Weaver's Web

There is stuff I’m capable of that’s out of the norm.

I spin. Few people these days do, particularly men. If I want a sweater, I start by selecting the sheep, (or other fiber producing critter). It’s a specialized skill and I’m relatively good at it. Fiber work is going to be my major focus in my art studio, once I finish a) the remodel we’re working on, b) finish setting the studio up which c) requires me to simplify and go back to selling stuff of value I want to part with on eBay. ‘A’ obviously takes presidence.

In recent days I’ve been working with our contractor on the final phase of the construction of the solarium addition to the garage. When we moved here there was a carport on the back side of the garage where I suspect farming equipment once lived. Once I demolished the leggy/sickly, but ginormous oleander we realized there was a fabulous view from said carport and the idea of a sunroom in its place to hang out in, and enjoy the surroundings was irresistible. Over the months, the old carport went bye-bye, a slab got poured, walls went up, a roof got built, electrical and lighting was roughed in, and in the last 10 days David and I got the mahogany paneling up on the walls and ceiling, which I subsequently got the finish on to. We started attacking the flooring Friday.

Roughly 18 months ago I was parusing Freecycle and saw listed 700 sq feet of engineered bamboo laminate flooring. I called and was given the stuff for free. A lesbian couple roughly our age had retired from the east bay and were doing what we were embarking on - remodeling their dream retirement home. They were both electricians and apparently no strangers to construction. This floor was not to their taste so they removed it and gave it away. I was thrilled to take it off their hands. It’s now the floor of high side of my studio, but I opted not to use it in the lower half where dyeing will happen. Wood, even laminate, will stain. Now the remainder is being laid down in the new solarium.

I had the house to myself in the afternoon and I took a look around the bedroom. The curtains, both to the window as well as the glass slider were puddling on the floor. Time to raise the curtain rods 4 inches a piece. That problem solved, it was time to fix the screen door which refused to stay on its track. When that was fixed (a mere matter of adjusting 4 screws and removal of two more which were not only unnecessary, but problematic) it was time to address the looming issue of the bed.

We sleep in a king sleigh bed, a massive piece of furniture. A statement piece really. I love it. Warm. Handsomely carved. Cozy. Room for the two of us - and two, if not three of our closest friends, should that unlikely needs arise. There’s a Beauty-rest mattress and boxspring set in it and for the last month creaky, pinging sounds have been coming from under my side of the bed. I finally took the bed apart to investigate.

I will admit, I’d been dragging my heels on this task. The mattress weighs a ton. I put the bed together myself and it was a bit if a struggle. Well much to my pleasant surprise and thanks to my weight lifting at the gym, the taking apart of the bed was no struggle. Surprisingly easy in fact. It meant moving the bedside seating out into the hallway and then I vacuumed the room so no pet hair would wind up in the bed. Arjuna sheds a chihuahua daily, I’m afraid. Anyway, after muscling the mattress and box springs out of the frame, no surprise, the sleigh bed was not the problem. This thing is solidly built. Time to look at the boxspings.

The box spring on my side was bulging on its side in a couple of places. Squeezing the thing top to bottom duplicated the pinging noice AND made the side bulge further. Time to peel open the stapled bottom dust cover. No surprise, there was a loose spring. Six of them actually. The tiny eye bolts the springs were fed through that connected the springs to the wooden struts across the bottom of the box spring frame had loosened and 5 along the side were dangling, as well as one dead center. I was able to thread them all back into place, only to see them pop again the moment pressure was applied to the box spring.

I went out to the tool shed side of the barn to fetch a drill, a pair of pliers, some heavy duty copper wire, metal snips & the staple gun. I was able to create new, heavy duty fasteners for the errant springs, staple the cover back into place and problem solved.

With the bed apart, I was able to vacuum under it for the first time in a year. Amen. Not dust bunnies. More like dust wolverines. As I said, Arjuna sheds a chihuahua daily. I emptied the vacuum canister twice in the process. I also was able to get to the top of the headboard with the mattress out and I attacked the whole sleigh with Endust and some orange oil polish. Thereafter I reassembled the bed and put freshly laundered bedding on it.

The bedroom space is now how it should be. I’m feeling pleased with myself and very satisfied. My gift to myself for my birthday.

Yesterday morning the dog darted in front of me while chasing one of the cats and over I went landing on the coffee table, which broke. The wood is oak, but it's only 3/4 inch thick. When this bear landed on it, the base snapped right along its grain. I'm rather fond of this table; its the perfect size and shape for the place we have it, in the sitting room in front of the love seat and next to my oak rocking chair. It's where I have breakfast most morning and where I set my tea.

I knew what to do to fix it, so prior to going into the office I stopped at Homo Depot, to pick up a few foot long red oak blocks, some wood screws and some glue. I called my husband at his meeting and warned him if he turned the coffee table into fire wood, I would be highly displeased. As I drove home last night, he called to try talking me out of 'wasting' my time doing a repair on the table, that we would get a replacement at the auction house for $40. I was having none of it. I find the tossing out of something repairable offensive, and just not green. (I am such a bloody New Englander!)

So after he left the house this morning, out came the drill and the supplies I'd picked up and now the table is back to its rightful place in the sitting room. The crack in the base is plain to see if you look for it, but it doesn't jump out at you. With the blocks glued and screwed into place cross grain its much stronger than prior to my fall.

As for other repairs today, the dryer is finally fixed. Six weeks ago, it fritzed. I called my bud, who works for the appliance shop to get the parts for a repair and unfortunately it proved to be a round 'tuit'. He asked the ordering person at work to order the parts needed, only to find out Wed. morning there had been a miscommunication between them. He'd also asked her to order some refrigerator parts for a european fridge he needed to fix and she ordered those, but not parts for the american made dryer. Whenever he asked about the order, she told him the parts hadn't come in. So after 6 weeks of waiting, my parts finally got ordered Wednesday and arrived yesterday. A buddy of his came over this morning, pulled apart the machine and fixed it. All it took was 30 minutes and a couple of solenoids. My cost? $120 and I have a good as new dryer, now doing it's second (no, make that third) load of laundry since its resurrection a few hours ago. We've been using our clothesline to dry things, however, given our weather and the fact we actually live in a redwood forest, its been very impractical. Temperatures have gotten down to the low 30's at night here, and with nightfall so early since the demise of daylight savings, the amount of time during the day we could actually dry clothing has been fairly limited.