

Home Sweet Home

2005-06-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

I have put links to all my old posts onto this blog. This is where I will reside in the matrix from now on.

First things first

2005-06-21T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I have no idea why I never started my blogging at this address rather than at www.wirerabbithutch.blogspot.com but I did.

I will have to move everthing over to here if I can.