Vegan with jam

Tag: Remodeling

  • But wait! There’s more!

    As anyone can see, my last post was fraught with despair and frustration over the lack of progress on the home project list. But the day was still young! After a few cups of coffee, I decided I’d at least get some branches trimmed from the big Pin Oak in the backyard. They have been scrapping on the roof for some time, and it seemed like a simple enough thing to remedy. And it involved buying a new Stihl chainsaw! Oh, boy!

    Once I got it to work, that being another story, the trimming went fairly well. The saw worked flawlessly, and of course, that is what I expect from a Stihl.

    However, as I was getting ready to come down from the roof, my foot went right through it. Yes, through the roof. Not the ceiling underneath, thank goodness. But now there is a hole the size of a loaf of bread right there in the middle of the roof.

    So alas, it just had to be another spaghetti and wine day. Due to consuming a low point breakfast and lunch, my weight is staying pretty much even. Next month we’ll do better, I’m sure!

    BTW – my friend the carpenter, not the philosopher carpenter, came over Monday evening and we’re making plans to repair the roof on the weekend of July 18th.

  • Lost Weekend

    Though it sure seems I tried this weekend to get something checked off the list, it just doesn’t seem to be coming together.

    A carpenter once told me, “Life is about moving things around.” He wasn’t your everyday when-the-only-tool-you-have-is-a-hammer-then-everything-looks-like-a-nail carpenter. He was educated at the University, and married to a doctor lady. So, by virtue of me having moved all kinds of things around this weekend, maybe I did get something done. But not checked off.
    This garage door project is a bear. The actual thermometer temperature was 100+. And there was no avoiding it while I uncrated the opener out on the driveway. The driveway was too hot to touch with bare skin. The sun too bright to see. The directions are printed in six languages and no language like an enormous comic book. The parts are all in translucent plastic bags, each a different color of pastel. Pink, green, gray, blue… or six different shades of gray to the color blind assembler.
    Then there is the tension bar that keeps the door from slamming shut and does what it can to assist in the lift. It needed adjusting, an operation best left to professionals. Adjusting the tension on this is like trying to add bait to a rat trap after it has already been cocked. That project concluded with the Kansas summer thunderstorms close behind.
    For the past two days, we’ve indulged in the comfort of spaghetti and wine. Not a great weight loss program. For the week, I’m down about 4 lbs. Good by any measure. But not meeting my expectations, which are clearly out of whack with reality.
    Next week we begin again and life goes on…