Another Killer Weekend
2008-03-03, 4:47 p.m.

Day 1290

But first, this weeks free association list from Unconscious Mutterings

Chemical :: agent
Poker :: face
Federal :: bureaucracy
Mattress :: bed
Who am I? :: I don’t know
Investigation :: leads
In good hands :: Allstate
8:30 :: or so
Creditors:: lenders
Resource :: recovery

Don’t know what that says about anything, but there it is.

Had another hyper productive weekend. Actually got some fresh drywall up in one corner, got an old pocket door out & enlarged a doorway, pulled some more of the old flooring, put a few sheets of underlayment down, moved some plumbing & electric, got the sink re-located and moved all but two of the original base cabinets. Now, while none of the cabinets we’re currently using are in their final positions, the kitchen is starting to assume it’s new layout. At least the sink & fridge are where they’re going to be and the cabinet layout sorta mimics the final design. Have a few pics, but they’re not re-sized & fit for posting yet.

I am also quite sore today. Went to spin class this morning and that went fine. My legs are peachy. It’s my shoulders & upper arms today. This getting old shit is for the birds. I don’t recommend it for anybody. I groused about my aches and pains to Cindy a bit ago and she called me an old f____! (She meant old fart, but wasn’t sure if the firewalls would allow such profanity through)

Can you imagine the nerve? Calling her own spouse an old f____! Next time she wants a little ‘sugar’ I’d play the “old f___! card, but it’s rather counter productive. Maybe I can parlay it into her taking a little more aggressive role, hmmm? Cuz after all, I’m just old, not dead!

Looks like we’re in for some odd weather. The weekend was mostly in the low 30’s, a little snowy Saturday but nice & sunny Sunday. Today? Calling for temps in the 50’s. But Mother Nature is such a tease. That’s all we get – one day. Tomorrow the temps are supposed to fall back into the 20’s with some sort of precip the whole time. So I imagine we’ll start with rain, degrade to freezing rain & get everything coated with ice, then switch over to snow, just to hide all the ice. Of course, what snow we have now will partially melt, then as the rain & freezing rain comes along, it’ll just turn into a solid block of ice. It’ll be pretty sweet, I’m sure. And to think – I still have shingles off the back of the house. Heck – I have raw sheathing exposed. Might want to cover that tonight. Maybe.

Oh! I remember. As part of this whole wrecking the kitchen deal, I’m putting fresh insulation in that exterior wall. I wish I had the time/money/energy to do them all. Our house was built in 1967. Gas was what, 28 cents a gallon? Of course, my dad was making maybe $150 a week, so everything kind of translates, but still – energy was relatively cheap. The insulation in the walls they used back then? R-6. The sliding glass door we just put in has a rating of R-3, and it’s a 6 x 6.5 foot hunk of glass!! So first I tried stuffing some R-19 between the studs. Come to find out that R-19 wall insulation is meant for 2 x 6 construction. Sadly, my studs are merely 2 x 4 (I might have small studs, but I got a LOT of ‘em!!) The R-19 was getting all squooshed in – kinda makes it less effective. I think you don’t quite get all 19 of the R’s when you do that. So for the rest of the wall, I got some R-13 (recommended for the 2 x 4 stud build). It goes in tonight. It’s got to be better than the nasty old R-6 we had. Might have to consider adding a bunch of R-19 to the attic. Don’t know what’s up there, but adding anything has got to be an improvement.

But I think I’ll save that for when I re-do the roof. Our neighbor tells us the roof was done in 1984. She went in together with our houses former owners and another neighbor and got a group rate for a roofing job. Only it was a ‘roof-over” or lay-over job. The old roof wasn’t stripped off first. That basically turns 30 year shingles into 20 year shingles. So if you do the math, you’ll realize the roof was ready for a do-over 4 years ago. Maybe next summer it’ll get done. There are some issues with ventilation and ice damming that I want to address too. But I’m going to have to rent a dumpster. I don’t think the church will appreciate me depositing 1000 square feet of roofing shingles in their dumpster. I doubt it would even fit.

Once the roof is done and the dumpster is gone – new driveway. (Like you said Dawn – you’re never done!) Only good part is I can’t do a driveway myself. I’m going to have to break down and have someone do it for me. Well, that’s if I go with a traditional asphalt driveway. (Traditional around here at least) If I were to go concrete, I might be able to - nah. That’s crazy thinking. Besides, all the road salt they use around here would be murder on concrete. Ask my garage floor!

Time to end this update. I have a wall to cover. Film at 11.

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