lyndale renovation 2015 & 2016
basement, flooring & new upheaval

From the living room looking into the front foyer —
After Chis and Dave, the floor guys, completed the lacing and sanding, they coated the entire floor with wood-filler putty.
This fills gaps in the old sections of the floor boards.

In the living room facing west —
Here is a good view of the putty on the floor before a second round of sanding. Also shown here is the
meeting of the wood floor with the kitchen tile floor. The guys nailed it! No threshold piece will be required.

From the kitchen, looking east into the dining and living rooms —
The floor putty is strange and unsettling. I'm anxious to see floor boards again. A big, wierd, Zamboni-like sander is parked in the southeast
corner of the living room. Soon, this machine will kick up yet another massive amount of dust and make the horrific sounds that so terrify Stephy.

Zamboni —
I toyed with the idea of asking Val if she wanted to have a Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding role-playing session, but ruled it out.
Val would certainly have chosen Tonya so she could beat me down with a lead pipe. Why, why, why?

My chronical of displaced cabinets, kitty and people:
Here are the old kitchen cabinets. They've weathered the winter in this spot (or at least I hope they have).
I sealed them up as best as I was able and they are up off the ground on pallets. If I've succeeded, they
will have been protected from water damage and can be repurposed for the basement and/or garage.

The first-round of new upper cabinets are shown here.
These are the cabinets that were built and installed at the wrong height. Edgar, Scott and the cabinet builder
took the hit for this mistake; removing these cabinets, rebuilding and reinstalling another set.

Once removed from the kitchen, these cabinets were moved to our basement for storage. I had to get them out of there
to make room for cleaning and painting.Thankfully, my employer offered a remote corner of his warehouse for storage.

We've got some ideas on how we might use these cabinets. If we can't use them, we'll try to sell them since
they are valuable and we could certainly use the dough. Until then, they will reside in a suburban warehouse.

Cabinets aren't the only thing on the move —
Val, Stephy and I are displaced while floor refinishing takes place. Shown here is our temporary home, a hotel in the suburb of Richfield.
In an effort to make Stephy as comfortable as possible, we've lugged his scratching post and the old blanket from our bed. So far these
"creature" comforts have done nothing to lessen Stephie's freak-out over this latest disruption.

Crabby kitty comes out of hiding —
On day two, Stephy made a few brief appearances. Finally, on night three, he seems to have
relaxed enough to chill on his post and watch the cars rush by on highway 494.

Here is Stephie's view —
A Honda dealer's parking lot in front of highway 494.

Home at last —
A week of gloomy weather and four nights in a hotel have passed. Just as we got home, the sun came out; this stuck me
as a good omen. While we were away much has changed: brown grass is turning green and the garden is busting forth.

Big, big news for Minneapolis and for music fans worldwide —
Last night Prince died. At first I didn't give this news much thought; I guess I'm currently too wrapped up in my own issues.
But the fact is, he was a musical genius, a ferocious player and singer, and one of the greatest pop performers of all time.
Love him or hate him, his passing is a pretty big deal.

Fans came out in droves to pay their respects. check out the video: CLICK HERE

Val and I were stuck in the suburbs and missed the street party, but we rode our bikes downtown the next day.
Shown in this photo is the shrine that sprang up around First Avenue, our lengendary rock club made
famous in Prince's late 80's movie Purple Rain.

Our project is way behind schedule. Our expenses have increased beyond what we'd imagined. Disruptions in our home life
have worn us out and, now, Prince has died. It's enough to take the wind out of a guy's sails. Still, spring has come, our garden
is growing and we are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Talk about good omen: On our ride home from First Avenue, we passed this sign outside one of the big churches by Loring Park.

May 1, 2016: You see, the Methodists were right —
Things are going to be OK and here is a sure sign of it: Pictured here is the first meal that Val has cooked on a proper stove since November.

As you can see, the kitchen is still a cronstruction zone, but the appliances are hooked up
and we are going to have our breakfast at the kitchen island; cardboard be damned.

After breakfast, a regular day is order.

Painting, cleaning, shuffling stuff around; these things can wait for another day. Today we tend to our nerves.

Ahh, a favorite spot.
Here's the Mississippi on the north side of Nicollet Island. On the south side of the island, the Minneapolis
skyline looms and you know you're in a city. Here, the city dissapears and you can share the spot with
muskrats and eagles. Just what our souls need after a rather difficult couple of weeks. Yup, it's going to be OK.