With the walls in the Mud Room & Executive Washroom done in the W.O.G., I could proceed to the ceilings. I did indeed learn some important lessons when I did the drop ceiling in the office and aimed to take the benefit of that accumulated wisdom. It was successful. The layout was much more sensible and aesthetic and I could anchor some of the support struts with rivets (because I had planned for enough overlap to make that possible) to keep it square and aligned nicely.
Both rooms are also outfitted with flat panel LED lighting which is motion-activated, so simply walking into either will light up the room. This made sense for the mud room, which has four ways in and out, for which putting multi-station switches at each door would be silly. It also made sense for the washroom, which has two entries, one of which has no rational place for a light switch. I haven’t cut the partial tiles yet – those are a bother and I’m not particularly motivated – but it will happen not too long from now. Having both of these spaces boarded up and painted and now with light really makes a huge difference in how the place feels overall. There’s still plenty remaining to do to achieve actual completion, but now they look like almost-done spaces instead of very raw construction sites.
Speaking of which, I have installed most of the subflooring in the mud room, as well (I ran out of materials before finishing). The washroom already had the subfloor in from some time ago. Once again I am using DriCore insulated panels for the subfloor. This provides three features: some cushioning against the concrete, a bit of thermal barrier, and prevents wicking of moisture from the concrete, as well.
Since these photos were taken, I have acquired more panels so completion of this stage is imminent. I already have the finish flooring material on hand — I bought all of it when I did the office so I would be sure to have coordinating material for all three spaces. As it turns out, though, the exterior door is set low such that installing this subfloor now makes the door just brush their surface. There won’t be room to clear the finish flooring material on top. This only seems like a problem to people without a wide array of cutting tools and techniques at their disposal. I will take a 1/4″ off the bottom of the door, one way or another, and everything should be fine. Most doors are built such that there’s at least an inch if not 2 or 3 of solid material top and bottom, so trimming them is usually no big deal. I mean, other than taking the door off the hinges to do the work.
About a week ago, my froglets disappeared! All but just a few of them, GONE. I don’t believe the rain washed them out — they have been steadfast through plenty of rain before and they’re only more able to swim as they mature. The habitat didn’t dry out. I made sure of that. I can’t imagine they all headed for land since they were only just beginning to develop their legs and they still very much had long tadpole tails. No, they weren’t ready for the land by a long shot. I suspect some predator found them and had a bounty of young frogs for a meal or two. A couple of days after I noticed there were only a few tadpoles left, I saw there were NONE. No dead bodies. No trace of them at all, actually.
I know, circle of life and all that, but I was really sorry to see them go. I was enjoying watching them develop and was looking forward to their contribution toward insect reduction.
I wonder if the tadpoles being generally concentrated in one area led to their demise. If the channel had been full, they would have had plenty of range to escape a would-be predator. With the recent dry weather, and my rainwater system not able to keep the whole habitat hydrated in the intervals, the froglets were concentrated in one area, making it pretty easy to feast on them all, sadly. There wasn’t anything I could do about that. In the future, I could increase my rainwater holding and thus be able to hydrate a larger area and perhaps that will give future froglets a fighting chance to flee a predator. But not this year. This year, the magic of the frogs ends abruptly with a lesson in acceptance.
Speaking of not being able to hydrate things, the wildflowers which I was not able to keep watered after sowing, have indeed started to bloom. It’s not quite the density I was expecting, but given that they had a really hard start and the soil is terrible, the fact that I’m getting as many as I am is noteworthy.
I honestly don’t know which of these are annuals and which are perennials. I guess we find out next year 🙂
And now for some random things.
First, I decided that I didn’t want to wait until the tidy room was ready (which will be a while yet) to do some confectionary. The house was definitely too warm, but the workshop was almost cool enough. I decided to chance it. But where to work? Well, the surface of the outfeed table is melamine, easy to clean and decently expansive. So That’s what I did. Kinda weird to be doing this in the wood shop, but there it is. I did wait a few days after the most recent construction to be sure the dust had fully settled first.
Seen here, my chocolate machine (steel box), a polycarbonate mold on a tray with parchment paper, a scale (mostly hidden behind the monster bowl), the monster bowl, and 2/3 a bag of dark chocolate (with orange label). It wasn’t far from my tools and supplies, as you can see, but the area of interest was clean and the tools and supplies kept to themselves. The whole thing was a bit surreal doing it this way, rather than, say, in an actual kitchen, but it got done.
Quite a bit of construction trash has accumulated as I’ve been working and it’s starting to crowd the shop to the point of preventing further work refining this space. I’ll be getting a dumpster soon to take care of that as well as get rid of some belongings that really didn’t need to come to my tiny homestead but somehow failed to be eliminated beforehand. As soon as the ceiling tiles are cut and installed, I’ll get on it. At that point, all the major trash from the last several months of construction will have been accrued.
Next, for some truly random things that caught my eye, out in the world…
I don’t even know what “fresh oil and chips” is supposed to mean other than somebody’s frying potatoes.
Click on the image in the middle for a closer look. What’s the worst that could happen?
And as for the image on the right, well, all I can say is “marketing” because clearly no dude would want to tidy their undercarriage with baby wipes, even though I’ll be you $1 what’s in this package is indistinct from what’s in that package.