Minivan (Revised With Corrected Information)

I'd take a picture, but I'm in my jammies and it's raining and the car isn't at the house, but in the parking lot at the office. Our ill fated minivan is up for grabs. It is a gray 1997 Dodge Caravan in good condition except for the transmission now, and motor mounts down the road. We had estimates on the transmission of $3000 for a brand new one installed or $1,000 to $1,200 for a rebuild (in Las Vegas)--both good shops. It has a little over 121,000 miles on it, which is one reason we bought it, thinking it still had a lot of good life in it. Now we have a good pickup truck and don't really need the minivan. Anyway, if anyone is in the market for a minivan, we'll sign over the title and you can take it from there. The interior is good. The body has a couple of dents, but nothing serious. Let me know, because if we don't have any takers we'll just donate or put it on Craigs List depending on how much patience I have.

At Last, Summit Kitchen

Let's start with the old. I found this picture in the "archive" and it shows most of my old kitchen. The door at the back goes into a small laundry area and another door beyond that leads to the garage. The door is the only part of the kitchen which didn't change. You can see a corner of the stove on the left. It was pretty small.

We blew out the back wall and incorporated part of the back porch into the new space. It didn't change the roof line or the footprint, but you can see the black pipes that were in the old exterior wall, and the holes in the concrete pad where the plumbing had to be moved--big, big job!

Here's the view from the living room into the new kitchen. I'm not much of a photographer, but we do love this kitchen. The big island contains the sink and dishwasher, and has enough room for up to 7 bar stools. There is only one upper cabinet, and since it contains the microwave, the shelf space is not very accessible. Therefore, the dishes and glasses are in drawers; we're getting used to it.

I didn't clean up before the photo shoot, so please ignore the mess. I love all the new appliances. The space is a little tight around the sink, but when it's just me it is super convenient. I will be shuffling things around to get them in the right places for awhile, and in the meantime I'll just enjoy it.

The dining table was a mess, and the picture I took of it was too dark. You are looking across the island to the dining area which is toward you on the right, and the back door. I just managed to delete the last picture!! But you get the idea. And yes, all those tomatoes, etc, are from my garden, harvested yesterday. Come and see us, and while you're at it, you can hang out in our new family kitchen. Window coverings are under contemplation. Any recommendations? I thought I would do custom (made by me) Roman shades, but I am reconsidering.

Greenhouse on a Snowy Spring Day

If I can find the pictures, you might want to see what is growing in my greenhouse on this snowy 9th of May. I love my greenhouse.

Under Construction

Well, scratch the "before" photos and skip to the "in progress" pictures. If you didn't see the "before" they probably won't mean much to you. Since I am challenged by the task of labeling the pictures, I will tell you about them and let you guess and wonder.

We added about 150 square feet to our kitchen/dining area. We had an 8 foot wide "porch" that ran the length of the house on the North side. We took about half of it and included it as part of the inside. It is a HUGE project--more than I imagined. They have now framed in the back and removed former rear wall of the house with the exception of the plumbing and wiring. I have lots of new windows, a new back door (yet to be installed and currently boarded in), and a new pantry/food storage area stolen from a corner of the garage and accessible through the kitchen.

We also gutted the master bathroom and closet, and are reconfiguring so we can make a separate tub and shower and use the space a little more efficiently, so that is a big mess as they had to cut through the concrete pad and dig a big hole to alter the plumbing.

Look and be amazed! (Oh, I intend to include a picture of the some of the color choices I am considering for cabinets and counters). OK, if you can figure this out, you deserve a prize.

I included a couple to show the utter chaos of our downstairs living quarters.

Kitchen Remodel

Dear Family, No pictures; no fanfare. We are in the process of planning a remodel of our Summit kitchen. We will not be re-using our lovely alder cabinets or appliances. If anyone has a use for the items we are replacing, we would be happy to share. I can't turn this into a new paragraph, but this is the beginning of the specifics of what I have: first, the cabinets are not alder; they are hickory. I will have sizes when I get there and can measure again, but base cabinets are two 24" wide, one with drawers, one with shelves, one 36" sink, one 36" shelf, one 30" shelf, and one narrow tray cabinet. The uppers are all 42" high, I think--they go to the ceiling: one 24", one 36", one over-the-refrigerator (smallish fridge), and one maybe 30 or 32". The stove is electric, slide-in. The dishwasher is a good dishwasher with a beige front; I don't remember the brand. The refrigerator is also that bisque/beige color, and on the small side. All the appliances are in very good working order and they are also in good condition. There is a double basin sink which I love as it is a composite material that doesn't stain or spot and is super easy to keep clean and looking nice. The stove is built into a peninsula, so there is a lot of hickory paneling on the back. I can take some pictures this weekend and post them. If you have specific questions, e mail and I'll respond.

Landscape, Part Deux

Maybe you saw the progress on the front yard last year. The back yard got started later in the year this year and is a little more involved, but here are some photos that show where we are. Some of the elements are a new woodshed since we now cannot pile wood in a heap in the weeds and dirt, a greenhouse (only the footings are there now, and it will go in at the end so as to avoid potential breakage of glass), raised planting beds for veggies (so I can sit on the wall and reach in to plant, weed and harvest), a patio with a firepit, a patch of grass, and a kid swingset. There is also a strip to plant shrubs for a little windbreak/privacy screen, and pathways to get around. I'll post the pictures, and hopefully you can figure it out. The picture of the front was not supposed to be there, but I can't figure out how to get rid of it.

The Red Bicycle

I have a picture of my red bicycle, but it is on my digital camera and the grief of loading it on my blog is more than I can handle. My red bike had a flat tire when I got back to Vegas last time. I went a week without the bike. I missed the bike. Greatly! Although I doubted my ability to fix a flat bike tire on a bike with gears and a derailer, I was desparate. Tonight I tackled the project in desparation. I'm happy to report that this grandma fixed that flat all by herself!! Then she took herself for a little spin around the block--pure joy! I'm baaaaaack! That's all.