My calendar indicates this is another red-letter day, but this time it doesn’t involve a guitar.
It was just about a year ago that I was wrapping up the installation of the oak floor in the big room. The ¾” solid oak flooring came from the old Brown County bowling alley up on the 135, salvaged by some folks who used it to floor their cabin, and in the Fall of ’15 I bought the remaining pile of flooring for a mere C-note. Having a little Brown County history underfoot appeals to us.
Rhonda and I spent two weekends removing the old flooring nails using an angle grinder, and stacking the floor boards at the end of the room shown in the pic. Then for two months (off and on) I installed the 420 square feet of flooring row by row. Gotta thank wifey for lending an invaluable hand as her busy schedule allowed, and also my granddaughter Cecilia, who helped me one day, and at 6 years of age proved to be a mighty fine worker for her pappy. She proudly deposited a whole dollar of her earnings in her piggy bank afterwards. I seize every opportunity to teach the grandkids a little work ethic… it’s good for them and even better for my old back. 😉
As we move into Spring, our homesteading projects continue apace. For some projects that fall outside my comfort zone (either in terms of my limited skill set or limited available time), I admit we enlist local pros to do the job.
Still, I’m always on the lookout for ways to take a little bit of money coupled with a lot of sweat equity and do something creative with it. Last summer’s big damn deck project was like that. I can’t say a pro couldn’t do it better, just saying that’s how we roll up on Taterbug Hill.
