WE’RE BACK!

It’s been a long stretch since I last wrote but I am back communicating again.  We left Arizona early and returned home as my knee was not improving.  I met with my orthopedic surgeon and am now on the waiting list for another arthroscopic knee surgery.  I could be waiting for one month, two months, three months, etc. so life goes on in the meantime.

We still had some snow on the driveway when we got home but it’s all gone now and spring is on the way.  As usual, we started some projects that could be done indoors.

The first one was building valances under our upper kitchen cabinets to shield the fluorescent lights.  Stuart added an 18 inch light to complete the lighting around the corner and then the design of the valances had to accommodate an angled corner section.

 

He built the pieces out of 1 by 4 wood pieces left over from our multiple fence building projects and then used the router to put a fancy edge along the bottom.  He started the small cabinet to test the process and then moved on to designing and building the rest.  

He installed them with construction adhesive and staples so they are very secure.

I painted the pieces before they were installed, then filled in any gaps at the corners and then did a final coat after they were installed.  They look very nice and do an excellent job of shielding the lights.

The other job was the replacement of the front brake pads on the truck.  Now that was a challenging job!  Because the truck is a one ton, everything is bigger and heavier—the wheel, the calipers and the two pistons.  Stuart started the job by himself and then I came out to the shop to help him.  It was a learning process on the first side and took a lot of effort.  Working on the floor and with limited lighting took its toll on knees and backs.

The second side went a lot faster and we learned a bit more about greasing certain areas that house the calipers.  We had so much “fun” with it all that we went back to the first side, took it apart again and greased more areas.  Now the brakes work really well, even better than the original setup.

We have pruned our fruit and deciduous trees, and all the shrubs and have started cutting off the tops of the ornamental grasses.  Still a bit cool for other yard work.

So that’s where we’re at now and I should be posting more frequently in the future.