Jane and I took a driving trip to plot the next Alliance book.
We are Scott-less for about 5 more weeks, as he supervises a crew building a barn for someone, and we are taking the chance to put the upper floor together, which necessitates more moving of boxes. We got into the collapsing rolling wardrobes and extracted what we want to keep. I’m being ruthless. We’re both being ruthless. I’m tossing almost everything not currently wearable, not because we’ve given up losing weight, but because love beads just aren’t coming back, eh?
Con tee shirts. We are keeping only one where we have an unwearable pair. The rest will go to the Union Mission people.
We had two super-large storage bins of teeshirts. We now have two useable rolling wardrobes, empty, and it is my dream, me being the one with only one 6′ closet space, to be able to store winter and wear summer, and vice versa. And not to have to shove clothes from one end of the pole to the other to extract one teeshirt.
We have been weeding. Everything is growing like mad.
We had the sprinkling system revised so now things will grow like madder.
But the front yard is looking much better. Now the back—where the pond surrounds have been approaching ‘jungle.’
I see from my working chair that Jane is out there with a load of gravel contemplating the pond filter that needs fill about the edges. Possibly a consultation will be in order, since I am the one who ordinarily handles the filters.
Ah, Springtime!
Thank heavens it is summer — our hot water heater is on the fritz. For the past 2 weeks, it’s alternated between water coming out of the faucet and flashing to steam (almost), or lukewarm to cool, depending on whether we’ve punched the reset button or recently twiddled the thermostat. The thing is over 15 years old, having installed it practically the first year we owned the house, so it’s ready for a replacement. We are going to summon HandyKevin, our electrician and jack of all trades, to swap it for a tankless water heater, which also necessitates some rewiring. The tankless we anticipate arriving next week, so we will hopefully have reliable hot water again soon. Meanwhile, don’t jump into the shower without making sure the temperature has somewhat stabilized…
Our hot water “holding” tank (keeps the H2O at a technically even and hot level, even far away from the furnace) went last Saturday—my spouse was down cellar putting in a load of wash, wondered what the sound of running water was since the machine hadn’t started yet and saw water coming out the tank. As the plumber couldn’t get a replacement tank until sometime Monday, we went without for a bit. Thankfully not CJ’s January experience or some of the others related here but Sunday night I thought a cold bath drawn several hours earlier so the water could rise to summer air temperature and an added big, Dutch Oven potful of boiling water was going to be warmer and more tolerable than it turned out to be.
Talk about damning with faint praise — “May your hot water heater fail in the summertime.”
Exactly!
What we used on holiday, when we only had cold running water (icecold, snowmelt) was to heat a kettle of water on the stove.
Pour half in a sink or dishpan and add cold water till it’s warm or tepid, and use a washcloth to bathe at the sink.
Dilute the remaining hot water till it’s just warm and put it in a jug, use a bit to wet your hair (bending over the sink), lather with shampoo and let it do its job (i.e. this is the time to wash yourself), then rinse it out by pouring the rest of the water over your head. You need half a liter for the rinsing, with short hair, in my experience.
For a number of years, my parents had a small cabin in the Sierra. The running water (after they had the pipe installed from the meter, about 200m away) was cold. It had to be heated on a wood stove; bathing was definitely in the 19th-century mode. (Serially taken, with hot water added periodically to keep it warm.) There was no electricity, either; the lamps ran on kerosene. (They also bought a fridge that ran on bottled gas, but before that it was an actual icebox that took 25-pound cakes. And the euphemism was an outhouse, about 30m down the hill.)
Our summer cottage on a lake was an honest -injun log cabin, with no running water for the first 10 years we owned it. Drinking water was carried by the bucketful from a spring about 1/4 mile away. Eventually Dad got tired of the ’40-yard dash’ to the outhouse on chilly mornings, and had a well drilled and a septic tank put in. The water was heavily iron tainted and not very good to drink, but for washing hands and flushing toilets, it was fine, and we still got drinking water from the spring.
The water tasted a little metallic, and was full of airbubbles. The first few years, we’d put the 5-gallon milkcan (it came with the cabin) in a wheelbarrow and take it to the meter where there was a tap to fill. (Yes, the milkcan was tinned copper.) The cabin had a 10-foot-square room that held the stove, the sink, the table, and the cupboards. The sleeping area was a 10×18 feet screened room, originally floored with log rounds set in sand, but those got replaced with plywood. (The critters weren’t happy, but they were why it got done.) The kitchen area had been a roadside apple stand at one point, and was cut in half to be moved. All wood, floor and walls, with a sheet-metal covering on the roof.
I can remember bathing in a real tub. Washday sized. And pouring in the hot water from the stove. I think iit was at Gran’s, but I’m not sure.
I feel your pain. Showering with no hot water was the only option. Just think—January…and hold your breath.
You got your house perhaps a year or two after we bought ours; when did you replace your water heater? I remember following your trials and tribulations when you were waiting to see if your offer on your current house was accepted or not, and having it so close to when we went through our own buying process meant 100% empathy. Wow — that long since you got into your house, and all the fun of home ownership 😀
Cold water in January = the 30 second shower, or a throwback to pioneer days, and heating the bath water in a kettle on the stove.
One apt I had, had a water heater on each end of the complex, and the one on my end (I don’t know about the other) tended to have its pilot light go out when it was windy. Nothing like trying to take a shower at 5am and discovering the water is going to stay cold!
(I started keeping a hot-pot and a 5-gallon plastic bucket with a plastic measuring cup in the bathroom. It’s not quite as pleasant as a shower, but at least it’s decently warm and you can be clean with not too much trouble.)
Yay on turning in the book – and big yay on tackling backlog on clothes sorting. That’s possible a +25 achievement point
I have a bunch of clothes I’m not going to wear, but are still wearable. The problem is finding a place to take them.
Since I got retired (30 years ago, but that’s another story) I tend to follow the old Yankee adage: “Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without.” I’m wearing a pair of 401 Levis that’re threadbare over the left front pocket. And, yes, these are 30 years old, because I didn’t throw them out when I was that much younger and gained weight. For the past 20 years my weight has been slowly but steadily dropping–I chart it daily and 94% of the variation is merely time.
As far as “landscaping” goes, out back I have a 3+ Acre hay field. But for the past couple years the guy who has been haying it hasn’t wanted to, it’s been a little thin. Last year it cost me $250 to have someone come in with a field mower and cut it because of the fire hazard. Now I’m doing it myself with my 42″ Craftsman lawn mower! Got most of it and may not get it all–some is chest-high–though it is a WIP because of the 4th is upon us! Gonna do more this evening.
But “costumes” I have aplenty! It’s a day early, but it’s better than forgetting. 😉
We have a plastic tub that we put goodwill stuff in by our back door. When it gets heavy or full I take it to the store and go shopping.
Every two months we donate three bags of clothes and/or small appliances to Big Brothers/Big Sisters. Some bags have come from the closets full that my children left when they moved to other ends of the country. I finally got ReadyGuy to go through his closet to get rid of shirts he loves but can’t wear. I no longer have clothes that don’t fit, although I have several dresses that I don’t think I’ll ever wear again, but can’t give up because I’m too darn cheap to buy any more dresses while I have seven dresses that will do for funerals, weddings, graduations, and holiday parties.
Yay! for turning the book in, bigger yay! for that “seeds of the next book” bit you slipped in there. . .
Downsizing. I downsized a bunch when I moved time before last. I kept some things like throw rugs and lamps that I’m not using now from the last move, and I kept the Littermaid and pet fountain and kitty bowls, as I will have cats again at some point. As for clothes I have too many of everything. Three 6-foot closet rods of everything. Don’t have that many shoes though. I have a whole chest of drawers full of sweaters I don’t wear.
Are you doing the Marie Kondo thing with stuff? I’ve got about three trash bags full of clothes I need to take down to CFS.
My knee is doing some better. I’m waiting (since June 12) for the VA to get off their *duff* and approve outpatient PT. Next week being the 4tth, bet it won’t happen that week either. I’ve been doing my home health exercises but they don’t build strength or endurance like the exercise bikes and equipment at a PT place. I am walking unaided (went grocery shopping Friday) but I have no endurance and don’t have my range of motion back. Still have pain and swelling which would be gone by now if the VA hadn’t dropped the ball. Trying to stay positive.
We’ve been having rain like crazy and the weeds are trying to take over the world. My landlady takes care of the yard, but the dingleheimers she’s got to do it don’t do a very good job. At this stage of the game and with my wounded knee, it’s somebody else’s problem.
Really hope DAW can work this into the publishing schedule in mid-2020, instead of having to wait until Jan 2021.
Hoping for inspiration from this post to spur me to actually tackle my closet tomorrow – so many clothes I don’t wear that I could, and I’ve managed to lose some weight so today I shuffled some of the too big ones to the spare bedroom that has plastic bins of wrong-sized clothes. My weight yo-yos too often to get rid of the ones that are too big now!
We are in the planning stages of remodeling our kitchen, living room & dining room which will involve removal of all the walls between the spaces. Not looking forward to living without a kitchen during demolition/construction, but really looking forward to the finished project.
It was Thursday or Friday of last week when everything aligned just so, and my lease is renewed for a year, to the end of June, plus (yay) I signed the required waiver so the dryer vent line can, oh, I hope, get fixed. I asked for two other very minor repairs. I haven’t seen/heard hide nor hair of the third-party repairman or the apartment maintenance guys. (I think that third-party repairman may have gone to that third party early….) Odds are good it won’t happen until after the 4th and I’ll have to call and ask what’s up again. :-/
But the place is vacuumed and mopped…and after the 4th, it will be ready for it again. I am trying to sneak up on doing this more often, to get back into the habit.
Groceries arrived today, and hoo boy, I got two of a couple of items I’d only intended to get one of. I barely fit everything in the fridge and freezer, but got it there. — Then realized I did not order potato salad (or potatoes) or any fresh fruit. Bummer. It will wait.
I will spend the 4th and/or 5th doing a binge-watch of Stranger Things 3. Yay!
If and when the dryer and washer are fixed again and stay that way, I can get rid of excess clothes. Otherwise, I have a backlog of laundry which continues to be aggravating.
I’ve been doing really well on the latest font drafts, and got one other to the next stage. But I’m extra tired from pushing extra hours, so I will be glad for the holiday. But I’m excited about the progress.
Very, very glad to hear about Divergence plus the next Alliance Rising book!
We have completely filled 4 dumpsters measuring 8 feet by 18 feet by 5 feet, and have halfway filled the 5th and hopefully final dumpster today. Much of the stuff in the house that is salvageable has gone to a local charity store, that which was mouse-stained or damaged has been placed in the dumpster. Some things have been sold on Marketplace on Facebook. The biggest item was the vertical platform lift on the front porch for wheelchair patients. A family came down last Monday and within an hour had it on their flatbed trailer and were on their way home, saving at least $4,500 on the cost of a new one. The car has to be sold through the estate and must be approved by the probate court, but it’s not a major obstacle. The lawyer’s office handles the details for that, we set the price, and accept the check, and once the court approves the sale, the lawyer does the paperwork for the title. Checking, savings, CDs, IRAs are all closed out and distributed, waiting on one insurance policy, and once the estate is settled, the heirs will receive their shares of the estate. What will I do with my share? A vacation sounds nice, but to where….?
Come to Hawaii! We’ll take you to dinner!
Joe, come visit ReadyGuy and me in AZ when weather starts cooling in October.
Oh, Joe, that’s so difficult. On one hand, there’s grief and on the other, a sense of relief, and dealing with all the “stuff” left over is like adding insult to injury, and yet it has to be done. I hope life will be better for you soon.
We have finished cleaning the house and doing all of the work we intend to do. From this point, the house is being sold “as is with contents”. We cleaned up the back yard somewhat, all of the rooms, the bathrooms, the kitchen, the basement is clean, any hand tools and garden tools are in the toolshed or in the basement. They get a refrigerator, an electric glass-top range, a washer, a dryer, an upright freezer.
I’m still waiting on the person who wanted the piano to call me and make arrangements to come pick it up. They were supposed to call yesterday, but no calls.
I lost another friend last night who lived in Utah. He contracted a massive infection and was undergoing antibiotic therapy in Salt Lake City and passed away last night over 2 weeks into the therapy. He’d been fighting various forms of cancer for years. Neil was 67.
Nuts, Joe, I wish you could catch a break. Sorry to hear about your friend. That’s too soon, and 67 is no longer so far from my age (53). Maybe it was a relief from battling cancer and illness so long. I’d like to think there’s something after this life, but of course, I don’t know truly any more than anyone else.
The house sounds like it’ll be a pretty good deal for someone. Too bad I’m not in a position where that could work for me; plus it’s probably more space than I need. A young family who can afford to do any needed renovations or want to do some remodeling would have a good project, and if it’s in good shape, they’d have an even better deal. I hope it’ll all go through for you and remaining siblings soon, so you can get on with things.
I am continuing to work towards eventual income from fonts and/or writing. Some days it feels like I’m making good progress; other days, it feels like I’m just spinning my wheels or stalled out, and there are always still the usual bills and taxes to pay. So I am still working towards rebuilding, towards having a future, but it’s going so danged slowly.
Best wishes, Joe. You’ve had a rough while and need things to be better again. It is good to hear from you, and I hope you’ll get the chance to be more active on the blog again soon.
Well, Joe, since I live in Iowa I don’t suppose an invitation to visit would be tempting! What sort of vacation do you prefer? My last three were: cruise on the Danube for the Christmas markets to celebrate my 80th birthday, six weeks in New Orleans to escape the last of the winter in Iowa, and a long weekend in river town Dubuque to be pampered in a B and B. Does that give you any ideas? I also like cabins in the wilds, just haven’t done one in the past year. Seriously, I think a vacation for you is definitely in order, whatever will replenish your spirits and help you heal and move on. Best wishes.
Our 4th would have been near perfect until the fireworks spooked our dog and he bit my wife’s arm! A hospital trip and lots of medical glue later, she’s sleeping with the good painkillers. Not a great ending. This morning, she was swollen and stiff but fine and the dog was as sweet and tender as ever.