Today was the templating day where they come out and measure your kitchen exactly for the new countertop.
Originally scheduled for around 10:30 there was a cancellation so Larry, the person doing our templating, is able to arrive at around 9 am
We were told by some other folks that they would make a cardboard template of our counters to guide their production of the actual quartz countertop. Turns out that is very old school.
Larry sets up a tripod with a tablet computer and laser on top and proceeds to map out our kitchen with laser precision. I hear a tape measure being used occasionally but probably just to confirm the digital diagram that is being produced.
Larry says it doesn’t matter if your walls are straight or your corners are not square the scanning will take care of all that for a perfect tight fit.
In under one hour we’re signing off (digitally of course) on the finished diagram that will be used to generate the instructions to drive the CNC machine in cutting out our quartz top. Hand cutting stopped 10-15 years ago and it’s all digital now.
In about another hour I have the counters back in place and the sink hooked up again. In 5-10 business days we’ll be getting a visit from the installers and I’ll yank out the current countertops one last time.
Tomorrow the installers arrive to template for the new quartz countertop. That mean that I need to remove the old countertop before they arrive.
Several sections of countertop are easily removed. Just unscrew from underneath, cut off some silicone sealant and off comes the tops.
Counter and old school phone deskRight next to pantry
Then there is the more interesting section, the “L” shape that includes the kitchen sink. My initial hope is to leave the sink in the countertop and remove the whole thing together. This turns out to be more difficult than estimated so I end up removing the sink.
Pulling the sink of course means shutting off the water to the tap. Thankfully, somewhere along the line I’ve installed shutoff valves under the sink so that’s easy. Next is remove the garburator, disconnect the drains, disconnect the tap and unfasten the sink. With all the plumbing disconnected and out of the way the sink pops out without too much difficulty.
The dishwasher needs to be pulled out to unfasten the countertop. This requires disconnecting the water to it in the basement and again some smart guy installed a shutoff valve for that as well so while the sink & dishwasher are disconnected the rest of the house still has water.
The “L” shape comes off in one piece. It’s snug but comes out clean and is now out in the garage.
Drawers with no lidSink & CornerSink & Dishwasher
Tomorrow, after the templates is done I’ll be reversing the whole process to get the countertop, sink, and dishwasher operational for the 5-10 business days before the final install of the new quartz countertop.
So, for the next 24 hours it’s minimal countertop and washing dishes in the bathtub or stock piling them up in the dishwasher.
So, if you are driving in downtown Toronto on University Avenue and pass by Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have a look up at the banner they put up in the last couple of days.
The 2022 Ride banner on the PMH
What are those circular swirls you ask?
My name, not quite up in lights, but sort of ?
It’s the names of everyone who signed up early for this years Ride to Conquer Cancer.
We’re updating our kitchen counter tops to quartz!
As is seemingly quite normal one new thing tends to lead to a bunch of new things. New counter mean new sink, new faucet and new backslash tiles.
While the new counter will be installed by the pros I’m tasked with removing the old counter and doing the new tiles. New tiles means removing the old ones. To test out that process I’m starting behind the stove.
Behind the stove
No turning back now so I’m hacking off the rest of the tiles trying to minimize the drywall damage.
Unavoidable drywall damage
Let the patching begin! Coat #1.
I suspect there will be a couple of rounds of mudding and sanding to get the surface ready for tiles and then a coat of primer.
I seem to have had some new motivation lately to accomplish a few long outstanding tasks around the house.
We have 3 basement windows that were never finished when the basement was developed. I just didn’t know how to tackle trimming them out without a lot of messing about. And then, early in the pandemic, I saw and Instagram reel from a finish carpenter essentially building a box with trim attached on one side of the box opposite the window and then you just shove it into the rough window opening. Genius! I made 2 of them and they were a big success. But, for some reason, window #3 got neglected for quite some time. And then the third window finally got it’s trim on.
Project #1 completed.
When we finished the basement, many years ago, there was an opening left in the drywall to access the area under the stairs which we, like most people, use for a storage area. Well, the opening was an unusual shape and off and on I’d think about how to finish it off with some kind of door. And then I’d forget about it and a few more years would pass.
Finally, I decided to build a custom door. I remembered some 1/4” oak plywood in the garage so I build a frame using a Kreg pocket hole jig to fasten the frame together and sheeted if over wth the 1/4” ply and trimmed out all the edges with oak moulding.
Project #2 completed.
Again, a door opening in the basement where we had planned to put French doors into just never got completed. Finally, after deciding the French doors were not happening, the opening was painted to match the rest of the basement but it was still exposed 2x4s and the edge of the drywall.
After buying some very expensive architectural moulding which made the job simpler and some oak trim to match the other basement doors, voila!
Project #3 completed.
Last one. Can you figure this one out?
Well, the wall going downstairs to the basement had quite a few dings, scrapes, scuffs and some patching that never got painted. So, some washing, patching, sanding and a fresh coat of paint has it looking like new.
Seven consecutive days of fun in the saddle riding in the basement on the trainer in support of the Davis Phinny Foundation for Parkinson’s. Well, perhaps fun isn’t the right term as there was some suffering involved towards the end of the tour ?.
I’ve ridden The Tour for several years in a row now and this year is was a day shorter but I took an more intense option. You see the “rides” are workouts that are scaled to your current fitness level and there are options as to how hard you want to ride. There is the “get me through it” option where things are scaled back so hopefully you can get through the seven days even if you’re not used to riding this much on back to back days. Then there is the “nuclear” option. All rides are at 100%, there is no scaling back, its full on every day. And then there is the “focused” option, a middle ground where the rides are scaled back a bit but not too much.This year I was “focused”. Perhaps next year “nuclear”?
The day to day riding went pretty well. The longer 2+ hour rides on the weekends were challenging not only due to fatigue and effort but how much my derrière can endure in the saddle on the trainer. So much easier to do long rides outside where there is more bike movement. To make the final days ride a bit easier I took advantage of the 50 hour window to move one of the 30 minute rides to the Friday so that Saturday was only a bit over two hours, plenty long enough for the end of a week of riding.
Well, it’s been almost 20 years in the making but it’s done!
The Decon’s Bench
The project started as a 50th birthday present for Shirley. Somehow it got derailed many times over the years. I’d build a part of it and then park it away in the corner of the shop. You’d think it would have been completed last year with the lockdowns and all the time at home and while it did get some attention it wasn’t until the end of 2021 and January 2022 that the push was on for completion.
So, what is a Decon’s Bench? There seems to be a mixed opinion on the origin and purpose but it seems that a bench with a storage space under the seat is common. Ours has a flip up lid under the seat cushion with a large storage area underneath. For us it’s a place to sit when you’re putting on your shoes or boots.
The video below has my Strava highlights from 2021 consisting of mainly cycling with some hiking and rowing thrown in.
Not too bad considering some of my other activities the 2021 that kept my activity on the bike a little lower that normal ?. I’m mainly on the trainer in the winter and still doing some outside riding with the FROG group as well. However, I’m already looking forward to riding around Winnipeg & Kenora in just a jersey and shorts. ?♂️.
This weekend, August 28-29, is the 14th annual Princess Margaret Cancer Research Foundation’s Ride to Conquer Cancer and it will be my first.
I became aware of this ride while I was in Toronto at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre (PMH) receiving CAR-T treatment for lymphoma. Today, thanks to this cutting edge treatment, I’m cancer free. Every time I was in the PMH elevator I’d see this picture on the door and as an avid cyclist, I knew this was for me.
Thank-you to all who supported me on the ride and this cause. Together we raised $2,696.10 and the ride in total raised an amazing $9,910,000 for life-saving cancer research.
Being optimistic and liking to set a challenging goal for myself I announced that I’d ride 100 miles or 160 km, the classic cyclist century ride. So, several months ago I started a formal training plan riding indoors or outdoors three times a week following a Trainerroad plan. For a couple of months this worked quite well and I stuck with the plan. Then, somewhere along the line the plan fell off the rails. I was still riding a fair bit but it was more sporadic and solo and group outdoor rides replaced the formal training efforts.
Over the last while I put in some 70, 80 and 100km rides but no 160km rides. All the over 70km rides turned out to be pretty challenging so I was not so sure about the 160km goal.
In sharing this goal with Shirley and my doctors they were supportive about the ride but cautious about my distance goal. It was suggested that something shorter might be appropriate or at least splitting the ride over two days.
As the weekend rolled around I was still undecided about the distance and was really going to approach it by “feel”. We found ourselves at the lake on the August weekend and some of the family was out as well. I really wanted to spend maximum time with the family so I skipped the two group rides that I could have hooked up with on Saturday and Sunday. As it turned out the family had to leave early on Sunday afternoon, so it was time to ride!
In the driveway with my new “Ambassador” jersey
Normally at the lake I ride right from the cottage. However, there has been quite a bit of fresh gravel road work done recently which is really unpleasant to ride on so Shirley gave me a lift to the Fire Hall at the start of Storm Bay road so I could launch right onto the paved highway. I’m underway at about 1:30pm.
Ready to Ride
Off we go!
Given the wind direction I opted to ride basically south on Hwy 71. I’d take 17A from the Fire Hall for a few kms and then turn south onto Hwy 71. As I’m riding I still hadn’t committed myself to a distance. After about 1/2 hr I’m thinking 50km out and 50km back for a respectable metric century. Not the originally conceived 160km but still a respectable goal.
As I approached the 50km mark there was a sign on the side of the road, “Souix Narrows – 16km”. Hmmm, I’ve never ridden to Souix Narrows on the bike and it’s just 16km more than I was planning or really 32km more than planned but what the heck. A new goal was in place and I wanted that picture of me at the iconic Souix Narrow bridge.
Being in Winnipeg means that almost all my riding is on the flat prairies. This is not the case when riding at the lake in Northwestern Ontario. There are a lot of hills. As I’m working my way to Souix Narrows I start reflecting on just how many hills there are and that I’ll need to do them all again in the reverse direction.
Finally, after what seems like a very long time, I arrive in Souix Narrows and stop for the “bridge shot”.
Souix Narrows Bridge & Me
Once in town I take a break for mid-ride refuelling and eat my bagel & cream cheese with a very hungry fish looking on.
After the snack it’s back on the road. Things seem to fly by for the first while and then around the 70-80km mark things are seemingly a lot harder. I’m getting tired and the solo boredom is setting in but as a friend often says spin, spin, spin. The weather is a mix of sun and cloud with a little more cloud than I’d like including a few brief rain showers. One was hard enough to get me to stop and put the phone in a baggie. Mentally in my mind I’m ticking off the major markers, Luther Village then Rushing River, then 17 & 71 intersection, then Reddens, then The Fire Hall where Shirley will be waiting to drive me back to the cottage. I’m very thankful I don’t have to do the hills on our Branch Road #3 which has one that is a short but steep 9-10% grade.
Like all good rides it really didn’t happen unless you’ve recorded it on Strava. Due to a bit of bad planning on my part the bike computer ran out of battery at 43km so the ride got recorded in two parts.
Total distance of 124.9 km in 5 hrs and 10 min moving and 5 hrs and 38 min elapsed time. All in all a good day and I’m satisfied with the effort.
