Weekend Projects
We returned from Prague on the Friday before last, and I still need to blog about the last half of the trip. We got back just in time for Philly’s first serious heat wave of the summer, and we spent that weekend getting over jet lag and putting our kitchen back together. Before I left to join Maria and the boys in Prague, I managed to get as far as re-installing the sink and the major appliances, but everything that goes in the cabinets was still in the basement, I hadn’t treated the new countertops yet (they’re wood butcher-block and need to be oiled before they’re used), and I had an electrical circuit to finish. There were still a lot of little things for me to finish in the kitchen over the course of the week as well, and the intense heat and humidity didn’t help. But I’m happy to report that Maria is pleased with our new kitchen 
Ed and I built a wall where his garage door used to be (yes, we’re going to take down the basketball hoop too)
Yesterday I built the first of three firewood racks that I’ll need for this winter, to store 2 cords of wood. Popular Mechanics has a very simple and sturdy design plan for them. We had a Hampton HI300 wood burning stove installed earlier this summer, and we’re planning to use it as our primary heating source this winter (I got tired of $400+/month energy bills just to keep our house at 62 degrees, and these modern stoves burn very efficiently, putting out an amazing amount of heat and much less pollution than older stoves).
After the heavy rain last night, I had an unpleasant surprise when I turned on the ceiling fan in our top floor room this morning – it sprayed water all around the room. Fortunately there’s no visible water damage to the drywall on the ceiling, but I’m definitely calling a roofer tomorrow (after a friend of mine who’s a contractor fell off a roof a few years ago and broke his back, I’ve sworn off doing any roof work myself).
I spent today at my friend Ed’s house, framing a wall in place of the garage door we removed a few weeks ago. It all went fairly smoothly and we got it done in a day, including the door and window. Ed can pay me back in a few weeks when it’s time to install the flooring in our sunroom 
