Sometimes it’s the simplest things.

Do I have to say it’s still hot here?  Getting tired of that,  and I’m sure you’re getting tired of hearing it.

Travelling Companion said it rained like crazy in Perth yesterday,  but we got barely a drop here.

Actually,  now that I think of it,  I was coming back from Hamilton at one point along the Beach Strip,  and there were a few sprinkles.  That was it.

Oh, and by the way,  that’s Perth Ontario, not Perth, Australia.  You’re welcome to do a Google Maps search if you’re unsure.  I’m sure you care.

So why was I coming back from Hamilton?  Why on earth would I ever go to Hamilton?  OK,  maybe Hamilton’s not that bad,  let’s not be dissing Hamilton,  I do know folks who live and work there.  Bless their hearts.

Got a call yesterday morning that a chair that we had ordered was in, and could I come and pick it up?   Now see,  we still don’t have a second vehicle.  I’m still flip flopping on the whole idea of having a second vehicle,  since I’ve been able to make do up until now.  Emphasis on “make do”.  There are times when a pick-up truck would be peachy keen,  especially when it comes to picking up sheet goods or a few bags of really stinky manure.   But hey,  the seats fold down in the Merc,  and just yesterday morning I took a trip up to Turkstra Lumber to fetch a couple pieces of Number Two Cedar.   I was able to put in two eight footers with little difficulty. I came up a little short in the cedar department for the trim I need to manufacture for the windows,  and Turkstra is one of the few places that have decent cedar.  I’ve given up long ago trying to get lumber from Home Despot,  since most of their stuff is crap.  Sad to say.  I suppose the average young wanna be “do it yourselfer” doesn’t actually know what decent lumber should look like?  Not sure.  But I either go to Tamarac Lumber, or Turkstra.  

Anyway,  rather than try and work out the logistics of borrowing my nephew’s pick-up (this would be the ‘03 Toyota Tundra that I sold to him in 2008) I just figured I’d go to Budget and rent something.  Worked out to slightly over fifty bucks for a van and fuel,  which is still a heck of a sight cheaper than one month’s insurance on a second vehicle.  It’s a nuisance to go and do all the signing and walking around and sh*t,  but hey,  it went forward when I put it in drive,  and the air conditioning worked.  That’s all I needed.

Of course,  I originally figured I’d just plank the chair in the garage until I could get some help getting it in the front door,  but when I went to take it off the back of the truck, I realised that I could more or less manage it,  so I just figured I’d get it up the steps and in the front door right then and there.

Now see,  that’s probably not something any sane person would do when it’s so freakin’ hot and humid out,  but I did it.  It’s in the living room,  it’s unwrapped,  and has been sat in.   I didn’t actually sit in it until after I had taken the truck back (and come home and showered),  because by then I was a sweaty mess.  It’s leather,  and I didn’t want to be sweating all over the thing.

I kinda like it.

It’s from a company called American Leather,  and it’s pretty sweet. 

We’ve had “furniture” from the chain store types of places,  and that stuff usually looks OK, but just don’t look underneath,  or sit down.   This thing is really well made.  

Anyway, that was one little job yesterday.

 

Today I thought I’d tackle an inside job that’s been nagging at me for a while now,  and that is the installation of our chandelier that T.C. bought in Vienna. 

Of course,  it has to go where there is no other light fixture?  Oh boy!

 

Right there in the middle of the dining room,  where I’ve slapped on some fresh paint.  I’ll do the rest later,  I promise.

But before that,  I have to get at the wiring.

 

 

However,  just taking the ‘can’ out,  isn’t going to help.

I guess I forgot just how I installed these two centre ones,  since the dining room actually used to be two rooms,  and I nailed these things onto the ceiling joists.  Fun…wow.

 

Oh, *that* kind!

 

Because,  you know,  I thought I was “done”.   Didn’t count on buying a chandelier.  Had no plans of ever taking those fixtures out, ever again.

 

 

At this point,  I’m just a big sweaty mess (again) so I figure I may as well go out and cut the grass,  which is something I’ve been dreading in this heat.

Oh, and no,  there’s no “after” picture.  I ain’t done!  Hell no.  I just gave up for today.  I’ll root around up there some more a little later on.  Maybe.

I think though that I might put down a couple old curtains,  rather than have the mess go straight onto the floor? 

 

And that was just the beginning.

 

Especially since,  after having swept up the most of it,  I discovered that the hose to the central vac didn’t work.  Gah!  Are you kidding me?

Wasn’t the outlet,  wasn’t the hose.  Had to be the switch.

But wait,  the switch works, it just didn’t want to work when it was in the hose.  I had to use the little alligator clamp there,  since I didn’t have a third hand.  Because I mean,  we have to take pictures of this crap.

So, a little six hundred grit wet and dry paper,  and now it works again. 

  

Again,  I suppose anyone else would have figured that was it, and just taken it to some vacuum cleaner Dude and paid the money. 

I mean, it’s not like I actually *know* anything.  I only have enough synaptic activity in my pea brain to barely keep my head above water.

 

And this is how you never get ANYTHING done.  Makes it tough when Travelling Companion asks,  “So what did you do today, dear?”   The answer is usually,  “Um, I don’t know…”,  because by that point in the day,  it’s all a jumble.

Dazed and confused.

 

 

Keep the water flowing.

 

Thanks for lookin’.

 

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Wordless Wednesday.

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.

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!

 

 

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.

 

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.

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.

 

 

 

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. 

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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