The Work of the Dwarves Continues…..Why is the Sink Backing Up?

Alas friends of Middle Earth the holiday season is upon us. Much to do and little time. So we’re going to keep this short.

Oh yeah. Welcome to the continuing saga of Hobbit Hollow. The journey continues.

So yeah the holidays.

Having a big crowd this year for Turkey day. So when you have a big crowd you have to go the extra mile with the house cleaning. Damn holidays. The grease buildup on our range oven is ridiculous. Went through a whole can of wet wipes trying to get that under control.  I actually broke out into a sweat with all the elbow grease I put into this oven cleaning. Turns out we have a Kitchen Aid oven! I thought we had a GE.  It’s something I really didn’t need to know. It’s all because “special people” are coming over. Like I said. Damn holidays.

I also was forced into switching out the faucet in the downstairs powder room.  It really looked pretty bad. What a pain in the neck that was. What made it so hard was the fact that it was a two door vanity. 30 inch vanity means the two doors are about 14 inches across maximum. So this 200 pound man has to get in there  on his back with a basin wrench. You ever use a basin wrench before? Broke into another sweat trying to get this faucet off with the basin wrench. What an ordeal.

So the sink was kind of backing up anyway so I knew I was going to have to take apart the drain and unclog it. No big deal really. I open up the drain and inside the drain I find one of Georgia’s paint brushes! This thing is like a foot long! How that got in there I’ll never know. It was one of those moments when you’re like. “What the hell????”

So it was good. I shed about five pounds getting ready for Thanksgiving. I probably won’t have to wear my stretchy pants this year. You know the pants with the elastic waistband so you don’t have to undo your belt buckle when you overeat on Thanksgiving. So that’s great.

Give a shout out to whoever invented stretchy pants. Good job.

Get to the blog Jim you’re running out of time.

So I am out of time so I’m just gonna give you the visual.

Dwarves workbench.
Finished under the windows. Working the sides now.

Almost to the top,

It really changes the look of the house doesn’t it?

My excavator guy also was there. He finished off the patio area on the side and secured my walkway path to the roof. Check it out.

Future patio area on the side of the house.
Walkway path secured with stones and dirt as well.

It’s a really nice area there now. Nice barbecue area.

He also got rid of the garage for me.

Blog fan John wants me to build some sort of carriage house there for Gandalf and his horse and buggy.  Take it easy John.  I’m a busy guy but I want to finish this thing before the end of the century.

Worked on the electrical. Set up the exterior boxes for the lanterns that will go on either side of the door. It took a while. Worked on some interior framing and electrical the rest of the weekend. We’re getting there people.

Have a great week and enjoy your family and friends this Thanksgiving. There’s much to be thankful for.

Jim

 

5 thoughts on “The Work of the Dwarves Continues…..Why is the Sink Backing Up?”

  1. Have to agree with John … The stone work really sets the place off.

    And be thankful the paint brush wasn’t lodged in the toilet. You can’t get them out with a snake or a wire hook or anything else normal. The only way I’ve ever been able to retrieve them (paint brush, pen, pencil) was to pull the toilet out. Pain in the posterior.

    Have a great holiday.
    Frank

    Reply
  2. Jim,
    Sent an email to that Ringo address, don’t know if it’s still working. You doing Hobbit Hollow work this coming Saturday or you taking it easy for the Holiday? I know you start early in the morning and was gonna take a drive north to inspect before I drive south at year-end! Either way, Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!
    Mike

    Reply
  3. Hey Jim, thanks for the shout-out….had a good laugh about it. The stonework looks awesome. It really is going to be a passivhaus fit for a hobbit. I can understand your wish to finally see this thing through to the finish, after all, when you first started the hobbit shed your children were well, children. Seems I recall a photo of one of your children who was small even by hobbit standards, and now the youngest? is in college. It sure has been a long and winding road, which goes ever on and on, down from the door where it began….where was I? Oh yes, answer to the trivia question….Christopher Lee was a real-life James Bond before he became an actor! It’s true! He didn’t talk about it, largely because he had sworn an oath and signed an agreement pursuant to Great Britain’s “Official Secrets Act”, so we only know what the British government has de-classified. Here is what we know about him. He had a gift for languages, and could speak fluently (in addition to English) Swedish, Finnish, German, Russian, and probably Arabic, Serbo-Croatian, and Urdu as well. He was inducted into the Special Operations Executive, the predecessor to Britain’s SAS commandos. We know that he was in Finland during the Winter War (the Finns were fighting the Russians), before being pulled out. He was returned to Finland, apparently posing as a Swede, to spy on the Germans, before being pulled out. Next we know that after failing to qualify as a fighter pilot, he worked in military intelligence in North Africa with the Long-Range Desert Group (the famed “desert rats”), fighting against Rommel and the Afrika Corps. As he spoke fluent German, he was used to interrogate captured German officers. Next he pops up in Yugoslavia with Tito and his partisans! So what can someone like that do after the war is over? Become an actor of course! One of the few times he spoke about his war-time experiences was very briefly during the filming of LOTR. For the extended version, in the scene where Sauruman is stabbed in the back by Grima Wormtongue, Peter Jackson wanted Christopher Lee to throw his hands in the air and yell “Aiee!” Christopher Lee turned to PJ and said “That’s not what it sounds like when someone is stabbed in the back! I know what it sounds like.” End of conversation. The scene was filmed the way Christopher Lee said it should. Thought you might get a kick out of that. Anyway, as always, best wishes, and a very happy Thanksgiving to you and your family………Carriage house….hmmmm, have to think about that one.

    Reply
    • Thanks for the interest in the house John. Much appreciated. That was really interesting about Christopher Lee. Very cool.
      Talk to you soon.
      Jim

      Reply

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