7-year Itch? (Checking on Water)

I cannot believe it's been over 7 years since my water experiment started (First post about water effects). Over 2,640 days.

So it's time to check in and see how they are doing:

Day 1 of experiment

Day 2,640+

By far the worse for wear is the Scenic Water:

Pock marked and discolored slightly

Has dust on top of it too

Scenic Water birdbath is not only pock marked but it is also dusty. And I am unable to clean it because the surface is spongy so there's no wiping off the dust.

Next up we look closely at the Solid Water product:

Cloudy streaks have gotten worse with time

Although it is firm on top allowing me to dust it and keep it clean, the cloudiness streaking that happened on day 1 has continued to get worse over time.

And the Enviro Tex Lite product results:

Both Enviro Tex birdbaths are solid on top (allowing for ease of dusting and cleaning) and look fairly similar to the day they were poured. The painted birdbath fell and broke last year and I reglued the red mushroom ring back in place (see the cracks at 10 o'clock and 12 o'clock?) and you can see it didn't affect the water at all!

All of the products together (Enviro Tex top left, then Scenic Water top right, Solid Water bottom left, and Enviro Tex painted bottom right)

So here it is, over 7 years later, and I'm inspired to add a new water feature to my upcoming project (a fountain with a pond). Glad I know from this experiment which water product I should use!

Office Computer (or is it just an Office?)

When my neighbor, Chip, moved away several years ago I saw 2 things he was throwing out that I asked him if I could take. The first: a semi-beaten up old Craftsman tool chest which I converted into a Harley Davidson motorcycle garage. The second item was technically two of the same things: computer shells. The guts (motherboards and what-not) had been removed before Chip put them out in the trash. But I saw potential for a neat office building. I just didn't know what business would be operating in the office space. Then it hit me: a software gaming company!  Thus "Mini Boss Gaming" was born and construction started on their offices.

First I had to strip the computer console shells down to bare basic bones: there was still some remaining wires and metal supports inside and a CD drive that needed to be removed. Luckily my brother-in-law had a handy tool that made removing the odd screws a breeze (especially when he operated the tool so I had to do was stand there and watch! LOL).

The "Before" photos of the workers' cubicles and CEO's office side of the building

The "Before" photo of the receptionist/bathrooms/conference room side

Then, I hit a stumbling block: weeks were spent trying to sort thru the remaining wires to see if I could wire the dollhouse lighting inside the structure thru the computer's on/off switch (spoiler: I never got it figured out). So, after weeks wasted, I scrapped that and focused on new wiring.

I divided the office into 2 parts: one computer shell would have the bathrooms, the receptionist's desk at the entrance to the business, and a conference room; the other computer shell would be the CEO's office and the worker's cubicles side (the Office Side).

The office side of the building

I was very excited that the fan on the Office Side still worked! So I wired that to dollhouse wiring. In the photo on the left you can see the CD Drive has been removed, the space is more open, and the fan on the side of the shell has been reinstalled.

And the fronts of the computers had lights along the edges that also still lit up when I touched the wires to a transformer so I also wired those to dollhouse wiring. Although after doing so, one of the computer shell's exterior lights stopped working for some reason (maybe a different voltage? I'm not sure. But I had already wasted many weeks upon weeks on the wiring and still had to create walls, floors, etc.)

Like the Harley Davidson Garage, I cut foam board to be the majority of the walls. There were metal stubs and screws sticking out of the walls and foam board allowed for the inconsistent wall depths, thus creating a smooth finished wall that I could now paper with minimum disruption along the walls.

Bathrooms (Men's on 1st Floor and Women's on 2nd Floor),
Conference Room on 2nd floor, and receptionist/lobby area

One half of the "building" is underway! Bathroom doors and stalls need to be created and the Conference Room's window needs to be planned/constructed.  And the front door is just a wide opening at the moment, but it's progress. Next up, lights were added to the ceilings:

Light fixtures are in place

I still have a long ways to go. Wallpaper, flooring, trims, etc. still need to be found, created, and/or installed. And there is still the 2nd half of the building to be dealt with. But it's coming along....