My latest project....

Aside from being an eyesore, this old, beat-up medicine cabinet  was placed too high on the wall. I could only see the top half of my head.  For the last year or so I've been thinking of replacing the cabinet with a mirror.

Last week I decided to drive to Cave Spring and check out the antique stores to see if I could find  a decent price on a mirror sized to fit (cover the hole plus extend more toward the sink).  I found this one for $20, and snapped it right up. I wasn't crazy about the frame, but that didn't matter because I had other plans for it anyway.  The mirror is good and has beveled edges, which is nice.

Came home and sanded off the old finish and gold leaf trim, then played with it a bit.  First, I put a wash of leftover blue paint on it and scuffed it up some when it dried, but that looked too white.  So, I put a wash of leftover green paint on it, then scuffed it up some more.  Actually, I did a good bit more after this photo was taken.  I wanted it to look old, and it does.

So, this morning I tackled getting it on the wall.  Naturally, the old cabinet did not come out easily -- the screws holding it in place didn't want to budge and I had to pry the last one out, but I got it out.

This probably isn't necessary, but it can't hurt and it gives me some small sense that it'll keep critters from coming through the hole.

And -- here it is!  Too bad that ugly cord has to be there, but  there is only one electrical outlet in the room and it's too  high for me to reach to plug and unplug, so it stays.  The discerning eye might notice that it's not centered on the vanity, but neither was the original, and the hole had to be covered.  I would have placed it lower on the wall, but again, it barely covers the hole at the top.  Someday, if and when this room ever gets a facelift, all this can be solved.  For now, I'm happy to have a real, usable mirror here.

It's been a tough week....

First tornadoes, then the joy of spending a day in meditation, friendship and food, followed by the death of  little Sassy.  My emotions are all over the place.  So I thought it was time to look at what's happening here in the house, once more.

Yesterday while I was at work the man came and sanded down the floor in the back room then put on the first coat of what was supposed to be low-odor polyurethane.  When I got home, even with the doors to the room closed, the house reeked of the stuff.  You need to remember that this is an organic, chemical-free environment and I'm not used to this kind of thing.  I set about opening doors and windows and putting exhaust fans in windows and the worst of it seemed to dissipate.  Even now, though, I can still smell it and he's coming back today for the second coat of three or four.  Egads!  Wish I could just live someplace else for a week or so until it's over with. Or better yet, wish I'd opted to just let him sand it then use a low-odor water-based poly -- although, there's no way to know if that would smell any better.

However, I think I'm going to like the final results.  Here are some hints of things to come.

Before -- some serious spots of wear and lots of general wear.

After the first coat -- smooth and lovely. 

It'll be nice.  It really will.  I keep telling myself that through the fume headache and burning eyes.

I know you think I'm kidding....

...but I'm serious when I say this back room redo might kill me.  I almost electrocuted myself this morning when I was applying spackle around an electrical outlet.  I guess my putty knife slipped and hit one of the screws inside the box, but I couldn't swear by that.  All I know is that there was a loud pop, I jumped, and when I opened my eyes sparks were flying all across the floor.  The metal blade of the putty knife had a 1/4 inch chunk out of one corner.  Not a good way to start the day, but it sure woke me up!  Fortunately, no harm came to me from the incident, although I had to get James to install a new plug when he did the rest of that room today.

Aside from that -- we're still making progress.  The closet is finished, aside from sanding when it's dry.  I thought James would do that, but he didn't seem too inclined so I guess I'll have to, and that won't be pretty.  I don't do well when it comes to sanding above my head, so it probably won't be a very good job but it's a closet, people. I can only apply so much angst to the issue.  James also put the window stop trim in place, and that looks good. I primed some of the woodwork so at least I feel I accomplished something.  There's more spackle to be applied here and there and more priming, then I can start painting the color on it.

The room suddenly is taking on a whole new life.  Getting the white over most of the wood lightened the room  much more than I expected and my heart takes a small leap when I walk into it now.  I'm at the point where I can see it coming together and I want to do nothing but continue -- but I can't.  I must work tomorrow, and I only have so much energy.  Still -- it's happening.

I even managed to get a bit of compost sifted and into the new raised beds today.

More Progress....

New plumbing! Not completely, of course -- just the drains, but the rest of it is OK, for now.  I should have no more issues with drainage of any kind. Best of all, that ugly mess behind the washer is gone.

 Before -- old pipes, old, too-short blinds. They wouldn't go any lower than this.

After -- washer now fits farther back into the space, is nicely balanced, and while you can't really see them, new blinds that actually cover the entire window.  Imagine that!

The men who did it were great -- good southern 'boys' who actually cleaned up after themselves fairly well, for men and for plumbers.  Nice local family that's been in the business for years, came highly recommended.

So -- one more major chore out of the way on the long road to making this house a good retirement home.  When you think about it, I've actually accomplished quite a bit over a period of nine months.  All the yard work, roof ventilation, replaced some dry rot at one end of the front porch, two new and one rehabbed window, old insulation out and new insulation in, vapor barrier down, a new heater, new washer, new cooking stove and now, new plumbing.  The goal is to work a couple of years and earn enough money to make all this rehab possible, so I can relax and try to live on social security.  I think I'm well on the way to that end.

So -- the sun is out and life is good.

Progress!

Before -- heater

After

What we found when the cover was removed -- tons of ashes and debris, part of which I'd already scooped up here.  The cover was replaced, of course, after the vent hole was covered.  Interestingly, he used his lighter to see if there was an air draft in the chimney, and it didn't budge. Something up there is stopping it up, as suspected, and caused the gas smell in here.  We stuffed some insulation up in there anyway, to be extra sure there were no drafts.

This was more of an effort than any of us thought it would be, but then, everything in this house turns out to be more than I ever think it will be.  Story of life in old houses.  They had a hard time getting the pilot lighted, and I hope it doesn't go out because I don't know if I'll ever get it re-lighted if it does.  Not going to worry about that now.  I'm not too impressed with the 'thermostat', which is just a knob with High -Lo settings and lots of gradations in between.  Not my idea of a thermostat.  But, the thing is made by Buck Stoves in South Carolina and carries a 5-year warranty, so I'm sure it'll be fine.

Before -- ceiling fan and heater

After

I really do like the white ceiling fan better, and I like it lower.  Eventually, I'll get a light kit for it, but that wasn't necessary right now.  I need to to move the warm air away from the ceiling, rarely use the ceiling light anyway.  And yes, I do like white and light, although this photo is a little 'whiter' than the real room. 

Since the afternoon is warm and balmy, haven't tried the heater other than long enough to know that it works.  I doubt that I'll be using it much for awhile, other than on mornings when I don't go to work, or maybe even mornings when I do go to work if it's cold enough.  But then, it's set to lowest position, so it'll come on and off when it feels like it.  I'm glad it's here.  One more bit of stress out of the way.  Odd that I don't feel any less stressed.  In time, surely. 

The kitten was righteously discombobulated by all the activity in the house, even though she was closed off in the bedroom while it was happening.  She's still stalking around uncomfortably.

A Window At Last -- and a Little Neighborhood Excitement

At last, I have a window!  It fits, it goes up and down from the top and bottom, and it locks.  Guess that's about all you can ask of it.  I never thought to paint the little strip of wood at the top, so that will have to be done, and there'll be a little more touch-up once the stop trim goes in, so I'll do it all at once. But, this is certainly going to keep the cold air out.  The side pieces are odd -- they were hard to 'snap' into place on the brackets, and at least one of them keeps popping off.  I'm going to call the Jeld-Wen customer service tomorrow to ask about that.  The top sash is a little hard for me to move, but doable, certainly, and I won't need to worry about that until next summer anyway.  I've peeled the film and stickers off the inside, but will have to wait to do the outside until the storm window comes off, which should be next week.  They didn't have time to deal with it today, and it wasn't crucial.  They got the window in and the heater lighted, and those were the main things.

See, it works!

While we were in the back room working on the window, another drama was unfolding in front of my house.  As we went back into the living room I looked out and saw this big coach stopped.  Apparently, they'd tried to turn this behemoth into the little street that intersects my street, and it wouldn't make the turn.  Duh!  I don't think it would have taken a rocket scientist to figure that out!  As we watched, they started it up and carefully back-tracked the way they'd come, and our attention went to my heater. Then -- one of the handymen went outside and saw that this thing had apparently bottomed out in a driveway down at the other end of the street and was stuck.  I'm not sure what driveway it was, probably that patch of concrete to the right of the coach.  We couldn't figure out why he'd tried to pull into that narrow driveway anyway.  Clearly, he wanted to turn around, but there's a small shopping center with a big parking lot just another driveway down from where he'd pulled in.

I didn't have the camera outside at first, but what they did was hook a chain or something to the back of this pickup and the back of the coach, and between the pickup pulling and the coach presumably in reverse, they got it unstuck and into the position shown in the first photo.  Eventually, they backed it all the way out into the main drag, with someone flagging traffic, and it went on its merry way.  What we couldn't figure out is what this thing was doing in this neighborhood in the first place.  That coach cost more than any four or five houses around here put together. Wonder if it was a case of GPS run amok?  I've heard tales of people ending up in very strange places while following GPS.  We all felt sorry for the people who owned it -- although we certainly didn't mind giggling and offering up opinions.  Half the neighborhood was out watching -- the last thing this interesting that came down this street was the moving van that moved me in.  All the little Mexican kids were fascinated by that, too. Not a lot ever happens around here, which is a good thing.

Starting work on back room

I made a concerted effort to straighten and organize the back room this morning, so I can work in it.  The stacking boxes were a find from work, where they were going to be tossed.  Full of sandpaper and all kinds of small stuff.  I need a better gauge drop cloth, considering how long I'll be working in this room, but this is what I had, so this is what I used.

All the new window stuff is ready for installation, thank goodness!  I spent an hour or so working on those fine bits of trim between the glass and the flat wood on the wooden window this morning. Now that the other window is done -- or at least, as done as I can make it -- I need to concentrate on this one so I can get it finished in the next few weeks.  The flat trim all around can wait, but the sashes and the inside of the window frame have to be sanded and painted.  Then, I get to remove the side trim, clean out the weight cavities, put some insulation in the cavities, and re-thread the above sash to one set of weights so it's functional before I put the trim back on.  At that point, I'll be ready to concentrate on finishing the trim and sill.

Believe it or not, I'm back to using Citristrip on this window. My problems with it were of my own making.  It's a good product and does the job.  You can bet I'll be sure to get it all off before it dries, however.  The paint on this outer sill just wasn't budging with a scraper, and it's too narrow a space to get the sander into, so this was the best answer I could come up with.

Part of all this organizing meant clearing clothes and stored stuff out of this closet.  Some of it went into the blanket chest in my bedroom, some into the deep, dark back recesses of my lower kitchen cabinets (way too hard to reach to use for anything but storage), and into the bedroom closet which also had to be cleaned out.  I don't have a place to put the roll of insulation where the kitten can't reach it, so I guess it'll stay where it is for now.  I'll use it to insulate the window cavities, and probably also to insulate other windows in the house for the winter.  There was a purpose for clearing this out, other than to keep stuff dust-free.  Once the windows are finalized, my plan is to begin my rehab work in the closet.  For one thing, it'll be nice to see one small area completed, plus I know that if I leave it to the end I might be tempted to say 'forget it'.  The walls here are the original old plaster, cracked and funky.  I think I'm going to wallpaper it. Really want those folding doors painted white, too, but can't wrap my brain around actually doing it.

Began my day with a visit to the local hospital at 7am to get some blood drawn and an EKG, for diagnostic and preventive reasons as part of my annual physical.  I've just finished lunch and now I'm going to bake some chocolate chip cookies.  There's a big event in town this Saturday -- the annual Fall Festival -- and our cemetery committee has a BBQ booth.  I offered to help bake cookies, about 100 in total.  Fun, and the cool weather is great for using the oven.

Progress.....

The results of this week's work.  And no, my walls did not turn yellow overnight.  I tried to correct the photo a bit so you could actually see the window frame, and the yellow came along with it.  I don't have Photoshop, people!

I'll say it again -- sure beats two hours in the gym!  And lest you think the exercise value isn't the same, let me disabuse you of that notion.  Constant motion, using the same muscles and using pressure, akin to using hand weights.  Proof of that is that I was able to use the scraper for most of those two hours today, a remarkable improvement.  The good thing about consistent exercise is that eventually you'll build both strength and muscle endurance, and I've clearly done that.

But more than that, for the moment, is that I'm almost finished getting paint off this thing.  What's left is being very recalcitrant and may call for the power sander.  I'll work more on the side trim in a couple of days, but the paint on the inner edges simply does not respond to the scraper or much of anything else.

Nice little pile of scrapings from the morning's efforts -- although it spreads far and wide and this is merely what I could sweep up from the immediate area.  I don't know much (anything?) about paint scrapers in general, but this one requires a good amount of pressure on the knob, as well as either pushing or pulling with the handle.  I think that's what makes it so tiring.  But, I certainly see the results of my efforts quickly and that's very satisfying.

Put a second coat of Kilz on the Citristrip stain this morning, and this may have done the trick.  I can see a bit of pink, but very little.  To be on the safe side, I'm going to give this another couple of days to dry then try one more coat before doing the final prep for painting.  I'll just have to hope that the paint remover left in the wood isn't going to eventually make this flake off, but the tech at Citristrip has chosen not to answer that question so I'm just going to punt.

I'm also ready to get the furniture out of this room, as soon as I can find some help.  Time to get serious with sanding, but the main reason is that in the living room I'll be able to flop down on the sofa to watch TV and movies, which I'm really looking forward to.  I've been putting this off until the weather cools because that room gets the brunt of the afternoon sun, but as long as the nights stay cool that shouldn't be a problem.  I haven't had to raise and lower my windows daily for a couple of weeks now, despite 90-95 degree days, simply because the cooler night air keeps the house cool all day.  The down side of this house staying cool, of course, is that it's also harder to heat in the winter, for some reason.

My plans for the rest of this day are to rest.  I have a DAR meeting at 4pm which I feel obligated to attend, and I'll need at least a little bit of energy for that.

It All Began When....

After the last two posts I've been thinking quite a bit about my interest in health and nutrition and natural healing methods. This morning, as I was scraping away at the window, I started searching back to find the earliest known seed for all this.  The first one I can be certain about happened while I lived in Germany, from ages 16 to 18, more or less.  For two years, anyway, one of which was my senior year in high school.

I remember reading a news item about using hypnosis for childbirth, as opposed to drugs.  This was somewhere around 1960, before Lamaze came along and when women were routinely knocked out during the final stages of childbirth and missed the whole process.  It was a lengthy article, discussing how it was better for both the mother and child since neither had the drugs in their system.  Right then, I decided I was going to use this method when I had a child.

I married in 1961, had my first child about 11 months later.  Right off, I sought and found a doctor in San Jose, California, where we lived at the time, who used this method, and began the lengthy process of learning how to make this happen.  At first, he hypnotized me himself, but he then taught me self-hypnosis and made me practice it at home, since I'd have to do it myself during most of labor, since he couldn't reasonably be by my side the whole time. In the end I couldn't do it by myself. It worked great while he was with me, but I couldn't do it alone.  I didn't have any drugs, however, other than a tad of ether or some anesthesia at the final moments when somebody clapped a mask over my face.  I begged for drugs, certainly, but through some bit of evil that lurked in his head the doc wouldn't approve them, since I'd said I didn't want them and, I guess, I wasn't allowed to change my mind. I never quite forgave him for that.

This same doc became my kid's doc, and I learned a few things from him that have stayed with me during all the intervening years.  First of all, he told me not to worry too much about sterility around the baby (sterility was the trend back then), because the child needed to be exposed to some bugs so he could build an immunity.  Cleanliness, certainly, but not sterility.  I used that method for both kids and have never ceased using it for myself.  One of the basics of good health is a strong, healthy immune system that can fight off nasty bugs that attack, and to do that it needs exposure to bugs of all kinds.  My body does a pretty good job of that, for the most part, and I don't use any anti-bacterial products, shun them religiously.  I've worked in banks and other places handling money (filthy stuff) and interacting closely with people, but never got sick.

The only exception I made to that was last year when I had MERSA.  Once the first round of antibiotics was over, the bug came back in a slightly different location.  At that point, as much to protect my co-workers as myself, I bought, carried and used all kinds of hand-cleaning anti-bacterial products.  Yes, I also took all the strong sulphur antibiotics they would give me, happily.  MERSA kills, especially the elderly and like it or not, I'm in that category.  Sort of. Not sure exactly where or how I got the MERSA, but it manifested right after I returned from a 4-5 day trip to Cedartown to check things out.  It could have been present anywhere -- airplanes, airports, but I think it more likely that it was in the hotel I stayed in for those days.

The other thing I learned from him was using food for medicine.  I frankly admit that it irritated me at the time, because I'd call with a cranky infant with some kind of tummy ailment, and the doc would tell me to scrape a raw apple, let it brown, then feed that to the baby.  Well, as you might imagine feeding anything to a screaming baby doesn't work very well, plus I didn't always have an apple on hand.  There was something about the chemical process of turning it brown that worked for tummy issues, although any further details have long since fled.  And in case you wonder, this man was an MD, not a quack of any kind.

When I moved to San Francisco in 1968 a co-worker introduced me to Adele Davis.  I bought and devoured her book "Let's Eat Right to Keep Fit", changed my dietary habits, took supplements as needed, and in general became a devoted disciple, reading the book over and over and letting all that info soak into my head and way of life.  I may still have that book, although it was falling apart from use and I may have decided to let it go.  So that's the genesis of how I feel about health and nutrition and natural medicine.  Goes back a loooong way!

OK -- enough of the soapbox for today.  In case any of you are wondering, work does continue on the windows, albeit very slowly.  The Citristrip people told me to use oil-based Kilz for that particular problem, and everybody says to let it dry out really well before I do so.  I have the Kilz, but have decided to wait until maybe Tuesday to use it.  The other window, above, is coming along, too.  I didn't show a 'before' photo, but you can see that the amount of brown is growing larger.  It's really hard for me to scrape the paint, and sometimes the scraper just doesn't do any good anyway, but I do use it a little bit almost daily.  Once I've decided I can't scrape any more off, I'm going to cover everything up in the room and break out the power sander again. I want to be able to do it all at once, since it makes such a mess. The side trim pieces have to come off and I'll do those outside, eventually.

In recent days (weeks?) I've been concentrating on the detail trim of the upper pane, where there are grooves and such that have to be done by hand. Much of this paint is literally fused into the wood and to get it off I have to remove some of the wood.  Good thing it's not a veneer!  Most of it is cleaned and sanded, although I'm still having issues with the part along the top, shown here.  It's really awkward and hard to reach but like the rest of it, I'll get it done one small step at a time.  I spent an hour or two this morning on it -- all standing on the ladder, which is really  uncomfortable.  My body doesn't twist and turn that way as well as it once did.  Yeah, I guess I'm whining, but so be it.

I think I've done about all I'm going to do with this today.  I took yesterday off completely, my body just needed rest.  Refer back to the 'elderly' part, above.

I have some Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye Beans soaking for some Senate Bean Soup -- yummy!

World's cutest kitten

This is a 'real time' photo, folks.  As I was writing this blog entry I turned around and found this sight behind me.  How in hell did she ever get into that position for sleeping?  Looks like she was playing and just got suddenly tired and rolled off the cushion, or something.  Hard to say. I was laughing so hard I'm surprised the camera stayed steady.  She drives me crazy at times, but she also makes me laugh out loud at times, and that's a rare event in this life!

Didja miss me?  Haven't done anything of note since the weekend, but thought I'd check in anyway.  Still struggling with the Citristrip issue -- emailed them this morning instead of calling again, hopefully someone will answer.  Someone suggested I try Kilz, which I may do, but I'm already using a stain-blocking oil-based primer, so am not sure Kilz would work any better.  I thought I'd ask the experts again before I do anything else.

Just returned from a huge lunch down at the southern buffet here in town.  Lots of food for a reasonable price, and I made the most of it.  Haven't felt well today, didn't feel like cooking.

For awhile now -- a year or so, I guess -- I've been having some nights when I can't sleep.  I always excuse it by saying I am just 'wired' for some reason, although there is rarely a real reason for such a state.  I go to bed as usual, but am wide awake and can't sleep.  Last night I got up and read for a couple of hours and finally admitted what I've seen in the past but have been trying to ignore.  When these nights happen, my heart is racing like crazy.  I'm used to that -- have had issues with heartbeat regulation for over 30 years now but it's not something I worry about as it's rarely evident, as long as I take my beta blocker.  These nights seem to be coming more often, although there are still weeks and maybe months in between.  I've been tired and headachy all day.

And no, I'm not going to the doctor for tests.  My philosophy on such things is not the norm.  If I should get cancer, for example, I'm not going to go the chemo or other unpleasant routes to try and gain a few more months of life, or even a few more years.  If this heart issue is changing and/or getting worse and it kills me, so be it.  I care more about quality of life than quantity of life.  I don't want surgeries or treatments that make me feel worse than I feel without them.  As a practitioner of Buddhist philosophy I have no fear of death.  I have no wish to be alive if I can't live life to the fullest, do the things I want to do.  Things like this certainly give me pause, make me think about the meaning of it all, but only reinforce my philosophy and wishes on the subject.  Not even sure why I brought it up!

This is my grandmother's sister, and her husband.  Somebody has piled up dirt too deeply in front of the monument so I can't read the death dates, and I wasn't comfortable trying to move the dirt away, or any of the flowers.  This is an old plot in the newer section of the cemetery, and it's large enough for another grave or two besides these.  I'm still looking for my Perry ancestors who are supposedly buried in this place.

Last night I decided to go to the dairy in Rockmart after work and stop back by the Spring Creek Cemetery for a look at the 'newer' section, since it was sort of on the way.  Despite Mr. Google's map, I didn't exactly take the express route through the back roads, but I got where I needed to go.  For the most part, the 'new' section was too new for my purposes, and I didn't go back to the old section because I checked it thoroughly on the last visit.  I'm sure they are there, just unmarked as so many are.

I found a handyman to work with, so as soon as I can get this window/Citristrip issue resolved and the window painted, we'll schedule a time for him to come over and take care of my short list of chores for fall. I'm hoping to be able to have the money to tackle larger projects next summer: kitchen and bathroom, primarily.  I can do a lot of the work, but certainly not all of it.  I can't do all the kitchen, either, so I'm still trying to work out a good compromise between what I have and what I want. 

Spent an hour or two this morning sanding the 'other' window in the room and made good progress.  I didn't have the full energy to do as much as I'd like, but any day that I can make even a little progress on this job is a successful day, far as I'm concerned.  I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the day!

Almost Ready!

Remember this?

And this?

I'd gotten the lower sash out, but couldn't budge the upper one, so a friend came over and between us we agreed that he would take off the two side sash trims so I could get to the weights as part of what I thought was going to be a detailed rehab of the window.  Over the many decades, all kinds of crud had gathered in the cavities.

If you've followed this saga, you've seen the efforts to remove paint (some successful, some less so) and other little challenges that arose during the process.  And you'll know I've ordered replacement sash inserts for the window, which will leave the existing window structure in place.  I worked all morning and almost have it together.  Almost.

A little Dap'll do you!

Before.

After.  Most of this will be covered by the new 'frame' and by the 'stop' trim that's yet to go on.

Before.

After.  Not pretty, I know, but the new window 'frame' insert will cover these so really, I was only satisfying my own need, and helping keep cold air out.

This will really keep the cold air out!  Two layers of Fiberglas insulation in each side cavity, replacing the weights and wasp nests.

It's this stuff -- and you'll notice it's not pink.  It may be formaldehyde free, but it's still Fiberglas and it's still itchy. Two layers deep should really do the job.

I've used this stuff before and I even read the directions, so I should have known better....

Oops!  I put a tad too much in the two bottom cavities. They were smaller than I thought.  I did this because Tommy, the contractor on This Old House, used it along with the vertical insulation in a 'how-to' video.  I guess using it at the tops and bottoms really seals all the air leaks in those areas better than Fiberglas alone would.

I haven't had the nerve to nail the trim boards back in place yet, but I sanded them down and put them back where they belong.  They're still a tad warped at both top ends, and I may just have to live with that. We'll see.

Here's what it looks like at this very moment.  Dap helped fix many small, old nail holes and other damage to the wood.  There was some really, really stubborn paint (lower left) that just would not come off.  Several applications of Citristrip, lots of sanding, and I just gave up.  It's smooth, and I can only hope anything that determined to stay in place won't decide to come off after I repaint.

So -- it's all back together, sans layers of paint and sans window panes.  The Dap takes 24-48 hours to cure so I can't prime until that's dry and sanded smooth where needed.  No rush, anyway, as the new window parts won't arrive for another week, at least.  Nor do I have a paint color picked out to complete the job, but I am narrowing that down.

We've had lots more rain today, and it's been nice.  Hard rain at times, but I was safely inside and it didn't flood. For those of you who wonder about such things, these storms are the remnants of tropical storm #5 that just moved through the Gulf of Mexico area.  We occasionally get tail-ends of these things, and occasionally even get fringes of hurricanes.  It's humid, but not too hot and the relief from the hot, hot weather is so welcome.  This -- rain and temps -- is far more normal for summer weather around here.  The heat of these past weeks is anything but normal. 

She's At it Again!

The morning glory vines are history!  They were still blooming nicely, but:  I planted them to shade that south-facing window from the sun, but because the sun is so far north this time of year, the window doesn't get any sun; conversely, all that foliage was blocking cool night breezes, which I really need; lots of the inner leaves were dying and not all that pretty to look at; and it was blocking the light big-time, which I really didn't realize until it was gone. They were also high-maintenance (lots of watering) which I don't like.  So -- off to the compost pile!

Since I was in a destructive kind of mood, I dug into the basil and tomato plants and did a lot of cutting back and thinning, much needed.  That's all on top of the bin.  Yes, those are two down pillows atop the morning glories -- I need to turn both bins soon, and will put one pillow (with the casing cut open) on the bottom of each pile.  They still smell really, really bad.

I also used my scissors to trim all the bermuda and crab grasses that had been encroaching over the plastic for months now, and added that to the compost pile as well.  The stuff is really, really insidious. Notice how big the buckwheat is getting!

After I cleared out some of the masses of basil and tomato leaves, I found a surprise: nice hot peppers turning red.  Lots of green ones, too!

After that, and a good shower, I was off to run errands.  I finally got the drill chuck and bit and extension cord and proper primer to continue working on the side of the house.  Now, all I need is some cooler weather!  My main reason for this trip to Home Depot, however, was to order the replacement sash kit for 'the window'.  For some reason the window sales lady didn't understand, the base price of the unit came up lower than it did last time -- about $30 lower -- so we didn't argue with the computer.  I used my $99 rebate card from Energy Star (for the washer) to pay part of it, and that helped my bank account a bit, although it was still on the pricey side.  But, has to be done.  Now, I need to get more serious about getting that window ready -- finish sanding, filling holes, priming and painting.  If I'm able, and I'm not going to stress on it -- I'll get the other window sanded down and ready to prime and paint, too, and the windows in this room will be done. That will be oh, so nice.

For the rest of the day?  Right now I'm feeling very lazy, but I'll likely get the new drill bit outside later when it cools off, see if it really helps with the paint removal.

Bah Humbug!

All I can say is, I'm glad you're not here in this room right now, and if you're smart, you're glad too!

Bad day?  That's putting it mildly.  I've been really bored at work for quite awhile now -- since I caught up on all the backlog of work, there's not much to do.  On a busy day, maybe a hour of it might be used working.  The rest I twiddle my thumbs, occasionally answer the phone, and play computer games, all of which do nothing by frustrate me.  I do not do idleness well. My boss has been all distracted lately with buying a fancy new car for his wife, and when I arrived at work today I found that he wouldn't be in until noon because they'd gone to Atlanta to pick it up.  Well, by noon, he was still in Atlanta and hadn't even signed the paperwork yet.  Back in mid-afternoon, he says, but I've heard that story from him many times before.  Wouldn't matter so much, except this is payday and that meant he wouldn't be here in time to sign my paycheck.  I stewed awhile longer, then walked out.  It was a total waste of my time, even with the piddling amount I'll be paid to have been there.

Then, I got home and found a bill from ATT, which was still over $80, after monthly phone calls to them to correct their error.  Next month, I keep being told, and 'next month' it's still the same.  The woman in May gave me a credit, and the woman today did, too.  Like a fool, I didn't call last month or I probably could have gotten it then, too.  Today was a fine day to call -- I was already pissed and this just added fuel to the fire.  Every time, I get told a different story.  They have me over a barrel for another 5 months because of the damned modem, for which I'm paying $10 per month and for the balance of which they will bill me if I cancel the service.  I will NEVER use ATT again, as long as there are other options out there.  I think they've forgotten that Ma Bell isn't everybody's mother.  We have options now, when Ma Bell screws with us.  Rant, rant.  I'm still about to explode.  But, on to other issues.

Remember this?  This was my bathroom when I moved in, as inherited.  Yesterday, I got my bathroom window installed, and now it looks like this.

I'm not thrilled with the installation -- when he put the outside trim back on he did a really crude job of it. The bottom piece is now not level with the other siding on the house and looks bad, plus he didn't put it on so that all the corners match up.  I'm going to have to take the bottom piece off and redo it myself, I guess, and get my neighbor to help with one of the replacement side pieces that is too wide to fit evenly.  Sloppy.  I think I'll stick with James from now on -- he's slow to get to things, but when he gets to it, he does a damned good job.

My squash vine, which looked so healthy last week, has been wilting a lot lately despite copious additions of water.  I suspected squash vine borer for various reasons, finally looked it up today and yep, that's what it has. No help for it other than pulling the plant up, which is what I did.  I planted a new seed a few days ago, should still have time for more squash this summer.  

Pretty, isn't it?

I just love it when kittens sleep with the tip of their pink little tongues sticking out!  She was just waking up, looks a bit stupid, but trust me, she's got some smarts, as cats go.

I have three days off now, and it just might take me that long to be ready to go back to Rome.  Fortunately, our weather has cooled to a far more tolerable, and more normal, high 80s rather than high 90s.  We are all relieved!