Journal Entry
Another really crummy night's sleep... toss, turn, cough-cough and, according to Karen, I snored loud enough to wake her.
And I feel like I got no sleep, too. No energy, even after a pot of coffee. Although I'm not sure that the coffee isn't decaff, since Karen made it... maybe I make another pot, real stuff this time.
Cold and very windy today. Winds up to 55 MPH, but the sun is shining, something we haven't seen for quite a while. And the forecast has no rain/snow in it up to the weekend, so maybe they can get some work done on this dirt road out front. Well, mud road, I guess it is. They tore half of the concrete out right before the rains started, leaving us with 1/3 of the street to drive on. Then they stopped. And that was before halloween.
The wind, however, is finally blowing the leaves off of the trees. The poplars have pretty much shed, but the oaks and maples are trying to hold their leaves for some reason or another.
We had a pretty good thunderstorm come through last night before 22:00, dumping a bunch of rain... and the skylight didn't leak, much to my surprise. I had done some more interior caulking on it, trying to force the caulk upstream from the point where it was leaking and I guess it worked. Whether or not it works over the long run remains to be seen...
Ever since I learned that we've got no sidewall insulation, I've been itching to fix that problem. There are two methods that I could use... tear out the exterior wall drywall, insulate with fiberglass and put new drywall in is the preferred method. While I was doing this, I could also rewire, something that really needs to be done. Unfortunately, this requires a lot of work. And a not insignificant amount of money.
The alternative is to blow in cellulose insulation. This would only take a coupla hundred bucks, and would just require that I drill holes in the drywall at the top of the walls and the spaces below the windows and blow the stuff in. This is not ideal... cellulose will eventually settle, and there will be cold spots due to wiring and fire stops in the walls. And I wouldn't be able to get to the wiring to replace it.
On the other hand, it could be done pretty quickly. And quick is good... our heating bills have always been pretty high, and I figger that we could save an conservative minimum of $75/month. That's a pretty quick payback, whichever way I go...
The new windows that we put in are pretty impressive. All of the old windows are sweating this morning... but not the new ones. Touching the glass... it's just as warm as the room air. The old windows, of course, are cold and wet.
We have a set of windows on the front wall, single-pane, nine windows, eight foot wide and five high... a major thermal loss. These windows will be replaced as soon as I can get to them. All of the other old wood double-hung windows have storm windows on them, so they aren't really that bad, but they will all eventually be replaced.
But today... right now, in fact... I need to get started working. I should be able to get the major sheet-rock all done today, leaving only the window trim to be done, and get the ceiling taping at least started. Since we're going to blow on texture, the taping doesn't really have to be perfect, which is great, since I'm not really very good at it. So after two goes at the taping, we need to put a primer coat on and let it dry before we blow the texture on.
And I'm running out of time here. Back to work tomorrow night... dammit, I need another three weeks off!
11:00...
I just got back from Lowes, I had to get some more drywall screws. And I found the instant hot-water heaters... they were with the garbage disposal units, I never thought of looking there. The only problem is... you have to put them through the hole in the sink where the spray hose normally goes... and I don't really want to give up the spray hose, since I just really got one that works recently... well, just a coupla years ago, anyway...
However, I do remember seeing a tool that makes holes in stainless steel... maybe buddy Bob can borrow one from work for me, I'm sure that they use them for making holes in junction boxes... and that project is a little ways down the road, anyhoo. Just something to think about right now.
O'yeah... I just destroyed my last pack of cigarettes and my last lighter. Damn if I ain't persistent!
Back to work...
The Mighty Kymm is one of my regular reads (and there are a lot of people who can say that!). I generally just email people when I see a misuse of the english language, but not this time. It's too funny not to share. On 09 NOV 98 Kymm talks about making a fatal mistake. Well, Kymmer, it ain't allowed. Everyone is allowed one fatal mistake in their lives, and they are not allowed to write about it after the fact.
It's OK to write about other peoples' fatal mistakes all you want, but they need to end up being dead as a result of that mistake... otherwise it don't count.
OK, I know that Kymm wasn't being literal about it, and I'm just joking, of course. I've seen what Kymm does to people who make fun of her when they aren't joking, and it ain't pretty...
15:58...
I'm finding it really hard to get any work done, what with all of the running around I've got to do. I just got back from Sams' Club, ostensibly I went out there to buy coffee, but really...
I thought that as long as I was there, I should get me something to reward myself for not smoking. After all, it's been five hours! So... I got me some M&Ms, peanut, 44 oz., and some Pastel Mints, 4.4 pounds. I always have the tendency to reward myself early and generously, because I might not deserve it later... but this time is different. Yeah, yeah, I say that every fucking time, I know... so stop listening to me if you don't like it....
19:34...
Eight hours plus... I'm only half-way crazy so far. I'm planning on going to bed pretty soon, since I never have smoked in bed or while I was asleep.
I got the last of the wiring done tonight, except for the cook-top when we get it. And, like I said, I think that I'll go to bed.
More tomorrow...