Liz has so many different tests, with so many different products… I’m having a hard time keeping it all straight. When she gives me a recap of what she’s done, I tend to have to ask a lot of basic questions, to try to catch up.
It’s a lot of testing, it’s a lot of variations. It’s all kinds of impressive.
Liz had another day in the basement (or should I call it her laboratory). Today’s session involved her trying out powdered dyes – another approach to staining Douglas Fir.
Liz has been in the basement a lot lately, doing her mad scientist routine. She’s been methodically trying to figure out how to best stain the new trim we’re looking to purchase: vertical grain Douglas Fir.
Paige, undaunted and ready to continue on to the finish.
Liz tried at least 20 different Italian restaurants, and nearly every place was booked. Again, we waited too long to try ot get reservations… as everyone and their mother was intent on carbo-loading the night before the race. So of course, every Italian joint was fully booked up.
We ended up getting reservations at a local restaurant, Nella in Hyde Park.
Tonight, we met up with them after work and went out for some tapas. Tricia is a big fan of Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba, but we unfortunately didn’t get reservations in early enough. While looking around, I found Jaleo, which looked pretty great (note: this is a restaurant by José Andrés – someone Liz and I enjoyed watching on PBS).
Tonight we attended another Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SWMS) outturn at the Franklin Room – a fun event that takes place on one of the days the restaurant is closed, and we get the run of the place.
Liz and I were up early today, as we were looking to hit up several places in the suburbs. Our main goal: to go to Owl Lumber and find enough Vertical Grain Doug Fir for some window jambs (Bob is making custom window frames for a few of our windows).
SYP is still available, but it’s primarily newer growth. And it’s planted/harvested faster, and a result of that speed is that the grain lines are more spaced apart. To match the tight grain lines of old growth SYP, you’d need to either find reclaimed lumber or go fishing in rivers for sinker pine.
Liz, trying to carve out a path circa 2014. We eventually hired out the work to clear this area with a mini bulldozer.
We had a fun time hanging out, catching up a bit over dinner and getting our Trek on. And we also ended up watching an episode of the Lower Decks, as a bonus.
If you’re curious for a stroll down memory lane, check out lizandfelix.com/… we’ve got a lot of photos from the day, oh so many years ago.
I can’t remember the last time we went in to work together. Definitely surreal. So much of our lives since the pandemic started has been working remotely, it’s difficult to even process being downtown together for work.
Today, Liz and I had a plan to just go out and about. To get out of the house some, and to just make a day of being “out” – something we don’t really do much of.
We had a delicious meal, and got to sample a lot of whiskies. Post dinner, we headed inside to hang out for a bit in their living room. Having a bit of a dessert, and catching up some more.