Mom memorial

Some very dear friends donated to the Minneapolis Parks for a memorial tree for my mom. The tree was planted last week and today I met the memorials coordinator to place the plaque.

It is a Kentucky Coffee tree situated near a bench at Lake Calhoun with a view of downtown Minneapolis.

The tree with medallion, bench and Lake Calhoun

Refreshing the floors

What you are seeing in the photo is the dining room floor where the left side has been treated with lemon oil and the right side has not.

My hardwood floors are not finished with polyurethane. I used to clean and wax the floors with Bruce's Floor Cleaner and Wax at least once a year. That was a long time ago.

The floors were getting desperately dirty so I mopped with one of the those wet clean mopping systems. I know you aren't supposed to use wet mops on wood floors but those disposable system mop heads have very little liquid so work well to get the dirt without saturating the wood. It picked up the dirt but left the floors dried and with various stains and rings.

I used a dry floor sweeping mop to apply a lemon oil product to the hardwood. The lemon oil takes care of many of the rings and some of the stains.

The floor definitely looks darker but also looks more consistent and refreshed. Apparently the lemon oil will only refresh the floors for a few days. We'll see.

Update: It has been a couple of weeks and the floors still look great.

Spring Green, Wisconsin

I joined the annual trip to Spring Green, Wisconsin again this year. I picked up Rose and we headed to St. Paul to get Dave. We stopped to get coffee before driving to JT and Linda's in Burnsville. We transferred to the Taylor vehicle and drove to the Buckboard in Lakeville for breakfast.

Since we were already south of the Twin Cities and Burnsted's is no longer, we took a southerly route to Spring Green. We were all surprised by how much fall color there was. It was really pretty all along the route. We stopped at a nice rest stop on Interstate 90 west of the Wisconsin border. It had an incredible overlook.

We made good time and met Megan and Michael at the Spring Valley Inn in Spring Green. The hotel no longer serves dinner so we went to Freddie's in Spring Green. The restaurant was a bank at one time. We were sat in the vault. Good food and good friends.

Saturday morning I got in an almost 6 mile run of the flattest land ever. A little pool time then breakfast at The General Store, of course. Dave had a good idea to go to Tower State Park instead of shopping. Dave, JT and I went to the state park which was just a mile from the hotel. It was warm and humid but such an interesting site. Lead buckshot was made using a hand carved hole and tunnel in the limestone.

Saturday night we attended Pericles, King of Tyre at American Players Theater. It was a fantastic production. The Hill stage has been renovated along with the audience/concession area. Really nice.

Sunday we ate breakfast as usual at The Shed. Then headed home via the Mississippi River route. It took a lot longer than expected but was very scenic. You will have to ask about the sports car, driver and hat story.

 A picnic along the Mississippi River (on the way home)

Downtown Spring Green

We stopped at an apple orchard in Wisconsin

Mississippi River from Wisconsin side

Inside the tunnel at Tower State Park

The hand dug hole for making lead buckshot

My Saturday morning run took me by this

Third door project

This one I'm a bit embarrassed by. The door from the kitchen to the basement was stripped in 2001 during the kitchen renovation. I never stained and polyurethaned it! Well now it is. The photo is after on the left and before on the right.

This was a comparatively quick project. The door was so dried out though that I had to do some repair to the veneer. I didn't want the door all that dark so I thought one coat of the stain I used on the front would do. It is actually darker with just one coat but it is fine and matches the other doors in the house.

The basement side of the door was never completely stripped. I liked the "shabby-sheek" effect actually so just sealed this side with a coat of polyurethane.

Finished and hung.

Basement side with spice racks on. 

Front Door Project Completed

Before (L) Stripped (C) Completed (R)

I knew this project would be challenging. I just didn't know how challenging. I am super happy with the end result.

The photo to the left shows the door in its before state. Full of dirt and grime and very dark with seriously messed up lacquer.

The middle shows the door completely stripped. I believe it is oak.

The right pane is the stained, polyurethaned and cleaned finished door.

The stained, polyurethaned and cleaned door.

Here's the completed door in a photo on its own.

I decided on a mahogany stain. I wanted it somewhat red but not as dark as the trim inside the house. I used a rag to do two passes with the stain.

The inside side of the door is definitely a lot darker but it is in good condition and don't feel I need to tackle that.

There are three coats of outdoor polyurethane. It was rainy during the sealing steps so it tool longer to get all three coats on.

Detail of the window panes

The biggest challenge were the 12 panes of glass. There is an inset or gap around each pane of glass. I still don't know how this is achieved. Cleaning up that gap took the most effort and time. I ended up using skewers (basically toothpicks), a toothbrush and several passes to get it out. It isn't perfect but it is definitely much better.

A similar process had to occur when applying the stain and then the polyurethane. I didn't want an accumulation of product or I would be back where it all started.

The windows got a few scratches from my cleanup and I cracked one with the heat gun. I hope to polish them out...the crack is gonna have to be what it is.

My first day at the hardware store

I have started part-time employment at my neighborhood hardware store. It is a national chain with several franchises here in the Twin Cities.

I spent a few hours last week doing on-line training. Today was my first day in the actual store. I was assigned as a cashier and shadowed a very friendly associate for a few minutes before turning the roles and he shadowed me.

The store is definitely a neighborhood kind of place where most people walk to the store and purchase smaller items. My largest sale in my 5 hour shift was for $95. And that was for a single item.

There were several house account customers. Mostly local apartment building types looking to purchase small repair project items.

The store is very busy with these small sale transactions but most interesting (and confusing) to me were the number of returns. Nearly every other transaction involved a return. I'm still not sure I got the process down completely because there a variety of steps ... or it may be it just seemed that way to me.

Before my shift was over I was on my own. Thankfully there is always someone to help just a headset call away.

Also, my first day I interacted with 3 people I knew including the owner of Isles Bun and Coffee, my old ophthalmologist and a customer from Juiced Nutrition. There was a fourth customer that I know from my store but he didn't see me.

I guess I did okay because I got my schedule for the rest of the week. Now I just need to learn where everything is in the store!

Front Door Project

Making progress on one of my most difficult projects. Stripping hundred year old varnish and dirt from the front door.

The door weighs a ton and I have to take it down and put it back any time I leave and at night.

I first tried sanding off the mess but that didn't work. went on line and saw a demo using a heat gun. That worked well for the larger flat sections.

I was nervous about using the heat gun near the glass. And that proved valid. I tried and was fairly successful for a couple of panes but on the third I created a slight crack in the glass because of the heat from the gun.

I switched to stripper chemicals (citrus and 3M Safe Stripper). I've also sanded and applied post-stripper wash.

Detail of the mess around the glass panes.

Using heat gun. Pile of scrapped off varnish.

Post heat gun treatment.