Can You Find the Differences?

People magazine includes a game of sorts in each of its issues. Two nearly identical pictures are posted side by side, and the reader is asked to find ten differences between the two pics. Below is my version of that game. But, be warned, my version of the game is much more difficult than the simpleton version that People publishes... Best of luck!

We have fondly named the closet at the end of our modest hallway The Cat Closet. It is an interesting moniker, maybe telling, considering that Caren and I are both dog people. In fact, I detest cats. Perhaps that has something to do with my being deathly allergic to them... perhaps it has something to do with their not so pleasant habits of... well, potty talk may better left to second graders.

When we first purchased the place, The Cat Closet had a doggie door haphazardly installed in a hollow core door... yet another case of interesting craftsmanship. Inside the doggie door sat a kitty litter box--one that hadn't been cleaned since Lord knows when. Kitty litter had made its way out of the box, through the carpet, and into the sub floor. It was also inside the void in the hollow core door and everywhere else that kitty litter shouldn't be. Besides the kitty litter, the subfloor was urine soaked and reeking of ammonia.

The first picture, look carefully, was taken last August, shortly after we had ripped the carpet out, removed the door, and pulled the sub-flooring. Pay attention to things like paint color, trimwork, and flooring.

The second pictured was taken in December. If you are observant you will notice several changes... one thing you cannot see is the paint on the floor decking underneath the new hardwood floor... oops, did I just give away something? Caren painted the floor to seal any remaining urine scent into the decking before we put the new floor down.

Our third picture was taken three weeks ago. The pine paneling.. Oops, gave away something else... hides a return air vent for the furnace that one can just make out on the right side of the closet in the second picture... shoot, I keep giving away things. Installing the paneling involved building two false walls, one on either side, because I'm a symmetrically leaning perfectionist, to hide the mechanical workings of the heating system.

Notice any changes yet?

This, our fourth picture (I told you that my version of the game was more difficult than People's), was taken two weeks ago.

We have a fence across the back of our lot in Davis that separates the lawn from the alley. The fence is about four feet high. Redwood fence boards are sold in six foot lengths. If one planes and sands the two foot long cutoff ends of rough cut redwood fence boards, one can make nice shelving out of what could have been considered trash or firewood.

Additionally, if one waters down white ceiling paint, one can whitewash pine paneling to match what one did in the kitchen.

Editors note: the above two scenarios are hypothetical only and the reader should not interpret them as hints that might help them in solving the picture puzzle.

Again, our fifth picture was taken two weeks ago. Did you know that t&g cedar siding that Kelby salvaged from the backyard when we first bought the place in September can be made into cabinet facing, especially when Caren white washes it.

And, our sixth, and final, picture. Look really carefully. Do you notice any changes? One must be really observant. They are difficult to find, but they are there.

By the way, salvaged t&g cedar siding makes excellent cabinet doors.

If you are financially inclined...

salvaged redwood fence boards: $0
salvaged t&g cedar siding: $0
2x4 false walls: about $8
hinges: about $15
pine paneling: well, we won't go there
100 year old barnwood trim: PRICELESS

All told, I think I spent about $100 bucks on The Cat Closet... that and about four days worth of labor.

So, can you find at least ten differences between the photos?

Oh... in case you were wondering... the only time I ever read people magazine is when I am waiting in line for a haircut at SuperCuts. Even then, I only look at the pictures of all the "pretty" people.

More Barnwood???

We have plenty of barnwood stacked in the garage to complete all of the trimwork and make the various shelves, picture frames, and mirrors that we have dreamed up; however Caren got a lead on another old barn from a client. She finagled permission for me to drive out onto the property to take a look. She even got the key to the locked gate so I wouldn't be peppered with rock salt by some shot gun toting ranch hand.

The barn, as we were told, was already on the the ground, so anything was fair game. The property it once serviced sits at the intersection of highway 16 and highway 20 just west of Williams. We'd have to access the property through the front gate and follow a rough dirt road for about three miles before finding the barn.

Last Tuesday I loaded up my tools of destruction... sawsall, various wrecking bars, various hammers, and cordless drill... as well as Theo. Theo and I have a love hate relationship. He loves me. I hate all the hair he sheds, his hyperactivity disorder, and his inability to listen to a thing that you say. I figured I'd take him with me and we'd have a little bonding experience. Caren wasn't sure what to think. I'm sure that one of the thoughts that crossed her mind was that I planned on leaving him out in the sticks somewhere... about as far away from a road as one can get in Northern California.

Finding the gate was easy. Getting through the gate was easy. Following the "rough dirt road" was not so easy. The road started out as a two lane gravel road. after about a hundred feet it became a one lane dirt road. After another hundred feet it was a jeep track... with grass growing in the wheel ruts.

Theo and I, being the adventurous souls that we are, followed the jeep track. Over hill and around dale we went... at a snails pace. We made our way across dry stream beds that I was sure would bottom out the truck. Soon we began spotting sun-bleached cattle skulls and vertebrae alongside the road. Two thoughts crossed my mind: What have I gotten myself into? and This might be a good place to let Theo out of the truck!

Rounding a corner and crossing another stream bed, Theo began to growl. Two rather large cows stood in the middle of what, in a very nefarious way, could be called a road. They bawled out a little protest to our being there but graciously stepped out of the way. They did however decide to follow the truck rather closely. I think they thought we were the feed truck... either that or they were herding us into a trap.

On we pressed. Soon our two friends were joined by three or four others. Then five or six more. Not long after that a very large cow stood right in the middle of the "road" in front of us. Had we been going much faster than the three miles and hour that we were, we would have been unable to avoid a collision. One that I'm sure the cow would have been none the worse off for. Caren's truck, however would not have faired so well. The cow was large. To add to its size, it stood nursing a calf. Not really a calf... it could have been considered a full grown cow in my book.

Theo growled, and I waited patiently for the lunch break to end. It didn't. I thought about honking the horn but thought better of that idea when I pictured a ranch hand with a shotgun loaded with rock salt becoming annoyed with me for bothering the cattle. After a minute or so an idea occurred to me. Because we were in the middle of an oak savannah and because the road wasn't really much of a road, I could just drive around the cow cafe.

On we went. Just as I was beginning to lose hope that we would ever find the barn, the "road" ran out. It was no longer a jeep track. It was simply a cattle path... a single track cattle path. I gave Theo a what-now look. He returned a just-drive-up-to-the-top-of-that-rise-and-have-a-look-around look. That is what I did, and, low and behold, off in the distance was what appeared to once have been a barn. There was no road leading to it, but that didn't matter because we were no longer driving on a road anyways.

In short order we arrived at the barn and stepped out of the truck only to be pleasantly greeted by a large... I mean very large... I mean much larger than the cow and its calf large... bull. Fortunately the bull was on the other side of a barbed wire fence, but he left no uncertainty as to his displeasure with us being there. He began to bawl and continued to bawl for the hour or so that I rummaged through the remnants of the barn. I carried  a large hammer with me the entire time I was there, making sure that I never had my back to our new found friend. Theo, demonstrating all of his love for me along with his willingness to lay down his life in the name of that love, promptly hid under the truck.

 There wasn't really much to the barn... or much left of it. I tried, I really tried, to envision something that we could do with the wood, but I kept coming back to the thought of how much work it takes to turn barnwood into a finished product.

After picking through, wandering around, and climbing over the pile I gave up. Other than the large hammer that was my only defense against a charging bull, I never even got a tool out of the truck. I simply was not willing to pull anymore nails, plane, or sand another piece of wood if I didn't have too. And, I didn't have to do any of that to this pile of wood if I didn't want to. Did I say that I didn't want to?

Theo was more than happy to jump back into the truck. The bull was more than happy to see us leave. I was more than happy to not pull anymore nails.

Greg Brown's song, You Drive Me Crazy (but I love you so much that I am gonna drive you crazy, too), was running through my head as I reached over a scratched Theo behind the ears, started the truck, turned it around, and headed back to civilization... without any more barnwood.

Unfulfilled Expectations

I had big plans for Christmas Break... In addition to a trip to Seattle to see the family, I would have five uninterrupted days in Tahoe to get some real work done around the place. In my mind, I would finish three custom closets, trim out the interior doors and hallway, build a few pieces of furniture, and maybe replace the hot water heater. In reality, I built one piece of furniture, and trimmed out most of the hallway. I also took long walks with the dogs, finished reading The Great Crash Ahead* and delved well into Steve Jobs' bigoraphy.** 

Alex laughed at me because it took me a whole day to produce this...

One of the drawbacks to having a freestanding kitchen is that there are no base cabinets to hide unmentionables like cleaning supplies and garbage cans. We've solved the cleaning supplies issue. We needed some way to hide our kitchen garbage and recycle cans.

I spent and evening several weeks ago designing and redesigning a piece of furniture that would solve that problem. It is loosely based on a piece I found on Ana-White.com. However, I modified her design to match the construction of the pie safe and jelly cabinet that we purchased. It took several iterations in the design process to come up with a cabinet that fit well into the space under the window and didn't make it feel like the pie safe was shoved into the corner. I originally designed the cabinet to hold both the recycle and the garbage cans, but the piece became too large. So, I guess that I have only solved half of the problem because the cabinet only holds the garbage can.

The front of the door pivots out from the bottom, allowing access to the trash receptacle. I finished it with the same red paint that the other pieces of kitchen furniture are finished in, added matching hardware, and stained the door and top to match the rest of the furniture as well.

I'm pretty proud of the results. Although it is not perfect, one would be hard pressed to determine that my little garbage can was not purchased from the same manufacturer as the pie safe and jelly cabinet.

I say that Alex laughed at me because it took so long, but, in my defense, this was the first time that I'd built a piece of furniture with an inlaid panel door. I also chose to build the top rather than purchase a pre-fabricated one. When I began the whole process last Thursday morning the cabinet was simply a pile of pine boards... a 1x12x6', a 1x6x8', and four 1x4x8' boards to be exact. Throw in a couple of hinges, a handle, some leftover t&g panelling from a long ago project, and a whole days worth of labor and you too can have your very own garbage can.

Now that I think about it... given all the time that I am spending on this whole project... well... it must be a labor of love.

Labor... Love... whatever it is, it drove me to spend the better part of three days milling the door casing and trim boards for the hallway. Day one: pull nails; day two: rough cut to size and plain; day three: sand and sand and sand and oil and oil and oil.

There is so much work involved in turning old barnwood into trim. The first few times that I set up the trim shop it was a new and novel process. The novelty has worn off. This time I found myself cussing Jessie, the purveyor of barnwood, out in my head during the whole process. But, once I started oiling the wood all was forgiven. The stuff turns out so beautiful and unique.

I am still dreading the next time I have to set up the trim mill to finish the windows, bedrooms, and bathroom; but, I am willing to do so because the final product is so cool. That, and I am kinda OCD about finishing something that I started...

I was looking forward to the installation process because I would finally get to see the fruits of three days worth of labor. The process was not without its foul-ups, bleeps, and blunders... not the least of which involved hacking out chunks of wavy drywall to insure a tight fit between casing and jam. Its hard to take a picture of a hallway, but this is how it turned out.

It is easier to take a picture of a bedroom door...

Pay particular attention to the unfinished closet at the end of the hall. If the picture of the bedroom door included the closet, you'd see that it is unfinished too. But the dogs liked their walks, and I'm having a hard time putting Jobs' biography down.

 * not a particularly well-written book, but Dent's take on the future of our economy is very insightful. Dent may not be an author, but he is a skilled economist.


** Jobs' biography is a must read. The guy was pretty amazing. If I'd known what I know now, I'd have purchased a lot more of Apple's stock when it was cheap.