Welcome to everyone visiting from gardenweb.com.

We got the range fixed after while. Took a number of phone calls until a supervisor wouldn't pick up the phone anymore and managed to direct the right part to the house. I've calmed down so I'm not so hot to name names... okay, I'll give you the company's initials: Bray & Scarff.

We've been enjoying the kitchen, even hosted Thanksgiving this year. After dinner one of the guests told me he heard water dripping in the basement. Ha ha, funny guy.

Sure enough, all those potato peelings slipped past the disposal and clogged up the cruddy old return pipe, the one section of plumbing we didn't replace. Laundry sink overflowed. Took the Roto-Rooter guy 65 feet of cable to snake the thing out. It never ends.

We've been having trouble with the Thermador cooktop - there's a valve or something that's acting up and needs replacement. Fine. Problem is the service department of the store is handling this very poorly - for the second time they've ordered the wrong part, each time realizing the mistake the day of service (after Melanie's taken off work).

I'll be naming names once this has been resolved to our satisfaction - which may take a while. Incompetents.

Yesterday's Post had a fun article (registration required) about one reporter's quest to remodel his kitchen by himself, from scratch. We salute his courage, if not his misguided aversion to granite.

Steve came by on Monday and replaced the warped aluminum radiator covers with powder-coated steel. He cut all but a fraction of an inch of aluminum away, leaving a small frame around the opening. The new material is sandwiched between that and new quarter-inch cove molding.

We think it looks really good.

As Teddy KGB said at the end of Rounders, "Pay that man his money."

We woke yesterday to find a cicada husk in front of the refrigerator and an expired bug a few feet away.

Not making this up.

The new kitchen door is sealed up pretty tight - the current theory is the pre-emergent cicada crept under the front door, was transported by cat to the kitchen.

It took a couple of revisits to line up and edge a few of the tiles, but the new slate foyer is finished. It's a big improvement over the marble, and the stone isn't as rough on bare feet as we thought it would be. Now that the floor's a lot darker the ceiling feels like it's been raised a few feet.

The stone work was done by Vallefuoco Contractors, who we recommend.

Last Saturday we had guests over for the first time. The azaleas are in bloom and the weather's great, so we grilled on the back deck and set up picnic tables outside. Sure enough, the party ended up in the kitchen - which is why we started this project in the first place.

Almost done but the nail gun jammed. Stand by.