Waylaid

A nasty, nagging backache that has been causing me grief for a while, has me waylaid today. I'm giving in and staying home, stretching out on some heat.

It might be another round of sciatica, because my right leg and foot are involved this time. It might be my nerves. i might have pulled something out of whack. Who knows? I've been trying to call the doctor's office without success. (Answering machine is still on.)

Not sure what good he'll do. He always acts like I'm nuts. (This was the doc who let me go with a sinus infection for three months. Allergist cleared me up in a single visit.) Thinking it's time to get a new one, but it's hard to find one accepting new patients.

Love those PPOs.

Finality

I had postponed the inevitable long enough.

The ground was snow-covered part of the day, and filled with mud for the rest, coupled with vicious winds. So, I could not take the final of final steps. But today, I did everything but that.

In opening the door, the absence of light seemed out of place. But the mother had turned out the lamp days ago. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

I cleared away all the bedding. (Tigger had four beds at one point.) I dismantled and pitched his well worn scratch post. I threw away his pillows. And mats. And bowls. I emptied and discarded his litterbox.

I created a bag for things that could or should be laundered. Everything else, I threw away. It seemed so wrong as I did it. It seemed surreal. It took several episodes of stop/start to complete the task.

Once I had carried everything outside (tomorrow is trash day), I started pushing things back into place. (We'd moved things to make it easier for Tigg to navigate.) I ran the sweeper and mopped the floor.

I surveyed the scene. An empty bed shell. A stack of laundry. The only evidence that a cat had once existed here: the frame of a window perch and some toys scattered on different parts of the floor.

Once outside, the darkened window caught me. (Second time in as many days.) But I did it. I trudged back into the house and breathed a sigh of relief.

A Messed-Up Calendar

Clearly, Mother Nature didn't get a calendar for Christmas. I know it happens, but it's just not supposed to look like this a full week into spring. My neighbor's just-blooming flowers look oddly out of place, don't they?

This photo was from early this morning. At least now it is already going away.

I think we got between 2 and 3 inches at most. The sun came out a little while ago and between it, and a slowly rising temperature, the snow should soon be a remnant.

Works for me.

Springtime? Really?

Yesterday, it was almost 60 degrees and sunny. It didn’t start out that way, but as the morning progressed, it turned into an awesome day. I only got to enjoy it on the way home.

So, of course, it’s raining today. And now that the grass is turning green and the trees and flowers are blooming, it’s going to snow. Yep. I said s-n-o-w. (A four-letter word with good reason.)

The rain will mix with snow later today and then change to all snow overnight. They’re saying 2-4 now, but that it could be 4-6, and if the “thundersnow” happens, well … we don’t even want to talk about it.

The last time I heard a forecast for 2-4 inches of snow and we were hit with thundersnow … it was January 1982. We ended up getting more than a foot and it shut St. Louis down for days.

The mother and I are preparing to head out in a bit and grab some stuff so that going anywhere tomorrow isn’t necessary. I imagine we’ll have lots of company in our travels.

I feel real bad for my young colleague that we had the bridal shower for earlier this month. She’s getting married this afternoon. Maybe it will hold off long enough for folks to get through dinner at her reception. I hope that everyone stays safe and that it all goes well.

That’s the thing about life in this part of the country. No matter what time of year you plan something, there is always that change for some kind of weather anomaly.

So, off we go. But the best part is that when we come back, we’ll have Chinese food!

Itchin’ for a Kitchen

The topic hasn’t been breached in a while, but, redoing the kitchen came up again last night. The mother restated her desire for new appliances, though I don’t know what we can get when she was stuck so unwaveringly on this model, an appliance that will not fit in This D*mn Kitchen.

I should have seen this coming, what, with the sighs followed by, "I wish my kitchen looked like that," whenever any HGTV show sports a nice, new kitchen, complete with stainless appliances.

I’ve yet to measure using this formula I found online to get a rough estimate as to what we need for countertops and she wants to go to some shop in a nearby town and look. I have no idea if $39/sq. ft installed is cheap for granite! (Somehow, she seems to think I know all this stuff as if this information should fall as trippingly from my brain as the questions seem to from her lips.)

OK. My brain is trying to add this up as we go. New appliances. Paint or stain for the cabinets. (We already have the new hardware for the cabinets as well as the sink fixtures.) New sink and countertop. And we haven’t even discussed flooring yet. I’d love to get ceramic or marble but I worry about putting that much weight down. D*mn. This is getting expensive fast.

“But I have to get my ceiling first,” she said suddenly. Huh? The Michelangelo Project likewise has been a non-discussion topic for a while. It, too, seems to be front-burner again. Of course it is. It is the mother’s preferred approach to projects, the one whereby there is complete and total chaos.

Nevermind that the family room is now jam-packed with supplies for her bedroom and mine, and the storage shed, as well as an assortment of yet-to-be-painted gingerbread for outside.

Oh, and lest we forget TWO pieces of furniture for said familyroom that are in need of assembly as is the new mantelpiece, that also needs to be stained. And, as an extra project bonus, the downstairs ceiling needs to be patched from adventures in electricity and the closet, built more than a year ago, still needs to be trimmed out. I’ve now made myself tired, just contemplating all of it.

By all means – let’s start on the kitchen. We don’t have anything else to do.

Speaking of kitchens … If you aren’t already a follower of Jayne over at The Kelly House (formerly Dainty Digs) now is a great time to start reading her adventures. Unfortunately for Jayne, weather has sidelined her porch and kitchen projects. Unfortunately for the rest of us, it also halts the adventures of Jayne and her ex, Mare, who is helping her with these efforts.

They’re on hold ‘til late next week.

Luckily, there already are two installments in what I dubbed Kellapalooza. And therein, I feel is also the beginnings of one hysterical play, or maybe even a sitcom, as Jayne has shown that her talents are not limited to her profession and DIY.

At Long Last

Most days, I really love my job. But, just like everybody else, I still wait for Friday.

And finally, at long last, it’s here! This has been an exceptional week, so in a lot of ways, it was really good that I’ve been as busy as I have. I even have another busy day ahead today.
I was quiet last night because the Ladybird needed some love. The other night, amidst all the Tigger drama unfolding, I walked out to find that the mother had left the headlights on on the car. Luckily, only about 30-40 minutes had passed between the time she got home from Uncle Bill’s and I took off to get a few things or I might have gone out to a dead car.

The reminder bell that tells you when you’ve left your lights on was dinging to beat the band. How in God’s name had she gotten out of the car and not heard that?

In addition to noticing that the lights were on, I also noticed that only one of them was burning. Remember a few months ago when I had a fishtank for a headlight? It didn’t do that again at least, but it was burned out just the same. I was too tired Wednesday – and probably wouldn’t have made it in time anyway – to get it fixed. Since we needed an oil change anyway, the mother picked me up last night at the depot and we shot up the highway to the evil Wal-Mart’s automotive department.

We got in right away and it only took them 30 minutes or so to both change the oil and headlight. In the meantime, the mother and I did some household shopping, including picking up some items my godmother needed for Uncle Bill.

The mother has been over there every day this week; I’ve even been by once. It’s really hard to watch. I’m going to add dying to my list of what I think are human design flaws. It’s too hard. It should be much easier for not only the person who is dying, but for those who love them. (Actually, this applies to more than just humans, now that I think about it.)

What, you may ask, do I consider to be other design flaws? The first, and largest by far, is a lack of satisfaction. I don’t know anyone, myself included, no matter how good they’ve got it who wouldn’t rather have something else or something more. We don’t know when to quit, we humans. More. There always has to be more.

Case in point: The other design flaw on my list. I think that two is a grossly inadequate number of hands. (I know the moms are with me on this one.) C’mon admit it. You’ve wished you had another hand or two or six. I know I have. On the downside, manicures would be more time-consuming. And the cost of nail polish? Oy!

Unfortunately, I don’t think the extra hands would help me much today. Unless an extra pair of eyes came with them. Now there’s a thought ….

A New Routine

Twice yesterday I had to remind myself.

I need to check on … Oh, right.

Hey, I’ve got to feed … no. No, I don’t.

This morning, I got up, stumbled through the dark house, and was standing in front of the refrigerator when it hit me. Oh, yeah. I’d even forgotten to reset my alarm. I now have an extra 15-20 minutes in the morning.

Responsibility for Tigger had shifted through the years. I initially was the main caretaker. Then, I switched jobs and had to be in by 5 a.m. and the mother retired, so she took over. When she got sick a few years ago, I took that responsibility back and I just never stopped. (She has 95 percent responsibility for Toby and about 70 percent for Ozzie during the week. And she’s fanatical about their care. If everyone were cursed with this kind of care, I guarantee you that the world would be infinitely more peaceful.)

Until the past few weeks, Tigg and I had a well established system. I guess it’s time to create a new morning routine. I guess I’ll just play it by ear and see how it goes.

One big plus for me in all this has been discovering just how many people really, really love their animals. They are full-fledged family members; way beyond pet status. So it’s nice to not be thought of as totally nuts but to instead find such a well of understanding. A lot of you are responsible for that. I thank you for taking the time to share those feelings with me.

The mother was much better last night. She said that, for all the trouble he is, it made it easier having Toby. (And believe me, he’s a lot of trouble. But he’s cute.) Toby had been uncharacteristically loving yesterday, and Ozzie, who was not sure what to do with her crying was even more attentive than normal. And both were apparently on their best behavior yesterday. It’s amazing how they know.

I went to bed early (for me anyway) and, considering all the sleep I didn’t get the night before, am better for it. Good thing, too, as it’s going to be a busy day.

I Love My Nano

To say that today got off to a bad start would be sugar-coating it.

First, I couldn’t sleep. I finally gave up before 4:30. And then … well, you know the story between then and when I left for work. Our family shrank.

Second, I did not want to break down in front of the mother who was already upset enough between having spent yesterday with Uncle Bill and now, Tigger. So, though I willed them away, the tears fell on the bus. I got plenty of stares. Nice.

Third, while I could handle that, at the depot, the Brothers Weird boarded and WEIRDER SAT BEHIND ME. Directly behind me. Trying to look onto my computer, and muttering away to himself the whole time, occasionally going into that straight high-pitched Elmo voice at ear-shattering volume, mimicking everything the driver said. It was a little slice of Hell.

At one point, I almost moved even though I would have had to march to the back of the bus to get a seat. (The bus was kind of full this morning. Of course, it would be today.) I had to will myself to not spin around – Linda Blair style – and just yell, “CAN YOU PLEASE SHUT THE F**K UP?!” And I swear, if he had touched me, as he might have had I not been trying to type, I would have decked him. Clean-up on Aisle 5, man.

Instead, my Nano proved worth its weight in gold. Counting Crows, Sting, Chris Botti, Warren Zevon, and Paula Cole soothed my nerves the rest of the ride.

And work? Most people are nice there as a general rule, but people were SO nice and so understanding – it was a little overwhelming, but in a good way. A very good way.

The Other Side of the Window

It was a very warm Saturday in June 1992 and the mother was recuperating after being hit by a car. Trying to make sure that she was OK and work had me frazzled.

And on this particular day, I had to work, thanks to my boss at the time who had volunteered me for a several-month project that culminated with a huge event that day.

I got an early start and then dashed home to check in on the mother around mid-day. “I keep hearing a cat,” she told me. I heard it, too, but since birds often mimic cats, I didn’t think too much of it. I got the mother some lunch and prepared to leave.

As I walked toward my car, I heard a greater sense of urgency in those cries. I threw my stuff in the car and walked toward the sound.

I looked in the tree that is just beyond our property line, but because it was in full bloom, I couldn’t see much of anything, yet the cries kept getting louder. All of sudden, my eye caught something dark mid-tree. It was a tiny tail! There was a kitten in the tree! I ran back inside to tell the mother and got a ladder. I was very near the top rung when suddenly, the kitten sensed my presence and darted a few branches higher.

I gingerly stepped off the ladder and into the tree. This time, he didn’t go up, he moved horizontally, out onto a skinny branch. Somehow, he clung to it and the branch didn’t break.
What I didn’t notice was that the mother had ambled outside. She had broken some ribs and messed up a knee and a shoulder, so this took some effort on her part. I returned to the ladder and she yelled, “I can reach it!”

Before I could discourage her, she thrust the cane she was using to the top of the branch, handle side up, and tugged. The kitten couldn’t hang on, and in a split second, I was holding him. He had fallen right into my arms.

When I set him down to go inside – I figured he could use a little milk after his ordeal – he walked right into the house as if he owned it. Though we tried to find him a home elsewhere, he never left.

Until this morning.

Very early this morning, in the hours before dawn, Tigger headed for the Rainbow Bridge. My distinguished old gentleman (right at age 17) who loved to lay in the window and peer out is now on the other side. And, God bless him, he didn’t make me intervene.

Enjoy your freedom, old friend. We’ll miss you.

R.I.P, TIGGER 1992-2009

Thrifty Consumerism Strikes Again

We all know my penchant for tools and for getting something to work in a way that maybe the manufacturer didn’t intend. Well, Mustang Sally over at Absurd and Askew managed to appeal to both of those character flaws of mine in a post she did on the Pledge Fabric Sweeper.

First, I like this product. I don’t, however, like not being able to empty it. It’s not very environmentally friendly to put that much plastic back into the waste stream, and it does fill up pretty fast. I can see from a manufacturer’s perspective where that would be an asset, though as a consumer buying a product that costs $5-$6, it’s anything but.

I use it about every other night on the loveseat and sofa. We have waffled slipcovers on both pieces of furniture, where both Ozzie and Toby are frequent fixtures, and it does a good job of nabbing the hairs that lodge in the crevices. I also use it religiously before tossing either these slipcovers or any one of the mongrels’ beds into the wash.

In that post, Sally links to this post which offers some instructions on modifying this otherwise disposable product (and what a waste to do that!) There are also some other good ideas in the comment section of that post.


You just know that I’m going to try one or more of them!

An Unexpected Find

My first visit to Home Depot over the weekend didn’t get all the materials I was after, but it did reveal something I’d been looking for without success: new drain extenders.

The current ones date back to 1987/88 when the carport was built and the mother had enough of the wrought iron out front and replaced it with the columns. (I wish I’d been smart enough to take pictures back then.) So you can imagine that they aren’t in great shape. They’ve seen a few too many violent storms and more than their share of snow and ice.

The hardware stores haven’t had these for years. I know, because I’ve looked. Sometime in the last several months, I found some online but then winter came and all other kinds of issues with it and I forgot about them. They were around $8 apiece.

The ones at Home Depot were under $6.50! Luckily, I did some wandering while looking for my PVC boards for the shed and there they were among the drains and downspouts. They hadn’t been there before when I was actively looking for them. And, store associate after store associate would tell me there was no such thing. Uh-huh.

I don’t have them all on yet (the mother insists that the drains be cleaned first), but I wanted to see if the plastic mounting bracket was going to slide easily over the drain. You know, like it shows on the label. If your experience is anything like mine, things rarely go like they do on the package.

But it did.

A sheet metal screw in each side and it’s firmly in place. And it also lets you flip up the drain to get it out of your way. Perfection.

Things That Make Me Smile

OK, I admit, I've been a downer lately. There's a lot going on that isn't good, but that's no reason to completely overlook the good is it? I don't think so.

So on that note, I've decided to recognize some of the things that make me smile.

Today was crazy busy at work. All day. That's a good thing. Definitely smile-worthy.

70-degree weather. With sun, (The day this can't make me smile, at least for a minute, you know it's time to just give up.)

Comments. Comments almost always make me smile. And emails from published authors? Oh yeah. You see both rows of pearly whites with those.

And these two. These two make me smile. A lot.

Doesn't Toby just look like he's thinking up some kind of mischief? Maybe 'cause he is!

The prospect of going home. (On my way now.) THAT makes me smile.

There's lot of reasons to smile. Lots and lots of 'em. Some days you just have to look a little harder than others.

My Faux Brother

This is a tough day for me. It's an extremely bittersweet one at any rate. You see, I wasn't always an only child.

The first half of my life, I had a pseudo-sibling. A brother from another mother, if you will. We weren't really siblings at all, but we always thought of one another that way. He was an only child (well, until he was 11). I was an only child. And we were born almost four months to the day apart. Our family jokingly referred to us as the twins. We lived down the street from one another for a good chunk of my life and we were inseparable.

His mother and my mother were first cousins. I would go places with him and his parents and people always assumed we were brother and sister. It was wonderful for me because I felt like a "real" family as I never had siblings and usually didn't have a father present.

His name was Steven and he was my first friend. He was the brother I didn't get from my parents. We were friends, quite literally, from Day One. Today is his birthday. And, he and I last spoke on this day in 1987.

It was a brief conversation. It was mostly chit-chat. I just wanted to make sure I called to say "happy birthday." It was particularly important because he was in the hospital and I thought it might cheer him up. What I didn't know at the time was that he was dying.

His responses to me were very slow, very unlike him. He finally said, "I'm kind of tired." I apologized and told him to go rest. Those were the last words from him I ever heard.

He slipped into a coma that night. He died a week later. He was 22.

As sad as that is, the happy part is that he lived 15 years longer than he was expected to. He suffered from chronic nephritis, an illness that had ravaged his kidneys after a strep infection had initially gone untreated.

He got sick not long after this photo was taken. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds, of pictures of the two of us together. This has always been my favorite.

He started dialysis in his teens and had a kidney transplant at age 21. It rejected less than a year later, leading to his death.

What's always been inconsolably sad to me is that if it were now, he'd likely be alive. Kidney transplants are as common as stitches. Anti-rejection medications have a great deal of success. They didn't then.

But the saddest part of all is that he was such a great person. He was funny and warm. (His impressions of cartoon character Droopy and of the Muppets' Swedish Chef were side-splitting.) He was smart, and kind, and supportive. He was everything I could ever have wanted in a brother and then some. And, sick as he was, he never complained.

Next week, it will be 22 years since he died and that wound is nearly as fresh today as it was then. I have this theory: There are certain things you never really get over. You just learn how to deal with them -- or else you go crazy. For me, Steven's death is one of a handful of life experiences that fall into that category.

I learned how to deal. I just never learned how to fill that void. I don't think I ever will.

Spring!

Another case of the weathercasters being wrong. While we were occasionally covered by clouds, it's been sunny and warm (upper 60s) most of the day.

I've been a slug. I pushed a little too much yesterday and today I made up for it by remaining in a self-induced vegetative state. I have been in pajamas all day.

The mother went to the funeral home with her friends (one of their mothers died) so I've had full custody of the creatures all day. That includes Tigger who is still eating, walking around a little more slowly, and talking less.

That's something that is going to become something of the norm in the immediate future. Our cousin is bringing my uncle home from the hospital tomorrow. She is taking a leave from our job to care for him during whatever time he has left. She's enlisted the mother to help. It's going to be a difficult time.

In the meantime, I consoled myself with how green the grass is becoming and with this gorgeous tree that is just beyond our property line.

It's so nice to be able to leave the door open and to be in need of a fan again. LOVE it. In fact, I love it so much, here's a little something I came up with.

Ode to Spring

The tree's in bloom, the grass is green

The blue sky dotted with a single cloud

Ole Man Winter has packed his bags

And Spring has shed her shroud.

The days grow longer, more filled with light

The frigid temps of winter are moving past

The birds are singing and building their nests

As Spring is settling in fast.

The vernal equinox has dawned

Soon the May flowers will get a good douse

Of the April showers that will fall at This D*mn House.

Mmm, breakfast!

That's what one of our resident squirrels appears to be saying about these Sno-balls leftover from St. Patrick's. I get the biggest kick out of these guys. I'm not sure if this is Zig or Zag getting the goods, but he sure looks happy enough about it.

Hostess bakery, even if it is a little stale, can't be too bad a way to start a new day. Especially if you're a squirrel.

Evening

What started out as a gloomy, damp day turned out to be a sunny, pleasant one with a high in the 60s.

The weather made my adventure in unloading the car a whole lot better. I managed to get the 7-footers into the shed. The 8-footers were carted downstairs and piled into the family room. That was a feat in and of itself.

I did some things today and that felt good. I also did a little bit of car maintenance (adding oil and windshield wiper fluid) during which I was outside when the sun was going down. At first, I only glimpsed the dropping sun over the back of the fence.


The sky began to change colors as the sun burned a steady orange/red. It was really beautiful to behold.

As I wrapped up what I was doing and began to put things away, I heard a flock of geese overhead. I was able to snap them as they were trying to get back into their trademark V formation.

The sun was really freaky as it fell. It was SO big. It really did look as if I could touch it if I only walked to the end of the alley.

Something I didn't notice until I had downloaded the photos and then was doing some cropping: one of the neighborhood's menacing cats is in the lower right corner of one of the alley shots.

Little marauder.

It was a good day on many levels.

Home Depot Freak Show

Hey, kids! Do you know what today's secret word is? It's rude! That's right, R-U-D-E. As in low-lifes with no basic sense of manners.

I went to Home Depot earlier as planned. My boards for the shed were there. (Brian in millwork can now rest easy.) As it turns out, I only needed five of them. That's because I did some replanning on the fly -- and saved myself well over $100 in the process.

I knew it was going to need a cart but I didn't want one of the flat carts that I used so much last year to haul sand, rock, and bricks. No, I wanted what I call a panel cart, with the dividers and the little risers you can lay boards on. They were pretty hard to come by. I found one though and had it with me as I looked at vinyl boards. It attempted to leave me three times in less than five minutes.

It was empty beside me while I tried to calculate how many boards to buy. Guy #1 casually strolls up and begins walking away with it. "Excuse me," says I. "That's my cart." He didn't even bother to push it back, left it halfway down the aisle. Jerk.

Guy #2 appeared just as I had the number arrived at and had determined there were enough boards on the shelf. I had turned around to set my piece of paper down when the cart began to move. It was SO close to me it even brushed my hip. This time I wasn't polite. "Hey, that's MY cart." I grabbed it as it rolled past me. The guy was visibly p*ssed and stormed off.

I pushed the cart to the edge of the vinyl board display, had both hands on a board and was turning to put it on the cart, when it began to ROLL AWAY again! This time I threw a foot on the edge, flipping one side off the ground slightly. The culprit stopped in his tracks. He had the gall to give me a dirty look and then walked away. Three times in under five minutes and at no time did anyone apologize or say anything at all for that matter.

Did people get an extra helping of rude at breakfast today? Sheesh.

Then, I got the extra added bonus of being the spectacle of choice under the contractor's canopy. That's because I defied all logic and some passersby by successfully loading 15 eight-foot 1x6 boards and 5 seven-footers of the same dimensions into Ladybird.
This is starting to be
too common of a thing for me. Maybe I should do a little marketing and sell tickets? I mean, if I am going to be looked upon like a circus act, why not?

I learned that I CAN fit multiple 8-footers in the car. I wasn't sure I could, but I was willing to give it a try. That's a good thing considering that Home Depot wouldn't cut these boards because they're PVC.

That brings me to how I saved the money. The ideal height of the boards I need would be 7.5 feet. That would yield me two pieces for the side of the shed per board. Unfortunately, the 7 footers wouldn't do. When I came across the 8-footers, which are essentially the NoRot boards I have used for trim pieces before, I was thrilled. So instead of buying and wasting seven footers, I spent about $6 more per board to yield two pieces each.

And you thought my skills were limited to loading.

So while my amazing feat of jamming a whole lot of boards into a passenger car was under way, there were two guys having a conversation about 10 feet away. When one of the guys started to walk into the store after snuffing out his cigarette, his companion grabbed his arm. "Wait," I heard him attempt to whisper. " I gotta see this."

Well, just so I don't disappoint you ...

The most amazing feat of all though is yet to be accomplished: Getting them out of the car AND, this is the ultra-tricky part, finding somewhere to store them.

D*mn You, Home Depot!

It is without fail, the curse of the discount offer. Let's send Joe Consumer a coupon and then, let's have none or precious little of the very thing (s)he intends to use it for. Oh, and it expires on Sunday.

And, we aren't getting more of said product for almost three weeks. WHAT?!

The mother met me at the bus station tonight and we headed off for Hardware Heaven. Well, actually we had a few detours. We stopped at the deli/boutique that we first visited a few weeks ago but did not dine at. I got a cool new key chain and a mock Chanel bag. Aren't I too cool? (Yeah, right.)

Then, we headed for our new favorite place to eat, the Chinese restaurant Shangri-La. Ah, I do adore that food. There's almost nothing that food can't help wash down.

Good thing. Because when I got to Home Depot, they had only five of the PVC boards I need for the shed. I need three times that. I didn't expect to get all of them tonight, but I did hope to get more than five. The Home Depot that is actually closest to home supposedly has eight. There was no way I could mak?e it there tonight to buy them.

So, couldn't I purchase them where I was and have the other store hold them 'til morning? Seems logical enough, right? That's probably why the answer is no. They would have to call both store's managers to OK it. And, this is the part that killed me, only "if the other store agreed to send the merchandise" to the store I was standing in. WTF?!

You've got a customer standing in front of you, money in hand, and you won't make it easy for them to buy your merchandise. Seriously?

The kid that waited on me was really nice and he tried to be helpful. He assured me that the other store really did have eight more boards, just like his computer said. (Brian in millwork said so.)

Brian, I'm headin' your way tomorrow morning. First thing. Those boards better be there.

Don't make me get medieval on you ...

It's a Spring Thing

There’s a crescent moon perched high in the sky yet the birds are chirping with such a ferocity – even in the pre-dawn light – that it can mean only one thing: spring is here!

Ole Man Winter is going out kicking and screaming, having taken us down into the 30s overnight. I had to drag out earwraps and gloves again. Here’s hoping that we’re finished with those days for now.

With the arrival of spring, I think the first outdoor project for the year has been identified: Pimp My Shed, Part 2. Remember how I did the back of the shed last year? Well, looks like I’ll be finishing the front (which I put a board on each side on last year) and doing both sides to finish things up.

The front will require some angle cuts because it slopes, but the sides are straight. I wonder if it’s possible to get two boards from one cut as it’s not very tall. Hmmm … need to get the ole tape measure out. And need to get the boards and screws to do this job this weekend as I’ve got a Home Depot offer that’s about to expire. They’re not nearly as generous as Lowe’s in extending those, so I can’t let it go to waste.

I won’t be able to start the job this weekend though. No. It’s going to rain – and they’re already forecasting rain for several days thereafter, including the possibility of severe weather on Tuesday. But, at least I’m planning again. That’s always the first step, right? And I’ve got 20 days of time off to schedule this year …

Let’s get this party started!

Inside and Out

Remember this post? I got to go there for lunch today!

I’ve never been inside. It’s gorgeous inside, too, but I didn’t get to take my camera though. My big boss took some colleagues and I there to dine, so probably not the best circumstances under which to get touristy. It’s filled with a combination of Tudor and Victorian architectural features. Marble, archways, wooden panel walls, elaborate fireplace mantels, ball and claw base tables… and that’s just the start.

Suffice it to say that the interior of this building and the lunch were both quite impressive.
I think I surprised my boss with my knowledge of the history of the building. He went all tour guide and pointed out some really cool art pieces the building is now home to.

This reminded me that I still have some historic buildings to highlight. I thought I’d done more already, but apparently not. In fact, I haven’t even done one this year. The problem is that they take some time to do, at least to do them properly. I really do enjoy doing them though, so I’ll get to one soon.