Fabulous Floors! and Legend of the Zoysia King

Kitchen Floor before sanding











Kitchen Floor after finish

Would you prefer this Guest Bedroom or .....











.....this Guest Bedroom?


Pretty nice restroom, eh?










.
Restroom with new fixtures

Exterior Paint - in progress











Exterior Paint - after completion

Skirting around bottom of house









The Clampetts are on the move again












Visitors from South Carolina - Mike and Karla

For the Week ending May 13, 2007

HIGHLIGHTS:
1. The floors are coming out fabulous! You have already looked at the first four pictures above and can see for yourself. The folks who are doing the floors, Frank and Linda, are doing a great job. We still have about a week to go before completing this round which will include the kitchen and all the wood floors upstairs. The guest room is getting closer to completion. Schedule your reservation now before it fills up.
2. Wouldn't you agree that the small upstairs bathroom has come a long way. When you look at the "Before" picture, it makes the port-a-potty look not quite so nasty. We still have to connect the water supply lines and the sink drain before the test flush.

3. The exterior painting wrapped up this week. Pictured above is the east side of the house. Francisco and Daniel worked hard and did a careful job. It took them two weeks. Had I taken this on myself, the result would have been measured in months. This sure seems to have been money well spent. There is more exterior painting to come as I am treating the columns and capitals out front as a separate painting job.
4. Francisco and Daniel began putting "el faldon" around the house on Friday. (I think that they were really glad to be working on tierra firme. The picture above with the blue board at the bottom of the house shows the "skirting" that is intended to minimize the possibility of water running under the house. That skirting is to be covered with a wire mesh and then coated with concrete to make it more durable. There will also be 9 - 10 vents and two access doors for crawling under the house.

5. The Clampetts (the Texas cousins of the Beverly Hillbillies) are on the move again. OSHA Babe has directed the moving of boxes out of the garage at the apartments and a 10' x 10' storage unit that we have had since moving from San Antonio in 2000. Every day, we have loaded the car and pickup and moved stuff to a storage unit that is a half mile from the Tobin Hill house. The plan is to complete moving the small things this coming week and rent a UHaul for the bigger stuff, e.g., furniture, washer, dryer, etc. I have already tee'd up the idea with Francisco to round up a crew for that effort. Are any of you loyal readers going to be in San Antonio toward the end of May?
6. Work related travel brought Mike and Karla, church friends from St. Louis, to San Antonio. They came by the house on Tuesday for the general tour. We did manage to support fajita night at one of our favorite Mexican food restaurants and caught up on their two sons' and our three sons' lives. Karla came back on Wednesday to consult with Pat about color selection. She and Pat did manage a bit of shopping at "Bless Your Heart" and lunch at a girly tea room. Additionally, our neighbor's brother from Chicago was walking the dogs with his sister and stopped by for introductions and a chat. That led to an abbreviated tour. We do love having visitors.

NEXT STEPS:
1. Floor work will continue. I expect that Frank and Linda will be working on the floors upstairs most of next week.
2. I need to continue working on the upstairs bathroom. I noticed a gap in the grout on the shower wall. That needs to be filled. Also, I may need some help attaching the drain of the lavatory.

3. We are close to having the kitchen ready for the stove and refrigerator. This could be the week for moving them in.
4. The Zoysia King is on his way back! I have ordered a pallet of zoysia grass that is scheduled to be picked up on Tuesday. I have hired a young man to come over on Monday and help grade the front yard in preparation for sodding. If he shows up and works out, I'll have him help on Tuesday.

The Legend of the Zoysia King goes something like this. When last seen, the ZK was in his late 30's and living in St. Louis. His weekend mission was to plant zoysia plugs in his family's massive back yard. Sherwin Williams' "Cover the Earth" trademark was allegedly inspired by ZK's world vision for zoysia. His work clothes were tight, gold gym shorts (yes, the kind that were worn in the 60's and 70's) and a ragged old t-shirt. There was only one pair of gym shorts and, if I remember correctly, they were carry overs from college days. Since ZK had put on a few pounds since college days, (picture that, Batman) his appearance in the family's yard did bring hilarity and ridicule from the neighbors along with massive doses of embarrassment to and from his family. It did stop just short of obscenity. I hope that OSHA Babe hasn't thrown those shorts away. (Ed. note-The world has been spared a sighting of ZK in the gold shorts. Chris Farley's SNL Chippendale routine was inspired by ZK. The shorts are now designated historic and no longer available for public viewing).

4. Hopefully, the skirting will be finished this week.