Ovens, Ovens are Installed! Oh Joy!

The two oven stack has been installed, tried to put them in the truck bed myself and with Kelly's help but it wasn't enough, so went next door to Vern's house and asked if he'd lend a hand. That was all it took and they were in on their back in the truck and ready to take across town to be installed. Vern drove over and with his hand-truck we were able to get them into the house with a bit of grunting and groaning, they weigh about 350 lbs. The new built-in cabinet has been nearly completed except for mouldings so it was time to install. Kelly and I tried the old stack 2X4 pieces to make up the 12" height necessary to set the bottom of the stove at the correct height to match the countertop's 36" height. We abandoned THAT little task at about 8" off the floor as it was getting more and more unsteady as we got higher and higher. Soooo...off I went home to get my hydralic car jack for the task at hand instead. Back at the kitchen-of-doom I ran the jack under the oven stack and attempted to jack the bloody thing up...and failed. The jack's piston was stuck and refused to move, thus no jacking action from that device. So off I went to the local auto parts store to buy another one credit card in hand. I found a nicely boxed 2.5 ton lifting capacity one for 49.95 plus tax and away I went purchase in hand. Back at it, the jack performed admirably, we jacked it up and shortly had inserted it into the cabinet successfully. I added the side mouldings and turned the ovens on in turn to test them as that had not been done since we purchased them some months ago. All is well, I set the clock time on the stack and put the tools away, another day of fruitful labors in the Kitchen-Of-Doom was done.

Workin', Just Workin'

Day after day we have been AT the projects that will allow us to begin our new life in The Big House in Old Town Suisun City. She paints, scrapes and obtains the hardware, furniture and materials we need to complete the remodel of 311 Suisun Street. We've been at it now for the last 5 weeks and I feel we have done about half of what is required. The kitchen tile work which is quite extensive is about 2/3rd finished. The back portion adjacent to the oven stack has not yet begun but the east side, with it's sink and stove top is nearly complete. The island 4 X 4 1/2 feet is nearly done as well with only one side left to edge tile. I've been working on all of that tile as well as adding new countertop electrical outlets too. It's tough adding electrical to an already completed circuit as one has to cut into the drywall and position wires right against the stud framing. Kelly has been scraping away at the many layers of paint that obscure the redwood of the door frames and doors, not an easy task but she is determined and today she was joined by our daughter A who worked on the front door all afternoon. The whole is coming along, slowly but surely. We sleep well at night and sometimes come home about 4pm and crawl into the sack for a 2 hour nap before dinner. Such is life these days. Much work and only a bit of play.