Downstairs bathroom is finally painted

So we hired someone to come in and do it right, and do it much faster than we ever could have done. It was worth it.

Old pictures-

The end of a good day-


Alaska during the Dewalt Days


From our honeymoon on Vancouver Island


The view from our deck in Seattle-


Josh teaching Sandy to sail


Almost Heaven


The sunset when I asked Sandy to marry me.


The best camp I have ever had. (also the coldest water I have ever swam in)


Mt Baker, WA


Chatooga River. Section IV




Me and mom at the put in for the upper gauley. 1977

4 Things I couldn't do without

My Dewalt DW708 Miter Saw. It really is a bad mama-jama. There isn't much that it won't cut, and cut it precisely. It has a huge motor, 12" of wood gnawing teeth and spins like a DJ Hurricane. Where have I used this saw? Cutting forms for the countertops, baseboards, studs for the walls, and finally, molding for the master bath. It is heavy, it is bulky, but I love it.



My Fein Multimaster. I really don't know how I did half of my house without this thing. If you have seen the TV infomercial, similar to the obamamercial, it really is impressive. I have used to to remove grout and concrete in the shower pan and tile. I used it the other day to trim out a notch in some shoemolding so that the radiator could slide into place. I used it today to remove the "tongue" of some tongue and groove beadboard off so that I could get it to fit into a tight spot. I could have used a jig saw for both of these applications, but this tool allows me to move slower and have more control over my cut. I bought this one used a year ago from the rep at a tool show. I hear that the new ones have quick release on them. That would be nice.

Would I get the Dremel version? No. I don't like Bosch tools. I think that they should stick to making dishwashers and wiperblades. I think that Bosch is going to cheapen it to reach a price point. I just don't think it would be worth the gamble. I really think my Fein is the best made tool that I own.



Aero Safety respirator. 3m recently bought Aero and that should tell you something. I bought this well before I started selling them. I bought it at Lowe's, paid way too much, but my god has this thing has been freakin awesome. If you have seen my facebook photo you know what I am talking about. I wear it all the time. It has a nice soft rubber face shield and the cartridges can be purchased just about anywhere (Church of Lowe's stocks Aero pretty heavy)




My mini air compressor. I have a 4 gallon, oil lubed unit that is great, but this little puppy is so damn portable that my 4 gallon just stays down in the basement. It's loud when it cycles, but it has never let me down. My understanding is that it is the same pump and motor as can be found in the trusty Porter Cable "pancake" style compressors. Not a work horse, but so damn easy to use a caveman could do it.

Drywall sanding still sucks!

he's back.jpg, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Project - Complete the master bath plumbing.

What Happened - Stepped off the joist and went through the downstairs ceiling.

Result - 2' x 2' hole.

The Consequences- See Picture.

Got yah dumb As@

back where it allllllllll began

The front porch-

Finally we are getting at that front porch. No more battleship gray.

A nice little art project-

Gas Signs Truth in Advertising. from Donny Miller on Vimeo.

Hey McCain...Got a pair of FLIP FLOPS I can borrow?

I know that the oldstonehouse blog has been more of a "you tube" landing zone lately so I will soon be moving my random crap to something else. Till then.....as John Stewart would say....YOUR MOMENT OF Zen





all in under an hour!

My favorite sign so far....as seen in Alaska-

Credit- dailykos.com

MORE HERE

Palin-Clinton Saturday night live- Get it while you can. Back up!

I come from a small town- are my values up to par?

So I come from a small town and can't figure out why people from small towns are buying into this "small town values" thing. Why are they just allowing themselves to be pigeon holed into this stereotype? ARGGG.



Get to minute 5:20 in that video and ask yourself "why are people supporting the man that LOST to GWB in 2000?"

McCain cancels Larry King interview because his boy got beat up

So Little Johnny has decided to not go on Larry King tomorrow because his boy got verbally tongue whipped by a piss poor CNN anchor.




That Sh@t there is just funny. And so is this.




The daily show should be very funny this week. Tonight should be classic.

"Snowman" Jerry Reed- RIP 71 years old

I remember that movie so well. Clear as can be. One of my top 20 ever. I also remember that my mom and I made a sign for a concert for Jerry Reed when he came to play the Fayette County Memorial Center show one 4th of July. Jerry saw it, read it, and called it out right after he sang the song "East Bound and Down". Now every Tuesday, today included and it has been this way for the past year and a half, I get in my truck around lunch time and I sing that song as I drive east to Rocky Mount NC.

I remember my parents talking about famous people that had just died, people that I had never ever heard of, and thinking...they are OLD. I guess that I am old too then.


Keep your football on the peddle folks!

The slow cooker is on, Noah is napping, and the Flag is flying-

It has been a long time hasn't it. Say...pretty much the summer. I haven't been a good blogger. I suck. There has been talk here in our camp about moving the blog away from home projects and into a family story. I might as well do that since I don't seem to be working on this place anymore. Not that there isn't anything to do, I just don't have the time.


Noah is RUNNING. 7 Teeth. Loves Ketchup and can now eat dairy with no issues. That is Big News for us.


We have been to oregon, washington, and florida this summer. Been to the OBX 3 times, WV a few, and we are at ridge road pool here in Raleigh a couple of times a week. Life is good.


I put pictures up on Noah's flickr. search Noahslayton on www.flickr.com and you can get in.


I know that there are some blog stalkers out there, if they still hit this page, let me know how you are.

My new West Virginia Flag

My new West Virginia Flag
Originally uploaded by noahslayton

12 ft by 7.5 ft of pure pride. With some pip squeak getting into the shot.


I can't wait for June 20, 2009. (first one to tell me why wins a prize!)

confluence

A Man, a dream, and the idea of building a wordclass wooden car?

So I use to work for Black and Decker tools. I worked on the industrial side of things, working with woodworkers and commercial construction supply houses. Really a great job. But things started to change in life, so i started to look for something different. Something more. But right before I did I met Joe Harmon. Joe had what I thought was a bass drum in a bag. It turned out to be one of the tires for a wooden sports car. After talking to him for a bit I learned that he had no sponsors. IT can't be cheap so I put someone in touch with him and wah-lah! The kid is rocking out with some major sponsorship...some wicked tools

http://www.deltaportercable.com/splinter/ is the delta site.

Here is his personal site without all of the advertising

I haven't caught up with Joe for over a year. I think I will give him a buzz in the morning.

Hillay and Obama are doing what?

THis has NOTHING to do WITH DIY, Houses, stone, concrete, noah, kayaking, or Raleigh. But it is very funny

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

The boys of summer are back

Well at least on my laptop streaming live out of Seattle.





How cool is that!? MLB.com allows me to stream in live HD (well as HD as streaming can be) all of the Seattle Mariners games! Even when I can't be hanging out at the Safe with a cold Redhook, I can be in Raleigh NC with a cold Redhook, loading the dishwasher with baby bottles and sippy cups and never miss a play.


MOJO RISIN'!

It's 3 am and I don't approve of Hillary

Ever feel like a hero?

Note- This has nothing to do with houses or remodeling- But is a true story from my day-


I drive a lot for my work. For the past 6 years or so I have been chugging down byways and highways in a Chevy Silverado Pickup. I have been through 7 trucks if that helps to put it into perspective. I have my moments where I feel lucky, where I feel blessed to not be stuck over on "that" side of the road or at "that light" or in that car with that nasty smoker! You know what I am talking about don't you. I have had my moments where I wish i had my camera to take a picture of what I see. A camera to record that awesome sunset or sunrise. That reflection in the river or lake. But today was TOTALLY different.

Driving down 264 in NC. Headed towards the amazing town of Wilson NC, well known for its BBQ and country living. Yapping on my phone to a buddy who has just returned from Japan when all of a sudden the large white van that is more than a hundred yards in front of me comes to a complete stop on the highway in the far right lane. It can't make it to the shoulder. I look in my mirrors and discover that I can't get over without killing someone so I brake and hope for the best at this point. Watching my mirrors to prepare for impact, I reach for my hazards and brace. BUt nothing is happening. GREAT! They all passed me on the left. But the big white van is more than a van it's a mini bus FULL of preschool kids. I learned this as I pulled to the left and went around them. And as i Did this, there were the faces of the innocent looking at me. And in my eyes they were all NOAH. My 10mnth old. Helpless. Needing someone to make sure that they were safe. That they made it home. And as I looked in my mirror I could see more cars coming. What to do?

I parked my rig (west coast slang for pick-up truck) in front of the bus, slammed my phone down and grabbed 2 safety vests that I carry to wear on jobs or to show my customers. I exit running along the side of the highway waving my arms around like a helicopter (Petey Pablo once rapped about NC needing to wave around like a helicopter didn't he?) and I tried as best I could t o make sure that those kids didn't get hit. I must have been there for 5 minutes or more. Waving people over to the other lane, cars, suvs, pickups, semis, they all moved (and some of those a-holes blew their horn at me too, so to you I hope it hurts when you pee tonight!)

Then all of a sudden, while I was waiving my vests around like a steelers fan waves that ugly terrible towel around, the bus left me. It just drove off. I hear a beep beep and turn around. The bus is up to full speed and on its way. Me I am left on the side of the road wondering. what if I wouldn't have stopped. what if I wouldn't have helped out. what if i turned on the news and had heard about something terrible knowing that I saw that little girls eyes for the first and last time. that she needed help and didn't get it?

so for a second or two today I felt like a hero. Like I perhaps saved some lives, made the world a little bit better because I responded And I think that I need to and will respond more to things that are happening in my world, in my community.

Damn you television chef fart head people!

damn you tyler!, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

So this chump....we will call him "Tiler" (real name sounds like that but change the I for a Y and you have it ) while I am watching my boy Noah crawl after the DVD player. And Tiler follows my gurl Rachel Ray who makes some good stuff in 30 minutes. Well Tiler comes on for a total of 30 minutes and makes some good stuff. So good that I say to myself "Hey gullible self!" " you could totally make that!" " matter of fact after you get home from the gym as you attempt to work out on the rowing machine like the human compass, you should make it for your awesome awesome wife"


So I listened to gullible self and Tiler and tried to make this dish. Some super duper hashbrown (which i over cooked and over salted) and a great new-york strip that was to be coated in souffle of herbs and salt.

So I won't go into the details about how it all turned out....it turned out alright for the most part. But I will throw this challenge out to you folks out there! Watch a 30 minute cooking show other than RR and Tivo it. Watch it 5 times. Try it. See how it turns out.

And if anyone knows this Tiler kid, see if he does some show called " fart head chef visits stonehouse blogger's kitchen" If he does...HOOK ME UP

Sam Adams might just save your local brewery!

HOP SHARING!


That's what I am talking about!

McCain vs Obama? Like hope...only different

Watch them both.

Ride the Boat!

So my friend Josh out in Seattle gave me a scale to use while grading my snowdays. 1-6 snowflakes to be given to the level of fun that I am having. 6 being the greatest with no 1/2 snowflakes to be awarded. Seems simple enough right? But just remember that once you give a 6 where do you go? 6 is the best! 6 is Nirvana. Steamboat Mountain on Monday 1-4-08 got a 7! How did it get a 7? Folks let me tell you, FLUFF!!!!!!! Go pile up a mound of dryer lint and dive into it and watch. I would say go pile up some baby powder or flour, but that stuff will settle on you. Steamboat powder doesn't settle. Even the runs where we were not first or second, the snow was so damn soft.

ok ok ok .....

Compton and Leigh (greatest vail local you will ever meet)


So my best buddy in the entire world (that sounds so second grade, but is so true) and his wife Leigh drove up to the boat on saturday morning to join us. Free lodging for them but riding with 2 people that haven't strapped in for 2 years, what a trade off! We had a blast! Saturday we spent our time trying to learn the mountain, sunday trying to figure out where the steeps were, and monday trying to experience them in some of steamboats finest 12" of fresh!

We discovered a section that thanks to Brett (the Human compass for the US army) we would not have tried. Closet and Shadows proved to be a great section of trees that was well protected from the winds and for the most part crowds. Here is compton about half way down.



The day continued to get better and better, with more puff than Snoop Dogg could handle! You couldn't hear anything. It was as close to being Deft as i will ever get. I expected to hear something, but there was nothing. It was a KAVU day, a 7 snowflake day, double thumbs up, a 3 cheers for Steamboat, a how lucky am I to be alive day!

If you ski or ride get to COLORADO this year. You aren't going to see anything else like it. You aren't going to regret it! GO GO GO. Get to travelocity, get to orbitz, just get out of where you are right now and go. There isn't anything like it out there....or is there?

Cree buys the LED light manufacturer I blogged about

Not sure if you "greenies" out there caught it but CREE is trying to buy LED LF. ( the company that makes the LED can lights I blogged about)

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080208/cree_acquisition.html?.v=1


Pretty neat stuff and awesome to see millions of greenbacks revolving around LED lights!

Lights on! House is 100% wired!

double sinks, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

So yesterday was a pretty big day for us here in the oldstonehouse. Adam finished up with the final bit of wiring. Sure he was waiting on us for a couple of months but whatever!

Here is a picture of the custom vanity, with the sinks in, plumbed and the lights on!

I still have to get the mirrors hung up a bit higher, but I think this will give most the idea of what we were trying to do. See more pics over on the flickr site over to the right!

LED can lights? YES YOU CAN!

So Adam (Carrington electric) came over to the cave yesterday to finish what he started some 2+ years ago. Finally 100% of all of this house is wired and rockin! When he came over he brought with him something very cool. Check it out here

What is it? ( Here is the answer incase you can't put two and two togther) A 6" LED can light! It can be installed in most fixtures that are 6" without any rewiring. Since it has its own trim you can just rip out the old trim kit and clips and slide this up into it's place!

Here is a picture of the light it throws out. Pretty white light!



Adam says they cost about $95 each but he claims that they will run for 15 years! They come with a 3 year warranty and are using CREE LED lights. Pretty cool stuff!

sinks and shelves-

front view, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Here is an almost finished picture of the master bath vanity set-up. We stuck with the Kohler fixtures for the upstairs, continuing it from every other faucet in the house. We like it and it was super simple to install.

We are going to raise the mirrors ( DUH!) and install 3 fixtures across that wall. Yes I have some corner trim to get in where the old stuff was ( see the gap on the left)

Along with the sinks I was able to get some shelves built in Noah's playroom closet. I recycled some old Ikea shelves and made a pretty nifty set of shelves. It should help in getting all the toys and blankets out of the way as this room will also be a guest bedroom.

Well that is it from the Oldstonehouse. Yes it is cold here (12 degrees tonight) and yes it did snow lastnight. I posted more pics over on Flickr >>>>>> for the interested.

Back to church...back to work.

Saturday I prepared myself for church. I knew I would be going. I knew that I would wake up sunday morning, grab my best clothes and coffee and fire up the Chevy. I knew that I was going to be one of the first into the parking lot. I just knew I was going to get that "up front" spot.

And Last sunday I did just that. And I think I only spent $24 dollars. I just love/hate going to Lowe's on Sunday. But.....I had to do it. It is plumbing time and I had to get it done. With a little help from the 07 DIY assistant of the year (Bill Maunz) and his loaning of the pex crimping tool, I was able to get the water supply lines in. Pretty easy to do folks. If you can arm wrestle your infant cousin you can install PEX. You measure, you cut, you slide on the ring, you install the fitting, and then you CRIMP. WAH-LAH!



So I have been bitten by the bug again. After a long long long vacation from DIY upstairs, I am back into full swing. As full swing as a new dad can be. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope that it isn't attached to a major issue.

One issue that I did have was when I was trying to install the worlds easiest faucet. (Kohler Fairfax narrow set) It wasn't the faucet that was bad. It was the sink. A Kohler sink that had a small defect where the drain goes. On the bottom where you tighten a gasket up to meet the bottom of the sink, was a small spot on the sink where the porcelain was missing or didn't come out of the mold correctly. So after 15 tries or so to get this damn thing in correctly I have pulled the sink and am planning a trip to the ugly orange box of sin and filth to return it

So folks the DIY bug is back and the project is back on track. Stay tuned for more fun and cursing.

Mountaineers are Always Free!

The legend of Owen Schmitt will live for a very long time in the hills of WV. If you didn't stay up until the very very end of the game and hangout through the 65 commercials between the end and the trophy presentation, then you probably missed this.







I don't play for the Mountaineers, but I believe that you all know that mine and Owen's views on the great state are pretty similar.