Exit Strategies

Cabin at Night

Bubble, bubble toil and trouble. I said trouble, like right here in River City. You know, like when you start picking at something and it just gets worse? That’s what I’m talking about here. While this photo is not optimal, because of its time of day, its angle is correct. The problem is in the vicinity of the kitchen door. Remember the wood rot that Harry tried to address at the base of the left side of the kitchen door? He used wood putty and the like, but that has not worked. That door frame has gotten worse. Much worse. Tonight, exiting the cabin, Dave put his toe through the inside the kitchen flooring. The wood rot has extended that far. Further, examining the exterior paneling, the base of the paneling from the kitchen door to the back corner of the porch, appears to have rot along its base too. IMHO, the root cause of all of these problems is the overhanging gutter. It does not extend to the edge of the porch, leaving several feet of roofline without a gutter. The rain falls on the roof there and then falls directly on deck. In addition to the aforementioned problems, this situation causes that section of the deck to get very slippery. It probably also contributed to the settling of the deck in that area that Dan addressed this summer.

Tomorrow, Anne and Dave are proposing an exploratory under cabin crawl. Bill came by and suggested reaching out to Arbic. I think that this is a good idea. He may not do this kind of work but may furnish us a lead. Bill also helped me with my plans for the sleeping porch stairs. I plan on buying five 12″x36″x2″ pieces of treated wood to replace the eclectic mix of stairs there. One of which appears to be a half log firewood piece that Declan was tearing apart with his fingers.

Cabin Mess

Cabin Mess

Let’s face it. We’re slobs. All of us, but we’re lovable slobs. Besides we’re family. You’ve got to love us. Right? We tried sweeping once, but that did not last. Don’t worry though, we’ll eventually clean up our act. Probably on Wednesday, when everyone leaves. It’s a good thing that we haven’t broken out the Brio. In other news, Wyatt is feeling better and took his first step.

đź’Ąđź’©đź’ĄExplosive Diarrhea đź’Ąđź’©đź’Ą

Pumping Up

Cyclosporiasis is an intestinal illness caused by a parasite. Its principal symptom is so-called “explosive diarrhea.” Other symptoms include fatigue and irritability. This microscopic parasite is usually caught by ingesting food or water that already contains it. While an outbreak of cyclosporiasis has spread to 31 states, Southeastern Michigan is currently an epicenter. No one I know has succumb as of yet, but fear of watery bowels is rampant and while we may have nothing to fear except fear itself, this too can lead to fatigue and irritability.

This morning on our way to Harry’s we stopped for gas, which was over $4, thank you Joe Biden Donald Trump. The station had those pumps that talk to you. Maybe just to distract you from their high prices. Anyway, while I was pumping gas, I swear that the voice on the pump used the f-word. Anne thought so too. She thought that there was a couple next to us who were fighting and slumped down to avoid the expected gunfire.

My WordPress service provider offers up “related” past posts. I guess using an AI reading of what I have written. Here is an example and a reminder to always wash your hands:

When I arrived at work this morning a rather unusual conversation was occurring. A women engineer had said, “After I pump gas, I always use hand sanitizer, because you never know where that nozzle has been.” An engineer suggest using gasoline to sterilize the pump handle, which sounded dangerous. Another male engineer responded, “I don’t worry about pumping gas, but I do worry about using a public restroom, because you don’t know what people have been doing in there. “What do you think that people do in a bathroom”, I thought, but did not voice. 

Dan and Britt are expected here sometime tonight. Hopefully their drive from NYC goes well.