We like to break things

rgdaniel — Sun, 20 May 2007 01:45:39 +0000

Today was demolition day for the inside of the shed. The previous owner had housed a great many birds in there in a complicated series of hand-built cages, all containing the remains of the seed, bedding, feathers and excrement of their former inhabitants. The stench was unbelievable. I lost count of the bird boxes I pulled out, quite spectacularly, when one of them proved to be current housing for a family of mice. Each cage had to be pried out and then swept out. Luckily, the previous owner also left us a pry bar and a sledge hammer. Very handy and very satisfying to wield when things proved stubbornly attached to the wall.
Eventually, with Bob going back and forth loading up the stuff I threw out on the lawn into piles for the dump, we were rewarded with a more or less empty shed and two shed doors that actually open and close. There is much more to be done, of course, but we already have a shed we can put stuff into — woohoo!

And So It Begins

rgdaniel — Fri, 20 May 2005 04:15:44 +0000

This week’s theme has been moderate chaos, in a subtle, middle-class way. Our kitchen renovation finally got started — the physical part done by others, that is. I swore I wouldn’t bore people with my renovation story, but I have now decided there is much to learn from such experiences.
Lesson 1: Communication is key. All the usual rules of communication apply, including the one about what is lost when a message is transferred in a mediated situation. Example: the plumber is coming Tuesday means the plasterer is coming Thursday and he actually will do what the plumber was supposed to do because there really is no plumber. Luckily, the plasterer turns out to be a pretty good plumber.
Lesson 2: Timing is key. Everything happens in its own time, though that time may not be evident to those who would like to know. Electricians may arrive full of enthusiasm, but they may not actually electrify anything until the higher powers deem it possible, namely the hydro gods and their cohorts, the inspectors. Power, it seems, is sometimes invisible.
Lesson 3: Relax. It’s only a kitchen. Being without a functioning kitchen for a few days leads me to muse upon those who have no running water nearby, no safe drinking water in fact, and to think about how that changes one’s life. How it becomes large in the day, larger than earning a living or tending a rose garden. That is the most important lesson.

Lynda Sez » home renovation

We like to break things

And So It Begins