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As I mentioned in a previous post, the past week has been one of reflection for me. I thought about all that had happened in the course of the past year. I reflected on our fortunes of the past year and then it hit me: I have spent more time under the same roof as my spouse in the past 12 months as I had done in the past five years combined. I lived in New Orelans from 2003-2005, and then Chicago from 2005-2007 as a geographic bachelor. Sure, Dee came to visit, but only for a few weeks, total. I then started to think about how long I had been a geographic bachelor prior to my retirement. I became a geographic bachelor in the fall of 1994, so for reference purposes, call it January, 1995. I came home for good in August, 2007. The only time I co-habitated with the spousal unit was from May, 2001-June2003. Thus, in the span of 13 years, from 1995 to 2008, I have only been home for 3 of those years. I hope that this time I will be able to stay home for a bit longer!
Today was a day when little appeared to have been done in our kitchen project. However, nothing could be further from the truth. Jim's major task today was to wrap the four kitchen windows with coated aluminum. True to his persnicketiness, Jim was careful and thorough during his work on the windows. He also discovered that the the frame for one of 
the old windows was not mechanically attached to the house. The window was held in place by the friction generate between the window and the frame. Needless to say, Jim rectified that problem and affixed the window frame to the house. Yep, we are still finding little gremlins left behind by the previous owners.
Back 
to what else happened today. At 8AM my cell phone rang and it was the delivery truck from the GE Store. They told me that they would arrive in about 20 minutes to deliver our appliances. True to his word, 20 minutes later the GE truck arrived and they offloaded the fridge, range, dishwasher, beverage fridge and microwave. Our garage is slowly 
filling up with the appliances that will give our kitchen life. Paul the master electrician returned today, along with his son Matt, to do more work in roughing out the electrical fixtures and switches. There are also yards and yards of electrical wire in stuffed into the overhead of our basement, which Paul & Matt have carefully laid out for when they do the finish work in a week or two. I spoke to Paul about a couple of electrical issues and he seemed pleased with how the job is progressing. He said to me, "This is a large project and I do not want to get behind Jim's work."
Of course, Samson had to check things out during the work today. I took personal day today so I could be here 
for the delivery of the appliances. To be honest, I could have gone into work this afternoon following the delivery, but I was able to catch up on a few projects that I had been meaning to do for a while. Since I was taking today off, we did not take Samson to doggie daycare. In order to keep him out of the builder's way, Samson will spend the day at Whiskers any day during this project when neither Deirdre or I are home. Today, I kept Samson with me, and I put him in his crate the two times I left the house to run errands. Samson happily went into his crate each time I told him to go there, but the puppy treats helped, too! When I was home Samson had free run of the house and he kept out of the way of Jim and Paul, though he wanted to supervise the work going on in the kitchen. It is just a manifestation of one of his primal GSD instincts: standing guard. Jim and Paul were well supervised as you can see from the photo to the left. It is always good to have a GSD keeping watch on your home.
A year ago this weekend, I had my retirement ceremony from the U.S. Navy. It seems like the ceremony and subsequent party at the Boat House was just last week. The past twelve months have been a blur for me. A few
days after my ceremony, the movers came and packed up our belongings at the Beach House, and I came home to EGR. Almost as soon as I returned home, Deirdre and I had to say goodbye to Allie, our trusted and loyal companion of almost 14 years. A week later, my knee was scoped and as soon as I recovered from that I took a road trip east to see my siblings and my roommate from my first ship.
Soon after I returned from my road trip, we began our bathroom remodeling projects. Well, technically, all we did was provide the funding, the professionals at HWC Homeworks did the heavy lifting! We celebrated my actual retirement date (1 November) from the Navy with a trip to Lake Huron, and then we did something we had never done during my entire 22 year career in the Navy: we were able to spend consecutive Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays together in our own home. That accomplishment might not seem like much, but when was the last time you were NOT able to spend the Thanksgiving and Christmas in the same year with your family? Just before Thanksgiving, we adopted a rescue dog. We were still mouring the passing of our beloved Allie, we also knew that we had room in our hearts to give a home to a wonderful dog whom we named Samson. It was a rough couple of weeks with him at first, but he has evolved into a goofy, lovable companion who is nothing but 95lbs of fur and love.
A few days after we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary on New Year's Day, work began on our second bathroom project. Lots of dust and entropy later, that project was completed and I looked for my next adventure. In March, I decided to start to look for my first post-Navy job. I was interviewed for positions with the American Red Cross, the U.S. Department of State, a local District Court, Gentex, General Electric and a few head hunting agencies for executive management positions around the country. I thought that it would take 6-10 months to find a position that matched my knowledge skills and abilitiesHowever, I was off by a factor of 6-10. About a month after I started my search, I was offered a position with General Electric, working for GE Aviation here in Grand Rapids.
Deirdre and I have settled into our rhythm together with both of us working, providing a home to Samson and generally getting on with our lives, post-Navy. We recently began our next home remodeling project, a kitchen where we are looking forward to making new memories with our friends here in the western edges of the Enchanted Mitten.
To say that the past twelve months have is an understatement. We never could have imagined our good fortune to have such a great year, and we are looking forward to our next adventure.
Today was a major day in the genesis of our new kitchen. Jim finished installing the new subfloor, which is a precursor to laying the new tile, which leads to installing the cabinets... you see where this is going. Here are a few photos from Jim's work today, as well as a sample of the stuff that is starting to accumulate in our garage.
Now, on to Ohm's Law. For you social science majors out there, Ohm's law states that across an electrical circuit, voltage is equal to the product of the resistance and the current. Ohm's Law is in effect when you flip on a light switch or use your iPod.
Today, Ohm's Law was used by our tried and true electrician to start to rough out the new outlets, switches and lights for the kitchen. Paul from Roper Electric was back and his son assisted him in the first day of work for him to remove the old electric outlets and install the new lights and power sources for the kitchen. Paul is a diminutive man, who works quickly and professionally. I managed to make it home a little early from work today, so I was able to go over the plan for the lighting and electrical outlets.
Below are a few photos from Paul's work in our kitchen:
Tomorrow, Jim will return to start work on the drywall. The entropy meter here on Argentina Drive SE is pegged, but each day we are getting closer and closer to our new kitchen.
Work in the kitchen is progressing accoring to plan. Jim finished taking up all the old flooring and he began to install the new subfloor. Here are a few photos of his work today:
And a few more images...
Though it might look like little was accomplished, putting in the new subfloor is a major part of the project. Until the subfloor is done, not much else can happen.
Deirdre took Monday and Tuesday off so she could he here for the first days of demolition. However, today she went back to work which left us with the issue of what to do with Samson. Samson is such a mellow cruiser; he just loves to meet everyone and play with any dog who will return the favor. However, we did not think that it was the right thing to do to leave Samson here with Jim if neither one of us were home. Enter Whiskers. It is a very well appointed place to board your pet. It offers not only overnight boarding, but puppy daycare as
well. Today Samson's first visit to Whiskers and it was an unqualified success. Whiskers is literally on my way to work, so I dropped him off at about 0715. I took Samson inside and he was immediately interested in the sounds of the other dogs there. The tech behind the desk took some information from me about him, I signed a few release and notification forms. Part of the process of boarding there, your dog is accessed for tempermant with other dogs. When I dropped him off the tech said to me, "We will evaluate Samson and see just what kind of other dogs we can let him play here during his visit." I handed Samson over to the tech, and he immediately tried to nudge her and lick her face. I was pretty confident that he would be found to have a great tempermant with other dogs.
Fast forward to late this afternoon and I picked Samson up. I asked the tech how m y dog did today and she said that Samson did just great. I asked how his tempermant test went, and she said to me that she would get check. A moment later, another tech came out and said to me, "Samson is such a sweetie. He has a great tempermant. He played hard today! He made freinds with a Lab who was here for the first time, too. They just played and played all day."
I was then handed a "report card" that said the following about Samson's visit:
"Today I played very hard."
"Today I met lots of friends."
"Today I felt great."
"Today I was a perfect angel."
"I hope to make more friends and come back often."
"My playmates today were Teddy, Ginger, Remy, Rylan."
We were confident of Samson's great tempermant, but it is nice to know that the kennel where he will be staying on and off the next few weeks thinks so, too!
Demolition of our kitchen continued today at quite a clip. Jim and his able bodied assistant Caleb resumed their work removing what remained of 
our old kitchen. The focus of 
their efforts today was removing the tile in the kitchen and the mud room. The tile int he kitchen was replaced by the previous owners at some point, and in 2001, we had the tile in the mud room replaced along with the door to the garage and the outside. At one point, Jim was so interested in how the tile was coming up that he called for Dee and said, "Deirdre, you gotta come see this. Bring your camera." Jim wanted Dee to see how the tile in the floor had "bubbled up" when he applied the force of a jack hammer to it.
Jim also noticed that when the kitchen was last remodeled, the flooring placed over the base flooring was installed improperly. The base floor boards were installed at a 45 degree angle to the floor joists, as is customary. However, usually any flooring installed on top of base floor boards is installed at a right angle to the base boards, which improves structural strength. The previous remodeler of the kitchen installed the new boards along the same line as the base flooring.
Persnickety Jim was none too happy about this, and he assured Deirdre that he would not repeat the mistake of the previous remodeler.
Tomorrow will most likely be a little more demolition involving 
the trim along the doors, and perhaps the installation of the new base flooring. What has been the most pleasant surprise is how well the plastic sheeting has contained much of the dust and dirt that positively invaded our home during our bathroom projects. There have been no structural surprises, the demolition has gone according to plan and in a few short weeks all disruption and dust will be but a memory and our kitchen will be ready to fill our lives with new memories.
Perhaps the title of this entry is a little too dramatic, but on Saturday night we had our "Last Supper" in our old kitchen. 
The professionals from HWC Homeworks start work on our new kitchen on Monday morning (yes, there will be at least daily blog entries as that project progresses), so we had to start moving everything out of the kitchen in preparation for the 3-4 days of demolition that will be needed in order for the remodeling to truly begin.
Each evening after dinner the past few nights, Deirdre and I did an hour or so of work to remove stuff from our soon to be extinct kitchen. The 
job would have been painful to do in a day, but by spreading out the work over the week, it really was not that difficult. Thanks to Deirdre's efforts in the basement, we had plenty of shelf space to move our glasses, cups, pots, pans, wine and booze into the back room out our basement. Here is a partial list of the things that will not be with us in our new kitchen:
1) Old mismatched coffee cups and plates purchased in 1994, just before I left for a tour in South Carolina.
2) A griddle what had lost its non-stick capability.
3) Expired foodstuffs. We actually found an item that expired in OCT01. Yep, we had moved that thing a couple of times!
4) A bunch of cutting boards. We had way too many...
5) A teapot that was a gift many years ago that was never used.
6) More ugly glasses than I can recall.
7) Some pots and pans which had simply outlived their service life.
8) A coffee grinder which had also outlived its service life.
9) Some painfully ugly coffee cream holders.
10) Some oversized wine glasses which could have almost held an entire bottle.
We had to move our small fridge down the basement and once again, the HWC Homeworks came through for us. Dave not only offered to let me use an appliance dolly, but he even offered to come by on Saturday afternoon and help me move the fridge down the basement. I picked up some lunch for us before h arrived, and as soon as we were done eating, we strapped the fridge to the dolly and in a matter of a few minutes the fridge downstairs and back in operation.
After Dave left, Dee and I continued to work removing things from the kitchen, as well as removing the doors to the cabinets. The same craftsman who remodeled our two bathroom, Jim, will be doing the work on the kitchen. 
I thought I could help him get a head start on the demolition by taking out all the cabinets and removing all the hardware. I also had a lot of fun doing this preparatory work! There is something very fulfilling to me as I fired up my cordless drill to remove the fasteners holding the cabinet doors in place, as well as removing the cabinet's hardware. I also discovered that this kitchen was once painted red. As you can see from the photo to the right of this text, behind where the vent fan used to be located was red paint. We also found red paint behind another cabinet. I can only imagine how ugly that color might have looked at some point in the history of this house.
When we first
started removing things from the kitchen, Samson was a little disturbed. He seemed a little unsettled that we were taking things out of the drawers and cabinets and moving items to the basement of guest bedroom. However, after an hour or so, he realized that his puppy treat jar was not moving anywhere, so he settled into his place under our dining room table to observe our work. He also seemed to enjoy the ability to look out the windows in our nook now that the table and chairs had been moved out.
Now, for our "Last Supper," I asked Deirdre what she wanted me to make and without a moment of hesitation she said, "Tenderloin DeLuxe." This is a recipe my sister shared with me a few years ago and it has become one of our favorite meals. In our bin freezer in the basement I retireved one of our frozen tenderloins and allowed it to defrost over the course of a day or so. Here is the entire menu from Saturday night's meal:
Tenderloin DeLuxe
Long Grain & Wild Rice
Ceasar Salad
Hartley Ostini Hitching Post 2005 Generation Red
We dined a little later than normal as we had a late lunch. I put the tenderloin into our oven a little after 7PM and a few minutes before 8PM the internal temperature of the meat was 124F, which translates into a perfect medium rare. I removed the roast from the oven, put it onto a cutting board and loosely covered it in foil to allow it to rest for 10 minutes or so. While the meat was resting, Deirdre made the salad (I had decanted the wine soon after I put the roast in the oven) and set the table. In no time, dinner was ready and we enjoyed the final meal cooked in this dysfunctional kitchen. And yes, Samson got a little beef, too.
So now, we are simply waiting for Jim to arrive tomorrow 
and start working on this latest project. Deirdre and I will be eating out most meals for the next few weeks as our new kitchen takes shape. Last night as Dee and I enjoyed our meal and entered the gloaming of the day, we reflected on how after seven years here, we are truly making this house our home. Look for updates on our new kitchen as the work progresses.
repairing damage done when the trim was removed. Samson had to take a look at the today's work, too.
