Tag Archives: floor tile (H3-40)

2015/11/16 (M) Tiling the Cockpit, #3

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Linda planned to go to the bakery today but decided yesterday to stay home and help me instead.  Based on the 10-day forecast this looks like our last decent weather day to work on the bus and we wanted/needed to make the most of it.

We had breakfast at 8 AM (granola with blueberries and a banana) and had a cup of Stash China Black tea.  I had a text message from Kristine Gullen regarding getting together with her and Jim on Saturday and replied in the affirmative.  We finished our tea by 8:30 and got to work.

I really wanted to finish tiling the cockpit of the bus, or at least as much of it as we could.  That meant cutting and fitting tiles for the stair treads and risers and the two side walls of the entry steps, gluing them in place, and then grouting all of them.  We needed to mount the table if possible and I also needed to build a new step for the platform.  That was a lot to get done in one day and even before we started I doubted that we would get it all done.

When we opened the bus we were surprised to find that the tiles on the walls of the platform had slipped all the way down to the floor tiles.  Obviously I should not have removed the spacers right after installing the tiles and should have to left them in place for any horizontal grout spaces on vertical surfaces.  Oh well, not much to do about it now.

Keith called to see if he should come and mulch the leaves one last time.  The weather the last few days had been very nice, unseasonably warm and dry.  Today was also a beautiful day but the forecast going forward was for much cooler and wetter conditions, so this was an ideal day for our last lawn mowing of the 2015 season.

We measured and cut the tiles for the face of the platform and out to the door.  At that point I evaluated what I needed to do to complete the job.  Basically, I needed to cut all of the tiles for the entry steps and walls and then install them from the bottom up.  Every piece of tile was going to be smaller than a full 16″x 16″ tile and custom cut so even though the square footage was not that much there would be more pieces than usual and it was obviously going to take quite a bit of time to get all of the pieces ready to install.  I thought we could be ready for adhesive in two hours but Linda figured it would be at least three.  It also meant working with the door open which would make it difficult to keep the interior as warm as we needed.

Phil showed up with his excavator and a dozen bales of straw.  I knew the excavator was for a different job as he did not have anything left to do at our place that required it.  He was here to finish covering the topsoil and grass seed with the straw.  We took a break to go talk to him and confirmed that he was done with the driveway and French drain projects except for the straw.  He staged the bales where he needed them but said he had to leave to dig a perk test hole at 1:30 PM and would be back mid-afternoon to finish spreading the straw around.

Linda suggested that we go ahead a grout all of the tile we had already installed.  I was more emotionally invested in completing the tile work than Linda but had to agree that this was the prudent thing to do.  Until the tile was grouted we could not reinstall the accelerator, the steering column shroud, the seat bases, and the seats, so grouting the tile was clearly a critical path item and that is what we did.  It was after noon by the time we finished so we took a break for lunch.  Phil had taken off by this time to go dig the test pit.

Lunch was grilled vegan Italian sausage on a bun with mustard and relish and black grapes on the side.  Keith finished up mowing the yard while we were enjoying a cup of Rooibos tea.  We paid him and chatted about next year.  I gave him our approximate timeframe for returning home from Florida and asked him to go ahead and start mowing next spring whether or not we were here.  We have had Keith take care of our lawn since we bought our house in the country and he has been very good about doing that when we are away and allowing us to catch up with him when we get back.

By the time we got back to work on the bus it was after 1 PM and I had to concede that we were done working on the tile until next spring except for cleaning them, which had to wait until tomorrow as the grout has to cure for 24 hours before final cleaning.  With that decision made we considered what else needed to be done and in what order.

The first order of business was painting the two front seat bases black.  We spread out painter’s plastic on the driveway and taped it down.  We set the bases there and then masked off the top portion with the swivel bearings and mounting bolt.  We wire brushed the bases to remove rust and then went over them with a sanding sponge.  I used a cleaner/degreaser and water to clean them and then gave them a coat of black rubberized undercoating paint.

The next order of business was getting all of the tools and materials that we no longer needed out of the bus to give us room to work on other things.  On Saturday I re-installed the bump out on the walnut cover for the passenger side HVAC duct.  The duct needed to have two 4″ holes drilled in it to match the holes in the metal duct, so that was the next task.  I measured very carefully and transferred the measurements to the face of the cover with equal care.  Even so, I was off slightly and had to use the sheet metal nibbler to enlarge the bottom of each hole.  At least I had a relatively straightforward way to fix this problem; I am not always so lucky.

With the holes enlarged we put the cover in place.  The 4″ round plastic registers fit through the wood into the duct but not all the way due to two tabs.  I trimmed the tabs off using the Porter-Cable oscillating saw and trimmed a little bit off of one of the outer mounting flanges to make it fit flush.  I drilled holes through the two mounting holes on each register using the #5-6 self-centering drill bit and secured them with #6-5/8″ SR screws.  We then removed the two temporary black plastic registers from the front of the built in sofa.  I trimmed the tabs off of two new brown ones and installed them using the same procedure as the first two.

In the grand scheme of things getting the cover in place and the four registers installed was a small task but it needed to be done and stood in the way of other things.  The cover has been stored on top of the two front seats, which have been lying on their backs on the kitchen floor of the bus for weeks.  We plan to re-install the seats late tomorrow afternoon.

Two more small, but critical, tasks were securing the pull-out pantry and the refrigerator.  I have assumed for quite a while that we would secure the pantry for travel with some form of sliding latch but had not thought about it in any detail.  We also needed to secure the refrigerator but I had not thought about this in any detail either.  As we pondered the pantry latch it slowly became obvious that we did not have enough wood for a strike plate to receive a pin and we did not have two unobstructed surfaces that were in the same plane, which would be required for the kind of latch I had been thinking about.

As for the refrigerator, one of our bus nut friends secured their unit by running mounting bolts (machine screws) through the floor of the cabinet above the fridge and threading them into the unused tapped holes provided for the upper door hinge (if it was reversed) .  After looking at it for a while we realized that we could attach a section of small angle to the inside of the right alcove wall with the other side just against the face of the fridge case but not over so far as to interfere with the door gasket.  My measurements indicated that a 1/2″x3/4″ angle would be just right.  It looked to me like two 12″ pieces, one by the freezer door and one by the bottom of the fresh food compartment door, would be more than adequate to keep the refrigerator from rolling out as it cannot shift sideways or twist due to the aluminum angle on the left/hinge side at the floor.

About this time Phil returned in a red pickup truck.  He finished distributing the straw and loaded three unused bales into the back of his truck.  He pulled up in the main drive and we invited him into the bus to see what we had been working on all summer.    It is always a pleasure working with Phil.  If/when we build a barn we will have him do all of the site prep and finish grading.  He will figure out the final cost for the driveway extension and French drain and send us an invoice.

Linda prepared an easy but tasty dinner consisting of a nice green salad, mixed frozen vegetables (corn, peas, and carrots) suitably reheated, and mac-n-cheese that was both dairy-free and gluten-free.  After dinner we went to Lowe’s and The Home Depot.  At Lowe’s we bought a 1/16″ thick 1/2″x 3/4″ aluminum angle and three 8 foot lengths of brass colored nose edging but did not find a latch that we liked.  At The Home Depot we bought some screws for securing the handle on the front of the pull-out pantry and a solid brass door stop to keep the pantry in place.  The door stop folds up when not in use and should work to keep the pantry closed while traveling.

Although the new Panera on the southwest corner of Grand River Avenue and Latson Road was finally open for business we stopped at Teeko’s Coffee and Tea on the northeast corner of that intersection.  Jeff was there and took our order for eight pounds of coffee beans.  We got two pounds each of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe, regular and decaffeinated, the Seattle Blend (regular), and the Sweet Dreams blend (decaffeinated).  They will roast the beans and then let them outgas for a few days before vacuum sealing them in half-pound portions.  This allows us to take them with us in the bus and keep them very fresh until we are ready to use them and to change what we are drinking more often.

We got home just after 8 PM and took our iPads downstairs to use while we watched our Monday evening CBS TV programs.  We caught the weather forecast and then headed to bed.  It looks like we will have two more days with unseasonably high temperatures near 60 degrees F but with intermittent rain and then a serious cooling trend with highs this weekend barely above freezing.  Our time for working on the bus and being in Michigan is definitely running out.

 

2015/11/15 (N) Tiling the Cockpit, #2

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Having had a larger than normal meal later than usual last night, and gotten to bed later than usual, we did not get up this morning until a little after 8 AM.  I made coffee but we were not hungry.  By the time we finished our coffee it was approaching 10 AM but once we got to work in the bus we were on task until 7:30 PM with only a short lunch break at 1:15 PM.

Bruce dry fits floor tiles on the navigator seat platform. (Photo by Linda.)

Bruce dry fits floor tiles on the navigator seat platform. (Photo by Linda.)

We cut and dry fit the tiles for the platform floor and walls.  We had to take time out to use the oscillating saw to undercut the bottom edge of the face board on the passenger side front vertical wiring chase.  With all the tile cut and fitted we determined the order in which we would install them.  We started with the platform floor and the first six tiles of the landing.  I also had to fashion some shims to make sure the tile in the driver-side rear corner of the platform would be installed in exactly the right location.  This would be the first tile installed and if it was even slightly misaligned it would throw all of the other tiles off.

Bruce spreads Armstrong vinyl adhesive on the navigator platform. (Photo by Linda.)

Bruce spreads Armstrong vinyl adhesive on the navigator platform. (Photo by Linda.)

I marked the edges of all the tiles on the underlayment and then we pulled them up in the reverse order of installation.  Linda prepared some soapy water to use for cleanup of the tools and tiles.  I spread the Armstrong vinyl adhesive and Linda cleaned the trowels when I was done.  We waited for it to cure to the point where we could set the tiles.  Even with two heaters going in the front of the bus the adhesive took about 50 minutes to cure to where it would not transfer when touched.  Once it reached that point we had roughly an hour to set the tiles but it only took about 20 minutes to install them.  I used a large rubber mallet to help set them, pulled the spacers, wiped the edges with a wet paper towel, and then walked on them in lieu of using a 100 pound floor roller which would have been awkward at best to use on such a small area and not worth the time and expense to rent from The Home Depot in Howell.

Bruce installs intricately cut floor tiles in the cramped front of the driver’s area. (Photo by Linda.)

Bruce installs intricately cut floor tiles in the cramped front of the driver’s area. (Photo by Linda.)

As soon as the first group of tiles was installed we pulled up the remainder of the floor tiles from the landing and driver area.  Linda got some paper grocery bags and painter’s tape and masked off the platform floor along the back and side wall.  I spread adhesive on all of those areas and then Linda once again cleaned the tools.  Approximately 50 minutes from when I started spreading adhesive l started setting the tiles and about 20 minutes after that they were all installed.  Once again I used a large rubber mallet to help set them, pulled the spacers, and wiped the edges with a wet paper towel.  I walked on the floor tiles but had no way to further set the wall tiles.

We were done by 7:30 PM.  Linda cleaned up the tools and water bucket while I closed up the bus.  She started fixing diner and I got out of my work clothes and put on my robe.  Dinner was a nice salad and an Amy’s Roasted Vegetable Pizza; vegan, of course.  We finished the Organic Natural White wine from Frey, but we did not necessarily enjoy it.

Following dinner we relaxed in the living room for a while and I responded to a series of text messages from Kristine Gullen.  I missed the SLAARC information net at 8 PM because it just slipped my mind.  We were in bed by 10 PM and I watched Part 1 of the 2-part PBS American Experience program on Walt Disney while I finished this post.

 

2015/11/14 (S) Tiling the Cockpit, #1

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I was up at 6:30 AM and got a shower.  Linda got up closer to 7 and we were on our way to our ham radio club breakfast by 7:20; but not before I released two more mice.  Either we have a significant colony living nearby or the same few animals are finding their way back into the house.  We find it hard to believe, however, that if they are returning they would re-enter the trap.

We had a good showing for breakfast, minus a few regulars due to the ham fest in Ft. Wayne, Indiana today and tomorrow.  We were the second two people to arrive so we got to sit across from the other Bruce and Linda.  They are leaving for their new place in Florida before the next breakfast so the next time we see them will be in the Sunshine State.  We had a lot of work to do on the bus this weekend so we did not linger over breakfast and were on our way home by 9:15 AM.

The seat cushions and spacer cushion for the built-in sofa in the bus.

The seat cushions and spacer cushion for the built-in sofa in the bus.

By 10 AM we were working on the floor tile for the front of our motorcoach, which I often refer to here as the “cockpit” as a convenient shorthand.  In a sense the cockpit consists of several sub-areas.  I think of the “entry” as consisting of the stairs and the first landing.  At the same level as the landing is the “driver’s area.”  I sometimes refer to this as the pilot’s seat as most of the controls for operating the bus when it is in motion are located here.  The dashboard, however, extends into the landing area and contains controls for some of the house systems.

One step up from the landing level is the “front passenger seat platform” which I often refer to as  “the platform” as a convenient shorthand.  The portion of the platform closest to the entry door side of the bus is where the front passenger seat is located, which I sometimes refer to as the co-pilot and/or navigator seat.  It’s really not a co-pilot seat as you cannot operate the bus from there, so navigator is really the more appropriate term.  In the center of the platform, and extending towards the driver’s side of the bus, is a step which gets you up to the main floor level.

Because the pilot and navigator seats are on different levels from the main floor those seats are not usable as part of the living room, making the front portion of the interior a distinct and dedicated space with its own character, much like a cockpit in an airplane or ship.  Nonetheless, we used the same fabric on the these two seats as we did on all of the other living room furniture and we are using the same tile on the floors and walls as we used on the main floor.

Bruce uses the heat gun to soften a piece of the floor tile so he can cut it. (Photo by Linda. )

Bruce uses the heat gun to soften a piece of the floor tile so he can cut it. (Photo by Linda. )

We worked from 10 AM until almost 4 PM measuring, cutting, and dry fitting the tiles for the landing and driver’s area.  The driver’s area in particular took a lot of time as every tile had to have something special done to it.  Intricate curves had to be cut to fit around the steering column, brake pedal, and the perimeter of the area and holes had to be drilled for the seat base bolts.  All of this intricate trimming was done by heating the back side of the tiles with a heat gun (much hotter than a hair dryer) and cutting the softened tile with a razor knife.

We quit working for the day at 3:45 PM and changed clothes.  By 4:15 we were on our way to meet John and Diane Rauch at the Livonia 20 Cineplex on Seven Mile Road just west of I-275 for a 5 PM movie.  Ever since Daniel Craig started playing the role of James Bond in the 007 movies we have gone to see them with John and Diane not long after opening day.  After the movie we went to the Macaroni Grill, which is walking distance from the theater on the northeast corner of the intersection of Seven Mile Road and Haggerty Road.

We had to wait awhile for a table but we had plenty to talk about and the time passed quickly enough.  We were seated by 8:20 PM and finally left our table at 10:20.  We started with bread, olive oil, and wine.  We split a two liter bottle of the Chianti house red wine.  It was priced the same as five glasses, but we each had more than two glasses, so it was a good deal.  All four of us had a “make your own pasta” dish with a salad, and each one of us chose a different pasta and add-ins.  I had linguine with a garlic olive oil sauce, mushrooms, tomatoes, and fresh spinach.  Linda had farfalle (bow tie) pasta with arrabiata (spicy tomato) sauce, garlic, mushrooms, and spinach.  Both dishes were well prepared and tasty, and they were vegan!

I stopped at our local Shell station to fill the fuel tank in Linda’s car and it was a little after 11 PM when we got home.  We had another mouse in the trap so I took the trap to woods on the southwest part of our property and released it.  Back inside I went straight to bed.  It had been a long but productive and enjoyable day that ended with too much food and too much wine too late in the evening but we were glad to have had a wonderful conversation with our longest standing Michigan friends.

 

2015/09/06 (N) Grouting

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We got up quietly at 7:30 AM as Madeline was still sound asleep.  Linda did not want to let her sleep too long and get off schedule so I got the “all clear” to grind the coffee beans just before 8 AM.  I made the Costa Rican half-caff because I am trying to use it up so we can replace it with something we like better.  Madeline emerged with Grandma Linda a few minutes later.  After stretching they decided to sit quietly on the living room sofa and read stories while everyone woke up and the adults enjoyed our coffee.

Sometime between 9:30 and 10 AM we left for the Howell Farmers Market.  We walked from one end to the other, with Madeline in her stroller, scoping out this week’s bounty. We then walked back through and Linda bought a few things including hard stem garlic which we had never seen before.  We stopped and chatted with our favorite vendor, Marjorie.

When we got home and put the produce away Linda prepared a snack lunch for herself and Madeline.  The two of them then went on an outing to the farm at Kensington Metropark (KMP) while I stayed behind to work on bus projects.  I decided to start by finishing the assembly of the pieces for the built-in sofa.  I attached the center support for the return air shelf as follows:

  • I determined the center of the long edges of the shelf and drew a line between them.
  • I carried these center marks to the other side and then measured 3/8″ to either side.
  • I connected corresponding marks to create a pair of parallel lines 3/4″ apart and centered on the underside of the shelf.
  • I placed the support in position, determined its fore-aft position, and marked the ends.
  • I then marked a piece of scrap wood, cut it into four pieces, and used them to hold the support in place; two long pieces the same length as the support, and two short pieces across the ends.
  • This allowed me to turn the shelf right side up with the center support held in the correct place and then mark and drill countersunk pilot holes for the screws.
  • I removed the support piece, sanded off any rough spots, put Titebond II wood glue on the edge, and replaced it between the temporary blocking.
  • I stood on the shelf to force the pieces together and ran all the screws down tight.
  • I then removed the temporary blocking.

After sleeping on it last night I decided I would attach the plenum/support boxes to the vertical front panel and the wood wire chase on top of the HVAC chase rather than to the adjacent cabinets or to the floor.  That meant I could go ahead and assemble them as complete, single units.  Easier said than done.

Even though I used right angle corner clamps the two halves I built for each box did not want to go together perfectly.  I managed to get one of them assembled but could not complete the other one by myself.  The problem was that I needed both hands to pull the pieces into alignment and two more hands to operate the drill and screw gun.

By now it was 1 PM, which is Madeline’s normal nap time, but they were not back from the Metropark yet so I gathered up all of the tools and materials I needed to grout the floor tiles in the bus.  That included the special Armstrong S-288 Glacier White sanded vinyl grout, a flat blade screwdriver, the 4″x8″ hard edge float, the smaller margin trowel, the 2″ putty knife (wall scraper), the ScotchBrite sponges, the Revel scrubber, two large buckets for rinse water, paper towels, a large cloth towel, and paper bags.

Madeline pets one of the sheep at the Kensington Metropark animal farm.

Madeline pets one of the sheep at the Kensington Metropark animal farm.

Since Linda and Madeline had still not returned I had a few pretzels with hummus.  They finally got home around 1:30 PM and I heard all about the farm and the animals Ms. M got to see and touch.  The 2-day old piglets were apparently a big hit but so was the playroom.  It was a good outing and I wish I could have gone but I got stuff done that needed to be done.

Madeline finally laid down for her nap at 2 PM but Linda could not help me with the tile grouting as she needed to be within earshot of Madeline’s bedroom.  I decided that we could not afford any further delay for this aspect of the interior remodeling project and resolved to do it by myself.  Without Linda to walk me through the steps, have materials ready, and clean the tools, I needed to be very clear about the steps and their timing.  I must have read the directions on the container of grout a dozen times in an attempt to internalize them but they just would not stick with me.  I needed a spray bottle for water so Linda found one for me.

The afternoon was very warm so I turned off the air-conditioning in our home library, closed up the coach, and turned on two of the three air-conditioners, making sure they were on opposite legs of the electrical service.  I staged all of the stuff in the bedroom storage box as I planned to start on the back side of the bed in the driver side corner by the head of the bed and work my way out.

I finally got started at 2:30 PM.  The grouting involved a specific set of steps that got repeated many times as the directions said to only do 6 – 10 sq. ft. at a time.  That range had to do with the time required to apply and strike the grout, setup time (3 – 8 minutes), misting with water, waiting 20-30 seconds, scrubbing, and finally wiping with a square edged cellulose sponge.  I had to divide the U-shaped bedroom floor into six sections and it took me until 5:30 PM to do that much so my average time was 30 minutes per section, each of which was smaller than 6 square feet.

I took a short break, had something to drink, and checked with Linda on the timing of dinner.  We settled on 6:30 PM and I returned to my grouting.  I had to do the bathroom floor in two sections, which got me into the hallway and joined up with the work from the bedroom.  I went in to clean up for dinner and was greeted by the smell of something baking.  Madeline wanted to make cupcakes so Linda assembled the ingredients and walked her through the steps, letting her do as much of the work as possible.  For not even being three years old yet she is very interested in cooking, but only if it is something she will get to eat! 🙂

Dinner was vegan cheeseburgers, corn-on-the-cob (from the Farmers Market), left over black beans and edamame, and sliced pears.  I worked in the bus from 7 to 8 PM and finished the hallway as far as the bend that transitions into the kitchen.  I cleaned all of the tools and sealed the grout container using Cling-Wrap pressed down onto the surface of the grout to keep air away from it, and locked up the bus.

I washed up and turned on the Yaesu FTM-400 2m/70cm radio in the ham shack while Linda helped Madeline take a bath.  Steve, N8AR, was serving as net control for the weekly SLAARC information net and had already started the net but not yet called for check-ins so I got to participate in the entire net.  We had a small group this evening, most likely due to it being a holiday weekend, but it was still a good net.

I came upstairs to have dessert with Linda and Madeline; chocolate cupcakes (vegan) with sprinkles.  Yum.  I then returned to my office to re-read an article I wrote about replacing the speedometer in the bus and editing it to indicate where the pictures should be placed.  I dealt with several BCM related e-mails and then came upstairs.

Madeline was in her pajamas and sitting in her portable bed while Linda read a story.  She decided that she wanted me to read a couple stories too, so I did.  We got her tucked in with her stuffed animals arranged at the four corners of her bed, turned on the night light, and left her to fall asleep.

I opened the bottle of Apricot wine that Brendan and Shawna picked up from Leelenau Cellars and we each had a small glass.  I worked on this post while Linda cleaned up the kitchen.  It had been a long and very tiring day for both of us but a very satisfying and productive day as well.  We don’t mind that kind of tired.

 

2015/09/04 (F) 100 Pounds

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We set our alarm for 6 AM, got up, had granola for breakfast, and then went to The Home Depot to rent a 100 pound floor roller.  The roller consists of three steel rollers, each about 4″ wide and 6″ in diameter, on a common axle.  A three foot long handle attaches to the axle between the middle and outside rollers.  A pair of small wheels attach to the crossbar at the base of the handle for transport and can be swung up out of the way or removed.  We rolled the roller out to our car and loaded it into the back.  We then went back inside and purchased up a hard edge grout float, a small offset float, sponges, a bucket, and a bottle of Armstrong Once and Done floor cleaning concentrate.

Bruce rolls the floor tiles in the kitchen with the 100 lb. roller.

Bruce rolls the floor tiles in the kitchen with the 100 lb. roller.

Once we got home we got right to work on the bus.  We had a few pieces of vinyl tile that still needed to be cut and installed at the front of the bus and that took us over an hour.  Once that was done it was time to glue the tiles down.  I got the Armstrong S-288 adhesive and the trowel.  We read the directions on the adhesive bucket and finally figured out that I should probably not spread more adhesive than could apply in about 20 minutes as the product is time sensitive.  The adhesive would then have to set until it was tacky but did not transfer to my finger when touched, which would be 10 to 30 minutes, but we would need to have the tiles set within an hour of when I started spreading the adhesive.  The tiles then needed to be rolled with the 100 pound roller.

We started in the center of the coach and installed the tiles as follows:  1) Remove selected tiles; 2) Spread adhesive; 3) Clean up tools while adhesive cured; 4) Lay tiles carefully back in place; and 5) Roll the freshly set tiles.  It sounds easy and straightforward enough, but each step had its own issues.

For Step 1) we had to agree on how to remove and stack the tiles so they were in the correct order for installation and to remove them so as not to disturb the surrounding tiles.  At Step 2) I had to be careful not get adhesive on anything except the area of the floor I was working on.  I also had to make sure the working area was completely covered but also completely troweled off correctly.  In Step 3) the tools needed to be cleaned before the adhesive set so we could use warm soapy water to clean them.  Once set, the adhesive would have to be cleaned off with mineral spirits.  Step 4) was the most critical.  The tiles get installed once the adhesive has set to the touch, i.e. still pliable but no transfer when touched.  The adhesive effectively acts like a contact cement–it is not possible to slide a tile once it is down–so getting each tile correctly positioned on the first try was critical.  Step 5) was the easiest, once we got the 100 pound floor roller out of the car and into the bus.  The tiles needed to be rolled as soon as they were installed, which was easy except for the limited confines of the bus interior.

We ended up doing this six times in the following order:

  1. Kitchen;
  2. Built-in sofa portion of the living room;
  3. Front passenger side of living room’
  4. Hallway;
  5. Foot and front side of bed;
  6. Rear side of bed; and
  7. Bathroom.

This corresponded roughly to the order in which we had done the dry fit and it was critical that the central tiles get installed in exactly the right locations.  We used plastic spacers at all tile intersections and between tile edges where needed.  (The spacers were 2-sided.  One side was an X for use where four tile corners meet.  The other side had three tabs in line for use between the edges of two adjacent tiles.)  These spacers were removed when we pulled the tiles out and replaced when we installed them.  We also divided the job up to keep the number of tiles being set to a small enough number that we could meet the time requirements of the adhesive and to make sure we did not get trapped in the back of the coach.  We finally installed the last piece (for now) at 9 PM.  We had short breaks for lunch and dinner but each cycle of this process took about 90 minutes.

Bruce spreads Armstrong vinyl floor adhesive in the hallway.

Bruce spreads Armstrong vinyl floor adhesive in the hallway.

My knees were sore by the time we quit.  They have never done well with kneeling due to the boney lumps that resulted from Osgood-Slaughter’s disease in my late pre-teens.  Occasionally kneeling down on one of the spacers, which had pointy centers on one side, did not help.  I probably got down and up at least 100 times throughout the day, maybe more, which was hard enough all by itself.  Although I am in better health and physical shape than I was in my 30’s and 40’s at 63 I am certainly not in the prime of my youth.  At one time Linda and I had a hundred pounds or more to lose between us.  Time, use, and the abuse of being overweight have inevitably taken their toll on our joints.  At the end of the day I was left thinking that flooring work is a young person’s game.  Whether hardwood, carpet, tile, or even continuous sheet vinyl, much of the work is done on your hands and knees, or bent over, and it is tough work.

I took a long, hot shower and then Linda took her shower while I checked e-mail.  We had some Coconut Bliss ice cream with fresh strawberries and then turned in.  We watched an episode of Joseph Rosendo’s Travelscope, set the alarm for 7 AM, and went to sleep.

 

2015/09/03 (R) Floored

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I turned the lights out at 11:30 PM last night so I was starting to wake up at 6:30 AM this morning and finally got up at 7 AM.  We have had light to moderate fog the last few mornings which always coincides with very still air.  It is a calm, quiet time to gaze out over our own personal “misty moors” and appreciate where we are and the lifetime of work that got us here.

Linda was still sound asleep so I closed the bedroom door to shield her from the noise of the coffee grinder.  That was probably unnecessary as she was sleeping with her good ear down, but I did want to wake her prematurely.  I ground up 8 scoops of the Cafe Europe (reg) / Columbian (decaf) blend which yielded nine scoops of grounds.  I have figured out over time that to make 9 cups of coffee takes about 10 cups of water as that quantity of grounds absorbs and holds almost a cup.  (These are 6 ounce coffee “cups,” of course, not real 8 ounce cups.)  More importantly the strength of the coffee seems to come out right.

Once the coffee was brewing I washed out the grinder reservoir and wiped out the grinder.  It seems to hold coffee grounds as if they were magnetic and being relatively fine particles they get into all of the small nooks and crannies.  Why a coffee grinder has small nooks and crannies is one of those product design questions that suggest the designer(s) never actually used their product for its intended purpose.

My main reason for getting up early was that it was no longer comfortable to stay in bed.  My lower right back has been sore for over a week now and is worse when lying down than when working, much of which has been on my hands and knees.  My secondary reason for arising early was that I wanted to get an earlier start working on the bus today.  We need to finish the dry layout of the vinyl tile floor today so I can apply the adhesive tomorrow, with Linda’s help, before we have Madeline for the weekend starting Saturday sometime.

I assumed my usual position on one of the living room sofas with our male cat, Jasper, at my right side, and quietly enjoyed my coffee while doing some online research and starting this blog post.  Speaking of which, I am now (once again) over six weeks behind in uploading posts to our blog.  By the time we are done working in the evening and have had dinner I need what little time and energy I have left to write the draft post for that day.  Uploading them is a whole different process that also takes time and thought.  I am determined, however, to be caught up before we leave for the winter and to post daily while we are away.  Being behind is not fun for me, and posts that are 4 – 8 weeks old are probably not interesting to anyone who might read the blog.

I need a very specific trowel, an Armstrong S-891, to apply the Armstrong S-288 vinyl tile adhesive.  As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, The Home Depot and Lowe’s do not sell this trowel or one even remotely similar.  Lowe’s did, however, have a plastic spreader that has the correct notch size and spacing.  Someone in the floor department at one of the stores suggested we try Blakely’s Supply in Wixom so I plan to call them this morning.  Don at Lynch Carpet in Howell, where we got the tile and adhesive, mentioned another place so I may have to call them back and get the name of the business.

We’ve had the tile since early July so we could have taken care of this a long time ago but didn’t.  As much as I tried to “work ahead” with respect to the design of the project, procurement of materials, and contracting with the cabinet maker we did not attend to everything in a timely manner.  Exhibit #1 is the wallpaper, which had a 2-week lead time, and exhibit #2 is this trowel.  Overall we have done well keeping things moving along and in retrospect this will look like a well-planned and smoothly executed project, but right now I need something that I don’t have.  🙁

I called Blakely’s at 8:30 AM.  They do not carry Armstrong products but they did have a trowel that matched the specifications of the S-891.  They had one in stock so I asked them to hold for me.  With the Labor Day weekend almost upon us we decided to drive to Wixom and buy the trowel before busying ourselves in the bus.

The round trip would have taken an hour but we went to The Home Depot in Howell before returning to the house and bus.  This particular Home Depot has a tool rental operation and we wanted to see if they had a 100 pound floor roller.  They did.  In fact, they had two of them; $22/day (24 hours).  If I call before they close tonight they will hold one for me to pick up in the morning between 6 – 8 AM.

By the time we got home we were finally a little bit hungry and had our usual breakfast of homemade granola with fresh blueberries and banana.  Thunderstorms were forecast for today so we brought the saber saw into the bus so we would not have to walk outside to the garage to use it.

We resumed working in the bathroom and got all of the tiles for that space measured, cut, and fitted into place.  We then continued from the hallway into the bedroom and up the front side of the bed towards the driver’s side of the coach.  It seems that our pace has slowed yesterday and today but that’s not really the case.  What has happened is that all of the pieces have to be cut, some of them along four or five lines that cannot all be scored and snapped, and we are working in a much more confined space that makes it difficult to make accurate measurements.

By 3:30 PM we were part way down the foot of the bed and decided to take a lunch break.  Linda made sandwiches on toasted rye bread with vegan deli slices, onion, tomato, and lots of power greens.  She chatted briefly with our son about arrangements for this weekend and then we got back to work at 4:30 PM.

The rain that had been forecasted for most of the day finally arrived but did not affect our work as we had everything inside that we needed.  We worked until 7 PM and finished the floor tiles in the bedroom.  That left five or six pieces to be cut at the front where the main floor and cockpit meet.  My sister called and I said I would call her back when we were done.  We figured it would take at least an hour to finish these pieces.  We were tired and hungry and decided to defer this work until first thing tomorrow morning.  We shut off the air-conditioners, turned off the lights, and locked the bus.

While Linda prepared dinner I cleaned the cat’s litter tray, checked my e-mail, and replied to one from BCM.  Dinner was fresh steamed broccoli, whole grain bread, and mock chicken with orange sauce.  Another Gardein product, the “chicken” was very tasty.

I called my sister back after dinner and we had a long chat which wrapped up just before 10 PM.  Linda and I went to bed and settled in.  I was finishing up this post around 11 PM when it started raining.  From the sound it was quite a downpour but it did not last even 15 minutes.

 

2015/09/02 (W) Dry Fitting

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I turned the lights off at midnight last night so I was awake at 7 AM this morning and got out of bed at 7:15.  I fed the cats and then closed the bedroom door while I ground the coffee beans so as not to disturb Linda, who was still sound asleep.  I was having my first cup while finishing yesterday’s blog post and enjoying the company of Jasper, our male cat, when Linda emerged at 8:15, got a cup of coffee, and joined me.  Juniper, our female cat, was quickly in her lap.

Around 8:25 AM we heard a clap of thunder, which got the cats’ attention, and then it started raining.  Linda pulled up the weather radar on her iPad and there was a small but intense cell moving in our direction.  More thunder sent the cats scurrying for a safe hiding place but by 8:40 the storm had passed.

Having had a large, late supper last night we decided to skip breakfast and by 9 AM we were ready to get back to work on the bus.  Our goal was to finish dry fitting the Armstrong Alterna Luxury Vinyl Tiles by the end of the day.  We are at the point where we have placed all of the full 16″ x 16″ tiles so everything that is left has to be cut to fit.  In order to help make that possible I turned on all three air-conditioners and set the thermostats for 75 degrees F.

We started by cutting two pieces that had to follow rather intricate profiles, one by the right side of the refrigerator alcove and the other at the forward end of the kitchen cabinets.  We then filled in most of the edge pieces in the living room and kitchen, which is actually just one large space.  We continued down the hallway as we needed to “lock in” the locations of the tiles before moving into the bedroom.

We were finally a little hungry by noon so we stopped to have lunch.  Linda made a yummy fruit salad with strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and bananas blended with vegan blueberry yogurt.

Dry fit floor tiles viewed from the hallway looking towards the kitchen and living room.

Dry fit floor tiles viewed from the hallway looking towards the kitchen and living room.

After lunch we worked on the area at the rear end of the hallway where the entrances to the bathroom and bedroom are located.  Our original plan was to have the tile laid out with continuous grout lines but the reality is that the layout needed to be balanced and we needed to avoid tiny triangular pieces and skinny strips of tile.  After much deliberation and measuring we concluded that we would have to offset a tile as we came into the bedroom, placing the forward corner at the center of the adjacent tile edge.  We also had to employ a “slight of hand” by having a tile with other tiles on all four edges that was not, in fact, a 16″ x 16″ square.  It turned out to be 16″ by 14.75″ but that shape allowed us to maintain the grout lines. The difference is surprisingly subtle and I doubt that anyone will notice it.  Hopefully we won’t either after a while.

With those key decisions made we did an approximate fit past the end of the bed and around to the side at the rear of the coach.  Once we were satisfied that the tiles would lay out in a reasonable way along both sides of the bed and across the foot we resumed measuring, cutting and fitting the tiles from the hallway into the bedroom.

Cutting and fitting pieces has to be done with careful measuring and cutting and is slow work.  By 6:30 PM I no longer had sufficient light to work in the bedroom and it was clear we were not going to achieve our goal of finishing the dry fit today.  The lighting in the bathroom, which is mostly artificial, was good enough to keep working in there so we installed two more pieces.  One of them required us to remove a long narrow strip from an edge.  We used a hair dryer to gently warm the edge of the tile on the back side and then cut it.  It wasn’t exactly like cutting butter, but we were able to remove the narrow piece without using the saber saw.

By then it was 7 PM and we were done for the day.  We also wanted to have dinner before it got too much later.  Linda made a couple of large salads with all kinds of good things.  After dinner I started up my computer, checked e-mail, and replied to several.  I then drove to The Home Depot in search of an Armstrong S-891 trowel or something equivalent.  They did not have anything even close to what I needed so I went to Lowe’s. They did not have what I was looking for either but they did have a 4″ x 6″ plastic adhesive spreader that appeared to have the correct tooth size and spacing on one edge so I bought one.  It was $1.36 before sales tax.  (I probably spent that much in gasoline for the round trip.)

While I was gone Linda searched online for additional installation information and “how-to” videos.  She located the S-891 on Armstrong’s website so we finally knew what it looked like.  It’s a serious metal trowel with an open handle design and would be much easier to use than the plastic spreader.  If we had taken the time to deal with this on Monday we could have ordered one on Amazon and had it here tomorrow, but we didn’t.  I will probably call around in the morning and see if anyone locally has them.  If not, the plastic spreader will have to do.  I cannot wait until the middle of next week to glue and grout the tiles.

We watched an episode of Rick Steve’s Europe and then an episode of Music Voyager before going to sleep.

 

2015/06/17 (W) Bakery Scraper

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Linda was up at 5:45 AM and out the door by 6:15 AM to beat the morning rush hour traffic headed into the northwest corner of the Detroit metroplex.  I got up about an hour later, tended to my morning cat chores, made coffee, had some granola for breakfast, gathered up the trash, and took the big trash can to the street.

The Apex roofing crew started showing up just before 8 AM.  After everything was squared away with Apex I went to The Home Depot in Howell to rent the small power floor scraper.  The scraper took some of the thinset off but was not as effective as I had hoped it would be.  The tool is designed for stripping linoleum floors, so I had no reason to complain that it did not do what I needed it to do.  I returned it within four hours and paid the 4-hour rental fee rather than the day (24-hour) fee.  The guy in the tool rental department suggested I try a different machine which they had not mentioned to me previously.  It was a Makita 11 pound power chisel.  I rented it with three chisels.

The roofers were at the point where they needed to install the two Velux Sun Tunnel skylights in the roof of the living room.  I showed them where I wanted them installed, if possible, and they tarped off the furniture and floor in the living room.  Apex is very good about protecting the yard from damage and capturing the mess that is associated with a roof project.  That same care and attention carried over to the inside work, which I appreciated.

Our bus looking forward from the the hallway by the refrigerator and pantry.

Our bus looking forward from the the hallway by the refrigerator and pantry.

After a break for lunch I spent most of the afternoon using the power chisel to strip the area of the floor in the bus where the ceramic tile was installed.  I was not able to strip it down to the plywood subfloor, but I was able to knock down most of the ridges of thinset and adhesive that remained after I chiseled out the tiles.

I had a brief chat with Chuck around lunchtime regarding the refrigerator.  Butch called mid-afternoon to fill me in on why he was not able to answer the phone last night.  Linda called around 2:30 PM to let me know she was leaving the bakery.  She pulled in the driveway an hour later and came in the bus to see what I was up to and let me know it was starting to rain.  I had made good progress but was not done and decided I would keep the power chisel until tomorrow and pay the 1-day (24-hour) rate.

The roofers were aware of the rain, which was very light though increasing steadily, but were in the middle of replacing plywood and installing the skylights.  Some of them finished that up as quickly as they could, cleaned up the roof, and spread out the tarps while the others picked up the debris from the yard and got it in the trash trailer.  The trailer was full so they took it with them when the left at 4:40 PM.

We had a snack of pretzels, green grapes and a small glass of Moscato wine.  My thumbs were both bothering me (arthritis) so I took some Ibuprofen and then went back to work in the bus.  I had to close the roof vents because of the rain so it was warmer inside and a bit stuffy as the humidity had come way up.  I worked as long as I could and quit for the day at 6 PM.

For dinner Linda made a simple green salad and then cooked some whole wheat capellini and tossed it with the homemade tomato-based Marinara sauce she made the other day.  After dinner I worked in my office for a while.  I thought I would upload some blog posts but I had an e-mail from Bus Conversion Magazine with the draft of the May 2015 issue.  I proofread part 2 of my 4-part article on the Exterior Makeover of our bus by Phoenix Paint.  I found one thing that needed to be corrected and e-mailed it to the editor.

Linda got a DVD of Wild from the Howell Library the other day but we were too tired to watch it and just went to bed.  I turned my light out at 9:58 PM, the first time since I can’t remember when that I have done that before 10 o’clock in the evening.

 

2015/06/09 (T) Cyclo 5

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I was up at 7 AM, fed the cats, and made coffee, which has become Linda’s wake up alarm.  Phil Jarrell showed up at 8 AM.  He set up his laser level and checked elevations for a gravel driveway that would connect our concrete driveway around to our third culvert.  Some of this driveway may eventually provide access to a barn, but it will also provide a second pad that is level and big enough to support a 45 foot bus conversion.

Phil moved the laser level to a different spot and checked the elevations of various points at the west end of the property relative to the culvert that runs under the road to the little triangle of our yard in the southwest corner.  Although it did not appear so to me, all of the property to the west and north is higher than the bottom of the culvert.  That means Phil should be able to construct a French drain that will help dry this area out and hopefully save the trees that are there.  He will also use the top soil he pulls out of the driveway to fill in the various low spots.

Phil was done and on his way by 9:30 AM.  I forgot to mention the hole for the ham radio tower base so I e-mailed him about that additional work.  While it will almost certainly be less expensive to have him dig the hole while he is already here working on other things it is a project that requires my involvement, parts that I do not yet have, and coordination with a concrete company who can pump or cart the concrete from the truck to the hole.

The old driver's chair in our bus is a Villa captain's chair.

The old driver’s chair in our bus is a Villa captain’s chair.

We had breakfast after which I sorted the laundry.  The warm white load was small so I stripped the bed in the bus and added those sheets to the load.  We cleaned off the twin mattress in the small bedroom with most of the stuff going down to my office.  The stuff on the double bed in the middle bedroom then went to the small bedroom, allowing us to strip the double bed so I could launder the sheets and pillow cases.

Based on the e-mail I got yesterday from Cory at Rupes/Cyclo I figured out that I wanted the Cyclo 5-Pro Mark II Dual Head Orbital Polisher with the ProGuard backing plates.  I also determined which foam pads and chemicals I wanted and placed the order directly with Rupes/Cyclo online.  I also updated our PayPal account and used it for this transaction.

 

I went to my office and spent several hours doing a second floor plan drawing for the bus, this one showing the tiles installed as diamonds rather than squares.  Over the course of the afternoon Linda heated up some Amy’s chili for lunch and I got two more loads of laundry done.

Late afternoon brought a call on our landline that turned out to be a recorded message claiming to be from the IRS and stating that this was their final attempt to reach us before filing a lawsuit.  Yeah, right.  The IRS does not make such calls, of course, nor do they send such e-mails.  They like paper trails and contact people by registered mail or show up unannounced at the door.  And they don’t sue people, they just seize assets.  A Google search quickly revealed that this was an IRS Impersonation Scam that has been around for a while but gets resurrected from time to time.

The swivel/slide 6-way power base under the driver's chair in our bus. We will reuse this if we get a Flexsteel replacement chair but not if we get an ISRI.

The swivel/slide 6-way power base under the driver’s chair in our bus. We will reuse this if we get a Flexsteel replacement chair but not if we get an ISRI.

We were annoyed enough by this particular scam that I filed a complaint with the U. S. Treasury Department and the Federal Trade Commission.  While I was on the FTC website I opted us out of receiving “Firm Offers” for insurance and pre-approved credit cards.  I also verified that our landline and cell phones (2) are on the Federal Do Not Call list, although it has not eliminated telemarketing calls. The fact that we are on the DNC list, however, allows us to file complaints with the FTC when we get such calls.

For dinner Linda made a nice salad with poppy seed dressing and heated up a couple of teriyaki noodle bowls.  It was yummy and a small glass of Moscato was very agreeable as well.  After dinner I was revisiting the EZ Connector website when a TXT message came through with a picture of his Chuck’s new VDO 0–15 PSI turbo boost gauge.  I was thinking about calling Chuck anyway so I rang him up and we had a long chat.

 

2015/05/04 (M) Moving Things Along

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I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish today but did not get most of them completed.  I am trying to make purchasing decisions and get products and materials ordered so I can get some projects done and checked off my list.  It wasn’t a wasted day, as I gathered additional information, but it was frustrating to not get orders placed for things that I thought we settled items.

Based on a recommendation from bus buddy Butch I had decided to order a Cyclo 5 dual head orbital polisher.  I had looked at them before on Amazon but on closer inspection discovered that there is a Cyclo 5-Pro and now a Cyclo 5 Mark II and Cyclo 5-Pro Mark II.  The Mark II models are the current ones but much of what is for sale on Amazon are the previous generation.  Not only that, any one of them comes in three different configurations, two of which appear to duplicate one another.  I finally figured out that the Pro version has a variable speed motor.  The configurations have to do with the style of buffing pads and how they attach to the tool.  It turns out that whatever I get I can order the other parts if needed, so which one to order comes down to which pad attachment method I think best suits my needs.  That means more research before I place an order somewhere.

I have also decided to finally install a cellular booster system at the house and identified the TopSignal 5-band system as the one I probably wanted.  I have always been partial to Wilson Electronics, but the company has changed ownership in the last year and rebranded everything for the consumer market as WeBoost.  The redesigned “consumer” website is less informative than the old one and the company has been slower than other companies to bring products to market.  The model I would want is listed as “available soon.”

I called Cellular Solutions and talked to Paul.  They sell the WeBoost and TopSignal products but he steered me towards the SureCall Fusion5s, which is similarly priced to the TopSignal and more expensive than the WeBoost.  It is also a 5-band/multi-mode (3G/4G/LTE, etc.) transceiver so it will cover almost all cellular carriers including Verizon, without locking us into any specific carrier.  I was also going to call PowerfulSignal, who sells most of the same products, but there was no price difference based on the information I had and Cellular Solutions is a Michigan-based company.

We also need an Over-The-Air TV antenna so I started revisiting the website for AntennasDirect.com.  I spent some time looking at their website while we were in Quartzsite, Arizona but never ordered one.  One of the links on their website is to AntennaPoint.com.  This website shows the direction and distance to OTA TV towers based on your ZIP code.  It turns out that we have broadcast antennas in all directions but most of them are at ~104 degrees (Detroit) and ~270 degrees, plus or minus (East Lansing, Kalamazoo, and Battle Creek).  The ground rises to the west from our house so the Detroit metro stations will still be our primary ones.  Even so, the closest tower in any direction is 27 miles away and the farthest is 58, so we will need a serious antenna to pull these in.  (Antenna point.com only display towers up to 60 miles away but that covers everything we would care about.)

I have been trying to catch up and dispatch these kinds of lingering projects so I can work on plans for the bus barn and get started on our bus projects.  At this point I am no longer confident, however, that we will ever build a barn.  No matter what approach we take it is just going to cost more than we want to spend and it looks like dealing with the permitting process may be a hassle.  Added into this mix are several major projects on the bus, the need for a new roof on the house, and the need (desire) for a new car.  Ugh.

One of the bus projects is the remodeling of the seating in the front half of the coach.  As part of that project we want to remove the old carpet from the front and the bedroom and the black ceramic tile from the kitchen and hall, and probably the bathroom.  We did some online research and liked the look and quality of Armstrong Alterna Luxury Vinyl Tiles.  These tiles come in a 16″x16″ and a 12″x12″ size and a few of them come in 8″x8″.  From the website I determined there was a dealer, Lynch Carpet, close to us with an excellent selection of Alterna samples.

We made an errand run, stopping at the Howell Library to return a DVD, do some car research in Consumer Reports, and check out a few children’s books for Madeline’s visit tomorrow.  We stopped at the Howell branch of First Merit Bank to make a SLAARC deposit, and then drove to Lynch Carpet.  Clint worked with us and we took four samples to look at in the bus.  Once we saw them with our cabinetry the one we liked best was the La Plata Crème Fresh.  It has a faux stone, low luster, textured surface that is mostly off-white but has distinct milk chocolate brown veining.  I was thinking we would install the tile diagonally (as diamonds instead of squares) but that would probably result in more cutting of tiles, so more work, more time, more waste, and more cost.  The more I thought about that the more I liked the idea of a simpler layout, but that decision is far from made.

The rest of the day was filled with the usual things; a load of laundry, working at our desks, fixing/eating dinner, reading, games, and online research, the last three typically done on our iPads while curled up on the living room couches.

 

2015/05/03 (N) Markets and Meetings

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We cleaned up the dishes from last night, started the dishwasher, and then had coffee on the deck but did not have breakfast.  At 10 AM we drove down to the Howell Farmers Market for the opening day of the outdoor season.  We walked the market and then bought a bar of soap from Marjorie and a loaf of bread from Great Harvest.  Marjorie is our favorite vendor at the Howell Farmers Market.  She has liberal bumper stickers all over her van, grows her own herbs, raises honey bees, and makes her own soaps and other wonderful products.  She went missing from the Farmers Market last season and as soon as we saw her this year we knew why; she was wearing a “cancer cap.”  She is now cancer free and back at the Market, and it was really good to see her there.

On the way home we stopped at Home Depot to look at vinyl floor tile.  Their selection was different that Lowe’s but no better.  We spent most of our time looking at various wood flooring products and brought home four samples plus a small vinyl tile sample.  When we got home we had toast for lunch using the bread we had just bought.  I started a load of laundry and then settled in to review my Exterior Makeover article.  I made final corrections, uploaded it to the READY folder in my Dropbox, and e-mailed the editor and publisher of Bus Conversion Magazine to let them know it was ready.

We both took breaks from what we were doing to look at the floor samples in the bus.  We did not like any of the woods.  The vinyl tile sample was OK, but not quite right.  At the store most of the lighter shades of faux stone style vinyl tiles had a lot of grey in them.  I did not think grey would look good in our bus but it turns out that the Corian surfaces have grey flecks, the wallpaper has a lot of grey, and the leather furniture may have more grey in it than I realized.  And yet when I visualize the interior of the coach what I “see” is walnut and brass.  We need to look somewhere other than the big box stores for vinyl tiles.

The DVD of Sherlock, season 1, episode 2, would not play correctly on the DVD player in our bedroom last night so I put it in the DVD player in the basement to see if it would play correctly.  Linda did not stay awake to try and watch it last night, which was just as well, so I suggested that she watch it and see if it played OK.  It took a long time for the player to decide to play the disc but once it did it played all the way through.  That told me that there is a problem with the old Sony VHS/DVD player in the bedroom.

While Linda was watching Sherlock I moved the laundry to the dryer and then started compiling my posts for April 26 through 30, 2015 into a single post.  I got that done, uploaded it to our blog, created the tags, and published it.  I made it back upstairs just as Linda was putting dinner on the table.  Much of life is timing, good or bad.  We had leftovers from last night, including salad, veggie-fruit kabobs, and potatoes.

We left a little after 6 PM for the May meeting of the South Lyon Area Amateur Radio Club.  We normally meet on the second Sunday of the month but always move that up to the first Sunday in May to avoid Mother’s Day.  We arrived right at 6:30 PM and there was already a good crowd there but the club president was not among them.  At 6:40 PM I was getting ready to convene the meeting when someone pointed out that the start time had been changed to 7 PM two meetings ago.  I guess we should read the minutes, especially of meetings that we miss (like December through April).  Our business meetings are usually short followed by a program.  Tonight, however, we had a presentation from our field day committee followed by a discussion and a motion to approve a budget for the activity which was unanimously approved.

After we got home I brought the DVD player up from the basement and we watched episode 3 of season 1 of Sherlock.  The disc and player worked fine, so I will be looking for a replacement for the old Sony player sometime soon.