The new hanging light over the kitchen sink

June 23, 2015 - Tuesday
59 degrees/partly cloudy/windy
Pentoga Road

There were a series of thunderstorms that came rumbling through our area yesterday. Though we never had a sustained rain, a couple of quick frog stranglers let themselves be known along with some fairly heavy gusts of wind. I'm told that just south of here, trees were blown over and there were numerous power outages.

I started Monday by thinning the beets. I purposely let the tops grow bigger than normal so we could enjoy eating some beet greens. 



I've not had them in years, but when the sons were growing up, we substituted the tops for spinach and everyone, even the little guys, liked them. It was an early-season taste of the gardening season to come.



The first storm and rain of the day chased me inside. I'd purchased some hamburger late last week that was on sale and it needed to be divided and frozen. I remember back in the early 70's when hamburger rose to .60 a pound. I swore then that if it got any higher, I'd never purchase any more. The latest "good deal" saw hamburger going for $2.89 a pound. You can't beat progress.



Next on the agenda was to steam-clean the laminate floors in the dining room and kitchen. We'd just done those a couple of weeks ago before Grady came to visit for a few days and with granddaughter, Emmie, due to arrive next week, it was time to do them again. They weren't bad and steam-cleaning wasn't difficult. 

Sargie and I purchased a hanging light to go over the kitchen sink more than a year ago and I've put off installing the thing. Almost everything in this house was built using the cheapest materials possible or with the quickest methods at the time. I dreaded what I might find. Still, the house is almost a hundred years old. Somebody did something right along the way.



I found the old recessed fixture was held in place only by the drywall and the actual electric wire that conducted the electricity. Good Lord.



After removing the light, the next thing was to build a frame above the hole in the ceiling. I didn't want to mess up the drywall, so I worked through the six-inch opening to attach it, much like one would build a ship in a bottle.

So it was up the ladder, take a picture, unload it on the computer, look at the thing, out to the shop to measure, cut, drill, shape, sand, cuss, back to the house, and up the ladder. The process was repeated many times and took several hours.

The original hole in the ceiling was too large for the new light, so I simply painted the old trim, drilled a hole or two, manufactured a wooden piece so the new light could be attached, and called it good enough.

I'm glad Sargie wasn't home to see the mess.

In the end, it all came together. 

There are two more recessed lights in the kitchen. Both are the same type as the one that was replaced yesterday and I'm just dreading it, but my goal is to have that job done before winter arrives.

It took a while to clean the mess, scrub the counters and floor, and make everything look good before Sargie arrived home. After a shower, I was ready to crash for the day.

Sargie did more cleaning last night. I graded a few assignments and later, we watched television. 

Yooper Brother Mark sent me a text saying the trailer is full of wood... just in time for Mom's arrival tomorrow! You might remember that one of the activities we were doing before Mom had her heart attack last year was unloading wood from the old truck. Though I kept telling her to sit down, she insisted on helping. This year, I'll just duct tape her in a chair and she can watch from there! I doubt that would do any good. Somehow, some way, I imagine Mom will be out there helping to fill the wood sheds. It's the way she rolls.

Mom is due to arrive on the noon flight in Iron Mountain on Wednesday. 

Sargie's closing tonight. I'm going to go to town first thing to get the trailer. I plan to spend the rest of the day on the mower, cutting and trimming the grass. It's time.

But then we all know that a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...

Patiently waiting for his best friend in the world, Grandma, to arrive.