July 2022 Island Trip – Days 4 & 5

Day 4

• The new gutters were moved higher on the facia so when it rains hard water will actually flow into the gutters rather than over the top of them
• I had a moment with the house… There are SO many things that need doing, and the one thing I tried to do (put the cover back on an electrical panel) failed because the screws are awol. I finally found one of them, but it won’t work now that the panel is loose in the wall. Not loose dangerous loose, but loose because a steel conduit that used to go through the roof for power to enter the house was removed (planned now that the power is buried). I need longer screws to grab the panel and snug it up its cover… Really? Not one little thing can get started without some sort of prep? Fuck! Off to the hardware store I go to find longer screws. And while away why not…
• Wander the farmer’s market,
• Pick up a shirt for me and my DH,
• Pick up a check from the consignment shop (!),
• Go visit my friend Kev and see what he’s turning the latest cement mixing drum into (a mushroom!), and learn that,
• I can get ethanol-free gas closer to home than town!
• Also stopped by the large thrift enclave on my way back to poke around.

When I got back, my former tenant’s buddy texted me. I took a chair the tenant had left for him over to his place (a mile away), and spent the rest of the afternoon and evening with him and his wife. We went to dinner at a teeny place that does zero marketing, and ran into friends of mine celebrating their anniversary. Lots of astronomy geeking-out took place between the two guys.

What started as a frustrating day ended up being very pleasant. Just what I needed.

Day 5:

• I started the day exercising the push mower and figured out, if you want to beat yourself up a little bit, the push mower can take care of grass on slopes previously reserved for line trimmers. This is a great discovery because almost nothing is a bigger pain in the butt than line trimming!
• Next was to assess what and how to deal with the mess that is the house. When presented with a task of any size I alway look for the most logical and, indeed, elegant way to accomplish what needs doing. There is almost nothing logical, and certainly anything but elegant solutions presenting themselves at the moment. So, I took a deep breath and dove in. Spackle has been deployed to easy interior places, and primer to most of the new car decking. A third ladder is needed to finish the exterior car decking primer. Tomorrow.
• I decided to wash and put away the stove top knobs and grates because who knows how many more showers of saw dust will bedeck them…
• My classmate Harv stopped by around noon, before I started painting. He is a dear soul, always with a good word. We talked about almost everything including where I want a couple of ponds. Harv does excavating.
• I popped over to my eastern neighbor for a short visit. She too had been working hard. I brought us both a Gatorade.

After a shower, a game of virtual backgammon with my DH, some FaceTime with him and his cousin, and dinner, I am enjoying the quiet, and the gentle colors of the sunset reflected in the eastern sky.