New cabinets!

Once again into the breach (see if it works this time)

Sandy and I have been talking a long time regarding what to do with our kitchen.

Well, we finally took the plunge and purchased 3 cabinets from Ikea to start us down the road to the eventual destination of having a kitchen that we actually like.

The good bit is that Ikea has a kitchen planner right on their website--

The Plan

So we started the plan with the 3 cabinets

The Plan Starts

One of the points of our plan is that we had to hide that very obtrusive pipe coming up through the floor.

So we included one of Ikea's high cabinets and just kind of, well, hid it

Hiding the Pipe

The high cabinet is now a broom closet

Clean sweep!

Yeah, there's nothing like buying a 300+ dollar cabinet and then taking a skill saw to it to make it fit. One wrong slip of the blade...

Just in case you forgot, we now remind you what our kitchen looked like before

Old Kitchen

And what it looks like today--

New Kitchen

The plan is to add cabinets as time and energy permit. In this fashion, we won't make a complete disaster of the kitchen.

For now, however, we got a good start and really increased our storage space in the kitchen!

See all kitchen related goodness here--Kitchen Cabinets

As we add more to it, we'll get pics up here.

Wondered... whatever became of me...

For the friend that wanted an update to the website...

Hello Cincinnati...

I'd like to take you home and....

Well, we'll go elsewhere...

How 'bout pics!

Sunrise waaay too early in the morning when driving to the airport

Some sculpture in the hotel

The fountain in the credits of 'KRP

Steamboat on the river

Big steel fish

Cincy at night

So there you are. Maybe more pics in the future.

See them here--Cincinnati Trip

Mighty Dodge

I'll use any excuse to create a blog entry

Knowing that, yesterday (on my b-day, btw) we finally took The Mighty Dodge (TMD) (tm) off the road.

Photo Op

Yes, it's true! After at least 9+ years of driving TMD (and having loads of fun and adventures along the way), the time had finally come to send TMD out to pasture.

René Auberjonois-meter... I mean, Odometer

349001 Kilometres. That's my personal best with any of my vehicles. Was hoping for the 350, but gas prices being the way they are... not so much with the costly next 1000 km.

So with heavy heart (eh, not really) and profound sadness (again, meh), we say a fond farewell to a trusty vehicle (albeit a little rusty).

For a rather 'fun' historically significant event related to TMD, have a boo over at this dusty page on our website--

Dodge Dakota Saga 2004

Anyway, I don't know if the history of TMD is over quite yet, but it has left our appreciative hands into new ones. Hopefully the new owners of TMD will still get a few years out of it.

February 1st, 2008 around midnight

March 1st, 2008 around sunset

May 1st, 2008 around sunset

There's a lesson in there somewhere...

Bigger Deck

Because Sandy and I love having b-b-q's with friends and family all the time, we decided to make our back deck bigger.

Yes, we know that it cuts down on the tomato planting zone, but, for now, the deck is a higher priority.

So with much further ado, here we go--

The lay of the land before starting

Supervisor

Starting on the level

Framing complete

Decking going on

Finished!

That was a good day!

The other night, Sandy and I put the bench together--

Bench

In line iwth the other bench

Planter pots

So there you are.

We have a few other miscellaneous things we want to do, but the big part's done.

And we still have room for the rhubarb and at least 2 tomaoto plants. So it's a nice balance.

See all decky goodness here--Deck Expansion