July 2022 Island Trip – Days 1 & 2

Day 1:

The boat was running late, but at least it was running. I arrived at the property 11ish, and was mowing by noon. The grass wasn’t as deep as my AN led me to believe, but it wasn’t any picnic either. I got the area around the house, the meadow to the east of the house, and around two of the three outbuildings done.

The house was an incredible mess from the roofing job. There were tar bits from taking off the skylights, and tar dust (who knew there was such a thing?) all over everything. Dust was on the floor from in between the car decking due to the roof being walked on, and the waterproofing material used on the roof had been walked onto the tile floor in little streaks. Oh, Styrofoam balls from the stove vent were in the mix too. And the bathroom was a mess. The last time I saw the house, it was 94% clean (by my standards). I vacuumed, wiped down surfaces, cleaned the bathroom, and figured out that a cousin of Goof Off cleans the streaks off the tile. There are a few items left to do to complete the roofing job. It’s best if I accept (mostly) that the house is going to be a dust bucket until everything is compete.

I had dinner with Tim last night. He’s moving much better and seems more stable after fancy back surgery 5+ months ago. He reports a cessation of pain and numbness, and while he wishes he could still leap tall buildings with a single bound, he’s happy to see this much progress. He told me about selling his little airplane, purchased after Cindy passed away. It’s was therapy of a sort, and brought him a lot of satisfaction, however he knew it was time to let it go.

Day 2:

Up early, I waited only until it was wasn’t rude to fire up the mower and went for three hours. One more session on the big mower should catch things up. Then the little mower, then the weed whacker. My AN came over to look at a pump of his that was running non-stop (he can’t hear it from his house). He showed me where a piece of dad’s stainless cable broke his tractor’s mower’s belt. We pondered why I’ve never run into it. We also planned to look at separating the two well systems!!!

After some lunch I went to my neighbor to the east for a visit. She and I are going to have sushi tomorrow.

I spent some time working on the house. Cleaned goo off another batch of tile, and wiped down the kitchen floor, swiping at the wall and cabinets as I went. Going forward I’m going to have a non-refundable move-out cleaning fee on my leases… It all looks good (walls and cabinets) until you’re on your hands and knees.

I reached out to a second contractor, who responded to my FB request for tile contractors. The first person didn’t reply and is evidently drowning in work. This person happened to be 10-minutes away. Turns out we’d met before during one of my many attempts to give my dad’s, urg, my little speed boat away. He thinks he can do the job in the next few weeks!

While, finally, taking a shower, the fan on the (on-demand) water heater slowed down. I’d never heard it modulate like this. I turned the hot water down… Next, the CO detector in the second bedroom, which the water heater is open to, fired off. I slammed the bathroom window open while rinsing conditioner out of my hair, then ran around the house opening every large window and the two sliding glass doors. As I called my roofer from the deck, in towels, the piercing alarm stopped. Everything was OK yesterday when I showered. When he stopped by yesterday he said, “We need to raise the vent for the water heater…” He’ll be out tomorrow morning early, and I’ll call the folks who put it in (who no longer have a plumber on staff) to find out who can service the unit.

Lots of communication about various details this evening, backgammon games with my Sweetie, and a simple dinner round out day two.