This morning I picked Queen Anne’s Lace, a wild flower from the “lawn”. It isn’t thriving, the blooms are airy and delicate this year. They are so pretty, sitting in a white mug of water beside the Heliopsis in the vintage Coca Cola glass.
The sun is peeking out from time to time. Although the temperature is an otherwise comfortable 24C, the humidex is already 31C, and the day is just getting started. Since we had substantial rainfall yesterday afternoon, the garden will be able to make the most of this heat.
After a naughty breakfast of leftover Tuna Noodle Casserole, I’ve taken the chicken out of the freezer to thaw for tonight’s dinner. I’ve paid bills, tied up loose administrative ends, and fussed about a bit in the kitchen. I have a list of things I would like to accomplish today, laundry and cleaning. Not very exciting, but when these tasks are done it creates a lightness in the atmosphere.
Attila finished securing the garage yesterday evening. All of the openings, through which flying insects could enter, have been closed. He even painted the remaiing bare wood bits of the exterior finishes. There is still much to do, and I am hopeful that this weekend will bring the project to the point where Attila feels a sense of completion, and the process of moving items from the basement to the garage can begin in earnest.
I wandered away from writing this entry and forgot to come back! Until now, after 10:30 p.m., when my eyes are so bleary that I can hardly see, and my bed is beginning to look like heaven on earth. Spell checking is not happening here tonight!
Worldly Distractions
Weather
23°C
Date: 9:00 AM EDT Thursday 2 August 2018
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.7 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 22.6°C
Dew point: 20.7°C
Humidity: 89%
Wind: SW 14 km/h
Humidex: 31
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.”
Aldous Huxley
1894 – 1963
Growing up I used to think that other people knew things I didn’t know. As I have aged I have come to the conclusion that I was right. The things they knew were things that came from not knowing other things… the things I knew. Because I knew the things I knew, I could never know the things they knew, nor could they ever know the the things I knew, because our childhood was over, and nothing can substitute for the experiences during the formative years. The cards had been dealt, the thing we had in common was that we had to play the hand we had been dealt.
I came to accept that it was not possible for me to know the things that other people know. I consider it hubris, and ignorance, to think that one can acquire through any “after-the-fact” analysis, the complexity of a lived experience. I am surprised at how many people demand to know the things I know, without having to have the experience. It doesn’t work like that. A person is only a tourist in another person’s lived experience. One can be compassionate, empathetic, kind, and supportive, but they will never really be able to grasp in all its complexity, the experience of another human being.
I respect what I don’t, and cannot, understand, which is another person’s experience.
My hand has been very hard work to play. There has been no time for whining, or feeling sorry for myself; that is a luxury not afforded by the hand I play. When I express my feelings, my thoughts, it is about optimizing my chances of survival. The survival of my integrity, my heart, my soul, and my body. I refuse to give up expressing myself for the sake of making less self-disciplined people, or people who received more advantageous cards from the dealer, or people who spend their lives pretending that all hands are dealt equally, or people who are predators waiting for any chance to use their advantages to take more than their fare share of resources, more comfortable. Their comfort is not my primary concern. My comfort is not their primary concern. Their comfort does not trump my comfort, nor do I expect mine to trump theirs. On a personal level, it is a balanced equation. On a social level the card game is not dealt with integrity; I believe that the universe seeks balance, and will have it.
The universe can play the long game, humans cannot.
The forest.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
23°C
Date: 10:00 AM EDT Wednesday 31 August 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 22.9°C
Dewpoint: 21.0°C
Humidity: 89%
Wind: SW 16 km/h
Humidex: 31
Quote
“While the fates permit, live happily; life speeds on with hurried step, and with winged days the wheel of the headlong year is turned.”
Seneca
5 BC – 65 AD
“There are so many men, all endlessly attempting to sweep me off my feet. And there is one of you, trying just the opposite. Making sure my feet are firm beneath me, lest I fall.”
Patrick Rothfuss
These two little videos brought tears to my eyes. Durr is hinting at the way I see the universe, I fell less alone.
We had a busy weekend. Oh how I love the sound of that sentence!
On Saturday we attended a family event to celebrate the engagement of my niece. My Sister-The-Youngest-Girl and Beau Bob organized and hosted the happy event, great food, wine, and good company, a winning combination. My Mom and my five brothers and sisters were there, and it was wonderful to share such a happy time together.
We returned home on Sunday morning, to relax and putter around the house for the day.
On Sunday Attila loaded yet more scrap wood into Tank. The scrap consisted of some of the old shed door, that was missed the first time around, and the mousey kitchen cupboards that were removed when the dishwasher was installed, quite disgusting they were. All gone now though. We have had rain and the fire ban was suspended, so that I could burn all of the scrap in a campfire. We have a bit more scrap wood left to burn, that would not fit into Tank, it was sitting under the back porch when we moved here.
The garden shed is still not completed, as Attila lost his momentum due to unforeseen family events this summer. It is close to being finished though, tantalizingly close.
When I arrived at the hospital to have my toe nail looked at, my blood pressure was taken, it was very very high, 180/115. I questioned the doctor about it during the examination, and she said no big deal, “people are just nervous about being here”. I would have none of it, I have been to Emergency many times before and my blood pressure had not risen in this way. I stayed put on the bed, I was going nowhere with blood pressure that high. So the nurse took it again, and it was down to 164/99, so they insisted that I was fine, and should go home without looking any further into it.
Blood pressure measurements fall into four general categories:
Normal blood pressure. Your blood pressure is normal if it’s below 120/80 mm Hg.
Prehypertension. Prehypertension is a systolic pressure ranging from 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure ranging from 80 to 89 mm Hg.
Prehypertension tends to get worse over time.
Stage 1 hypertension. Stage 1 hypertension is a systolic pressure ranging from 140 to 159 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure ranging from 90 to 99 mm Hg.
Stage 2 hypertension. More severe hypertension, stage 2 hypertension is a systolic pressure of 160 mm Hg or higher or a diastolic pressure of 100 mm Hg or higher. The Mayo Clinic
Ignoring blood pressure that high was unacceptable to me, I could feel something wasn’t right. So this morning I took myself to a walk-in clinic, which was a 45 minute drive from Mist Cottage. I am glad I did. My blood pressure was high when the doctor there took it, he suggested increasing the dosage of my medication, and gave me a prescription. He also looked over the blood work report that was done after I was told I had Chronic Kidney Disease. He confirmed that I do not have Chronic Kidney Disease. I was very pleased with the visit.
At home, an hour after I took the additional dosage of medication for high blood pressure, my blood pressure had dropped to normal, the high end of normal, but normal. I am feeling much better.
Luna has decided to go back to school to work on a science degree, and to that end she begins classes when the children return to elementary school. Their’s will be a very busy household this autumn! Luckily Janus has a generous amount of time off work, he is going to need it.
The weather is still warmer than I would like, and humid. Cooler temperatures are always predicted as a few days away, and that is where they have remained all summer, a few days away.
The garden is now lush and green. The green beans are bearing again, there are new tomatoes on the plants, and the peppers seem to have produced some small fruits. The Scarlet Runner Beans are a joy to behold, their bright blooms festooning the fence and swaying with each passing breeze. The lawn will need to be cut soon, the second cutting since last June!
My Mom is doing very well. She has regained the weight she lost when she was ill, her cheeks are rosy, and the sparkle in her eye is back. We didn’t get much of a chance to visit during the Engagement Celebration, but it was great to see her looking so great!
I just noticed something interesting. We have been watching Lucy Worsley’s “Empire of the Tsars” on youtube. The list of her films that appears down the side of the web page, each offering a posed image of Ms. Worsley. And suddenly she seemed familiar and comforting! I was surprised, wondering where that came from, and then I knew. She reminds me of the paper dolls of my childhood, the ones that came in books, with a doll in a frozen pose, and many outfits to change how she looked. And that is what Ms. Worsley looks like to me, in all her poses, a frozen paper doll with tabbed changes of clothes. I loved playing with those dolls, hearing my Granny in the next room cooking on her wood stove. Thank you Ms. Lucy Worsley for the flashback!
“My religion consists of a humble admiration of the illimitable superior spirit who reveals himself in the slight details we are able to perceive with our frail and feeble mind.”
Albert Einstein
1879 – 1955
I’ve been keeping busy, very, very busy, keeping my speed up to that I can leap over chasms. My days are mostly pleasant.
We have had rain! It rained yesterday morning, which prevented me from taking my walk as early as I had planned. By the time the rain stopped and I stepped outside, it was like entering a sauna. I decided to take my walk anyway, but to avoid issues I walked very slowly, not pushing myself. I was soaked with sweat by the time I arrived home, safe and sound.
Last Saturday we had a lovely surprise. Luna and the Grandbabies arrived for a visit, staying for lunch and dinner. Imp and Elf and Tink are growing so fast now! Imp has grown quite tall. She and I had a great time going through some of the books on my bookshelf, trying to find the oldest book. I taught her where to look for the publication date at the front of the book. The oldest one we found was a leather bound copy of The Select Poetical Works of Lord Byron, Boston: Phillips, Sampson, & Company, 119 Washington Street, 1853. Elf had fun building a wooden chair, footstool and table from wood scraps leftover from the garden shed project. Attila spent some time teaching him to use the electric screw driver. Tink enjoyed playing with the dolls in the toy box. She read the first half of the book Go Dogs Go to me, and then I read the second half of the book to her. All three of the Grandbabies stopped to sit with me as I read, it was charming.
Terra and Lares stopped by for about ten minutes with the Sunny and Sky. The babies were all dressed up for a family occasion of some kind, on Lares side of the family. They weren’t here long enough to take pictures. The twins are now both over 7 pounds and are rosy and healthy. They sleep a lot, oh how quickly I forget. Attila and I got to hold them, briefly.
We had a few cool days, when the high temperature only reached 24C, and then the heat returned. It has been a summer of blistering heat. The drought ended last week with an all day rain, and we had had rain again yesterday.
My toe nail is turning colour and separating from the nail bed. It isn’t a big deal, but when it became very painful I decided to get it looked at to make sure that it hadn’t become something serious. My only option for a medical opinion, the emergency department at the hospital. I arrived there and joined the queue at 7:30 p.m. last night and arrived home at 2:15 a.m., the drive to and from is under five minutes. Most of that time I waited in an almost full to capacity waiting room, sitting across from a couple who were very obviously high on something, who were themselves waiting for a morning after pill, which they were discussing loudly, with the television in the room loudly describing gruesome murders and showing graphic reenactments. It was a long night, and the doctor visually diagnosed fungal infection and poor circulation, injected freezing, suggested salt water soaking and tylenol, 20 minutes tops, and sent me on my way.
There has to be a better way to deliver basic health care.
I slept until 7:20 am this morning, a very short night, and I feel horrid from a bad night’s sleep.
Things are looking green, and at last the Scarlet Runner Beans along the fence are filling in and blooming profusely. Yesterday morning I stood at the kitchen window for ten minutes or so, to watch a Humming Bird visit each bloom on the Scarlet Runners. Plants are on sale at the moment, particularly potted plants that suffered during the hot drought. We picked up a large pot of Echinacea, which Attila planted by the compost bin, where we think it will do very well. I am attempting to plant Monarch Butterfly friendly plants in the yard. I was most interested in a site devoted to creating Monarch friendly gardens. I haven’t seen any Monarch Butterflies this summer!
A bloom on the Scarlet Runner Beans. I will be watching these blooms again this morning, in hopes of seeing the Humming Bird feeding.
The new Echinacea plant, already thriving beside the compost bin.
The herbs and spices for a Lentil Salad. I made a Lentil Salad yesterday, assembling three batches of the herbs and spices needed. One I used to make the salad, and the other two I stored in small jars for future salads. There are so many herbs and spices that finding them all in the kitchen cupboard takes a bit of time, so doling out three measures into three containers saves me a lot of time.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
24°C
Date: 11:00 AM EDT Thursday 25 August 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 16 km
Temperature: 23.6°C
Dewpoint: 21.7°C
Humidity: 89%
Wind: SSW 23 km/h
Humidex: 33
Quote
Why is it we feel
So little for each other, but for this,
That we with nature have no sympathy,
Or with such things as have no power to hold
Articulate language?
And never for each other shall we feel
As we may feel, till we have sympathy
With nature in her forms inanimate,
With objects such as have no power to hold
Articulate language. In all forms of things
There is a mind.
William Wordsworth, fragment from the Alfoxden Notebook, in Ernest de Selincourt and Helen Darbishire (editors), The Poetical Works of William Wordsworth, Volume 5 (Oxford University Press 1949), page 340.
Poem for Carl Robert
I name you the bloom
on the scarlet runner beans
growing wildly up my fence
and the bristly heads
crowned with purple
of the Echinacea.
I name you the leaves
that loosely follow and
beckon and caress empty air
and the long grasses
undulating
pointing the way.
You who filled
certain crucial holes
in my universe
so that I could have walked
blindly through life.
When we bought Mist Cottage many people were looking at it, because it was so inexpensive and in such a great neighbourhood. But no one was interested in buying it, there was just so much work to be done. Most people would have just torn it down and started over, but not us! Here was our chance to invest in a place where we might comfortably retire, as neither of us could expect a pension. It has proved to be a lot of work, and on most days it seems worthwhile; not on all days though.
Let me tell you what we found in the kitchen the day we took possession of the house. The lower cabinet shelves were lined with… carpet! It was dark blue floor carpeting, stapled to the shelves. The carpet was covered with mouse urine and droppings, the stench was extremely off putting. My first project in this house was to tear out the carpet in the kitchen cabinets and spray the whole area with bleach. That first summer we rented the largest dumpster bin available on the market, and filled it with the carpet and items with similar horrific physical qualities.
We have been fighting the mice ever since we moved in here. Slowly but surely we are blocking their entrance points. Below the kitchen sink where the plumbing comes through the floor was one of the entry points, and the wall behind the kitchen sink another. They are now both completely blocked.
Saturday, August 13, 2016
Saturday began with a trip to Canadian Tire to pick up plumbing parts to connect the new dishwasher. After arriving back, Attila set to work. First the area where the dishwasher will be installed had to be prepared. The cupboards are the originals, old, solid wood frames, nothing prebuilt about these old cupboards. Attila did the work, I am describing it.
The cupboard doors were removed. The cupboard shelves were removed, one inch thick wood needed to be sawed through and removed, and new supports for the what remained of the shelves were built. The bottom of the cupboard was removed, which proved time consuming.
This is the inside of the cupboard where the dishwasher will reside. Already one shelf has been removed, the rest need to come out, which includes the bottom shelf.
Here is what we found under the bottom shelf of the kitchen cupboard! The large mouse nest was built using insulation from the wall behind the cupboard.
With this potential health hazard in the kitchen, we turned off the central air system, removed the curtains from the windows, stapled sheets over the doors from the kitchen to the rest of the house, and removed all visible items from the kitchen, storing them temporarily on the living room floor, creating another tunnel!
I sprayed this mess with hydrogen peroxide, then Attila donned a mask and gloves, and proceeded to use a paint scraper to remove all of the loose debris into garbage bags, which were sealed and put in a larger green garbage bag to go out with the trash next week. The area was sprayed for a second time with hydrogen peroxide. Attila then took a shower.
A second trip to the hardware store was undertaken, more parts were needed.
Upon return the thick wood shelf surrounding the sink drain and plumbing was removed using a oscillating saw.
A third trip to out, again to Canadian Tire, to replace a part that sported the wrong sized threads. Then home again to eat dinner, before Attila took up the project again. After installing a new drain trap, he called it quits for the day.
Thus ended the first full day of work to install the new dishwasher. We have a sterilized hole to place it in. The contents of the kitchen are strewn across the living room, covering every surface.
We have had intermittent rain, and it is beginning to have an effect, after an entire day of infrequent showers.
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Installing the new kitchen taps was first on the roster this morning. The water supply to the house was turned off just after breakfast. Removing the old taps proved to be a mega-job, taking all of the morning. The air was blue in the kitchen this morning. I made very effort to be busy in one of the adjoining rooms, and asked no questions.
At one point Attila became concerned about the number of ants suddenly crawling everywhere in his small tool area in the garage. They crawled all over him when he needed to fetch items, or work on something. Off I went again to Canadian Tire and purchased Wilson’s AntOut spray (not aerosol), hurrying home with it so that Attila could continue with his project in relative comfort. The product, by Attila’s account, was a great success.
Then on to cleaning up the kitchen sink where the old taps had been removed, and installing the new taps. By this time it was well past lunch time, so I was very grateful to have the Lentil Salad sitting in the refrigerator ready for a quick meal.
The new kitchen taps, well tap, the original had two knobs, one for hot, one for cold, but this high flyer has one handle that you can lift to turn the water on with back of your hand when your hands are dirty… what luxury!
I abdicated responsibility for trying to prepare a meal and ordered a pizza, from the only pizza establishment that lists all the allergens in their food.
After dinner Attila got the hoses and electrical hooked up, but the dishwasher will not fit under the counter, it is too high. He will try to raise the counter, we will see how that goes! After the hookup Attila wanted to try the unit out, to make sure it works. I got it all loaded and setup, then pushed the start button. Soon thereafter Attila shouted from the kitchen that I should come and turn it off, as he raced to the basement to turn off the main water supply. It leaked, all of the water that should have gone into the dishwasher poured into the area below the sink. Another mess to clean up. More parts were needed.
Monday, August 15, 2016
Day three of the great dishwasher installation dawned. Oh heaven, above let this be the last day of the dishwasher installation!!
I arose early, showered, then wakened Attila. We have important things to do. He is taking a day off work, and although it was originally planned so that we could have a camping weekend, it isn’t turning out that way! This morning the car was dropped off at the garage for an oil change and checkup, and Tank transported us, bright and early, to the Home Depot a half an hour away, so that Attila could return parts he did not need, and buy more parts that he thinks he does need.
After arriving home Attila went straight to work on the dishwasher. Finally it was time to turn in on for the second time, keeping close watch on the discharge pipes and under the machine and the sink, to ensure that the water was all going where it was supposed to go. It was!
The washing machine took three hours to cycle, and during that time we noticed quite a strong “mousey” smell in the kitchen. We had a serious chat, and both decided it would be best, since the kitchen was already emptied and the cupboards torn up a bit, to carry on removing the base level of the cupboards to reveal the floor below. There had been quite a large mouse nest, full of urine and droppings, below the lower cabinet floor where the dishwasher was installed, and from the smell we suspected there were more nests under the other cupboards.
At this point there was some discussion about installing new cupboards, but the expense was determined to be beyond our means. The old cupboards would have to be made functional, there was no choice but to forge ahead with the old.
I headed off to the Hardware store to purchase a litre of BIN, to use to paint the exposed floors under the kitchen cabinets. I took the opportunity to visit the library while I was out, to return books, and borrow more. I was pleasantly surprised to find a book written by Kip Harness, a singer/songwriter from Toronto who frequented the same places I did when I lived there.
The opening for the dishwasher with the shelves removed, and the floor painted with BIN. Note the holes in the drywall are “sealed” with steel wool, to keep the mice from coming in through the back wall. Someday, when we put in new kitchen cabinets, we will remove this old drywall, and all the nasty mousiness behind it, seal the area to prevent further mouse incursions, paint the whole thing with BIN, insulate, rewire, put a vapour barrier in and install new drywall. Putting in new kitchen cupboards will be expensive and very, very, very time consuming. Eventually we will reclaim this house back from the mice!
Once again everything in the kitchen was covered with sheets, and all items were removed from the kitchen. Attila donned his breathing mask, and latex gloves, and set to removing the entire lower shelf floor. This involved dismantling the supports for the kitchen cupboards, so that they sagged to the floor, to wait there until Attila would install new bottom shelving. Basically, Attila had to rebuild the bottom kitchen cupboards. I knew this job would not be a simple put-in-the-dishwasher, hook-it-up-and-go job. In an old house these little projects are seldom, I might venture the word never, simple.
The kitchen draped with sheets as Attila removes the bottom shelf of the kitchen cupboards, to reveal two additional huge mouse nests, full of urine and droppings. Mice are so disgusting. Those who find them cute should drop into their homes for tea sometime.
Just as we suspected there were two other huge mouse nests, filled with dried urine and faces, built from wall insulation, under the sink cupboard. They were soaked from the leak experienced on the first trial run with the dishwasher, and reeked. Attila spent a few hours removing the mouse mess, using copious amounts of hydrogen peroxide to kill any viruses or bacteria that might be floating around. The cooling system had been turned off before the removal of the boards began, so there was no air circulating through the house to spread bad things in the air all around.
The site of one of the other mouse nests, wet after being sprayed with hydrogen peroxide.
You can see here two issues. first, the dishwasher does not fit under the lip of the kitchen counter, so the counter will have to be raised. Second, in removing the bottom shelf of the kitchen cupboards, the frame sank down to the floor. Attila needs to rebuild the base of the cabinets to bring the cupboards back up to the correct height.
After showering and changing his clothes, Attila and I drove over to the garage in Tank, where I left him to pay the car maintenance bill before bringing the car home.
After arriving home, Attila performed a second cleaning of the floorboards under the kitchen cupboards, again using a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide to damp down the small amount of debris remaining, as he scooped it up and discarded it. When this dried, the BIN was applied by brush, and we left it to dry with all the kitchen windows open and the ceiling fans running.
At last, the two coats of BIN have dried on the floor beneath cupboards. The mousey smell is gone. Time to rebuild the cupboards.
The BIN drying to the left of the sink.
The BIN drying to the right of the sink.
Luckily the pizza I had ordered yesterday was adequate for two dinners, so all we had to do was heat it in the microwave.
After a quick dinner, Attila was off to cut the planks for the lower cupboard shelves, pine that he had purchased years ago at a good price. Then, as the two coats of BIN were dry, the reconstruction of the lower cupboards began. The pine boards were installed across the cupboards, supporting the structure of the cupboards, later the cedar boards that line the cupboards would be installed at right angle to the pine, lending great strength as it is needed in these hard working cupboards. With the installation of the pine and cedar in one cupboard it was after 10 p.m., Attila was out of time.
And so ends day three of the Great Dishwasher Installation saga.
Tuesday, August 16, 2016
We awoke to the sound of rain on the roof. It was a slow, steady rain, and already the rain barrels were full to overflowing. The rain continued steadily as the day progressed.
After Attila left for work I jumped into the shower to prepare to attend my first Tai Chi class. It is funny, but I was quite nervous about attending, new situations can sometimes hit me that way. I was determined to make myself go though. Before I left I received a message that additional copies of my first book were ready for pickup near the location of the Tai Chi classes. Perfect.
I drove through a wet greening landscape, where some of the plants had turned a vibrant green in the rain, but others were reacting slowly, turning from brown to yellow. It felt like mother earth was gulping the refreshment offered from the sky. It rained all day.
When I arrived at the Church where the Tai Chi lessons were to take place, I was concerned that there was only one other car in the parking lot. Undeterred I ran from Tank through the rain to try the doors. They were locked. Soon a very friendly woman with a briefcase came to the door, and I asked her about the Tai Chi classes. She unlocked the doors and invited me in, where she checked the schedule, no Tai Chi at the specified time! I don’t know what the mixup has been, but I now know that there is no class on Tuesday mornings.
The next stop was the print shop, where the books were waiting for pickup. The books looked good, so the bill was paid. The next destination was home.
The rest of the afternoon was spent emptying the dishwasher’s first load, and stacking the items on the floor in the bedroom, the only area in the house with free floor space. Yesterdays dishes were washed, and the kitchen counter cleared off completely.
Attila arrived home from work ready for a bath and some dinner. After Attila had a refreshing bath it was time to think about something to eat. To save precious evening time for working on the kitchen project, a can of ravioli was opened for a quick meal. Not ideal but perfect in that it involved only two bowls and two spoons in the way of dirty dishes.
The next stage of the dishwasher installation project was to raise the kitchen counter so that the dishwasher would fit under it. The kitchen was built before dishwashers became a commercial success in the 1950s, and so the counter was too low to accommodate such an appliance.
The dishwasher is too high to fit under the kitchen counter. Attila raised the counter on “shims” by 3/8″, and then in she went.
After the counter had been raised 3/8 inch, I began to vacuum, then wash with soapy water, the empty finished cabinet to the left of the dishwasher. The contents of the drawers were washed in the sink and dried, the drawers were washed out, dried, refilled with the clean utensils, and inserted into the cabinets.
The amount of storage space in the kitchen has been reduced by 1/4, which is a lot in a small kitchen. The items stored there needed to be sorted, some to go in a tote which would be kept handy in the basement, and some to be returned to the kitchen cupboard. It was decided that no food would be stored in the bottom cabinets in the kitchen, they would be devoted to cooking utensils, baking dishes, pots, pans, and the various items we frequently use as we prepare all of our food from scratch.
Attila spent the rest of the evening installing the pine boards and cedar boards on the bottom of the cabinets to the right of the dishwasher, screwing in a board barrier at the back of the dishwasher to prevent mice from entering the cabinets, and finally putting the dishwasher in place and securing it.
Last night, as Attila finished packing his lunch for work for the next day, we loaded the dishwasher together. Oh what a feeling!
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
The dishwasher is functionally installed, but the job was not done yet.
The newly installed shelves to the right of the dishwasher needed to be washed, then allowed to dry, before items could be stored there. As well, two boxes full of casserole dishes, pots, pans, lids etc. needed to be washed and sorted into what would go back into the cupboards, and what would go into a tote in the basement. These were tasks I easily performed.
Atilla needed to install the footplate on the dishwasher, and install trim on either side of the dishwasher, as the cupboards were not deep enough for it to install flush with the front. Also the raised countertop left a gap at the top of the cupboards at both ends of the cabinets, and that needed trim as well. It was a cluster of fiddly bits, but needed to be done.
After work today, Attila installation for the dishwasher, and began working on the needed trim for the job.
So here we are, so close to being done, just the finishing touches to go. The dishwasher is installed, insulation and all, and it works! Already today’s supper dishes are waiting patiently for an overnight run with a full load.
There is a large cupboard at the end of the kitchen that currently holds detergents, cleaning agents, and all kinds of hardware like light bulbs. Attila wants to convert that cupboard into a food and appliance storage centre. I am all for this! But I would like to leave that project until the winter months, when we won’t have the nice weather to visit parks and go for long walks, or go camping in our trailer.
I know what kind of kitchen cabinets I want if we replace the kitchen cabinetry. Our country house had an island with drawers that pulled all of the way out, so that I could easily see and reach every item in the drawer, without having to move any other items out of the way, or guess what might be hidden in the depths of the cupboard. If I ever get new cabinets they will all have deep drawers and no doors!
We have some pretty serious arranging to do with our belongings as this dishwasher project nears completion, and the garden shed nears completion as well. Things will be shuffled about in the kitchen, in the new garden shed, in the garage, and in the basement. There will be a lot of sorting an organizing going on from now until Christmas, and perhaps beyond. And maybe even some purging!
The heat wave has broken, as has the drought, with yesterdays all-day rain. This morning I took up my morning walks once again, with great relief.
Worldly Distractions
Weather
24°C
Date: 11:00 AM EDT Sunday 14 August 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.3 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature: 24.4°C
Dewpoint: 19.1°C
Humidity: 72%
Wind: WSW 14 km/h
Humidex: 31
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT IN EFFECT “A significant widespread rainfall event is expected beginning overnight or early Tuesday morning and ending Tuesday evening. Rainfall amounts will range from 25 to 40 mm in most places. There may be appreciably higher amounts exceeding 60 mm in some locales.”
23°C
Date: 11:00 AM EDT Monday 15 August 2016
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.3 kPa
Tendency: rising
Visibility: 24 km
Temperature:23.2°C
Dewpoint: 16.1°C
Humidity: 64%
Wind: SSE 13 km/h
Humidex: 28
[OK, can you believe this, after experiencing a summer long drought, we are now warned that nature may bring to us a sudden, short deluge from the sky. I think that next may come the locusts!]
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH IN EFFECT
RAINFALL WARNING IN EFFECT
20°C
Kingston Airport
Date: 10:00 AM EDT Tuesday 16 August 2016
Condition: Light Rain
Pressure: 102.0 kPa
Tendency: falling
Visibility: 10 km
Temperature: 19.8°C
Dewpoint: 18.8°C
Humidity: 94%
Wind: NE 8 km/h
Quote
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
Plato
427 BC – 347 BC
This saying never gets old for me, and I find that I need to be reminded of it with some regularity as the years slip every more quickly into the past.
