Mondayne

Congratulations to the Saints, although in typical fashion I watched about 30 seconds of the game (as I happened to pass through the living room to say good night to Mrs. G). As for Peyton, I still love ‘im.

I do not follow many sports, especially pro-sports, more especially NFL. (Do not even *think* of mentioning basketball in my presence!) Now, there’s a quick conversation stopper when I find myself in the midst of manly men. The looks I get are priceless.

The Great Bathroom Project is much at a standstill. Most of the destruction is completed. It is now time to start putting it back together. Most of the weekend was consumed in digging out from the snow storm, and we were lucky! Many areas near us had much more. (There is another whopper scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday.)

The other activity over the weekend was the filing of our taxes. Federal: done, filed, and accepted. State: done, filed, and accepted. Local: done and mailed. There is no e-filing with our local income taxes, but since it is pretty much a flat percentage of earned income the paperwork is usually straightforward. Our federal filing was a bit of a challenge this year with all of our changes and the retirement stuff, but it appears to have worked out. I had made some estimated payments based on my information. It appears that we will get most of that back.

What was accomplished with the bathroom fell mainly in the category of “let’s sit down and think this think through again.” I’ve got some challenges that I did not anticipate based on the location of plumbing, studs, electrical wiring, holes in the wall, and what we want to do. We had to modify our choice of lighting already. Part of the effect has been that I’ve lost part of my steam for the moment.

We usually return to our previous home area on Sundays to worship there – except in bad weather. The trip takes 45+ minutes. That area had much less snow than we had and the local church that we sometimes attend canceled their services. So we made the trip. (The roads were not bad at all.) When we arrived, the choir was practicing the anthem. It was one that I knew (and like very much) and that I had sung at various times in my past: Schubert’s Sanctus. The director asked me if I would sing with them. And so I did. Below is a YouTube version of the piece sung in the original German by a male quartet. (We sang it in English.)

The week portends to be a busy one for me. I need to get my groove back on the project. I need to get a birthday present for Mrs G. as well as conjure up something for Valentines Day. We also anticipate a visit from the Northern Son this coming weekend.

Speaking of Valentines Day, I was pleased to see the local card stores included cards for “partners” among their categories. I thought that was a significant step for our local area.

Have a good week everyone! Stay safe, warm, and dry!

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Red Sky at Night

Sailor’s delight?

Only if he skis.

Here is picture take from one of our windows through the icicles this evening at sunset after the storm had passed. (click to embiggen.)

We fared pretty well with only 16 inches. My older son (in the western part of the state) had two feet of snow and lost all power along with most of his county. Predictions are that it will be a couple of days before it is restored. He is staying with his in-laws for the present. I have not heard from my sister (to my south where they had more).

I hope you are all safe and well.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Friday Thoughts

We’re bracing for another snow storm tonight and tomorrow. They are calling for significant amounts, but not nearly as significant as for the Cajun. I fear the weather gods will bury him in snow until Independence Day!

Of course everyone here is rushing to the stores to buy bread and milk. Even as a born and bred northerner I have never understood that mentality. I understand that in other parts of the country – say, around Ma’amphis – at the thought of the storm they go for beer. Even though I do not drink much, that seems to make more sense.

Thinking of beer and snow reminded me of the neighbors we once had next to our former abode. Whenever we had a snow dump of biblical proportions nearly all of the neighbors would be outside shoveling and clearing the snow. They were good times because neighbor would help neighbor and there was a good feeling of friendly neighborliness. During many of these storms the neighbors mentioned above would be outside with the rest of us. One of their first “duties” was to create a large mound of snow on a convenient corner of their property. At the top of the mound they would carve “cup holders” in the snow into which they would sit numerous cans of beer – sufficient to get the job done and always to have a cold one at the ready.

A couple of years ago in another post that is no longer available, I commented about the son of one of Mrs. G’s cousins. It was pretty obvious that this young fellow (then in his late teens/early twenties) was Family. I learned yesterday that he came out. His grandmother (one of Mrs. G’s aunts) is a peach of a woman and appears to be very supportive as does one of my SILs. I hope it will be so with the rest of the family. The reports are not in from them.

What was the more interesting is that the young lad’s grandmother, in relating that J- had come out, spoke the family “secret” out loud: namely, that one of her BILs (one of my wife’s uncles) was gay. It was one of those things that was never spoken of, but of which I was sure that everyone in the family had to have known. BTW, that uncle is now deceased, but I did have the privilege of knowing him and he too was a wonderful man.

I am wishing J- the best and naturally supporting him in all of this. I told my SIL so. (She was the source of the story.) I usually do not see him except at the family dinner each Christmas. I hope to offer my support to him the next time I see him. I understand that he is now living in Philadelphia with his partner.

The Great Bathroom Project is moving forward. All the hideous paneling is removed. All the wallpaper is removed. We stopped by our favorite paint store yesterday in our former domain to pick up paint and supplies. They suggested a product (DIF) for removing the residual sizing and paste on the walls before spackling and painting. We found vanity lighting that we both like, but it appears that we will have to order them online. I am still undecided about the method by which I will create the wainscoting. I am hoping to have the worst of the project wrapped up by this time next week. Mrs. G’s birthday is this week and there is, of course, Valentines Day. In addition my Canadian Ex-pat expects to come home for the long weekend.

Well, I must shower now and get ready to go to the grocery store.

We need bread and milk.

Have a great weekend!

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Midweek Madness Update

We had a bit of snow overnight. About 3 inches. The kind that sticks to the trees. Beautiful! Sorry, no pics this time.

Well, I mustered my courage and began to rip down the paneling. Ewww. Everything I had feared and more. Wallpaper. Remnants of ceramic tile. Holes cut and not patched. Sections of wall removed for no apparent reasons. I have about one-third of the paneling to go. I hope to remove all but the last piece today. The last piece will require some assistance and Mrs. G should be home tomorrow to help. It involves electrical work as well as plumbing.

Should I accomplish all but that last panel, I shall begin to remove (scrape) the rest of the wallpaper off. One of my least favorite jobs. I seem to have gone through life scraping other peoples bad wallpaper ideas. I will begin with the fabric softener solution that seems to work fairly well since we do not own a steamer. Then I shall attempt to fill small holes and smooth the surface. If I am luck I will also try to patch the big holes. I will prime and paint it. I am going to attempt to recreate this Shaker panel look for the wainscoting. The wainscoting will be white. For the area above the wainscoting I think we are going with a color called Blue Sail, a kind of dusty blue. The vanity base is in a finish called ebony with a white bowl.

Just how I am going to accomplish the wainscoting is still under debate.

Here are some not so good images as of yesterday.

The first is of the floor.

This picture shows one of the walls.

The white at the far left is the paneling I am removing. You can see the gaping hole between it and the wall switch. The hole goes deep behind the piece of paneling. You can also see the wallpapered area and the rough lower wall from which the ceramic tile has been removed.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Mondayne

In media res. Loosely, in the middle of things.

[I actually started this post late this morning. I was interrupted by events and so I am posting it late on Monday. Perhaps I should generalize it and call it "Dis dayne". ]

I’m taking a brief break here to put out my weekly Monday post. From many perspectives I am in the middle of things.

The contractor for the garage door and opener was just here and I was positively impressed. I showed him the challenges and he immediately suggested a way of handling it that I think I will be very happy with. It involves modifying the door opening and using a bit smaller door, but a door that will not restrict the use of either of our cars. We will be choosing a better insulated door that will qualify for the energy tax credit and will in the long run be cheaper than the original door I had chose. The opener (I had chosen) will be quieter among other things. It will be three to four weeks until it is in.

I am also in the midst of slaying another bathroom dragon. Those of my readers who go back to my very first blogging days might remember a post I wrote after remodeling the powder room in our previous home. I couched the tale as Sir Lemuel slaying the beast in the cave. The post is no longer available.

Over the weekend we went to the Homo Improvement Store and decided to go with a vinyl tile option to replace the flooring. Ceramic tile ,etc., just present too many issues that we do not have the money, time, skills or tools to address. The vinyl option we chose comes in sheets much like laminate wood flooring that overlap and stick to each other. The floor then “floats” similar to a laminate floor, but is waterproof and approved for bathrooms.

I was going to wait until Monday to start the floor project, but I could not wait so I started on Sunday afternoon. I got about two-thirds of it done. Today I finished the flooring including the two tiny closets and toilet niche. We both like the look of it. (Pictures may follow at the end of the project.) It is not grouted tile, but it looks far, far better than the old flooring (cheap, black self-adhesive tile). What is better is that we have an end to tiles that are coming up and tripping us.

Today I went back to the HIS and I also bought a new toilet and vanity. I got the new toilet installed by dinner time this evening. The new vanity and sink may wait a bit until we decide whether we want to tackle the walls at this time. I do not know what is behind the fake floor to ceiling beadboard paneling. I had a hint today. I discovered a single pink ceramic tile thrown under the bathtub. I suspect that the walls are a mess from removing the old tile.

For the new sink we bought a new faucet that we think is cute. It is a single lever faucet, but it it shaped somewhat like and old fashioned outdoor hand water pump.

Well, needless to say this geezer is bushed. My back is killing me and every joint and muscle hurts, … but I am so happy to see this project begun that I’m not really noticing.

I’ll see how I feel tomorrow before I commit to the next phase.

I hope your day has started your week off well also.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Friday Thoughts

I was all set to whine here about my week and then I opened up an article on Yahoo! about those suffering from the storm from TX and OK east. My whine seemed a bit less appropriate.

It has been nonetheless a rather stressful week. It was the full moon. As per my last post the week started off with my garage door opener quitting on me with the door half open. I ordered a new door (because Mrs. G had backed the van into it a while back) and opener along with installation from a local Homo Improvement Store. All my attempts at repairing/adjusting/being a manly man had just made everything even more fubar. Time to start over.

The installer was to call within 48 hours to make an appointment to look over the job and make adjustments in the order if needed. (I’m sure there will be adjustments given the very low clearance.) He never called.

I waited a total of 96+ hours and then called the HIS to indicate such. They would get right on it. Two hours later the installer called. They are to be here Monday morning.

In the meantime I stopped by another hardware store yesterday and picked up latches that I could install to keep the garage door down. Let’s just shorten the long story to two words: fubar reprise. I finally got the door to open and to close although there was a bit of a crack at the top of the door. (cue: dramatic, foreboding music)

Last evening the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped down. This morning we had no water in the kitchen. I am thankful that we did have water in the bathroom and elsewhere because those pipes are within the inhabited areas of the house. The kitchen pipes, in the event you are slow on the uptake, travel across the ceiling of the garage right inside the top of the garage door (refer: “crack at the top of the door” above). The cold air blew in all night and frozen the pipes.

So this morning while shopping for groceries I stopped by the Homo Decor Baux Store Pronounced a la Français to pick up a space heater. The good news was that they were on clearance. HOO-HAH! As soon as I returned home, I turned on my little beauty and with a short time we had water in the kitchen again. I also added some clamps at the top of the garage door to press it shut and I opened the door between basement and garage to warm the garage a bit more.

While all of this silly mayhem was happening in Lake Gonebelow, the rest of the world was attending to other things.

My reaction to the four Landrieu-gate burglars is that I expect them to get off with a rather minor slap on the wrist. This is Louisiana now, folks. When dad is an acting Federal attorney and Vitter et al. have their fingers in the pie, …

Isn’t the rule “if you’re not poor or black in Louisiana, you don’t have to pay”?

Re: the State of the Union: Let me quote from Lerner and Loewe -

Words! Words! Words! I’m so sick of words!
I get words all day through;
First from him, now from you!
Is that all you blighters can do?
Don’t talk of stars Burning above;
If you’re in love, Show me!
Tell me no dreams Filled with desire.
If you’re on fire, Show me!
Here we are together in the middle of the night!
Don’t talk of spring! Just hold me tight!
Anyone who’s ever been in love’ll tell you that
This is no time for a chat!
Haven’t your lips Longed for my touch?
Don’t say how much, Show me! Show me!
Don’t talk of love lasting through time.
Make me no undying vow. Show me now!
Sing me no song! Read me no rhyme!
Don’t waste my time, Show me!
Don’t talk of June, Don’t talk of fall!
Don’t talk at all! Show me!
Never do I ever want to hear another word.
There isn’t one I haven’t heard.
Here we are together in what ought to be a dream;
Day one more word and I’ll scream!
Haven’t your arms Hungered for mine?
Please don’t “expl’ine,” Show me! Show me!
Don’t wait until wrinkles and lines
Pop out all over my brow,
Show me now!

‘Nuff said.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Mondayne

It’s a rather blustery day here in Lake Gonebelow. We’ve had rain for the last 24 hours or so, but the last twelve hours have kicked up the winds. Today is our curbside recycling and so the neighborhood is littered with cans and bottles.

The day had another kind of ominous start to it as well. The garage door opener quit on us. It’s been giving us fits lately and all my attempts to adjust it/repair it/consign it to the depths of hell have apparently failed. So I was off to the Homo Improvement Store at the opening bell.

The weekend was rather tame, filled with house cleaning and more LP recording.

Thanks for all of your positive comments on the composition. I met with the music director yesterday morning. She had a suggestion for an alternate chord for the last verse. When I heard it, me likey. We agreed that we will move toward the event with the assumption that I will sing with the choir and that I will sing a verse solo. One of the other choir members will be an “understudy” for the solo, in case I choke. I want to check out the possibilities for either audio or video recording.

I’m discovering a special channel that comes with our satellite service. I must find a schedule for it. Last week I caught the tail end of a Barenaked Ladies concert by chance. This week I caught the end of a Gaelic Storm concert. We were however able then to watch all of a concert by the guys from Spinal Tap (Schearer/McKean/Guest). There was also a show by Blue Man Group on in the wee hours so I DVR’d that and we will watch it sometime this week.

Have a good week, all!

* * *

That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Hallelujah

I watched a fair amount of the telethon for Haiti last evening, but not all of it.

Most of the performances were “forgettable”. (Did the Boss go tone deaf?) I did enjoy Madonna’s Like a Prayer – especially watching the background choir.

But this cover of the Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah by Justin Timberlake was one of the best I have heard. (Unfortunately the ending in this YouTube segment is corrupted.)

If you did not hear it, enjoy (most of it anyway).

* * *

That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!

Friday Thoughts

It’s Friday again. It’s been a “interesting” week on all fronts.

For the most part locally it was a low key week. I did not need to report for jury duty. (No one did in any of the panels.)

I spent some time recording some more LP’s. I finished a small part of the classical collection. I enjoy classical music very much, but I can become sated with any style of music. I turned to some of the pop and folk music in my LP collection and recorded them. It had been years and years since I had heard some of the songs that were on the LP’s. These songs never made it to the “greatest hits” CD’s that have been issued, but they are some of my favorites. I do not use the turntable frequently so I had not listened to the LP’s in ages.

One of the other bright spots this week involved discussions with the director of music at the church we attend. The bottom line is that the choir has requested my permission to perform* a composition (music and text) that I wrote in 2004. To my knowledge it will be its first public “performance”. I have been asked to sing with the choir and even to sing a part of it as a solo. I am inclined to pass on that because I fear that I will be overcome with emotion. I am involved emotionally as it is with the theme of the composition. But I am thrilled, honored, and humbled at the request.

*(Update note: the performance will not be until mid-March.)

On a higher level, I was disappointed by the results in Massachusetts, but not surprised. The Democratic candidate was, shall we say, less than stellar. I also think that moderates and progressive voters had no motivation to vote while conservatives were energized. Unless things turn around rapidly I think we will see this pattern repeated in November.

The frustration for moderate and progressive voters is accentuated by the Democratic reaction to it all. They still have one of the largest majorities in the Senate and in the House in years and a President in the White House and still they whine like 98-pound weaklings on the beach after the bully has kicked sand in their face. My advice: Grow a pair! Obama: grow a pair! Reid: grow a pair! Put Lieberman adrift alone in a boat in the sea and cut the rope.

Of course, what does it matter? We literally now have the best government corporate money can buy. The recent decision of the Roberts Court is much more disheartening and disturbing that any MA election or whining of Democrats. The only silver lining in the ruling is that acknowledges publicly the reality that already exists. Corporations will now be allowed to spend their money openly and with impunity to control elections and those whom they choose to govern.

It will take a special people to take their democracy back and make it work. It will not be a people who are preoccupied with American Idol, WWE, Faux News, or fear of terrorism. It will be a people who are disciplined enough to make difficult decisions at significant personal costs of time, effort, and money. It will be a people who live bravely and boldly.

In a few months I will turn 63. Given family and personal health histories I expect realistically that I have less than ten years. (More than that will be Grace.) I do not expect to see it.

Good luck with that, folks.

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all.

Mondayne

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. The holiday has always been a bit of a curiosity for me because the observance of it is not uniform. In my working career my employers never observed it. In my retirement it is affected only by my need to go to the Post Office and my inability to do so and by my quandary as to whether it will be a recycling pick-up day in our town or not. My older son has off. My younger son, now in Canada, obviously does not, but he never did at his state-side job. My wife does not have off.

I am a bit reminded by all of this “off and on” by the celebrations of Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays in my youth. I grew up pre-President’s Day. I grew up in “the North”. Both Lincoln’s birthday (12. February ) and Washington’s birthday (22. February) were observed in my area. Our school rooms were decorated with their silhouettes as well as with red hearts (for Valentines Day). But early in my elementary years we were informed that not all of our nation observed Lincoln’s birthday.

My weekend was rather low key. It was rather warm here for January and Saturday was nice and sunny as well. We discussed going somewhere and doing something, but the day ended up being devoted to recording some of our old [children's music] LP’s to CD’s for my wife to use at her work.

I may return to that herculean task of recording more of our other LP’s. I had dropped it when other tasks took prominence. I discovered a few tricks in the process on Saturday that make the process go a bit better and faster.

I am torn about adding that task to my list. I fear that I will be sidetracked from the other things I hope to do (remodel the bathroom, exercise, learn Spanish, learn French, keep up with the housework, …). So much to do; so little time! And I am retired! Good Lord! How did I have time to fit in a job!

There may be another distraction later in the week as well. I have a summons for local jury duty. I will need to call in later in the week to see if I must report.

Have a great week, my friends!

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That’s a wrap.

Sending HUGS to all!