Ember

 I was lucky enough, through Kaylee's original owner, Dave, to find a puppy for my sister. Met the guy who bought 2 of Kaylee's sisters which he had bred to an AKC registered dog named Cash. Between Abby and Sadie there were 17 puppies. Abby's were born on Sept 7 and Sadie's on Sept 27th. My friend Tom and I drove out to his house on Friday and I asked for one showing retriever tendencies and she also seemed to be the biggest of the 11 still available, one of Abby's daughters. So Kaylee is an aunt, just like Luna was Lyra's aunt. Kind of cool.

My sister named her Ember and will finally get to meet her mid December. Here are some photos in no particular order.

trying to keep up with the big dogs

we visited John and Seamus before we got home

last night Kaylee made peace with her

yes, another photo

nope, nothing to see here

don't know what it was but it must have been important

we stopped just before we got home for her to pee, (she didn't)

day I brought her home

This is Abby, Ember's mom and Kaylee's sister.

We Have Water!

 So Hal decided a few days ago to hook up the cold water line, then the hot water line and get us water to the utility sink in the workshop. This flow is just from the well pressure, no pump. But it was enough flow that I could wash brushes and roller covers rather than having to go outside and use the hose. Today Hal added the cistern and the well pump so we have pressurized water. It's great, now just need to install sinks, etc.

Lyra

 On Monday, November 15 at 6 pm EST my sister's yellow lab, Lyra, whom my brother and I picked from a litter in October of 2008, and I got to raise for 5 weeks, passed across the Rainbow Bridge. She was a sweet dog, loved riding in his dad's truck, hanging with my sister while gardening, loved walks. 

A few short months ago she was diagnosed with cancer of the spleen and my sister was told she could go at any time. But Lyra kept hanging on, her heart too strong and she was starting to suffer at the end so she and her boyfriend made the heart wrenching decision to take her to a vet to end her suffering. Took numerous phone calls to find a vet willing to do it that day. Their own vet, who told them about the cancer in the first place, said they couldn't get her in for a week! I don't care what kind of excuses they had, covid, or whatever, that is sickening.  But they did find someone and she is no longer suffering. Here are a couple photos from happier times, Christmas 2020.

L to R: Kaylee, Ziggy, Lyra

Lyra always looked so serious in photos!

She is missed.

More Painting

First coat of Behr Lavender Memory in the guest bathroom. Only have about 1/3 of a gallon left but it may be enough, second coat never uses as much paint. The tub enclosure isn't painted because it will be covered by the tub surround.

Since I have to wait for it to dry before the 2nd coat I decided to paint the first coat on the accent wall in the dining room. This is Sherwin-Williams Clary Sage in satin. Apparently I was still able to get his paint, not all of their paints are out of stock. Second coat will happen tomorrow. This is the color of my kitchen island cabinets and the bar sink wall.

Master Bathroom Walls and Floor

 I finished the 2nd coat of paint  m on our bathroom walls yesterday.

Behr Permafrost in eggshell

I also bought 7 cases of Lifeproof vinyl plank tile from Home Depot in the color Castle Black Slate for the floor on the bath, the attached walk-in closet and the small hall connecting them to our bedroom. Originally I was having the LVP flooring in the kitchen and living room run straight through but as that can't be installed till the as yet undelivered kitchen cabinets are installed we decided to do this instead. Having the floor in will allow us to put in everything else, and give us at least a partially working bathroom. Can't run a shower till the well pump is hooked up, but the toilet can definitely slow fill the tank after each flush with the current pressure of our flowing well.

1'x2' planks

First we need to install the shower wall surround which we plan to pick up from Home Depot this weekend. Then we'll put in the floor and then we can start putting the rest of the bathroom together. We hope to have a semi functioning bathroom before the end of the year, earlier if we can manage it.

Let There Be Light

 Last week Hal thought something wasn't right with the living room ceiling, there seemed to be a  big blank spot amongst the recessed lighting. So I looked up some pre-drywall photos and sure enough, they neglected to cut a hole for one of our 18 can lights. Fortunately it was easy to find because it was in line with a few other lights and we just crosschecked. Then Hal took a drywall screw and went looking. Sure enough, it had a working lightbulb and there it was.

a screw hole of light

Then it was just a matter of finding the edges and cutting it out.

Hopefully, nothing else is hiding in the walls.

Lopi Berkshire

 We installed the gas heat stove last week. The hard part was connecting the stove pipe. It's all scratched up now so we're going to have to get some paint to fix it, but at least it's in and heating the house now! With only one of the 2 burners on we're keeping the living room at 64 degrees. Very comfortable working conditions. With both burners lit we have no trouble getting it to 67 which is where we set it, no need for more heat yet. I actually had to contact the seller to figure out how to turn on the 2nd burner, it's all done with the remote control and not all that intuitive.

Here's a short video. Very nice flame.

Sure wish there was a crackling fire sound but it looks pretty realistic otherwise. It will look better once the fake embers are added but we'll do that after we install it permanently. The floor has to be installed first.

The 4 Bedrooms are Painted!

I first started with the master bedroom with the fancy one coat Behr Dynasty paint in color Thundercloud. Dynasty is unforgiving, thick, dries too quickly and still left pinholes of white primer showing through (requiring a 2nd coat) as well as roller marks. At $50 a gallon, not worth it! I finished this room after finishing the other 3 bedrooms using the Behr Ultra Premium. All the paints are in an eggshell finish, one step up from flat/matte.

obvious roller marks

MBR hall looking into living room

I stopped working on the master while I painted the other bedrooms using Behr Premium Ultra, cheaper and easier to use. First the small bedroom, aka my sewing room. The color is called Lunaria, sort of a yellow tinted cream.

Next I did the guest room in a yellow tinted green called rejuvenation.

Next I did the other large bedroom which will be used as the TV room/den and is wired for surround sound speakers. The color is a blue tinted green called Thai Basil. The photo is just after the first coat. I know in these photos the colors look very similar but they're not. I need better lighting but Hal hasn't installed any of the lights in the bedrooms yet.

If I get better photos, I'll put them in a later post. Off to build a fence now though. No paining today.