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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