October 1, 2025 - October 13, 2025 - Work on Alexa's House Continues: Electric Subpanel Installed; Cellar Door Rebuilt; Paint Colors Picked; Garbage Disposal Installed

My Blog Reflection

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.

Albert Einstein

October 3, 2025:

Alexa, with my guidance, rebuilt the cellar door with new wood. We were able to use the old runners, hinges, and tin. The rebuild came out nice. Here is a picture from the inside. I installed a chain to keep it from hitting the house wall when opened and a new hasp lock.

October 7, 2025:

Alexa's house was built in the 1930s and although the electric has been updated, it definitely needs more electric circuits. There is only one outlet in the basement and that is for the furnace. There is no electric in the unattached garage. 

The main electric panel was full and actually it had some breakers with two wires on them. (Not allowed by code.) For more circuits we had to install a subpanel. I purchased a subpanel and today John got it installed. My help consisted of staying out of his way and holding the light on occasion. 

We need more circuit breakers for a line out to the garage and for installing outlets in the basement. I ordered the additional breakers.

October 9, 2025:

Daughter Annie and Granddaughter Wren flew in from Mountain View, California, for a couple of days. It is so great to see them. Annie wanted to help Alexa get the house ready.

October 10, 2025:

Earlier in the week Alexa and Aaron had removed all of the covers for the hot water heat fins and cleaned them. Annie helped reinstall them. She also helped Alexa with paint samples for the walls, and a few other chores. 

The house came with a refrigerator but no stove. I found a nice stove on Facebook Market PLace for $100.00 and once Alexa approved Kelly and I drove to Ste. Genevieve to pick it up. Upon picking it up we were told that the oven works perfectly but the door will not open up completely. I looked at it and clearly something was wrong but it didn't look too serious. We loaded it on the trailer and put it in the garage at Alexa's.

Thinking there was something wrong with the oven door hinges, I had been looking online on how to take the oven door off. In looking online I determined that I needed a model number to get the correct information for removing the door. We couldn't find a model number anywhere on the oven. I went back online and learned that the model number is on a sticker next to the storage drawer below the oven. This was the only place we had not looked. We immediately found the number and immediately noted that with the storage drawer partially open the oven door opened perfectly. There wasn't anything wrong with the oven door. The issue was that the oven door was binding on the storage drawer when it was closed. 

We pulled the storage drawer totally out and found that the drawer was off the track and that the track had been bent at some point. Apparently the drawer had been forced in on an angle creating a bind on the oven door. Here is a picture. You can see that the aluminum drawer runner was not in the track of the runner mounted on the stove. It was above it. This pushed the drawer up against the bottom of the oven door.

After pulling the storage drawer out it was a quick fix with a hammer and pliers to get the drawer slide "adjusted" and back in the track. 

The adjustable stove feet were rusted in place. With some "BP Blaster" and a wrench Annie was able to then remove the adjustable feet from the stove. We purchased liquid rubber to coat them so they won't scratch the newly finished floor when we install the stove.

A while back Kelly purchased a prime rib roast. Today Bob smoked it for us. Bob and Ronnie then came over and we all gathered for supper. We enjoyed the prime rib along with mashed potatoes and corn. Bob and Ronnie brought a blueberry crisp for dessert. It was all delicious.

October 11, 2025:

We had to get the refrigerator out of the house so they could refinish the floors. We had to take the front door off and the handles off the refrigerator to get it out and on to the front porch. Today we all met at the house and decided to move the refrigerator and stove inside while we had the manpower. After taking the front door off again both appliances then went in without a hitch. Kelly reinstalled the handles on the refrigerator and we let the refrigerator and stove sit on cardboard until Alexa gets the wall next to the refrigerator painted and we get the rubberized feet reinstalled on the stove. 

October 12, 2025:

Alexa painted the wall next to the refrigerator. We then relocated the stove plug so that it would be behind the stove, where it should be, rather than out in the room. We then moved the fridge and stove into their final positions. I made a wooden plug to fill the old hole in the floor where the stove outlet originally came up. I put a little stain on the plug and and then gave it a couple of coats of polyurethane. It looks okay and will be partially covered by a new baseboard.

We then decided to reinstall the garbage disposal. It had been frozen and would not turn. I had taken it home to work on it. I did get the motor to turn but I could only get the interior "chopping bars" to move in and out by prying each with a screwdriver. They should be loose to chop up food and throw it out the drain. No amount of oil or rust buster would make them work properly. I hoped installing it may loosen the cutters up.

Once the disposal was installed it was extremely loud and vibrated considerably. It was suggested that I put a bag of ice down it to see if that frees up the cutters. If not Alexa may need to spring for a new disposal in the near future.

After going in numerous directions on wall paint color, as you can see in these two pictures, Alexa picked a color for the living room and a different color for the bedroom. The colors she picked will brighten up both rooms.

Painting over the brown ceiling and walls will take two coats in each room. The ceilings are going to be painted "Ceiling White" to add more light in the rooms. She will start painting next week. She took my truck back to her apartment in St. Louis to bring a load of stuff down tomorrow morning.

October 13, 2025:

I purchased a bag of ice today, and, with only about a pound dropped down the disposal, all it did was crush the ice like a snow cone until it filled up the disposal and tripped its internal breaker. Time for a new disposal.

At noon Alexa arrived and unloaded more stuff into our basement. She then went over to the house to wash down the doors and woodwork. Next we will be reinstalling the quarter round which was taken up for the floor sanding. Painting and moving in should be soon.

This afternoon I had a Zoom call with Freedom's Pre-K Class in Tracey, California. I was to explain to four year olds what a judge does. I put on my robe and had my gavel handy. It was a little difficult to explain a judge's job to four year olds. LOL. They had great questions like: what was my favorite color, my favorite animal, my favorite food, etc. This was better than when I talked to high schoolers,. I would ask if they had any questions and they would all sit there like bumps on a log. Little kids are much more fun.