In support of my first “Adorable Animals” post about chipmunks, here is a 2nd “Adorable Animals” post about groundhogs! Hubby and I learned on teh interwebs last week that groundhogs, aka woodchucks, are also called “whistle pigs” because when alarmed they emit a loud whistle – neat! Our neighbor’s house abuts a field, and we often see a groundhog family eating together along the edge of the field.
In July 2014 we hired a contractor to build us a small deck off the Master Bedroom overlooking the Ipswich River. This is one of the few projects we have hired out. This project has been in the works since February 2012!
Last night, hubby and I decided we didn’t like the lip on the living room cupboard top [too thick] OR the base [too white]. So this morning, at 7am, I unscrewed the lip [I used screws instead of glue for just that reason!], removed 2 of the cupboard doors [I don’t want to commit to the whole thing unless we like the raspberry], taped up half the cupboard, and put 3 coats of Benjamin Moore Night Flower on the frame and doors.
I was ready to call this project done… until I woke up this morning and decided 2 things: the lip is too thick – it sticks out from the cupboard too far and looks like the roof of a fast food restaurant or 1970’s lawyer office *WOOF*, and the cupboard body is too white. EPIC. FAIL.
So, my Dad saw my last post about the living room cupboard, and my dilemma about the plywood edge. He told me to buy a piece of ¾” pine, stain it to match the plywood, and glue or nail it to the plywood edge. Problem solved! The ¾” pine he’s talking about comes in ¾” x â…œ” x 6′ strips – it’s what I used to build my DIY spice rack, add a border to the original cat platform, and add treads to the cat ramp fail.
Lately, in addition to the usual birds and squirrel, there’s been a chipmunk visiting our yard. So every morning I’ve been sprinkling sunflower seeds out for him & the birds, and peanuts for the squirrel. However, the chippie has taken it upon himself to stuff ALL of the above into his cheeks and race off with it to his den. I figure after last winter’s Polar Vortex, he’s not taking ANY chances!!!
I embarked on a “health kick” this past February [26 pounds of wedding weight gone, 16 to go – woohoo!], and have been trying to learn more about healthy food choices and smart nutrition choices in general. Hubby is vegetarian [he eats eggs and dairy but no animals], and I have slowly morphed from about 85% vegetarian when I met him to about 98% vegetarian.
As of my last update, the cupboard was painted white, but the dark blue laminate top had to go. Instead of replacing it, I decided to try creating a new top, out of stained plywood, which would slide over the existing top. So Thursday morning I headed over to the hardware store and bought a fancy piece of ¾” thick plywood. I had them cut it to the exact size of the existing top.
A few months ago I came home from work to find the building-wide fire alarm blaring. It’s L·O·U·D and comes out of multiple speakers throughout the condo. There’s no way to shut it off without calling the fire department. Apparently the alarm was tripped by work being done in the 3rd condo. And no one was home, so who knows how long it was going off – poor cats!
Last weekend I put 2 coats of white paint on the cupboard. It’s the same paint used on all the trim in the condo. I have no idea what brand or color it is – I found it in the basement when I moved in and the label was completely covered in paint. I found lots of unlabeled paint cans in the basement when I moved in, which are now properly labeled and organized *nods*.
