January 2018 Island Trip – Day Three

As I sit down to chronicle the details of the day, I find myself feeling grumpy and discouraged.

• The lights in the upper barn suddenly stopped functioning, making it a colossal pain in the ass to gather the hazmat stuff I set aside on Tuesday. Granted only one of four sets of lights were working, but gathering 100 cans and bottles of antique goo by flashlight over a space littered with trip hazards does little for my humor. The lights are probably 14 feet off the ground. 8-10 foot fluorescents. It’ll be an undertaking just to see if the bulbs are burnt out. Not today.
• While gathering the goo, I paused to look deeper in the nooks and crannies of the building, by flashlight. There are probably twice as many hazmat candidates that still need culling. This project, both the barn(s) and the house will never end. The daughter of one of mom’s authors told me last month that it took her 20 years to go through her parents stuff. She is unaware of just how much of her father’s stuff I have due to my mom’s association with her dad. It ain’t over yet.
• Despite being on the go from 7:45 to now, I have had to push numerous things from this trip’s list to the next:
• The painting is something else that will NEVER end. The kitchen is getting there with lower areas in need of more finish paint, and the area above the cabinets now primed. I paused to count how many edges had to be twice carefully painted around. SEVENTY SIX. No wonder painting is an unending task. Remaining are the three interior doors, their casing, the area behind the fridge (kinda next to the kitchen, the washer closet, which got a little attention today, and the utility closet.
• My parent’s ancient bed will remain here. I’ve asked the property manager to keep his ear to the ground re finding it a new home. I’ll leave our air mattress here in case we are able to re-home the bed.
• I don’t have it in me to empty and disassemble the tool chest in the upper barn without help. My son-in-law will have to wait 4-6 weeks for this treasure.
• Calling the guy who runs the company who drilled the well in 1996 will just lead to more excuses. I need to find a mainland well drilling company to get another bid.
• I didn’t work on the replacement deck drawing.
• I stayed up way too late the last two nights. Maybe that’s why I’m a grouch.

In more neutral/good news:

• The county inspector finaled the new water heater, and mentioned he’s looking for a long term rental. While he’d be an ideal tenant, the idea of him living with the completely illegal grey water system would likely keep me from sleeping at night…
• The tile guy returned to seal the grout. It looks amazing. But, I still can’t use the stove until tomorrow. The fridge is well stocked with leftovers, and the microwave is a sanctioned cooking devise, as it doesn’t create excessive heat.
• We also crafted a plan regarding the fireplace surround, which he hopes to complete in the next two weeks.
• The property manager and I met early afternoon. Being over subscribed, he’s going to wind down his work here. We talked priorities (finish the hot mop on the roof, and possibly install the vapor barrier next time I’m here. Easier with four hands.). I like the property manager a lot. His spirit is lovely, he has a skill set and connections this property needs, and I trust him. We do, however, communicate very differently (I need lots of communication ~ remote responsible party ~ and I don’t think he really gets that despite multiple chats about the topic). We also have very different senses of, what I’ll call, value. He was responsible for the abandoned paint brushes and roller. He said, “Oh, I meant to throw those out.” They were my mom’s paintbrushes. One was a $5 unit, the other $15. Late this afternoon, I found a third dead brush in the tool shed. So, there’s $30ish of paintbrushes in the trash with zero understanding, despite prompting, that these tools are reusable and initially cost my mom money, and now have again because I had to replace a brush and roller. It’s time for us to not work together anymore. That’s OK.

The walls used to be smoke and soot damaged.