Baby it's cold outside!

The weather has turned....after a particularly mild fall and beginning of winter, mother nature decided to rear it's ugly head and throw winter at us. Like REAL winter, not like southern Alberta winter which consists of two days of -18-23C....I'm talking -32C for two weeks. Square tires on the car in the morning, and I embarrassing realization that I didn't even inquire if the recent car we bought had a block heater.....which it does not....yep I've gotten soft.

I continue to dominate the garage space, but I can hear the clock ticking.....so I enlist any and all help when I can. The kids have learned the hard way when I ask..."Do you have any homework?" the best answer is "yes" otherwise you end up in the garage....

using 600Grit sandpaper in a very repetitive motion

After much practice I have finally come up with a spray technique.

I thin the paint by 15% and then because the ambient temp of the garage and therefor the paint is about 13C I warm the paint.  It allows a better flow from the gun. The downside is the paint will slump easier.

 I have found that I must spray them in the horizontal position and be VERY careful on the amount applied on vertical surfaces

Some applications have been very successful....

And others not so much....

Forest of Trees

I was thinking of a quote from Tom Althouse, " 
“There is beauty all around us,  
and the light finds us when we realize,  
we are all part of that beauty and worth the cherishing."
This rings true so much in today's world, when so much of the youngest generations psyche is so heavily influenced by the constant stream of electronic social and marketing criticism, either active, passive, positive and negative. It's hard for kids to be able to filter through what is real and not real, important and not important, genuine and self serving. As parents in today's world, we are charged with helping to guide our kids through the tumultuous social/digital world which is a task that feels like trying to find your car keys in a dark room.  Michelle and I have found through trial and error that coming back to the simple things in life is likely the best way to keep our kids, and ourselves grounded. Simple things like a meal together at the kitchen table, or a simple walk outside to simply  breathe the air and see the real beauty.
The obvious analogy is that a walk in the woods is fraught with challenges, each tree or bush could be considered  an obstacle, but if you change your point of view those "obstacles" are what make up our world. When you look at the big picture all those obstacles together help shape your world into a thing of beauty.

Keeping that in mind, I tripped on another "obstacle". I was making a trip into the city to pick up Jeff and his cronies from the pool. I stopped in at the paint store and handed them the previous can and said...."I'd like another please bartender!" The helpful sales person said " Sure!...let's see Advance paint, in Chantilly Lace and a semi-gloss" and she went into the back to mix.

Now I distinctly remember buying the paint and discussing with the sales rep at that time, that my goal was a super smooth and shiny finish, she help up the product and said "this is it!".....and I trusted. Now that I was in another Benjamin Moore dealer, the sales rep had made a point of reading that the can was a semi gloss....it took a few seconds but I quickly made my way to the back of the store and said...." This will sound stupid, but is there a high gloss in this product?"
I think you know where I'm going here. My point is NOT that you should trust no one, my point is that you can always ask the obvious clarification question without sounding confrontational. I did not, and it cost me time more than anything....but I'm going to do it all again......

Now that the temp has dropped outside I can no longer spray in the driveway. And the open spray in the garage was too messy. So I have created a temporary spray booth.....yes I asked permission and YES I have a very UNDERSTANDING AND PATIENT WIFE!

But I mean look at this, one top coat.....

And this is dry!!

Microwave magic

I would say it was the early 80's, a magical time really. The advancements in technology was astounding....well, to us. Keep in mind we were coming out of the 70's, and anything more technical than a disco ball was mind blowing. I distinctly remember standing in front of  the door of this new kitchen appliance with my nose pressed to the glass of this thing called a microwave. It was huge, it was loud, and it was expensive. But it magically heated things up!
How far we have come. Now microwave ovens are relatively inexpensive, small, lite, and quiet. No longer relegated to just the kitchen, they are found in dorms, offices and even RV's!

The challenge with an install in an RV is motion. The appliance cannot simply 'sit' on the counter. Fillmore moves and shake,bounces and rumbles. Not really an install situation conducive to the appliance staying put.
In Fillmore the location for the microwave will be above the fridge. I know I know, not tremendously creative or original but from a space and functionality standpoint it is where we want it to go. So with the install space defined it was time to fabricate a surround/trim

The trim fits the cabinetry well, now we just have to get a mounting plate for the microwave to hold it steady during travel and to set the appliance at the correct height for aesthetics.

In the shop, all looks well. Now it was time for the dry fit!

Things will look better when the cabinetry is painted, but things look good! 

Now that everything looks nice and I'm happy with the fit, it was time to tear it all out and move the cabinetry to the shop for filling and sanding. Haven't quite figured out where I will spray the cabinets. I wasn't real popular taking up the garage to to the bathroom walls.

One more kick at the can

Now who remembers playing kick the can as a kid? I am sorry to say I don't think my kids have any idea what that game is. Basically a game of hide and seek. If you are caught you go to a detention area, the only way to get free is if an un-caught participant sneaks up and frees all the captured team mates by kicking over a can or bucket. Incredible feeling of elation when you are stuck in the jail and you can see your team mate slowly sneaking up on the can, on the flip side of that coin, a tremendous sinking feeling of despair when as the guard you hear the sound of the can clanging down the driveway reverberating off the sides of houses in the neighborhood. But, you take a moment to re group and then set the bucket back and start again. Slowly rounding up the escapees and ultimatley giving them one more chance to kick at the can...

So with the thought of nothing lost, it was time to regroup,repair and  repaint

 

This time I was even happier with my finish, and smart enough to get some help to get the walls to the drying table.

Round, Round We Go

The vision of Bill Murray in Groundhog day comes to mind, I feel like I have been here before, and I have. As a matter of fact I have lost count how many coats of paint I have sprayed on these walls. Its decieving really how little paint is actually sprayed when you do paint, so it's not like the walls are 1/4" thicker than they used to be. It's just that I'll lay down a coat, then find some reason why I am unhappy with the finish. I'll sand, fill, sand repaint....repeat.

But this time was different......

This time I was happy. I liked the coverage, I liked the surface. All I had to do was transfer them to a drying rack....

And then that's when hell broke loose. It was my fault, I was pushing the clock. I had to leave to drive Anna to dance and I was pushing it down to the wire. I transferred the first wall in, no problem. I went to move the second.....and it slipped and hit the first panel on the rack. It got gouged and the paint on both got marred...........uuuuuuuuuhhhhhghghghhgh!

Trickle Trickle

Things have slowed to a trickle which they often do when there has been a flurry of activity prior to a big event or trip with Fillmore. Having said that there is still some action, which means lights are on and furnace is running.....and batteries are drained. So it's great now that the inverter is installed. It can provide me with 110V as well as trickle charge the battery bank and keep it up to snuff.

The "shore power" connection is a 30Amp service with a locking retention ring on the chord.






















Of course I only have a 15 Amp circuit to plug into right now so I have to use a 'dog bone' to step down to the regular plug.

Before the trip to Manitoba a few weeks ago, we installed the bathroom walls. But like most things, the term installing doesn't mean permanent and we "un-installed " them for more finishing work

With my trusty helper, we needed to fill nail holes and feather the union between the rounded corner and the wall panel. I haven't quite figured out how/when I am going to spray these again. If I can hit one more above zero day I can do it outside....otherwise I will need to drape an area off in the garage....and that might not go over so well with the locals....

Turkey Trip

The day was upon us, after much last minute scrambling to get the necessary accoutrements installed and working, we were road worthy. At 5am (or shortly after as marital law would allow) we hit the road rumbling down the highway towards Manitoba.

The weather was beautiful, as was the scenery. The company?........

They were....comfortable if not talkative.



The trip out was fine, clear and sunny. But after a weekend of sunny weather we ran out of luck and the drive home tested Fillmore's winter preparedness

Snow started to fall just west of Regina, the thermometer started to fall

And I discovered that the back of the bus has it's advantages....an adequate supply of heat being one.

The trip home was full of slush and snow, but riding up high was nice. Progress was slowed for a few hours when we got behind a guy with a 5th wheel, but we just slowed down and pulled out the snacks and enjoyed the journey.

In the end we were home before sundown, safe and sound. The inaugural family road trip was a success!

Scrambling

Why is it that when we have lots of time to achieve a goal, no matter what we always seem top be rushing to get the final details done in the end. Ignorance?Lazy? Unorganized? Or simply a belief that things will progress faster than they always do. I would venture to say that the final point is simply a justification of the first. None the less, I researched and purchased my inverter many, months ago...perhaps even a year, but I knew that there wasn't much use in installing the inverter before I was ready to put in plugs and such. Although I am at the point of planning the placement of the electrical plugs, family plans created as desire to expedite part of the plan.

Part of the issue was....to install the inverter I need to access the battery bank. To access the battery bank I need to remove the back bench cabinets....to remove the bench cabinets, I need to disconnect the furnace ducting.So likie many times before, to kove forward I must take a step back.

After much ado, the battery bank was unearthed(just for the record....and so I remember the battery bank has 440 amp hours)

Now that the batteries are accessed, I needed to make cables. From the batteries to the in line fuse(jeff is installing). From the fuse to the inverter.














Then from the inverter to the sub panel.

Once the panel was installed I could run plugs.....or specifically one plug....for now.

Once the plug was ready....we needed the bathroom walls. No, not because the bathroom was being installed for this trip, but we needed somewhere  to install the......

TV

Getting it just right....

It's always been, brush or roller? What is going to get you the best coverage and the best finish. Well I decided that I would try both. I used roller and brush. Both had pros and cons but bottom line was.....neither. The brush left brush marks that either you had to put the paint on so think to allow slumping of the paint to "fill the stokes" or your left with seeing the brush strokes and they are not 100% perfectly parallel. So brush was a fail. Roller was more economical on paint but the finish was bumpy. Not bad but I wanted smoooooooth like my face after a close shave with a new blade. So I sanded everything down using a 600grit wet dry sand paper and then....

I took the plunge

Years ago I bought a really cheap spray gun, I did no research on technique, and then got tremendously frustrated when it didn't work worth a hoot. So this time I bought a decent gun....not over the top....but it had me at "DeWalt". Then thoroughly educated myself on Utube and asked a plethora of questions at Benjamin Moore.

After prepping the pieces and setting up in our not so down draft hermetically sealed paint booth, Jeff got first dibs

I though roller application was efficient....wow I painted a whole lot more with the spracy gun using a fraction of the paint needed for rolling.

And the finish was smooooth and shiny!