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

[tango]

Long walks are the best time to hash things out!

Very much so. It's remarkable how a long walk can clear my thoughts and bring things into focus. A long walk in the woods is even better, but in this heat the mountains are a bit strenuous. And a long walk takes away the regular distractions of being at home.

My wife and I also found that a drive in the woods can be useful. A couple of nights ago we drove into the mountains to watch the sun set, then decided to stay around and watch the fireflies for a while. With no light pollution at all it's remarkable how many of them there are, and how bright they are. We both love fireflies, so we didn't leave until it was fully dark and even then we didn't really want to leave.

 

[tango]

Not such a fun job this afternoon. The bathroom sink was blocked. Usually it's a simple fix, nothing more than removing the U-trap underneath it and cleaning the plughole out. This time that didn't work, it turned out the blockage was in the pipe under the floor.

In the process of cleaning the pipework above the floor I also managed to block the drain from the bathtub, so I wasn't feeling particularly good.

After much jiggling I managed to get my pipe snake about 15 feet under the floor. Cranking it back and forth by hand didn't do anything so I used a power drill to crank it faster. It went back and forth several times with no sign of anything changing but then suddenly I heard the bathtub draining. I poured some water into the open pipe to see if it would drain away, and it did. So problem solved, although it wasn't exactly a pleasant thing to have to deal with. But now it's done, the sink and bath drain normally, and by comparison cleaning the air conditioning filters feels like an easy job.

But for now I'm kicking back with a coffee for a bit.

 

[Lamb]

I got up early to take my husband to his dentist appointment. The last time he went he had a lot of work done and he was in too much pain to drive, so this time I'm taking him, just in case they need to do something.

 

[Krissy Cakes]

Laying down on the couch and listening to music.

 

[tango]

I got my air conditioning filters cleaned. I tried using a vacuum cleaner on them but it didn't work as well as I hoped so I took them outside and gave them a good spray with an air compressor. It blew some dust out of them and when the dust stopped blowing they were visibly cleaner again.

Today I had to figure out how to get a metal cutting saw behind a base board so I can lift it out, which in turn will let me cut some laths away so I can fit drywall above the stairs. I've cut all the nails I can see are there but the base board still isn't lifting out, and I'm not seeing any obvious way to get something underneath it to pry it upwards. For good measure I put some temporary joists above the stairs so I could put a temporary floor that would let me get at the walls above the stairs, so I have to be careful not to bang my head on them. My sawzall is a bit too big to get into place cleanly, but my oscillating tool blades aren't long enough to reach the nails, so I have to use the sawzall and just go for as long as I can before I bend a blade badly enough I can't use it any more.

Tomorrow I get a day off breaking stuff, my wife and I are babysitting all day.

 

[Lamb]

My husband has a doctor's appointment this afternoon, so I'll be driving him to that. It's an hour's drive and I know the way better since I did it a lot years ago. I wish he'd find a doctor closer to home.

 

[tango]

My wife and I survived the day of babysitting. We had two sisters, aged 5 and 6, to look after for the day. We're very fond of them so we don't mind keeping them so their mom can go to work.

I concluded getting a sawzall blade behind my baseboard is an exercise in futility because a 9" blade won't quite reach and trying to run a 12" blade in a confined space when there's a load of plaster behind the nails means I'm just going bend my blades. So I bought a cold chisel, and then found it's not long enough so I had to take it back. Tomorrow I'm going to a bigger hardware store where I can get a 12" long cold chisel.

It turned out that although there are two nails only one of them actually holds anything in place. I have an extra cold chisel that was long enough to demonstrate the pointy end of the nail wasn't stuck into anything, but not long enough to work with the other nail. The problem is that I can't hold it in place accurately enough to bring any force to bear against it. Hopefully a longer chisel will do the trick. If not I'm not sure what my next move would be.

 

[Lamb]

My niece is calling soon to tell me about her trip to Europe.