Busy Busy Busy

We are swamped with work at our shop. Word has gotten out and everyone has something for us to do. This is good.

• We have completed a sales counter for a local shrimp and seafood business. They want some other items now.
  
• We have three kitchens in the process of being designed.
  
• We have a wooden horse saddle that needs some alteration.
  
• We have a table and a chair that need repairs (my least favorite type of work because of the small returns on a lot of work).
  
• We have another desk to make.
  
• We have a cabinet to alter (another one of my unfavorite tasks, specifically because the guy who wants this done wants it done as cheap as possible. And altering furniture is time consuming, so doing it on the cheap results in a poorly done piece. Nothing I want to put my name on.).
  
• We have a doorway jamb to replace.
  
• We have some bathroom cabinets to finish and install.
  
• We have a request for two beds.
  

Whew! We need to hire some help. Anyone interested in living in small town rural Mexico and working in a furniture shop? 8^)

The doors

Here are a few photos of the doors. There are three pairs like this on the front of the house, but we only fixed up two pairs. I'm sure we'll get the third pair as a future project. The first photo is the shape they were in when we first saw them - covered in multiple layers of paint and in need of repair. There was water damage as well as termite damage, and some parts of the doors needed to be completely replaced. Photo #2 is a detail shot.




Luis scraped them clean, I replaced rotten wood and reassembled them, then Luis sanded, stained, and put a finish on them. You can see the surface transformation in photo #3. Photo #4 is a shot of the doors re-hung at the house.

How is it...

...that I know a slew of people in four different countries, and at least six different US states, and I *still* cannot find anyone who is willing to take in a cat for a few months??!!!!

How is that possible?

I can bring a cat on a flight down here - If I'm on the flight, and I can only bring one cat with me. So one of my precious pets will be staying in Portland....

...assuming I can find someone who will take one in.

I am really boggled by this. How could you not want to help out a friend in need? I'd do it for you! Really.

A Break

We got a bit of a break today. Luis took Joel and some tools over to the house where the doors will eventually reside. He needed to do some on-site clean up before we installed the doors. So, as he arrives, the woman who owns the place runs up and tells him to stop working. She was really rushed apparently because she didn't have time to explain why. Joel, who seems to know a lot about the going-ons in this town, said that she owned the house with an ex-boyfriend. Now, I'm assuming, there is some dispute about ownership, so we are on hold. Which means that we had a relaxed afternoon and actually left the shop before 8pm.

Tomorrow I sharpen my chisels.

Exhausted

I am friggin exhausted. Maybe it's because we've been working feverishly on these doors and we're still not done. It's been interesting and challenging. I've had to figure out how to fix things without being able to take the doors apart, so it's been a bit of brain work for me. Very tiring.

Then again, maybe it's because I'm working at all. I mean, I haven't really had a job since December 2005, so I've had a full 7 months to learn how to do nothing. Now that I've got projects in my life again, I'm exhausted.

Poor me.

One Stop Shopping

Mexico is the only country of the ten I've visited that has the Junior's clothing section right next to the Maternity section. And I actually saw a store that was "Juniors and Maternity"!

[The ten countries, in case you cared: US, Mexico, Canada, Australia, India, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Scotland, and Monoco.]