Snow days...

The snow-mageddon we were supposed to get this weekend hasn't been all that bad, so far...

outside the front door of the hovel

 The work on the hovel is slow, damn slow, but gett'n there.

I had to call my plumber and have him come unplug the upstairs toilet. (A little talk with the granddaughter about that ensued.) I had tried everything, nothing worked, so the call was made. While Chance was here I asked for an estimate on a new bigger, water heater. We were gett'n mighty tired of spit baths & cold, cold showers. Asked if there was room for a full size water heater if I took out the shelves in the little pantry.  Which is right next to the under stairs crawl space that the little old water heater lives in. 

"Yes, let me make a phone call to the boss, and I think we can do it today."  

"Yay, give me an hour to move money, and tear out the shelves in the pantry." I said.

He came back, helped me finish removing the shelves, then the boss came & they took out the old water heater, and installed the new one.

Tim Rowe (Rowe Plumbing) & Chance removing old water heater from the crawl space under the stairs

   I lost most of the pantry space, just have to be creative in using other spaces. Hot showers make for much better attitudes around here.

Finished installing new cordless cellular window shades in the bedrooms. No more blankets tacked over the windows. The bedrooms don't look like makeshift homeless shelters anymore.

Have my frequent hardware store flyer cards in their own niche in my wallet, and the clerks all greet me by name... They used to ask me who was doing the work on the hovel, now they ask what MY current project is. lol.

Saw this handsome beast in the parking lot of the hardware store last week. Don't think he's a bit afraid of a little snow.

Finished up with the eye doc here til next fall. All is good, except for the dang floater in my dominate shoot'n eye. Doc taught me to quickly move my eyes to the left, then to the right, then look straight ahead to get it to move out of the center of the field of vision. I can do it fairly fast now, & I'm quite sure people that catch me doing it, think I'm more than a little cockeyed...

Hovel update...

The bedroom doors are hung and hardware installed. I didn't paint them before hanging because it is too darn cold to be painting outside (see fence below). LOL...

A licensed plumber has visited the hovel, and his words on the hot water heater, were not encouraging.  As the water heater is small, old, & lives in a dark cubby under the stairwell it will need replacing down the line.  Since it is small it is a special order, I can't just go to HD or the like, and pick one up.  And because it is special order, it is of course more $$$$.  There is the option of going tankless, but that is more $$$$ yet.  His recommendation is to be fast, and live with it, til I can't.  

We removed all the flow restrictors, so the water pressure problem has been eliminated.

Today the electricians came to replace the electrical panel, replace a GFI plug in the kitchen, and figure out what was going on with my bedroom heater. I did ask if the door jamb pounding was the cause of the heater not working, and it wasn't. The thermostat had decided to fail, it was replaced and my room is now warm.  Tomorrow morning it will be interesting to not have icicles hanging from my bangs when I wake up.  The electricians were on time, within the $,$$$ quote, and cleaned up after themselves.  Plus, they were friendly, like old pickups, Chris Stapleton music, and answered all my pesky questions. I will tape, texture & paint the places the electricians cut the drywall for the new panel and that can be checked off the long list.

The small back patio has a picket fence around it, a white picket fence.  Which really doesn't go with the design of the hovel.  I can't afford to replace the fence so I'm painting it Espresso bean. I've done part of it, in near freezing weather, between down pours, because I wanted to see what it would look like. 

When the temp gets a touch higher I will finish it. Hopefully this way it will sorta disappear into the landscape instead of standing out like a dirty white petticoat. 

Miss B spent a long weekend with her sister & I.  It was good to have a house full of kids, with all the loud music, and giggles, and to cook real breakfasts and dinners. The first morning I asked them what they wanted for breakfast. "Oh, we don't usually eat breakfast" they said.  Next morning, I put plates & the platter in the oven to warm, fried bacon, cooked eggs, made pancakes, and served fresh berries. They said "Oh, we don't usually eat breakfast"... as they were getting started on second helpings... 

Another 1,000 piece puzzle has been started, with good headway made by Miss B while she was here.

There is Lots more to do to the hovel, before I'm willing to call it home...

Moving in...

News from the hovel...  
So much to do here, and I'm a bunch slower at getting things done than I used to be. Which frustrates the heck out of me.

Learning the ins & outs of life in the hovel complex.

Like my mail box # key doesn't match my hovel number. An elderly neighbor lady? explained that "box numbers are different from the actual hovel numbers, "so the thieve'n bastards don't know which hovel you live in, dear". Off to the main post office I went to have them tell me that my local carrier would let me know which box was mine. A couple days later the kindly postman wrote my hovel number, "on the outside of my mail box", to let me know which box was mine. I'm putting a "Girls with Guns" sticker on it in the name of fair warning to "thieve'n bastards".

Trying to get an element replaced in the water heater is a work in progress. Granddaughter Jacey said she had the coldest shower she has ever had in her life when she first tried the shower out.  My words of wisdom to her were: "Yep, there is no dwaddling in that sucker. You can get about a minute more out of it if you twist the dial just so, and say three hail Marys." As soon as the handyman recovers from surgery he will replace the water heater elements, but is "not sure that will fix the problem as the shower is upstairs, you know". oh my God, where do these people come from.

The hovel came without bedroom doors, I have no idea why.  The previous owners finish carpenter, and I use that term very lightly, seems to have forgotten to replace the doors that had gone to the landfill, or another condo.  I took measurements, and Jacey and I went off to HD to get new doors. 

Jacey says shopping with me is way different than shopping with her mom.  "I like going with you, Nanny. You go in with a list of aisle, bay, & SKU #s, get what you came for and are outta there." 

Got the doors home, and a friend came to help me install them. That didn't go too well as he's a brick mason, not a door hanging carpenter.  My son offered to bring his router over and help me hang them. That went much better. Well except for the jambs were off by a hair and the doors wouldn't close. I was contemplating getting a plane, when we decided that a few well placed hammer blows to the jambs might solve the problem.  It worked perfectly. Now the doors swing true.  I will install door handles today, and try to figure out why the wall heater in my bedroom (same wall as the door) no longer works...

Happy New Year from the PNW

 

Willie and I are home by the heater, he is snoring in his basket, and I'm reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest book. The paper version!  I've been missing the feel of a real book.  Today, while everyone else seemed to be stocking up on bubbly & prime rib in Costco, I found her book in the book section and couldn't resist.

 

Granddaughter Jacey is at the Mt Hood Outdoor New Year's Extravaganza with friends. This evening she sent me a photo from the slopes... 

Wishing you all a Happy & Healthy New Year. 

Merry Christmas...

I don't have a real tree, but that's ok. Having moved sooo much, four times this year, I've given away most of my tree decorations, but will start over in the new hovel with new memories...

 One of my granddaughter's is living with me, to finish out her senior year of HS, and that girl is a cookie making fiend, lol. We may not have a lot of decorations but we sure aren't going hungry.

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas.