The DisFort's Chit Chat Cafe

@Teamubr yes I recall the conversation about that (and was there at the removal night). I do spent a lot of time outdoors, though try to wear a hat often and use sunscreen. Not 100% effective, though doing what I can.,

@tiggerdad & @4077 - My full body check is in April. My dr only started to recommend I get that scheduled recently. Yet said if I could get an earlier appointment for my face to do so since the spot changed.

So far its healing up well. I been alternating between allowing it to be open air with some neosprin on it, and other times covered with a small bandaid. This weekend we went to visit Melissa's side of the family and keeping it covered around a nearly 5 month old and a 3 year old was the better idea.

We just got back home today from that visit and had a blast, wish we had more time but the girls are going to see TSO in DC with their fathers side of the family. Sadly neither Chris nor Kate are playing at those shows. Though if anyone went to see TSO at Hershey, Wilkes-Barre, Newark, or Philly you saw my BIL Chis on viola or chello.

We had some matching going on this trip with little Cora.

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All the kids our teens and their littles.
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Biopsy results are in. Positive for basal cell. They are recommending a mohs micrographic surgery to address the area and reiterated it was good that I was proactive in having it checked out.

Still processing this information, however, I am glad it was caught early.
 

Thanks @Teamubr so far all I have done is call the first recommeded practice and leave a message. Guess I will find out after Christmas.

Other updates. Bug's eye is slowly healing and she does react to movement around it pretty well so I think her vision is improving in that eye. We have another week of eye drops to continue and go back to the specialist mid January.

And some good news!!! I got a call from the RV dealer yesterday. The issue with my slide has been addressed and fully covered by Grand Design. They replaced some bolts that hold the RV structure to the chassis with larger sized bolts. And then drilled and replaced the broken slide screws. I have an appointment to pick it up next Monday the 30th and take it home.

Looking forward to getting it home.
 
It has finally begun! Since we started working on mounting the puzzle in May, with lots of life events and other distractions. We finally got to work on it.

This took a lot of thought and planning. My original plan was to use the brown hardboar panels I used to store the puzzles. However, those panels are stupid heavy and hard to manuver. So we thought about it some more and considered several options and finally found out we could by foam backer board used to frame puzzles and larger prints. It even has an heat activated adheasive surface on one side.

With that planned out it was time to add some 1x4 strips to attach the puzzles to. This allowed me to hit all the studs without having to worry about that for the puzzles. It also lifts the puzzles off the wall to clear some electrical outlets the lower row will cover. We are ok with this...we think.

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We tested the heat activation and without a massive 45k dollar heated vacuum press it was impossible. So we decided to use 3m spray contact aheasive to glue the puzzles to the foarm boards. Now while this stuff says use in a well ventalated area they mean use inside a paint booth or outside. We could not use outside due to the rain, so we tried to ventalate the basement. I can report a window fan bringing in fresh air on one side of the basement was NOT enough to push out the fumes. Lets just say when I was done with the glue tonight I should refrain from driving till morning.

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After a few of the boards had been glued we started to hang them in order to figure out final measurements and make sure our calculations where on par.

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The 3rd strip in the middle will give the final trim something to purchase and tighten up the panels so they feel less floppy on the wall. We are making the panels sit tight to each other and covering the seam with trim rather then tryng to attach each puzzed togeter. We took a lot of care to make sure everything stayed level and lined up.

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As you can see the top row is going well. It took half a day of measurements, triple checking and tons of preparation for this, yet the final product defitely shows the quality of that.

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With the top row complete and short on some wood ( I did not origianlly plan that 3rd strip in the center). We called today a sucess and finished gluing and preparing the panels for the bottom row. I have to go pick up the RV in the AM, then make a run up to MD to bring back my friends golf cart and help him migrate all his data to his new PC. So on the way hiome I will pick up the last of the wood and the trim pieces we need so we can put up the bottom row and start paointing the trim I am going to use to hide all the seams.

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That's 22.5' of puzzle. Of course now that we are doing this, I been starting to think about what I would like to do to my office. Maybe some paint, new carpeting, etc.
 
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Day 2 of working on the panels. After 24 hours of the first panels being up we noticed they where bowing out in the center. So first thing we did was work to correct that by using command strips to help hold them to the center strap. We used 3 pairs of velcro on the first test and it accomplished what we wanted. So we continued removing each panel and fixing that issue.

After that was done we ate some dinner and then got to work in the lower backing strips. This time I had help from our youngest making sure I had everything lined up and level.

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Took some measuring and planning and some work go get around the outlets without removing them.

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With the backing strips up we got to work setting the next row up. We had to stop after 2 panels as we ran out of command strips (I did not feel like running out to get more tonight, we can make that run tomorrow.). This was our parting shot with our new helper.

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Tomorrow we plan to get the reamaining panels up, and then we are going to seal them as one unit with mod podge. After that the trim will finish it all up. This has already take no less then 6 runs for materials, and I am sure a few are left.
 
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Thanks Spencer! It has been a 4 year process with us starting the first puzzle duirng covid. We been planning this for my office since Spring 2024.

And for those of you who are not friends with me on FB, last Saturday 12/28 marked our 5th wedding anniversary. Melissa and I had a great day together starting with a couples massage, then some winery visits and wrapping up with an amazing dinner. We reflected on the our last 5 years married, 7 years together and even past 5 year blocks of time and their impact on our life.

Looking forward to many more years with her.

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Day 3 working on hanging the puzzle. We got the remaining puzzles up on the wall!!!

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We then took up the task of mod poge over the entire puzzle. This should seal up the puzzle face and add another layer to ensure the puzzle stays put. It took shy of two bottles to cover the whole puzzle. I applied it with a foam roller making sure to get a good even coat. Melissa followd up with a plastic trowel to ensure a smooth coat and press the glue into all the crevices.


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We are considering a light coat of acrylic clear coat on top of this. Though in the mean time I need to start up the diesel heater in the garage and start painting some trim so it can get installed.

After all this work we where rewarded with a smoked prime rib I had on the pellet grill, with lots of delicious sides. Jessica made us dessert and now I am just waiting for my sugar high to subside before I head up to bed. Tomorrow I get back to work during the day and start painting the trim in the evening.
 
James, I think you mentioned this room with the puzzles now on the wall functions as your office. Please TELL me you're not going to cover up any part of these by pushing a bookcase up against it or your work desk to block the full view.

I was aware that you had worked on more than one large puzzle but not aware of how MANY the two of you actually put together. Remarkable.

Great job (glad they all fit).

ED

PS - now question is, are you going to continue doing the large puzzles or have you run out of wall space and going to stop?
 
@bama_ed Absolutely not, nothing will cover the view. My sit/stand desk is middle of the room, right now the puzzles are a backdrop if I am at my desk. Though I am considering spinning it around so I can see it.

PS: Yes this was a large undertaking and this is the only wall that could accomodate this puzzle. I cannot say for certain that we wont find another 40k piece puzzle to do (there is another disney one out there after all)

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That one would likely have to be epoxied into the floor ro something. But for now we are sticking to smaller 1k piece puzzles that we take apart and box up for another time.
 





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