Pictured are the bagged remains of the jungle that used to be our back yard. Arnaldo, our yard man collected and bagged all this vegetation this week. I only had to haul them to the curb. The bags were heavy though. He did a lot of work, and I am grateful for his service. Anne and I earned an appreciation for the work required, when we took our own first swipe at the backyard. We generated about as many bags, but our bags were nowhere near as full as these. Us getting poison ivy too did not help either. The backyard looks wide open now and much bigger too. It seems unbelievable that our tiny city lot could host this much plant life. Today is trash day, in addition to being the longest day of the year. Our poor overworked and underpaid garbagemen should be able haul these away for us. When they finally showed up in the late afternoon the two men struggled to lift the bags into the dump truck. It has begun to dry out for the summer, so it is unlikely that the jungle will return anytime soon. Hopefully, not until next year.
Poison ivy, poison ivy Late at night while you’re sleeping, Poison ivy comes a-creeping around.
I am now in my second week of suffering from poison ivy. Anne got some too, but my case is definingly worse. The week before last, we were both weeding the jungle that is our backyard. We managed to fill more than ten leaf bags, but there was still a lot left to do. Then the itching started. I was using my superstrength steroidal ointment, but it still seemed to be spreading and overall getting worse, mainly on my lower legs. I finally broke down and bought some over the counter poison ivy cream, mainly calamite lotion, but with added analgesics. Whether it is the new cream or the passing day, but things finally seem to be getting better now. Today, our gardener came by the house. He worked for four hours and filled another ten leaf bags. It was money well spent, the backyard looks practically naked now and seems much bigger too. I am so glad that the yard has now been cleared and should stay that way for a while.
It was madness, madness I tell you. When we accommodated the window guys, by granting their request to advance their installation appointment, we did not realize that this would double book us. We had forgotten about our previously scheduled appointment with our new financial advisor. We were forced to resort to a zone defense. Anne locked herself in the computer room, with the desktop PC and two iPhones. Girding her loins, she prepared herself for some heavy lifting and set about shoveling her money around. Meanwhile, I dealt with the three window guys from Quincy. I indicated to them the four windows to be replaced and they quickly set to work. Soon old storm windows and original 1937 window frames were marching out the front door, on their way first to the curb and then oblivion. The three gentlemen began with the upstairs windows, planning for the eventuality of summer heat, but it was not going to be that sort of day. Anne finished with her phone call at about the time that the other guys were done upstairs. Her was all mission accomplished. It seemed to take the guys longer to do the remaining bedroom windows, but they got it done. Pictured are the exterior and interior views of our new bedroom windows. There will be no more painting their trim. I was able to reinstall the Levolor blinds almost one-handed. Inspecting their work, we were very pleased with it and plan on rehiring them again next tax year. It still being only early afternoon, we went for a walk. At bedtime, it was nice enough to sleep with one window open.
Today, Joanie got her couch moved into her place. Two young men wrapped it up and moved it out. Joanie later texted that the couch is already cat approved. Put back together again, the living room looks pretty good now. The couch was one of three chores that I needed to get done in town. Yesterday, after way too long, I got the RAV4 back from Toyota and the day before that the window measuring guy came around the house and did his job. With these three chores complete, I am now free to move around the country.
Yesterday, we celebrated Earth Day a day early. I put money down for four new Energy Star windows. They should help conserve gas usage for heating in the winter and electricity use for cooling in the summer. These four windows represent the beginning of a ten-year plan to eventually redo the entire house. In conjunction with the recently passed Inflation Reduction Act, we will leverage the purchase of these new windows and the future new windows yet to come using the act’s tax credit. Other nice aspects of these new windows are their tilt out design for easier cleaning and their vinyl cladding that eliminates the need for future painting. This action is more substantial than attending the annual Earth Day festival in Forest Park, where we usually go, to shop new windows at some of the various vendor booths. Instead of going to the festival, I plan to spend the day working in the yard. That sounds greener.
Not much movement on either the car or the couch, but we have been otherwise consumed with shopping for new windows. We have nailed down the particulars of what we want. Four new windows, two in the master bedroom and two upstairs. We want them made of vinyl (white), with a tilt out feature for easier cleaning and they must be Energy Star certified, so that we can get the tax credit.
We booked appointments with four salesmen and could have had more, but why would you want that? The first guy showed up a day early or an hour late, depending on who was correct about the appointment’s time. His outfit was Mad City, a Wisconsin based firm. I assume out of Madison. They have recently opened an office in the area. He all too soon dropped a price that blew him out of the water. $7,000 per window was an order of magnitude higher than what I had expected. He was a talker and it seemed like forever before we could get him out of the house. As we had edged him to the front door, he launched into yet another story. This one set in northern Wisconsin. He and a partner were talking up a dairy farmer. They were still at it at midnight and this poor farmer had to get up at three to milk the cows. I felt for that farmer.
The next morning, we first met with “Glinda” the good witch. She represented Home Depot. Her spiel was much lower key as were her prices. She had PowerPoint slides and 3D models. From her I learned about virgin vinyl, not that I would have sex with a window, but apparently it is a selling point over recycled vinyl. Next up was Mike. Mike was Amish. Lapsed I think now. We got off topic and discussed our interactions with Amish communities both in Missouri and Michigan. Mike was easy to get off topic. He told us about a group of Amish who live in Sarasota. Among the Amish, it acts like their Las Vegas, “What happens in Sarasota, stays in Sarasota.” He had called earlier, while we were still meeting with Glinda, asking if he could move up his appointment. She overheard the conversation and told me later that he would not be able to meet her price. This was true, but only because she dropped her price once again in her proposal. Mike had an exact copy of the model that Glinda demoed, but naturally his was better.
