I just knew as we drove in to the Fox and Hounds Pub today that it wouldn't be a day I could plan for. Whatever happened would happen and we would simply make the best of it. The carpet was going in and that meant nothing would be ordinary.

My crew had worked hard in my absence, doing the things I had asked as best they could. While I would have preferred the carpet be delayed at least another week, the fact is it desperately needs to be installed so the pub would be a little more welcoming to the patrons who have been loyal through all the construction these past months. It is time to begin building the business back to what it used to be before the renovation began. We'll simply have to be careful as we do the last of the painting.

The dining room was stacked full of furniture and it was all but impossible to get through the room. There would be no work done in here.

In the pub area there was no furniture. The carpet layers were busy, doing the tough job of matching the carpet pattern and fitting the heavy carpet around all the posts. Then they stretched it out and cut it carefully around the many (non-straight) objects we had built around the room. It will be anoher day yet at least before they are done. We did our best to paint in areas they had not yet reached. I spent the bulk of my day applying the texture plaster to areas that had been modified in the renovation.

We had a busy and productive day. After supper I headed out to the shop once more to do some work on the signs in progress. I finished the horse's head sign and started the sculpt of the sleeping hounds on the big sign.

Tomorrow we'll do it all over again...

-grampa dan