Skiing again

I had another great day skiing today on my new/used telemark skis. I bought them from Craig's list in Golden (classified ads on the Internet) for $80 (approx 400kr or 40 quid) including a set of poles but had a bit of trouble getting the bindings sorted out.

Today the sun was shining again and the snow was nice even though there were only 2 runs open again.

I did the first hour and a half with my boots in walk mode which made me fall over a lot, but after coffee I realised my mistake and things looked up a lot.

Maybe Vail tomorrow...

Alpine skiing!

Well, I was a little frustrated to get to Eldora and find that I could not yet rent telemark skis so I had to rent a alpine skis and boots. I had a blast in the sunshine though and really enjoyed flying down the only 2 runs that were open. I had forgotten that I am a pretty reasonable skier on groomed pistes and it is a lot less work than telemarking.

In Boulder in the snow

Here is the final picture of the kitchen before I left with the splashback.

Here is the view from the bedroom window this morning. My journey was very smooth with both planes landing early and extra leg room on both as well.

It is -7C here so plenty cold and hopefully there'll be some skiing to be had in the next few days...

Almost Done

Before:


Last night I almost finished the kitchen, the only remaining tasks are to collect and install the splashback and put up the clock, hooks and calendar.
Unfortunately when I turned the water off last night I have broken the tap so that we have very low water pressure and I can't do anything about it so we are waiting for the plumber to come and fix it.
I also need to fix the units to the wall at some point.
The last problem is that when you touch the sink and the dishwasher at the same time you get a rather nice electric shock so the dishwasher has to be fixed or replaced. Bummer!

After:

Update

I have put vinyl floor down in the bathroom using the offcut from the hall and frankly I am pretty pleased with it. It isn't that hard.
Today I put up the extractor hood and finally cut the hoels in the stainless for the tap. Wow that stuff is hard, but the hole saw finally got through.


I am not very happy with the cover for the pipe though...

Tomorrow the electrician is coming to finishe off and then we should be done on Thursday...

Clear Progresss at last

Today we managed to start the re-assembly process in the ktichen having completed the decorations. I still have to finish making the windowsill and put in the sink and plumbing and the electrician has to come back and make the sockets work, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
The more observant omongst you will also notice that J has had his hair cut.

Assume the position

I got that familiar feeling today when I took the car for service and tried to explain the problem with the brakes. The rear brakes are apparently not ballanced as the one side is worn to the metal and the other has not worn at all, as a consequence one disc is coroded and the other worn so they needed to be replaced. Apparently yhtis is normal wear and tear and we have to pay.
Can this be right on a 2 tyear old car with 41 000km on it?


So the cost of a 2 year service and correct the brakes that should not have needed to be fixed...
Over 5000kr or $1000 to those of you the other side of the pond.
I feel like I have been taken advantage of in the most unpleasant of ways!
Why is my spell checker only working in Danish when all of the settings are English?

Windowsill

One of the many remaining tasks in the kitchen is to construct a windowsill that must be level with and ultimately join up to the sink unit. The problem here is that all of the kitchen units are on adjustable legs so the height is not set... yet.
I guess I have to decide what the height will be and then make the windowsill to fit that height, I have no idea how to attached the piece of oak that I have bought to the concrete ledge, so any advice would be handy. My current plan is to use another piece of wood under it which I will screw to the concrete and then attach the oak to that, but I am not sure how as I don't want to make holes through it.


I also have a rather clever new mobile phone that connects to our wireless internet access and has all of my email on it. To be honest I don't think that will be such a good thing when I am actaully w0rking and it is rather large thus creating an unsightly bulge when it is in my pocket. (The phone that is!)

Goodbye

We sadly had to say goodbye to G&J today and I was supposed to collect the splashback on the way home. G did a great job opf painting the inside of these cupboards for us.

Unfortunately the guy had forgotten to make it so that will have to wait another week or so.


In the meantimne we are havin new floors laid tomorow and I have painted the woodwork with the one coat gloss. I will do the second coat in a day or so as it has failed to cover the light grey in one go.
I have bought the paint for the walls and think it will be nice, it is called Java soft and you will be able to see the finished result in a couple of days...

Update

We have been very busy for the last few days with a trip to Sweden and several meals with T&B.




The floor should have been laid this morning but was not as the guy was sick so now I have a few extra days to catch up with decorating before he is supposed to come again on Thursday.
The sanding and filling are now done and the painting has started with the ceiling and the inside of the cupboards.

Sorry for the break

I have been very busy the last couple of days welcoming G&J and getting on with the kitchen. We have finally decided to get in an electrician for the next day or so to sort out the wiring as I was more than a little out of my depth and can't find the parts that I think I need either. I hope that we will therefore be ready for the new flooring being laid on Monday morning...
I'll try to get some pictures uploaded tomorrow

Kitchen Day 7

Tuesday was a very busy and dirty day but with limited obvious impact. I spent the day sanding walls and woodwork, getting coverd with and full of dust as my reward.
The evening was much more fun, I took J to the swimming opool and we spent almost an hour in thw water playing around.
I have just had a visit from Lief's Elservice (electrician) who followed normal protocol with the sharp intake of breath followed by some elaborate solution. The problem is that I know he is right that we need to change some stuff and much as I would like to avoid it, it is going to cost us a fair bit...
Today there are a couple of middle aged ladies coming to stay, have been trying to teach J to say Grandma and Aunty Jen, so far the Grandma is working the Auntioe Jen is more of a "Yen".
At least we are eating properly tonight as we are visiting T&B.

Kitchen Diary: Day 5

As you can see, the kitchen is now only a room formerly known as the kitchen. I couldn't turn off the water yesterday so we worked around the tap and I can take this off now that I have purchased the necessary tool and turned off the water. I think it is worth noting that the Danes call an adjustable spanner a "Swedish Key".


Bent has helped a lot over the weekend so I am somewhat ahead of where I expected to be. Today I will begin fixing the walls and try to work out how and where the power supply will be for the extractor hood. There are in fact 3 vents in the wall but none of them in the right place. i think I will construct some cunning duct work and use the most suitable one for the outlet.
The other issue is what to do with the remaining vents and the back of the outdoor power for the lamp. Should I decorate over it or leave it accessible?


Left is the vent I plant to use, top right is another vent and bottom right is the back of the outside power outlet for the light.


Finally here is MK eating a Burger King with a knife and fork on a plate. She is the epitome of style and sophistication, you can tell I didn't pick her up in Leeds!

The kitchen gathers pace

I had a helper yesterday so we managed to make a lot of progress. All of the wallpaper is down and the corner cupboard has gone too along with the tiles. This is where I expected to be at the end of Sunday so this is good progress.



Today I will start fixing the walls and preparing to relocate some sockets. BHP is coming again to help and I think he can sand the woodwork ready for painting and help me start taking the old kitchen out...
When I look at the pictures before I started it suddenly doesn't look so bad...

The Kitchen Diary: Day 2

Today I am starting with the wallpaper removal. The car has been fixed so I was able to go and rent one in town. I have also built the sink unit which is skewed a mm or two but I think I can sort that out when I attach the top permanently.


I had a very supportive mail from Harry yesterday that he said I am allowed to quote from so here it is:
"I see from your blog that you are as motivated and insightful as ever, I look to it every day and refer to it in conversation as the Cornerstone of my Success, not only in business but in life itself ..."
Knowing that Harry is incapable of sarcasm, I am truly touched by his comments.

Issue #1

How do I drill a 34mm diameter hole through stainless steel sheeting that makes the worktop and sink. There is a hole through the wood base, but as the sink can be left or right handed, there is not a hole through the metal.
I have a 32mm diameter drill but I am struggling with the metal ( I think it is a wood drill) should I just make a pilot hole in the middle and go for it?

The Kitchen Diary: Day 1

After a faltering start this morning the project is underway. The car seemed to develop a fault with the temperature sensor on the way home last night declaring that it was overheating and apparently still was after a night in the drive. What was more worrying is that it wouldn't start this morning so it was fetched off to the garage and should now be ready for me. Amazingly the built in faults that should start to occur when the warranty runs out in 3 weeks have come early and this fix should be gratis...
So far today I have built the sink unit and taken a load of stuff out of the kitchen ready to attack the wallpaper tomorrow.