The incredible growing house repair project.

Anyone who does home improvement projects will understand. There is no simple stand alone home repair project. They all take on a life of their own involing more tools, more trips to the hardware store, and much, much more time that expected. With this in mind here is my story…

So, the yesterday the wife complained about a smell under her bathroom sink… The process begins…

Today (aka the next day) is my day off (I have to work Saturday… its Tartan Day, the gathering of the Scottish clans at Ardenwood… Personally I am dealing with this by acquiring some “Angry Scottsman gum” (its from Archee McPhee… there is a previous posting about Archee McPhee…I like Archie McPhee) additionally, I have suggested to park staff that they hide the sheep (it’s a joke son… I know many of Scottish descent, and may myself be of Scottish descent, and have never personally known a Scotsman to become involved with a sheep, but who knows for certain and why take a chance…) But, I degress.

So, with a day off, I start by taking everything under the sink out… making a pile on the bed… I don’t find any leaks. I don’t smell anything, so call the Daughter… she doesn’t smell anything either.

Pushing further I decide the caulking around her sink had cracked and has mildew. I pull our my utility knife and cut out as much as possible until the blade breaks… no spares…
So, off to the big box hardware store… buy caulk (at least I can find the caulk gun….) a new utility knife (the old one was getting really bad) and 100 blades for the new knife (I am of course a pessimist when it comes to home repair…) along with miscellaneous garden supplies, the original goal for today’s work session. So, new utility knife in had, I cut away the old caulk… and a significant amount of tile grout which has failed as well…

So now I am removing tile grout… while I am at it there are a couple of soft spots in the kitchen as well… I take the time to check the tile supplies in the shed (yes, I have a bin marked “tile supplies, spare tiles, tools, etc.. don’t you…) I have tile grout sponges, I have grout cleaner, I have grout sealer, but my box of gray sanded tile caulk resembles a brick. Back to the hardware store… I purchase a box of gray grout… And a couple of other things…

Home, dig out more grout, clean everything… mix up the grout and start applying… do the three small spots in the kitchen as well… Grouting tile is a long process… mix and install the grout, go away, let dry, come back, wipe off excess (there is an art to this, diagonal to the joint with a soft wet sponge) go away, let dry some more, come back, wipe off excess, repeat. Several hours later I am getting close… now its let the grout dry more. Along the way I consume most of a roll of paper towels keeping all clean… I only created one bag of trash… Maybe I will have another beer (Lagunitas Pale Ale.. really good)

It will probably be tomorrow before I can caulk… in the mean time the bed is covered with the stuff from the bathroom.

Then, after the caulk dries I can seal the whole thing…

I think I will go outside and weed the garden.

Randy

Hope

So we are all running scared. Our world is collapsing, its 1930 all over again…

I look for signs… small signs sometimes, but signs none the less.

On the downside… a friend just lost his job of 16+ years… Another friend is at collage again, becoming a nurse, his industry having gone away. I am looking at job cuts and cutbacks at work. A friend has closed his Chevy dealership of many years… Another car dealership has closed. Airline fares are down, no one is shopping at Home Depot.

On the upside… there is evidence that retail sales and sales tax is up for February… Houses are selling in San Francisco… Houses are selling around us (15 miles south of San Francisco) developers are moving forward with projects… There are news reports that venture capitalists are funding and companies are being sold… The stock market is making a rally…

It appears that we are scared… and some of us are realizing that the sky has not fallen… we are still standing.

The people who have jobs are starting to buy… for those fortunate folks (us at Chez Hees included) this is a good time to travel (great air fares, low cruise fares) or to buy…

Steph and I were in Washington DC... the felling is one of hope...

Keep the faith, bad times will pass.