Sunday, October 25, 2020

dammit Indy, where doesn't it hurt?


I think I'm having a reprise of menopause. It's not hot flashes, those always seemed to start around my solar plexus and spread out from there. I've just been breaking out in sweats for no apparent reason sitting here at my desk doing nothing. OK, maybe drinking hot coffee with a hot little dog in my lap but other times not even that. Yes, the AC is set on 78˚ which actually feels quite cool when you walk in from outside but not so much after you've been sitting here for awhile.

Rocky showed up Friday morning to see about the leaks in the sink. Fix one thing and the leak moves up a notch. The two loose connections underneath were easily remedied. The main leak associated with the hose attached to the faucet that attaches to the water line not so much. The main problem is this sink is old, the fittings are old and corroding, and it has sat outside under a carport for an unknown number of years, maybe even decades, before it came into my possession, and we're trying to do this on the cheap. We've replaced fittings working our way up and still a bead of water leaked out so the last fitting that screws into the connecter that screws into the faucet handle needs to be replaced and if that doesn't work I'll have to get a whole new faucet set. Anyway, we threw our hands up in disgust and Rocky took off to go fishing promising me a portion of the fish fry if he catches enough this weekend, also promising to get that damn sink tight on Monday.


the recalcitrant sink

The waterline is hooked up to the hot water faucet even though there's no hot water heater over there because it was deemed the least corroded. That may change though when Rocky gets the new parts.


The front they've been promising is starting to blow in. I was just outside, hot humid, and a big wind picked up with noticeably cooler air. Supposed to get down in the 50s tonight and be cool tomorrow. I've been waiting for a cool day for several chores, only one of which will get done.

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The front blew in and it was a bit chilly out there Saturday morning, windy too
but warmed up enough and the sky cleared and, of utmost importance, it was not humid. So I put on almost long pants and a long sleeved shirt and real shoes with socks and leather gloves and the long handled nippers and started pulling and cutting away the dead stuff against the fence on the ditch side that runs across the front of the shop property. 


You may remember I finally broke down and had the ditch sprayed with heinous chemicals because it was so out of control with poison ivy and other wild vines and grasses. Well, it worked and everything died down. Some stuff is just now coming back so now was a good time to clear out that debris because, I discovered, some of that stuff that looks dead is still green.

I did three fence sections before I tired of that but the day was still young enough so I worked on project #2, the fence between the properties that I cleared last spring. I had been maintaining it, pulling away stuff that kept coming back about once a week up to about six weeks ago and the iron weed had taken advantage. So I worked on that until the garden cart was full while my neighbor stood on the other side and talked my ear off telling me stories he's told me several times before but I just interjected a sound here and there while I worked and he was happy. Dumped the contents of the garden cart on the burnpile and went in for a late lunch.

But project #3 was calling so I got out the chainsaw and started dismembering that huge limb that fell in the back a couple of months ago. I got the limb trimmed of all its branches and piled them up for later transference to the truck and burn pile 

before

after


and then picked up the debris from project #1 and tossed it on the burnpile 


and then came in the house groaning. Did you finally wear yourself out, Marc asks. Yeah, about two hours ago. Washed my hands, straightened up the kitchen from breakfast and then collapsed on the couch until I collapsed on the bed and slept like the dead last night.



24 comments:

  1. Woman, you are a work warrior! Then again, is there any sleep sweeter than the sleep of physical exhaustion. You know, I'm having those curious hot spells myself, just lately, and out of the blue, when I thought I was done with all that. Hmmm.

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    1. I do like physical labor. and I was trying to get as much done while the weather permitted. of course I did zilch the next day.

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  2. Wow! You were really busy. I can usually talk myself out of those big projects. I figure winter is coming soon and so everything will die back for awhile and I can think about it again in the spring (or not)! :) You can tell I am not much of a gardener!

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    1. unfortunately it had nothing to do with gardening, just grunt work maintenance that has been left too long.

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  3. You've always got so much to do there! Property takes a lot of work! I love that sink -- if only it didn't leak.

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    1. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just the half acre the house sits on but the shop is on an acre and a half and it mostly got this bad because no one's been doing maintenance over there since Harvey. hopefully once I get it all knocked back it won't be so much work to keep it maintained.

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  4. Do you suppose it's the humidity that's getting to you? I was going through some of that same "why am I sweating inside" business this summer, and I finally broke down and bought a dehumidifier. Once I got the relative humidity down to about 50%, not only did I stop sweating and feel more comfortable, my air conditioning stopped running all the time. Initially, it added to my electric bill, but once I figured out how to balance things, that improved. The comfort certainly has been worth it.

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    1. could be. I like to keep the door open weather permitting. but our AC does lower the humidity once I close the door. don't you have to empty the dehumidifier?

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  5. Wow...I have to hand it to you for perseverance and stamina. Way too much for me! But, it sure looks good now!

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    1. well, it's getting there. none of the work is finished but I'll go a lot easier now that I've made a good start.

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  6. Wow! That's a whole lot of work to get done there in one afternoon. Roger and I would have been exhausted doing half of that together. I hope things cool down and stay that way, no humidity too. Maybe that will help with the sweating. Take care there.

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    1. I was just ready to tackle those jobs and the cool weather only lasted one day so I tried to get as much done as I could while I could. didn't finish any of the tasks though.

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  7. A load of work, Ellen. Glad it's done. And more to come, I'm sure.

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    1. oh yeah, none of the jobs is finished. didn't do squat yesterday. today I did two fence sections, one from the front fence, one from the side and I was done.

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  8. You are no stranger to hard work. No wonder you slept well.

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    1. I actually like physical labor, using my body. it takes more of a toll on me these days.

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  9. You are like the Energizer Bunny... you keep going and going... I need new batteries:)

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    1. I do eventually run out of steam. I didn't do anything on Sunday and still tired today.

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  10. I would have brought out the shotgun and put the sink out of my misery by now. You really do try to hurt yourself don't you? That's a lot of yard work.

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    1. just trying to take advantage of the cool day because that's all we got, one day. I actually like physical labor though. go figure.

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  11. Too bad you can't train poison ivy to grow on the other side of that eyesore storage container. Good god, woman. When you tackle a project, you don't fool around!

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    1. I don't really notice it anymore. I keep waiting for her to put up the spite fence she claimed she was going to do hoping it will be tall enough to hide it.

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  12. I LOVE the title of this post :) As usual, you wear me out - ha!

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I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.