Caulk follow up

This handy thing just has worn me out. I'm so sore I can't move! I work out almost every day but I guess doing something new for such a spell is stressful. The worst thing is that I'm not done. I ran out of caulk and there are gaps with Great Stuff just sitting in there. I am not happy about this caulk thing or skillful. My caulk job looks ugly.

Working on the Manor

Today I'm removing caulk (with a painter's tool and rubber mallet) and re-caulking the house between an exterior wall and a sidewalk. There's a sort of large gap so I'm filling it first with foam. This is when home ownership is fatiguing. Remove caulk? ugh! We love living here though so I'll suffer for a little while.

Dee and I bought this house in January 2007. On January 25 we closed on the 27 we moved and on the 29 I turned 40. An auspicious week to be sure. We looked at pictures on the web before we even viewed the house and thought it was certainly out of our modest reach. I hate to be all caught up in a building but this house just blew us away. First of all it isn't full of little rooms. It's a house for grown ups with no kids. It has four big rooms and a big garage. The living room is what wow-ed us. At 20 x 20 (feet), it was just a tremendous room. It is a perfect setting for cocktail parties although we've refrained.

The kitchen had been remodeled into a sleek contemporary room. The construction was a bit amazing to us. All the closets but one are cedar lined. All the windowsills are marble. We did have to ditch the dripping chandelier.It looks like a brick ranch home on the outside and the surprise come after walking in. The hard wood floors had been refinished. All the stainless appliances were included. The guy who owned the house had some legal trouble and had to give it up. Drug addiction is no joke. But his loss couldn't have been a gain to two better people. But - I digress - I must get my mallet and tool and get to work.

Me - as a cartoon character

The front door has become my enemy. There is an inside door and and outside glass door. Then there is a small step down. Right now there is a large trash can sitting near it to avoid it blowing over in the wind we've been having. It impedes opening the outside door all the way. I'll move that in the morning.

Today as I was leaving for work I caught the small loop on my sling pack (bag that sits over one shoulder)on the outside door handle. The inside door was a little open and I couldn't reach it to close it. I was holding coffee which I couldn't sit down - unable to bend because I was tethered to the door. I debated throwing it into the yard - not precious coffee! The cats - oh the risk. Margeaux or Vegas may run out and Stumpy might run IN. I knew I had to close the access. I strained and got a finger on the inside door and got it at least mostly closed and I then began the struggle to free myself. I'm lucky I didn't have to wait for a passer by to free me. I felt like the "retard" in the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous when he gets his bib overalls stuck on a parking meter. Writhing around trying to contort out of the situation - looking like some type of comedy act.

This evening I went out to see if I left my ever-shrinking cell phone in my car. Remember the days when talking in a cell phone was like talking in your shoe? I am wistful. My car is currently parked out front while we await a replacement garage door. On my way back in, conscious Stumpy was advancing on my rear and Margeaux was approaching from the front, I started in the front door and stumbled in. I fell and my foot was caught in the outside door. It was a slow fall and I wasn't really hurt as much as I touched my wounded knee which is excruciating. I'm mad at that door. It better stop it's shenanigans or it's getting replaced with a CURTAIN!

Keeping up with things

The size of the town matters when it comes to eating out, driving places, doctors and businesses but it doesn't matter where you live, day-to-day existence is similar. When I lived in Chicago, I went to work, came home and had a couple hours in the day to keep up with things, cook, clean, read, watch movies, etc. The same goes for life in Moberly. My transit here is very short but in Chicago I listened to music and read on the el so transit wasn't really bad anyway.

Keeping up with things is always there. Our house - well - it needs caulked around the structure and I am afraid I've almost waited too long for it this season although it really needs it. UGH! I looked up the process and I need to REMOVE the old caulk - how tiresome. One gap is large so it will be filled before caulking so yet another step. My dad would be a little frustrated that I haven't gotten this chore done yet but we are committed to taking care of it before the end of the upcoming weekend. You hear that dad? We really really will take care of it!

Finally Fall

This summer was brutal. It seemed to hover in the sweaty zone for three months! It is finally cooling down but with that comes the winter worries - what will the stray cats do? Well, first we've built one house for them out of plastic tubs and straw. Stumpy really would like to be an indoor cat but we've limited ourselves to three cats - we can't be freaky cat ladies! So Dee built stumpy a little house on the front porch with a towel and a box. We may have to make that a bit more substantial but it's a start.

My concern is that we must get the females spayed. There are enough stray cats and we cannot be adding to the population. But without being overly dramatic, we are not made of money and food and shelter for alley cats is eating at us so we're going to try to find a vet to spay them a little cheaper. We can't even catch the females yet though.

These cats!

Carrie Ingalls and Puffy

New cats at the food this morning and afternoon - Carrie Ingalls (looks like Laura Ingalls - probably the child of Mae West) and Puffy - a gray tabby whose tail is always real fluffy. I surmise that Puffy's tail is big just to show Stumpy how having a fluffy tail can be glorious! The names of these cats will probably change when Dee, the catnamer, rules on what they shall be called. Puffy and Carrie are still afraid of us. That's okay - they can't follow us inside anyway.

Stumpy remains bold and now will enter the garage and fight the dog in the back yard. She gave Daisy a couple good scratches over the weekend but Daisy hasn't learned yet. She's a dog.