Taking a break

It has been a cold week. 

Cold enough to make the wildlife hunt for shelter. This was the scene just outside our window Thursday morning. The deer had found a place with some relief from the wind. Usually the deer are pretty skittish but these guys stayed put until I had to walk over to the neighbors to get a key. The neighbors are in Florida and they called because they were worried about the furnace in their building. It was working fine but I understand their concern. I have a house I have been checking regularly because the tenant works out of town and is gone for a week at a time. With wind chills of 50 below zero it would not take long to freeze a house if the furnace quit.

I took a break from sheet-rock finishing and painting on Friday.

I do not enjoy painting and I do not like mudding sheet rock, but there are times when we all have to do what we do not enjoy. Even so it was time to take a break and do a fun job.

I trimmed out some windows. For the wood for the trim in the kitchen and the laundry room I went to our storage garage and collected some aged wood. Cut it to width and then ran it through the table saw on end to get a fresh cut on the face. The waste is huge when you use old wood because there are bound to be splits and cracks that make some of the pieces useless, but the wood has a look that can not be duplicated except by age.

Once I had the window trim on I could hang the balance of the kitchen cupboards back on the wall. Fridge will go under this cabinet.

I went to the Lumber store and bought a bunch of pine 1x4s. I like to trim out houses with pine dimension lumber. As it ages it gets a warm golden glow. It also adds some depth and width to the wood work.

I finished the windows in the living room and the master bedroom. Both rooms have oak floors that have had moisture on them at some time. There were 2 places where the floors had swollen and v-ed up. I have always been told you have to take a saw and run it down the top edge of the V to make the wood lay back flat. I did not know how I would get a circular saw to cut right up against the wall but I wanted to try to save the floors. I took a short piece of 2x4 and started where the wood began to heave up. I hit the floor down and it went flat for couple of inches. Kept my knee on the 2x4 and used a finish nail gun to nail it down. Went right down the popped up joint 6 inches at a time and got both floors to lay back down flat. Now after the floors get cleaned up I hope I don't find them so badly damaged in other areas that all that work was in vain and we need to replace them anyway. 

Next I started boxing in the beam I put between the kitchen and living room. The place is actually starting to look like a house again.

There were several base cabinets left in the house by the previous owner. They must have been purchased with the hope they would fit somewhere as they remodeled. Even though they don't quite fit the east wall in the laundry room, I am sure the tenants will want the storage space and the counter-top that will go with them.

     In our culture we seem to be pulled in 2 directions. One tells us we need to work hard and be industrious. One tells us to have a good time and enjoy life. Sometimes it is hard to find the balance. Those deer in our back yard this week have to get out and forage for food every day, yet when the cold set in they found a place of shelter to hunker down and survive in some comfort.
    There are some who need to spend less time on recreation and make sure they are being productive. there are others of us who have to realize that stepping out of the busyness of life is not a bad thing.
      The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, "come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Mark 6:30 ...
       We all need to look at our lives and first make sure we are working to build God's kingdom. If we are working to build God's kingdom we next need to ask if we are taking time to rest.
     Resting means different things to all of us. Sometimes for me it is to read a book. Sometimes like this week Friday it was to stop the work I was doing and enjoy doing some woodwork. Make sure you take time to rest and enjoy all the blessings God has placed in your life.