No posts since November? Hope everyone is doing OK. My friend has run in to more financial issues (his debit card was stolen at a gas station-- we think it was the clerk but cameras were "broken" & then his ex committed fraud to claim he was in arrears on child support so they more than doubled his payments & started garnishing his paychecks-- he never missed a single payment but she is a greedy lying piece of trash & screwed him over-- caused his utility payments to bounce & he got overdraft fees & fees for bouncing + late fees). His fiance is now pregnant-- it's going to be a rough ride bc she's so panicky she goes to the ER over a head cold (not an exaggeration-- she had me bring her to the ER over a cold more than once). So, no progress on his kitchen since then but I made progress on putting in a pet door on an exterior door I need to install. Old back door has fallen apart, pet door fell out of it & there's just a big gaping hole letting cold air in.
The door is steel clad & was supposed to be "solid core" but it's foam core so it gave me some trouble with the cutting (battery ran low on my jigsaw so that didn't help). Had to use a Dremel metal cutter to fix things up a bit more. Couldn't use the screws that came with the pet door to anchor it to the foam for obvious reasons so I got #6 bolts, washers, & nuts. Getting both halves to line up was a pain, but it eventually went together & I had to tape the inner half over the steel with white duct tape. Took some finessing but I got the first 2 bolts in w/o too much trouble once I redrilled the holes a couple times. Third bolt gave me more trouble but I eventually got it-- had to wallow the hole a little and angle the bolt to make it go. Last bolt was a P.I.T.A. It did not want to go through. I had to use a flashlight to make sure the hole was clear-- turns out trying to move the bolt inside the hole shredded the foam too much so it was moving out of whack and not going out the other end. When I put it through so I could see the end of it, it would go out of alignment when I tried to turn the screwdriver so I ended up having to use a mallet to tap it through. I'm naming that mallet Mjolnir because I used it several times on the project and I used it to slay several wasps that got in. I think there's a hole in the wall or roof letting the buggers in. The workshop needs roof repairs and some major TLC.
I'm thinking of looking for a trustworthy handyman that does work for a reasonable price, will actually show up, & won't steal stuff. The guy who was supposed to finish clearing branches & stuff from the yard never came back & didn't contact me until a few days ago when he was planning to come out Wednesday to help with stuff-- but Tuesday night his house burned down. He got his kids out, turned back to go get his pets, and the ceiling fell in. He lost everything but the kids & the clothes on their backs. Very relieved the kids are OK but it still sucks. Friend who lost his house to a fire in 2016 knows exactly how he feels so he's trying to help out but he's the one who got financially screwed so there's not much he can do.
The cows won't go in the barn anymore so we need some sort of shelter for them to keep them out of the elements, put down some stall mats, and provide food & water.
My oldest dog (who is between 16 & 18-- can't remember the exact year we got her) is doing poorly. My brother didn't take proper care of her while we were gone (didn't feed her every day-- and I know bc I counted the number of cans of dog food before I left & they should have been gone by the time I got back if he'd fed her every day), there was no water for any of the pets in the house, & she was on death's door. She was positively skeletal. I got her to put a teeny bit of weight on & have been checking on her every couple hours, giving her pedialyte, and making sure she eats. She hadn't gone in to the kitchen for several days but she finally got up the strength to do it today-- she left me a trail of brown "gifts" in the kitchen. She needs help standing up sometimes & she's got a large lump on her chest that is very soft but has a hard lump inside- pretty sure it's cancer. I'm torn between seeing if she will feel any better or having her put down. She still eats, drinks, and wants to be petted so she doesn't seem ready to give up, but she doesn't do much but eat, sleep, pee, crap, and yelp when she wants help. At least she's learned that yelping will get us to come check on her. I just finished giving her a round of antibiotics but it didn't seem to do anything-- she's got bed sores that I have to frequently clean. I'm hoping she'll make it to the new year, but I'll wait and see. I have to heat her food and drink up to get her to eat it now & she refuses to eat dry dog food. She'll eat dog biscuits though.
Back to the pet door, I took some pictures of the process.
Outline marked & holes drilled:
Hole cut (the steel folded & tore when battery went low):
Clamped to hold it together while I added washers (purchased after when I realized I'd need them):
Bolts before & after trimming w/ Dremel:
Bolts, nuts, & washers covered in tape & caulk applied around pet door:
Outer side of door before putting caps on:
Outer side capped & caulked:
I took a lot of these while the door was up on it's side on the work table so the red & green will be at the bottom once door is installed.
I'm going to use Behr Marquee white on the door frame & trim. The door will be Behr Marquee Deep River blue. If weather permits tomorrow I will use some filler primer on the scratches the door got during movement & then cover with white primer when it dries. I'll give it at least 24hrs to cure before I apply the blue. After that it will be on to prepping the house for installing the door. I'll need flashing & have to fix the floor under the threshold. But at least I'm slowly making progress.
How about the rest of you guys? What have you been up to?