Trim - Tasks - and Time with Family

Steve got up this morning and decided it was time to start trimming the inside of the new windows. It was rainy and icky outside, so there was nothing for him to work on out there. 

He got out all of his tools.  It was measure measure measure, in-and-out in-and-out to the power saw in the garage to cut each little board.  He had to figure everything out so each piece would all be symmetrical and perfect. He would write down the measurements on his little clipboard, but he didn't always remember to take it with him out to the garage. Good thing he still has a pretty good memory. 

He pre-treated all of the knots with Zinsser shellac spray. Otherwise they will eventually bleed through the paint, even after multiple coats.

Attaching the trim boards is pretty easy with the little air powered finish nailing gun. He has this little portable tank that he can fill up with air from the big air compressor in the garage.  Binney does NOT like the nail gun, whatsoever. She came over to give it a sniff out of curiosity before he started. Once the 1st nail was driven into the wood, she scattered for the hills!  (and hid behind our bed)

Putting the trim on is like the final dressing on the window project.  He really wanted to get this trim in place.  It makes kind of like a "picture frame"  around the beautiful scene looking out into the backyard. It was bugging him to get a move on, and I had to move his stuff around to make him breakfast and take a break. 

Once he had all the wood into place, and then he caulked all of the little cracks and seams. That way, when it's painted with the white paint, you don't see all of the dark cracks and seams where two pieces of wood meet. I had to wait a little while for the caulking to dry before I could paint. He uses a paintable latex caulk that doesn't take too long to cure. 

Out came my little favorite roller and painting tray. I like those little 4" rollers instead of a wide brush. I still use a narrow angled brush to cut in the little edges in go along the edges of the window. But the roller seemed to leave a nice smoothly painted surface without any bristle marks from the brush.  It was getting rainy and dark, so I was loosing my natural light for painting the first coat.

While I had a pot roast in the pressure cooker for dinner, I was able to get the 1st coat of paint on all of the new wood trim.  I do enjoy painting, and this was such a small job, that it was done in no time. 

I think that it sure looks nice and neat. Steve did a very good job trying to make both windows appear the same and to have a nice little ledge and reveal to frame in the windows.

I can't wait until the 2nd coat is on and dry. Then the grand kids can line up my little blown glass paperweights all along on the sills.

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Yesterday was a good day. I spent some time with my sister. As of writing this blog post, she now has 6 doses of her radiation completed. She only has 4 more to go. 

My goodness, I love her so much!!!

 She is so brave to go through all of this.

I brought her some goodies and things to help make her comfy.  Her husband has been a champ to run and get things and keep her on schedule for all the sessions.  He has been through cancer himself, so he knows what she needs too.

After our visit, she needed to go back to the hospital for her next dose of radiation. We left there and drove up to Door County, Wisconsin to spend the rest of the day with Steve's dad, Paul.

He had prepared us a wonderful lunch of baked chicken, baby red potatoes and carrots. It was delicious. He is quite a cook for 88 and a 1/2 years old~ 

Next, he had a list of projects that he needed a hand with. He made a pretty good supervisor while Steve took care of power washing his little tractor.  

This beautiful flowering crabapple tree needed a couple dead branches taken out. Steve took care of it rather quickly and we carried the branches back to the burn pile. Things are way too dry right now in Wisconsin to do any burning, best to wait for another day.

Pops Pfundtner got his little raised garden cart already planted for the summer. Three different colors of peppers, some tomatoes, and I believe he also said green beans and a few other things are planted as seeds. He also took care of getting some tomato cages adapted to fit in the cart and protect the tomatoes from the harsh Door County winds.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day, sitting out on his backyard deck. The wind chimes were clanging as the breeze was blowing. There were birds flickering here and there. All of the trees were in flowering bloom as well as spring flowers poking up everywhere.

After all of the work was done, they needed to sit down and play a hand of cribbage. It was a tight game and getting competitive towards the end, but Pops pulled ahead and finished with a 3 point hand to win!

It was a long ride home, and we were glad to spend a wonderful day with Paul. He has such energy and ideas and great conversationalist. I love spending time with him. We did a couple little things on his computer, and he is very well adept at handling all of these new modern technology things. He takes it all in stride. I am quite proud of him.

After we got home, we ran a little errand out to our daughter Heather and son-in-law Jesse's house. They have the most absolutely beautiful magnolia tree in full bloom in front of their home. Little Whitney posed to be the little "Magnolia Blossom Queen"--- Just look at those beautiful eyes!

As we went to bed last night, we were thankful for family and all of us trying to help each other along the way in this journey we call life. On Saturday, my siblings are going to gather here while we watch my mom's live streamed memorial service from Florida. It will be a sad day, but it will be a good day for all of us. We need this.