In the garden, and RAIN!!!! by SIGNYM

Out to do some stuff then got a call to come into work.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 1:44 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Work??? Really? The day before Easter?

Couldn't she have called you in a couple of days ago? She sounds as bad at scheduling as I am. Maybe even worse,and that's saying something!

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 3:17 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Signy,

OH! You mean the OTHER post!

Going there now to answer ...

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 4:58 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Dear daughter got her first Pfizer nTech injection today. I'm much relieved that I could schedule a Pfizer shot for her thru her regular healthcare provider instead of the Moderna thru CVS. I know three people personally who got the Pfizer with nothing other than a sore arm, and three people who got the Moderna two of whom developed a low grade fever.

KIKI, if your HCP is the same as ours... if you go thru their portal and thru their official link they will make you go to myturn.gov. But my turn.gov is broken and has been for over two weeks. I called, they know about it, but haven't fixed it yet.

I also CALLED our HCP but they also referred me to my turn.gov.... which is broken. This is moving at the speed of bureaucracy.

BUT, on the portal there is an option to "schedule an appointment" and THAT gives you the option to schedule a vaccination! (You have to type "Covid" into the request bar bc it will not pop up automatically... they don't make it easy!)

I did that first, added the category of daughter's eligibility into the "notes" portion along with the comment that my turn.gov is broken, and forgot all about it while I hunted thru the Walgreens website (broken), the my turn website (still broken), the official HCP link (refers to myturn), the CalPoly scheduler (broken), and CVS (the only working website/scheduler) etc. Well, much to my surprise the HCP called back, just in time for us to avoid her CVS injection!

BTW I would not be too concerned about allergic reactions. I know you have had bad reactions in the past, but as you know I have a crapton of allergies and bad medication reactions, and the only problem I had was a sore injection site and some lassitude (It would be hard to call it fatigue).

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 5:03 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Hey Brenda, I'm reading your posts with great interest, though I'm not sure I have anything to add. It seems like there are topics you regrettably know a lot about.

Your life has been far more fraught than most. But I'm glad you live in Canada, where medical care is free. It could be worse. You could live in the US and struggling to get medical care on your own.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 5:34 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Signy, I want to go through Walgreens because they have the J&J single-dose vaccine - which I want because I've had really gnarly reactions to vaccines in the past, especially the ones I've gotten more than once, like the Prevnar-13 and tetanus vaxes. However, they're booked solid with no appointments available. Getting one means me being more diligent about going on their website to snag any appointments that become available. But I'm still digging my way out of old stuff that still needs doing ASAP!! So I'll keep taking precautions; and doing what I can to get the J&J, as I can.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 5:57 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

You're prolly more up on J&J effectiveness than I am, but apparently takes a long time to get up to 90+pct ... more than a month.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/how-effective-johnson-johns
on-vaccine-what-know-n1259652

BTW, our HCP was offering J&J as well.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 7:28 PM

I get to cook a real meal on the stove tonight.

Sanding/scraping is done on all cabinets and the walls and ceiling of the kitchen. Plastic is out in the trash, the countertops are clean.

Still have a few more shelves and stuff to sand in the basement though, so I'm going to block that off from now on. I'm also going to leave the plastic up between the kitchen and the living room since I'll want to keep the dust out of there when I start working on the living room eventually. I really did a good job hanging that up and it would probably stay up for months if I need it to.

The mud still didn't dry under the sink, so that will still need to be sanded and have another light coat on it before I can wrap it up down there.

I'll probably finally bust out that wood putty tomorrow.

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" 'You're like the Nazis' is the new 'I don't like you'. That disqualifies her from marching around planet Who-Gives-a-Shit in a helmet? ~Bill Maher

PSA: Don't click on any links in Second's posts. He's trying to fish your private information out of you.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 11:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Work??? Really? The day before Easter?

Couldn't she have called you in a couple of days ago? She sounds as bad at scheduling as I am. Maybe even worse,and that's saying something!

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

She is and actually she is lucky that I decided to check my email this morning because it actually was an email. Before I left today she decided to go back to scheduling me every two weeks. Which means looking at the calendar and seeing if she and her husband are busy then setting it up.

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Saturday, April 3, 2021 11:41 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Hey Brenda, I'm reading your posts with great interest, though I'm not sure I have anything to add. It seems like there are topics you regrettably know a lot about.

Your life has been far more fraught than most. But I'm glad you live in Canada, where medical care is free. It could be worse. You could live in the US and struggling to get medical care on your own.

I think there are Kiki.

Unfortunately that is the way the cards were dealt to me. So, am I. I have often said that I wouldn't have survived what happen to me originally with the brain surgery. Never mind all that has come after it.

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Sunday, April 4, 2021 5:39 PM

Made a start today at retyping my book onto this desktop.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 10:17 AM

You weren't able to find a backup of the typed version, huh? Sorry to hear that Brenda.

:(

I got all my wood putty up in the cabinets and on the new front porch step I made, as well as some damage on the front door jamb. I'm going to need to hit a spot on that door a 2nd time, as well as the area where I fixed the one cabinet that was mangled to get electric into it.. Looks as though the putty is water based, so I splashed a bit of water in there for now and hopefully it should last a while before going bad now that it was opened.

Going to sand it all down and assess the situation after cleanup today. I might start caulking the insides today too, and if that mud under the sink is dry I'll sand it down and get it ready for paint.

It's going to be 80 on Wednesday and they pushed the rain back to Wednesday night where the temps take a colder turn. I'm going to wait until Wednesday afternoon to put all the grass seed down.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 10:27 AM

Oh... My neighbors across the street clearly have a hoarding problem...

More than a week after I introduced myself and let her know that the cops were there taking pictures of everything while she was out getting the kids from school, they finally got all of the Christmas crap up off their lawn, and the abandoned car was towed out. They still have so much crap behind that gateless fence that they can't get a car up to the garage though, and I doubt very much a car could even fit in there.

2 days now they've had a Uhaul truck in the driveway from time to time. I was hoping that they were just pulling stuff out, but I'd see them pull just as much stuff in as they ended up putting in the truck. Some of it, comically, I saw taken in only to be brought back out and then taken back in when the truck returned. My guess is that they've got at least a storage locker or two somewhere for the overflow.

As long as they can get everything off the lawn and driveway so it doesn't look like a 24/7 yard sale that should get the city off their backs, but I really hope the inside of the house isn't as bad as I imagine it is after all those Hoarder eps I've watched.

The one reason I am hopeful that it's not, at least not yet, is because they had people helping with all the moving. They didn't look like movers, and I'd guess it was family or friends. Most hoarders when it gets really bad won't allow outsiders to even step into their homes. And none of the stuff that came out looked like it was gross.

I wish them well. They've got a few kids and I know from past experience that that's no way to live.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 12:15 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Seems like my weeks are filled with other tasks or other's people's chores, and so far I'e only been able to carve out one day a weekend for yardwork, and sometimes one other day. I've got to change than dynamic! Otherwise I'll never make progress, it'll just be treading water.

Dear daughter and I spent sone quality time bundling up the plywood for the large item pickup (I'm SOOOO glad hubby finally got that crap out of his workshop!) and cutting up/binning up fallen palm fronds/flower stalks and a fallen star pine branch, and yesterday I spent some more quality time with the weeds out front. I only have about 15'-20' feet along the curb to finish up. Hopefully today.

Next, I finish prepping veggie garden #2 and getting the plants for planting. Doing the same as last year (tomato, cucumber, zucchini, peppers, melons, basil, beets) but adding a row of arugula, a patch of sweet potato, and maybe a row or two of carrots. That will require that I liberate veggie garden #1 from the nastutiums and borage and sunflowers that seem to have taken over.

Overall, I hope your Easter was better than ours. Aside from weeding (my never-favorite chore) hubby was sick for a few days with ... something. First chills, then feeling hot, then chills, then upset stomach, then feeling REALLY crappy in some indefineable way. And irritable. Really, REALLY irritable. But from the way his illness ramped up and then suddenly got better, he guesses it was a bad Meniere's attack. Just because they did brain surgery and cut the balance nerve doesn't mean that he's better, it just means he doesn't fall down and throw up for days at a time.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 12:17 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You weren't able to find a backup of the typed version, huh? Sorry to hear that Brenda.

:(

I got all my wood putty up in the cabinets and on the new front porch step I made, as well as some damage on the front door jamb. I'm going to need to hit a spot on that door a 2nd time, as well as the area where I fixed the one cabinet that was mangled to get electric into it.. Looks as though the putty is water based, so I splashed a bit of water in there for now and hopefully it should last a while before going bad now that it was opened.

Going to sand it all down and assess the situation after cleanup today. I might start caulking the insides today too, and if that mud under the sink is dry I'll sand it down and get it ready for paint.

It's going to be 80 on Wednesday and they pushed the rain back to Wednesday night where the temps take a colder turn. I'm going to wait until Wednesday afternoon to put all the grass seed down.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

Sounds like good progress, SIX!

You too BRENDA!

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 1:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You weren't able to find a backup of the typed version, huh? Sorry to hear that Brenda.

:(

I got all my wood putty up in the cabinets and on the new front porch step I made, as well as some damage on the front door jamb. I'm going to need to hit a spot on that door a 2nd time, as well as the area where I fixed the one cabinet that was mangled to get electric into it.. Looks as though the putty is water based, so I splashed a bit of water in there for now and hopefully it should last a while before going bad now that it was opened.

Going to sand it all down and assess the situation after cleanup today. I might start caulking the insides today too, and if that mud under the sink is dry I'll sand it down and get it ready for paint.

It's going to be 80 on Wednesday and they pushed the rain back to Wednesday night where the temps take a colder turn. I'm going to wait until Wednesday afternoon to put all the grass seed down.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

I have a typed version on paper but I need to get it back onto this desktop, so when I start looking at publishers again I might be able to send something electronically to them. Let an email with an attachment for say the prologue and a couple of chapters. That's why I am retyping it.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 1:56 PM

Thanks SIG. It will take a bit to do. But needs to get done.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 1:57 PM

Beautiful Spring day for my walk. And I am out.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 9:04 PM

Hope you're feeling better Sigs. It sounds like you're still getting a lot done in spite of it though.

I'm glad I didn't go to Easter. I guess there was an incident between my bro and my step-mom after the party, and that would have been a real shitty ride home.

My Easter was great, all alone and working like a fool.

Wood Putty is not an easy sand, especially when you're doing it by hand. I didn't want to risk overdoing it or even breaking the stuff, so I did it all with sanding sponges and folded up dollar store sandpaper (I FOUND A GREAT USE FOR IT FINALLY!!!)

80% of the putty that went in and on the cabinets was in the two above the stove where I did all the major repairs. That one cabinet where I did all the fixes on the horrible electrical debacle alone took me 3 hours to sand! Three hours with a shop vac in one hand and the sanding sponge/paper in the other hand while on a step ladder. Fun!

At least I stuck with it and worked until about 8PM and got all the top cabinets done. The bottoms didn't need much except for on the fronts of the doors where the old hinges were and some on the insides right behind where the doors will be, so that won't take long, and I can sit tomorrow while sanding the front porch step.

Put a second coat in a few spots that needed it, as well as the front door jamb.

Shouldn't be long before I get to caulking, and then I can finally start painting these things.

They are going to look perfect.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 9:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I have a typed version on paper but I need to get it back onto this desktop, so when I start looking at publishers again I might be able to send something electronically to them. Let an email with an attachment for say the prologue and a couple of chapters. That's why I am retyping it.

Oh. Gotcha.

That should keep you busy for a while.

You making any edits as you go along, or just straight transcribing?

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Monday, April 5, 2021 11:52 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
I have a typed version on paper but I need to get it back onto this desktop, so when I start looking at publishers again I might be able to send something electronically to them. Like an email with an attachment for say the prologue and a couple of chapters. That's why I am retyping it.

Oh. Gotcha.

That should keep you busy for a while.

You making any edits as you go along, or just straight transcribing?

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

Yeah, no worries.

It will. Over 20 chapters to retype. *L* My fingers will feel it for sure.

I already did make some edits and I think some should be straight transcribing. It's been quite a while since I've had a real chance to look it over.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 12:33 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Brenda:
I have a typed version on paper but I need to get it back onto this desktop, so when I start looking at publishers again I might be able to send something electronically to them. Like an email with an attachment for say the prologue and a couple of chapters. That's why I am retyping it.

SIX:Oh. Gotcha.
That should keep you busy for a while.
You making any edits as you go along, or just straight transcribing?

BRENDA: Yeah, no worries.
It will. Over 20 chapters to retype. *L* My fingers will feel it for sure.
I already did make some edits and I think some should be straight transcribing. It's been quite a while since I've had a real chance to look it over.

Well, like SIX said, that'll keep you busy for a while! Just take it slow, since there's no deadline attached.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 1:23 PM

Probably better just to transcribe for now, and then make edits after you've got it backed up electronically in a few places. At least, that's the way I'd imagine I'd do it.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 1:30 PM

Instead of sanding out the gates today, I decided to do an inventory of all spots that needed wood putty, document them with pictures, hit them all and document them again, and tonight I'll go through them and make sure I've gotten everything before any final coats go up since there will be a few bad spots to touch up.

I decided to do this first because I missed one spot on a cabinet, and it should be dry by the end of the day so I can have all of the cabinets puttyed and sanded, both top and bottom, except for the one above the stove with the most amount of damage.

Most of the stuff I used the putty on today was the front and back doors/jambs and both of the closet doors. I don't know why there are so many holes on them, especially inside the closet doors. Must have seen years of previous owners attaching things to the doors I guess.

Tomorrow is going to be a relative scorcher and then it goes back down to the 50's and 60's for the time being. I want to be outside tomorrow doing a pre-mow before seeding (before three straight days of rain) and probably cleaning up the garage window I caulked last year so I can prime it before hitting it with some paint. I'll have to see where the rain is at before I do that though, but I can also prime the steps after I sand them today.

Should wrap up somewhat early today so I can hit the grocery store and buy a piece of trim I need as well as a few more grout markers. Cleaning those tiles are low on the to-do list right now, but since I'm getting near the point where I will be re-installing the under-cabinet microwave nook, I have to at least have that part clean and the grout looking great. I'll do as many tiles as I can with the first grout marker and should be able to eventually do the rest of them with the 3rd one.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 1:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Brenda:
I have a typed version on paper but I need to get it back onto this desktop, so when I start looking at publishers again I might be able to send something electronically to them. Like an email with an attachment for say the prologue and a couple of chapters. That's why I am retyping it.

SIX:Oh. Gotcha.
That should keep you busy for a while.
You making any edits as you go along, or just straight transcribing?

BRENDA: Yeah, no worries.
It will. Over 20 chapters to retype. *L* My fingers will feel it for sure.
I already did make some edits and I think some should be straight transcribing. It's been quite a while since I've had a real chance to look it over.

Well, like SIX said, that'll keep you busy for a while! Just take it slow, since there's no deadline attached.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

It will and yes I will be taking my time. And you are right no deadline. Just me wanting to do it.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 1:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Probably better just to transcribe for now, and then make edits after you've got it backed up electronically in a few places. At least, that's the way I'd imagine I'd do it.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

A lot will depend on the kind of errors I find as to what I do with all of it.

It is on a memory stick, I know that and of course I'll keep the paper copy and then have it on here.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 1:44 PM

Out in a bit on another bright sunny day. Meds to refill and a couple of other things to do.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 8:50 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Well, on the minus side: pain. But a glass of wine here and there helps. Since SAM-e worked but did such a number on my heart, I'm tempted to try CBD oil.

On the plus side:

The dog is almost thru her season.

Our teaspoons had become scarce over the decades, but I managed to find exact replacementsand ordered six more.

I went and bought vegetable plants with the idea that they would propell me to finish prepping garden #2.

My file folders came in so I can finish end of year filing.

I'm sure some other unanticipated event will delay getting these done, but at least I have what I need on hand.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Tuesday, April 6, 2021 10:31 PM

Nice.. Sounds like you're getting that yardwork under control.

I ended up working until 9PM tonight. Thought I was done before I ran my errands, but that front porch step was staring me right in the face. I decided to prime the bottom of it, and after that I primed the back wall I repaired under the kitchen sink... then I primed the entire interior of the cabinet under the kitchen sink. That's the first interior to get the treatment and it's exciting.

Yardwork for me tomorrow though. I don't want to be sweating on the wood while I'm working, and we've got plenty of cool days coming. No need to bust out the A/C for only two days in the 80s.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 1:18 PM

Out for a walk in the rain today.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 3:03 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Walking, rain or shine. You take good care of yourself, BRENDA! I agree with KIKI: You're a good example.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 8:19 PM

Mowed the lawn, edged, and spent a few hours pulling weeds in the back, and got all my grass seed down in the front before the rain set in.

Here's hoping it grows...

10 days of cold ahead of us. Seems quite silly since the last two I'm sure the neighbors had their A/C on, and the heat will be kicking off here again once the residual heat escapes.

Back to the kitchen. I should be caulking the top cabinets and priming the rest of the bottom cabinets tomorrow.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 8:34 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Mowed the lawn, edged, and spent a few hours pulling weeds in the back, and got all my grass seed down in the front before the rain set in.

Here's hoping it grows...

10 days of cold ahead of us. Seems quite silly since the last two I'm sure the neighbors had their A/C on, and the heat will be kicking off here again once the residual heat escapes.

Back to the kitchen. I should be caulking the top cabinets and priming the rest of the bottom cabinets tomorrow.

--------------------------------------------------

Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

Seems like we were both doing yardwork today, SIX, altho I'm pretty sure you put in a full day and I can manage only a couple of hours at a time.

But today I managed to dig up the remainder of veggie garden#2 and move a few feet into new territory, since I reconfigured the sprinklers last year to accomodate a "front to back" pathyway which will separate the pollinator garden from the vegtable garden. I also dug up the parsley, which was beginning to flower (Did you know that parsley plants are 3' tall and have flower shapes like Queen Anne's lace, or dillweed? Neither did I!) and also xplant the lemon thyme (which I decided I didn't want as an herb, but makes a lovely groundcover) and paddle plant (in the path of the pathway) into pots for replanting (assuming they survive). So the backyard looks visibly neater now.

All the veggie garden needs now is a some fill from the compost, a good raking to smooth it all out and uproot tiny weed sprouts, and planting.

But now, to making dinner. Yesterday was sausage, potato, carrot, onion and sauerkraut. The day before that was stir-fried marinaded beef and Chinese-style braised vegetables (carrots, celery, red pepper, snow peas, bean sprouts and water chestnuts) and the day before that was Korean-style turkey crumbles with shirataki noodles, topped with satueed red pepper, green onion and sesame seed (a family favorite.)

Today is "oven fried" chicken and roast onion. sweet potato, potato, brussels sprouts and zucchini (for dear daughter, who can't eat crucifers).

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 9:15 PM

You might only be able to put in a few hours at at time, but I'll bet your yard looks stunning compared to mine. So much left to do. The moles really tore up the lawn by my neighbor's fence and practically tore out all the posts. 10 years of living here and that one is new. That grass was pristine when I left it in the fall.

Here's hoping that he actually does something about it this time. I can never get them to do anything.

I'm also hoping that we only had one mole between us and that I successfully killed it. I'm not sure yet at this time if this is damage from before or after I used the smoke bombs. I knew there was damage by the fence, but I had no idea how extensive it was until today after I mowed and really spent some time out there. I'm hoping I can finally get him to cave in all of his holes so we can do a joint inventory of the situation and I can bomb any new tunnels that pop up when and if they do.

Be happy you don't have moles to deal with on your property.

Don't worry about the speed. Tomorrow is another day.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 11:30 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SignyM:
Walking, rain or shine. You take good care of yourself, BRENDA! I agree with KIKI: You're a good example.

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

THUGR posts about Putin so much, he must be in love.

Thanks SIG. Just doing what I need to get done.

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Wednesday, April 7, 2021 11:31 PM

Suppose to be dry here tomorrow. I hope so. Don't feel like lugging my umbrella again.

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Thursday, April 8, 2021 12:03 AM

So I wasn't feeling like relaxing just yet...

I hit the top of the front porch step with primer, put a 2nd coat on the inside of the entire sink, even opting this time to just prime that bad floor since I was near the end of a gallon, and I also hit the top, bottom and underside of the worst cabinet I did all those repairs on.

My god, this looks good.

Months of preparation are going to pay dividends.

I'm excited now.

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Thursday, April 8, 2021 11:17 PM

Jeez... I knew it's been a while since I had a front step on my front porch, but I didn't realize it was nearly 2 years. I started working on this thing back in early July of 2019. I was pretty sure I posted about it here, so I had to go back and see the dates. July 10th...

(I removed the quotes since the pictures in the quotes made the text fall off the page).

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack July 10th, 2019:
Gorram Ants...

$20 of Lumber (The cracks in the garage have since been cleaned with a wire brush in a drill and then sealed with Watertite, and I didn't get a single drop of water in the garage all winter, even with the 40" of snow).

Built like a tank, and smooth as hell... (And the weed garden I called a driveway has since been powerwashed, sealed and hit with two layers of blacktop and also survived the winter much better than I was expecting it to).

This isn't actually screwed together or anything yet. I just Lincoln-Logged them together to see what it would look like and stood on them. Rock solid and didn't wobble in the slightest.

I'll have to get pics of the primered pieces, and then I'll take pics of it when I put it together, paint it, etc.

I'm super proud of this. I've never really built anything out of wood since a wood shop class in high school. Only really did rough carpentry hidden behind walls since then.

I joked with my mom today that if the house caves in and I have to sell the land as-is, I'm taking these damn steps with me when I go.

I'd actually kind of like building the larger 2nd step with the hand rail from scratch instead of just making new legs for it since it's so shitty compared to mine. Unfortunately, money is kind of an issue now and I've got better things to spend it on at the moment...

Maybe I'll see if I can't take the old one apart. If the integrity is still there like I suspect it is beyond two of the legs that have gone to the wild, maybe I can take my time and do it all the right way with the existing lumber instead of just half assing it with a paint job.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

Originally posted by 6ixStringJack, July 11th, 2019:
So...

My late start meant plans changed. I was really wiped out after working nearly 12 hours in the 95 degree heat yesterday anyhow. It was nice and only in the mid 70's today, so after the garbage men came I decided to fill the cans right back up again.

I got rid of some of the hoard in the garage. I've got to say that it's really nice to have some space on my work bench as well as quite a bit of clearance on both sides of my car when I park it. Even more space if I didn't have my stair project in front of my tool bench right now.

The hoard has long since been gone in both the house and the garage, and I have two clean work benches for projects now, and aside from those countersink bits I never found, I know where everything is and it's all got a place when I'm done.

I did manage to assemble the stairs today, but I didn't open up any cans of paint. I've got some company coming over tomorrow and I'm going to spend a few hours cleaning house before I go to bed. I'll probably put on some more paint tomorrow afternoon after they leave. It's so nice to be so caught up on all the lawn and weed maintenance so I can focus on projects and stuff.

Picture time. :)

Here's all of my building blocks with two coats of primer:

The legs assembled (I couldn't find my countersink bit, of course....):

The only screws going into the planks you walk on are from the bottom (at least right now):

I really love the way this looks without putting screws down in from the top. It would also keep any water from building up around the screws and screw holes too. I'm just afraid that it might not be stable enough for the long term. What do you think?

I'm thinking before putting another coat of primer on or any finish paint coat that I'll try to find my countersink bit or bite the bullet and buy a new one. I could then just add a few more screws from an angle coming up from the insides of the legs to get another 1 or 2 into each leg for additional support without screwing through the top. Maybe I'll even spring for some wood filler that's sandable and really do it up right before finishing it?

I took a look at the larger step with the hand rail in the back today that I was considering just replacing the legs and sanding and repainting it. It was really shoddy work. The ends of the plank on top were cut bad, they are different sizes by anywhere from 1/8th to 1/4 inches, and they didn't even bother sanding down the bad cuts, let alone any of the corners or edges. There's also a thin layer of mildew/algae that has grown on it that would probably just gunk up any sandpaper I tried using almost immediately if I tried to save that lumber...

Not to mention that there's about a billion screws coming from the top that not only make it look shoddy, but is the source of a lot of peeled paint too. It's obvious that they didn't even bother making pilot holes first since the wood is split quite a bit.

To be honest, I'm surprised that it's still standing, even without the damage at the bottom of a few of the legs from wood rot and ants.

I'll probably go and pick up more lumber. I already have what I need for the feet. I'd just need a 12' length of 2x4's and maybe two 8' lengths of 2x6's to get it done. And a box of screws... Since I've already got the paint and primer, it might only run me another 20 bucks for the wood.

I'll have to get a picture of the piece of crap that's out there now. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

CURRENT:

I'm sure I mentioned it at some point, but I did finally get a countersink drill bit set, and I'm happy to report that I never found the old bits which would have driven me nuts. The new set didn't come with a nice box though, so I was able to put them in the old hard shell plastic box.

I drove two 3 1/2" deck screws through the tops at every leg, and redid all of the screws I'd put through the bottom so I could cover them.

Then it sat there for months until I was ready to start using the wood putty on everything else.

Finally had a third coat of primer on it after the putty was sanded down late last night and here's what it looks like now after the first coat of paint.

Watertight as a duck's ass, and it'll get a 2nd coat tomorrow. After that, it's getting some black tar on the legs that is going to go perfectly with the black tar I'll be putting on the entire perimeter of the house foundation this spring/summer.

They haven't genetically engineered an ant that's going to be able to get into this.

It's just kind of sad that it actually has to go outside where it will get dirty. :(

Oh... and I only bought a quart of paint back in the day, but I have little doubt it will be enough. It doesn't even look like I used 1/8th of it for that first coat, so I should have no worries about being able to paint the larger back step twice when I get around to rebuilding it.

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Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Friday, April 9, 2021 3:27 PM

Back in from a soggy walk on a Friday.

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Saturday, April 10, 2021 1:51 AM

I guess we are back. Site's been having problems today which is Friday.

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Saturday, April 10, 2021 4:30 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Just saying hey, all.

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Saturday, April 10, 2021 9:58 AM

A few setbacks on the job... I can't really do the work on the top cabinets I wanted to do until I get some trim up in a few places, but that requires me to clean the tiles and use the grout marker first, but that requires me to bust out all the old craked caulk on the countertop that I might not be keeping anyway, and that lead me to decide to work on the kitchen window, which was by far the worst looking "finished" window in the house.

It really would be stupid not to do it now. As difficult as it is to remove what looks to be a full tube of caulk from that window, it will be next to impossible to do it without damaging finished work if I waited on it.

I got about 3/5ths of the caulk on the countertop/tiles busted out and cleaned, and maybe half of the window yesterday. I wasn't going to do anything after that, but after taking a few hour break I ended up hitting one of the two large bottom cabinets inside and out with primer, also hitting the outside of the sink cabinet. Huge win there, since the whole room just looks different now that that is done.

The second coat is on that step and it looks great. I've decided against tar on the legs. I just don't think it will hold up well on concrete, and would probably make a huge mess of my patio.

But I've got another solution. Screw in rubber feet. They come in packs of 20, and I'd need 24 if I wanted to put 4 on each foot, but I've decided I'm going to put 4 of them in the two center feet, then 3 of them on the perimeter of the outside feet, leaving an empty spot on each in the middle. That should be enough, but if I decide at a later date I need to buy 20 more and have 12 left over when I get around to doing the big step I can. I was going to put them in a different configuration, but I wouldn't be able to add an extra foot at a later date without leaving myself with 4 holes I'd need to fix.

I will have to remember to adjust the top step now for the additional height these feet create. They're not super high profile or anything, but I don't want that top step butted right up against the door so I can't open it.

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Saturday, April 10, 2021 1:10 PM

Laundry to do then a walk on a nice sunny day.

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Saturday, April 10, 2021 5:34 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Well, I've been making slow progress in my efforts to set up a routine, AND catch up on all the left-over stuff from when I was working. So I've got no particular items to point to, just bits of progress on a lot of different things.

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Saturday, April 10, 2021 5:38 PM

Enjoy that nice sunny day Brenda.

Rain here for days, but for once I'm happy about it.

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Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Saturday, April 10, 2021 11:07 PM

Took a nap after I got all the caulk out from between the countertop and the tiles. I wasn't feeling "right" today. Third day in a row with a lingering headache, and I usually don't get those for any reason. Stiff neck and a bit of pain too. Low energy.

I didn't think I'd do anything else, but about an hour after my nap I put in another 4 or 5 hours of priming. Inside and outside of all bottom cabinets is done. Looks fantastic. I can't wait to see what this all is going to look like.

Should get those rubber feet tomorrow so I can finally get that step out after about 21 months without one. It will be nice when my aunt and grandma visit and we don't have to be on both sides of her lifting her up that massive step into the house.

I'll take a picture of what my new one looks like compared to the old larger step that I'm going to replace this spring/summer.

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Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

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Sunday, April 11, 2021 12:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Enjoy that nice sunny day Brenda.

Rain here for days, but for once I'm happy about it.

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Imagine the hypocrisy of a government who will allow businesses to card people to get a job or buy groceries, but won't card people to vote in elections and gives millions of non-citizens free money from taxpayers.

I did but it was cold out. Suppose to warm up to around 70F next week. Yipee!!

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Sunday, April 11, 2021 12:06 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:

Well, I've been making slow progress in my efforts to set up a routine, AND catch up on all the left-over stuff from when I was working. So I've got no particular items to point to, just bits of progress on a lot of different things.

Progress is good Kiki. I've got to get back to emptying my dad's old dresser and washing the sheets that are in it if they are still usable.

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Sunday, April 11, 2021 9:27 AM