We ordered 1-1/2" thick maple butcher block slabs from Lumber Liquidators in Seattle. They took a month to get here. Two 96" x 25". One 144" x 25". One 75" x 36". I added maple edges all around. I filled the counterbored screw holes with contrasting plugs. Then palm sanded to 180 grit. The cut out for a new undermount stainless steel sink. I reduced the size of the hole on the template by 1/4" so the wood would overhang a small amount. I used a jig saw, a large pattern bit ch

We took advantage of a good sale at Giant Don's Carpet World. We covered the entire basement and top floor in the same quality carpet w/ a thick, stain barrier pad. Mario and his crew did a great job on the install. Hil's office. Basement. Stairway awaits drywall and trim. Guest bedroom.

Installing a new wood stove starts with a plumb bob, a jig saw, and a ladder. I started by transferring the center of the existing chimney pipe from the underside of the roof to the 3rd floor underlayment, then to the hearth on the main floor below (X in blue tape). I traced the pipe support ring and cut a ......... hole in the new car decking ceiling (yikes!). Next, I attached the trim cap and built a 2x4 box to house the pipe support ring. I looked at a bunch of stoves in t

We decided to upgrade the flooring in the kitchen and living room from carpet and linoleum to white oak. I started by silencing the subfloor squeaks by removing a couple hundred old, common nails (cause of squeaks) and adding a couple thousand screws. Next, I covered everything with a layer of 3/8" underlayment, which brought everything up to a good height and made it flat. I bought a floor stapler, a box of 2" staples, and 600 square feet of unfinished select white oak. The

Photos courtesy of Cruickshank Collection.

I figured I could save about $1500 if I built my own panels for an 8-ft x 8-ft garage door. I think I was right. Here's what I did. The spruce/fir frames are joined at the corners with bridle joints and mortise and tenons at the centers. Because the frames maximize the thickness of the foam (parts are 2" x 1-1/2"), the tenons are all offset to the door's exterior side. The center stiles are slightly narrower than the outer frame, so I added 1/2" foam strips make both surfaces

We skied the 40k route of this year's Tour of Anchorage joining some 950 other racers. Single digit temps at start time. A super fun race...except for the last 2km. Those were hard. Hil and I at the starting line along with the rest of our wave. 2 hours 30 minutes. Breakfast. 2 hours 46 minutes. No breakfast.

On our walk through the spruce today, Lucy decided to tree three lynx kittens. After a while, she got bored and wandered off to sniff a new patch of the snow. The kittens came down, calmly circled around us, and found Lucy again. One of them literally tracked here down. Very playful and curious, these lynx. Anyway, much fun ensued.

A busy morning downtown as the crowd gathered to see the teams off on their 1000 mile run to Nome. The event is for the public, but everyone's attention remains focused on readying the dogs for the trail. Chilly temps and clear skies for the ceremonial start of Iditarod 2017. There's Martin Buser and our neighbor, Scott. When the Iditarod is in town, there's always an open stool at the Gaslight. And feel free to take up the whole lane at Westchester Lagoon ice skating park. Y