In fact it was getting colder as I got to the midpoint in Flagler Beach. I was wearing my long-sleeved jersey and had my wind vest in my pack in reserve. It was a tad warmer with the semi-cross-tail wind going home so I never pulled the trigger on donning the vest. I expect that it was also warmer as I went south. You wouldn't think that 40 miles makes that much difference, but it does.
Right now our thermometer says 37F. The internet says 39F. Whichever is correct, it's cold ! The high today is supposed to be in the mid 60's and the trend is warmer from this point. I'm planning on tomorrow (Friday) being my 200k. If the weather holds as predicted, late next week brings temperatures in the high 70's with a south wind. That means that we should be able to get out on the boat with Marda and I should be able to squeeze in my December 200k in nicer weather than my November 200k. Go figure.
We went to the club for dinner, partaking of the pasta bar. It was great. What a deal ... I can't eat that well at McD's for $10 ! It's a hot bar, with a short order cook like they do eggs and waffles etc. at brunch. You choose your ingredients, heaping them into a little bowl, hand them to the cook who sautes them up along with your choice of noodle and sauce.
What else ... no real reno work. We're pausing to reflect, so to speak ... waiting for the railings.
I did upload all my pictures so if you look at Recent you'll see everything from the end of August onward, which includes Jeffrey's and Jason's visit along with the reconstruction pictures.
We've got a lot to do in the next couple of weeks before we head north. The plan, at this point, is arriving at the cottage on December 16. That could slide a little, but not too much. Sandy is taking Lauren and Megan to the ballet on the 20th.
A few pictures from that group:
Emma, colorful as ever with her new Razor !
Zoe ... is she waving ?
George helped me (or did I help him ?) remove the fireplace brick and pillar facade, opening up the doorway to the kitchen by about 1 foot. Right behind George, by his right elbow, you can see the wall that is the sink backsplash. That corner by George's left elbow is actually the garage. It's an artificial hallway that is unnecessary.
Here's the view from the kitchen-side. We've now removed the backsplash wall behind the sink preparing for major destruction and of course the doorway has been further widened with the removal of the fireplace facade. However, this is just the beginning ... we end up moving the door to the garage to the left and cutting that corner at 45 degrees to further open that doorway.
You can also see the large bulkhead over the cupboards. That will go too ...
The large-footprint staircase is being removed. If you look to the left at the main entrance, coming in that door you only saw the staircase in front of you. It's hard to see in this picture, but right behind Tony in green is a part wall at the dining room entrance with the gatorade bottle on it. That wall goes too. Yes, Tony could lose some weight ....
Here's another shot of the staircase being removed. Just in front of the staircase was a closet that's gone -- you can see the outline on the wall. You can also see the part wall at the dining room entrance, which is a step up from the living room.
This is a picture of another bulkhead area over what was a wet bar. The drywall is gone ... and soon the 2x4 framing will be gone too !
Luke Heller, the plumber, is cutting the trench in the floor to run plumbing and electrical work to the new island in the kitchen. Way in the background you can see the exposed wall now that the staircase is gone.
Taking shape -- the part wall at the dining room entrance is gone. You can see the concrete step that remains. That step gets widened across the entire dining room.
The kitchen entranceway has been significantly widened with the removal of the fireplace facade as well as cutting that corner off at the garage.
The fan with the silly blades and mis-matched downrod ... hmmm.
What a mess ! However, at this point we are almost past "destruction" and moving towards "construction".
The bulkhead over the cabinets weren't completely empty. This is the end of the beam that supports the loft. We've notched it, with the approval of the contractor, and added massive steel plates on each side. Mike, the kitchen guy, and I did this work. To Mike's right is the pipe coming down from the roof for the stove vent. There's a beam that runs in front of that above the ceiling which is the outside wall of the loft upstairs, so both of these "features" need to be retained.
Vic, our kitchen designer, thought that a pillar idea might be best. That's what you see on the left. I came up with another idea and roughed that out with cardboard.
Life is sooo much easier when you don't have cabinet doors. You don't have to look for anything ! In this picture you can see that the beam and vent pipe have now become features. We've also got my temporary plywood counter tops. In the background on the left, you can see the stair stringer in place.
Here's the stair stringer being hoisted into place. It's 700+ pounds of welded and powder coated steel.
Our vision is just about complete. We come in the front door and see through to the water. The kitchen entrance is wide. The fireplace is clean and modern, gas and colored glass. The silly fan has been replaced :). We need some more furniture though, the room is now huge. We also need to play around with placement.
We are missing the stair and loft railings ... soon !
It's snack time in the new kitchen. The only things missing in this picture are the doors to that corner cabinet.
Is Jason asleep ?
Enough for now !
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