American ??? day 40

11,414 steps 

Yesterday I worked all day on home improvement projects: reglazing four French doors and sanding down an outdoor bench. I got through 16 of the 40 windows in the French doors. My back was so stiff after leaning over for so long. Five of the windows were broken, so I busted them out and cleaned out the old glazing. 

Last year I repaired the bottoms of these French doors--they had all rotted away. I highly recommend Abatron wood restoration products. LiquidWood is a 2-part epoxy wood hardener that you apply on all the rotted parts. Then once it's hardened, you fill everything in with WoodEpox, a 2- part epoxy wood filler. I like this stuff so much that I brought some to France, too. I sanded down the wood filler but haven't trimmed the bottoms yet, as you can see in the picture. 

Ivy and Zari helped with the sanding. The bench had been sitting, neglected, for 9 years. The paint had long fallen off and the bare wood was black with mildew. It was SO satisfying to sand it all down to bright, bare wood. Thanks to having the right tools (random orbital sander & oscillating multitool with a sander attachment), I was able to sand every surface down, including between every slat. 

Today I ombre dyed 4 yards of fabric with the remaining dye bath. It just came out of the dryer and will get turned into 4 ring slings. 

And I made a huge pot of split pea soup. 

And I found some time to read outside in the sun. I just finished a YA trilogy that Zari had checked out: Ashfall, Ashen Winter, and Sunrise by Mike Mullin. Fast-paced, gruesome, and highly entertaining although not a book to read right before going to bed if you are sensitive to sleep disruptions.