Well…okay, feeling better this morning about the rentals across the street but didn’t sleep for crap and part of that is that damn Lowes sent me a text at 2:14 in the damn morning and it took me an hour or better to get back to sleep…but it’s my day off so I can cope with that pretty well…and I had a memory flash last night where I remembered a tool that I can use to edge the trim in the bedroom I’m working on…it’s a little pad with rollers on it that you slide along the top of the baseboards and the ceiling corners to get a nice straight line for the grey paint so I can paint the bedroom without masking the whole thing off…and the cool thing is that the tool is only 4 bucks and that is half what a roll of tape would cost…and that means I can paint the bedroom and finish it up tomorrow and start moving in by the end of the week….need to find an area rug to put in there with how crappy the floor is but I can live with the small one I have for now…have been living without one in the small bedroom so I’m used to it…and I can even start on doing the small bedroom but I’m not sure how much I want to do in there before summer…certainly get rid of the dropped ceiling and work on the baseboards but I need it for a work room to do the doors so I don’t have to drag them downstairs…but that is work and I don’t want to talk about that right now….I am looking forward to resting my body some since the skin on my hands is so dried out from all of the washing I do when working on this place…I do still want to buy a kayak but I’m not sure how much I’d use it and I really hate buying things I won’t use a lot…like a grill…my brother said he had one he’d let me have but I haven’t heard from him since last fall so I guess that’s not going to happen and I don’t want to spend 200 bucks on one….I do want to buy a couple more plastic Adirondek chairs for outside just in case anyone ever comes out to visit so I’ll have to look for those here in a while….I am looking forward to getting on the yard this week and doing the cleanup and prepping the garden for planting…I want to get some crabgrass preventer/food and get it on the lawn this week, too, and work on the mower to get it ready but those are fooling around jobs that can be fun…not much to do today…there is a new football league starting today and there is a Michigan team in it so I may take a look at that at noon and I need to clear everything out of the bedroom so I can paint tomorrow along with ordering the blinds…so an easy day…and I need one of those….more later….
All posts by James DeVol
Rentals…
Well…feel like I was sucker punched today when I saw that the two new houses across the street are going to be frickin rentals and I am so damn pissed that I can’t see straight…in the whole damn neighborhood, they put up rentals across from me and with all of the bullshit that comes with rentals up here…after all, every damn noise complaint I’ve had to make, over 80 and counting, was for people in the tons of rental housing up here already…the one thing we don’t need is more rentals and the noise and bullshit that comes with them…I mean renters don’t give a crap about the neighborhood they live in and have no “skin in the game” as we owners do….and just the act of them putting up a “for rent” sign cost me 15K on the price of my house since rental housing always lowers home values in any neighborhood they are in…and yes, I’ve read the studies that support this fact and I am going to go to the city commission meeting next week to let them have it about them costing me money and them not caring since they don’t live up here. I am just stewing about this and am about ready to stop working on this place since I’ll never get my money back for what I’m putting into it or rewarded for making this a better neighborhood with all of my damn work cleaning up after the pigs that live up here…I will say that I’m done taking care of the vacant lots up here since all of my work has been nullified by the act of putting up a for rent sign across the street…so, I guess I’ll start looking for other houses but I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to afford anything as nice as this place…so, it looks like I’m stuck here for now…and really, really depressed…crap…
Got some painting done…
Well…not sure why I did this to myself but I had another damn schedule to meet this morning and got up already behind…and that is kind of funny when I got out of bed at 5:37….so I was on the bike before 7 today and done by 7:45 and then right into painting to get done before Man U came on but I shouldn’t have bothered with them playing with no defense again…I mean up by 2-0 and losing the darn game?…Okay, that was wrong…they won by 3-2 but against Norwich City? I turned it off after they were tied…but, I did get the closet painted to a certain point….ran low on this grey paint and needed to save some for touch ups so I couldn’t do two coats on the entire closet but settled for the outer part that I’ll have to look at…but without a light in there the rest doesn’t matter and can wait until I have leftovers from the next gallon of a little darker paint….so, after I finished painting and could put my painter clothes in the washer along with the rest of the laundry, I ran a load and I am waiting for the dryer to finish so I can put the clothes away….and that met my schedule for the day when I was supposed to have the day off…oh, got some bad news that I will relate in the next one….
Can’t think of a political one so how about some music?
Well….as the title says, I can’t think of a political one that grabs me enough to cut through how overwhelmed I feel about the happenings in the world…just too much going on right now and I don’t have the energy to sort through it…so, let’s talk about music for a bit…when I was on the indoor bike yesterday, it dawned on me that the music that was in my ears was all nearly 50 years old…the Allman Brothers live at the Filmore east, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, the Cars, CSNY’s 4 way street, the Beatles and on and on…and I wonder if any of you are the same way? I’ve talked about this before that I have stopped listening to new music and I wonder why that would be? I know I may be one of those snobs that think that the best music was done when I was young…but, can you argue with “In memory of Elizibeth Reed” live from the Allman’s in 1970? Or “Southern Man” from 4 way street? Or the story from “Doctor Wu” that takes you from happiness to despair and back again in a 6 minute song? I admit that as I age the emotional aspects of songs have more meaning to me…or maybe I’ve become more perceptive to them as I spend more and more time alone? Who knows? I’m sure I’m bringing some of my own interpretations to the meanings and that fits with what is going on with me right now…to a point, but a lot of it relates to what I’ve been though in this life from the time my older brother played Elvis, Buddy Holley, and Roy Orbison that I guess I absorbed without knowing it at the time. Don’t get me started on Steely Dan or Pink Floyd…especially Dark Side where the run of “Time” and “Great Gig in the Sky” always takes my breath away and talks to me as I get older…and with SD, I see myself in the characters and worlds they create…about the losers and the underachievers and the people who just can’t help themselves like in “Black Cow” where the protagonist has poured everything into helping his friend or lover “talk it out til daylight” but then realizes that it’s over and sends her away…or from “Your Gold Teeth” where a woman comes back into a man’s life that she burned at least once before but he knows what’s coming and the dismissive line “you don’t have to dance for me, I’ve seen you dance before” describes that fact…I guess what I’m saying in this long one is that music has always been important to me and I wonder if anyone else has the intimate connection that I have or if it’s unhealthy? I know that even if it is, that won’t change how I feel….
April 16th
Well…dang, the moon was so bright last night it looked like a spotlight was shining into my bedroom from about 2 am on and that was not good for trying to sleep…after tossing and turning for a few hours, I gave up and got up at 5:37 but still feel okay so I can live with that…my hands are pretty puffy this morning from all of the abuse I’ve been heaping on them and that won’t stop today since I want to paint the closet in the bedroom after doing the trim yesterday for some reason…but covering the dark blue in there is going to take two coats…and I need to get that done before Man U plays at 10…why, I don’t know since they have been stinking up the place for months now and will probably do it again today…I was going to take the weekend off and clean but that can wait til this afternoon….and I am going to take the entire day off tomorrow to get ready for the big push to finish the bedroom next week…and I am wavering on taking the summer off since I could get the painting done in the dining room and living room in a couple of weeks….but I may take a few weeks off anyway…with the bedroom going better than I thought, I still may be able to get those rooms done before the end of May which was my goal anyway….not sure if my body will hold up, though, and the yard is going to take about a week of prep work to get it ready for summer…damn, all I do is talk about work anymore…I wonder what happened to science, astronomy, and sports? I will make an effort to broaden the topics out in the future…it seems I have tunnel vision right now but working on the house has become my life and I know I’m getting tired of it….not much to do today…need to get on the bike here in a few minutes and the straight into the closet painting and I know I’ll have paint all over me from the tight space…but it will be worth it….still have dust patrol to do later since I am so tired of having everything coated….more later….
Still worked today…
Well…you know, I was going to take the day off today after painting the bathroom yesterday but, you know me, I just can’t do it…so after the bike ride today, I headed out to run errands and try to get parts to rebuild my front gate and got the corners I needed but they only sell the rail I need in 10 ft lengths and I only need about 30 inches…and it was too cold to put the top down on the car and stick it in the seat and up in the air, so I couldn’t buy that part of it…the rail costs 20 bucks so the repair now is about 32 bucks but still cheaper than the 120 bucks they want for a new gate so I guess I can live with it…so, I’m going to have over 7 feet of rail left and I need to figure out what to do with it…maybe use it for the hummingbird feeder hanger that I wanted to make? I decided against the blocks for the garden border since menards is such a pain to deal with when you need construction materials…and once I measured the garden, it was going to take 50 bricks and I just don’t feel like setting that many of them right now…and can always do that later if I get bored this summer and have some extra cash…but I did work on the closet in the bedroom…cleaned it up and painted the baseboards and trim in there and will need to paint it grey in the next couple of days…but I’m not going to paint the ladder right now…just going to clean it and leave it for another time since it needs so much detail work…oh, and I hung the new blinds in the bathroom, getting one step closer to finishing it…just need to do the register next week when it’s warmer and I can paint it outside….so I did work today…maybe I’ll take the weekend off…yeah, right….
Texas runs our foreign policy?
Well…when you go to the grocery store and avocados are 5 bucks each and you can’t find any veggies, thank the idiot governor of Texas who has taken it upon himself to run both foreign and trade policy in direct violation of the constitution. This bullshit started earlier in the week when he told his state police to do “truck inspections” for every truck coming across the border from Mexico which has resulted in miles long backups at the border and lots of rotting fruit and vegetables as the trucks wait for days just for a stunt as Abbott tries to make inflation worse to hurt Biden and the dems in this fall’s election. And now, he has taken foreign policy into his own hands which the constitution says is the purview of the federal government only by making “agreements” with the heads of Mexican states to allow their trucks to freely pass as he extorts them probably into giving him cash for his re-elections which is also against the law. My question is what is the biden admin going to do about it? They need to hold this asshole accountable by fining suit today to force him to stop this illegal bullshit and the companies who are losing their drops to spoilage need to sue him for damages today to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and do it personally so the taxpayers of Texas don’t have to foot the bill for his criminality…typical repub bullshit….geez…
April 15th
Well…darn, I wonder why I don’t sleep well on the days where I work my butt off? Tossed and turned all night last night and feel worn out today but part of that may be only having a square of lasagna to eat all day….when I don’t get to eat til after 2 in the afternoon, it is too hard to try to force a second meal in before the end of the day so I normally don’t…and I didn’t ride the bike in or out yesterday so I shouldn’t have eaten more anyway…will do better today with the big ham in the fridge and not a lot do today…probably should clean the closet in the bedroom I’m working on since it is still full of dust from the repairs in there and I need to paint it to get rid of the ugly blue…going to paint it the same color as the kitchen and bathroom since I have 2/3rds of a gallon of that paint left and have no plans to use that color again….I wonder if my hands feel like they would from a bare knuckle fight? They are so stiff, cut up, and sore that I know they should be rested today but I still have work to do so that probably won’t happen….thinking of going out to Menards to get my gate repair parts so I can do that next week and check out the bricks I need to make a border around the garden this morning….I need 42 of them and I think I’ll make it red with some grey accents like I did with the trash bin landing pad….and that will be about 150 pounds in the back of the Miata and that is about the load limit for it….not much to do today…need to get on the bike here in a minute to get a ride in and I do have the blinds for the bathroom I can install today….and I need to order blinds for the bedroom window so I can install them as soon as I get that painted and take the newspaper down….damn, this became another house one and I didn’t want to do that…oh, well….more later….
Bathroom is done!
Well…damn, finally have the bathroom painted and it is such a relief to have it done…but the damn tape peeled off some of the paint from the trim and that is pissing me off..it even pulled paint off some trim that had the old paint on it that has been there for 20 years so I guess letting it cure wasn’t enough…I’m now thinking that it is the cheap HF tape I’ve been using so before I do the bedroom, I’m going to spend the big bucks on 3m tape to see if that is better…it costs about twice as much but if it will do the job without making more work for me, the cost will be worth it…damaged both index fingers today cleaning up the light that goes over the sink on the sharp edges on the back of it…it is just a cheap stamped steel that is razor sharp and rubbing on it to get the paint off that was the last paint job did a number on my fingers…so now I have bandages on both hands and my right thumb has told me enough so I’m glad I have a couple of weeks until I need to paint again…the grey paint looks pretty cool in the bathroom and much more modern than the weird blue they had in there…and the white baseboards and trim add a nice accent to it…but, I am beat and still drinking coffee at 2:30 in the afternoon…and still haven’t eaten anything yet today but I just want to relax for a while and read some news before I get back to work and re-hang the lights and mirror in the bathroom….I guess I could let that stuff wait til tomorrow or much later today…the paint still needs to dry and I don’t want to push it…owww….
April 14th
Well…darn, up at 5:14 this morning…oh, do you wonder how I know exactly what time it is when I get up? Don’t have a clock in my bedroom…at least one that has the correct time, but I do have my phone in the drawer of the small table that is next to my bed and I can just roll over and reach it…I used to be able to tell what time it was innately without a clock and it was always fun to guess and then check the time with a clock…and I did that this morning and only missed it by about 8 minutes…yeah, I know I’m weird…but I did sleep okay and feel okay today but I think I’m skipping the indoor bike ride…my legs are really sore from riding hard outside yesterday and I think they need a rest today with too much wind and cold to go out…and that’s okay since I need to go out and get paint and work on the bathroom anyway…so that leaves me with a little time to do this and have some unrushed coffee this morning and I sure do like it….should be able to get all of the prep work done on the bathroom today and then get it painted tomorrow but it is going to be a pain to paint with how small and tight it is…and then I need to get some garden soil to get my tomatoes started from the seeds I have left over from last year but that may not happen til next week…normally, you can’t plant outside until late May to avoid any remaining frost so I don’t need to rush…it is going to be nice to take the weekend off this week and just fool around on some small stuff around here…and after the last of the dust today, the kitchen and dining room will need to be scrubbed to get it back to acceptable clean….then no more dust! Damn, I’m tired of having everything coated…okay..there will be some dust when I start on the baseboards and window in the dining room over the summer…not much to do today…just out for the paint and then the bathroom work…I may get on the inside bike later today but I’m not going to be anal about it….the bathroom will be enough work for the day….more later…