A leaf fluttered in through the window this morning, as if supported by the rays of the sun, a bird settled on the fire escape, joy in the task of coffee, joy accompanied me as I walked. ~ a. nin

Dismantling the windows was quite a task. The old nuts and bolts were very rusty and quite obstinate about coming out. They seemed to be holding on with all their might. Refusing to leave their posts they have known for 57 years. I kept them all in a little bowl and will give them new life in another way. To complicate matters, the nuts were hollow, so trying to hold them with needle nose pliers just ended up squashing them and my fingers. It tooks weeks of soaking in CLR and PB Blaster, but I finally got out every single one. I think each window has about 20 parts. All shined up and polished now :)

PB Blaster is the most amazing invention ever

Have my work cut out for me

Sneaking into my apartment owner's workshop to use the vise to straighten frames

CLR. Lots of CLR.

What happens when you use too much CLR :(

And on the very last, very stubborn hollow nut...

puzzle time

New bolts, nuts and washers. So shiny :)

In order to rescreen, one must remove rivets. My least favorite task yet.

Rescreening! This was so easy and fun!

My new toy-Pop Rivet gun

First rivet. Ok, that was easy.

Yay! New screen #1!