Well….after three hours or so of work, I got the bathroom trim sanded and painted this morning and it looks okay…with how bad the trim looked, I am happy with how it came out and I like going back to the original white that was in the house years ago…not sure if the look is modern or not but it has that classic cottage look that I was going for…and it looked like they didn’t even clean the trim at all before they sloppily painted it, leaving all kinds of crap in the paint and runs everywhere…not sure if I got them all but with the eggshell finish on the paint I’ve been using, it hides a lot of flaws…and gets me back to the “good enough” standard that I have been using once I started on this place and realized I wasn’t going to do the work necessary for it to be perfect…still have a few detail things to do where I was cleaning the paint that oozed under the painters tape and took paint off the trim, too…but I’ll wait a while for that…I need to rest my right hand, elbow, and shoulder since they are really hurting right now and doing the window will abuse them some more…so, now I’m going to look for a topic and read some news and will be back shortly….more later…
March 22nd
Well…that was a little weird…didn’t wake up til 5:16 and slept through the night without any tossing and turning and that is something that I am just not used to with all of the problems I’ve had sleeping in the past…I wonder if this is just part of the progression from the sleep aids and cocktails that is still ongoing? I was even able to go back to sleep until after 6 and that was pretty cool…I think part of it was getting so many miles in yesterday and I am going to try to get an outside ride in today, too….can’t wait to get the trim painted in the bathroom today and see what it looks like after getting rid of at least a part of the ugly blue in there…after I get that done, I will start on the window Thursday and that should take the rest of the week to get it ready to paint next week…then I’ll have three weeks to get the walls ready to paint before I can mask off the trim…it was really nice to get out on the bike in just shorts and a t-shirt yesterday but those days are over for a few weeks…and it is supposed to start raining later today and rain for a couple of days with up to an inch coming so I think that will green up the lawn some if we can just get some spring temps….the big gash in my arm is healing up nicely and I really need to remember how sharp the new chisels are so I don’t do more damage….not much to do today….just need to get on the bike here in 8 minutes or so and then get on the bathroom…don’t think the painting will take more than a a couple of hours to do two coats even with doing the sanding first…and then I need to make lunch and use some of the chicken I got last week…and then outside for a ride if I can get going before the rain comes in….more later….
Not guilty anymore…
Well…after finishing up my work for the day before 3, I was feeling a little guilty for not doing more today…but then, when I saw the temp was almost 65 at 5:15, I jumped on the bike to put in another 13 miles outside…so with the 8 miles downstairs, that makes 34 miles in today…so I don’t feel guilty anymore but I am going to be sore tomorrow..and that’s already started with my legs but I can deal with that with only having sanding and painting to do tomorrow…but, I am finally done for the day…no more later….
Got some new tools…
Well…as I talked about earlier this morning, I was going to hit HF for some tools that I needed to make my life easier as I work on this place and make my slow progress from grimy and ugly to acceptable…to me anyway. I needed a set of wood chisels to help with the detail work on all of the wood there is in here and I have already used them to both work on the trim in the bathroom and to injure myself when the smallest one slipped scraping the heating grates and I dug a big chunk out of my arm…pretty darn sharp chisels and they worked great on the trim so I can’t wait to work on the window in there with them. I also got a new half round file, a new wire brush, and a masonry chisel to cut down the blocks that I am going to use to fill in next to the house so I won’t be curling my garden hose in the mud anymore…and the space I’m going to fill is triangular shaped so I’ll need that chisel a lot…and filling in the whole area will give me a place to put a gas grille if I ever pull the trigger and buy one….now I’m done for the day other than getting a ride in outdoors in shorts around 2 o’clock after the showers end out here….worn out again…darn…
Back to the 15th century..
Well…in case you haven’t been paying attention, let’s summarize what the repubs end game is now that they have captured the supreme court by chicanery and lies…first you know they want to overturn Roe and make abortion illegal again across the repub controlled states and that is going to happen in the near future as telegraphed by the unqualified right wing assholes that trump and mcconnell stole seats for….but that’s not all they are coming for..since their ideas are so damn unpopular across the country…even with mainstream repubs, they need to have the court legislate from the bench and return this country to the 15th century where women were property and the church is the only law. We can see this by the latest repub talking point that Griswold was “improperly” decided…you know the one…that struck down all of the laws that made contraception illegal….and now their next target is the ruling that gave gay people the same rights as everyone else and that one will be struck down next year with the cases that are now wending their way through the courts with the express purpose of giving the SC the chance to overturn Obergfell…the ruling that expanded US rights to include gay people. The latest attack on rights is the idea that a state can extend it’s authority to women as they try to go to other states for legal abortions…and they are using the the SC’s non ruling in the Texas abortion case where they let stand the bounty system that allows anyone to sue any person involved with helping a woman get an abortion…and that goes against the constitution’s guarantee that the laws of one state stop at that states borders…can you imagine if all you needed was one blood red state allowing slavery again and then all states would have to abide by the laws of that state? That is exactly what the repubs are trying to do through the SC and, with the right wing hacks on the court who have no respect for precedent or the constitution, they just might get their wish even though 80% of the country doesn’t want any of this crap….now do you understand why it is essential to vote in every damn election? We need to get a big enough majority in the senate to expand the court without Manchin or Sinema or this country is doomed…geez…
March 21st
Well…running a little late today with not getting up until 6:17 and now I only have 14 minutes to get this done before I have to get on the bike for the indoor ride for the day….slept okay and I am really amazed how well I’ve been sleeping since I quit all of the aids that I had been using for years….and trying to sleep was one of the most anxiety generating things I did in those years…but that is pretty much gone now and being officially retired has helped that….with no schedule to keep anymore, if I have a bad night where I don’t sleep I can adjust my day to fit how I feel…and that is a luxury that everyone should have….had a normal Sunday yesterday with not a lot of work but I did continue removing the paint from the second heat register and I may be able to finish that up today…but it is going to be a busy day with the indoor ride, an errand out to HF, filling the trim in the bathroom to get ready to sand tomorrow, and then getting an outdoor ride in after lunch…and I may even be able to get one in tomorrow but then the weather goes back down into the 40’s for the rest of the month and into April….and that sucks….but that makes it a little urgent to get the indoor stuff done before I need to put all my time into getting the yard cleaned up and getting the garden border done along with choosing what perennials I want to plant around the back of the house…I did notice I have crocuses popping up in the dirt there so that will be cool and I am thinking about some small bell shaped plants that we had around the house when I was growing up…okay, just had to check the name and they are called Lily of the Vallies….and they thrive in shade so I can plant them on the east side of the house…time to get on the bike…more later….
TV reviews…
Well…you know, when you get invested in a show for most of it and then when the show runners try to get “edgy” they screw it all up…and that’s how I feel about the prequel to “Yellowstone” called “1883”….and there are going to be spoilers in this one so if you haven’t finished or seen it yet, probably better to stop reading right now. Up until the last episode, it was a pretty good if violent show but I’m not sure if it was really a true depiction of what life was like on the plains as people moved west…I mean, no boredom or anything like that but just death, death, and more death…much like if Mad Max had taken place on the plains of the US instead of Australia…and at the end, when the entire final episode was a dragged out death of what I saw as the main character…a young woman coming of age on the trail, the investment of the viewer was betrayed by the need of the show runners to continue the shock value that permeated the show…and then when the trail boss played by Sam Elliot kills himself sitting on the beach of the Pacific Ocean after the wagon train falls apart, it was just gratuitous and didn’t need to happen…I know the character had a tough life losing his wife and daughter to disease and then the death of the young woman who had become his ersatz daughter hit him hard, too…but, do we need that much reality? I know that the late 1800’s were pretty whitewashed as we were taught as kids but I wanted to be entertained not slapped in the face and that is just what the ending did. I’m not sure what Taylor Sheridan was thinking when he wrote the show that way, but making your audience work that hard to enjoy some escapism is just too much….and it turned me off “Yellowstone” to be honest…
Happy spring!
Well…I was trying to get this one started and had my fingers one key off on the home row of the computer and lots of weird looking words came out…but, I fixed that so here goes….it is the first day of spring today and I don’t feel like I have spring fever at all…in fact I feel like I have reverse spring fever with just feeling exhausted today but it’s my rest day so that works out okay….it was nice enough to get out on the bike today but I resisted that since it is my day off and I really do need some rest for some reason…so, I’ll just do a double tomorrow to make up for it….I have realized that I do need some new tools as I work on all the wood around here…so, after spending 30 bucks at HF Friday, I’ll be back there tomorrow to pick up a new multi purpose file and a set of 4 wood chisels getting ready for working on the doors in here and cleaning up the corners of the baseboards…the 4 pack has chisels from a quarter inch to one inch for only 8 bucks and the file is only 4 bucks and they all should come in handy….and give my new putty knife a rest…and I had to spend 30 bucks on allergy meds this morning,too…got 5 bottles of generic flonase on amazon when the name brand stuff costs about 15 bucks per bottle so that’s a pretty good deal and I am going to need it if my allergies keep getting worse…I am still waiting for real spring to get here and that is not going to happen for the rest of March…that sucks but the trails are already melted and that is 3 weeks earlier than last year so I can live with it…I do want to talk about some tv and that will be in the next one…more later…
Putie boy isn’t going anywhere…
Well…in a little bit of good news coming out of the atrocity that Putin has rained down on the peaceful Ukrainian people, the International Court of Justice has just designated the invasion of Ukraine a war crime and Putin a war criminal…which makes it a hanging offense if Putin ever leaves Russia again…so maybe he can go to one of the countries that are run by his puppets and have no relationship with the court, but no more UN, no more vacations to the Riviera, no nothing unless he wants to be hauled up in front of the court and sentenced to death…and this ruling makes it pretty simple…the only proof they need is that the invasion happened…and it did so they really don’t have to prove anything…and all of the idiot’s tv addresses just add to the evidence and make it even harder for outside countries to help him avoid sanctions if they don’t want to be hit with the same charges…so all of his puppets need to start looking over their shoulders and making plans to hunker down in their own countries since they can be arrested if they ever set foot outside of them…a good development amid all of the carnage Putin is raining down on innocent civilians in Ukraine…geez….
March 20th
Well…darn, my right thumb is finally reacting to wire brushing the register grate Friday and then sanding the rest of the baseboards in the bathroom yesterday…every time I move it, it hurts even without any load on it…so, I guess it’s a good thing that today is a rest day…or an easy rest day…I may hit the latest grate with some more cleaner today but that will be the extent of the work today…slept okay last night and feel okay this morning and it was pretty cool that it was clear when I went out of the paper….almost full moon and lots of stars and I’m sure my neighbors think I’m weird when I just stand out my back door and look up for a few minutes….but I really don’t care…I am hoping that it gets warm enough to get out on the bike today but it looks like the race schedule is going to keep me off for the day…and that’s okay…Sundays are supposed to be a day off everything and there will be plenty of spring days to take advantage of the weather…and today is the first day of spring but this week is not going to look like it…one warm day tomorrow and then back in the 40’s for the rest of the month…ick….I did figure out that I’m going to make a brick border for my garden this year so it looks a little more finished and I can mow right over it if I set the bricks flush to the ground…will probably stay with the grey and red colors that I used for the trash bin landing pad that I put in last year and it should look cool…and it should only cost me about 30 bucks to do it…not much to do today…I do have to break down the 10 pound bag of leg quarters I got Friday and have been letting thaw enough so they are not one big frozen block…and I need something for meals today but I guess I can make pasta since I have a lot of that….but right now, I’m going to enjoy another cup of coffee and read the news and try to find a topic for later….more later….