thanks to my Demo Crew!!!

 a lovely weekend.  first MT decided we couldn't go without the Pumpkin Massacre so she volunteered to host the gathering at her place. so we had a great time carving pumpkins.  below was taken by SH...can't recall ever being able to take a photo of carved pumpkins with flowers on decks still.  that is crazy!

 M and G came over with tools to help with the demo...SH came over to help knock stuff down and MT showed up with treats and volunteered to haul a load to the dump for me.  i am super lucky to have the greatest friends who come through for me when i need them.  Thank You all!  special thanks to Mac as he brought super power tools and a wealth of knowledge to the game....he was the foreman!!

 this would have been impossible for me to do alone, but with a little help from my friends we "tore down that wall" and then the lower cabinets, counters and soffits.  with friends it took us just over 4 hours i think....WOW!  now i will work on the floors...3 layers of linoleum down there to pull up.  my handyman will come over on Tuesday to start planning for the rebuild.  i sent him a photo of the kitchen all emptied out. 

 he probably figured he had months with how slow i was moving with the demo. 

 the paint in the background was just me testing out colors..I'm not using any yellow in the end.  will need to paint the whole downstairs and hall eventually here.  will take the actual tiles to the store and find some possible matches and do some more samples on the wall at some point soon.

 i gated off the area as there are loose wires/cords hanging all over. i think i will now be done with the home phone perhaps.  the pups are pretty chill, though they were less than thrilled to be outside all day while we tore the place up.  too many nails and flying objects for them to be inside.  no walk today so they were pretty amp'd up when everyone left.  i just threw the toy outside repeatedly.  still some basic cleaning up to do...though i must say with the group there we cleaned as we went.

 got a message about the microwave this afternoon and so it got picked up this evening...then later this evening i got a message about the stove.  Mac thought I'd probably have to just give it away, but a lady said she'd pay $35 for it...she seemed pretty desperate to have a functioning stove i think so i guess she will appreciate it.

 the dishwasher and sink are out in the front.  doubt the dishwasher will go...especially since it started raining after we hauled it out there. will have to figure out how to get it to the appliance depository this week.

 these are from the first part of the Denali Highway Crossing in September.

 the leaves are falling fast..though we have all enjoyed these exceedingly long fall, something we never get up here.

 of course, the late fall did mess up my Denali plans a bit as i had hoped to hit peak but I'll take the extended fall, it's been amazing.

 in between all of that i ended up in a bit of a row with some mean Evangelical on Facebook, i know, i know, i never learn.  i think this whole Kavenaugh thing had me pretty annoyed and frustrated with our current state of affairs.  it was a cluster on all sides.  the GOP so giddy with power they are hell bent on making the entire justice system a right wing operation.  justice really should be free from politics, but that just isn't the case anymore in this nation.  it's been heading that way but the GOP has capitalized on it to the point that our nation may never recover.  getting your own way on steroids.

 sadly, i fear many are not looking at the long term impact of one party attempting to demolish the other.  a one party system isn't good for any of us. 

 these Evangelical folks are nasty and mean.  if you are mostly on their side you would have no idea what i am talking about...I'm talking hateful and hate filled.  if we were on the street this woman would easily kill me.  she hates liberals that much...i can totally see a time when i could literally be killed by evangelicals simply for having a different way of viewing things.  they are militant...it's pretty scary.

 i have long felt that many of these Evangelicals are becoming radicalized.  the normal Christians have no idea who they are in bed with...if these guys get more power i can totally see them flipping on the normal Christians.  it reminds me a lot of how it must have been for the Muslims.  at first they no doubt sided with the more rabid elements of their religion, unaware that they were so radical.  they had common goals in the beginning, but eventually, the radicalized Muslims started to turn on them as well. 

 mark my words, these radicalized evangelical Christians are a different beast.  they don't just argue on facebook or other social media, they become rabid, hateful, nasty and mean.  they believe that the current iitoo was actually sent by God to "save America".  they seem to believe that they are in a holy war against liberals and anyone else who they see as counter to trump and his reign. 

 not sure if they could ever turn on him, and it seems pretty clear that he knows how to control them...him and fox news no doubt. 

 so i half expected this chick to come over here and slash my tires and write death to liberals on my garage or something. 

 hopefully i will be better at just not getting sucked into facebook wars...i need to do better at just making facebook happy stuff and bitch on my blog...

 i don't think any amount of truth will sway these folks away from their cult leader...what a crazy place our nation is in.  i don't see it changing. by the time the normal Christians wake up to the absolute nut jobs on their side i fear it will be too late.

 should take more recycling out there...I'm kind of scared they won't take my trash and they will instead put a note on there saying it's too heavy. 

 i do have more trash inside to add to the garbage tomorrow. 

 it will be good to get the electric upgraded and probably more safe.  also there was apparently a shrew that had set up a big nest under the lower cabinets. lots of shredded paper and plastic bags and droppings, but no dead shrews so that was a relief.

 i need to empty the hall closet out for the duration so he can easily get down to the crawl space to deal with electric and water stuff.

 the animals are all sleeping so they must have gotten enough play time today. Ivy was crazy and jumping as people arrived.  she can be a bit of a nut case at times.  she's sweet though.

 don't have any desire to look a the past weeks newspapers i guess.  it's all pretty depressing.

 strange to see the kitchen all empty.  great to have that wall down though.  i think that will be great. i still will probably also remove the dry wall from the beam and sand that and stain it so it will be this pretty focal point when all is done

 the beam was apparently put in upside down.  you can see the on the bottom it's stamped with TOP.  Mack assures me my house will stay up despite that, though there is a reason it is put in with the top on top. he explained it but I'm not sure i totally got that bit.

 probably is some snow up in these parts by now. haven't looked at the weather up north to see where they are with winter weather.

 Speedy and Syd went with me to look at lighting on Friday.  so many options.  I'm going to have to decide here soon.  thinking of recessed lights for the kitchen plus some pendant lights next to the beam over the attached island.  would really love to do some kind of lighting for the living room as well, as long as I've got the ceiling open. 

 hopefully, my handyman is good with all of this.  he said the other day he's good with electric...

 love all these colors...

 that red hill in the background.

 my house needs a major cleaning and dejunking.  hoping i can get more organized once i get more cabinets in the kitchen and get the old cabinets up in the garage.  Skelly will have storage area for all his gear...haha!

 that is one spoiled skeleton. 

 that one power tool cut through everything, nails/wood.  thankfully, we did not cut through any lines, electric or water.  whew!! 

 i can see why folks like demo though.  it is great for the soul to just beat and rip crap up.  it was a great week to do that i think.  i had some politically based frustrations to take out on the kitchen...should have done that before i got into it with the mean Evangelical.  it is funny that they are so nasty, but some how believe that this hatred is showing their faith and love for Jesus.

 i just don't believe one can be so hateful, vengeful and mean and also Christlike.  they don't see it that way though. i am the enemy of God because i do not embrace Trump and his salvation of America.

 pups get a walk out in the fall colors.  they were ready for some tennis ball time at this point....but lets face it, my dogs are always ready for tennis ball time.

 another Monday walk tomorrow.  it's also a holiday i guess.

 it's a strange world we live it right now. 

 I'm sure my brain will be buzzing a lot over the next weeks/months it takes to put this kitchen back together.  still need to check paint colors, vent hood, lights, counters and the sink. 

 oh, and a dishwasher! better get those lists going. i best get to bed. it's been a long day. 

thankful for: A.  FRIENDS...you guys rock! B.  DEmo day.  fun and so much accomplished  C.  the opportunity to get this done.  will be great to know there is no longer a family of shrew under my cabinets.