In the garden, and RAIN!!!!

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1005090
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6IXSTRINGJACK

Thursday, April 23, 2020 9:00 AM

100 degrees already? Jesus Christ... No thank you. It will be 50 here tomorrow.

Was around 60 the last two days, and boy have I gotten a lot done.

I drilled holes in the inflatable tire wells from two tires I re-purposed from an old broken cart that I had been meaning to use to fix my broadcast spreader that's been broken for ages. Worked a charm, and I finally put down the fertilizer that has been sitting inside my garage unused for the last 5 years.

Cleaned up two large trash bins full of sticks that fell since fall and mowed the lawn the day before.

Unclogged my shower drain which has been backed up for the last few months just a while ago. Unfortunately the auger broke, so there's another $25 down the drain for a replacement. Whoopsie. But at least the drain is clear and I won't be standing in 2" of dirty water by the end of my showers for the time being.

Put too many coats of poly on my stained shelves to count now... Drying time is a bear, so I've been doing all of these things in between coats. They look fantastic, but still need another coat on the bottom side before I give them all a light sanding and put the final coat on. The rub-on poly sure is nice in that there is very little cleanup, but if you're looking to do things quickly this is not the product for you.

Before the shelving goes in, I decided to primer the backs of the bifold doors I wasn't going to paint. That closet is just too deep and when you're hanging and/or looking at clothes on the side racks you see the inside of the doors and they looked like shit. I'm also doing some work and paint around where the door hardware is up top too, so that's all got to be finished before I finally put the shelving and polls in.

All that will be left after that for the closets is getting the baseboard in (and I do have to get two bi-fold doors for the 2nd bedroom and paint them too).

I'm so excited. I'm going to finally have a legit closet to hang clothes for the first time in 8 years. I'm tired of having that $20 rack from Aldi sitting in there all lopsided in a bare closet without any doors.

I'll have to show ya'all a picture when I'm done. I used your idea for the dual shelves/polls on the left and a single larger one in the back. There would still be room on the right side for some sort of shoe rack or something too down the road, but I might just leave that clear and the next owner could decide if they wanted to put something there.

Feels good to be working again. Not thinking about any of the bullshit of the world when I'm lost in my own little world.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

BRENDA

Thursday, April 23, 2020 10:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
The rain is back.
Over here it's hot and sunny. Friday is predicted to be almost 100F!

Too hot!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

Would love that where I am but not sure what Summer will look like here.

Right now up the Cariboo region and Chilcotin are worrying about flooding. Heavier than usual snow pack. Cache Creek a small community in the area has already experience some.

BRENDA

Thursday, April 23, 2020 11:29 PM

Out for my walk in a bit with my trusty umbrella.

BRENDA

Friday, April 24, 2020 11:26 PM

Out for my walk in a bit. Least its not raining right now.

1KIKI

Saturday, April 25, 2020 12:53 AM

BRENDA

Saturday, April 25, 2020 1:10 AM

Yeah, Kiki. Just had a look around, paid a bill. Stretched my left leg. Decided as a treat to buy some scratch lottery tickets. Last time I did that I won $25 on one of them. Bout all I can do since I can't get my twice yearly casino days in this year.

SIGNYM

Saturday, April 25, 2020 5:03 PM

Does cancelling the casino days save money?

*****

Just a few more days until the end of this blasted heat wave ...

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Saturday, April 25, 2020 11:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Does cancelling the casino days save money?

*****

Just a few more days until the end of this blasted heat wave ...

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

Yeah, it does SIG. I usually take $100 with me when I go to the casino and play that out which is either until I win something or I get tired of all the blinking lights and fake clinking sounds around me. Casinos are bad places really for someone with a seizure disorder. And when I leave some times I have a little more in my pocket than when I went in and sometimes a little less than when I went in.

It's all just for a bit of fun. I go twice a year around now or May then again in September.

Heat wave?! We've got rain again here. So when my laundry is done I will be out in it.

SIGNYM

Sunday, April 26, 2020 12:06 AM

Well, it looks like we're going to cool down in a couple of days. If my "weather flip" notion holds up, maybe it means you'll warm up??? I hope so!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

1KIKI

Sunday, April 26, 2020 2:17 AM

Man Signy - my cool-down temps are your heat wave temps! It's a LOT warmer here!

BRENDA

Sunday, April 26, 2020 3:00 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well, it looks like we're going to cool down in a couple of days. If my "weather flip" notion holds up, maybe it means you'll warm up??? I hope so!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

Actually the rain had long stopped by the time I got to my laundry, so my walk was nice and dry. There is sun out now and some blue sky though a wind has come up.

BRENDA

Monday, April 27, 2020 11:58 PM

Out for my walk in a bit.

Had a small bout of depression hit yesterday. Going to happen.

1KIKI

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 12:29 AM

I'm sorry to hear about your bit of depression. I myself get SAD during the winter, so I feel I understand your experience.

BRENDA

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 1:46 AM

Yeah, I've dealt with the SAD when I was in the other space because of lack of natural lighting.
Depression I've been dealing with of and on for a number of years. Something hit me yesterday and I had a bit of cry which seemed to help.

1KIKI

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 1:53 AM

I truly understand.

BRENDA

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 9:23 AM

Happens. Every so often I feel older than my 50 odd years. Sunday was one of those days and add a little loneliness to the mix and not good.

BRENDA

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 9:25 AM

Well, finally this evening got around to swapping out a picture on a frame that I did up a couple of months ago. That made me feel good.

Still have another frame I want to do up with some more family photos.

BRENDA

Tuesday, April 28, 2020 11:59 PM

Out for a walk in a bit.

1KIKI

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 2:31 AM

Just stopping by to say HI all!

BRENDA

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 9:57 AM

Everyone have some feels for Fort MacMurray Alberta. They were burned out 4 years ago with all the wild fires and this Spring the residents are being flooded out.

1KIKI

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 12:35 PM

Jeez.

SIGNYM

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Everyone have some feels for Fort MacMurray Alberta. They were burned out 4 years ago with all the wild fires and this Spring the residents are being flooded out.

That's terrible.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

SIGNYM

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, finally this evening got around to swapping out a picture on a frame that I did up a couple of months ago. That made me feel good.

Still have another frame I want to do up with some more family photos.

It's always nice to get something accomplished!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:22 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Jeez.

Yup, and you can see all the lovely ice in that picture.

BRENDA

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:24 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Everyone have some feels for Fort MacMurray Alberta. They were burned out 4 years ago with all the wild fires and this Spring the residents are being flooded out.
That's terrible.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

It is. The universe doesn't seem to love Fort McMurray.

SIGNYM

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:25 PM

Still digging out that veggie garden. Ripping out the sage wasn't too bad, but it had been also overcome with Bermuda grass. Bermuda grass ... it spreads by runners, by roots, and by seed. Great, it you want it for a lawn. A real hell if you want it out of your garden.

It's not just a case of turning over the soil. I have to sift thru each shovelful to make sure that I'm getting all of the storage roots out, otherwise it will re-sprout from the tiniest little piece. With the weather and my age, I can only manage about 15 sq feet a day. But if I keep at it, it will get done! And at least my soil is silty. It could be worse: it could be clay!

Also waiting to see if the weed killer worked in the front. I sprayed the parts I can't torch. Hoping to see weeds die soon! Tomorrow, dd and I will be torching more weeds in the back. Plus, since this is the time that avocado leaves fall ... really helped along by the hot dry weather ... we have a ton of leaves to rake up. But since the weeds will just keep getting worse and worse unless we do something but the leaves will just stay there, I've decided to focus on the weeds first.

This weather! It's like it jumped from winter to August! We had near 100-degree weather just a few days ago, it dropped to 85 but the forecast has it going up to near-100 again! Whatever happened to "May gray" and "June gloom"?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 1:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Well, finally this evening got around to swapping out a picture on a frame that I did up a couple of months ago. That made me feel good.

Still have another frame I want to do up with some more family photos.
It's always nice to get something accomplished!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

It is. The family photos I am putting into another frame are all of my dad and his siblings along with my grandfather. I am hoping to finally get it done over the weekend or next week. *fingers crossed*

1KIKI

Wednesday, April 29, 2020 2:19 PM

BTW, Brenda - you're my role model - set a goal of accomplishing a project and keep working on it till it's done.

BRENDA

Thursday, April 30, 2020 12:02 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
BTW, Brenda - you're my role model - set a goal of accomplishing a project and keep working on it till it's done.

Thanks Kiki. Just trying to keep moving so I don't stiffen up so much I get stuck.

BRENDA

Thursday, April 30, 2020 11:51 PM

Out for a walk in a bit.

SIGNYM

Friday, May 1, 2020 4:03 AM

Oy, it's a race against the falling avocado leaves, weeds, and bugs. And the leaves, weeds, and bugs are winning!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Friday, May 1, 2020 9:30 AM

Good news. Water is starting to recede in Fort McMurray as the ice in the river is breaking up.

BRENDA

Friday, May 1, 2020 9:30 AM

Flipside rain heading in my direction again by Saturday.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, May 1, 2020 5:50 PM

Well... after having my mood dampened 2 days ago with my house springing a leak that I was mopping up on the reg until after 4:00AM and more or less taking yesterday off other than cleaning up the residual mess and assessing my situation, I've come to the conclusion that Spring sucks. Oh, and those gutters have to go up this year hell or high water. *pun intended*. I believe I found the source of the leak. I can't believe that I hadn't noticed it before now. There is a big patch under one of the basement windows that is cracked because they did such a horrible job on it. Once things dry up around here I'm going to dig a trench, keep my fingers crossed that it's only the top layer that need to be tuck pointed and give it the same fix I did the cinderblocks on the porch last year (that still look just as good as the day I finished them).

Back to work today. Those bedrooms aren't going to finish themselves.

In the mean time...

I didn't get a chance to really celebrate the fact that the closet was done since that happened. I don't think I'll truly be able to do so until my brother comes to stay here and we can move all the furniture up against the walls since everything will be finished by then except for the window sills and casings I have yet to construct and install.

Here's the pictures.

Thanks to Sigs and Kiki for the suggestion on what to do with my weird closet. I'd say it's definitely a huge upgrade from the closet that was there when I bought the place.

BEFORE:

Yuck. Bent metal crap shelving and two poles in front of each other on the right side.

Might be hard to even notice the yuck in that when you've got to get past the crap beat-up door trim, the crap beat up baseboard that had 15 layers of paint on it and were the same color as the walls, the crap beat up carpet and the crap beat up bi-fold doors.

I'm sure I have a picture somewhere too where the closet floors in both rooms were the skeeziest I've ever seen. Filthy grey wood that had never been given a coat of stain or poly after they were put down (why wouldn't you treat hardwood floors, even if they're in a closet where you wouldn't seem them 99% of the time?

AFTER:

I'm pretty pleased with the results. It only took me 8 years to finally have a working closet in the house.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

BRENDA

Friday, May 1, 2020 11:45 PM

Nice job Jack.

BRENDA

Friday, May 1, 2020 11:47 PM

Out for my walk in a bit. Getting bored now. Got some of the days a bit mixed up last week. Don't like that.

1KIKI

Saturday, May 2, 2020 12:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Got some of the days a bit mixed up last week. Don't like that.

I read that that's happening to people A LOT without their regular work-schedule.

Have a good walk!

1KIKI

Saturday, May 2, 2020 12:30 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oy, it's a race against the falling avocado leaves, weeds, and bugs. And the leaves, weeds, and bugs are winning!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

For the weeds, I have 2 words for you Signy - hardscape and mulch! (But your hardscape needs to be ant and weed-proof - no bricks, blocks, cobblestones, flagstones, or pavers set in sand!)

1KIKI

Saturday, May 2, 2020 12:31 AM

Good work Jack! Nice design Signy!

BRENDA

Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Got some of the days a bit mixed up last week. Don't like that.
I read that that's happening to people A LOT without their regular work-schedule.

Have a good walk!

I can believe it.

Walk was good. Did a bit of shopping.

SIGNYM

Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:27 AM

SIX, that looks awesome!!!! Nice job!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:31 AM

Late lunch after clearing out two more old photo albums. The kind where the page is sticky. Luckily I got all the photos out with no damage to them. Yay! The other album was just old postcards my mom had collected over the years.

A few had letters written on the back. One from an uncle of mine, one of my dad's brothers writing to a sister. He was telling her that he had work for $4 a DAY and was looking for more work. Think he was in Saskatchewan. A place called "Conquest".

My dad's family also had a thing about taking pictures of another uncle with horses or horses and wagons.

SIGNYM

Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:44 AM

Quote:
Oy, it's a race against the falling avocado leaves, weeds, and bugs. And the leaves, weeds, and bugs are winning!

KIKI: For the weeds, I have 2 words for you Signy - hardscape and mulch! (But your hardscape needs to be ant and weed-proof - no bricks, blocks, cobblestones, flagstones, or pavers set in sand!)

Coming around to the idea that what I need are big, off-the-ground perennials that I can weed and mulch under. But I need to find a reliable source of chipped bark/tree.

I do have an area of front yard that's already dominated by ashy leaf buckwheat, pheasant's tail grass, purple three-awn, hollyleaf redberry, and rock purslane. (In fact, the rock purslane is SO successful I'm going to have to cut it back.)

*****

Part of the problem is that I'm also trying to convert what was formerly bee's bliss sage groundcover (it really was bee's bliss!) into a vegetable garden and - unfortunately- while it was a great groundcover the Bermuda grass crept in. So I've been digging up the area (about 12'X24') and sifting out the Bermuda grass roots by hand, so that adds a huge workload. And the weather has been so unseasonably hot that I hope I can actually plant successfully and not have the young plants and seedlings just die from heat. I hope the weather cools down in time for planting. Plus, the avocado trees are dumping all of their leaves all at once. We have filled six 65-gallon bins with leaves and sage in the past two weeks. Also, up on the agenda is to hose off the avocado trees from the bottom to control the persea mites. Over the years, I've found that works better than Neem oil or beneficial bugs. So I have to get the leaves while they're still leafing out and the mites while their populations are low.

I think I can continue to work outdoors in the AM until next Tuesday. After that it gets too hot, and I have to shift to indoor work.

*****

The problem with all of this ... weeding, watering, mowing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry ... is that you know that if you finish it today, you will just have to do it again tomorrow, or next week. There's no sense of accomplishment, just treadmill.

So I try and pick out one SMALL thing that I can accomplish and FINISH.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

SIGNYM

Saturday, May 2, 2020 3:49 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Well... after having my mood dampened 2 days ago with my house springing a leak that I was mopping up on the reg until after 4:00AM and more or less taking yesterday off other than cleaning up the residual mess and assessing my situation, I've come to the conclusion that Spring sucks. Oh, and those gutters have to go up this year hell or high water. *pun intended*. I believe I found the source of the leak. I can't believe that I hadn't noticed it before now. There is a big patch under one of the basement windows that is cracked because they did such a horrible job on it. Once things dry up around here I'm going to dig a trench, keep my fingers crossed that it's only the top layer that need to be tuck pointed and give it the same fix I did the cinderblocks on the porch last year (that still look just as good as the day I finished them).

Back to work today. Those bedrooms aren't going to finish themselves.

In the mean time...

I didn't get a chance to really celebrate the fact that the closet was done since that happened. I don't think I'll truly be able to do so until my brother comes to stay here and we can move all the furniture up against the walls since everything will be finished by then except for the window sills and casings I have yet to construct and install.

Here's the pictures.

Thanks to Sigs and Kiki for the suggestion on what to do with my weird closet. I'd say it's definitely a huge upgrade from the closet that was there when I bought the place.

BEFORE:

Yuck. Bent metal crap shelving and two poles in front of each other on the right side.

Might be hard to even notice the yuck in that when you've got to get past the crap beat-up door trim, the crap beat up baseboard that had 15 layers of paint on it and were the same color as the walls, the crap beat up carpet and the crap beat up bi-fold doors.

I'm sure I have a picture somewhere too where the closet floors in both rooms were the skeeziest I've ever seen. Filthy grey wood that had never been given a coat of stain or poly after they were put down (why wouldn't you treat hardwood floors, even if they're in a closet where you wouldn't seem them 99% of the time?

AFTER:

I'm pretty pleased with the results. It only took me 8 years to finally have a working closet in the house.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

So, in case my post got buried... NICE JOB, SIX! IT LOOKS AWESOME!!! I'm glad you took "before" pictures, because it shows what a great job you did on the walls, trim, and floor too! It looks legitimately great!

I'm always forgetting the "before" pictures and thinking about them halfway thru, so we never get to see how awful it was.

Sorry to hear about the leak, tho!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

1KIKI

Saturday, May 2, 2020 4:06 AM

Brenda - you are STILL my role model!

1KIKI

Saturday, May 2, 2020 4:07 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Coming around to the idea that what I need are big, off-the-ground perennials that I can weed and mulch under.

With lots of area around them to give you room to work.
I'm in favor of very large shrubs you can walk under to very large trees, myself. Shrubs block breezes. OTOH shade-providers keep the sun off the ground and off of structures, so they don't heat up and reradiate heat later on. And they allow breezes underneath. But that's just me!

Quote:
But I need to find a reliable source of chipped bark/tree.

I'll see if I can find any in your area. For now I recommend wood shavings as temporary cover to keep your weeding from undoing itself right away. It's clean and not infective. You can always add more attractive mulch on top later on.

Quote:
I do have an area of front yard that's already dominated by ashy leaf buckwheat, pheasant's tail grass, purple three-awn, hollyleaf redberry, and rock purslane. (In fact, the rock purslane is SO successful I'm going to have to cut it back.)

That sounds AWESOME!

Quote:

*****

Part of the problem is that I'm also trying to convert what was formerly bee's bliss sage groundcover (it really was bee's bliss!) into a vegetable garden and - unfortunately- while it was a great groundcover the Bermuda grass crept in. So I've been digging up the area (about 12'X24') and sifting out the Bermuda grass roots by hand, so that adds a huge workload.

Bermuda grass - a nasty problem we both have.

Quote:
And the weather has been so unseasonably hot that I hope I can actually plant successfully and not have the young plants and seedlings just die from heat.

Sun can also be part of the problem. It makes the plants transpire even more. If you can provide some off-the ground shade it might help.

Quote:
I hope the weather cools down in time for planting. Plus, the avocado trees are dumping all of their leaves all at once. We have filled six 65-gallon bins with leaves and sage in the past two weeks.

3 65-gallon bins A WEEK !!??? That's a lot of bins!

THAT'S A LOT OF WORK !!!!!

Quote:
Also, up on the agenda is to hose off the avocado trees from the bottom to control the persea mites. Over the years, I've found that works better than Neem oil or beneficial bugs. So I have to get the leaves while they're still leafing out and the mites while their populations are low.

*****

The problem with all of this ... weeding, watering, mowing, shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry ... is that you know that if you finish it today, you will just have to do it again tomorrow, or next week. There's no sense of accomplishment, just treadmill.

I could not manage even half of your schedule. Maybe just a quarter.

But that's why, many years ago, when I was deciding how to landscape ... and after a native, drought-tolerant wildflower front yard for about 3 years with rockrose and rosa rugosa shrubs around the edge and in the middle (while trying to exterminate the silver lace vine from everywhere) ... I settled on drought tolerant large shrubs to large trees, hardscape, and mulch, as low-maintenance and overall beneficial.
No that any of them are boring! The oak trees have already bloomed and are busy growing their bird-and-critter friendly acorns. The holly-leaf and Catalina island cherry trees are blooming their white sprays and the cherries are also bird-and-critter friendly. The bee-friendly privet will be blooming soon, and have bird-friendly berries later on. After that the bee-friendly crape myrtles will be blooming. And eventually I'm going to be planting even more types of very specifically drought-tolerant, native, and wildlife-and-pollinator friendly shrubs, small trees, and some vines for the alley fence.

Quote:
So I try and pick out one SMALL thing that I can accomplish and FINISH.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Saturday, May 2, 2020 4:20 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Brenda - you are STILL my role model!

Got tired of looking at the photo albums laying around and decided to finally deal with them.

Found a good for the time frame outdoor photo of my dad, two of his brothers and their dad for that frame that I want to do up.

Also found a nice photo of my grandmother's sister. Too bad I don't have any of her brother.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Saturday, May 2, 2020 9:53 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Nice job Jack.

Thanks Brenda.

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Good work Jack! Nice design Signy!

Yeah. We're getting there. Finally....

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So, in case my post got buried... NICE JOB, SIX! IT LOOKS AWESOME!!! I'm glad you took "before" pictures, because it shows what a great job you did on the walls, trim, and floor too! It looks legitimately great!

I'm always forgetting the "before" pictures and thinking about them halfway thru, so we never get to see how awful it was.

Sorry to hear about the leak, tho!

Thanks Sigs.

Feels good to finally be making some notable progress that actually has some function too. Finally was able to ditch the Aldi clothes rack that was in the middle of my bedroom keeping me from being able to do the rest of the work.

Even with that out of the way, trying to paint trim with only a foot and a half between the wall and the furniture is painful. I taped down painters paper all along the walls, but after about 4 feet of that I ripped it all up and just cut it all in along the hardwood floor by hand. All the paper was doing was promoting sloppy painting and I knew that when I removed it I was going to have paint on the floor that had already dried and would be a bitch to remove. In both bedrooms I may have gotten paint on the floor about 5 or 6 times, but if you remove it quickly with a sponge or wet paper towel correctly you can give yourself a do-over and not have a mess.

Yeah. Got to remember the before pics.

Those were actually from when I was looking at the house with my agent. That crappy little camera I used has long since been given to Goodwill. I remember it took 4 AA batteries and ate them up almost immediately and the pictures were really bad compared to the tablet that I have now. I'm actually taking a ton of videos these days with it, pretty much documenting everything I do every step of the way.

That leak sucks, but at least I think I know what I need to do to fix it. Only problem is I need to wait until the weather is dry, so that probably won't be the last time I'm mopping things up in the mean time. Oh well... it's not like I'm going to be going out much in the near future, so I'll be around to do it.

The bedroom is done though now except for making windowsills and doing the window casings, and a few touch up spots on the wall when I buy more paint. Supposedly the stuff I bought (at $60/gallon) allows you to do touchups that blend seemlessly with the original paint job, so I have to buy 3 sample pints at $14 a piece to do all my touchups when I'm ready.

But all of that can be done later. When my brother gets here we're going to move the furniture to the walls and that'll be his room for a few weeks or more.

Before he gets here I want to re-caulk my tub/shower, finish painting the trim and casings in the hallway so he doesn't accidentally bump into wet paint, and I'm trying to install a light kit for a ceiling fan that just won't seem to work. I think I have to remove the entire assembly because idiot dipshit who lived here before me didn't wire the fan up right.

I'm exhausted. It's been a couple of very long days.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

BRENDA

Saturday, May 2, 2020 11:47 PM

Got the rain right. Raining right now.

BRENDA

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 1:57 AM

So nice to find a hamburger joint open when I was out and about. Went in and got a small cheeseburger with no onions and no mayo. My blood sugar sure needed that boost.

1KIKI

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 2:08 AM

I've been slowly forging ahead myself. Shortly after moving in, an ongoing crisis hit the family. About the time that was finally abated, my health cratered. One thing after another, over all the years I never really moved in, never really got a routine going. Now that I'm retired - it's time!

BRENDA

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 9:21 AM

Good for you Kiki.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 9:55 AM

I've had a ceiling light kit for the porch fan for so long now I forgot who gave it to me. My buddy tried installing it while perched precariously over the gaping hole in the floor before we fixed it so we could have some more light, but he wasn't able to do it. I figured he was just doing it wrong and it was a tough job because of the working conditions he did it under (that there was no way I would have ever done).

Nope. Even with a multimeter I couldn't make any sense of it. The innards of a ceiling fan are actually quite a bit more intricate than I would have credited it for, especially when you figure in the reverse feature on top of the three speeds and off with the pull chain.

I wish I hadn't cut any wires inside of it to test them out first. They're put back together with proper nuts and taped, but I should have made the assumption that the idiot who installed it just didn't wire up the hot wire for the lights since there weren't any. Way to plan ahead, Uncle Bob...

Now that I've figured that out, I'm in the process of repainting the fan. It was filthy and a bit beat up. That room is where I do a majority of my smoking year round, even in the cold, and since it has been pretty much open to the elements it was full of literal dirt on top of it. It will look really nice when I get it put back up there, and I shouldn't have a problem getting it done before it gets hot again.

But now that my immediate yard work is done and I've got a handle on the fan situation, I have to get back to more pressing matters. I've got three full days before my bro comes and I've got to put the finish paint on all the trim in the hallway and remove all the bad caulk on the tub/shower and re-caulk it with enough dry time so he'll be able to shower while he's here.

Shouldn't be a problem if I can stay on task. And it will be nice and cool for the next few days so I shouldn't stink too much from working before I'm able to use the shower again.

I feel like I haven't gotten much done in the last 4 or so days. In reality, I have, but about half of every day has been wasted. I've been feeling a bit run down and sleeping a lot. I don't think my body is used to all of this work. I took too much time off after the denture work and at my age I don't bounce back like I used to.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

1KIKI

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 1:48 PM

Thanks Brenda!

SIGNYM

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 2:05 PM

So how goes the forging, KIKI?

I imagine in this hot weather it's hard to stay active. We have AC, so we've been able to keep going even in 100 deg weather (at least inside).

Been having a TERRIBLE time sleeping lately. I can't tell if it's a subtle asthma attack or sinus infection or acid reflux or a combination or something else entirely. I woke up at 2 ayem a few nights ago and was just so overall uncomfortable I couldn't fall back to sleep, so I went out and got some gardening done at 6 ayem b4 the weather got too hot. Sheesh.

I did see progress with ONE thing tho- hubby is replacing a workbench (not a woodworker's bench but a regular workbench) in the garage and he had about 16' of crappy MDF to disppose, plus I had some treated 4X4's in the yard (I hadn'tbought them and had no use for them) and a 10' warped plank of wood kicking around, and hubby cut them up and bundled them for large item pickup, and the truck hauled them away today. I also called for a special e-waste pickup, and they hauled a small bin of that away, too. It's always nice seeing things LEAVE the house; it's visible de-clutterimg progress.

Anyway, with another blasted hot spell coming up I'll have to do my one hour of yardwork (which is about all I can tolerate) super-early and then shift to indoor work, of which I have plenty. And maybe a nap in-between. Fortunately the heat is only predicted to last 4 days and we can FINALLY have spring instead of late summer!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 11:23 PM

Out for my daily walk in a bit.

SIGNYM

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 11:47 PM

It's always nice to take a walk and an excellent habit to have!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

SIGNYM

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 12:32 AM

Hey SIX it sounds like you're making great progress. So is your brother coming over a sure thing? Is this the one now living with your dad? And is he just visiting, or coming to stay?

Anyway, this sounds like the full-court press we were doing before my in-laws stopped over for a visit on their way Hawaii. Not only did we have make the guest bedroom functional (hubby made a king sized bed platform and we installed a sink) but we had to quick tidy up a lot of places, so be glad you got your decluttering done already!

Well, keep on keeping on!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 1:15 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
It's always nice to take a walk and an excellent habit to have!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

I pretty well always manage to find some errand to run while I am on my walk. So it also keeps my mind active.

BRENDA

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 1:16 AM

Anyways back from my walk, dishes done and also picture frame up with some more old photos. Yay me!

Lunch now just a couple of tortillas with peanut butter on them.

1KIKI

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 4:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So how goes the forging, KIKI?

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

Oh, bit by bit. I'm just catching up on everyday stuff that I let slide while doing paperwork. But at the same time I'm building in routines and setting up systems for getting things done, most of which has to do with physically working with stuff. As I've mentioned, I have to do all my cooking, since pre-prepared, pre-packaged, and restaurant food has too much sodium for me, among other things. So one of the things I'm doing is creating a set of reliable recipes that I like. Originally I made braised chicken thighs with white gravy over 'mashed potatoes', but the potatoes were actually cooked, blendered cauliflower. As I was eating it though, I usually ended stirring it together and it made a yummy cream of chicken soup! So this next go-around, I'm modifying my ingredients and my prep to deliberately make cream of chicken soup, with the idea that it might be more generally a cream of (chicken/ turkey/ pork/seafood)(plain/ celery/ mushroom/ broccoli/ spinach/ kale) soup later on. I'll be finishing that up today, and freezing it away. I'll see how it does with the freeing. Originally I did stir a butter/ flour roux in with the blendered cauliflower in case the cauliflower 'breaks' when frozen, this time I'm not putting it in to test out how well it fares without. After that, I need to make one more batch of meals, which will be my reliable Greek-style kale-potato-feta with lemon juice pie. And after that, I'll be caught up with they day-to-day --- and back to paperwork!

One thing is that I've been ridiculously, fall-asleep-sitting-up sleepy in the afternoon, even though I wake up feeling well-rested. It's nice to be able to nap, but it sure takes a chunk out of my day!

1KIKI

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 4:32 AM

YAY for you, Brenda!

6IXSTRINGJACK

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 7:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Hey SIX it sounds like you're making great progress. So is your brother coming over a sure thing? Is this the one now living with your dad? And is he just visiting, or coming to stay?

Yeah. Tons of progress. Sure taking my mind off of all the bullshit in the world and making me feel better most of the day.

This isn't the brother living with my dad now. This is my disabled brother. He's coming to stay for at least a few weeks. I've let him know the invite is pretty much as long as he'd like and as long as we can stand each other, but right now he thinks he only wants to stay about 2 weeks. Like me, he is very much a creature of habit and doesn't feel right when he's away from his own place for too long. I've got a feeling that since the lockdown in his state goes on until June though that he might decide to stay another week.

Quote:
Anyway, this sounds like the full-court press we were doing before my in-laws stopped over for a visit on their way Hawaii. Not only did we have make the guest bedroom functional (hubby made a king sized bed platform and we installed a sink) but we had to quick tidy up a lot of places, so be glad you got your decluttering done already!

Well, keep on keeping on!

Well... I got most of the de-clutting done... Still haven't really organized my garage yet and half of my tools are in my kitchen pantry where it's easiest to get at them. I'm so glad I didn't move them down to the basement where it flooded.

But there's tons of space in the house now and plenty of house to separate us so we don't drive each other nuts.

It will be nice to be able to work on other rooms of the house when there's no furniture in them. It was miserable trying to cut in that baseboard along the finished hardwood floors with only 12 to 15" between the wall and the bed and a large heavy dresser. Not something I ever want to have to do again.

Good luck getting that stuff out. Just keep at it and you'll get there.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

BRENDA

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 9:27 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
YAY for you, Brenda!

Yup. I've only been staring at this frame over the winter and finally got to the photos. So that is one more thing off my list.

Also been making a start on going through an old set of dresser drawers that I've been using for storage. They are mostly sheets, pillow cases, face cloths and dish towels. Seeing what is salvageable and usable then washing and putting them away.

SIGNYM

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 1:54 PM

Quote:
SIGNYM
Hey SIX it sounds like you're making great progress. So is your brother coming over a sure thing? Is this the one now living with your dad? And is he just visiting, or coming to stay?

SIX: Yeah. Tons of progress. Sure taking my mind off of all the bullshit in the world and making me feel better most of the day.

This isn't the brother living with my dad now. This is my disabled brother. He's coming to stay for at least a few weeks. I've let him know the invite is pretty much as long as he'd like and as long as we can stand each other, but right now he thinks he only wants to stay about 2 weeks. Like me, he is very much a creature of habit and doesn't feel right when he's away from his own place for too long. I've got a feeling that since the lockdown in his state goes on until June though that he might decide to stay another week.

well, awesome! I'm sure it will be a beneficial change of pace for both of you!

Quote:
SIGNY: Anyway, this sounds like the full-court press we were doing before my in-laws stopped over for a visit on their way Hawaii. Not only did we have make the guest bedroom functional (hubby made a king sized bed platform and we installed a sink) but we had to quick tidy up a lot of places, so be glad you got your decluttering done already!
Well, keep on keeping on!

SIX: Well... I got most of the de-clutting done... Still haven't really organized my garage yet and half of my tools are in my kitchen pantry where it's easiest to get at them. I'm so glad I didn't move them down to the basement where it flooded.

But there's tons of space in the house now and plenty of house to separate us so we don't drive each other nuts.

That's important! Some people just need "alone time".

Quote:
It will be nice to be able to work on other rooms of the house when there's no furniture in them. It was miserable trying to cut in that baseboard along the finished hardwood floors with only 12 to 15" between the wall and the bed and a large heavy dresser. Not something I ever want to have to do again.

As someone whois responsible for doing the interior painting ... I feel ya!

Quote:
SIX: Good luck getting that stuff out. Just keep at it and you'll get there

Truer ... and kinder ... words were never spoke. Thanks for the boost! It's easy to wilt when I see the mountain of stuff still to do.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

SIGNYM

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 2:02 PM

Quote:
SIGNYM:
So how goes the forging, KIKI?

KIKI: Oh, bit by bit. I'm just catching up on everyday stuff that I let slide while doing paperwork. But at the same time I'm building in routines and setting up systems for getting things done, most of which has to do with physically working with stuff. As I've mentioned, I have to do all my cooking, since pre-prepared, pre-packaged, and restaurant food has too much sodium for me, among other things. So one of the things I'm doing is creating a set of reliable recipes that I like. Originally I made braised chicken thighs with white gravy over 'mashed potatoes', but the potatoes were actually cooked, blendered cauliflower. As I was eating it though, I usually ended stirring it together and it made a yummy cream of chicken soup! So this next go-around, I'm modifying my ingredients and my prep to deliberately make cream of chicken soup, with the idea that it might be more generally a cream of (chicken/ turkey/ pork/seafood)(plain/ celery/ mushroom/ broccoli/ spinach/ kale) soup later on. I'll be finishing that up today, and freezing it away. I'll see how it does with the freeing. Originally I did stir a butter/ flour roux in with the blendered cauliflower in case the cauliflower 'breaks' when frozen, this time I'm not putting it in to test out how well it fares without. After that, I need to make one more batch of meals, which will be my reliable Greek-style kale-potato-feta with lemon juice pie. And after that, I'll be caught up with they day-to-day --- and back to paperwork!

Yep, if you can get those "yapping chihuahuas" firmly at heel you'll have a lot more time to tackle other things later. It sounds like a good plan!

Quote:
One thing is that I've been ridiculously, fall-asleep-sitting-up sleepy in the afternoon, even though I wake up feeling well-rested. It's nice to be able to nap, but it sure takes a chunk out of my day!

It must be the heat.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

SIGNYM

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 2:04 PM

Quote:
BRENDA:

Yup. I've only been staring at this frame over the winter and finally got to the photos. So that is one more thing off my list.

Also been making a start on going through an old set of dresser drawers that I've been using for storage. They are mostly sheets, pillow cases, face cloths and dish towels. Seeing what is salvageable and usable then washing and putting them away.

Sounds great to be able to put that behind you!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

6IXSTRINGJACK

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 4:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Truer ... and kinder ... words were never spoke. Thanks for the boost! It's easy to wilt when I see the mountain of stuff still to do.

Trust me. I feel you on that. I'm putting all of this work and time and money into beautifying the 2nd floor while I still haven't been able to address foundational issues because of the shut down and because of the shitty weather and now my basement sprung a leak. I know a thing or two about looking at mountains.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

BRENDA

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 11:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
BRENDA:

Yup. I've only been staring at this frame over the winter and finally got to the photos. So that is one more thing off my list.

Also been making a start on going through an old set of dresser drawers that I've been using for storage. They are mostly sheets, pillow cases, face cloths and dish towels. Seeing what is salvageable and usable then washing and putting them away.
Sounds great to be able to put that behind you!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

It is. Haven't been able to get at that dresser or those pictures for years as I haven't been able to unpack.

Now, I got to see if I can find a fan for the summer.

BRENDA

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 11:43 PM

Enviro Canada and the Forestry service is saying that Western Canada is heading for a bad fire season this year. That means everything from the Yukon, BC, the two other territories to Manitoba is in jeopardy from now. Then in August it changes to just a big swath starting from the Valley through the middle of BC, up to Northern Alberta through the middle of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

BRENDA

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 11:43 PM

Out for my walk.

1KIKI

Wednesday, May 6, 2020 11:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Enviro Canada and the Forestry service is saying that Western Canada is heading for a bad fire season this year. That means everything from the Yukon, BC, the two other territories to Manitoba is in jeopardy from now. Then in August it changes to just a big swath starting from the Valley through the middle of BC, up to Northern Alberta through the middle of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

That's too bad.

I looked at Canada's drought website http://www.agr.gc.ca/atlas/maps_cartes/canadianDroughtMonitor/en/2020/
cdm_2003_en.pdf and almost all of the area looks OK right now, so I guess they're predicting a hot, dry future.

BRENDA

Thursday, May 7, 2020 2:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Enviro Canada and the Forestry service is saying that Western Canada is heading for a bad fire season this year. That means everything from the Yukon, BC, the two other territories to Manitoba is in jeopardy from now. Then in August it changes to just a big swath starting from the Valley through the middle of BC, up to Northern Alberta through the middle of Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
That's too bad.

I looked at Canada's drought website http://www.agr.gc.ca/atlas/maps_cartes/canadianDroughtMonitor/en/2020/
cdm_2003_en.pdf and almost all of the area looks OK right now, so I guess they're predicting a hot, dry future.

Exactly it is prediction. It could change and with limited travel it might not be as bad because not as many people camping. Fingers crossed it doesn't turn out as bad as these agencies think.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Thursday, May 7, 2020 9:04 AM

Things I learned today:

1. They make vinyl coated bathtubs that are one-size-fits-all meant to be cut to the size you need. I have one of these, and it explains why there are some imperfections that get stained very easily.

2. Removing cracked and moldy caulk from a vinyl coated bathtub with vinyl walls is just as bad as I would have imagined it to be.

3. Uncle Bob sucks at cutting literally anything and jaggs a tub install up just as well as Uncle Bob jaggs up anything he ever does that involves a saw or a hammer.

4. Uncle Bob doesn't use backer rod in the really bad spots he messes up and that's (one of the reasons) why the caulk breaks and lets water in.

5. Uncle Bob uses dollar store caulk not meant for wet applications that just turns yellow over time wherever it doesn't break or turn moldy.

6. Just because a container of caulk looks white doesn't mean that it is white and you'll have to make another trip to the hardware store to replace the clear caulk you bought for white caulk. And you're going to need it to hide Uncle Bob's shitty cutting skills.

7. Confirmation that Mineral Spirits are awesome, which is something that I hadn't had to use for a long time.

8. Mineral Spirits are (relatively) safe on vinyl as long as you're not pouring it on and you sparingly use it in the corners to help with the job.

9. Mineral Spirits can turn a 15 hour job removing caulk residue and giving you a clean surface into a 90 minute job.

10. Don't give yourself only 72 hours to re-caulk a tub when you want 48 hours drying time before the shower needs to be used, because you're only going to end up with 24 hours or people are going to stink for a while while you give it another day you weren't anticipating.

11. Don't use Mineral Spirits in an enclosed area when it's cold outside and you don't want to open the window.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

BRENDA

Thursday, May 7, 2020 9:18 AM

A nice clear evening and a nice clear and warm end to the week.

BRENDA

Thursday, May 7, 2020 1:29 PM

Forgot to mention that there were actual lights on in the local library.

SIGNYM

Thursday, May 7, 2020 5:11 PM

FINALLY finished turning over and levelling the veggie patch. I measured it today: 27 X 9.5, pretty lose to my original guesstimate.

But with two more days of hot spell, I won't be able to plant while that. Not to fear! I have plenty more yardwork to do! I think I'll spend some quality time weeding the front and hosing down the avocado trees. Then planting, more raking, a whole bunch of trimming, and more weeding. The good thing is, between the torching and spraying, the amount of hand-weeding looks like it's been reduced to about 1/4 of before, maybe even less. By this time last year we would have filled up three 65-gallon bins. I'd be surprised if I filled up a half-bin if I weeded out the front.

Helped hubby put up three brackets to hold up his benchtop, mainly sat around and "supervised" or brought him some specific tool or helped him level.This was not as easy as putting brackets into drywall because this particular wall was plaster ... and not particularly straight or flat, either. He had to get out the grinder and grind some areas so that they were vertical. Fun times! Only seven more to go!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Thursday, May 7, 2020 11:12 PM

Out in a bit. Errands to run today. Got meds to get at least. Not sure about anything else.

BRENDA

Friday, May 8, 2020 2:17 AM

Out and back. Found a Subway sandwich shop opened around the pharmacy I go to. So, I got a sandwich. Nice change.

The little hamburger place run by that nice Korean couple was closed. I hope no one is sick, but I think the lack of business made them shut down. I hope the next time I go they will be open.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, May 8, 2020 3:46 AM

Shower caulked and thoroughly bleached and cleaned for the first time in years. I forgot how nice it can look when I don't let soap residue and mildew build up. It's insane how much bleach it takes to clean it when you let it go like that. I'm tasting bleach in my coffee again. (Let's see any virus try to get at me now).

That's the best caulking job I've done to date, and if I was going to do a great job somewhere this would be it. Still not perfect, but 1000 times better than what was there before. I'll be able to get away with selling the house without having to redo the bathroom. I am going to re-tile the floor and put a new vanity in at some point though.

Even had time to mow my back yard before it got real cold. It's ony a high of 45 tomorrow, and after I fertilized the backyard grows like crazy so I didn't want to wait a few more days on it.

Now I'm just going to wipe down all the furniture in the Master Bedroom for my brother and we'll move all the furniture in place tomorrow when he gets here and the room is all his for as long as he'd like to stay. I'll probably clean the kitchen tonight and tidy up the living room before he gets here too. I don't think I'm going to do any more projects for a few days. I'm beat.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

1KIKI

Friday, May 8, 2020 6:45 AM

Quote:
One thing is that I've been ridiculously, fall-asleep-sitting-up sleepy in the afternoon, even though I wake up feeling well-rested. It's nice to be able to nap, but it sure takes a chunk out of my day!

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

It must be the heat.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

I've been paying attention - I think you're right. It sure does seem to be the heat! And it knocks me right out.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Friday, May 8, 2020 8:27 AM

I'm not looking forward to the heat since it will finally be a hot summer. But at least (hopefully) it won't be a crazy rain season this year, breaking a 5 year streak of record rainfall round these parts.

Cleaned it all up and moved some small furniture around in the Master Bedroom and got the backup flat screen TV set up for my bro. Going to get my 2nd fire stick running tomorrow for him.

Really cleaned up a lot of the house and organized some of my tools that were strewn all about the 2nd floor and basement during all of this work. Time to hunker down for a few days, re-stage everything for future work and finally get around to writing up a meaningful to-do list again so I can really plan the next steps around the weather.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

SIGNYM

Friday, May 8, 2020 10:55 PM

SIX; my ever-so-bright sister told me that trisodium phosphate (TSP) is a disinfectant in its own right, like bleach, and also a powerful cleaner.

I had a mildew-stained absorbent pad that I put under my spare dish-drying rack which I have laundered before with bleach, but this time around I used a little TSP in the load (because bleach is impossible to find in the grocery stores) and it came out OMFG great!

Also, in my perusal of how to prep a wall for painting that could potentially contain lead, I came across a gazillion recipes for cleaning with a combo of bleach and TSP.

All this to say ... when you have a lot of mildew and grot or mold or algae to clean (even from concrete), try bleach and TSP next time. That's what I intend to do!

Hey, I'm all about list-making! If you care to share, please do!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

SIGNYM

Friday, May 8, 2020 10:59 PM

Quote:
KIKI: One thing is that I've been ridiculously, fall-asleep-sitting-up sleepy in the afternoon, even though I wake up feeling well-rested. It's nice to be able to nap, but it sure takes a chunk out of my day!

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

SIGNY:It must be the heat.

KIKI:I've been paying attention - I think you're right. It sure does seem to be the heat! And it knocks me right out.

We're due for a big cool-down tomorrow and for five days. You might want to take the oppty to start strolling for a little bit in the AM, get the blood moving and the joints working. It might help you withstand the heat better.

Also, once this Covid-19 thing dies down (so to speak) and you feel safe sitting in a waiting room, you might want to see your doctor. It sounds to me like you may be a little dehydrated.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

SIGNYM

Friday, May 8, 2020 11:02 PM

I'm giving myself a vacation from yardwork today. I've been up and doing by 8AM latest every day to get some work in before it gets too hot for me, and I've had as much fun as I can stand.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

1KIKI

Friday, May 8, 2020 11:17 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
We're due for a big cool-down tomorrow and for five days. You might want to take the oppty to start strolling for a little bit in the AM, get the blood moving and the joints working. It might help you withstand the heat better.

Eh, the hip joints really dislike it. I'll be doing more intense exercise like jump-rope intermittently but for far shorter periods of time.

Quote:
Also, once this Covid-19 thing dies down (so to speak) and you feel safe sitting in a waiting room, you might want to see your doctor. It sounds to me like you may be a little dehydrated.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

I'm pretty sure I drink plenty of fluids. Part of it is if I just napped a little bit during the day it wouldn't be so disruptive. But I sleep for HOURS. That makes it hard for me to get to sleep at a reasonable time in the eve, which makes it hard for me to get up at a reasonable time in the AM, to take advantage of the cooler temps. But when I DO make myself get up, I'm short of sleep which makes the afternoon nap even more of a problem. And then I've always, ever since I can remember from before kindergarten, had a hard time getting to sleep. A few years ago I had even resigned myself to sleeping only every other night. Though regrettably I'm not actually energized enough during the night to actually DO anything! ... just merely wide awake.

My sleep schedule is something I'm working on.

BRENDA

Saturday, May 9, 2020 1:46 AM

Back from my walk a bit ago and got myself a small fan at Walmart which is a good thing.

Cooling down the beginning of next week but am now ready for the heat when it comes again.

SIGNYM

Saturday, May 9, 2020 2:26 AM

Quote:
SIGNYM:
We're due for a big cool-down tomorrow and for five days. You might want to take the oppty to start strolling for a little bit in the AM, get the blood moving and the joints working. It might help you withstand the heat better.

KIKI: Eh, the hip joints really dislike it. I'll be doing more intense exercise like jump-rope intermittently but for far shorter periods of time.

Sounds like a plan!

Quote:
SIGNY: Also, once this Covid-19 thing dies down (so to speak) and you feel safe sitting in a waiting room, you might want to see your doctor. It sounds to me like you may be a little dehydrated.

KIKI: I'm pretty sure I drink plenty of fluids. Part of it is if I just napped a little bit during the day it wouldn't be so disruptive. But I sleep for HOURS. That makes it hard for me to get to sleep at a reasonable time in the eve, which makes it hard for me to get up at a reasonable time in the AM, to take advantage of the cooler temps. But when I DO make myself get up, I'm short of sleep which makes the afternoon nap even more of a problem. And then I've always, ever since I can remember from before kindergarten, had a hard time getting to sleep. A few years ago I had even resigned myself to sleeping only every other night. Though regrettably I'm not actually energized enough during the night to actually DO anything! ... just merely wide awake. My sleep schedule is something I'm working on.

I've been working on that sleeping schedule thing too, altho - fortunately for me - I tend to fall alseep pretty quickly. At least when I first fall asleep. But then I wake up and have a hard time falling asleep again, and usually it's because of some specific but subtle discomfort.

I've been bird-dogging every single problem that's been keeping me from sleeping well ... acid reflux/acid stomach, stuffy nose, swollen tongue, aches and pains, too hot/too bright, hard mattress, subtle asthma ... I noticed that if my airways are at all constricted I too have a hard time falling back to sleep. It's often an indicator of (yet another) sinus infection, which I've learned to manage with lots of antihistamines, cromalyn nose spray, decongestant nose spray, fluticasone nose spray, mupirocin/saline nose rinses, nose strips, and mouth insert. All of that, just to sleep! Also, the sinus surgeries and trimmed turbinates did help.

But one thing that has me twisting and turning is when I eat something that I'm allergic to. Then my legs feel hot, and I'm literally shifting around every 30 seconds trying to cool down. I think that happens with me subtly quite a bit, because I'm definitey a pedaerator! Another thing that causes me to twist and turn is a stuffy nose. So I'm not sure if you've explored those or not as a possible source of trouble, but that's what happens to me.

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

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BRENDA

Saturday, May 9, 2020 11:51 PM

Laundry day in a bit then out for my walk.

BRENDA

Saturday, May 9, 2020 11:51 PM

Also does anyone know which USB port you use for a memory stick?

SIGNYM

Sunday, May 10, 2020 2:55 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Also does anyone know which USB port you use for a memory stick?

It should be just a standard USB port.

There are, however, many different shapes of USB connectors

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Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

BRENDA

Sunday, May 10, 2020 4:45 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Also does anyone know which USB port you use for a memory stick?
It should be just a standard USB port.

There are, however, many different shapes of USB connectors

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

I think you have helped me Sig. I've got to check the stick I've got and see what it looks like.

1KIKI

Sunday, May 10, 2020 5:00 AM

One good thing is that these are all 'keyed'. You can't accidentally fit the wrong type in the slot, or fit the right type upside down.

SIGNYM

Sunday, May 10, 2020 7:12 AM

Well, there is one more kind of USB port on a PC and it fits exactly the same regular-looking connector. It just doesn't work. The old kind of PC port, USB2, is colored black. The new kind of PC port, USB3, is colored red. If you try and use an old USB2 thumb drive in a new USB3 PC port, it doesn't work. Nothing bad will happen, but it just won't read the thumb drive. At least, that's been my experience.

Also, there are all kinds of adapters to go from one type to another. We have a few of those around to go from a regular USB to a "mini" (USBC, such as to a tablet, camera) or "micro" connector (such as to a phone), so you can fit a thumb drive to tablets, cameras, smart phones and other devices.

But KIKI is correct: Except for the USB2/USB3 configurations which are physically easy to mix up, all of the others are "keyed" by shape and size.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

1KIKI

Sunday, May 10, 2020 7:37 AM

I didn't know that about USBs! THANKS.

SIGNYM

Sunday, May 10, 2020 7:39 AM

So yesterday was my yard work "vacation day". Today I was planning to pick up my veggie plants and hose down the avocados, but it took soooo long to get my plants I'll have to hose the trees down tommorow.

Apparently, plant nurseries are "essential". This particular nursery has a few acres of plants and a small parking lot ... there was literally a line of cars on the street waiting to get into the parking lot. It was a 10-minute wait for enough spaces to open up so I could creep forward and finally be allowed into the lot. I have to say, they did a fine job with traffic control.

Then all of the very popular plants seemed to be no longer available. I could only find one red bell and had to get Italian roasters instead. and no green bells and had to settle for poblano. No seedless watermelons so I got seeded, no cantaloupe so I got orange-fleshed honeydew. No Early Girl tomatoes, which I've had great success with, so I got a San Diego Red which is VFH resistant. I did manage to get zucchini, cucumber (which I've never been able to grow successfully), beets (late in the season but this is an experiment. If all I get is leaves that's OK because we love beet greens) and a few other plants. Too late for asparagus, but not too late to prep the bed for next spring!

Then it was a 15-minute checkout line. Open air, but I'm glad I took my N95.

Tomorrow my plan is to plant and, if I have time and energy, THEN hose down the trees and knock some of those persea mites off!

I have basil indoors which I'm hoping to transfer outdoors. This is the only batch of "living basil" from the grocery store that hasn't come pre-infested with ... something! So I was very hopeful that it would work out until I noticed my basil looking a little ... lacey, and tiny flecks of bug shit on the sill. As I took the plant down from the window-ledge I set it down kind of hard, and about a dozen teeny caterpillars fell off. So I banged the plant over the next few days, cleaned off the windowsill to see if I would get more droppings (yes) and in cleaning the window sill I found a dead garden moth ... the culprit!

Over days I've been picking thru the basil, hoping to recover the plants. Today I found a dozen more not-so-teeny caterpillars, I believe that's the last of them.

Has anyone read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" (kid's book)? Well, these caterpillars were VERY hungry!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

1KIKI

Sunday, May 10, 2020 8:23 AM

They just happen to like Italian food!

BRENDA

Sunday, May 10, 2020 9:28 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
One good thing is that these are all 'keyed'. You can't accidentally fit the wrong type in the slot, or fit the right type upside down.

Thanks as well Kiki.

BRENDA

Monday, May 11, 2020 2:50 AM

Beautiful sunny day here but heading for a rain next week again.

SIGNYM

Monday, May 11, 2020 4:01 AM

Beautiful day here, too! The weather FINALLY cooled down, it started out cloudy and cool but wound up a breezy, sunny, 77F.

Enjoy your day!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

#WEARAMASK

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