respublica

Fifteen years ago we left

Back in 2005 we moved from Collinsville to the seminary campus. Today we move in reverse. Here is what it looked like during the first move. Poor old Speaker dog did not like this one bit.

More floors

Yesterday we finally got to see how all the floors on the main floor looked since they were refinished. We had to be careful to only walk around with socks on and it was really something special.

The kitchen which joins the family room. The two rooms are open to each other

The front door opens to the living room which opens through french doors (not pictured) to a library. At least we call it a library, it's basically my room with computer and books once the furniture gets back in.

The other side of the living room and dining room is too the left.

We're really happy with how this all came out and and hope all the moving in doesn't wreck the place.

 

Transforming old floors

Our Collinsville house was built in the late 20's/early 30's by Mr Krite. Mr. Krite owned Krite Hardware which was located on Main Street in downtown Collinsville. The building still has the name Krite in the brickwork above the store. Anyway, we have to believe he had access to great workmen and materials for many reasons, but especially because of the hardwood floors which are throughout the first floor.

While we've lived there most of the floors were carpeted and while the occasional carpet layer would ask us why we wanted to cover up the wood, we stayed with carpeting. Now that we no longer want this, the floors were uncovered and we saw this last week.

The flooring people were interested in the manner in which the wood was laid. Each room was laid in squares with interlocking corners and we were told this would have taken a lot of work and it was done very well. There were no issues and bad boards. What I saw was, oh, man, how will they ever clean up.

Well, the guys were there all week sanding and top coating and today buffing. It turned out just unbelievable and we could not be more amazed and thrilled.

Dale took this picture when he wasn't able to walk in on the floors but it's pretty easy to see the difference. I"m so glad I took the time to get those rooms painted before this started.

Someone had too much time on their hands in one picture

Masks

Clever but oh, man, the thought of doing this exhausts me.

At home fireworks

There has been a trend on Facebook recently in which people are posting about how much they hate neighborhood fireworks. I'm happy to learn we aren't the only ones who find these constant fire cracker booms coming from down the street maddening. There were summers when we'd had very hot weather and no rain which made everything very dry. Then comes the local fire crackers with the bang and whizzzzz as the come down. We often worried about them hitting our roof or garage and having a fire.

Unfortunately there will be more of the constant bangs and explosions all day and especially late late at night because most cities have cancelled fireworks displays this year due to the conronavirus.

2020 strikes again

I've barely spent much time watching the news lately but one story popped up that has us all sighing with that, "of course this is coming, it's 2020."

We're about to see dust from a Saharan Dust Plume. Big dust clouds starting in northern Africa will begin blowing over the Gulf of Mexico this weekend and residual dust will affect us as the days go on. The good part? This dust may hold off tropical storms and hurricanes in our south. Also, we could see some of the best sunrises and sunsets.

If true about the sunsets, Facebook will be filled with these photos. Get those cameras ready.

Moving is hard they said

It's an understatement that moving is hard. It's almost insurmountable. I'm posting some of these experiences so I have a record that I can look back on in the future. Like around Christmas when everything is over and all in place.

But, one thing I've leaned is that I just cannot stand the scented trash bags. What on earth made trash bag companies believe this is a helpful addition? The smells of the various scents make me almost dizzy. I have them now because since the virus hit, people bought trash bags like toilet paper and most chose the unscented. Now about all you see on the shelves are the scented ones.

So, yesterday we spent most of the day in Collinsville because the flooring guys (part 2) came to begin the process of sanding the main floor hardwood floors. That work is a science in itself and the two men who are doing the work are very congenial and work none-stop. By the end of the day, most of the floors had been sanded. Today they will start the touch-up (I think) which will take awhile but maybe even begin the clear coat.

In the midst of all this our new oven and microwave were delivered. I was surprised that it took longer to set in the microwave than the stove. The stove went in really quickly while hefting the old microwave out and hefting the new one in was more of an effort.

Today I'm left with walking around the sem house looking at all the darn small things I have no idea what to do with.

Lesson? Don't keep stuff you don't use. Don't keep buying things you think are cute or special in some way if you don't really need them.

Oh, Hey July

What we all must feel

Why is the East terminal like this now?

Since the virus shutdown Dale has not had to travel by air or car since early March. So when we took Katie back to the airport this morning after spent a few days helping us pack, we were pretty surprised by the different drop off configuration for Southwest. It has long been the case that the vehicles dropping off a passenger pulled up and parked (briefly) diagonally. Now, for a reason which escapes us, they have changed that to horizontal parking. They have cut the number of cars which can do this well over half.

So, we wondered just what the reasoning was for this since Southwest has the most passengers out at Lambert by far. During normal times sthe

Kitchen work

Katie was in town to help us pack up stuff before the move. Lizzie was also over helping. We packed a ton of boxes and really, not overly much is left but what is left to pack are weird things that sit around in every room. I'll deal with those later in the week. But the Collinsville kitchen is what we went over on Saturday. We cleaned and cleared out things that made no sense since Dale and I were basically just camping out there for 15 years. Now that room looks great and ready for the oven and microwave to be swapped out tomorrow for stainless. The white ones have been there for 19 years.