Demolition

Well, I had a productive and fun day. First up was a drive down to Stoney Creek to meet up with Curt for some trail riding. We got there at 9am, hoping that it would still be cold enough to not worry about slushy or muddy trails since the temperatures have been above freezing for quite a few days in a row lately. It was around 29 or 30 degrees when we got started. Considering the cold spell we had a for a couple weeks it felt really comfortable out.

I was excited to hit the trails, first because I haven't spent much time on the trails in the past year. Secondly, Jackie got me some studded tires for winter riding last year and I've yet to really test them out. Last year I took them out on the back dirt roads a couple times and they felt great in the snowy icy conditions, but I never had a chance to ride them on the trails. I wasn't disappointed as they performed great, clawing through the snow and super stable on ice. There were sections where we were on solid ice and were still able to maintain traction, actually able to climb hills and ride off camber sections on ice. I still much prefer riding in warmer weather, but this does make me look forward to getting out in winter more.

When I left Stoney I called Jackie and mentioned to her that I had a project in mind for the afternoon. She was pretty surprised as she is always wanting to make changes to the house and I'm usually pretty happy with things the way they are. We've been discussing some changes for a while now and I decided to take advantage of a free afternoon. Our home had a half wall between part of the living room and kitchen, about six feet long. We thought it might be nice to remove that, which will allow some additional light up into the living room and make both rooms feel bigger. Jackie has also been wanting new flooring for a while now so we figured it would be better to get it out now.

So I got to work. First thing, disconnect the two electrical outlets on either side of the wall. Got zapped, realizing I turned off the wrong breaker, so I turned off the correct breaker and removed them. Then I removed all the moldings, taking care to not destroy them for later. After that was on to the fun part, breaking drywall and hammering out 2x4's. It all came out relatively easy and we're both really happy with the way it turned out. Both rooms seem so much more open now. The only problem, the cats are upset. They both really liked to sit up on top of the half wall.

Lots of work left though. Drywall repairs, painting, flooring, and I need to figure out what to do with the two electrical lines currently sticking out of the wall. But for now I'm going to relax on the couch and watch the rest of the Chargers/Jets game.