All Good Things Come to those Who Wait

The weekend was a busy but productive one. At long last I finished the trim in the upstairs. And there was great rejoicing! Yea! There are flaws but I can live with them. Then it was tote all the tools and leftovers downstairs and into the garage. Finally the shop vac and I spent a couple of hours removing the saw dust and other debris. Now to put the tools and leftovers away in the garage.

The bummer was, because I had earlier moved an old chest that lives under the workbench, there was not enough room for the shop to regain its living quarters. The casters on the bottom of the chest were missing their wheels and it would not budge. Oh well, knock them off, afix a board to each end on the bottom and shove mightly. Now the vac has reclaimed its rightful place.

I was also able to re-screen two screens for the storm windows and replace the lights in one of the front trees. Christmas in June! How wonderful. There should be a bit of Christmas in every day.

But it was hot and humid. I drank and drank with almost no out flow. By days end I was tuckered out. But I felt good for getting the trim done. Now for carpet and moving on to the stairwell.

On Sunday I went to the red head's to fix her roof. She had it reshingled a couple of years ago but there was a leak. I think the roofer must have been blind to miss this. The "H" clip between two pieces of plywood was bent up on both ends and poking through the felt and all layers of shingles. I removed the damaged shingles, beat the "H" clip into the proper position and replaced the shingles. A little bit of roof cement in stratigic places and the job was done.

Her neighbor was the beneficary of several length of DWV pipe and fittings for his sewer line to his garage he is building. And a couple of more things out of my garage. Although you wouldn't think anything was removed. Its a blivit.

The day ended with nachos and a movie ( "Grand Torino" ) at my eldest daughter's for Father's Day. Both my son and other daughter were there. Could not have asked for a better end to the weekend.

Murphy Was an Optimist

O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law states: Murphy was an optimist. And today that fact was proven. Bear with me.

Today has been a pretty good day. I fixed the overhead garage door to the tune of $3.12. One of the wire rope cables rusted and broke. Luckily for me the neighborhood hardware store (3 blocks away) had cable and a swedge clamp. In thirty minutes it was fixed. Ta Da!

Next, I managed to cut down the bulk of the ginormous Bradford Pear in the backyard. It has been dropping large limbs over the last few years. A micro-burst several weeks ago took out another big limb and I decided the rest had to go. Now all that remains is the trunk about 5 feet high. But, its also about 20 inches in diameter. Told ya it was a big tree.

Next on the list was finishing the trim upstairs. Its been a long project and I was looking forward to being able to put all the power and hand tools away, clean up, and store the left over materials. But here's where O'Tool comes into play. I was one, that's right, one blooming piece of lattice trim short. Now its a trip to the Blue Box (Lowe's) or the Orange Box (the Homeless Depot) tomorrow night whilst on my way home from work. The trim also needs to be stained and have three coats of varnish applied. So maybe next weekend the trim will be completed.

Put another way, in the words of Robert Burns in "To a Mouse",

But, mousie, thou art not alane,
In proving foresight may be in vain,
The best laid schemes of mice and men,
Go oft astray,
And leave us nought but grief and pain,
To rend our day.

Thus endth the 6th epistle of MGA 1958.

Hallelujah. Holy Crap. Pass the Tylenol.

A Bla Sort Of Saturday

Saturdays are supposed to be those days we look forward to, especially when the work week has been long and rough. Those conditions apply, but why then am I in a bla mood?

• So I didn't get home 'til 10 most evenings after starting at 8 in the morning.
• The van leaked twice in downpours adding to the mold problem in the duct work. Chrysler has a really, really bad design for the vent system and woking on ducting under the dashboard is never easy.
• I spotted a leak in the recently replaced roof. and the new ceiling upstairs now has a water stop on it. At least the roofer is coming by today and hopefully it will get repaired.
• Several weeks ago, a micro burst took out another portion of the Bradford Pear in the back yard. The remainder of it needs to come out.
• My daughter's laptop hard drive went South and the restore image does not seem to take on the new hard drive. Maybe I need to install WinDoze first. It is a Radford University Restore image after all. Does not say a thing about the underlying operating system.
• Taylor Raine (great niece) has her first birthday party today. I should be looking forward to it, but instead I think of it as an imposition taking me away from the maintenance chores I expected to accomplish.
• There is a din-din this evening with college friends I'd been looking forward to until yesterday. Now I don't really want to go. maybe I am a HumBug.
• My son found out it will be June 29 until he van re-apply for a driver's license instead of June 9 as he thought.

But on the other hand, I had dinner with a very close friend Wednesday night. I had not seen her since February and we really haven't talked much since the end of last year. Our not being closer is from me pulling away over the last 18 months or so. In retrospect, maybe I have passive/aggressive tendencies.

Why is it so difficult for me to express myself. Even in this forum, the time between postings is loooooooog. Is it a guy thing? Do I really want to do it? I'm not sure how folks like Army of Mom post on almost a daily basis.

But the coffee this morning is really good. I'm trying to end on a high note.