Tis a better morn than yestermorn. Aarr. Avast and belay the bilge. Aarr. Yesterday I had to tear out a tile floor and prepare the aggregate underlay for repair. Took all of my time, but now I have the concrete and tools up there, ready to mix and pour. Contractors will lay the strip flooring and the carpet for us, but they steadfastly refuse to do subfloor work. I expected to be worn to a frazzle, but I feel surprisingly fit.
And, the weather is drying up. That's a plus. The landscaping is such that my shoes stay wet more days than not even when it's sunny out. But that's too involved to write about this morning.
A new movie in the works tells a story about Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger, twenty years later. A heist caper. I wonder what they had to bend to cause Oliver to commit such an immoral act?
Watched the worst episode ever of Alfred Hitchcock Presents last night. Mother and daughter check into a hotel in Paris. Mother is sick. Doctor sends daughter to fetch medicine, supposedly prepared by the doctor's wife. But the medicine is phony. She returns, to be told by management that she has the wrong hotel. Her mother has vanished, it seems. Resolution: After sending daughter in circles they finally admit her mother had been in the hotel. She died and was immediately removed. Punchline: It was Bubonic Plague killed her, hence the deception. Ho hum, says I, as I turn off the TV machine and go to bed.
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edgarblythe
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Thu 14 Feb, 2013 05:59 am
I wrote my daily offering yesterday and hit the reply button. The a2k gremlins made it seem the post was accepted, when actually it was not. This same thing happened a week ago. That time I moved on to open my email on Hotmail and lost the post. This time I tried to read my post a few times without success. Then I reopened the post and hit reply once again. The hampster told me my post had already been posted and that it would be etcetera etcetera. I went about my business then and lost this second post forever. Ain't gonna happen today. I plan to copy this post and save it until it can be verified. Not that its loss would be noteworthy in any sense worth mentioning.
I been doing subfloor work at the job site the past few days. Today should be easy, compared to that. I plan to use up a substantial amount of time sweeping and cleaning the pool. Dirt and leaves from across the street blow in it so consistently that it's an almost losing fight.
My facebook experience has gotten better since so many friends from a2k are there. We have groups called Cover to Cover and Friends Who Write. The tone is less combative there.
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edgarblythe
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Fri 15 Feb, 2013 05:53 am
Many trees are full of green these days. While the mornings have been cold this past week, the days have been filled with warm sunshine. Hot summer cannot be far off, and I welcome it as never in a younger day. I like to be warm. Cold is too much like dead.
My great granddaughter will be one year old this month. I am invited to her party Saturday next week.
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edgarblythe
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Sat 16 Feb, 2013 11:25 am
Nice beginning to the weekend. A gasket blew on the water meter at the apartments. It took a few hours to get someone out there just to commit to bring out a crew later on today, after I did enough digging and bailing to determine who's responsibility it was.. The building far in the back is the only one with water all day long. It's the cruise ship disaster all over again. I bet I have to unclog toilets once it's over.
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edgarblythe
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Sun 17 Feb, 2013 10:27 am
So yesterday I went home and picked up mrs edgarblythe to go grocery shopping. We swung by the apartments and saw that a crew already was digging up the meter. On the way home I decided to swing by and check their progress. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was phoned by the office and told the crew wanted to speak with me. So I stopped right there and walked about forty feet. "We have the water on, but only the second meter (by a different building). The residents have water, but this meter still is not set right. The pipes don't line and so put stress on the connection. Monday we must come back to dig up the pipe and reposition it. I don't have the manpower here on a weekend, if we break the pipe and have to go under the driveway." "Fine," I told them, etc. Luckily, the system is on a loop. They did not need to open and further stress the ailing valve.
Did I mention I will be attending my great granddaughter's first birthday party next Saturday?
In my position at the apartments, I capture and turn in to animal control dozens of cats every year. On the one hand, it hurts me to see them go like this. On the other hand, they need to go. It's the fault, not of myself or the organization that owns the apartments. It's the fault of those who do not 'fix' their pets. Due to their negligence or whatever it is, millions of cats get born and have to die each year. They in turn kill countless birds, squirrels and such, before they die. That's the main reason I pick my pets at the SPCA. They spay and neuter every one before they let people adopt them.
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Setanta
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Mon 18 Feb, 2013 05:58 am
I once lived on a country road near a small city which was home to a large university. Students routine got cats or dogs as pets, but then abandoned them when they graduated or otherwise left school. They often just drove out the nearest road into the country and dumped them. I knew a gentleman who drove down that road and some others, and when he would see one of these feral animals, he'd shoot them. He was acting humanely.
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edgarblythe
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Tue 19 Feb, 2013 05:55 am
When the city workers came back to repair the water line yesterday, they dug up their pipes on both sides of the driveway, a considerable separation of holes. This allowed them to adjust the alignment at the meter. It had never previously occurred to me that the pipeline under the driveway could be so easily moved.
I forgot to shut the gate yesterday. Punky the dog went out to the end of the drive, unsupervised, but she never left the property. Other dogs I have had would have been off to explore the neighborhood. One dog I had was an escape artist. I eventually had to put an electric line on the fence. If she could not get under or through any fence, she went over. But she was an adult when I took her from the SPCA. Her ways were set before we met. She somehow knew when the electric wire was not charged and immediately left the yard. She was the most frustrating pet I have had.
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edgarblythe
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Wed 20 Feb, 2013 05:58 am
Another round of rain today and tomorrow. This area has too much rain part of the year, followed with drought the rest of the time, as a normal pattern. I want to broadcast poison for the flea problem, but the soil stays too wet to soak it up, these days.
A poll tells us Texans think Rick Perry ought to retire. I am convinced he will run again and win again. Too many voters think the alternative to any Republican would lead to socialism, communism and liberalism, and that them's the opposition's good points.
My wife arrived at work, yesterday, to be confronted by a rooster when she got out of the car. She had to move pretty fast to get safely behind a door. The family next to the place has always had lots of animals, some of which sometimes get loose. They had a white turkey for many years, that chased the mail truck every day.
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edgarblythe
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Thu 21 Feb, 2013 05:51 am
It may be stormy when I leave the house. It has been drizzling all night. Rough weather forecast for the next several hours.
I had to get a new blender yesterday. I left a spoon in the old one for a bit too long. Oh well, it was old and in need of replacing. My blender is an essential tool. It prepares my breakfasts about six days of the week.
Every now and then I make buckwheat pancakes instead.
A friend of mine, who has been self publishing, has a new novel to peddle to publishers. I read a couple of his books. He is probably ready for success, on the broader scale.
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edgarblythe
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Fri 22 Feb, 2013 06:05 am
Guy with a riding lawn mower drives it through the property as the rest of the crew runs weed eaters and hedge trimmers. He is pretty good, mostly. Now and then he breaks a sprinkler off. The stretch between the pool and one certain building is not good riding mower territory, but he has been going through there for months. Occasionally a sprinkler gets knocked down, but is easily reparable. The last time, he broke off the riser (short pipe) flush with the supply pipe. I could not get the piece out and had to dig up the supply line. Thinking I was pushing against a root, I gave the shovel a foot stomp that in fact severed one of six wires that run to the control stations. The sprinkler head had sat atop a tee that transitions the pipeline from inch and a half to inch and a quarter. Meaning, a trip to the store for unforeseen parts. It took over two hours to change a simple sprinkler head. And the guy has the audacity to challenge my assertion that he is responsible. I requested of his boss that the guy must not use that path as a shortcut, ever again.
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edgarblythe
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Sat 23 Feb, 2013 08:24 am
Well, I gonna try to get the last installment of siding on the back of the house by Monday. That will leave me with a fourteen foot area around the corner. Already have paint and can use the company spray rig when I get ready.
Got to go buy a few things today, plus be ready to drive to Sealy for my great granddaughter's birthday.
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edgarblythe
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Sun 24 Feb, 2013 10:04 am
Party didn't happen. Disappointment. Anyway, a long drive was avoided.
Local news shows us the result of a car hitting a curb at 80MPH. Car became airborne, clipped a house and landed upside down on top of the second house. Only the driver injured. Usually cars go off bridges to accomplish this, but here it looked more like movie stunt driving.
I didn't work on my house yesterday. Busybody neighbor was out all day. Only mowed the yard.
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edgarblythe
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Mon 25 Feb, 2013 05:54 am
I did get half of that section of the house covered. Had to quit working when the neighbor stood at the fence to talk even after I cautioned my dust was blowing on her. - Any fine dust should never be inhaled and the label on Hardiplank warns it can cause cancer. - This woman is on the whole one of the best neighbors I have ever had. But when it comes to home repair, she is overly demanding and critical. Yesterday, I saw her eyes roving the wall left to be covered, noting every potential for trouble. She learned a lot of that from her late husband, the one who brought her here from Japan. When she hires a contractor she is the gang foreman through the whole operation. If the job is on the roof, on the roof she stays as long as the contractor labors. One reason I don't like her to be there when I do things, she constantly berates the work done on the home directly across the street. Before they reconstructed it the interior was torn up, filthy and full of garbage. They tore out the bathroom, including the sink, toilet and tub. They removed everything in the kitchen but the cabinets. They replaced the entire floor. Then they put on new siding, new porch, new windows - The place is unfinished but now looks beautiful. Anyway, my neighbor says the place is disgusting, questioning how one could live in a house that had been so filthy. I can just imagine what she must tell her friends about my efforts.
Only the ultimate one. And she is younger than me.
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edgarblythe
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Tue 26 Feb, 2013 06:10 am
There will be a new TV program on at the time Vegas airs tonight. Golden Boy. Seasoned cop with new guy for a partner sort of thing.
I plan to check it out.
I'm thinking of moving my computer to another room. Right now I am next to the bed, by the sliding closet door, with some file cabinets to my left. It's just to crowded in here, especially now that we have a bigger size bed. I have to really scrunch up to allow Punky the dog to pass through.
My coworker has crohn's and no insurance to cover his current meds. So he imports it from Canada. But it is late getting here. He was unable to work yesterday. I hope it came in by now. He normally is one of the best maintenance men I have been around and also a good guy.
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edgarblythe
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Wed 27 Feb, 2013 05:57 am
Had to go to the apartments to rescue a man who got locked in his bathroom. He had the keyless locks engaged and I was contemplating breaking his window, when he freed himself and opened the door. Normally in these cases the plastic latch casing has busted, but his doorknob assemblage had fallen apart. Failing to dislodge the hinge pins, he finally oiled it and managed to get it to open. Don't know what type of oil. He introduced himself and informed me that he became a father by several hours. He was home to get some rest after a long day at the hospital.
I managed to get flea poison watered into the ground in the back yard yesterday. Hope to do it in front this afternoon. I have never lived in a place where they were this hard to control.