Terre Haute House Repair - Kitchen (2)
No sooner had the new countertops been fitted then everything went back onto them - of course we had to wait the 24 hours for the selant to dry first and then moved again when we started redecorating a little while later. One thing about countertops, it's important that whoever makes them also measures them and fits them. That way anything that goes wrong is the responsibility of the maker not you. The guy we had to do this was great, but he did make a mistake. One of the backsplashes was supposed to have a notvh cut into it for an electrical socket. When he came ot fit the piece we found he'd cut it in the wrong place and it had to be replaced. These things happen but because he was the one who made the measurements it was his responsibility to fix it - which he did a couple of days later.
Redecorating the Kitchen - 1st August 2009
The old wallpaper, which has been there for 16 years, has all been stripped off, any holes in the walls filled and the ceiling painted.
I should explain about the fish, or more correctly the amphibian tank. In 2007, an aquaintance of ours moved from Terre Haute to Arizona. He left his house in the care of a "friend" of his. This guy turned out to be no friend at all as a couple of months later we got a phone call saying our aquaintance in Arizona had started receiving phone calls from the utility and mortgage companies and would we mind going round to his house and seeing what was going on. When we got there the house was empty, less than empty really as his friend had even taken some of the plumbing out of the walls! Because the utilites had been cut off the sump pump in the basement had not worked and the basement had flooded. They did however leave a load of trash which we looked through looking for anything that was left that could be of value. We took anything that we thought the guy in Arizona might have a use for, which wasn't much and left. One thing we did see that had been left behind was a fish tank, but it was half full of filthy, stinking water so we left it.
A couple of days later we decided to go and see if we'd overlooked anything and then decided we may as well try and save the tank. We dragged it outside and started to pour the water away. Whilst we were doing that we saw something move in the bottom of the tank. It was a turtle! The poor thing had been without food for nearly four months was extremely thin and had been apparently just been surviving on algae. I took it to a pet shop who'se staff examined it and said that if we looked after it then it might survive. That's the story of how we got "Stinky" the Red Eared Slider.
A couple of months later a friend of ours nearly ran over a turtle in the middle of the road. She stopped, picked it up and gave it to us, so now Stinky had a companion, Shelly the Painted Turtle. A while after that we were introduced by another aquaintance to "Fluffy" a Snapping Tutle. Unfortunately Fluffy didn't last long as it was butchered and eaten. I think if we get another turtle I'll call it Fluffy as well, or something equally bizarre.
The kitchen TV is left on nearly all the time for the turtles. They really do sit and watch it. When an alligator or crocodile comes on - it's usually tuned to the "Animal Planet" station - they go scuttling back to the little cave we made them.
This page created 2nd August 2009, last modified 2nd August 2009
