Floor finishing

Harry came today to finish our new oak floors - clear finish, no fill.  We took  a peek and didn't see much (read: any) difference, but I guess with a clear finish that's a good thing.  Unfortunately the room will be off-limits until he completes process, whatever that entails, tomorrow afternoon.  Good day to work on curtains.

Getting so big!

The baby robins are growing so fast they barely fit in the nest anymore!

The girls

Mimique and Chipmunk checking out the drawer where the new chicks will live for the first month.  They have no idea what's coming...Hopefully they'll treat the babies better than they themselves were treated by Chiquita, nearly 2 years ago.

Our new babies

I picked up these 3 Buckeye chicks yesterday from Meyer Hatchery, just down the road in Polk.  They will be dark brown (supposedly) when they're grown.  They're up on our third floor with an infrared lamp where they'll stay until time to introduce them to Mimique and Chipmunk, with supervised forays to the great outdoors in a couple of weeks.

Sadly, one of them (the one in the upper left) died overnight.  The other 2 seem lively and fine, so I guess she just wasn't viable.  Still, it's sad.  Here we go again:  the heartbreak of raising chickens.

Paint and prep dilemma

I'm feeling frustrated today because I can't tell how much prep in the small bedroom is too much or too little.  The current paint on the wood trim is in terrible shape - in some places it's peeling off, in others it's layers deep, with embedded drips and ridges - and my instinct is to strip it all down to the wood and start over.  On the other hand, I don't think there's anything special about this wood, so am I trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear?  But if all I do is slap another coat of paint on it, I'm just adding to the problem.

To complicate matters, I only have a week to get it all done before our first "Buckeye" guests arrive.

If only paint stripper worked as promised, i.e., it actually stripped the paint off.  It doesn't.  It loosens it, but it's still a lot of work to scrape it off and then there's still a ton of sanding to do.  So far I've been using it without the plastic scraper that's recommended, so I'm going to buy one of those and see if it helps.

But for right now, I think I'll go for a fast walk and take Sunny with me.  We both need and deserve a good walk.

You know it's spring when...

These adorable baby robins are in the evergreen tree just outside our dining room. 

First guest!

We did it!  We were ready in time for our first guest.  I'm not gonna lie, I was hemming curtains and Dom was cleaning off furniture to move in that morning.  But by 2:00 we were relaxing in the dining room, congratulating ourselves on a job that we consider well done.

We couldn't have picked a better first guest.  He was friendly and nice and easy.  He checked in around 5, came down for breakfast at 8, left by 9.  He loved my nutmeg muffins so that endeared him to me.  (But he didn't eat his buckeye candy!)  He left a very nice note in our guest book.

What a relief to have that pressure gone.

Now to get the second bedroom whipped into shape.