Scenes from the Past Few Days (part one)

So this morning, I painted my ceiling pink.

Did that catch your attention? It probably shouldn’t have. It really isn’t shocking in 2020. Also, I should add that I thought I was painting my ceiling purple–at least that is what it said on the can. More specifically, it said “mauve” but why open up that can of worms.

One of my current projects is sprucing up my guest room. When I moved in many years ago, the previous occupant had been a young child who visited his grandmother on occasion–my neighbour filled me in on all the details. The walls had been adorned with rather crude castles, stars, and several versions of the planet Saturn. This might have been dramatic if the pictures had been done well. Instead they were done with paint that didn’t wash off. It also was hard to cover over despite going to “the good paint store” with the “good name” and buying their primer.

Last week I went to Home Hardware (not Home Depot) and bought some of their primer. It covered it up in one solid coat. Fantastic. Wish I had done it sooner. I was told the “good paint store” was better, but now I don’t think so. When I figure out what colour I want the walls to be, that is where I am going to buy it.

As for the ceiling, they have this paint that goes on pink (despite saying purple on the lable–and since I went to Western, I know what the colour purple is) but quickly turns white after it is applied. Pretty cool. Of course online reviews mentioned this pink purple fiasco because one customer was colour blind to pink but not purple–you can imagine the hostile language used.

While I wouldn’t call painting fun, the idea of getting something done that has hung over me for a while was fantastic. Definitely a Perfect Moment. Once I get the room done, I will turn it back into a guest room and house my stamp collection and stamp desk there. That should free up some real estate in both the master bedroom, the basement and the home office. I am not sure what I will do with the space, but I am sure it will come in handy.

Thanks to the Covid weight gain, a turbo trainer would be ideal if I could find one.

Are there any projects waiting to be done in your space? I would love to hear what they are and what is keeping you from getting them done.

Conversations about Hardware and Price Gougers

I should tell you a little something about myself that is not necessarily obvious. It is true that I am a teacher and need to be very outgoing in that profession. It is also true that writing a public blog that potentially anyone in the world could read (and it is unclear why they don’t) seems to lend itself to the definition of outgoing. However, I sometimes shy away from conversations with strangers or store clerks. Keep this in mind as you read Today’s Perfect Moment.

I recently changed the light bulb in my oven. This is not a particularly difficult feat, but it did necessitate the removal of the light bulb cover. On my girlfriend’s oven, this required a special grippy cloth to accomplish. Mine didn’t need that, but it did require care because the cover is cracked completely in two. I have lived with it this far, but I thought it might be prudent to get a replacement. I figured that a hard glass piece like that was worth about five dollars. When they quoted me a price of over 80, I was almost speechless. I checked online and could only find one for about 65 dollars.

My next thought was to glue it back together. Realizing that it would be in the oven, I wondered if conventional glue would just burn off or poison my cooking. There must be a glue for this application.

I went to Canadian Tire because it is pretty much my go to store. I prefer Home Hardware, but I didn’t think that glue for glass and heat were really up their alley. At the store, I lined up a few alternatives and was really at a loss for what to do and which one to buy. Not surprisingly, none of them had “good for oven light bulb covers” written on the packaging.

So, I decided to ask someone at the store. I didn’t ask the young kid who looked like he would rather be skateboarding. Instead, I talked to someone a bit more mature who was working at the paint counter (which also held the adhesives). We talked about the products and in the end he talked me out of buying anything. I am not sure that is store policy, but I felt good getting his honest review of the choices.

You might wonder how not solving my problem and not buying anything can be Today’s Perfect Moment. What I should remind you of is that I generally don’t like talking to store clerks (so much so that I would rather wander around the store myself that ask one for help most times) and that I figured they might sell me something that wasn’t going to work. Keeping all that in mind, it is obvious that getting good advice from someone I probably wasn’t going to approach is Today’s Perfect Moment.

I should also note that when I told him the price of the replacement, he just shook his head and muttered some bad words about price gouging and terrible people.

If you know what kind of glue I can use on glass bulb covers in an oven which can be set as high as 500 degrees, please let me know.

What I Haven’t Done

While we all have been staying at home, many of us have found time to do things we did not have the time to do before–though I suspect we had the time, we probably wanted to use in on something else.  One of my co-workers is learning how to juggle.  Another is reorganizing his whole house.  Some are even learning to play guitar.

I haven’t done anything amazing like the above, but as I have already written about, I have managed to knock a number of things off the “to do” list and found time to investigate more future hobbies. (see my hobby blog for that).  The funny thing is not what I have done, but what I haven’t done.

Today, I noticed that the Saturday crossword in the comics pages of the woefully small newspaper.  It’s Sunday and there isn’t a mark on it.  It used to be that it was a priority for me.  Reading was also a priority.  I’ve still got the book I brought back from Colombia unfinished.  That is really unlike me.  I also haven’t watched a lot of TV or movies.

Then it hit me.  I chose to prioritize many of those things because they didn’t require a lot of physical energy.  The commute to and from work used to really wear me out.  I was up early and getting home late.  I needed to save my energy for bike rides when warm and snow shoveling in winter.  Now, I seem to have much more energy to tackle home projects and consider tackling even bigger ones.

Maybe I need to work from home forever……

A Chance to Use my Tools

Always good when you can break out the tools.

There’s is nothing like a home repair done well to make you feel accomplished.  Okay, there are lots of things that make you feel accomplished.  However, since I am not a particularly handy man….or handy handyman…..whenever I get something done well and not half-assed duct tape MacGyver style well done, I feel really good.

Last night my parts from Amazon arrived and I could tackle the screen door.  I really didn’t want to have to resort to Amazon.  I wanted to visit my locally owned hardware store, but the truth of the matter is that they have all been forced to close.  Also, I probably didn’t need to buy the whole set up, but that is what I could find online.  Besides, the other one, while still functioning probably needed some TLC, rust removal and a new paint job.

The job itself was very easy, but I made sure to clean up and sand the area after filling in the old screw holes a few days ago.  I really should have painted, but since the paint store is closed and the temperature is still not optimal, this will have to wait a month or more.  I even read the instructions.

I got to  break out my tools and apply some of my newly found patience.  I feel good, and that’s what makes it Today’s Perfect Moment.

What DIY/home projects are you now tackling–assuming you have the time?

Some Thoughts

Besides the obvious, there are some unusual things that make teaching from home different from teaching at school.

1.  Despite students’ assurances that technology is their slave and not the other way around, they are not nearly as adept as they think they are.  They seem unable to get the files that were uploaded for them.  They fail to use spell checking on their writing despite the fact that they used to beg me to send their work by email so they could use spellchecking and Grammerly to “improve” their work.  They also seem to choose incompatible programs to both create and view work.
2. I don’t have to worry about students using their phones to chat with other people while taking class.  Often they are using their phones to participate in class.
3. My breaks allow me to do pesky household chores that used to have to wait until I got home from work.  I can check the mail, clean the cat box, start a load of laundry, make another pot of coffee, wash a few dishes, speak to my girlfriend, take out the trash, fill up the brita, do a couple of minutes of planking, reorganize the drawers in my desk, ….the list goes on and on.
4. I can send pestering emails for students to do their homework–I don’t, but the point is that I could.
5. Students can’t use the excuse that “I forgot my book at home.”  They can’t use the excuse that they forgot their homework at home either.
6. I can no longer use the joke that homework is the work you do at home when I catch them doing their homework rapidly in the classroom before it starts.  It’s too bad because I like that joke.
7. Despite quality cameras, I am not sure my “grammar face” comes across well on screen.  For those who don’t know, this is the face I make when I want to tell them that something they have done is wrong and that it is something they have already studied or I am confident that they already know and they should fix it rather than expect me to provide them with the answers.  It works quite well.

I just wanted to share my thoughts on this topic.  It has only been a few weeks, but I don’t see it reverting back to the classroom for at least another month.  Hopefully by the end I will have learned a whole new bag of tricks.

Break Out the Toolbox

When it comes to home repair, I don’t think of myself as a superstar. At key moments, I lose confidence and that is frustrating.  Sometimes, I rush it and don’t do a good enough job.  I want to be able to tackle repair jobs not only because it would save me money, but because I want to be capable.

The other day, my oven stopped working. Based on what happened, I was confident that my diagnosis of the problem was correct.  The ignitor for the oven had worn out.  This happened about ten years ago and the symptoms were the same.  The last time this happened I had a repair person come in.  I watched them do the job and it seemed easy enough.  When I got the bill, I felt quite upset.  For what was probably 20 minutes work and one part, I had to pay over 160 dollars.  I guess that’s what you have to pay for the knowledge of the repair man.

This time, I felt more confident that I could do the job myself. Rather than rely on my memory, I watched a few videos and noted that my part was basically a plug in kind of thing.  The connections were already made and nothing actually electrical would need to be done.  I ordered the part and it was delivered on Wednesday.

So, this morning, I got out my toolbox, my light, my vacuum (because this was an opportunity to clean up the oven space as well) and set about doing the job. While I wasn’t as fast as the stove repair person from ten years ago, I was quick enough.  The job was relatively easy and required only two tools; a Philips screwdriver and a 5/16ths wrench.  Of course I used my light and my magnet bowl so I wouldn’t lose the screws, but those aren’t really tools, but rather things that help the process.

After the job was done, I celebrated by making myself a pizza.  If only I had had a Cherry Coke to go with it.

Do I feel good about saving myself at least a hundred dollars? Hell yeah!  More importantly, I feel more confident and I am proud of the work I did.  That is Today’s Perfect Moment.

Man vs. Squirrel

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

A few weeks ago, I came face to face with the thing all homeowners don’t want to encounter. I saw a squirrel climbing though a gap in my siding.  I managed to scare him off, but I was worried.  It was a combination of horror at the damage and worry about how much money it was going to cost me.

I investigated and noticed that the critter had pulled my siding away from the house to make a home for winter. I dealt with it quickly and secured the siding, and reduced the gap.

Well, not long after that, I noticed that the little bastard had chewed through the wooden upper part of the window to gain access to his little hole again.

I am sure I screamed loud enough for the entire neighbourhood to hear.

Now the battle was on. Obviously the little bastard was not going to give up his home without a fight.

I solicited help at work and got a myriad of stories from chilli peppers to other noxious substances. I was given a mild lecture on predators and the food chain.  I was even told interesting stories of people who ate squirrels.  I was informed that poisoning was not condoned, but that trapping and releasing would require a substantial drive.  I was also told to take care of the problem as soon as possible.

Round one had been a failure. Round two involved wire mesh across the entire window frame.  I will probably look less ugly when I have a chance to paint it.  It also involved filling the gap with expanding foam.  So far, the squirrel has made repeated attempts to get in, but has failed.  My window screen has taken quite a bit of abuse and the foam that escaped from the holes across the wire mesh has been completely shredded, but he has not gotten in.

Of course, I forgot to wear gloves for this procedure and still have some of the foam stuck to my hands. Not pleasant, but that’s what I get for not reading the instructions.***

When the weather warms up, I am going to have to find a better solution, but hopefully the squirrel will find somewhere else to hibernate for winter.  Obviously, this is not a Perfect Moment, but dealing with a house and all the problems that arise rarely is.

Have you had any determined animal problems?  How did you solve them?

***I was watching Seth’s Mountain Bike Hacks on YouTube and he recommended using sea salt as an abrasive.  It worked quite well and my hands, while not completely free of the gunk that’s on them, are much better.