In The Kitchen With El

Last week we did a commercial for a big hotel chain. The location was a fancy restaurant in Hollywood. The objective..... the perfect cookie. We even had the father of the AD stop by to say hi. He's Peter Medak and directed Peter O'Toole in one of my favorite movies, "The Ruling Class"

Humming

Our hummingbird took a little breather in the shade of the Tipuana tree this morning.

New Additions

We got rid of the pineapple sage in the front yard to day and replaced it with Mock Heather (Ericameria ericoides). We also planted a wild lilac shrub, Dark Star Ceanothus and a buckwheat shrub, Shasta Sulphur. We also got a new butterfly sage.... only two of the ones we planted last year survived. Seems they don't like the sun quite as much as we were led to believe.

Tea Time

We recently received a six serving tea set from BFF MR while she was in Texas working. Great color and a 1910's (or maybe 1930's) look to the pieces. Trying to source it out now.... seems to be Villeroy and Boch. But date and line name are eluding us now. More sleuthing over milk, honey and cakes needed.

New Roof

Beams replaced, a plywood roof and shingle material added. Some can lights installed and then a tongue and groove ceiling to complete the picture. The outdoor patio is now a liveable space! All we need is some real furniture and to clean the concrete.

Old Roof

The corrugated tin patio roof got ripped off yesterday. Just the beams left. A new roof with insulation and some can lights goes in today.

Weekend Dog

Seven finds his light

Normal

So much of the house renovations have been just to make it normal. Get rid of the horrible homemade crap and put in regular door jambs and floors and windows and ...... gutters.
They came on saturday morn and ripped down the old leaking caulk smeared gutters and replaced them with gleaming seamless ones. Not much of a cosmetic change but now we can put away the boards and buckets when it rains.

Seven Split

The dog lounges outside with the compressor for new mini split duct system we installed for the bedroom. WL says it's even quieter than the one in the living room. We are now ready to face cold and heat. No more space heaters and a SEER of 20 to save some dough.

Gaffer63: Mini Split

Final

Been in the air jetting around but before I left, I got a coat of white gloss on the trim/ jamb. The exterior of the door is now done.... we just have to stain the inside now.

50 to get 35

Augustine was over today to do a bunch of jobs including removing the old gas/oil heater from the middle of the house. It took awhile but we managed to pull it out while his nephew cut pipes and pushed from below. We were thinking of keeping the hole as an alternate route out of the house, making a wine cellar or giving Seven his own entrance to the living room. Instead we opted for it to be framed out and to drywall patch the walls. WL's skills as a floor installer will be put to the test again.
The old boiler did not seem very efficient, it stated that for every 50,000 btu's put in, 35,000 came out.
PS.... It took all of 30 minutes before one of the local scrap metal guys drove by and picked up the junk for us. Great neighborhood.