Cinnamon, garlic, salt, pepper, corn bread, curry powder, coffee too

Today was the coda to our big floor-replacement project, the counter-replacement project we discovered was needed. Fortunately they didn't have to be done at the same time but we figured to go ahead and schedule both and that's how we got to having a very confused weekend, not sure how much stuff it was worth moving back into the kitchen and putting in place.

Last night after dinner I cleared off everything that was on the countertop. And, in a rare moment of clarity, cleaned out everything underneath the sink so the plumber could easily lift the sink out and, when the new counter was in place, set it back. Do you spot the thing that I forgot, and that bunnyhugger also forgot? Yes: it's that we also needed to take the drawers out of the cabinets. So that was something I was not part of, because today was an office day. If I'd had the courage to go in late I'd have been able to stay and let the plumber in; he arrived, I'm told, about ten minutes after eight o'clock, or about twenty minutes after I left for the office. Ah, but then who would have let him out and waited the hour or so for the counter guys to arrive?

That being at the office is also why I don't have in-progress photos, just (someday) pre-renovation and post-renovation pictures. Maybe bunnyhugger will have something for you.

It will not surprise you that the pipes underneath our kitchen sink were not up to code. Our house is more surprising when a thing is up to code. But something about the traps underneath were simply Not Done, although they were Done recently enough for the pipes to have been PVC. So they've been replaced with a trap that's based on a different letter of the alphabet and we'll worry about that no longer being code when we get the whole house's plumbing done sometime in early January or something.

A surprise to the counter guy: we had accepted the need to have the lowermost row of tiles torn out and be replaced by a backsplash. The floor tile guys --- the experts in this --- had told us last week that was needed. But somehow we failed to communicate that to them, so he arrived not knowing there'd be a need for a backsplash, which he didn't have. It turns out he was able to take the old counter off, and put the new on, without disturbing the tiles at all, so we have the three-inch tiles we like having back there and a new counter. And can see the sealant between counter and wall which, had it been there in the first place, would have let us stick with the old and uglier counter. The counter guy recommends we let it dry a couple days and then cover it with a layer of clear caulk and that seems reasonable enough a request.

Before the end of my workday, the counter guy and the plumber guys had finished their workdays, at least the ones with us. The new counter's in place and, wow, our whole kitchen looks stunningly brighter and bigger and much happier. Remaining tasks: cut the side door down to fit the now-higher floor, and get the cabinets sparkling white or else painted a different color.

Trivia: Halobacteria --- archaea (and not bacteria) that live in high-salt environments --- photosynthesize without chlorophyll, using instead a pigment called bacteriorhodopsin, chemically similar to the photopigments in human eyes. This sort of photosynthesis is not observed in any bacteria. Source: Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World, Nick Lane.

Currently Reading: Michigan History, November/December 2023. Editor Sarah Hamilton.