Lightning Round
It’s catch up time.
The Chimney
The last “fix” made to the chimney seems to be keeping the water out. We’ve had extensive rains since it was installed and the chimney has remained dry. I can’t explain this. I thought at least some of the other fixes would also have worked, but whatever. Water no longer gets into the chimney. It will hold until we can redo the kitchen in a few years, and (I hope) remove the fireplace completely.
The Roof
The giant pond on the roof has not recurred. The strainers inserted into the tops of the downspouts did catch some debris, though, so it is possible that it could have happened again if those had not been added. No way to know. I have materials to create additional strainers that will go on the roof itself, but that takes construction time out in the shop. I’ll share photos when that happens.
Art
There is nothing new on this front. I have been distracted and busy with the community association website. There is some sad news, though. Rain Man is in the process of being decommissioned. You might remember him:
Sadly, he was slowly dropping bits of umbrella all over the floor, and took up a lot of space in my studio. I needed the space (for potential new art creation, and possible window storage, among other things) so he is being dismantled and what can be recycled is going that route.
I expect most of Leo to go the same way in the next week or three. Leo is not dropping things, but he’s huge and we need the space. I hope to save his “head” and remount it. We’ll see if I can make that happen.
Yes, this is sad, but more space is better and Rain Man was simply not going to survive in the real world. It would have required a huge investment of time, effort, and materials to get him into a condition that would not drop umbrella parts, and nothing was going to make it possible to dust him.
As an aside, taking him apart is a challenge. There are bits here that were grossly over engineered, and my hands are covered with cuts from the work. If you have suffered a similar fate while disassembling something I created, I am truly sorry.
Hows The Hip?
Meh. It gets a bit better and then gets a bit worse again. I am not limping at this point and have even gone for a couple of long walks, but there is still pain, mostly inside the joint when it is twisted. It’ll get better with time and gentle use. I am surviving.
Windows
These are due to arrive in about six weeks. The contractor is supposed to have people available any day now to work on things that are not the windows themselves, but we have no confirmation of that yet. So we wait, and all the interior projects (mostly painting) also continue to wait.
Dogs
- Skookie is still here. Ancient and unwilling to climb stairs, but happy and always on the lookout for biscuits.
- Cruzer’s brain is failing. I know, I know. How can something that is entirely missing be failing? Not sure, but it is. He regularly gets stuck at the top or the bottom of the staircase, unable to make his feet work. In these cases he makes the most pathetic noises imaginable until someone takes pity upon him and helps him out. It takes serious encouragement. He’s also a bit stiff getting up lately, but then again he is old. Not ancient like Skookie, but definitely not young either.
- Tinkerbelle is still her loud, shedding self. I vacuumed yesterday and discovered the vacuum cleaner was not working well. I had to open it up and remove huge wads of dog hair that had plugged it up. That’s mostly her doing, and while I am certain she is happy to see the vacuum stop working, I am not. Note that she turned six years old recently, and that is well into middle age for a dog her size. She’s fine, but I wish she liked other dogs. It would be much easier to take her for a walk.
Railing
Oh yeah, I was supposed to put up more railing on the staircase. Not done yet. And the more I think about it, the more I wonder if it should wait until the windows are done. Still pondering the options.
War
The nukes are not yet flying, so that’s good. Beyond that I have nothing cogent to say. Not my area of expertise except insofar as I hate war in general.
It’s possible I have missed things that should be on the list. If so, you’ll have to remind me about them. Feel free to do so.
Keep safe!