Raincharm’s Weblog

My word for the day is slower.

I just didn’t get as much done, but picked at things here and there.

Got my old typewriter into it’s case. I found a strap to secure it. I cleaned the dust off of 2 pairs of cross-country skis that haven’t been used in two decades. If we still have boots for them I haven’t found them. Also 3 sets of ski poles and a ski bag. All of these have been moved into the garage for the eventual garage giveaway.

And there were calls to both Medicare and UW Medicine to clear up a few bills Medicare denied because they thought we still had other coverage. One was just 3 days post retirement, so records had not been updated.

And I ended my day with a call from one of my former co-workers looking for recollections of another co-worker who is being put up for some recognition. I am one of the few who remember work details from when I started 38 years ago. The worker in question has been there 40 years, but started so young that I don’t think he’s even at retirement age yet.

Another day, another walk. 

It has been sunny for several days. That lack of clouds means it’s been cold in the mornings, around freezing. Frosty! I’ve managed to have enough things to do in the house to delay the walks until the sun warmed the air a bit.

Today’s walk had a grocery store stop and breakfast for lunch. We went east on the way out and west on the way home. If you know Seattle that means going up and down over significant ridges. There were two peaks to summit each way. I don’t know the elevation gain/loss, but several roads were steep enough that there are ridges in the sidewalks.

From the web, “These are called corrugated concrete sidewalks and were likely installed between about 1910 and 1944. Like others have said you can find them all over the city.”

There was also work in the basement, mostly moving things around. The Christmas decorations were put away. But the grand idea to put the tree stand on the floor level under the decorations did not work. The stands legs are too wide for the area.

One item I have decided to part with is my manual typewriter, an Adler J5. It was my high school graduation present and heavily used through college. I did continue to use it occasionally even after we got a computer. But now it has been several years and it can go. The only wrinkle is the case is broken, the hinge at the bottom is essentially gone, two separate halves. I’m trying to fashion a duct tape hinge. Attempt 1 was not successful. Attempt 2 is scheduled for tomorrow.

On the positive cleaning side, a bench I made many years ago has been free-cycled from the front yard. Actually our neighbor’s front yard.

Steps for the day, 13,000 plus.

I started the day removing some slats that made up a base for some old basement shelves. I figure maybe 80 years old.

I heard the prior owners, Bill and Neva, had a victory garden. These shelves appear to be for canned goods and whatever else. Bill and Neva lived here for 50 years. I believe before that it was Neva’s parents, who bought from the builder. We’ve been in this house since 1993, about 35 years. And the house turns 100 this year.

But the bottom shelf slats on the concrete floor were very wet during the flood and the stuff on them was ruined. I’m not trusting their dry out, and removed them.

I now have to decide whether these can go in yard waste or garbage. I’m not sure they are really raw wood, so leaning to garbage.

The empty shelves are where Christmas stuff is stored. It’s still upstairs, but I think I’m safe to move it back as long as it’s not on the floor. The floor slat level used to have Halloween stuff in boxes. All of that left with the junk hauler. I think this will be the new home for our Christmas Tree stand. It’s heavy and should be on the ground, not on a closet shelf above head height where it used to be stored.

And, unlike my thoughts this morning, we did take a long walk this afternoon.

Our biggest activity today was a long walk. We essentially went north, and then south to go home. North is uphill and south is downhill.

There were a few motives for this walk. Getting some furniture slides for the newest, yet to be built shelving units, from Maple Leaf Ace Hardware, and seeing if the Mountain was visible from the Maple Leaf reservoir. We were successful on both counts.

The route was  2-1/2 miles each way. There is a Macrina bakery very near the turnaround. Since it had been uphill to get there, we felt we deserved a treat. Yum.

Over 12,000 steps for the day, but not much else was accomplished. Watching both futbol and football, and working on a jigsaw puzzle. Bit of a lazy day.

It was sort of nice outside today. So I decided it was time to prune the raspberry patch.

I am not all confident that we will have a crop this summer. Probably some, but not a lot. I wonder if I can plant some new canes now, for the future. And the plants that are growing are confused.

There were only a few fruiting, but I just don’t know.

On the house plant side, this amarylys is blooming. It is doing pretty well. I have a history of killing plants, not intentionally. I always feel guilty. My mother was the exact opposite. She loved plants, spent hours working with them, volunteered at the botanical gardens, and had a greenhouse included with the house my parents built.

Working towards the future, we bought two more shelving units. Not quite as wide as the first two, to fit into spaces where a wider shelf wouldn’t work.

Part of me feels we need the shelves for better organization. Another part of me says having more will make it easier to retain things we don’t really need.

Today started with sleeping in. I had a hard time falling asleep. And the rest of the day I kept saying, “It’s X o’clock already?”

The first order of the day was a trip to Costco. It had been since before Christmas, and maybe Thanksgiving when we last graced the establishment. Part of our Costco runs includes food bank donations, so the second order was a stop at the food bank.

And then it was lunch, already.

In the afternoon I finally made it back to the basement, or more specifically, the garage.

Rearranging a lot of stuff at first, swept and vacuumed, and then built the second set of shelves.

The second set of brown shelves is a set we have had for some time. It lived in the kitchen for several years. Then it was relegated to the basement, where it was subjected to our recent flood. The darkness on the bottom shelf shows how much the particle-board soaked up. It is dry now. .

My first use for these sets of shelves is to collect stuff that we want to get rid of. And then get rid of it through a free garage sale. And whatever doesn’t “sell” will be taken to wherever that’s not our house. The particle board shelves will be departing is amoung the pieces free to any interested party.

The tools on the wall to the right, are not leaving. There is still much to clean and go through in the basement, and finding a home for all, at least temporarily, will be a challenge.

I’m pretty sure there’s at least one more set of shelves in our near future.

As noted in an earlier post we take walks and Carl keeps his eyes peeled for coins. This afternoon we set out yet again.  A 10,000 step walk in the end although that was not a goal when we started.

Carl spotted 7 coins, all pennies. 

One required a repeat visit to an intersection because it was too busy when it was first spotted. It was just as busy on the return trip, but there was a swoop during the crosswalk passage planned, and it went off flawlessly.

“One of these things is not like the others.”

Can you spot the oddball?

One is a wheatback.

Wheatbacks are relatively rare nowadays. Produced from 1909 to 1958.

The date on this particular penny is 1943, which means it’s a Steel Penny. They changed to steel in 1943, with only dated 1944, because they needed the copper for the war effort.

The Lincoln Memorial was added to the backside of the coin in 1959, on the 50th anniversary of the Lincoln penny.

This is all to avoid talking about work in the basement, that just didn’t happen today

I had ideas of what I wanted to get done yesterday, and that didn’t happen. So today I tried again.

First up, moving forward with getting some new shelves built, to be able to store things off the floor. As with most of my projects, there are at least 3 steps that have to happen before the identified task can happen.

In this case the box with the shelves to be was in the garage. I decided to try to clear a path to the basement door, so I would be less likely to trip over whatever.

The primary concerns for tripping were leftover vinyl siding pieces. These are light but long. The beach chair setup was done to get long pieces off of the wet floor following the flood. The pieces are so long that they only fit against the west wall (right side of the picture). I started to move the siding and then noticed how dirty the floor was. Cue sweeping and then vacuuming. Carl assisted with the final siding move, because they are so long. I’m not really happy with just having them sit on the floor again, but need to not distract myself too much.

Finally able to open the box and start extracting shelf parts. The total weight of the box is just over 100 lbs, so moving pieces was easier.

The actual shelf directions were pretty easy. A second set of hands to hold pieces in place was helpful. While the theory of construction was easy, there was one connector piece that was slightly bent, so it wouldn’t slide into the shelving leg.

Aaaargh.

Luckily, a little leverage with a screwdriver head allowed us to make the piece usable.

In the end, shelving unit 1 was completed. For this location we are using a lower, 2-wide, essentially two shelving units setup. The second set may be the taller 5 shelf setup.

All done before noon.

After lunch we embarked on a long walk. About 10,000 steps.

And then cooking for future meals. A few steaks into a marinade for tomorrow. And then made lentil chili for later this week.

And I’m ready for bed.

I spent much time at the work station pictured above today. This had not been my intention upon waking. I was more dressed for basement work, including putting on my steel-toed boots. These were boots I had for work work, and they’re comfortable. If I’m planning to be lifting or carrying things with weight, I figure it may save a toe.

While at the work station I am not sure why I would need to worry about my feet, maybe drop a mouse or something.

With my feet protected, I focused on learning more about how to track Medicare costs and coverage. Since joining Medicare we have had multiple doctor appointments, but have yet to get a bill. And I don’t think it’s because the coverage is so great, but that we don’t quite understand the path of payment request progression.

We had another appointment today, and I was trying to catch up on tracking. To track it is necessary to know more than just, there was another appointment.

After some sleuthing, I found the records showing costs for the visits, and initial coverage, but most still say pending, so no final $$, yet. And still no bills.

And today’s appointment begat at least two more. Fun, fun, fun.

Back to the basement tomorrow…

I finally got re-started on the recovery work, after a few days off. Cmpleting cleaning the north end of the basement was the goal today. Goal basically accomplished.

This end of the basement used to be a room. Bedroom sized, and we used it as an extra bedroom occasionally. The most frequent occupant was Dennis. He would stay with us for a few weeks at a time, or a summer, or whatever was needed. We were his address in Washington. Dennis was a film archivist, collector, and protectionist. Over the years Dennis had theaters, put on programs in other’s theaters, homes, overseas, where ever there was a job. Follow the link to see his Wikipedia page.

At some point we acquired a weight machine and needed to find a place for it to live. The room was the only place it really worked. Except that it was just a bit too tall. After some measuring we cut our a piece of the ceiling between the joists, so the high point would fit.

When we were planning our remodel it was decided to remove the room. It was definitely not up to code, and any inspections would require changes anyway. As an old house, removal included noxious materials. Lead paint was a layer or two down, and not too bad to deal with as it only was exposed when the wall or ceiling board was cut. But the vinyl floor tiles had asbestos. So this was my introduction to asbestos removal. Masks, bags and special dumps. In the end this opened up a larger more usable basement space.

By contrast, the work today was limited.

Wiped down all of the exercise equipment.  The weight machine has been joined by a recumbent bicycle, elliptical, and a piece that can be used for sit-ups and other things. Most of this was cleaning accumulated dust. The equipment does get used pretty regularly, by Carl primarily.

Swept and vacuumed and mopped about half of the space. There’s a fan running to assist drying.

In the picture the white areas are concrete that was painted with a coating to try and stop water seeping through the walls and floor. It may have worked to some degree as it had been several years since we had an issue. The darker areas on the floor are where seeps came up. It’s not wet now, but the white coloring is gone.

Okay, so this is not really interesting information, but it is a record for me.