Early Space Exploration

This has been a very interesting week.  We started with a tense few days trying to see how Stephanie could get from Rochester to the Cities to catch her flight here when the skies were dumping tons of ice and snow on Minnesota.  After rescheduling her flight, she found that the roads still were impassible, so she cancelled her visit.  We all were extremely disappointed.

Blue skies greeted us at Kennedy Space Center.

Since we had purchased tickets for a special tour at Kennedy Space Center, we decided to take our planned trip without Stephanie. This tour was special because it actually went on the military side of the Space Center, going to Cape Canaveral rather than the commercial Kennedy side.

We left on Tuesday, driving as far as Orlando.  In addition to the amusement parks, Orlando is ground zero for outlet malls.  We visited a couple but left with only two pair of jeans for Owen after hours of shopping.  Traffic in Orlando is a nightmare.  We were happy to get back to the hotel at the end of the day.

Rain was predicted for Wednesday when we actually went to the Space Center; however, we were greeted by sunshine when we arose in Orlando that morning.  We packed our raincoats in the car just in case the rains arrived, but we went through the entire day without rain.  Just as we were leaving the Center, a few sprinkles started, but that was the total of rain that we had to deal with that day.

We arrived early which afforded us excellent parking.  That was a good thing because we immediately went into the gift shop to do a little shopping.  Rick took our purchases out to the car, and not carrying them with us all day was great.

After that, we did a little tour of the Mars exhibits.  NASA is very focused on getting to Mars within the next decade or two.  The exhibits showed models both of the robots that we have sent to Mars and the vehicles that NASA is developing for human exploration of Mars.

The early and small original Mars Rover.

The most interesting vehicle was the Mars Rover that will carry astronauts around the red planet. It is HUGE as the following pictures show:

The two men in front of the Rover show the enormous side of the vehicle.

The tire design on the Rover allows it to be sturdy,
lightweight, and impossible to deflate!

I felt dwarfed standing in front of the Mars Rover.

Posters inside the exhibit showed the variety of
occupations necessary on Mars.  This one is for you,
Christopher!

This poster was near the display showing the habitat
that astronauts will have to build once they reach Mars.

We did something new on this trip.  We attended an "Astronaut Encounter," and it was both interesting and informative.  The guest speaker that day was Space Shuttle astronaut Bob Springer.  He talked about the two missions he was on and gave some insight into his background, training, and life as an astronaut.  His personal stories illustrated the bad, the good, and the funny things about being in space.

Bob Springer was an excellent speaker with an educational
and interesting presentation.

After a quick, expensive lunch at one of the Center's cafes, we were off to our bus trip that was centered around exploration of the early days of the space program, including the early missiles, and the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.

Our tour included seeing full-size models of the early missiles and satellites that the US sent into space.  Our tour guide had worked at NASA and kept our interest though the entire three-hour tour.  I was surprised at how small the early missiles and satellites were that we first launched.

The people show how small the early rockets and
satellites that we sent to space really were.

As we were traveling on to our next stop, our bus had to pull off the road into a parking lot. Coming straight at us, with a four-squad-car escort, was the first stage recovered booster rocket from the Falcon Nine Spacex flight that was launched last week.  The rocket was burned from re-entry to the atmosphere and enormous.  This was an unexpected treat for our tour.

Look over the shoulder of our tour guide to see
the first stage booster rocket as it came down the street.

The Spacex rocket is charred from its journey.

The bottom of the rocket shows why this vehicle
was called the Falcon Nine.  Note the nine rockets
used to get the vehicle into space.

As the tour continued, we were taken to a bunker that was used to launch Alan Shepherd into space.  The bunker is now a museum, preserving the ancient computers, wiring, and structures that were used that day in 1961.  A sign on the wall said that the rooms full of computers had less computing power than a $30 watch has today.  Our tour guide said the sign was outdated: today a $10 watch has more computing power than those old computers and that today's iPhone has 1000 times more computer power.  Looking at those ancient computers and primitive methods made me wonder how we ever were successful in getting Shepherd and then John Glenn and others into space and back safely.  They were taking great risks and really had no assurances that they would survive either the blast off or the return to earth.

The command center that sent Shepherd into space
had minimal power and was all hand-wired.

Rick looks in disbelief at the tape reels that were used in the
early part of space exploration to send men into space.

A replica of the small rocket used for the first
manned space flight.  Shepherd was in the
black capsule on top.  Above him was the
red "escape rocket" that could pull the capsule off
the rocket in case of an emergency.

A discussion of safety took us to the launch pad where Astronauts White, Grissom, and Chaffey lost their lives in a space capsule fire.  They were testing systems when a spark from one of their chairs ignited the oxygen-rich atmosphere inside the space capsule.  Their tragic deaths resulted in a redesign of the capsule so astronauts quickly could escape the capsule if necessary.

The skeleton of the launch pad where the Apollo  1
astronauts perished remains as a memorial to them.

As our tour concluded, we drove past the construction site of the new NASA headquarters.  The new building is modern and bright.  We also saw the old headquarters, positioned next door to the new building, that ultimately will be torn down.  The old headquarters had no windows on the first floor to protect the work inside from being spied on by unauthorized eyes.

The new NASA headquarters is under construction.

The old headquarters was only three stories high and very reflective of the era in which it was built.

The old headquarters with no first-floor windows.

We really enjoyed our tour, having remembered events that we witnessed as children and learning about what went on behind the scenes to make our space program a success.  The entire complex is designed to show that while the Shuttle missions are complete, space exploration continues through cooperation with private space companies.  NASA will continue long into the future.

Spring Cleaning

Even though the snow flies in Wisconsin, Rick and I have been busy with a little necessary spring cleaning.

Gladys' windows were filthy, to say the least.  Rick had to start with the eves since washing them later  would just drip dirty water on the clean windows.  While Rick scrubbed the eves, I followed behind with the hose to rinse them.  Then Rick scrubbed the eves troughs and downspouts to get the mold and pollen off them.   The whole process was quite a task, but once that all was done, we could move on to the windows.

The great thing about Gladys is that as it is a ranch-style house, we have no second-story windows to clean.  Rick took off the screens and gave them to me.  As he washed and squeegeed the windows, I scrubbed down the screens with the hose and dried them.  We also washed the window casings.  I took a bucket of water and washed the shutters around the front windows too. Thankfully, the sun was shining brightly, so the screens and shutters quickly dried.

Rick cleans the windows and sills at the front of the house.

What a difference washing the windows had on the light that now flows into the house! We knew they were dirty, but I did not realize they were THAT dirty!

Today we tackled washing the white vinyl fence that surrounds our back yard.  We love the fence, but it gets dirty and moldy without yearly scrubbing.  We were able to finish the inside of the fence today; however, washing it took us all morning to do.

We started with the side of the fence that faces south
so we could complete it before it was in full sun.

I spoke with our new neighbor Leslie to get permission to go into her back yard tomorrow so we can scrub that side of the fence.  She had no problem with that and promised to lock the dog door so their giant Mastiff, Bamma, would not come out to "help" us.  Mastiffs are wonderful, gentle dogs, but they are also large and muscular.  They are very loyal and protective of their human families, so Rick and I do not want to intrude on his territory when his owners are not present.

The back fence was the dirtiest thanks to the trees and the
critters that live in the trees.

We are happy with the results of our work today.  I did the ladder work, climbing up to wash the tops of the posts and the top rail of the fence.  While I did that, Rick took a soft scrub brush and a pail of soapy water to wash down the fence.  We found that car-washing soap works well on the fence.  Our thanks to Lindsay for giving us a bunch of round "scrubbies" for Christmas.  They worked well on the more stubborn stains on the fence, so it now gleams in the sun.

While he was in the scrubbing mode, Rick also washed
down the two sheds in the back yard. 

By noon tomorrow, we hope to have both sides of the fence clean and looking like a new fence again.  Then everything will look good and we can relax when Stephanie comes for a visit.

Busy Blooming Days

Now that the weather is sunny and the temperatures are mild, we have had a busy couple of days.  I wrote last time about searching for new plants to put next to the tree in the back yard, but a review of available plants quashed that idea.  Instead, Rick and I decided to take some left-over fence materials out of the rafters in the garage and to use them to fill in the spaces next to the tree.

The gap was a bit too much on either side of the tree,
so we came up with a plan to give us privacy
from the neighbors while keeping critters out of the yard.

We took out the lattice that we had used to support the bougainvillea.  Then Rick took some fence boards, attached them together in the back, and attached them to the fence.  We could not hug the fence to the tree any closer than we did because the tree continues to grow.  We think we have left it enough room, though, to expand for many years to come.

The filled areas look simple, but they took quite a bit of work
(and a few gymnastics on the ladder) to complete.

The tree looks "bare" now without the plants, so we will have to think of ways to bring color back into that portion of the yard.  We may plant more hibiscus or allamanda bushes next to the fence to add a splash of color.

While I was outside, I gave the Splattered Paint crotons in the corner garden a "haircut" to keep them from taking over the whole garden.  They seem to be doing the best of any plants in the yard. We did purchase two Aztec grass plants since two in our front garden are looking a little worse for wear.  I also bought an arboricola plant to put in the shady corner in the back yard. Our third purchase was a new podocarpus tree to replace the one that died over the summer.

The new podocarpus adds some height to the corner
of the front garden.

I planted the podocarpus tree while we still had some daylight left, but it was too late to plant anything else.  I was tired.  I knew if I left the remaining plants outside in their pots, they would be fine until the next day.

This morning, after my Friday cleaning chores in the house, I went back outside to tend to the potted plants.  I put the arboricola in its pot in the location that I intended to plant it, but I did not like how it looked.  Rick agreed that since we have three Splattered Paint crotons in that same general area, we were getting too many green and yellow plants all in one place.

Instead, I left the weary Firecracker plant in the corner, and I planted the arboricola in the big brown empty pot that used to hold something else.  Rick argued that if I put the pot in the yard, our lawn care people would chip the pot with weed wackers.  He is probably right, so I looked for a more suitable location.

The arboricola fills a vacant area next to the gate.

I decided that the area next to our north gate looked a little bare, so I put the pot with the arboricola there.  I don't know if it will survive the summer, but it looks good right now.

While Wisconsin continues to be bombarded with ice and snow, we are enjoying the moderate temperatures and warm sunshine that allows us to work outside.  We bought a house in Florida for the winter weather, and I have enjoyed working outside to make Gladys look beautiful once again.

Bougain Be Gone

Several years ago we planted two bougainvillea plants next to the gap in our fence that we had to create because of the large live oak tree planted on the property line.  We had hoped that the bougainvillea would fill in the space and prevent unwanted critters from coming through the gap because bougainvillea plants have long, sharp, nasty thorns.

The first couple of years, the plants were fine.  Then a combination of weather (lack of rain) and poor nutrients started to take its toll on the plants.  I tried special fertilizer, special plant food, and lots of watering, but nothing much seemed to help.

I trimmed the bushes a couple of times because they were getting "woody," but that also was a rather lost cause.  When we came back this year, the branches were tangled and scraggly, the leaves were sparse, and what leaves remaining were diseased and brown at the edges.  We determined that the location where I had planted the bougainvillea just did not have enough sunlight or nutrients for the plants to do what we wanted them to do.  So out they came today.

The bougainvillea just did not fill in the area
the way that we had hoped it would.

While I cut and bagged the thorny branches, Rick got out the shovel and started to dig up the roots.  We worked for a couple of hours.  In the end, the bougainvillea were gone and the leaves around the area were raked and bagged.

We are back to a clean slate to add some color
to the area.

Tomorrow we will go to Lowe's to pick up something else to try in that area.  I still want color against the brown tree and the white fence.  I might try some dwarf schefflera (arboricola) with the variegated green and yellow leaves.  The schefflera is one of those plants that we see growing everywhere.  I seems to thrive in either sun or shade, tolerates droughts in the summer, and fills in well.  It is easy to trim to the desired height and shape that we will want, so we are going to give it a try.

If the schefflera don't work, we'll just have to look for something else.

Finished at Last

This past Tuesday, we finally were able to complete our summer-long project as the installer came to glue down the granite countertops.  He did not come until late in the day, so we were not able to officially move into all of the cabinets and drawers until the next day, but we can celebrate that the room is now complete.

The molding next to the desk edge blends right
in to the cabinet wall.  We don't even notice it anymore.

Transforming a den into a laundry/ office/ craft and weaving loom took much more time, money, and effort than either of us had imagined; however, we are happy with the results.  I easily can complete the laundry without having to lug clothes up and down the stairs.  I now have a customized desk that is just the right height for my laptop computer as well as my sewing machine.

We both have counter space to assemble what craft components we need, and weaving in a room that is open, airy, and filled with light is a pure joy!

Owen even has his own lower cabinet to store his toys.  They are accessible but out of sight when not in use.  I love this new room!

This past week we spent time transforming yet another room: the kitchen.  After living each winter in the much brighter and sunnier Florida environment, we found this house "dark" with all of the walls painted in umbers, golds, and browns.  To liven things up, we decided to take our kitchen from a butterscotch tan to a soft butter color.

Lots of cabinets meant lots of plastic used to protect them.

The first task was just draping all of the cabinets with plastic and taping around the doors, cabinets, and  woodwork.  What a pain painting a kitchen can be!

We chose a slightly whiter and brighter color
for the kitchen ceiling.

Once everything was covered, we tackled the ceiling first.  It desperately needed a fresh coat of paint; the whole room looks much brighter and cleaner just with the ceiling refreshed.

Rick cuts in the butter yellow color on the soffits.

Then we were on to the soffits and large walls.  Rick does not trust anyone but himself to "cut in" at the ceiling, so he ended up with the majority of work.  He did a good job, and if he does not like something now, he has no one to blame but himself.

The dining room wall gets a bright new finish.

While he was on the ladder, I was on the floor cutting in around the baseboard and around all of the outlets.  We finished the first coat on the soffits -- which eventually took three coats! -- and the large dining room walls by the end of the first day.

Day Two saw us pulling out the range and the refrigerator to paint behind each.  We also painted the area between the countertop and the upper cabinets.  I am amazed at the collection of dirt, crumbs, and unidentified tidbits that one finds under the range and the refrigerator.  I even found an Advil under the 'fridge.  It must have had a headache one day.  Out came the vacuum and the mop bucket before I would even venture behind the appliances to paint.  I eradicated an entire village of dust bunnies from one of the vents on the back of the refrigerator.  It seems to be running much better now.

The kitchen now looks clean and new.

We are happy that we can cross another job off our "to do" list.

In two days' time, we transformed our dark kitchen into a fresh, lighter, cleaner-looking room.  It was a job that neither of us really wanted to do, but it also was a job that both of us wanted to have done.

After we were finished with the painting yesterday, we needed to get outdoors away from the paint smell.  The afternoon was sunny and not too windy, so while Rick blew the leaves into a big pile in the back yard, I took the mower and mowed and bagged the front yard grass and leaves.  We already had a pile of leaves at the curb, so I just emptied the bag onto the pile.  Once the front and sides were mowed, I helped Rick put the pile of leaves onto a large tarp that we dragged to the leaf pile at the curb.  We needed two trips with the tarp to move all of the leaves.  Then I mowed the back yard to collect the "stragglers" left behind.

I had read online that the city would "follow the garbage trucks" to collect leaves.  They have picked up leaves once in the neighborhood, so we wanted to get the leaves on the curb since Thursday is our regular garbage collection day.  Sure enough, this morning the city workers were in our neighborhood collecting all of the leaves.  Rain is predicted for most of the coming week, so getting the yard cleaned up before rain -- or snow!-- arrives was our goal.

We have had a busy two days.  Perhaps now we can get back to the crafts, weaving, baking, and reading that we have wanted to do all summer.

Stoney Decisions

We now have met three times with the granite people who mis-cut our desk piece.  They took a substitute piece of stone into their shop and were going to cut it to replace the desk.  We told them that we wanted to see it, and upon arriving in their shop, we promptly rejected it.  It was way too grey  in the background.

The desk piece is too large for it not to match the rest of the granite in the room.

We went back to the original granite yard and found a piece that we thought would work.  The cutters agreed to pick it up today.  We met them at the granite company and discovered that the piece we thought would work also was not the right background color.  However, it was close, so Rick took a couple of pictures of it, and we agreed to a certain cut -- with lots of browns in it -- for the desk.

When we arrived home, we held the pictures up to the desk area and once again rejected what we saw.  The browns still did not match what we thought we had, and the new piece would have been terrible.  So for the third time, we contacted the cutters and told them that the slab would not work.

Our final choice: keep what we have and do what we vowed not to do.  We will install a thin piece of molding behind the granite on one side and keep the beautiful piece of granite that they originally cut for the desk.  In the end, this is the least of all evils.

Rick spent the afternoon searching for different types of molding, trying different designs and cuts, and rejecting everything he tried.  We eventually ended back at Home Depot to get a simple, smooth piece of molding that we can slip in behind the granite to fill the gap. It looks the best and will suit our needs.  Is this what we wanted to do? No, but it will be the best choice in the end.  I guess a little touch of molding on the side is better than a four-foot piece of granite that does not match the rest of the room.

A blurry but accurate depiction of the workbench we bought from Home Depot.

While we were at Home Depot, we also bought a small workbench that we can use downstairs.  The workbench is movable and will take the burden of projects off other pieces of expensive woodworking equipment.  Rick is using his Festool table and router table as workbenches, and that has to stop.  A new workbench will serve us all well, and since it is adjustable, Rick and Owen will be able to use it to build interesting things together.

This may not mean much to people who do not weave,
but weavers know how valuable this station can be.

Storage at the side for lease sticks and reeds is invaluable.

While we were waiting for the granite fiasco to work out, Rick was busy downstairs saving us lots of money by building us a bobbin-winding station for the loom.  He added a rack on the side to hold lease sticks and reeds for the loom, so now everything is together and accessible.  He did a great job and saved us at least $400 over buying a station and stand commercially.

This has been a trying week, but we are happy with the stand and content will our decision to keep the granite that the cutters originally brought to the house.  We just want this room to be complete, and hopefully by the end of next week, everything will be done.

Carved in Stone

Today was the day we have been waiting for for most of the summer: getting the granite installed which will finish our remodel on the laundry/ weaving room.

As promised, the installers arrived a little after 10 a.m.  I was afraid that the granite we chose in the yard would not look good in the house, but happily I was wrong.  The granite is beautiful.  For the most part, it is white with shades of blue/grey and some brown undertones mixed in.  One section has some darker stone for a bit of contrast and interest.  We both are happy with the selection we chose.

The long piece looks and fits well.

When the installers came in to measure, they used a laser to measure the walls as well as the length.  The long piece fits beautifully against the not-so-straight wall.  We chose the same edge as that of the kitchen, so everything is coordinated.

The small cabinet next to the laundry is complete.

The small piece next to the laundry units is fairly bland and white, but that is fine, too. It fits well with the small area and will provide a welcome place to put bottles or boxes of items that I might need while washing the laundry.

The desk piece is beautiful, and I hate to see it go.

The desk slab is probably the prettiest of the three pieces with lots of contrast and color.  Sadly, it also is a problem.  The installer said that he deducted 1/8 of an inch from the overall length when he measured the area because the granite needs to fit between two cabinets.  Unfortunately, when the technician cut the slab, he also seems to have deducted an additional 1/8 of an inch. The piece is now 1/4 of an inch short, and it does not look correct in the area. This is a classic communication error that has us both very upset and will cost someone other that us lots of money.

A quarter inch does not seem like much, but it is
too much to fill in with caulk.  We need a correctly cut
piece of granite in this area since it will be a heavily used
part of the room.

The desk slab needs to be replaced with a piece cut correctly, and we do not think that there is enough granite left from the original slab to cut a new piece.  The original slab probably does not have enough because the granite company sold the remainder of the slab to someone else.  Rick told them that our granite had to be cut first, and that they were not allowed to cut for someone else's job until we were sure that our job was acceptable.  From the way everyone is acting and not communicating with us, we are guessing that the company went ahead and sold the remaining part of the slab before our job was complete.

We have two options.  If the rest of our original, matching slab is indeed gone, then the company can find us a new piece from the same lot that will match what we have in the rest of the room, or they can take it all back, find us a new slab, and cut everything again from a whole new slab.

Rick is angry.  I am just disappointed.  We wanted to finally have closure to this room, but once again we have to wait to see how everything works out.

Beginning of the End

This past Monday marked the beginning of the end of our den-into-laundry/weaving room remodel.  On Monday morning, a technician from the granite company came to measure for the granite countertops.  Once the granite is installed next week Monday, the room will be complete.

All of the cabinet doors and drawer fronts are installed.
We cannot wait until this long wall of cabinets is topped
with our new granite countertops.

Rick was fascinated with the measuring for the granite since the technician used a laser measuring device rather than creating a wood and paper template.  Our granite will be cut based on the laser measurements, and we are excited to see the results.  The technician showed Rick how he measured the longest stretch of countertop so that the front edge would be straight while the back edge would follow the not-so-plumb-or-straight contours of the back wall.  Since we are not going to have a backsplash on any of the countertops, having the granite fit the back wall is critical to the overall appearance of the granite.

Last Friday we picked up the two "missing" drawer fronts for that same wall of cabinets.  Thankfully, they fit well; therefore, Rick did not have any trouble installing them.  The cabinets are now complete except for the afore-mentioned countertops. And once we have the countertops in place, I can officially move my office and my sewing room into the drawers and cabinets in the room.

We are very thankful that we spent from Wednesday of the previous week until Thursday of last week visiting our home in Florida.  We found that everything was working well, and other than record-breaking heat to deal with, we accomplished all that we wanted to do during the short visit.  Those tasks included getting our HVAC system inspected and approved, starting and driving the car around since it has sat idle since May, seeing old friends, and doing a bit of pruning and weeding in the gardens.

I was very surprised to see that the vegetation is growing well.  We only lost one small podocarpus tree in the 40 or so trees and bushes that we planted, and thanks to our lawn service who sprays for weeds, our gardens needed very little weeding.

The HVAC worked well, the refrigerator, dishwasher, and laundry units all worked as I had hoped they would, and we were able to run plenty of water through the drains to keep everything functioning for a while.

Little did we know that major Hurricane Michael was slowing churning at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico just as we flew home.  I am SO happy that we missed that excitement.  Reports from our southern neighbors, thankfully, reveal that Dunedin was spared from the worst of the storm.  We apparently received lots of rain and wind; however, nothing was strong enough to do major damage.  My heart goes out to the poor people on the Florida panhandle who received the brunt of this Category 4 hurricane.  Their lives have been totally disrupted with months if not years of rebuilding ahead of them.

Back here in Wisconsin, we have spent the week preparing for winter.  The rain this past weekend and Monday kept us mostly indoors, so I took the opportunity to get out to the garage.  I needed to take everything off the two shelving units, to clean the shelves, and then to reorganize the items on the shelves.  The paint and cleaning supplies are now stored in the house for the winter.  A few things ended in the garbage, and other items were stowed away in the shed until next summer.  Other than almost cutting off the tip of my finger on a sharp edge (thank God my tetanus vaccine is up to date), the job went smoothly.

Rick came out to hang some ladders and to help me get rid of part of our large ladder than has resided outside for the last month.  Our neighbor agreed to take the large half of the extension ladder leaving us to just store the smaller half.  It is still large enough to get to the roof, so we do not need any more than that. In the end, we have a clean, organized garage that needs only swapping out the rakes for shovels as the seasons change for us to be ready for winter.

Our neighbor's front yard tree displays the beauty
of autumn in Wisconsin. (I just hope that the leaves
stay in her yard when they fall!)

The sun finally came out on Tuesday, so we spent the day outside getting the yard somewhat prepped for winter.  Rick cut the overgrown lawn while I cut down perennials, cleaned leaves and debris out of the window wells, and removed leaves from the gardens next to the house.  The gardens in front are not ready to be trimmed just yet, and that is fine.  Their day will come.

I washed and brought in some of the porch furniture that will spend the winter in the basement.  The pieces that remain outside are now covered and secured on the covered back porch.  The grill still has to find a home in the shed for the season, but that has to wait until Rick puts down the winter grass fertilizer and cuts the grass for the last time this season.  That all probably will happen in a couple of weeks.

We are happily amazed at how FEW leaves we have in the back yard now that our three large trees are gone.  The birch trees have not dropped their leaves yet, but when they do, that should be a fairly easy raking job.  As long as all the leaves do not blow into our yard from our neighbor's trees, we should have an easier time this year.  In the past three years, we have lost four huge trees from our yard.  As we get older, having less yard work to do is fine with me.

We finally are to the point where we can start to relax and to enjoy some of our hobbies.  Rick wants to make a bobbin winding stand and reed storage stand for the loom room.  He is happy when he has something to build, so this is the perfect project for him.  We will use our rebates from Menards to purchase some of the wood for the stand.

The first warp is on the rigid heddle loom.  Soon the large loom
will hold a warp as well.  How wonderful to have natural light
flow into our weaving space!

The end of the remodel is in sight, and we both could not be happier. I actually spent time today to write this blog and to put a warp on the rigid heddle loom.  We both want to relax, to read, and to work on our hobbies rather than working on the house all of the time.