With the whirlwind of activity around this house over the last twenty-four hours, the significance of today's date could have eluded me easily. An event like the terrorist attacks of 2001, however, has a tendency to freeze things in your mind. I still remember that I was sitting in Dr. Baxley's office at Wake Forest, plowing into my thesis research, while the world around us was transformed. When I heard the news from a fellow graduate student, I thought he was recounting a scene from a movie. Not until later did I realize the gravity of what transpired that morning. The thought of so many people suffering -- so much, so quickly -- still shakes me to my core now. Sandi, who worked in the pharmacy at Eckerd at the time, was glued to the store's little break room television, along with everyone else at work that day. She was unable to get in touch with me at school; this led to my carrying a cell phone. I suppose that makes one more thing for which I hold Osama bin Laden and his thugs responsible.
What? Did you expect me to be deep and serious for an entire post?
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Mr. Phil Renovates His Dream House
This week gives Job a run for his money in the 'full of days' department; more has happened around here than we really expected (or intended). For starters, Sandi's fatigue at the beginning of the week was, in fact, a harbinger. She remained tired for the next couple of days, regardless of the amount of sleep she got during the night. She finally went to the doctor yesterday, and she is apparently the victim of a nasty stomach bug floating through the area. Sandi has not gone to work for the past two days, but we expect her to be back at the bank in the morning.
Now for the fun stuff. We had missed a call on Tuesday from Dixie Home Crafters about our gutter guards and storm door, but Sandi's presence at home got things put in order for a Wednesday installation. When the team arrived to get to work, the door was hinged on the wrong side; also, the gutter guards were the wrong color (a rancid-looking brown from Sandi's account). With nothing to do, they left. Fast forward to the afternoon, and a different team arrives at the house with the correct gutter guards, and they get them put into place. We still have our rotten storm door, though. We get a call from the original workmen in the evening, who would now like to install the door. They arrived at about 8:30 and set to work, and hilarity ensued. Settle in for a wild ride on this one. The old door had both flat-head and Phillips-head screws along its frame; there were different frames used in its installation; the thing inexplicably had an extra sill; the doorway itself is below standard height; its width barely allowed for the new door to fit; and part of the threshold had to be popped out of place for everything to work. The workers had to saw both the door jamb and the door itself before all was said and done. This, of course, made Sandi and me quite nervous, since our neighborhood is pretty quiet by 9:00 in the evening. I was writing a list of stuff for this post during the installation; you know things are going downhill when you overhear someone say, "Yeah, it's that bad" over his cell phone. The poor guys also needed to chisel out the old latch, due to a ridiculous number of nails used to anchor it. When they were finally finished with the work, I must admit that the door looked nice. I think the contractor was pleased that he had managed to make it work. We went outside to check out the finished product with both doors closed -- and the storm door would not open. Thanks to the cutting required, the two doorknobs directly abut each other, making the handle on the storm door hard to turn. Who else saw this coming? Even with that little issue, we are very happy to have the new door in place, including the pets. Sandi has some pictures to post of the day's events.
Okay, now I can tell you about what happened today. As I mentioned previously, our new dishwasher was supposed to arrive today. A confirmation call placed the delivery between 9:00 and 1:00, so we arose at the earliest possible time to avoid Murphy's wrath. This is much less eventful than the door saga, which is like saying that your reading assignment is shorter than the Edda. The installation guys had some trouble getting the new machine to start, but that was quickly resolved. Our cabinets are also shallower than normal, so the dishwasher sticks out a bit from the countertop. By now, Sandi and I would not have been surprised to find that the old unit was powered by an overworked hamster. The most interesting part of the day happened while the work was ongoing; Sandi noticed an older gentleman walking up our sidewalk. I went out to speak with him, and his car had run out of gas in front of our house. Since the gasoline in our mower can almost dates back to the Reagan administration, I volunteered to drive him back to his home to collect a gas container of his own. Things went smoothly in this endeavor -- except that the poor man left his keys in the car and had to climb into his own back yard to get his gas can. At least there was a reason I stayed home today.
Given the course this week has charted, I hope the weekend gives us some time to relax. Take care, everyone!
Now for the fun stuff. We had missed a call on Tuesday from Dixie Home Crafters about our gutter guards and storm door, but Sandi's presence at home got things put in order for a Wednesday installation. When the team arrived to get to work, the door was hinged on the wrong side; also, the gutter guards were the wrong color (a rancid-looking brown from Sandi's account). With nothing to do, they left. Fast forward to the afternoon, and a different team arrives at the house with the correct gutter guards, and they get them put into place. We still have our rotten storm door, though. We get a call from the original workmen in the evening, who would now like to install the door. They arrived at about 8:30 and set to work, and hilarity ensued. Settle in for a wild ride on this one. The old door had both flat-head and Phillips-head screws along its frame; there were different frames used in its installation; the thing inexplicably had an extra sill; the doorway itself is below standard height; its width barely allowed for the new door to fit; and part of the threshold had to be popped out of place for everything to work. The workers had to saw both the door jamb and the door itself before all was said and done. This, of course, made Sandi and me quite nervous, since our neighborhood is pretty quiet by 9:00 in the evening. I was writing a list of stuff for this post during the installation; you know things are going downhill when you overhear someone say, "Yeah, it's that bad" over his cell phone. The poor guys also needed to chisel out the old latch, due to a ridiculous number of nails used to anchor it. When they were finally finished with the work, I must admit that the door looked nice. I think the contractor was pleased that he had managed to make it work. We went outside to check out the finished product with both doors closed -- and the storm door would not open. Thanks to the cutting required, the two doorknobs directly abut each other, making the handle on the storm door hard to turn. Who else saw this coming? Even with that little issue, we are very happy to have the new door in place, including the pets. Sandi has some pictures to post of the day's events.
Okay, now I can tell you about what happened today. As I mentioned previously, our new dishwasher was supposed to arrive today. A confirmation call placed the delivery between 9:00 and 1:00, so we arose at the earliest possible time to avoid Murphy's wrath. This is much less eventful than the door saga, which is like saying that your reading assignment is shorter than the Edda. The installation guys had some trouble getting the new machine to start, but that was quickly resolved. Our cabinets are also shallower than normal, so the dishwasher sticks out a bit from the countertop. By now, Sandi and I would not have been surprised to find that the old unit was powered by an overworked hamster. The most interesting part of the day happened while the work was ongoing; Sandi noticed an older gentleman walking up our sidewalk. I went out to speak with him, and his car had run out of gas in front of our house. Since the gasoline in our mower can almost dates back to the Reagan administration, I volunteered to drive him back to his home to collect a gas container of his own. Things went smoothly in this endeavor -- except that the poor man left his keys in the car and had to climb into his own back yard to get his gas can. At least there was a reason I stayed home today.
Given the course this week has charted, I hope the weekend gives us some time to relax. Take care, everyone!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
