Thursday, June 24, 2010

Stormin'...

Sitting on the porch for hours earlier, watching the lightning flash and the rain roll. Electricity went off numerous time as lightning hit this transformer and that one. Damn, it was exciting and we needed the rain more than I can say. We had a mini flood.

Okay, now things are cool. Lightning has moved to south, so has rain. Just another humid night in Dixie.

Nice review

A decent review of Smoke and Thunder can be found here.

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Porch is lookin' good, thanks to my woman




Gwen has been sprucing up my sitting area on the front porch. Also I've added blinds and gotten rid of the old plastic tarp I've had hanging as a sun shield. This is a great place to stay when the weather is nice, reading, writing or browsing, watching TV or a DVD. Too damned hot now to do much out there, however, but I'm looking forward to a lot of Saturday and Sunday football view come fall.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Getting close....

Getting down to the nitty gritty now. Just a bit of trim work, shelving and paint tomorrow and it will be wound up. He figures he'll be done around noon or shortly thereafter. Sounds good to me.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Work progressing

Have the new floor in and level and the rolled goods down. Gerald is now working on the shower enclosure--which has proven to be a big pain in the ass because the surround panels didn't fit right. Or, I should say, the cap part around the top wouldn't fit as is. Of course, a little creative Afro engineering can take care of a problem like that and has at this point. Now he has to set the enclosure to the drain and build walls on each side. He'd hoped to be done by tomorrow afternoon but with the holdup and aggravation today, that may not be the case. Whatever, just have to take it as it comes.


Monday, June 14, 2010

Minor change of plan

Woman decided to wait and leave this morning instead of yesterday evening, and drove herself. So, she left about a half hour ago and it's about 20 minutes until workmen are scheduled to arrive. I've done everything but shut off the water meter, which I'll do when they get here.

I made a futile attempt to remove the gas heater, but only had one pipe wrench small enough for the job and couldn't break the union loose without turning one of the pipes. I suppose they will have something to do the job with. In fact, the heater is un-vented and illegal and hasn't been used in years, not since it almost asphyxiated me. Last time dude from the gas company came and lit pilots and checked things years ago, he noted that he was supposed to shut and lock the meter after observing that stove. He didn't, on the condition of our promise not to use it. Also have a 220-volt wall heater, but it burned out years ago, so I just use a space heater in the winter.

Freaking hot again, under a heat warning. Some places nearby got rain and a bit of cooling off yesterday, as will happen again today most likely. But we didn't, and probably won't.

Ah well, gotta have something to bitch about, eh?

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Ah, hell

Been busting ass today getting the bathroom cleaned out best as I can. Carpenters coming Monday morning to tear the floor out and remodel the thing somewhat. Gonna lose the old claw-foot tub and put a shower in and also replace the commode, among other things. Also, gonna insulate those plumbing lines real good while there is easy access to them. Job is supposed to take a week, so the lady friend is going home until it's finished. I'll take her tomorrow afternoon.

Book is still selling some copies. In fact, Banner called Friday and they need more, so I'll take a batch Monday morning. Haven't done much writing lately because I've been occupied with other things.

Damned hot. Heat indices in the 105-110 range through Wednesday, according to the weatherman. Not very pleasant and hell, it's not even summer yet.