Working inside

After Morgan redid the master bathroom, we were left without a toilet paper holder; mostly because we found one that we liked, but it costs $45 and partly because, well, we just never got around to buying one. Then one showed up today both on the floor of the bathroom and on my chore list.

I hope that is the last time that I have to use a screw driver whilst sitting on the toilet.



Morgan and I marked our first year of knowing one another on the 15th. At least that's when we decided our anniversary was. It's hard to believe that it's been a year already. It's hard to believe it's only been a year. Funny how it works that way when it's good.

As a present to mark this and my upcoming birthday, Morgan bought a table saw for me.

I'm not good at receiving unexpected gifts, especially ones this large, but it is a very nice gift and one that I will use and enjoy. After growing up in a house with a wood shop, it's been difficult to live without a table saw.



With said table saw, I have begun to hang cleats in the closet in Morgan's office to put up shelving. She's good at going to The Home Depot and sweet-talking the men there to use their radial arm saw to cut the shelves, so I'll let her do that part.



I used caulk to fill around the cleats, and will paint them in a few days with some wall paint that I found in the garage. The paint has aged a bit, though, and even with good shaking and stirring it still fails to match perfectly, but it's close enough for a closet.



Morgan picked up this old handmade air compressor at an auction for $8. My best guess is that it was made in the 1950s and charmed me immediately. The surplus motor needed some rewiring, the belt was shot and the air hose was rotten, but after a bit of work and some parts from Lowe's, it works well enough to fill a tire.



This is probably a project that is more my speed, the Ariens riding mower is getting a modest overhaul during the winter months. I get along with gas-powered objects. The carburetor was rather lacquered and needed to be rebuilt, but I have it soaking in a carburetor cleaner and it's looking very good so far. I will also replace the belts, the fuel line and the spark plug wire; sharpen the blade and try to fix the three flat tires with some new inner tubes. I might even move that weird ground wire that someone decided just had to go over the manifolds.

The engine had a bad tendency to surge, and the float would stick shut, but it always started, though it took a bit of pulling. Several times while mowing, it would lean out and I had to give it a good shake to break the needle valve free. Our neighbors must think we're really odd, but with a pirate flag flying over our deck, shaking the lawn mower is probably the least of what all that has made them think that.