In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, September 7, 2026 11:50
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 798 of 834
Nothing to really make pics about, but got a lot done today/tonight.
I got all those touch ups finished in the closet and 3 coats of white paint on everything that wasn't white on the header of the small bedroom closet. It's not perfect like the other two hung doors are, but it's so hidden with that trim I lowered below the opening and just about the height of the track you can't hardly see it when the closet is closed unless you're right up under it. And now when it's open all you see is white even if things aren't capped and cornered off like I did it everywhere else. I might snap some pics of that tomorrow.
I discovered my estimation of boxes in my attic was high and I only have 20 left that haven't been brought down.
The worst news is I have two obscenely large totes of all of those ancient black and white photos that I never went through with my Grams. I swore my Aunt took all that, but now I remember when I said I had photos she was only interested in those of her parents and siblings and pics when me and my brothers and cousins were growing up. She had no interest in storing these two huge things in her little apartment.
I'm at a place in my life where I just can't. The health issues these last few years is making me rethink a lot of stuff, and me holding onto this stuff when it seems nobody else in my family gives a rat's ass just seems foolish. I know they're not worth anything monetarily, and I am just about 100% sure that there is not a single person in any of those pictures that I've ever met in my life. Even babies.
I really think I'm going to put out one last call to the family and see if anybody wants to take those off of my hands. I'm certainly not getting rid of everything I had in boxes, but where those things seemed so important to me 3 years ago, I just don't have that feeling about them anymore today. I will quickly go through them though and see if there are any pictures that speak to me. I don't have to get rid of all of them, and there might be some I feel are worth setting aside.
Oh... and I've spent about 5 hours sanding that chest by hand, literally. No tools, just folded up sandpaper and my fingers. It really needed it. You could feel with your hands the imperfections from the power sanders. I started at an 80 grit and went to 100, 150 and then 220. And I had to do this twice. And even after wiping that down and getting the tiny wood dust out of the grain, I'd feel it again and still feel the imperfections, so I kept wiping it down and hitting it again with 220 grit paper until I couldn't feel anymore of those after a wipedown.
If this doesn't take my stain the way I want it to, I really don't know what else I could have done. The damn box looks shiny on the outside now and there's not any product on it yet. 
I also got my knockoff dremmel tool out and cleaned off all the rust on the screws on the bottom of the chest that were too deep for my power sanders to clean.
It's all ready to go and it's really late in the morning, but I'm just taking a break now before I stain it. This is exciting. The moment of truth.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Aah, SIX. That paint looks gray to me.
Oh... I mean on the white wall on the left with the shelves on it. It was taken in the dark, so maybe that's why it looks grey. The paint on the left wall is the same paint on the rest of that wall, which is a blue/grey.
If I wasn't painting int the dark, I would have noticed this sooner. My eyes couldn't tell the difference when it was still wet, but the camera already could.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
Oops, sorry SIX.
No worries, Brenda.
Funny story about today when I was doing the 2nd/3rd coats on those touch ups and AFTER I told you the difference in the walls.
I mentioned it was super cloudy today, and in the afternoon when the sun is on the exact opposite side of the house, apparently there are some weird color effects when coupled with my LED flashlight...
I noticed on the wall with the blue that there were areas that I hadn't touched up yet. Of course I haven't because I don't have any of that blue paint at the moment to do those touchups...
But I didn't see the blue, and both walls looked to me like they were the same color and I just did it.
Two seconds later I realized what I just did and I ran to the bathroom and got some baby wipes and fortunately was able to get all that white paint off my damn blue/grey wall.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
That is cool and funny.
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Slow Sunday as my hands are still a little shaky. They are better than yesterday but yeah. Nice and slow.
SIX, I did clear out that little notification area in the right corner at the bottom. And it was a notification about no threats. Also I wonder about taking a chance on reupping my anti-virus. It's a free thing that was already installed on the drive when I got it.
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How does that work with the shakiness, Brenda? Does it come and go? Does weather impact it? I don't remember you talking about it too much before. My mom's MS comes and goes. I could see her one day and it's like she never got it, but I could see her 3 months later and she can't hardly get out of the couch on her own and she takes small steps to get everywhere. Humidity is really bad for her, which is why I was really mad when they upped and moved from Arizona (one of if not the driest state in the country, to the most humid).
The notifications for no threats is normal. That's the built-in Windows Defender.
Normally I would have told you not to bother with anti-virus software because Windows Defender is good, but I'm pretty sure we're not getting updates on our Windows 10 security anymore (since October of last year).
Adding antivirus is easy. Which one did your computer have before?
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Okay... We are not going with another coat of stain.
What a waste of time. I decided to just try it on the bottom of the box and it hardly darkened the color at all. If it even did, I can't tell. But I've got to wait 2 hours before I can put poly on now while that dries.
I was thinking about putting contact paper on the bookcase, but I read that I should be waiting at least 14 to 30 days before doing that. I know I waited a long time on the kitchen cabs before doing it, but I didn't remember waiting that long. I must have though because I wouldn't have put it on without checking first.
I think I'll spackle all the brad nail holes for the 3 long pieces of mid-level trim in the basement and all those corner pieces I fleshed out the stairwell with. It will be nice to get that done and sanded down and cleaned up. Needs a little caulk too, but I always do the spackle first.
I will be putting something like 6 coats of poly on the outside of the box, and they need at least 2 hours drying time in between scuff sands and a new application. I won't be starting poly today until 6PM at least, so it's going to be another long night.
I keep going the way I'm going, I'm going to force myself to do dehoarding just from lack of stuff I can still do without doing a proper sump operation that will leave me virtually free of water issues if done right. I can't be doing anything more in the basement that hasn't been done until that's finished. I really never should have finished most of that room in the basement, but through some blood sweat and tears over the years I've managed to save the work so far.
I'm hoping once summer winds down I can get my buddy out here for a few days on the weekends or something. There's just certain things like this that I feel much better doing when he's around, like back when we jacked up my porch and fixed the flooring from underneath. I spent about 80 hours working on things in between his visits. He was probably only here 10 hours in 3 days, but we didn't waste a minute of that time.
I should probably get down there soon and figure out how I want to run my electric so both pumps are on different circuits. I know I'm stuck with the one as it is without doing a ton of work, and it's never been a problem with what it shares the circuit with such as my microwave. But I can't add a 2nd pump to that. When I open the wall by the breaker box to do the work for the generator plug outside the house, I will be checking to see if the 2 foot electrical conduit nub with capped off wires is it's own circuit straight from that box that was terminated for some reason. If that's the case it will make my work a LOT easier. Won't know until I put some huge holes in the one room in the basement that has all the walls finished.
:(
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Change of plans...
Had me another little chat with Google AI, and it seems that the best path forward now is to use Super Glue to seal in all those screws on the bottom before I add my water based poly. Glad I asked that question before I got started.
I thought I was ready for the first coat and figured I'd burn time getting a few more pics ready, which I did. But I got sidetracked into that conversation about the screws and now it's time to start the poly and I'm going to have to do the super glue thing and wait about 30 minutes before starting it.
Got as much rust off the screwtops on the bottom of the box with my dremmel as I could.
5 additional hours sanding by hand.
And our stain...
The poly is transformative. I have to keep that in mind when looking at this. It's not the result that I expected, even after trying a 2nd coat, but it's not bad. I can tell that's going to match her furniture, and if you look at the parts where I filled it in with wood filler and it really took the color, it's going to be damn near a perfect match. I was just a little disappointed at how much brown still shows through. I'm sure I could have done something different to change that, but I don't know enough about what I'm doing to know what that would have been.
But I'm telling you though... If I really put 5 or 6 coats of poly on this thing it's going to look amazing regardless.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Hey Sigs...
You have any ideas of what I could do to keep this thing elevated off the floor?
It's going to take about a month to cure and where it's going is on top of a really nice carpet.
If it were me, I'd just throw some 2x4 scraps under either side and call it a day, but my aunt isn't going to go for that on her carpet.
I'm almost wondering if I need to send her pictures on her retirement day and let her know it will be ready to use next month. Because otherwise she's going to be tripping over it in her kitchen or bathroom because there's nowhere else that isn't covered in very nice looking carpet.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Super Glue actually went quick and easy. Great tip by Google AI to use toothpicks to spread it around on the screws that only needed a little bit, and to keep it from balling up on you, especially in the deeper holes. I was worried I wouldn't have enough with 4 cheap tubes from Menards that are 3/4 full of air and only one tiny real Super Glue brand from the dollar tree. I only needed one.
Give that about 30 more minutes and I'll start the poly on the outside.
Can't wait!!!
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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Does it still look like a Coffin, Brenda?
Hopefully that blue/grey makes a difference.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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I found the little radio thing I got when Grams was passing so I could put a bunch of music she would have grown up with and have that playing in the background. I should get that thing charged up and get my music on an SD card so I can play that down in the basement.
I was listening to Jaynez's Pink Floyd video from the Music II thread while I was down there last night, but it was coming from upstairs and I just really couldn't hear it good over the sanding. I think I'm going to go do that now while I'm waiting for the super glue to dry. If I don't have a spare SD card I can find easily, I'll make sure to copy all those songs to my backups folders before putting my stuff on them.
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Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.
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