So you want to live off of the GRID, do ya?
Well then, pull up your bootstraps and deal with the inconvenience of being without electric.
This is what I said to myself after 24 hours without juice.
By the fifth day without electric the situation was getting to be somewhat exasperating,
but it did test our readiness for similar situations that will surely occur in the future.
It's funny how we take things for granted until those things are snatched away within the blink of an eye. Living in the middle of no where without a game plan is not the way to roll. We have prepared for situations like this and made out alright. Having plenty of food in storage, emergency lighting, a wood burning stove for heat and cooking, a pond for water, and a companion like farm-mom, put us in a pretty good spot. The one thing that we did learn is that a generator that works, 😥😥 must be part of our game plan. My BAD with the generator in disrepair.
We received the following picture and message from our electric company, once the power was restored.
WHAT AN EVENT!
Last week's spring storm broke records across New York, and not all of them are ones I wanted to see broken. More than 14 inches of wet snow fell in Binghamton—the most ever for a two-day April snowstorm. NYSEG is always prepared for New York’s wild and unpredictable weather patterns, including snow in late April. Unfortunately, the impacts of this storm were severe. Heavy, wet snow downed trees and branches, took down more than 2,200 wires, damaged 30 transmission lines and broke over 210 poles across our service areas. All told, more than 150,000 customers were impacted by outages.
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?pli=1#inbox/FMfcgzGpFgpcXppqtTFvSljLZWGmkBzr
While the electric was out,
progress was slow as I had to return to using hand tools that had been put away for years.
When the power was finally turned back on it was not the only thing all juiced up. With the May 1st deadline approaching I knew that some long days were instore.
This is the countertop that I had fashioned at the shop and it was the first piece I wanted to finish so that it could be installed. After sanding it I used a paint thinner to remove all of the dust. This is a process we call tack coating. Without tack coating, all of the fine wood dust you see on the rag will spoil the finish.
From there I moved onto the Spalted Maple that I would be using to case out the three windows on the gable end of the sunroom. As I sanded each piece, the blue streaks and color variations in the wood stood out even more.
After several hours hobbitizing on the window trims, I was excited to finish them with a glossy polyurethane, knowing the beauty of the wood would come to life!
With all of the pieces ready for finishing, I dry fit them to ensure that they each piece fit like a glove.
After a few tweaks, the moldings around the windows were removed and clear coated.
The cherry backsplash and oak counter top were finished in place.
Although both of the pieces looked pretty good, I gently sanded them with a 400 grit paper and tack coated them to remove the fine residue left behind.
After doing this step one more time, I was satisfied with the texture of the finish. It was now as smooth as glass.
While the top coat was curing, which takes at least 24 hours after the last coat, I moved on to the next step.
Rather than reattach this cumbersome mirror and shelving unit back on the dresser, we decided to remove the mirror from this unit and hang it above the dresser. When ever possible I like to #recycle what ever I can. Cutting this piece as indicated, left me with two corner shelving units that I'm sure can be reconfigured and used some where else.
When the mirror was removed from the unit, it took on a whole new look.
The gold etchings that outlined the mirror now caught your eye.
While the mirror was encased in wood, the etchings were overshadowed.
Some final pictures of the completed Sunroom.
😁😁😂😂🤣🤣😃😃😄😄😅😅😉😉😊😊😍😍😁😁😂😂🤣🤣😃😃😄😄😅😅😍😍
Robin was now ready to do here thing, instructing me where she wanted this or that hung.
A new light fixture and a swivel wall mount mirror should make it easier for me to get all dolled up. 😁
Both of us are thrilled with the finished project.