Nov 25 - finishing in a frenzy

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all you in the U.S.

Yesterday, the 25th, it rained most of the day, so it was a good one to hang around the house and supervise. The first to arrive was Ritchie. He started grouting the shower and then Charlie arrived from Vic's place. Charlie brought the cabinets for the bathroom -- the vanity came in three pieces and the closet insert was by itself. Charlie's co-worker Mike arrived in a separate truck to help with the carry-in and then he left. The reason for the vanity being in three pieces is that there are drawers left and right. It took him very little time to install the pieces and then a lot of time to adjust drawers and doors so that they all lined up and worked smoothly.

Before Charlie was quite finished in the bathroom, Stone Crazy arrived. Charlie moved his truck across the street and the granite guys did their thing working in the back of their truck, installing the sink and drilling holes for the faucets. Since the granite itself is one piece, other than the backsplash pieces, it didn't take long for them to carry it in and seal it to the wall and vanity and then they were out of here, heading to another appointment in the area and then back to Orlando.

Charlie had two other tasks on his plate -- fixing one of the kitchen drawers that had never worked smoothly and replacing two other identically sized drawers with two that were different sizes. This is to accommodate Sandy's bottles of olive oil :). Unfortunately the door faces had been ordered with the wrong profile, so he couldn't do that ... also unfortunately they'd forgotten to do the bathroom framed mirror, so that will come later. It seems that Vic has not lost his creativity but is losing details. That obviously costs them from a business standpoint in wasted effort and cost and makes you wonder how long the business will survive. He's the only front man / sales guy, very creative, with the entire team doing the work. The team is great ... but they won't last without the front man. Think about it -- how will "Designs by Vic" survive without Vic ? "Designs by Dave? ... Designs by Jason :) ??". He really needs someone working with him now to plan on taking over the business at some point.

Coronado Carpet has the advantage of a physical presence on Flagler. It's a family business too, with Jeff being the front man for offsite sales ... he's younger, so they can survive a long while with him being point person.

All the while this was going on Ritchie was working, finished the grouting and started setting the tiles on the shower floor. He then had to hang around for a couple of hours "watching mud dry" as he put it, before he could grout same.

After Stone Crazy did their thing and Charlie was out of the way in the bathroom, I installed the faucet and assessed what I'd need to do the drain. I then went to HD for drain parts, another couple of bicycle hooks for the garage and another piece of baseboard. When I'd originally purchased baseboard I had not counted on needing material behind the vanity, but with it being on legs, I did.

Oh -- when Charlie arrived I checked with him and yes, there was going to be room for baseboard behind the legs, which were not even attached yet. I used finishing nails and a center punch to fix the baseboard in place, having forgotten my DeWalt finish nailer up north.

While Ritchie was waiting for the shower tile mortar to dry, he set the toilet base in place. Later in the evening I put the back on but told Sandy that we wouldn't use it until today since I wanted the grout to harden. I also gave the area above the vanity a final sanding and applied a coat of primer. This morning I'll do the "orange peel" thing with the spray can to add texture in preparation for painting. I'll also cut the remaining pieces of baseboard and set them in place. They'll need a coat of paint before I actually nail them ... and all that will likely await bringing down the nailer, but perhaps not. It doesn't take very long to set a few nails.

So that was basically the day. There's no point in riding in the rain on either bike. I do intend to go for a ride on the noisy bike today and then, if Sandy and Angelika go to Disney tomorrow, I'll do a 200km ride on the quiet bike. I only have 4 days left in the month after today and need to get that 200km ride completed as I work towards my R12 (rides 12 months in a row). I'll then do another one in December ... and one in January once we're back ... and that will be it.

My allergies are bothering me. The accumulation of dust has my sinuses tingling and burning. Once they get sensitized, it takes a while to de-sensitize. I took an antihistamine this morning to get over the hump.

Angelika arrives this afternoon. We talked to her last night and she'll be taking the train to the airport (Sunday schedule because it's Thanksgiving). She'll be here for a week and then a few days later Jeffrey arrives for a week and then we head north ... and west ... wow, this is going to go quickly !

It's cool this morning so it will be interesting to see if riding the Harley is enjoyable. The internet shows 57F right now and a high today of 70F. The next two days are even cooler though, with highs in the low 60's. Properly dressed with my light jacket, 57F is ok on the bicycle because a) I'm working and b) I'm not going very fast. On the Harley, without a windshield, it will likely be cool.

Oh -- speaking of Coronado Carpet -- one last task that has to be completed is actually stretching the carpet in the master bedroom (which was part of the quote) and the spare bedroom. The spare bedroom isn't as bad, but the Master seems to be worse now than when this work was started, for some reason. We'll probably see Vic and Jeff next week but both need to complete their tasks for final payment. I have no doubt that they will and that the results will be great. For all the frustration working with Ritchie, and the frustration of hanging details with Vic's work, the end result is always wonderful.

Onward, one way or the other !