the little wild kingdom

[flowerbug]

ok, what i really want to redo sometime is the utility room shower that we both use. we have a full shower/bathtub in the other main bathroom but it is too hard for Mom to get in and out of and we've hardly ever used it since the place was built (i've used it once to take a bath and it wasn't very good for that so for all that work and bother, nope, shower is good enough)... i consider that main shower and bath a waste of valueable space - but that will not be dealt with anytime soon.

the utility room shower however, getting as much use as it does shows a lot of wear right now and the plastic is cracking so it is getting due for replacement. i already did some work on it about 16 years ago (wow time has gone by quickly) but really what i want to do is take it all out and replace it with something more durable. plastic crapola, nomogowayfahandnocomeback! and preferably in a rust color so i can ignore the rust in the water that makes everything white look yellow, orange and well rusty for a good long time.

today i finally cleaned the shower again to remove the rust. the cleaning fluid gives off some fumes, it's not something i want to experience often. we've not cleaned it for three months or so or perhaps longer. it was pretty orange... i did get it done. hated every moment of it (including that i managed to get a bit of it in my eye). and found out the shower curtain will survive contact with the cleaning fluid so i almost got that done too before i ran out of juice so i had to finish that up later (it is still soaking in the sink because i'm too lazy to get up and deal with it at the moment ).

the real sticking point is that i do not want to put money into it if it must be white. i just want it to match the rest of the trim in the house and be an orangy red color. Mom hates that idea. *sigh* so perhaps i go for white with the plan to eventually go over it with colored epoxy paint after Mom is gone. i hate that idea too, but perhaps that may be a compromise i can live with, but do you know how much easier it would be to do the colored epoxy coating before it gets put on the wall? ...

ok, other than that i'm having some fun doing computer dorking (playing with some code to get it to do what i want).

 

[flowerbug]

if you really like puzzles i recommend you pick up a few books on the history of science and then after a few popular texts, get an introduction to the philosophy of science. let that steep for a few months then go pick up philosophy of AI and the cognitive sciences (learning theory fits in with this a lot too). this was all things i was working on for my MS degree in college before i quit. it would have put me in the thick of things these times of hype and a lot of questionable stuff, but since i didn't keep immersed in this all i can't be as critical as i'd like...

 

[flowerbug]

a bit of taking stock of people from the past who are now missed. Sumi being one of them.

hold everyone dear while you can.

 

[flowerbug]

the bench is gone! nice to have more room in my room back and to not have to keep bumping it with my feet or having Mom have to navigate around it. person was happy with it. pictures taken. will get them posted sometime. it's on my list.

 

[flowerbug]

dang it, roof leaking again.

 

[flowerbug]

today i went up on the roof and checked things out and put two cheap plastic party table covers down and used plenty of bricks to hold. i can say they lied when they said on the package that those could be reused or washed. they were so flimsy as i doubt they'll survive up there more than a week, but that may be how long it takes for us to get back up there again with a better cover. i don't have any other plastic film or tarps that are worth using.

my attempts to get the roofing people contacted went ok with e-mail, but that guy is on vacation until next week and their office did not yet call me back at all.

i also called someone else who has a friend who hires a lot of people to do all sorts of various tasks but he said hi friend was also on vacation and that it would be unlikely i could get anyone out here.

after not getting any answers that looked useful and the weather is actually dry out there at the moment if a bit windy. sunshine even! so i got on my work grubbies and a nice warm hat and went out and started by getting the box of paint stuff out of the shed where Mom stores her quilting stuff too along with whatever else she wants to put in there. well, ok, it was not at all organized or easy for me to get to the paint stuff box.

once i got that out i found some paint throws to catch drips and these plastic el-cheapo table covers. the throws actually might have been a better choice but they were not water proof at all. both was probably the best answer but oh well, it's too late for now. i'm not going back out there.

then i dug out the ladder and set that up and then started collecting bricks/pavers that i could use to weigh them down really well. that was a bit of a workout (getting them carried, up the ladder and only almost beaned myself once - for as much as i do like beans this would not have been an enjoyable experience at all, but i did have a nice hat on and that protected me from the glancing blow of the falling paver - there's a good reason why i do not do construction/etc any more...). 20+ later we're ready to rock and roll. well, ok, not really rolling and it was bricks and pavers and not rocks, but ok...

then i get going on putting down those pieces of plastic and figuring out how to weigh them down so they don't make too much noise. it's exposed and windy and we can really get some heavy winds at times.

after some muttering and finding out how cheap those plastic covers were i did get it done and then to be more weighted down i came back down the ladder and grabbed four more pavers.

task done, down the ladder, not too bad, whole process probably took about an hour from start to finish including time spent changing clothes and getting box of stuff out of the shed, etc.

swept out the area where the ladder was stored, put the ladder back, swept the rest of the garage, redid all the hanging tools/rakes/etc so it would be more useful now that it is winter season.

came back inside and called back a friend who'd returned my call and he offered some tarps but i don't really want to mess with it any more for now - hopefully this will be good enough until next week or whenever.

it did feel good to do something exercise related, my back and legs are fine today and getting up on our roof is not that hard or dangerous with a good ladder, it's only the single story, and it's also safe enough up there that i'm not worried to do it. the only times i've worried up there was when it was covered with ice but that was a story of previous times and not really related to this leaky stuff. at least i hope...

 

[flowerbug]

and yesterday i got the shower we use the most cleaned up and somewhat recaulked so i hope it doesn't leak as much. pretty much me just wanting to hold us over for a while longer. the plastic is cracking in spots and the whole unit probably is due to be replaced, but i don't want to get into that and i also don't really want to hire someone else to do it until this coming summer.

we did talk about the other bathroom and replacing the full tub and shower with something more like what we already have in the utility room but i think that's a much bigger project (removing that entire tub and shower could be fun but perhaps it won't fit out the door so it may have to be cut into chunks... bleh...). as it is currently very much just wasted space for us it would be worth to redo at some time but right now is not when i want to deal with it. it's useless though, Mom can't get in or out of it.

 

[flowerbug]

ok, roofing contractors finally did call back. he said he may be able to make it out today to put up a better cover. and if not today tomorrow morning.

 

[flowerbug]

guy did not make it yesterday to put up tarp, forecast for today is snow and possibly mixed with rain, so i hope he doesn't show up this morning like he said he would because if he does a quick job and it's not done right i'll have to call him back to fix it. Mom won't tolerate it and it won't be good times. we have cold enough weather coming up for the next week that i'm not sure it will be a concern of mine if it leaks, but it is covered for now.

i did see a potential leak/crack when i was up there and i'm miffed that the other roofing guy who's been up there many times didn't see this. so i'll have this other guy look more carefully because it could be the same sort of issue for the other leaks. as they are intermittent they're not easy to find.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

i did see a potential leak/crack when i was up there and i'm miffed that the other roofing guy who's been up there many times didn't see this. so i'll have this other guy look more carefully because it could be the same sort of issue for the other leaks. as they are intermittent they're not easy to find.

Sure hope this guy can fix it and fix it right - ya'll have had this problem for long enough!