Oh Jasper how sweet thou art...

Let me introduce you to Jasper Sconce, the newest member of Retro Espresso. After being abandoned in Texas, his owners decided to post him on Craigslist for a new home. Thankfully, we found him.

He will be lighting the way to the front door for the baristas in the early mornings of winter when the sun isn't up yet... and in the evenings when the sun goes down early. We look forward to a long and faithful relationship.

My Chai - Coming soon to Retro Espresso!

Just so you all know, this is the best chai on the planet... except for maybe in India, but who's willing to drive that far for a cup?

I first found this delicious steaming organic nectar in Bend, Oregon. I spent the summer living with my best friend Tanley, working a graphic design internship, and a part time job at a coffee house, that served this chai. I was hooked from that day forward.

A few years later I found myself working a season down in Antarctica. While down there I bumped into a fellow chai lover (Brody you know I'm talking about you!), and told him all about it. And then low and behold guess what showed up in the mail for a Christmas present from my friend? Yup, you guess it, a well packaged bottle of My Chai. Holy smokes, that was the best present someone could get down on the coldest continent of the earth.

So now, present day, it's my turn to do the ordering! Finally!!! I've been waiting to open this espresso stand for years...

You're all gonna love this stuff.

Sugar's got a new floor!

So the preservation of the old floor became an unrealistic dream... So with the help of my parent's, we've installed a fresh subfloor and I've ordered some fancy pants linoleum to lay down before the cabinets go in. It's going to take a couple weeks for it to come into Moscow... But here's a sample of what it looks like:


It's called Herb Garden, how perfect is that???

The Sweet Pea Pod Update...

I want, I want, I want...

another trailer to fix up! Ain't this one a beauty? Looks like someone has been using it for a hunting cabin...

Workin double-time...

So, time is just flying by. I've been working every spare second trying to get the paint stripped off the Airstream. I'm finally done!!! Wooohooo!!! Now I just have to drill out all the rivet nubbins that are sticking up so I can get after the small spots of paint with steel wool and some lacquer thinner. As you can see the end caps (the rounded ceiling end parts of the trailer) are not metal, those are, in fact, fiberglass. So I've just sanded it down to the last layer of paint, having to go through many layers of other paint on the way, and I'll be painting back over it with a lovely color... and design.

And you can see that I still don't have the door stripped... I keep fogetting that part! Maybe I'll get to working on that tonight after I get off work at the museum...




The window at the rear of the trailer will be taken out along with the wall below it, so I can get in my larger equipment. Unfortunately, the fridge is too wide to fit though the door... and the soon to be bought ice machine might be to large also. I was thinking of leaving it a permanent access door... we'll see.



And the floor needs refinished and finished... as you can see, there are parts of the floor missing where it was put in around the existing cabinets... And in the back where the bathroom used to be, there is a huge section of soggy soft plywood that if you're unlucky you could put your foot through. So that'll need cut out and replaced... somehow. Wouldn't it be super lucky if I found a guy to date that knew how to do all this and also actually wanted to! :)

Primroses, daffodils, and tulips, oh my...

Mum got me primroses for my birthday, besides other goodies. So pretty.

The kitchen walls got put on hold for a few days while I worked on my parent's horse club calendar and dvd of last years rides. But with that all wrapped up now, I'm back on track with the kitchen sidetrack. Really I should be working on my Airstream, but that is a whole other story.

So here's the progress report on the kitchen (don't mind the mess):



Walls primed! With pretty tinted primer... This is what the actual paint color will be I'm pretty sure.



These fancy walls have grooves in them to make the wood paneling look like real wood boards. I know everyone has been fooled up until now when I just spilled the beans, but I thought it best to stop the charade. I'm plastering in the grooves and then am going to hand texture the walls. You all will be wowed I'm pretty sure.



And here's what's been letting the cold breeze in for the last... 40 or 50 years. There's a gap between the floor and the wall, that I think goes all the way to the crawl space under the trailer! Who would've thought... Today I'm going to the hardware store to buy some expanding foam to shoot in there. That should fix it.

And now, here's the big birthday lunch that you all missed out on. You really should show up for my birthday, you would eat really well. Salmon patties, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and angel food cake with raspberry icing.



There's Grandma Dotty with Bekah hoping for some handouts.



Pops chewing, Dwight wondering what that gunk is on his plate (he's partial to Cheerios and Macaroni and Cheese), Dave trying to show him that it's edible, and the cute little girl again.



The beautiful Mummer herself.



And dad just couldn't stop his heated discussion about who knows what, just to smile. The punishment, this picture. Ha!