Bethany and Andy with friends Lindsey, Kenny and Neta.
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Rob supervising Dad and Uncle hanging light fixture in Entry Way
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Interior Door refinished!
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Pocket Doors that actually work! An amazing feat!
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Pocket Door Rollers that still work after 100+ years.
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Son Andy participating in the "Guest Worker" program
FOR THE WEEK ENDING November 4, 2007
HIGHLIGHTS:
1. Visitors keep coming and we love it. During son Andy and daughter-in-law Bethany's visit, we had friends from their elementary school era over for diner and reminiscing. Pictured above with Andy and Bethany are Lindsey and hubby, Kenny, along with Lindsey's Mom, Neta. Andy and Lindsey were in the same grade and did eight years of church activities together during our life in St. Louis. Nita and OSHA Babe caught up on some of the events of the past decade or so. It is amazing how good friendships last.
2. In the previous entry, you saw Brother Robert from Washington state under the watchful supervision of Nephew Rob hanging the light fixture in the entry way. It sure looks good. While Andy was here, we hung the companion fixture in the adjacent room. With the addition of a little furniture, the Parlor will be ready for sparking, just like in the old days.
3. The biggest progress this past week is with the DOORS. (No, Jim is not back from the dead.)
- The Front Door is at ACME Lumber being refinished. A new frame (that is actually square and plumb) will be made. After the refinished door is hung in the new frame, it will be installed and a new lockset will enable us to no longer have to use a pry bar to open the door. We'll be uptown.
- The Side Panels of the front door have been refinished. They look great. We still need to have the leaded glass panels mounted in the Panels. You faithful blog followers will surely be disappointed that the current blue louvered side panels are not in the long term picture.
- We did get one of the interior doors refinished to see if it was worth the expense. The answer is "Yes!" It came back looking like brand new.
- Last but not least, WE HAVE BOTH SETS OF POCKET DOORS HUNG AND WORKING! I wouldn't call it the miracle of all miracles, but it is pretty amazing. Carpenter Charlie and helper, Nat, spent about 18 hours over the period of several days and got all of the pocket doors working. The pictures above include one of the rollers that still works after 100+ years.
...We did run into a small "opportunity." Here is the math. Two sets of doors = Four individual doors = 8 rollers. Well, we only found seven of the threaded adjusting bolts that are needed to raise and lower the doors on their track. When I took the roller mechanism to ACE Bolt and Nut, they couldn't match the thread pattern because the bolt probably came from German origin in the late 1800's and the thread pattern is not available a hundred years later. Imagine that! But, Yankee ingenuity prevailed and we made it work. Come see it and marvel.
....When all the doors are up, you can't break on through to the other side.
4. We did some more painting and began stripping the pocket doors and the swinging door that is between the Dining Room and the Butler's Pantry. Andy took his turn in Bo's "Guest Worker" program. I did not check his papers but think that he is legal. There is still a lot more of that to do.
NEXT STEPS:
1. Frank the Floor Man is supposed to be here on Tuesday. Hopefully, he can get the floors on the first floor refinished and looking spectacular.
2. I need to make arrangements to get a bid on refinishing all the doors. It will be expensive. But doors are such an important part of the appearance of the house.
3. Water works are looming on the horizon. There is a Water Softener to be installed. Additionally, we need to get water to the Icemaker so we can stop buying bags of ice from the Valero gas station.
4. There is a Zoning Commission hearing this week regarding the proposed Historical Designation for Tobin Hill. The opposition has created an 11th hour smoke screen that may delay the final approval. OSHA Babe has been schmoozing with city politicians. We'll see if she is ready for Washington, D.C.
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