So sweet.
Monthly Archive for September, 2008
aka the continuing saga of the “little” front porch project that grew… ( good idea #2 and first phase front porch tell the start of the tale if you need to catch up)
When we last left off, after stripping, sanding and watersealing the porch floor and then deciding to remove the porch rails…one section of the porch rails had come off easily.
The remaining sections were giving me fits. The screws were kind of sort of countersunk, painted over and who knows how long in the wood. A few came out easily and the rest I couldn’t budge. I was working with a cordless drill that has a few issues so before resorting to digging screws out with a chisel and hand turning with vise grips, I bought a corded drill – more oomph, less $$$ than a cordless with enough power – I hoped – for this job.
I was teased into believing that things would go swimmingly as the first screws that I tried with the new drill came out – not easily, but with a little back and forthing they did come out. Ultimately, each section had 1 or 2 that I still couldn’t budge.
Sunday, I started on the digging out of the remaining screws. It took 1/2 an hour of huffing and puffing to chisel enough wood out to get the grips on the screw head and hand crank the first screw out. And that screw had a head in good shape – most of the others did not.
Before starting the Sunday work, I made a trip to the hardware for screw bits to replace 2 I’d broken working with the cordless. I stopped at the construction counter and conferred about my task. The consensus was that it was either what I was doing or “if they were doing it, they’d use a sawzall and cut the nails”.
Yesterday, I was passing the tool rental place…short story, rented a sawzall and cut the remaining nails. I have to admit that I am intimidated by saws. I have a circular saw – but am still not overly comfortable with saws. I had no problems with the sawzall on the nails, though – until getting to the last 3 nails. Problem there was the sections were so tight I had trouble getting the blade in and broke a blade in the effort. Enter my neighbor Mike, who was returning my pie plate (empty! – it had 1/2 a cherry pie in it when it when his way!). Showing that “no good deed goes unpunished”, he helped me with the remaining 3 cuts and now the front porch looks like this:
I love the feel of openness – I’m getting used to the look.
Next step, prep for painting and the upper “western-look” bracing ala this porch:
Onward!
Shortly after I wrote the post about not taking the camera, the sky came alive in a different way as the setting sun hit the stratus clouds changing them from wispy white to firey pink and orange…
There are all kinds of beautiful.
Another in the “series” of RV repair and maintenance.
I took the Winnebago to my local Workhorse (chassis W22) shop and they confirmed an exhaust leak. When they opened the manifold to replace the head gaskets, the bolts which were rusted broke requiring a new bolt kit. Additionally, the lower part of the oil dipstick holder – right next to that area – was rusted and needed replacing.
Following is what things look like now with no rust:
The cost was approximately 5.5 hours of labor and $250.00 in parts.
I don’t know how long this was a problem, but I’m guessing that it occured subsequent to the last service, September ‘07, because the same shop did the service and they always do a road test.
I don’t always take the camera and tonight, on the evening walk with Karl, I did not. There was nothing extra out of the ordinary on our walk. It was a beautiful early evening after a beautiful day – blue sky, wispy clouds, a breeze which occasionnally gusted to that wondrous, soulful song in the upper branches of the pine trees.
I saw several views that would make wonderful photos – I stood and looked and thought… I never, NEVER fail to wonder at the GRACE of God, good fortune, karma – whatever and however you think – that brought me to this place to live – for even a moment.
I looked at the mountain peaks that I am so familiar with – and you regular readers probably are also! But the light, the clouds, the shadows, the colors – they seem different on every walk – and I see them two and sometimes three times a day.
Tonight, there were no extra-ordinary colors, no unusual light – only the peaks of the Swan Range of the Rocky Mountains backlit by a soft blue sky and light wispy clouds – clouds and sky that appeared to have been done by a skilled watercolorist.
Sometimes, I don’t take the camera, because the camera cannot capture all of the beauty and wonder of the moment… only a glimpse.
I watched the movie “Next” several weeks ago. It is a 2007 movie based on Philip K. Dick’s short story titled “The Golden Man”. In “Next”, the main character, played by Nicolas Cage, can see 2 minutes into his own future – with the exception of a woman to whom he will become close.
But, my reason for bringing up the movie is a Nicolas Cage line that goes:
Here’s the thing about the future…every time you look at it, it changes…because you looked at it. And that changes everything”.
In the movie, this is illustrated by seeing, through the Cage character’s mind, various scenarios of the future.
But, in our real life, we do this also. We often project what “might” happen and base our current actions on this “future” scenario – …and that changes everything.
About 7 1/2 years ago I took my dog Zack to the vet. He had some swelling in his “armpits”. The vet found swelling in all of his lymph nodes. It suggested lymphoma – a deadly, fast growing cancer that typically kills dogs within 4-6 weeks of diagnosis. A test was scheduled to make a determination.
Right after that vet appointment, I had a massage appointment – a monthly indulgence with a masseuse who is a wonderful, compassionate woman and also a dog lover. I told her what was going on – we went ahead with the massage which I mostly cried through. Towards the end, she stopped and asked me to listen to her. Her words changed everything for me – she said: “You are grieving about something that has not yet happened. You might consider enjoying every day you have with Zack while he is in good health and save the grieving for when it does happen – if it does.”
And while it was lymphoma and I did ultimately lose Zack in 5 weeks – I learned a valuable lesson about the pitfalls of looking at the future. Not a day went by that I didn’t remember those words and they helped me release my fear, live with hope – the best thing I could do for my dog.
Now, I’m not saying we do no planning for the future. I am saying that it is important to live in the “now” and to live with “normalcy”. Now, when all seems uncertain and it is tempting to hang on to money and all that we have – Now is the time to live boldly, with “reckless confidence”, believing in a good future. The hoarding of anything will only add to current problems. Today is the day to enjoy, to embrace good, to work, to love, to live.
Matthew 6:34: “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself”.
Matthew 6:27: “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?”
“We know nothing of tomorrow; our business is to be good and happy today”. –Sydney Smith