Musings

Archive photo, this day, 2004.

John and I are lousy at American-style shopping and consumerism. We went to Ikea, wandered the whole circuitous trek—both floors, and didn’t even buy tea lights.

Posted at 7:02 PM | 2 Comments »

Remember how big that tree was? Believe it or not, these are the only bricks that were knocked loose.

One of the milestones of this week was the arrival of the mason to fix this corner*. E the Excellent Painter also got most of the painting ready for final touchup, which has made a huge difference. And the tile is in and grouted. Another huge difference. The end is in sight! [resounding applause!]

* informally known as the F&D missing bricks

Posted at 5:30 PM | 2 Comments »

I can imagine the sales meetings that developed these promotional motifs….

Over at American Standard, they said, geeze, how can we convey superior flushing power? Yeah, without being gross. Well, hmm. Let’s hit the links and discuss this further…. Later, at the Nineteenth Hole, over the third drink: hey, clog-free, hey, golf balls. Tada!

Meanwhile, over at Kohler, they stayed in-doors, and imagined the McMansion, or more modest installation, where many toilets are in rooms attached to bedrooms rather than down the hallway, so they’re not all that far from, well, you get the idea, and quiet is important….

And you choose…?

Posted at 4:49 PM | 2 Comments »

An AIG ad that’s less than two weeks old….

Eee-yah.

I have little confidence in fiscal decision-making at the top of our elected national management team*. If I ran my household finances the way the gov’t has run our national checkbook lately, well, I’m afraid I’d be living under a bridge and eating at a soup kitchen….

* And Barton Gellman’s new book reveals The Angler to be even more terrifying than we had previously thought (shot a friend in the face—we knew that; lied to the Pres and worked against him behind his back—like I say, terrifying…).

Posted at 4:55 PM | Comments Off on AIG: “Put your mind at ease.”

There’s a kid’s game we called Operator (or sometimes Telephone), but the ever-resourceful Wikip identifies by a whole slew of names with Telephone most common in the US, where a line of kids whispers a message each in his/her neighbor’s ear, and when it reaches the end, the original and final messages are compared, and rarely match, and therein lies the hilarity.

Today our project suffered a wee bit of Telephone, when a beige grout was installed on our bat-room floor. I felt bad, ’cause the guy who did it worked alone, and had to return this afternoon to remove the wrong color, and will be back tomorrow to install the right color, a darkish grey-blue.

As mistakes go, however, this wasn’t so bad….

Posted at 6:37 PM | Comments Off on Operator operates

Today’s bright spots: 1) E the Excellent painter has been making Excellent progress delicately smearing the right colors of paint in all the right places. The walls are looking great! And, 2) the Tile Guys were back, and the tile is almost ready for grouting. That’s some fine progress, too!

Oh, and a loved one now has…tada!…text messaging!

* Ike fallout**. NYC financial meltdown. Our ins guy emailed us The Letter.

** I gotta say I’m cynical that altogether too many of those people who decided to stay put for Ike’s arrival (the ones who made a conscious choice thinking that’d be better than getting on the highway, or that the meteorologists probably didn’t have it right, or something) and who called saying rescue me during the storm, or now that it’s passed are saying they NEED help…well, yeah, they do need help; it’s a mess down there…but here’s what I’m wondering: how many of those folks go vote saying don’t raise my taxes; I want to avoid big government; I don’t want to pay money for government services. And now, what safety net are they turning to? Yup, the ones funded by The Taxpayer. Apologies for the rant….

Posted at 6:13 PM | Comments Off on Mixed messages*

Archive photo, mid-December 2006.

Our weather has yet to bring the promise of fall, and the dessication of the grasses. Our vegetation looks like very late summer, but still like summer. I’ve seen a few hints of autumnal change, but only a few.

Around here, it’s like there was no Ike.

Posted at 5:23 PM | 1 Comment »

I just picked up the new James Lee Burke from the lib, Swan Peak (2008). Love his books!

Quiet house today: crew didn’t show; Guru guruing on the road….

Posted at 2:53 PM | Comments Off on Cleaning, rattling

Hey, the tub’s back!

I washed the dishes this morning while watching a chipmunk on the stump. Yes, that stump.

Posted at 4:12 PM | Comments Off on Tub returns!

Big day today. Another crew of very experienced craftsmen arrived with all their tools and potions, and the marble, voila!, is installed!

Once again, the front walk became a specialized work area. I can’t count the number of sawhorses that have been set up there over the last weeks.

First they fitted the vanity, then its surround, the top piece for the little knee wall (don’t know what it’s called), and then, the really tricky part, the tub surround.

This picture is at about that stage. You see, at the factory, they did the rough cuts for the tub, and finished the exposed edge, and I don’t know what else. But the on-site crew had to do the final fitting and make the curving cut for the tub.

The gallery photos depict the process in greater detail (with explanatory captions)…. Click on one of the thumbnail pictures below to see it larger, and then you can page through the whole set.

And the reason there’s no pristine final picture: the marble’s now covered with blue plastic to protect it from the next crew of specialists, and I didn’t stop by with the camera in those few moments between finished-installing and finished-finished.

It looks great! I’m so tickled!

Posted at 1:49 PM | Comments Off on Marble ensconced