Raincharm’s Weblog

The title sums up the last week of weather.
And it was pretty much a state of being, but not really a state of mind.

My week has been what I call, “meetingful.”
Not all of the meetings were meaningless.
In fact most of them were worthwhile gatherings.

But they have been mentally taxing.
Mostly because it means I don’t have time to do the “real work.”

Leaving work on Thursday I was absolutely exhausted, mentally.
Which usually makes me feel physically exhausted as well.

It made me reflect on why I work where I work, and why was it so difficult right now.
I like working for the District because I get to help people get service for their homes and lives.
They don’t always like what I require for the initiation of service, but in the end they have a place to live (or sell). We have over 10,000 new customers since I started. Enough to have created a new city. It is certainly not my personal doing, but I am a good little cog in the machinery.
What has made work become a bit of a millstone is a bit of an attack on the District.
It is rather like having a really bad neighbor.
You would really like to move (or have them move), but it is no feasible for many reasons.
You think your neighbor is poisoning your cats, could maybe prove it, but they are friends with the police chief.

Then the chiropractor thanked me for keeping my appointment, even though I was tired.
And we went to yoga.
And the exhaustion lifted just a bit.
Enough to get to work again the next morning, and of course the next (there will be no meetings TODAY!).

Anyway, on the home front we (i.e. CARL) are making some progress.
The floor is surrendering bit by bit.
The elephant in the middle of the room remains, although the baby elephant is working its way to the non-work side of the plastic. I am hopeful that we will be down to a next stage by the end of next weekend.
And if it rains again we should be able to see where the rain gets in.

Elephant avoidance

For those that are acquainted with my past – there is a wooden 1/2 bushel basket near the wall. This was a laundry basket in an earlier incarnation – with a nice flowered vinyl insert. And before that it held oranges or grapefruits sent from Florida to my parents, I think by Don & Katie.

And in other news they have started a program called Car2Go in parts of Seattle.
I read about it in the newspaper, and then spotted a car across the street from our house.
It was there two nights in a row. (I did not notice whether it was there during the daytime.)
Also saw one over by Greenlake.

Car2Go

I don’t know that this service would make sense for us, but it is an alternative to the other shared car services that I am sure will find a niche.  The size of the cars means it is for moving yourself and a friend or two.

Here is my impression of the Seahawks Falcons game.

Really?
Really?!?
REALLY???

OK – whatever.

Cool – not a shutout.

Really?
Really?!?
REALLY!!!!!!

OMG – Arrrrggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Carl could not take it and left in the first half.
He returned briefly, and then left again.
We thought we had it all figured out.

At least he is getting some exercise. (Walk, soccer basketball, etc)

And the kids were at the game.
All we know is that Ashlan made it to Knoxville with, “… a fiasco at the end of the bus trip but I can’t describe it via text.”
And at halftime she told Carl that the Atlanta fans were not hassling the Seahawk fans, just the Seahawks.

Rey & Ashlan make the game

I am hoping we can skype with them later tonight, and get the straight scoop.

They were there – really

A beautifully cold sunny weekend here.
Our front yard has not relinquished the frost layer yet.
Looking forward to insulating this old house.

So yesterday was all about calming influences.

Today was all about hyperness, short relief, frantic helpfulness, and a request kind of out of left field that took way more of my time than I had the energy to give.

I am all about helping folks (in-house and out-of-house) at work.
I am there to provide support and information.

But I do expect others to try and hold up their end as well.
That seemed to be in shorter supply than normal today, so my support work today was not focused on my core issues (that is to say, issues that will be measured to see how I am doing). That sounds a bit petty, and maybe it is. But there are lots of excuses for not getting something done, but only so many of us show up on weekends and stay late when we need to.

Wow – that does sound petty and complaining.

AND when I got home the internet connection was not working.
(Obviously this has been rectified.)
But it is the first time this system had “failed” and I did not even know where a phone number was located.
In the end – turning off the modem thingy and starting it up again received whatever was ailing that machine.
Of course, it did not turn off when I pushed the button, and then held the button down for a while.
Unplugging it seemed to do the trick.

But I was yelling and carrying on – it was the straw that broke my back for the day.
Carl got an earful, then got an earful of download about work.

Now – instead of using the computer (which is what he was trying to do when I walked through the door) – he is banging away at the basement floor that is being removed.

So he is holding up his end of the bargain, and I had better slow any rants that might fly in his direction.
I think it is time to relax. (As much as you can with a hammer and chisel at work.)

This evening Carl and I went to our first Yoga class.
I have to admit I had some trepidation since I am a stiff, middle-aged plus, sore backed novice.

Luckily the day was busy and there was not a lot of time to dwell on the level of embarrassment that might occur.

We were the first to arrive, and eventually a few others started drifting in.
Many remarked that Margaret (the teacher) was not there yet.

When Margaret arrived it was clear she was the oldest in the room by at least a decade and probably two.
An 80-year old +/-.
Very smooth, clear, direct, and she cleared away my anxiety.

And one whole lot more limber than I am.
I bend in some directions, but not in others.
I learned that a hinge is different from any place you might feel a bend should occur.
I learned I have no idea when to breathe, and may try breathing out twice in a row.

It was enjoyable, and I think I can feel some of those stretched muscles waking up.
I think they may be just a bit grumpy.

I will be happy to go back next week.

On a completely different note, Carl spent the day with his two-year old and Flat Stanley.

Flat Stanley at the Space Needle

Just one of the possibilities for today. It did flurry at work yesterday, but nothing at home. I expect a repeat performance today.
The basement demolition is continuing, but at a slower pace. Two reasons; Jay’s back and Carl’s new job.

The back is doing better, thank you, and the tools are starting to look like fun again.

Carl is really enjoying the new job. A 2-year old girl with a good attitude. So far they have spent time at the Seattle Center, aquarium, and I think the zoo.

They seem to have clicked is a good description.

So, the Seahawks managed to get past the other Washington last week, and are heading to Atlanta. And so are our kids.

Tickets to the game were much more reasonable than the Redskins tickets, and still reasonably close, geographically. At least to Rey (TN). NYC for Ashlan is a bit further, and includes some buses. I don’t quite get the logistics, but they have a plan.

And tonight is my first ever yoga class. I tried to follow a DVD that came with the yoga mat. Let’s just say I may test the instructor’s patience.

There has been more, including an awesome dinner with friends from afar and their family. But we are getting close to work, so I should stop.

This has been a measurement of how much I can type on a smart phone in half an hour.

Both Carl & I went to work today.
Mine was regular, normal, although not as productive as I would have liked, work.
Carl’s was a short day, with the intention to formally meet his new charge.

This is a two-year old (or almost 2) who lives next door to a previous charge of his.
The girl seems to be pretty mellow, and he says the introduction went well.
Of course, the mother was there the entire time.

I think he goes solo tomorrow.

For us, 2012 finished with a whimper.
Yesterday’s score: Basement 1 : Carl & Jay 0

We are working on the floor.
It is a floor  structure placed on the cement basement floor.
Vinyl tile on top, mastic (with 2% chrysolite asbestos), plywood (3/4″)
Under the plywood are 2″x 4″ going here and there to give additional height to the floor.

And of course, on top of the floor is the large beast – composed of the elliptical and the weight machine.

The directions for working with the non-friable asbestos are to cut through the entire flooring structure (plywood) with a chisel. No power tools. So, that is what we tried to do.

We did get the closet portion separated from the rest (which allowed to see the 2×4 structure).
I had started to take off the 2×4’s and this appears reasonably within my abilities, when I don’t have a sore back.
And Carl chiseled through some other areas (until the chisel broke), but no other parts would separate.

The energy to progress ratio was extremely low on this work, so we made two decisions.

1. Do no work on New Year’s Day. (This was in large part due to the inability to bend over.)

2. Try a different tactic with the floor.

Move the beast off of the floor,
tilt the floor up (it is too wide to just flip) supporting it with the many cinder blocks we still have in our possession,
take the 2×4’s off of the bottom.
Look for the breaks in the plywood, and then just cut through the tile at the plywood breaks.

This is completely my idea, and there are several potential issues where it could fall apart. (Not the floor – it is too sturdy.)
But for now it is the best idea I have (other than hiring a contractor to finish what we started).

We did stay up and toast the new year.

This afternoon we took advantage of the sunny (but chilly) day and walked over to Green Lake.
The place was hopping. All manner of people and dogs. Carl called it “amateur day” as there were so many people and not paying attention to others, or the lane markings. We ditched the trail and went up through the neighborhood instead.

Walking definitely helps the back, and I may even attempt to move some garbage from the basement to the garage.

A bit past noon on Sunday.
I am already tired, and not yet done with the days efforts.
This is partly a hangover from yesterdays work as well.
I am not Carl, so I did not count the number of bags of drywall debris I wrestled with yesterday.

The architect paid a short visit last night to look at our hole in the wall.
It is even visible from the outside.
Carl could see it readily due to it being night, with light shining from the inside out.
This morning I took a picture. It is the dark area next to the bit of pipe, behind the vegetation I was too lazy to move. (Tired.)

Hole in the house

We also found another hole in the basement wall – but this one went to the space under the concrete porch.
Who knew it was hollow.
Perhaps another new storage location?

Yesterday we did succeed in getting the drywall out of the room of exercise.
But we were not quite ready to get the floor job going, but to get the wall framing down.

Closet area – wall and framing gone

So we are now down to a pile of wood on the floor.

Wood pile – next task

And electrical suspended in various places.
That is the closet light switch in the vent, the exercise room of exercise hanging in front, the 2 electrical outlets are looped over beams.

Electrical suspension

The floor is still in place, and will be the next challenge.
Carl lifted one edge, and the entire piece was coming up; tile, asbestos-laden mastic, plywood backing, frame underneath the plywood and all. We will need to figure out how to attack this next. Maybe start in the closet area which has the possibility of being separate from the rest of the room.

This is what I looked like for at least a portion of the time.
The face mask (P100 rating) was fogging up both my glasses and the goggles, so I eventually took the goggle off.
But I was not doing too much truly dusty work.

Fully attired

Oh – and I have discovered my favorite tool.
Sort of a small cats paw. It is wonderful for getting out all of those nails put in at odd angles, and pounded well into the wood.

Thanks TEd

Finally – on my trip to the hardware store (bags, broom, safety glasses) I spotted this gem.
(Even if the election is long over now, it made me smile.)

The quick update:

Carl has made real progress on the walls.
They are all down (not all of the studs, but all of the wall board).
As I speak he is downstairs breaking wall board into smaller pieces.

The closet

The alcove by the garage door

bottom of the chimney

More of the closet

My job is to go get them bagged, double bagged, and then out of the work area.

Next up will be the flooring. We will have to see how far that effort gets today.

A Review.
After getting home last night we went out for a walk (4 miles) and some errands.
One of the errands was to stop at Scarecrow Video.

The movie we got was, “Beasts of the Southern Wild.”

As this is a quick post (Carl is downstairs wailing away at drywall, and I am not) I will just say it was very interesting, and we both enjoyed it quite a bit.

Oh – and as we were watching the show our dinner included some excellent smoked salmon a friend had brought by. Caught less than a month ago I believe. Ymmmmm.

Today we spent some time at the brand new MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry).
They have just completed remodeling the Armory on South Lake Union. (There are multiple armories in Seattle.)
Their remodel was necessary because they were essentially kicked out of their old house, which will be the site of a freeway off-ramp or something.

Icons of the Area

We took advantage of a members only preview to see the new sites with a small number of folks. I took a few pictures of special bits.

The Lincoln Toe Truck

What museum trip would be complete without information about the local sewer system’s history.

R. H. Thompson’s Sewer Map for Seattle

The Kingdome

There was much that we could not see due to our relative lack of time, and Carl’s need for dinner.

He did deserve a break. He walked down to the museum after spending a good amount of time in the basement with our remodeling.

Wall be gone

Past the beast to the exterior wall

A little hole in the wood just at the top of the concrete wall

The dark stain on the wall is where the water runs down from the hole

“I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in …”