What significant things have I done today?

[pieces o nine]

Yesterday: re-affixed all loose tiles and replaced all broken/warped/missing tiles iin the 'rec room', once I found where they stashed the unused ones from original installation.

Scrubbed  half the floor in attempt to make the demarcation between new and old tiles less glaring. Will scrub  the other half tomorrow.



~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Where are my glass slippers and my pumpkin coach?   

[Sibling Chatty]

Today, I walked around the yard/vast 2/3 acre estate for the first time since the OMYGODI'MDYINGOFTHEPAIN emergency room trips.

As the long-awaited pain management doctor appointment nears, I feel better and better.

This, I am assured, is God's little joke. God has NO damned sense of humor...

[pieces o nine]

Finished the downstairs shower (in her unfinished laundry room) overhaul!

Most people would call a plumber and carpenter   [excuse me while I laugh hilariously for a mo]   but that wasn't an option here.

I created a very snappy shower rod frame from PVC tubing, suspended by oooooh-shiny water & rust-resistant chromed eyebolts, washers, and acorn bolts from short chrome-y chains from the joists. Enlarged the area to accommodate her changing needs with age and health issues.

Solution for the too-slick cement floor and too-ick matting previously used was a 3' x 4' very low-profile 'spa floor' I designed and constructed from water-resistant and non-skid decking. Optional 'ramp' board can be added later if needed. Better drainage, air-flow, and easier cleaning than rubber mat. Stable: carefully fitted to slope in cement floor. Entire setup can be removed by her (or future owner) without any fuss or damage to joists, walls or floor. Verra nice, oi finks.

Installed a grab bar for her by drilling holes through one end of (2) 4' long 2x4s. (Yay forsner bits! Oi luvs thee smell ov sawdust in thee mornin...) Supports waterproof-primed and -painted, then securely bolted to exposed joists. Leftover 2' section of PVC pipe fitted through holes and the ends capped off. Verra Nice. Strong and safe -- a rhino could shower in there now in perfect safety.

She picked out new shower curtains, booked her 'handy lady' to come on Monday with her steamer to help me steam clean the cement walls, and we'll be painting after that.

I must say that I am extremely pleased with the results.

Now...if I could only pry those acres of ancient Family Vacation slide carousels out of her rec room. 

[beagle]

Oi'll be putting you in charge of caulking and maintaining me brig at this rate,
not to mention the en-suite.

----

Continued repointing my parents' patio where weeds/grass had broken through between the  mortar between the rocks/slabs.  About 150Kg of mortar still to go...

[pieces o nine]

Continued repointing my parents' patio where weeds/grass had broken through between the  mortar between the rocks/slabs.  About 150Kg of mortar still to go...

You win.   

[beagle]

Not much skill involved in my job though. And what there is I've got wrong. Every time I try and tip a new heap of mortar mix out the heavy bags I disappear in a cloud of dust and manage to inhale most of it. At this rate I'll be a Pyrovile before the job's done.

[Griffin NoName]

Killing weeds?

You could have gone for decking. Place mortar on decking. Fire.

Or hire a copter and spray agent orange.

But maybe that just wouldn't be significant ?

I vote Pieces wins

[pieces o nine]

Thanks, Grif, but the closest I've been to masonry work was to help mix & pour cement for poles at an amateur pilot friend's pasture hangar and runway.


By the time we got to setting the final post support, the novelty had completely worn off -- we weren't even singing, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," anymore. We dug a kind-of post hole, just sort of schlupped an unmeasured amount of concrete powder into the hole, sloshed in an unmeasured amount of water, plopped in the pole support, half-@ssedly swished the mix (and a bunch of backfill which prematurely fell in) about a couple times with the shovel, and figgered as we was done, dude. I suspect we all had a beer at that point (memory fails as this was in my salad whiskey days...)

A few years later a tornado ripped through that part of the country. The only post *not* ripped right out of its cement anchor -- the one left proudly and firmly standing amidst the devastation -- was that last one. god/dess has a sense of humor.


For sheer accomplishment and work, beagle still wins this round. 

[Griffin NoName]

Dear me, it's got to the point where we are going to have to ask you both to provide evidence  !!!   And arrange drug testing.

[beagle]

For sheer accomplishment and work, beagle still wins this round. 

O.K., you've talked me into it. I admit my patio rendering is a stupendous work of engineering which makes the Millau bridge look like a cowboy bodge job. 

Dear me, it's got to the point where we are going to have to ask you both to provide evidence  !!!   And arrange drug testing.

Send the drugs round and I'll test them. Points out of ten good enough?

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

Figured out exactly how I'm going to defend that stupid Paulson proposal after two weeks of scrambling. Of course, it's all very theoretical and relies entirely on the concept of an honest government. And my teacher can suffer through it!

[Opsa]

Created a Bobcat costume.

I agreed a couple of weeks ago to help with a local nature area's Halloween Safari by playing a local animal. The Safari is a night-time hike where people dressed like animals pop out along the trail to talk about their habits.

The Opsalette (now ten years old) agreed to be my kit. We found her an inexpensive leopard-spotted running suit, but I wasn't sure what I'd wear. Yesterday I found a sweat suit on clearance.

Today I looked at the sweatsuit and decided that merely spray painting it with spots wasn't enough. I dyed it golden-yellow (Just happened to have only that color dye lying around) and sprayed the front belly parts white, followed by black blotches over the back and some black bars on the arms and legs. It turned out pretty well!

The Opsalette made some very clever ears for us out of barrettes and we'll paint up our faces to look like Bobcats. We wrote a little skit about a kit being taught by her mother. It'll be interesting to see how well we handle sitting out in the dark woods waiting for the groups to wander by. This is a three night affair- this Saturday and next Fri. and Sat. night.

There is a small admission fee for this and the proceeds go to help the nature area.

[ivor]

Don't let some real kitty get you in the dark.

[Opsa]

Real Bobcats here are rather small. I'm more worried about copperhead snakes and bears! 

[ivor]

Bobcats run in packs down here. It's not pretty to see them take someone down.