Wednesday Surprises All Around

Our kitchen was to be finished by the middle of March.
Hahahahaha. Ha.

So on Wednesday April 22nd I was thrilled to get an email at work from Bernie saying "Wait till you see the kitchen tonight."

After looking at all our stuff on open shelving for over a month, I was soooo ready to see some cabinet doors!

Now the kitchen is still not done. It was to be finished today, but as usual, something came up with the contractor, so he couldn't make it.
Sigh.

There will be moulding at the top of the cabinets, and on the bottoms to shield the view of the under cabinet lighting. And there will be a panel in front of the sink.
And hardware-drawer pulls and all.

But hey...at least at last we have real doors on the cabinets now!

I'm crossing my fingers that tomorrow instead of a broom and contractor junk, I will have a real range and oven in that opening. And a refrigerator where the other junk is slouching around.
I dream of just reaching for milk in the refrigerator in the kitchen some morning, instead of trekking (through the snow usually...) to the garage to use the old refrigerator out there.

And I imagine that I will not have flattened boxes taped to the floor anymore, there to protect the finish from work crews and tools.

Here's a better close-up of the quartz counter top. Some of the flecks are almost a pumpkin-peach tone.
I picked just a simpled rounded "full bull nose" edge. I've already live with multiple reveals on counter edges, and grew weary of wiping each layer down to keep it free of dust and grime.

My kitchen sink control panel. Reading left to right: An insta-hot faucet, a dish soap dispenser, the faucet with pull out head, and buttons behind the head to shift between stream and spray water flow, then there is the handle (my friend Vicki got the same style faucet, but chose the version with the handle on the faucet. We both have good reasons for our decisions!) and finally the little button is the garbage disposal switch.

All nice and neat...I like it!

I brought home a sampling of cabinet hardware, not sure if we wanted to go with black to match the detail work of the doors, or polished stainless to match the appliances.
My chief criteria for selection: Can I slip fingers behind it without bumping my knuckles, and is the back of the handle smooth and solid.

Those two criteria eliminated a lot of choices right away.

The "winner" actually has worn edges on the top and bottom revealing copper highlights.

Our bedroom and bathroom woodwork has the same "worn" features.

Bernie and looked over all our choices and both of us instantly liked the look and feel of this one the best...and Bernie can even slip four fingers easily inside the handle.

The kitchen is at last taking real shape.

But the BIGGEST surprise of Wednesday was something completely unexpected.

The surprise began when I went out to my car on my way to work, and discovered a very happy Labrador retriever bouncing around our front yard. Since I was wearing light colored slacks, I raced to get into my car before the dog could jump up on me and ruin my outfit.

The dog had a collar and a tag, and seemed quite unperturbed, indeed, seemed quite happy with the morning romp. Safely inside my car, I rolled down my window and admonished the dog to GO HOME in my most authoritarian voice.

The dog just grinned up at me and continued to prance around.

I figured the dog must live nearby and headed off to work.

Shortly after I left, the contractor Clint arrived, opened the garage to unload the cabinet doors, and then opened the back door into the kitchen, and proceeded to bring in the woodwork.
The dog thought this was GREAT, and raced past Clint and into the house.

Once in the house the dog headed down the hallway to our bedroom, where Tiggie and Hart were taking their second morning nap. Clint raced down the hall after the dog, and arrived just in time to see the dog muzzle up to Tiggie.

Tiggie did what any brave orange mancat would do: He smacked that dog's face with his razor sharp claws, shredding and screeching at high speed.

The dog yelped, and turned to run, but Tiggie was faster than the dog.

Tigs JUMPED on the dog's back and proceeded to tear up the dog's back.

When the dog managed to shake Tiggie off, Tigs reached up with his paws and gripped the dog's hind leg and continued with his piston like claw work.

The dog was really yelping at this point and headed down the hall, with Tiggie in full pursuit.

Tiggie chased the dog down the hall, through the kitchen, across the deck, into the garage and out to the driveway, where the dog finally was able to make a full break away.

Tiggie then sat down, gave himself a couple of licks, glanced up at Clint with a "What are you looking at?" look.

Clint said he wished he had had a video camera as the whole drama would have easily won one of those Funniest Home Movies contests.

By the time I got home, Tiggie was strutting around the house with an expression of pride that we had never seen before.

He has a new name now.

We call him "Tiggie, the Toughest Faithful Orange Cat in Town."

Who knew he had it in him.

(Hart, by the way, magically disappeared from the bed and avoided the whole confrontation. No one knows exactly where he went, or how...he just wasn't there!)