Done! So now is the time to panic.
But yesterday i sanded the floor and put the final coat of urethane on. You can see my floor sander... which is really a third-sheet orbital finish sander which i taped onto that upside down rake, and then taped a pop bottle filled with water to that for weight. Yes, it worked amazingly well. I actually bought an air powered "DA" sander yesterday (stands for Dual Action, which is random orbital -- the pad does a wobbly orbit motion, but can freely spin, that's where Dual comes in) but took it back immediately, thinking how i could totally do without. And i'm glad i did. I can't think of how i'd have taped a DA sander to a pole like that.
And the floor looks pretty good. Now that it's done, i wish i had sanded it first, which would have added hours of intense work, and dozens of dollars of cost, but would have resulted in a floor that is actually flat. And ever so slightly less stained, but the discolorations and stains are deeper than the 2 or 3 millimeters i'd be able to sand off. But it would have been flat. Oh well, regrets. And there's still specks and nubs in the finish from dust and bugs and dog hair. Again: oh well.
I can't move furniture onto the floor yet since it's only been 15 hours. The clock is ticking down though. My lovely Karen and children get home tomorrow evening. I'm scared i won't be done. But so happy that i'll see them soon! The only thing i can do,then, since the back yard is ready for things only truck hauled trailers can bring (sod and shredded bark), is, um... play STALKER, maybe??? :) Nah, i'll clean the kitchen and fix a pipe. Not that kind... the kind which hold water.