Theresa Gets Groutchy

   Poor Tiger. After escaping from his new home, he was alone and living in the woods for over two weeks. With some help from a very nice family who worked as "Tiger Spotters" we were able to find him and bring him home. Midnight and Mittens aren't particularly thrilled with his return though. In fact, Midnight goes out looking for a fight every day. Yesterday, after two particularly bad screaming matches, Ed looked out to find them less than two feet from each other. As far as we can tell, Tiger was completely submissive, but wouldn't leave. Midnight didn't really want to fight, but couldn't back down. It was Panther And Lion On The Savannah. They stayed motionless for over an hour before Midnight finally decided it was time for a snack and sauntered toward the house.

   Ed has been working on that To Do list. He finished the backboard for the bathroom lights so he could center the lights without having to rip out sheet rock and rewire the wall. I like it. It ties in with the door and window trim and the mirror frames.
   And look at that snazzy backsplash! I finally put the backsplash tile in the guest bathrooms.  In fact I like this tiles so much I may rip out the backsplash in our upstairs bedroom and replace it with this. It goes beautifully with the granite.

   The downstairs guest room got the same treatment. I had an awful time with the angles on the pencil bullnose. I don't have a mathematical, technically visual brain. I thought I had it right, cut the bullnose on the tile saw, brought the piece in. It was a perfect 45* cut, but on the wrong side of the piece. I did that three times in a row! It was a "don't talk to me" afternoon. I finally managed to figure it out. Now all they need is grout.

   Yesterday the weather was beautiful, so I decided to grout. And I had a ton of it to do. The craft room backsplash, the spa tub tile and backsplash, and the two guest bathroom backsplashes.
   Last year when I grouted the fireplace surrounds, Elicia was here to run buckets of fresh water for me. This time I was on my own.
    I started with the craft room backsplash. There wasn't much to do, the grout was a light cream color, and I didn't have to bend down or reach much. It was a piece of cake.

    Then I moved on to the spa tub backsplash. It was like I'd stepped into the Twilight Zone. The grout was Charcoal. The slate tile mosaic is uneven. I had to get fresh buckets of water twice as often, step in and out of the tub and reach everywhere. It wasn't much fun. I wore gloves to apply the grout, but gave up during the wipe-down phase. By the time I was done, my hands looked like I was a 20 year diesel mechanic.  I tried Boraxo. I tried bleach and a scrub brush. They still look horrible.  The good news is, I like how the black grout looks with the slate. The bad news is, I'll probably use the same color grout on the guest bath backsplashes.

    Ed has been working to get the stairs to the basement aka ManCave completed. He is using spruce lumber from a tree that fell on our property some years ago. He planed the rough lumber, cut a bullnose on the stair treads, made risers and boards for the landing. They all had to be sanded, brushed with a pre-treatment, stained and varnished. Some days were so cold that he couldn't use the varnish until the temperature got above 50*, which is always an iffy proposition around here.
    Yesterday the weather was beautiful, he threw open the bay door to the basement, moved his tools to the basement door and started to install the stairs.

   In spite of several interruptions (cats fighting, lunch, wife swearing profusely at grout) he got in six stairs and risers and the landing. Only 10 more to go.  After they're all in, they will get several more finish coats. Then he'll put up the handrail and the stairs will be complete.

   He's also been working on a Craftsman style oak frame for an embroidery piece I did for the dining room. Embroidery isn't one of my major talents, but the sentiment is heartfelt.  
   I like the MacKintosh roses. In fact, I decided to make a companion stained glass piece for the transom over the dining room french door, just to the right of this wall.

   I got sidetracked (cat fights, lunch, grout) yesterday, then ran out of clear glass, but I expect to have it done by the end of the week.