Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Having the tools, as opposed to being one.

I’m not even sure that’s relevant,  but it just now popped into my head.

We’re having another hot one here.  Seems to be the fashion.  Of course,  there are hotter places, I know.  You’ll tell me, I’m sure.

I’ll have to come up with a couple little jobs for the inside.  I can manage.  Travelling Companion is away for the rest of the week with her “team”.  She’s trying to sort out a few issues so she can retire.  That’s what she keeps saying.  The Canadian division of The Company that Cannot be Named went onto a new system.  T.C. warned them years ago that it wouldn’t work (back before we did the Ex-Pat thing) and sure enough,  it doesn’t.  So now she has to try and fix it. 

Good times.

Personally,  I’m not sure why the hell it’s up to her,  but let’s not go there.  Some sort of sense of obligation?  Dunno.

 

Last week went by just a little too fast.  My sister was here for only a week,  sorting out a few details having to do with a condo in Kitchener that’s she’s about to sell.   She had been renting it out for the last couple years,  since she moved to B.C.,  in search of new adventures. Actually,  there’s a gentleman friend in the mix there, but whatever.

Things were going swimmingly in the rental department with the first renters she had,  but then they up and bought a place late last year some time,  so she ended up with some new ones,  who turned out to be contenders for the “Renters from Hell” award. 

Of course,  here in Ontario, as is the case with the other provinces I’m sure,  the Landlord hasn’t a leg to stand on when it comes to folks who are pigs or generally a pain in the ass,  so she decided to give them notice and sell it.  That’s pretty much your only way out.

The first response from the whack-o chick with the three kids and piles of laundry/junk/crap was, “Well, we’re not going to move”,  to which my sister simply informed her that,  the lease is up at the end of the year,  so the choices are to move out in the dead of winter,  or at the end of July.   They’re going. 

I could go on about a trip I took up to Kitchener back in May to check on some supposed mould and general mayhem that turned out to be nothing (I got the pictures to prove it)  but that ship has sailed.  Not worth talking about. 

 

On Friday, Sister and T.C. went off on a little excursion to sign this and that at the lawyer’s office (there’s another story), so I took the opportunity to get one more window installed. 

The “problem” with doing the bathroom window is,  we kinda hafta use that bathroom?  So I sort of procrastinated just a wee bit,  but Friday the weather was just about perfect, and T.C. and sister were going to be out for most of the day.

 

Having the big opening sure lets in lots of light,  but that wasn’t going to be the situation for long.

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I had a couple moments of elevated heart rate when the dimensions seemed just wee bit off,  but then I realised that I had indeed taken proper measurements,  but the installers had had to build up the “frame” area with extra mortar.   That’s never the best situation.

I may have mentioned this,  but this house is not what is referred to as “balloon frame”,  so there’s no wood in there.  The old window frames are mortared in place,  which means that if any of it needs to be removed,  Muggins here has to do a certain amount of “horse work”.   It didn’t take me much more that four or five swings of the hammer to realise that, I’ve gotten a little soft during my stay in Vienna?

Then I remembered,  I have a tool for that!

 

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Bwahaahaa!

 

Of course,  one does need to switch from reading glasses to safety glasses,   along with some ear protection.  But that sucker makes quick work of anything in its path.

 

So,  Bob’s yer Uncle,  we have one more window.

 

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And yes,  I realise there were a couple casualties in the tile department,  but they’ll all be going at some point in the near future.  That will be yet another room to get “done”.  A bit more work though than a couple coats of paint. 

Don’t you just love those fifties colours?

 

We had a little gathering on Saturday,  which of course means having to try and clean some chairs that we’ve had for way too long.  They’re all that’s left from a set that was given to us almost twenty years ago,  and the chairs refuse to die.

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I gave my notice that that was the absolute last time I was willing to clean the stupid things.  I think there’s some sort of paint you can use to freshen up plastic chairs,  but I’ve never felt a very strong urge to investigate.

 

Anyway,  since taking pictures of food on the BBQ seems to be “de rigueur”,   I’ll at least offer the following.

 

 

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There was more than just meat of course,  and there was even some sort of “vegan” dessert.   It was OK, although I could only eat one piece. 

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It seems that when you have to make substitutions for, I don’t know,  cheese?  cream?  The ingredients that you use for making dessert,  somehow it doesn’t seem to be quite right?  At least in my humble opinion.  At one point,  someone said,  “Maybe just use a little less…*whatever it was*”,  and I just thought, “why would you ever do that again?”.   Once was enough.

We do have some Vegans in the family mix,  but they didn’t show up.  Hm.

 

Well,  I’m sure I can find a little indoor project to keep me occupied.

Enjoy your week.

 

Thanks for stopping in.

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6 comments:

  1. Nice that you have all them fancy tools, sure do come in handy.
    Now you talking using that Weber Q to do some grillin'.
    Liking this heat wave we been havin, really makes it nice here in the Kawartha's, not so much in the city there thou.
    keep cool.

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  2. If I need anything done, I KNOW Jim has a tool for that. Even in the RV. Even after he got rid of seemed like hundreds of tools. When Jim redid our bathroom out in VA, Todd and I went to MT to visit my mom and dad til he finished. Smartest move ever.

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  3. Bill accidentally left his drill in Ohio last year.... and I'm sure you know, there's all kinds of things you use the darned thing for that has nothing to do with screwing (HA!)....... He'd envy you your workshop... as well as Rick's, which he showed us how he reorganized recently... but when you live in a 27' motorhome there's just so much a person can do. Enough... happy home improvements!

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  4. You only have ONE of those air chisels? And you call yourself a tool hound? BAH! :cD

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  5. A product called 30 Seconds is wonderful for cleaning those white plastic lawn chairs.....

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  6. We have those same stupid white plastic chairs Bob. Every spring I have to take our power washer to them - why I don't take them to the garbage dump is beyond me.

    Nice job on the window and glad you didn't have to resort to high explosives to make room!

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Well, I've been getting too many spam comments showing up. Just a drag, so we'll go another route and hope that helps. So, we won't be hearing anything more from Mr. Nony Moose.
I guess I'll just have to do without that Gucci purse.