"A pure hand needs no glove to cover it." - Nathaniel Hawthorne

That quote up there....did you ever play the card game, Authors? The four of us played it as kids and it was a great (and slightly tricky) way to teach about the great authors and the books they wrote. It's a card game and if you can find it...do!

Today's big project was picking up the new used fridge, getting it home and in MoHo, and then starting work getting the new base cabinets finished.
I called Josh, a BIG 15-year old who lives across the road (with his parents and sister) to help me get the fridge from the U-Haul into the house. It is HEAVY and it was work for the two of us. I had to take off the doors and hinges to get it through the front door which, in a vintage MoHo is only 31" wide. Then we loaded the old fridge into the truck and I took it back to the Habitat store where they'll recycle it as part of their service to buyers.
Yeah, I could have borrowed somebody's pickup but I decided the convenience of a ramp and an official appliance dolly was worth the expense of renting from U-Haul.

To Pam's chagrin it fits in the gap I created with 1/2" to spare on each side. Heh, heh.

I got the cabinets stained and will apply a couple of coats of tung oil tomorrow. Then I'll cut the butcher block to size, install it as a counter top, and season it with mineral oil
We should have the kitchen back by Tuesday.

There was some question about what might follow the death of our rooster, Spike. Chickens are noted for getting diseases that pass through a flock and kill all the birds. But here we are four days later and everyone is fine.
So....now we need a new rooster.
Marta, our goat mentor to the rescue. Their youngest daughter Emily is raising a flock of chickens and wants all pure Auracanas. They're the breed sometimes called the Easter egg chicken because they lay pastel-colored eggs. She has a rooster who is a mutt she needs to get rid of so she can control the breeding that happens. So we're helping her with that by taking "Sam" off her hands. Except we are going to rename him. He MUST have a new name.

Marta said he only has one eye. They think that's why he has an odd strut when he walks; it's a way for him to see what's on his right side where the eye doesn't work.
He simply MUST be renamed Cogburn! Immediately.

Our daughter Aubri and granddaughter Megan have taken up power lifting as a mother/daughter activity. Aubri and Josh have been very involved in fitness and were key members at their Crossfit gym before reorienting their priorities and taking the fitness routines out to their well-equipped garage.

Today they both competed in an event in Phoenix put on by ... I'm not sure. Some organization that sanctions weight lifting.

"Powerlifting" is an event that consists of three attempts each at three different kinds of weight lifting - squat, bench press, and deadlift. Add your heaviest lift from each of the three and that's your "score."

Aubri finished second in her age/weight class and Megan...! She set state records in all three lifts and got first place. Aubri lifted a total of 661 lbs. and Meagan lifted a total of 534 lbs.
They both trained very hard for this going back weeks. I'm proud of them (like I had anything to do with it!) and pleased for Megan and the sense of worth that must come with her accomplishment. We live in a culture that puts way too pressure on teen girls to live up to an unreasonable and unhealthy set of standards. I wish you could know Megan. She is bright, sweet, and despite the normal adolescent girl-isms she completely lacks the affected mannerisms and fascination with celebrities or the shallowness of this age. I'm proud of all of our children and our grandchildren. On this day I'm especially proud of our daughter and granddaughter.