So... What are YOU doing? - Part 8

[tango]

Hot day today. Got our walk around town in good and early, then finished sanding a piece of door trim. I had hoped to not have to sand it but getting the nails out caused it to splinter in a few places, so I stripped it and sanded it, then had to restain it. It would be nice if just touching up the damaged sections was a sensible option but the chances of getting a precise match in color are slim, so at least getting the entire piece of trim a uniform color that's close enough to the piece on the other side is a good option.

Now the piece of door trim is resting on some wood so it can dry before being pinned into place. While it was drying I met with a guy from church to figure out some audiovisual stuff going forward, and then got some stuff fixed up on the office computer.

And now I'm sitting in the air conditioning with a cold brew coffee. Life is OK....

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, breakfast is my usual and my morning coffee.

 

[tango]

Walk around town this morning but it felt like a battle, it was warm and humid and felt like breathing soup. I got another coat of lacquer on my board, just because I didn't want to lose another day doing next to nothing, so at least I'll be ready to pin that into place before too long. Maybe I'll rummage in the attic to find the pieces of window trim I'll need to put back.

I have a nasty feeling I'm going to need to do some work on the windows, I think a combination of sawdust and drywall dust may have gotten into the works. They don't slide as freely as they used to, and I'm not sure how to fix it. Maybe a combination of an air compressor and shop vac will either blow or suck whatever is gumming up the works, out of the works.

 

[Naiwen]

Good afternoon all, sipping an Italian mild roast coffee and Chinese oolong tea. Lunch is leftovers with orange juice. Doing aroma therapy and music therapy till dinner and heading the sack tonight.

 

[tango]

Doing in my recliner. I didn't realise how sleepy I was until I woke up and found I'd slept for 45 minutes.

Edit: Just spotted the typo.... it should read dozing

 

[Lamb]

Going for blood work today. It's done differently now to even get in the building where I have to check in online and grab the next available appointment which would be about a half hour in advance. It takes 40 minutes at least to drive there so I can't do that before I leave my house. I'm sick of this virus stuff affecting everything.

 

[tango]

Going for blood work today. It's done differently now to even get in the building where I have to check in online and grab the next available appointment which would be about a half hour in advance. It takes 40 minutes at least to drive there so I can't do that before I leave my house. I'm sick of this virus stuff affecting everything.

It's growing increasingly ridiculous with more and more posturing that achieves nothing.

A couple of weeks back my wife went to collect a prescription. She arrived with a face covering but wasn't allowed in until she'd been asked a load of questions about whether she had been in contact with anyone with COVID symptoms. Then they gave her a different face mask. It took longer to go through the screening process than to collect her prescription.

 

[tango]

Going to get my walk in early, then do some more woodwork. I managed to find the window trim I took off, and figure it will also want to be stripped and refinished. I was hoping to not have to do that, but can't say I'm entirely surprised. So today's job will involve the belt sander, probably my oscillating tool with a sanding pad, and my orbital sander. Hopefully I'll get to put the stain on them as well, which will mean I can hopefully put both coats of lacquer on them tomorrow.

One benefit of the heat is that it makes things dry fast. The second coat of lacquer I put in the piece of door trim was dry in maybe 3-4 hours, whereas in the cooler months it often takes much longer. In fairness I think I've got better at applying it so the coat is thinner, which helps.

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, enjoying my usual breakfast and my morning coffee.

 

[tango]

I got my boards sanded. My nice new belt sander made fairly short work of the existing layers of stain and finish, then a finer belt tidied it up before my orbital sander made it smooth to the touch. It took a little while to clean up all the sawdust, then I got them stained and now they are drying. Tomorrow I can put the lacquer on them. So far they are looking pretty good, you can really see the grain in the wood. Which is nice, given it's 90 years old and I saved it specifically because it keeps the character of the house.

 

[Lamb]

It's growing increasingly ridiculous with more and more posturing that achieves nothing.

A couple of weeks back my wife went to collect a prescription. She arrived with a face covering but wasn't allowed in until she'd been asked a load of questions about whether she had been in contact with anyone with COVID symptoms. Then they gave her a different face mask. It took longer to go through the screening process than to collect her prescription.

Why did they give her a new face mask?

I went for my blood work yesterday for my biopsy I'm having on Tuesday. I was going to go Saturday to a different place for my Covid test that is required 3 days prior to surgery but they told me yesterday I could have it done there right then so I said YES. Now I have to self-isolate before the test on Tuesday and even stay away from my husband. Didn't think about that when I said yes. I just didn't want to have to drive 40 minutes there and back on Saturday and wait 30 minutes for the next available place in line.

Anyway, my test wasn't what I expected so I'm not even sure how accurate they are anymore. It just better not be a false positive!

 

[tango]

Why did they give her a new face mask?

No idea. I guess it keeps someone in a job. I'm not even sure why they couldn't fill a prescription without going through 20 questions, but I guess that keeps someone in a job as well. These days most of it seems to be about Being Seen To Be Doing Something, even if what is being done is utterly ineffective.

I went for my blood work yesterday for my biopsy I'm having on Tuesday. I was going to go Saturday to a different place for my Covid test that is required 3 days prior to surgery but they told me yesterday I could have it done there right then so I said YES. Now I have to self-isolate before the test on Tuesday and even stay away from my husband. Didn't think about that when I said yes. I just didn't want to have to drive 40 minutes there and back on Saturday and wait 30 minutes for the next available place in line.

Given it's all but impossible for many households to truly self-isolate that also seems like the sort of thing that people are told needs to be done but nobody is likely to take hugely seriously. It reminds me of the safety instructions you see all over everything these days that suggest you practically need a full suit of body armor before tapping a nail into the wall to hang a picture. Because, you know, things might break and ping off and who knows what might happen then. Apparently you need a full NBC suit to paint a room as well. When I painted the room I'm working on I just opened the windows to get some ventilation in there.

Anyway, my test wasn't what I expected so I'm not even sure how accurate they are anymore. It just better not be a false positive!

I often wonder if anybody knows how accurate they are. I read a paper a while back that explored the probability that you actually have a disease when the test result comes back positive, based on the prevalence of false positives and false negatives. It was surprisingly complex, to the point I suspect the masses wouldn't have much chance of understanding how it all works. It's easier to just tell people to isolate themselves - it's easy to tell people what they have to do if you don't have to do it yourself.

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, having my usual for breakfast and my morning coffee.

 

[tango]

Waiting for my boards to dry so I can put a second coat of lacquer on them. I mut admit I'm getting a bit tired of stain and lacquer, but only have space to work with so many boards at a time. Maybe this is the kick in the rear I need to set up a space in the basement where I can line up a load of boards at once.

 

[Naiwen]

Good night all, been doing about an hour aroma therapy and music therapy, meditating and doing yoga till dinner and heading to sleep tonight.

 

[tango]

Second coat of lacquer is on and drying. It's turning out to be an advantage working in the room that catches a lot of sun - the sun comes through the window and helps dry the lacquer, and a window fan sucks air out so the vapors can escape and it can dry faster still. It can take 4-6 hours to dry but these boards have been dry within 3-4 hours.

 

[Lamb]

My husband and I will be digging in another part of our huge garden to gather rocks for some landscape. Hey, they're free. We just have to dig them up I live in a very rocky area so we'll find enough for the small area by our back deck steps easily...well, not easily since it's going to be a lot of work. I'll burn a lot of calories though!

 

[tango]

Sometimes I wish we had a bigger yard, but other times I'm glad we don't have to mow a bigger yard.

 

[Lamb]

Sometimes I wish we had a bigger yard, but other times I'm glad we don't have to mow a bigger yard.

I love/hate our big yard. We have an acre of land and it's so nice that our neighbors aren't on top of us like at our former house. But it takes a while for my husband to mow the lawn with the lawn tractor. He doesn't mind but how long will that last?

 

[Romanos]

Finished lunch a bit ago.