Another Beaut!

July 29, 2007 (1:18pm)
81º F, Clear, No wind.

Good afternoon,

Another beautiful day today. There isn’t any wind, so the temperature is rising. Should be rising for the next couple of days too and no rain in sight. We really could use some rain - the truck needs to be washes! Everything is really dry, even though most vegetation still looks green. I have let the lawn grow and am thankful for that. Hope it will reseed itself some and fill in some of the very thin spots.

Yesterday was a putzy job day. Took care of some little things which take time and some effort. The biggest project, and the most frustrating, was rewiring the hanging lamp, from the office at the store when I had it, which looks like an old-fashioned hanging kerosene lamp with a shade. I like the look of it and works very nicely in the eating place, above the table. I wanted to pick up some swag chain and some gold lamp cord to do the job, but found that buying a "kit," to convert a lamp into a swag, was cheaper, even though I didn’t need/want all of the hardware and there is way too much chain and wire. Oh well!

The really hard part was to snake the new wire through the harp. It is formed from a ¼" tube about 14" long, and the wire to go inside of it is about 3/16" in diameter. Tried to pull it through by attaching it to the old wire as I pulled it out. Didn’t work. Tried to push it through, didn’t think it would work and it didn’t. Ran a stiff wire through and connected the new wire to it. Didn’t work, too many sharp angles to pass. Finally ended up taking the harp, and lamp, apart. It was a stinker to take apart since the fastenings are inside and all but impossible to get a tool on them. Finally did succeed, as the two sharp corners were now removed and I could deal with them separately. The whole process took about 3 hours and lots of frustration.

Then it was time to take down the old, homemade, lamp and string the new one. That went rather easily. Now there is one less wire stapled to the ceiling and it is replaced by a chain that, at least looks better. I am going to try and eliminate all of the electrical wires stapled to the wall/ceiling surfaces in here. Would like to do that with the plumbing too, but won’t happen anytime soon if ever.

We brought along this trip a couple of wall lamps that Dad had made and were hanging above their bed. I like them and so does Margriet. Since this bedroom has no ceiling light, they work very well. They are wired together and each has a pull-chain switch. Actually I put them on one wall alongside of the bed, rather than at the head on each side as Mom and Dad had them. The only problem with them is every time you pulled the chain to turn them on/off, the entire lamp turned on their hangers. Dad would shoot me, but I drilled a hole in each, screwing them to the wall. The problem is solved and you really have to look hard to find the screws. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh .... Let there be light.

I finally had enough of looking at the milk house plastic line going from one end of the Hobbit Hus to the other. It came down yesterday afternoon! Some of the brackets which held it in place are still on the walls however. When they were put up, the screws were driven in too far and the heads are partially submerged in the plastic bracket, making it impossible to remove them. I got the tin snips out, which made short work of them. At least cutting them to remove the line. I thought I was being pretty smart putting one end of the line in the toilet so the water would drain from the line into it and not on the floor. It worked fine, until I discovered that the end of the line was aimed at the crack between the toilet seat and the bowl, allowing much of the water to escape on the floor of the bathroom. Margriet was some grumpy! So was I. At least the old water line is down. I can take the brackets down now and also put a pipe plug into the old water entrance to the building.

Friday evening, we decided to find a fish fry for supper. Every time we come here from FISKLAND, we pass Bev’s Supper Club just south of us a couple of miles. The couple of miles turned out to be about 10 miles! When we got there, a bit after 5:00 P.M., there was a wait of 10-20 minutes to be served. It actually took more than 30 minutes, but we waited anyway. The food was very good, but a bit more expensive than I thought it would be. It will need to be a special occasion when we go there again. The number of waitresses was less than necessary I think for the crowd who showed up. At least they didn’t seat us, until there was someone who could serve us, rather than sitting and getting grumpy at a table. Margriet had broiled walleyed pike and I had Atlantic salmon. Both excellent.

Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><