Saturday, May 29, 2010

Building a house is never finished...

When we poured the concrete floors we decided to go with the rough look, big slab with expansion joints.  I opted to leave the joints unfilled, because at the time I liked the look.

After 3 years I no longer like the look, and the joints made the floor difficult to walk on.  I just had my first DEXA scan, I can't afford any broken bones.  : )  But after being bombarded with those dual energy X-rays, I do feel more like Wonder Woman.

The joints also became the repository for dog hair, A LOT of dog hair.  A Lab-mix dog sheds tons (I'm not kidding) in the desert.
A trip to Home Depot for backer rod and Sikaflex Self-Leveling Sealer and the project was on.  The Sikaflex was easy to work with and though most likely chock full of petrochemicals with unpronuonceable names, it certainly did the job.
 
The only colors available were gray and sandstone, so I went with the sandstone.  I was pretty sure some spray paint would take care of the color problem.
 
 
The Grand Canyon

Backer rod in place
 
Tape to protect the floor

Sandstone, yuck!

Allowed to dry for 3-4 days and then paint

I used 3-4 different colors of RustOleum-my favorite paint, ever!
 


A couple of days of back-breaking, knee searing work but the hardest part was keeping the dog off it until it dried.

Well worth the effort.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Dead in a Ditch?

No, I'm not, just needed some breathing room.

I have been working on lots of projects and have some photos to share but  today is a work day so that will have to come later.

A Facebook acquaintance (I know the correct terminology is friend, but I think it's too early in our relationship to commit) and I were threatening a cross country roadtrip, AZ to an unknown beach on the southeastern seaboard, and were conjuring a playlist.  
 
Here's one I put on the list.  Imagine it's dark and cool enough to have the windows down.  All we can see is what's illuminated by the headlights. It's humid and occasionally  there's the smell of newly mown grass, cow manure and wet earth.  The current conversation centers on what's right and wrong with the world and our lives.  

Then this song comes on the (insert whatever music playing machine you have)  and we sing at the top of our voices...

I'm Not Ready to Make Nice

What songs would you like to listen to on a roadtrip?