In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)
POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Friday, September 11, 2026 15:29
VIEWED: 338648
PAGE 709 of 834
Yeah... I don't suppose most people would.
Made a few costly mistakes tonight. Nothing serious other than time burners. But annoying.
I had a list of things I needed to do before I did a backup and what I didn't realize until after I made the backup was that I actually had two lists of things to do before I did that backup. I can't use a standard sync function after doing the work because there are a few manual differences with this backup and the main. So I had to spend about an extra hour just fixing those problems.
Eye on the prize until this is done, man. 
Just about done with that, and then I've got to do a bunch of cleanup elsewhere before making the 2nd large backup and then I think I'm pretty much done for now. I may have to take a few days off of it due to real life, but that will be fine if I finish off tonight on a spot that makes sense and I won't be wondering where the hell I left it off.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick. 
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Go, man, go.
I'm just working on physical stuff around my place. Maybe by the weekend I will get back to some book stuff.
Was trying to remember something else I wanted to do last night and I can't now. It might come back to me later.
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Out soon. Few things to do. Needed to get one of those reachy, grabby things to get another thing done. Another lovely day.
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Pretty well all done for today. Just a couple of small things I will do later.
Terrible smell in my apartment and no it isn't me. Smells like tar. I get the feeling somewhere near me there is some tarring being done. Yuck! I hate the smell of tar.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Go, man, go.
I'm just working on physical stuff around my place. Maybe by the weekend I will get back to some book stuff.
Was trying to remember something else I wanted to do last night and I can't now. It might come back to me later.
You ever think of what it was?
I've got my old man coming to visit on Sunday night. This is the first time he's ever come here to stay the night, and he'll be here until Wednesday before he kicks off his round the country Jack Kerouac phase of his life.
I think I mentioned I didn't want to bring my table/chairs back down into the kitchen until I was done patching, sanding and finishing all that trim I recently put up, but I just realized today that both inside and outside I don't have any real place for my dad to sit with his laptop, without him actually having to have it sitting on his lap top.
So I decided to bring the table and one of the chairs down. I've still got to clean it up pretty good. Not that it's filthy or anything, but it's been sitting in my small bedroom for years now without ever getting cleaned off. My dad will probably eat most of his meals there, so it's got to be clean.
It looks nice. It was a nice table that I bought at Target of all places, back when I was living up in Wisconsin with my brother and our apartment didn't have room for any full-sized kitchen table. It's solid wood without any IKEA jenk going on and it's held up really well over the years. I kind of hate that it's not high-gloss white to match all my trim, but I'm not going to paint it. It's a very light wood color finish, and despite several moves and a lot of use over the years, there's not a single blemish anywhere on that finish. It's super-low maintenance right now, and I think if I painted it that wouldn't be the case anymore. I like painting furniture that won't be sat on regularly, eaten on regularly, and need to be wiped down regularly (likely coming into contact with at least a little bit of water or cleaning product from time to time). With all the painting I've done on and inside kitchen cabinets, my pantry, the curio cabinet, the entryway table and other things I've been able to put down white contact paper to protect the finish (so I can take it all off before I sell the house and everything still looks brand new). But I can't really do that with the table. I'm sure because of the regular use it wouldn't be long before that started peeling right off, and when it does that there's still enough sticky on the back to collect all the dust in the air and then it really looks bad... so yeah... It will remain a light wood color.
The only problem with it is that after one of the moves, something happened internally toward the top where the post meets the bottom of the table and it will "swivel" about 1/8th of a turn either way. I always meant to open that up and see what needs to be fixed, (or just take the easy route and shoot some brad nails into it since nobody would ever see them), but I've never gotten around to it. Maybe I'll look at it between now and Sunday night and have it fixed before he gets here. I dunno. It's not dangerous or anything, so really no big deal. It's just annoying.
Got most of my house cleaned and ready for the visit. Still working on the kitchen counter/sink and of course the bathroom will need a cleaning. I'll probably do that on Sunday before he's here.
Tomorrow I think I'll mow the lawn since it really needs it. It's just been so damn cold around here I haven't felt like it. It won't be warm tomorrow either. Not even going to see the 60's again until Sunday.
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Wow... Well I'm glad I never just resigned myself to blowing brad nails into the table to get it fixed. I said there was no IKEA jank here, but I found it. Not crappy cardboard or plastic pieces or anything, but the engineering that went into making this a relatively cheap table while still giving the illusion that it's a pretty damn nice piece of furniture.
There were 4 brass bolts with 2 washers each that were screwed up into a square of wood that had the single thick post going inside of it. I was not expecting to find what I did under that...
Once I took out those 4 bolts, the entire top came right off, and what I was left with was the post with the 4 legs and the square that I just undid. That square was then attached to the post with 4 more of the same bolt/washer combos very close to each other and then screwed down into the top of the post.
THAT was where the problem was. I'm guessing during one of the moves it got rattled around too much and all 4 of those came loose. This is why I was able to turn the top of the table about 1/8th of the way in either direction. (It really was more like 1/16th). The only reason it stopped at all and didn't just spin is because those 4 bolts were being moved to the left and right as far as possible before the wood kept it from moving any further in one direction.
I tightened those 4 up, making sure that the square lined up perfectly with the feet of the table, then put the top back on and it's like it's brand new.
No brad nails needed. Just my allen wrench set.
I just found out my friend's brother is back in town for the weekend and I haven't seen him since around Christmas time. I may have to wrap up my yard work early tomorrow and make my way out there at least for a few hours. I found out my dad isn't coming until after dinner time on Sunday, so that buys me a lot more time than I thought I still had. Worst case I can mow the front tomorrow and get the back on Sunday before dad drops by.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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Nice...
Pretty much everything is cleaned up and ready to go except for half of the bathroom. Think I'm done for the day.
It's freezing out there. Freakin' May in Chicago really sucks sometimes. It's 20 degrees colder right now than it should be. Can't believe I almost have to worry about my newly planted grass seed around the landscaping I did last year freezing.
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Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
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Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Go, man, go.
I'm just working on physical stuff around my place. Maybe by the weekend I will get back to some book stuff.
Was trying to remember something else I wanted to do last night and I can't now. It might come back to me later.
You ever think of what it was?
I've got my old man coming to visit on Sunday night. This is the first time he's ever come here to stay the night, and he'll be here until Wednesday before he kicks off his round the country Jack Kerouac phase of his life.
I think I mentioned I didn't want to bring my table/chairs back down into the kitchen until I was done patching, sanding and finishing all that trim I recently put up, but I just realized today that both inside and outside I don't have any real place for my dad to sit with his laptop, without him actually having to have it sitting on his lap top.
So I decided to bring the table and one of the chairs down. I've still got to clean it up pretty good. Not that it's filthy or anything, but it's been sitting in my small bedroom for years now without ever getting cleaned off. My dad will probably eat most of his meals there, so it's got to be clean.
It looks nice. It was a nice table that I bought at Target of all places, back when I was living up in Wisconsin with my brother and our apartment didn't have room for any full-sized kitchen table. It's solid wood without any IKEA jenk going on and it's held up really well over the years. I kind of hate that it's not high-gloss white to match all my trim, but I'm not going to paint it. It's a very light wood color finish, and despite several moves and a lot of use over the years, there's not a single blemish anywhere on that finish. It's super-low maintenance right now, and I think if I painted it that wouldn't be the case anymore. I like painting furniture that won't be sat on regularly, eaten on regularly, and need to be wiped down regularly (likely coming into contact with at least a little bit of water or cleaning product from time to time). With all the painting I've done on and inside kitchen cabinets, my pantry, the curio cabinet, the entryway table and other things I've been able to put down white contact paper to protect the finish (so I can take it all off before I sell the house and everything still looks brand new). But I can't really do that with the table. I'm sure because of the regular use it wouldn't be long before that started peeling right off, and when it does that there's still enough sticky on the back to collect all the dust in the air and then it really looks bad... so yeah... It will remain a light wood color.
The only problem with it is that after one of the moves, something happened internally toward the top where the post meets the bottom of the table and it will "swivel" about 1/8th of a turn either way. I always meant to open that up and see what needs to be fixed, (or just take the easy route and shoot some brad nails into it since nobody would ever see them), but I've never gotten around to it. Maybe I'll look at it between now and Sunday night and have it fixed before he gets here. I dunno. It's not dangerous or anything, so really no big deal. It's just annoying.
Got most of my house cleaned and ready for the visit. Still working on the kitchen counter/sink and of course the bathroom will need a cleaning. I'll probably do that on Sunday before he's here.
Tomorrow I think I'll mow the lawn since it really needs it. It's just been so damn cold around here I haven't felt like it. It won't be warm tomorrow either. Not even going to see the 60's again until Sunday.
--------------------------------------------------
Be Nice. Don't be a dick.
Think I almost got back what I was thinking of. So th
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My area will be hitting 70 tomorrow and the heat will hold till the middle of next week.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Think I almost got back what I was thinking of. So that's good.
I do that more often than I'd like to admit these days too.
Quote:
For that amount of time I'm sure you and your dad will have a good visit.
Yeah, I think you did. Having somewhere for you and your dad to eat would be good. Just don't let yourself do what I am still doing. Make an attempt to tidy up the kitchen table then put another pile of stuff on it.
Yeah. We should have fun.
No worries. My table, at least until he's gone will be clean and clear.
It was actually nice not having to go through a ton of old mail and stuff since I already did that a couple of weeks ago. Only had about a week's worth of junk mail to sort through. House was pretty clean overall too. I really need to clean up better after myself in the kitchen and bathroom though. Bad habits I've cultivated over the decades and I never had a good woman to smack the shit out of me for doing it.
I don't mind living in my own mess, but if I walked into somebody else's house and it looked the way that I've let it get about 3 times over the last 2 years, I'd nope right on out of there. Wasn't nearly as bad as my drinking/hoarding days, but that's really just because I don't have all that crap anymore. And the longer you let it go the bigger project it becomes and the less you want to do it. Just a bad cycle that reinforces itself.
I just have to get this project finished up and make a point to have people over more again. When I had people over often enough, it never got messy to the point where it was a major 2-day project to clean everything up.
Oh... and I cheated on the laundry. Instead of putting it all where it belongs, I just threw it in another room.
I think the main reason I don't take care of my laundry is because I barely have any space for it. I've got two massive dressers and a third small one, and that large closet with 3 rods for hanging, and I still don't have enough room for the laundry.Getting rid of clothes has always been a hard thing for me to do. It's also the reason why I have to stop taking other people's clothes when they get rid of them too.
I have a very particular way of dressing most days, and half the clothes I own now I know that I would never wear under any circumstance, so it all needs to go. I also took like 7 full suits from my friend that belonged to his dad. They're all a perfect fit. I don't even need to see a tailor.
But if you don't count a 30 minute job interview maybe 12 years ago, the last time I ever wore a suit was at my brother's wedding. Was Obama still on his first term back then? I think he may have been.
Heh... I just giggled when I remembered that the last time I washed any of my cars was the last time I wore a suit.
If I was going to get another office job where I dressed real nice every day I think I'd have probably already done it in the last 16 years. Probably time to let a lot of that go. And besides... Even though I've long stopped caring about fashion and I think that anything I wore growing up is still perfectly acceptable to wear, there's probably a good chance a lot of that would either be laughed out of the office for being ancient, or would be complimented for being vintage stuff. If I get another office job, I can buy myself new dress clothes. They're just wasting space here now.
Quote:
I think if the table and chairs are a nice wood colouring it would be alright with your white trim.
Painting it and then cleaning it all the time will flake the paint off. Best to leave it.
Yeah... It doesn't look bad at all. I think dark would probably go nicer with it than the light wood, but oh well...
I'm not exactly Mr. Interior Decorator anyhow,
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