Sometimes it's Good to be Lucky!

It was getting late, and we had a long way to go. I could tell Bella was nervous the way she just wouldn't hold still in the back of the cramped car. We had left Porto that morning, and were heading north through the Portuguese countryside. After a stop for lunch and a tour of a medieval castle on the site of the birth of the kingdom of Portugal (Koffee, Kings, and Kastles! July 23, 2013) we pushed on in search of a place to stay (with dog) that would put us within reach of Galicia (Northern Spain). As we drove on we entered a more and more rural portion of Portugal. Scattered farm houses, and small towns with not much but forest and crops in between.

These are granite fence posts. I think they will last even longer
than Cedar!

The plan was to find a "Casa Rurale", sort of a government sponsored B&B that would allow Bella dog to stay the night with us. As we began to get more worried, we spotted a sign that indicated a Casa Rurale was up ahead. Viola, turned and we followed the road. Soon, we became discouraged as there were no more signs, then just as we were about to turn around, there it was again. This cycle repeated itself several times until we were travelling down a narrow country lane and had not seen a sign in several kilometers. Viola gave up and decided to turn around. "Just a little further!" I urged. After a brief discussion, she assented. Within a half a kilometer, there it was, our Casa Rurale!

Beautiful countryside, but where do we spend the night??

It was an absolutely beautiful place, an old farm house that had been totally renovated, including a gorgeous pool with an incredible view. Now the question: would they let Bella stay? I love to watch Viola interact with folks. She has a real knack for touching people, and now she really went to work. After she introduced Bella and talked with the owner for a few minutes, the original "NO DOGS!" changed to "She won't bark will she? Well...ok!" What a relief!

The view past a fresh running fountain at the main house.
Our room was right on the corner. 

Our room!

 We moved in quickly before the owner could change his mind. What a fabulous room! The walls were close to two feet thick, freshly painted and trimmed out beautifully. Modern air conditioning hummed in the background. There was even WIFI albeit a very weak signal. The proprietor's family was there helping out as well.

We headed for the pool as soon as we could change, and relaxed to the incredible view of rural Portugal. The owner brought us out a bottle of white wine, and a cake. Life is good!

The fountain flowed into the pool. These guests left shortly
after our arrival, and we had the whole place to ourselves!

This little structure is called an "Horeo" and it is a dry goods
storage and meat smoking structure. They are all over the place.
This one had been restored and was used to store pool equipment. 

This bannister guarded some stone steps to a lower terrace
below the pool area.

Next morning, our breakfast was prepared by the family. A great spread of cheeses, bread, meats, fruit, and of course...coffee! It still seemed somewhat dreamlike how fantastic this place was after driving so long the day before with so much anxiety over where we would stay. It had literally turned into probably the most memorable highlight of our trip. We all wished we could have stayed longer, and some day, perhaps we will!

They put out a great spread for our Continental Breakfast!

Kim took this picture as we all dug in!
I gained about 15 pounds during the trip!

The Mom and Daughter served a great breakfast!

Bella was very proud of her selection of lodging, and I have to say it was unanimous. As we pulled back onto the road, headed for Galicia, I wondered if we would find such great digs to stay in again, certainly the ghost of Afonso Henrique was smiling upon us, perhaps even riding along in the back with Bella!

Bella was very proud of herself! I think that strange glow
to the upper right of the photo is the Ghost of A.H.!

Thumbs up as our Andalusian driver's hit the road again.
Off to Galicia!!

That's All!

Carefully refined and Sealed Over!

A little over a year ago I had the opportunity to pave my driveway. You may have read about it in my November 25, 2012 post. Anyway, with pavement, as with lots of things, there is more than meets the eye. Maintenance! With a paved driveway you don't think about maintenance, but it is necessary. Primarily it consists of occasional sealing. A good seal-coat prevents the pave job from drying out, keeps water from penetrating cracks and pores, and thus helps the blacktop keep its integrity for a much longer period of time.

Early this last summer I noticed that the new driveway was beginning to loose its "new look". After a winter and a long dry spring, you could really tell that it had aged somewhat. This is totally normal, but reminded me that a seal coat was in order. The paving dude had returned in April to repair a few thin spots, and had mentioned that we should seal it. He also gladly offered to take on the job. But, you know me, why pay someone else to do something that I can do myself (maybe even cheaper)?

So I did some internet shopping and found some quality sealing material at Lowe's for what seemed a reasonable price. Then I did some "YouTube research" and watched several videos on how to accomplish the job. Kim and I then went to Reno and picked up the material. After carefully measuring the driveway, reading the specifications, and using the manufacturer's numbers for coverage, we purchased nine 5 gallon buckets, and an applicator squeegee. I figured we had several gallons to spare.

It was October, and therefore pretty late to be doing this job, since the seal has to cure overnight without freezing, and needs to be up around 50 to 60 degrees for the first few hours of drying. We got a good weather forecast, and went for it. Soon we had a pretty good system down. I was the applicator and Kim was the mixer. She used my drill motor and a mixing paddle to thoroughly mix each bucket before applying. This really worked great and beat the heck out of hand stirring all those buckets of "mud". I would then lug the bucket around pouring "strips" of sealer then spreading them evenly with my squeegee. Back and forth...back and forth.

Kim was a huge help as my "Mixmaster"!

She was also good at "quality control" as she kept an eagle
eye on work progress.

The bucket was terribly heavy for the first few pours,
and got better from there.

I worked hard to make it a uniformly thin coat, as we were going
to put on a second after the first was properly cured.

After a few buckets, it became very clear that the manufacturers specifications for coverage were way off. Each bucket was supposed to cover 350 sqft. My first bucket barely covered 100 sqft if that! So Kim took off for Reno to buy more so our sealing operation would not be interrupted. we ended up using 23 buckets! This included two solid coats. The first coat took 14, and the second coat took 9 (just what the specs indicated).

Spreading the "mud" was kind of fun. But there definitely can
be too much of a good thing!

Back and fourth...back and fourth, bucket after bucket!

Close to finishing the first coat. You can see the difference
 in color clearly.

The last corner! Almost done.

After the first coat, we blocked off the driveway for a few days, and when the weather came back into prescription, we finished the job. The second coat was much quicker, and used way less material. Bottom line: we got 'er done, and won't have to worry about this for many years (the label said it lasts for ten, so I am crossing my fingers. So far this winter it is holding up well and I have no complaints. Just did my first snowplow job last week, and it didn't even leave a scratch!

That's All! 

Our new Kitchen

Ok. No excuses! I know you have really missed my posts. So I am going to play some catch-up! It seems like so long ago, but it was a significant event.

Last spring, right in the heat of preparing for the District Conference, Kim and I decided that the time had come for us to act on our long time dream of a new kitchen. I was a little hesitant due to the time and work commitment of completing my year as Rotary District Governor. However, Kim reassured me that we would have time. I am glad we moved ahead now, but it was a very hectic and difficult time for us.

We hired a local cabinet maker who had done a few small jobs for us before. His name is Eric. We talked it over, and after a few visits and lots of measurements we made the plunge. We decided on alder cabinets, as opposed to our existing oak, in order to give the kitchen a lighter but still rustic feel. A big change was the decision to eliminate the soffits (essentially box like extensions that hung down about a foot from the ceiling) from which the cabinets were hung. This would give us more space for taller cabinets, and allow us to raise the cupboards and help open up the kitchen.

The biggest change we decided on was to remove the wall behind the stove , including two massive pillars built of used brick. This would open the kitchen into the dining room, and turn the cook-top counter into a "peninsula". Since currently there was an upright piano on this wall in the dining room, we had to figure out what to do with my folks old piano. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and if it doesn't seem simple....you may be in trouble!

I took on all the demolition since that takes few brains, and lots of brute force. (Actually, I'm not sure if the "brute force" applies to me anymore!) After I got started, it was kind of fun, the main hazard being avoiding electrical wires hidden in the wall with my saw. Cutting into one of those can be a hair raising experience (believe me I know!). I went after the two brick pillars with a "hand held air hammer": a very small version of the ubiquitous "jack hammer" that they are always using to break up sidewalks and streets. It took three days to get those suckers out!

The brick demolition was terribly dusty. I used the air hammer to remove the bricks one at a time. Kim was my laborer help, hauling out bucket loads of bricks.  She says she felt like the Sorcerer's Apprentice!  We salvaged about 90% of the used bricks for a future project. They're stacked out of site behind the tack house. We had to hang a sheet in the passageway into the dining room as a barrier to keep most of the dust from settling thickly in the dining room. We covered all the furniture in the "Green Room" as well. It was a very dirty job.

Halfway through the first pillar. No dust barrier to protect
the dining room.

I have just finished taking down the over-stove cabinets
after demolishing the left side brick pillar.
Note the dust barrier behind me (live and learn!).

Me and my trusty air hammer. Wore out a retaining spring,
but it did the job.

Tearing out the soffits was tougher than I'd expected. They were very sturdily put together. The framer who built the house really got nail happy. I used a hammer, roofing hatchet, and my long nail bar. Lots of pounding and prying, but I eventually got it done.

Me and my trusty hatchet.

Next step was to reroute wires, and install electrical outlets. At this point, I increased my "head scratching time" to avoid any future problems. It all went pretty smoothly (but slowly) and I never had any "shocking" discoveries!

Here I start to remove the sheet-rock before cutting out the studs.
You can see some of the wires I had to avoid and reroute.

Tearing out the wall between kitchen and dining room.
Go to the light!!

After the electrical was taken care of, I patched all of the open area where the soffits had been with new sheet-rock, then taped the joints. (You use a special tape to seal all of the seams between pieces of sheet-rock.) After taping, I applied some plaster-like material called "joint compound". This helps make all of the seams invisible so the paint job looks good. Lucy was quite a bit of help with sealing a lot of the joints. The last step before priming and painting was to "texture" the areas that would be showing after the cabinets were installed. I was really worried about this step, but a search of YouTube yielded some great ideas for making this easy with no special tools.

Lucy and I slap on the "mud" (joint compound).
This was a portion where I tore out the old soffits.

We had the cook-top peninsula and cabinets installed first, then Kim and I headed for Reno to purchase a new stove that had downdraft ventilation. This allowed us to eliminate the overhead stove vent, and get more cabinet space (along with raising the bottom of the cabinets several inches).

Eric and I put the filter unit in together. Because of this
I didn't have to cut a hole in the floor to vent the stove.
It just vented out onto the kitchen floor after being filtered.

We installed the remainder of the cabinets, and used the old counter tops as temporary ones until we could get the granite installed. Yep, we went whole hog, and got a great deal on some beautiful granite countertops with the help of our neighbors, the Grieves. That is a long story. Suffice to say that the crew showed up one day, and spent about 6 hours doing some beautiful work. I really enjoyed watching these true craftsmen at work.

Here we are pulling out the cabinet that holds the sink, I am
showing my better side don't you think?

Eric installing the corner cabinet to the right of the sink.

I wired two electrical outlets into the main peninsula to charge
laptops and other electronic devices. Our own Internet cafe!

Adding 5/8 plywood tops was the last step before
the granite guys came.

Here they are fitting the cook-top peninsula countertop. They
cut the hole for the stove here, "on location", to ensure a good fit.

Fitting the cook-top.

They set up a whole fabrication shop outside. You can see
they have cut the hole for the new sink.

Kim carefully supervises the action as they instal the first
section of backsplash.

The final section of backsplash is fitted.

Kim decided she liked it. This is just after the granite guys left.
No faucet yet, and you can see all of the glue spots that have
not dried yet. Also, check out the reflection of the old ceiling
light fixture.

The last phase was tearing out the old overhead lighting, and installing new. We purchased some nice lights from a place in Reno. It is very mellow, yet bright. The old fluorescent lighting was a very large fixture, but with some helping hands from Kim, I got it removed without too much trouble. There was quite a bit of sheet-rock repair to do, but I put the skills learned patching the soffits to work, and it came out very nice.

We liked this pretty triple light over the sink. Also note the
new faucet.

It took some work to patch and prepare the ceiling for the new light.

Here you can see both lights.

It is really unbelievable what a difference this remodel job has made in the house. It is just so much more open and warm, and welcoming. A great place to entertain, and just plain live. Now we are both determined to continue to put effort into renewing and modernizing the house. Not sure what the next big project will be, but we will certainly enjoy continuing to refine our "dream home".

 The finished product as viewed from the dining room, complete
with Christmas decorations!

The cook-top peninsula:  quite a difference from the cook-top
photo at the beginning of the post, eh?

That's All!