Dysmey Blog Archives > 2009 > Spring Vacation 2009, Part I

Spring Vacation 2009, Part I

monday

Monday was very busy.

• My copy of Vista 64-bit came in the mail today. After the gutter project, I will work to transfer my stuff to the Janovac common store before install Vista on the Madoka (main) box.
• I bought a package of binder hole reinforcers, rings of fabric or plastic that keep paper in a binder from tearing at the holes. I used them on the pages of the record book of the Friends of the Fairmount Public Library, while removing the thin cardboard pages that I thought would be needed but never were and were taking up space within.
• I bought three lengths of vinyl drip edges from Lowe's, and a bag of roofing nails and some clear caulking from the local hardware store. With these I replaced the crufty metal strip that was passing for a drip edge and was doing a poor job of being so. While doing so I found the crappy job the remodellers did in fixing the roof over the utility room. Hopefully the new gutter will stop the leaking into the roof at that point.
• I made an appointment to visit my insurance agent to hear him explain why the rates for the insurance of my house and car will be going up. I get too many people are giving up on their cars, or at least their insurance, in states that let them get away with it. Or he needs my say-so to pass the rate increase into my mortgage payments, which is how I pay for my house insurance.
• Padre got tired of his Linksys router kicking on him, so he bought this router from some company I never heard of. The software that came with it was a trial version; the and router material did not come with the activation ID. So I deleted the software. The router works without it, anyway.

tuesday

It promises to rain tomorrow, so I put up the new gutter on the back of the house this afternoon.

I had wanted to start this morning, especially as the folks let me use one of their vans to transport the gutters and downspout and other items needed for assembly. The gutters and downspout are ten feet long, and would not fit in my car, hence the need for a van. Even then, the gutters fit in the van only just.

I could not start the project until noon because I spent all morning trying to get the folks' damnable new router (a) to communicate with the Internet at all, and (b) to communicate with the wireless printer. I could not do the latter, so it had to be put to the side until I can make time for it later this week.

I gathered the following parts for the project from Lowe's in Marion:

Just like in any other project, things go wrong.

• I found that I bought the wrong style of gutter. Lowe's mixes two styles of gutter up in the same bin. I had to return the three gutters for a refund, then to buy the right kind of gutter.
• I found it difficult to fit the gutters into the drop outlet, slip joints and outside cap. That was because I forgot to use dishwashing liquid to lubricate the parts, as the brochure instructs. But I did get them together with minimal damage, so that's something.
• I did force myself to buy a chalk line, even though I was loathe to. I was going to use the chalk line just that once, and it seemed a waste. But it costs only five dollars at the local hardware store, so I relented. The line gave me a reference line along the fascia to adjust the brackets and joints … but not all the way along the fascia. I had to write lines with pencil and straightedge at the parts where the chalked line was missing.

In the end the gutter came out more or less the way I wanted it. The only exception was with a middle slip joint, which was lower than the rest of the gutter. Not wanting a repeat of the original metal gutter, I rescrewed the joint a quarter inch higher. It rose the gutter, but not all that much. I got a shim from the folks and used that to push the joint up until it was level with the rest of the gutter.

The test of the new gutter will come on Wednesday, when it is supposed to rain.

The gutter project made me fifteen minutes late for the monthly meeting of the Friends of the Fairmount Public Library.

wednesday

As I wrote in a past entry, Isis had to be put to sleep because she had lost all control of the back of her body.

This loss of control meant that I have had to clean the carpet in my bedroom, where Isis spent almost all of the time during her final days. I borrowed a carpet cleaner from the folks, figured out how to fill it up and work it, and cleaned the carpet in the afternoon after moving all the bedroom furniture to the living room.

I also cleaned all the cat's stuff — food and water bowls, cat box, and carrier — and put those away for the next cat I will probably get.

I talked with my new neighbor next door. He is the brother of my former neighbor the carpenter; both of them grew up in that house. I had thought that the carpenter's wife and kid would live there until July; that was what she told me. But evidently the plan has changed: Wife and son will live in a rental until the son finishes school, then move to Kansas to be with the carpenter.

The carpet in my bedroom was still wet four hours after the shampooing. It is dry enough to allow me to reassemble my bed. The other furniture can wait until tomorrow.