The "Green" House, So Close but So Far from Done.

Well, J didn't show up at work yesterday. So he's gone. Guess I get to finish the drywall job. I'll pull the shelving as well. The "green" house is once again down to the few. It's so close to being done too.

Got rid of my 28" pre-hung door. It took me over half an hour until I found Habitat for Humanity. Very out of the way place. Still, someone can use a new door and it won't go into the landfill. My townhouse has a home office and some tools stored in it. The tools are there for repair as funds and time permit, and right now, not much of either. Looked at the outer girder of my deck. It just won't do. Only one 2" by 10" that actually does anything. The rest is just nailed on. Those new joist hangers are pretty much useless until that gets rectified. Ladder up today after work and check out that roof/wall bit.

Moving the office.

I moved my office, no really, it moved. About twenty feet. The computer desk got simplified. The keyboard tray is gone, as is the tower tray. Actually the whole underside is gone, all that's left is the glass top. If you ever get the urge to have a desk with a glass top, don't. Still, it was cheaper keeping the glass then buying a door. The desk was one of those Chinese imports with techno look bent steel tubing and perforated shelving. Also weak as a McMansion in a high wind. The laser printer was on one corner and the weight crushed a caster.

So the top now sits on a wood base made from some cheap (ten bucks) one by two and one by three glued and nailed and doweled together. Not finished since it's not permanent. The alternative was two cheap filing cabinets, but the cheapest was sixty bucks....each. So, hard to beat ten bucks of an American made (me) wood base vs a hundred and twenty bucks of 2 Chinese filing cabinets. Next is the dining room. Saw some classy Italian folding chairs and table. If it doesn't fold, it's outta here. Everything has to fit in, or behind, my Subaru Baja when at last I decide to swap my vertical two-story attached real estate for some place where I can grow veggies, chop wood, and watch the sunset on my front porch and not worry about my neighbor catching on fire and me as well.

Whacking Fingers

I whacked a finger a few months ago. Two of my fingers are partially numb from an old pinched nerve, so of course......it's one that can feel everything. I sure felt that. Of course things like that happen when one is working dead tired. Yesterday I jammed my right forefinger while hunting around for my cell phone. Not going to be banging nails for a little while. My accuracy is kinda shot for now.

The "green" house is almost ready. Piles of electrical fixtures and having to move everything in and out and around. The master bedroom is now the trim room. The back bedroom became the paint room. The garage is still the paint and finish shop. The back porch is the saw shop. Some of the doors wound up in the office since that is the least disturbed place. We all have our places for tools. I put my tools in the laundry closet during the day as I get done with them. Boss has the kitchen. J has a corner of the garage.

A died four days ago. He was a good guy if a bit hasty. Some of him is in the work done on the "green" house. There is no better memorial then leaving behind something useful. He was a carpenter.

Unwanted Mail Call.....or Paper Spam

Once again, I have been called on to contribute to the consumer economy, to do my duty and spend money. So, instead of just tossing and shredding (credit card offers must always be shredded), let's take a look.

Lumber Liquidators.......colour flyer, lotsa nice pictures and some guy named Ty Pennington. Who he? Ah, lets check the Wiki. ".......... is a carpenter, TV personality, and a former fashion model." Pass, don't need a floor right now, and don't like prices quoted as "low as".

Great Clips.......hair "cuttery"as opposed to a proper barber shop that has a spittoon on the floor. Last time, I said, "I want a haircut and I got money". Not polite but the cashier asked for the third time, my phone number. Still, least thematic of the hair slash and burn places.

Furniture Direct.......Expensive, overstuffed or ornate furniture, probably made in China. The "Home Theater" recliners, talk about couch potato-ism. Toss.

Pet Supermart......optic nerve straining flyer in yellow and red.... toss.

Food Lion.....nah, Kroger closer, but they are all the same, customer loyalty cards, prices, and all that. Toss.

Gerber's Life Insurance Company.....selling life insurance on infants and children. Really. All I got is a fat feline. Toss.

AARP Life Insurance Program......actually New York Life. They want me to get life insurance. Nah. My assets would more then cover the disposal of my corpus. Also some measly amount of "up to $15,000". Bet the premiums are way up there. Toss.

American Express Business Gold cards Rewards program.....wants me to get one of their cards and will reward me points. What are points, some new currency? I like the "pay now" system.....so much cheaper. Lotsa small print on the backside, like annual fee of forty bucks and they can do anything they want to me. Shred. Toss.

AT &T...... thanks me for "choosing" them. Actually they swallowed up Ma Bell South. Shred. Toss.

Pershing LLC....wants me to pay up for the privilege of owning a losing stock. Think I'll close it instead....save, call Vanguard.

Shopwise....... asks me if I've seen some missing kid that's 43 years old. Huh. Toss.

Countrywide Home Loans....informs me that mortgage rates are down and that I should refinance my ARM. Lie. MSNBC quote, "Rates on 30-year mortgages jumped to the highest level in five weeks.......". Also I have NO mortgage. Borrowing money in this economic climate is not a good idea. Pay off everything. Shred. Toss.

Looks like I'll be contributing to my business instead.

Bamboo and all that.

The "green" house goes on. More trim going in, the bamboo floor is all nicely stacked and sorted to color (yes, we are that picky), which drove J to distraction. He thought it would look good mixed, but boss wants consistency in tone throughout the house. J did a nice job in trimming out the attic stair, then I caulked and painted it. Going to caulk all around the ceiling boxes and seal off the voids. I thought I had three days off next week but neighbor wants me to do his kitchen. He saw mine. Should clean my house better if it's doing that "selling" for me.

Uh, that will be (insert really high price) for the (floor, steel, counter, red-light district services.....), sir.

Yesterday was fun. J cleaned out the crawl space and then we sistered three joists to take steel walls. The inflation rate on steel is 20 percent per month according to my boss.

J seems to know his stuff, so perhaps the window trim can get rocking' earlier. The attic hatchway needs more caulk and gets trimmed out today. I also shimmed it out and redid the hinge as well to get it to close straight. The spring is a bit too strong, so it will close with the rest of the stairway still out.

Lost my Snug-lid key for awhile. I had to open that hatch behind the back seat and reach the emergency release. What a pain. That thing is coming off next weekend.

Sunday, no ladder, no roof patrol, no nuthin.

Sunday was a bit of a bust. Beautiful clear day, very much like Northern California, only in North Carolina. I was going to get a ladder but I had no bungee cords. So I got bungee cords. Then I got to my Bro-In Law's house and said hello to my sister and niece......got out my roof rack and found that the hardware had finally died. Subaru Baja roof bars have galvanized bolts and brass nuts. Can we say "electrolysis"? Can we say dissimilar metals? So off to the local hardware store to get wing nuts and bolts, all galvanized. Blew off the ladder project for later. It's not raining anyway and the leak is at my neighbor's house. So not a pressing issue para mi.

The Subaru Baja, 2003, 54000 miles, has been a solid beastie. Only issues are:

1. Wind noise in front windows.
2. Left speakers work, the others don't.
3. Hinge gasket on my Snug-lid came off....crappy glue.
4. Dissimilar metals in my roof rack.

Other then that, pretty solid.....just oil changes.

Back at the green house today. J, the new guy will be there. Today we nail in the cleats for the attic walk for the speaker wiring, consolidate the cardboard, shim out the attic stairs since they are where they are supposed to be and nail it home, wipe the grout haze off the kitchen floor, and get the place more or less organized.

Here at the "brown" house, the roof rack situation will get sorted out and I'm gonna get my tools down to what I need, for example, that saber saw can stay home, as can my sawzall.