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Our Equinox foal!

Thursday Morning Ralph woke me by saying, "We've got extra legs!" In horse terms that means a foal has arrived and it looks like the mare has an extra set of legs since the new baby is sticking so close to her. I went out and here is what I saw:











A few hour later, here is what the new baby looked like - a little more alert and already growing muscle! We're calling him "Hershey" since I think he will be a chocolate grulla.
















And since I had the camera out, here is a picture of the first 2008 foal, "Bob" - he sure has grown and filled out.

First Foal of 2008!

Ziggy (aka Milagro's Smoky Glitz) has had her foal for 2008! He is a red dun colt with a star and snip, socks on the back feet and left front pastern. Big and healthy, "Bob" is doing great!

The Great Thanksgiving Weekend Floor Flood

So the floors were finished and totally gorgeous, the trim work was going in and we were looking at being finished in another week or two. That was where we were the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Since we could not get away for Turkey Day, we spent the weekend puttering around the house, putting face plates on the electrical outlets and switches, and generally enjoying the house and the great weather. Until Sunday, that is.

I was moving slow and posting forum messages about how great the floor looked, so Ralph went over to the house first. He came back upset, "There is a leak and the bedroom floor is RUINED!"

I told him where to turn the water off to the house and ran over. Here's what I saw:

Left: The paper that had been protecting the new floor was wet and you could see that the floor was no longer flat.

Below: Water was flowing out of the exterior door to the bedroom!














Left: Here is the source of the problem - obviously there had been a leak at this location. The wood had buckled so much it had broken the baseboard.

Below: Mike, the contractor, checking out the source of the problem.











Below: Mike and Damon the Floor Guy checking out the damage. In these two photos you can see the extent of the damage to the floor. The entire room had been soaked with water.


















The source of the problem. The trim carpenter forgot that this was a "wet" wall and used long nails to tack up the baseboard. He managed to catch the pipe twice. The one still in the joint was not really the big problem. The one that pulled out when the floor buckled was the serious problem since it let the water leak turn major.




































And here was where we were by noon on Monday. Depressing, isn't it? For comparison, here is what the floor looked like before the weekend:

Kitchen is basically finished

Here's my mostly IKEA kitchen:


Lower open shelves are custom built from red oak. They match better than is shown in the pictures. They will stay open and have adjustable shelves in them.







I particularly love the backsplash. Most of it is Georgia white marble salvaged from the old Florida Capitol Building when it was restored to the 1905 version. But the part behind the cooktop is a photo montage of our farm with our favorite horses.




Cabinets: Ikea Tidaholm oak & custom built open shelves
Counters: Crossville Color Blox Two "I've Got the Blues"
Floor: Daltile French Quarter Cobblestone (18") & Bourbon Street (6")
Backsplash: salvaged Georgia (Alabama?) white marble & custom printed image on Italian tumbled marble
Sink: IKEA Domsjo sink
Faucet: Prestige Sonora in oil rubbed bronze
Fridge/Freezer: Kenmore Elite (Frigidaire Twins)
Cooktop: IKEA (Whirlpool)
Vent Hood: IKEA (Whirlpool)
Dishwasher: Frigidaire
Oven: Frigidaire side opening convection
Paint: SW Meditative

Progress on the house is slow

OK, so I haven't posted here in a long time. August and September, I was busy assembling IKEA cabinets for the kitchen and the bathrooms and other places. October I had jury duty which wore out my knees and I've simply been tired from the pain.

But the house has been progressing - slowly. Trim has been going in, replacement doors had to ordered then re-ordered (first ones were wrong, second ones were wrong, one was broken, etc.)

The pine floors turned out gorgeous! We went with Waterlox with Minwax Ipswich Pine stain and with a satin finish. Here's what they looked like along the way:




Unfinished floor in the living room















First coat of Waterlox Sealer/Finisher with stain mixed in.
















First coat in bedroom after the layer dried.














Floor in the bedroom with a couple of coats of Waterlox.
















Stairs with two coats, last coat still wet.













Finished floor in the bedroom.












Finished floor in living room with last coat still wet.




It all looks awesome, doesn't it? More to come.....

Waterlox finish for our floors

I've decided to do a Waterlox finish on our pine floors. Despite the name, Waterlox is NOT a waterbased finish. Instead, it is a modified tung oil finish that gives more of that old floor look. And to add to that old floor look, I wanted to stain the floors to deepen the color right away.

Here are my tests on some scraps of Southern yellow pine similar to what I want for my floors. This first picture shows various stains and for contrast I also put in the piece that we tested 100% pure tung oil and dark tung oil on.













From left to right:

• Top, dark tung oil; bottom, 100% pure tung oil
• Top, Sherwin Williams Golden Oak stain applied before any Waterlox; bottom, no stain - entire board finished with Water Lox Original Sealer/Finisher
• Top, SW Golden Oak stain mixed with first coat of Waterlox; bottom no stain - entire board 2 coats Sealer/Finisher, 2 coats Satin Waterlox
• Top, Minwax Golden Oak stain mixed with first coat of Waterlox; bottom, Minwax Puritan Pine stain mixes with first coat - entire board 2 coats Sealer/Finisher, 2 coats Satin Waterlox
• Top, Minwax Special Walnut stain mixed with first coat of Waterlox; bottom, Minwax Early Amercian stain mixed with first coat of Waterlox - entire board 2 coats Sealer/Finisher, 2 coats Satin Waterlox

Same order for this bottom picture but it shows the sheen better. The 100% tung oil (with about 5-6 coats) actually has a pretty good sheen to it, but really is not as shiny as it seems in this picture. Though it does not look like the light is going across the satin finished boards, it is - they just do not reflec the light as much.




In case it is confusing, the first board was done completely with pure tung oil. The second board has stain on one end followed by 4 coats of Waterlox Original Sealer/Finisher. The rest have 1 coat of Sealer/Finisher mixed with stain (where they are stained), followed by 2 coats of Waterlox Original Sealer/Finisher, followed by 2 coats of Waterlox Satin. The tests with straight SW stain versus SW stain mixed with the first coat show that mixing the stain makes it about half as dark as applying the stain directly.

We have decided to stain with half Minwax Golden Oak and half Early American and to finish with 2 coats of Satin.

How about these arches?

A while back I talked Ralph out of the Craftsman style tapered columns on brick piers, but we both wanted something to make the front of the house look less boxy.





The framers made some sample arches and we liked this shape best. Then I photoshopped it to repeat across the front of the house and added the trim color. So how about these arches?