Thompson Manor

Sarah bought the wrong candles for my birthday ice cream with fruit yesterday.  I don’t know why 39 is such a hard number to remember.

November, 2008 was an interesting month.  In that one month I developed Atrial Flutter, an irregular heart beat which is currently being managed with medication.  In addition, on the day before Thanksgiving, I experienced a Grand Mal Seizure.  After six days in the hospital, multiple MRI’s and EEG’s the diagnosis is “Of Unknown Origin.”  I will have to take Dilantin, an anti-siezure medication for a minimum of six months.

Here are both walls finished with Kilz primer on them.  The front wall had literally hundreds of holes from years of a dart board.  Additionally, the previous owners just slapped up another screw or nail when they had something to hang. 

The bulkhead in the upper corner covers the piping for the HVAC system. 

These two shot show the first pass at joint compound on both the new wall and the wall in front of the truck.  That wall had been severely abused.  The previous owners had a dart board mounted there and it was like a pin cushion.  In addition some doofus, not paying attention ran into the wall and pushed a big crack and dent in it.  You can see the patch in the lower section in front of the truck.  In addition, a new metal corner bead has been applied. 

The doofus?  Me.

I’m so politically correct I can hardly stand myself.  The old door I removed from the garage did not go to the dump.  Oh, no!  It now has a new home on the garden shed on the mountain.  Once I removed the old joke of a shed door, I had to totally reframe the opening.  There wasn’t a plumb or level surface to be had.  $18 of 2 x 4 lumber and some screws and it fit.  While not beautiful for inside the house, it has a certain style on the shed.  We no longer have to use a piece of rope to hold the door closed.

Since Mike Holmes never showed up, I had to do a little remodeling myself. The wall and door entering the pantry from the garage have been in sad shape since we bought the house.  The door and the door jamb were destroyed by a hyper active Springer Spaniel.  The wall on either side of the door had gaping holes in it from a hyper active teenager.  In addition, the garage door opener wiring was just hanging down the wall. 

Beginning of job with some sheet rock removed.  Notice the large foam sheet taped to the wall to the left of the door.

All sheet rock removed.

Door removed and new sheet rock being installed.

Finished project with new door installed.  Joint compound and painting will come when my creaking joints feel a little better.

I guess the reason Mike Holmes didn’t show up is that I never asked him. 

We took Tanner to the airport today and Mount Rainier truly looked as if it had slipped the bonds of Earth and taken flight.  The day was so hazy, I was surprised the picture even came out.

The roses are really starting to pop after a very late start.  This is the Joseph’s Coat that is planted at the rear of the green house.  It is really showing its multicolored phase. When the buds open they are bright yellow.  As the flower matures, it gradually turns to a deep raspberry color.

Here is a ‘linear’ panorama where the camera is moved on a line parallel to the subject material.  I’m not sure which I like better.  While the ‘one point’ version is distorted, it has interest and movement.  The linear version looks like a severely cropped photo. 

These are two of the many roses that are really starting to take off.  Most were late because of our cool spring and late summer.

This panorama of the back garden illustrates the large variety of colors there.  99.99999% of the credit goes to Bonnie for planning and choosing all the plants and locations.