In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2) by SIGNYM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

SIX, glad you listened to your body and not the machine!

Also, are you drinking enough water and - just as important - eating enough SALT?

Hubby gets very fatigued and his heart starts skipping beats if not enuf salt, and I get debilitating cramps.

Be careful with yourself!

Oh yeah, and fuck Dexcom.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 11:32 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:

I try to avoid the management as much as possible because they don't really do much around here. And since I've moved in and I have been here around 6years now. The first manager I don't know who she worked for but she was here a while. I told her about the oven not working, so came up and had a look. Said she get operating instructions for me. I asked her twice and she never did. She left because she got sick. Second lady worked for the actual owners of the building and she was only here a couple of years, then there was a third that worked for a property management company and she was here a couple of years. Only came in once or twice a week. There was a repair company then the left. So basically now the building is on the "fourth" property management company and they are really in the office. Signs up saying call this company about things. They only come in when they are called.

Oh, I know about all the hassle and taxes. But at times I do feel like someone is looking over my shoulder making sure I do things right. Gets me down is all.

. I know what you mean. Houses mean different things to different people, but for me it always meant a garden. I missed having a garden whenever I lived in an apartment, and even when we had a townhouse, altho at this point I'm like SIX: I could do with less garden AND less house.

I guess if you're going to dream of the ideal, may as well make it a smaller, newer, well built house and yard with a porch, in the city, close to doctors and pharmacies and bus line.

Now THAT sounds ideal!

We can dream, eh?

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 11:39 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX, glad you listened to your body and not the machine!

Yeah... I had to. It was either my blood sugar was low or I'm dying.

I don't eat much during the day still unless I need to, and that's still never slowed me down. But you can just tell when it's happening. I never got so low today that I started seeing "sun spots" in the center of my vision, but that's only because I felt them coming on and took action when my sensor was not doing its job before its complete failure.

Quote:
Also, are you drinking enough water and - just as important - eating enough SALT?

Probably not. I never add salt to anything, and I don't eat a lot of junk food. I should have been drinking water today instead of coffee, but the high was only 71 (YAY!) and I didn't feel that I needed it. I don't think I would have broken a sweat if it wasn't from the hypoglycemia sweats.

Quote:
Hubby gets very fatigued and his heart starts skipping beats if not enuf salt, and I get debilitating cramps.

Be careful with yourself!

Good advice. I will try to do better with both of them.

Quote:
Oh yeah, and fuck Dexcom.

I bitch about their prices, but if you're looking to meet your maker, $800 for 3 Dexcom sensors is a lot cheaper than a visit to Dr. Kevorkian.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, July 22, 2026 11:45 PM

By the way, Sigs...

I looked back at my story and I realized that I didn't actually paint the accurate picture.

When I finally took my blood, it was after I ate the chips and gave myself a small extended bolus (over 4 hours instead of immediately).

My old finger prick sensor appears to have died for good already. I did have the one the education center gave me that I never use because it required completely different strips than I had on hand, but it also came with 10 strips. I didn't find that one until after I'd already eaten. I don't know how much time was in between, but there was surely enough time for the food to start kicking in.

I wasn't sitting in that shower doing nothing for 3 minutes at 80/82. I operate just fine in the 70's and 80s. I had to be low 50's or even in the 40's in that shower. Not the mid to low 40's because that's when I start going blind in the center of my vision, but low enough that combined with 5 hours of exercise had me not even wanting to stand up.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 1:41 AM

Off to mah jong tomorrow and a few errands after.

My area almost hit 100F this afternoon.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 1:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:

I try to avoid the management as much as possible because they don't really do much around here. And since I've moved in and I have been here around 6years now. The first manager I don't know who she worked for but she was here a while. I told her about the oven not working, so came up and had a look. Said she get operating instructions for me. I asked her twice and she never did. She left because she got sick. Second lady worked for the actual owners of the building and she was only here a couple of years, then there was a third that worked for a property management company and she was here a couple of years. Only came in once or twice a week. There was a repair company then the left. So basically now the building is on the "fourth" property management company and they are really in the office. Signs up saying call this company about things. They only come in when they are called.

Oh, I know about all the hassle and taxes. But at times I do feel like someone is looking over my shoulder making sure I do things right. Gets me down is all.
. I know what you mean. Houses mean different things to different people, but for me it always meant a garden. I missed having a garden whenever I lived in an apartment, and even when we had a townhouse, altho at this point I'm like SIX: I could do with less garden AND less house.

I guess if you're going to dream of the ideal, may as well make it a smaller, newer, well built house and yard with a porch, in the city, close to doctors and pharmacies and bus line.

Now THAT sounds ideal!

We can dream, eh?

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

At this stage of the game that is all I am doing. Dreaming.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 2:58 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

To me, it's a little like "What would I do if I won the lottery?" Kind of pleasant. But maybe it just makes you sad.

Sorry about that, BRENDA.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 3:08 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Speaking of home expenses ... we just laid out a chunk of change for having the rat proofing, trapping, and cleanup/ sanitizing completed.

I saw a "before" picture of all the rat droppings around the air handler and it was NASTY. Eeeeew. But at least I know it wasn't a long standing issue bc I had the electronic filter serviced about a year ago and there was no problem then.

Thinking about how you got rid of the raccoon in your attic, SIX, and cut tree branches back to deny access. I wish I had your energy, I could have saved a bundle of $$$ doing the work myself.

Oh BTW speaking of trash trees ... the huge tree we had removed lo these many years ago was also a silver maple, and it was rotten on the inside with a squirrel nest chewed into it. I thought it was partly bc the tree was stressed being in a warm climate. I guess silver maples just generally aren't good shade trees, no matter where you are in the USA.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 3:18 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Looks like our temps are gonna be between 90F and 95F for the foreseeable.

Ugh!
I hate summer!

It'll be interesting to see our (yearly, cumulative) electricity bill in Aug. I'm sure glad we have solar!

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 4:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Speaking of home expenses ... we just laid out a chunk of change for having the rat proofing, trapping, and cleanup/ sanitizing completed.

Yuck. Big expense?

I've got moles ruining all my outside work every second of the day they're not sleeping. Doesn't matter how many times I've killed them, they always come back. Everybody else has them too, and nobody does anything about it.

I've just resigned myself to it now. I can fix all of that before I sell, and as long as I try to keep up with it a little bit until then, it shouldn't be that much work and money to do. I'm just done doing most of the work outside or any plans for future work beyond putting down rock on the other side of the garage and resurfacing the driveway. I'm just done with doing any outdoor projects that aren't absolutely necessary since they're just such a massive waste of time and energy.

Half the stuff I've done outside in the last 15 years looks like crap today. Even all the basement window exteriors that I caulked up and painted really nice look like crap and need to be redone, despite all my prep work and using rustoleum oil based paint. Total garbage now.

But I just proved to myself I can neglect a finished room for going on 10 years and spend 2 hours cleaning it up and it looks like I just finished working on the room yesterday.

Whoever buys this house is going to be buying a castle on the inside, with a criminal deterrent exterior. There are a few really beauitful exteriors on my block. If the Wet Bandits ever start casing out this joint, they're going to drive right on by...

Their loss.

Quote:
I saw a "before" picture of all the rat droppings around the air handler and it was NASTY. Eeeeew. But at least I know it wasn't a long standing issue bc I had the electronic filter serviced about a year ago and there was no problem then.

Thinking about how you got rid of the raccoon in your attic, SIX, and cut tree branches back to deny access. I wish I had your energy, I could have saved a bundle of $$$ doing the work myself.

I'm hoping it makes you feel better when I let you know you're misremembering some of the events on my end. I did cut branches back the year before I had the two trees cut down, but only what I could manage with that 14 foot ladder and the extension pole. In between doing that and having the tree cutters seriously cut that thing back away from my house, I had that night where the family of 6 or 7 raccoons were trying to get on my roof from that tree and I spent 3 or 4 hours terrorizing them before they finally got down and ran away (and I've never seen a raccoon on my property again, although me and two of them standing on the back of a carport somebody has across the ditch had a really good look at each other one day, and I think they remembered me with the way they both stood up as we started at each other )

And most of my attic has drywall up. It will never be opened because I don't know what raccoon shit looks like and I have no intention on finding out. It stopped smelling during the humid summers 3 or 4 years back. As far as I'm concerned, it never happened.

Quote:
Oh BTW speaking of trash trees ... the huge tree we had removed lo these many years ago was also a silver maple, and it was rotten on the inside with a squirrel nest chewed into it. I thought it was partly bc the tree was stressed being in a warm climate. I guess silver maples just generally aren't good shade trees, no matter where you are in the USA.

Oh... I don't know about everywhere, but they're AWFUL here, Sigs. Sounds like you know exactly what I'm talking about. Unfortunately, for reasons I'm sure you know, I'm not going to post those pictures, but I snapped quite a few while they were working. The tree close enough to the walkway that the roots were able to shift it slightly out of place and which was leaning toward my house was hollow from the first 10 feet up. Some of it damn near completely as you went to the top.

When the people I ultimately went with came around for a quote, unlike the other people they didn't require me to be around and they just did a drive by. But before I did it, they wanted me to put duct tape on the two I wanted cut down so they knew which one they were only trimming back. I went out to put the tape on the trees and as I put it up on that one I sensed something moving right above my head. It was a squirrel that popped out of the side of the tree about 2.5 feet above me and damn near knocked me right on my ass and scared the piss out of me.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 4:15 PM

It just occured to me that my memory does in fact remember what racoon shit looks like, and yes... I probably do have pictures of it too. I think I blocked out that time I went into the attic above the porch after they were gone when it was about 120 degrees up there and nearly nearly fell down the pull-down ladder when I got my first whiff.

That's right. I remember being up there with gloves and cleaning whatever I could off the surface of the ceiling drywall. I never found anything I would consider evidence of urine, so I don't know where they were doing that. And with the amount of crap that was in that open area I could get to, which I assume was just from Momma alone, I don't even want to imagine how much was in the actual den itself.

*guuuuuhhhhh*

Okay... I'm done reliving this horror now.

Back in the box with you, foul memory!

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 5:25 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
To me, it's a little like "What would I do if I won the lottery?" Kind of pleasant. But maybe it just makes you sad.

Sorry about that, BRENDA.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

I've said to myself about what I would do with the big prize money from the lottery. It does make sad but at times it is nice to think about.

Nothing I can do about it now.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 5:30 PM

Hey Sigs...

I was doing a little writing about a movie I saw last September called Enemy and some cool logs from a chat with Google AI regarding my theories that I wrote all the way back then on the movie.

I saw the thumbnail of a video I posted to explain how the director was using the set from the main character's rich mother (who we assume is widowed, but could be divorced... it's never discussed. And even though the movie centers around the women in his life, the father is never once mentioned or recognized in any way as if he never existed at all).

And my explanation for how the set was decorated was nearly spot on. (It could possibly be 100% spot on, but it's possible I may have read even more into the scene than either the author of the novel or the director of the movie intended. I don't believe so.)

But anyway... I wanted to show you the picture of her apartment and how they played that light to subtly let the viewer know that she was a Black Widow, and how this feeds into the hidden story of cyclical abuse and the theme of history repeating itself, and how Marx said it was a farce the 2nd time it happened.

Shadowplay....

I'm pretty sure those 3 lamps are symbolic of her three dead husbands, but I haven't yet found any confirmation of that, and it could be where I was reaching beyond their intent.

But that theory fits the story perfectly without adding any holes, and it makes a great movie even better, in my opinion. His mother is only in this one scene in that one set and may not ever be brought up again (memory has faded by now though, so it's possible maybe she also speaks to him on the phone or leaves a message on an answering machine at some point, but nothing would break in the story if her husband(s) all died at her hand, rather than natural causes or divorce, and it would also improve the story and Jake Gyllenhall's character).

ETA: I wonder if the dangling black crystals off the black lamps could also symbolic of something. Maybe just the "dangling" men naturally do being another subtle hint of what the lamps meant in that scene?

Or perhaps the 3 lights weren't just 3 husbands, but maybe she's actually a very successful serial killer and the dangles represent men she was not married to that she did just for fun on the side during 3 marriages? Lots of possibility here.

None of them necessary at all, but I do believe any one of them would make it an even better movie than it already is. Especially since the theme of spiders plays such an important role in both confusing the hell out of the audience that isn't aware they're in for a really deep movie, and also being the beginning of the bread crumb trail you need to follow to uncover what the movie was really about.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, July 23, 2026 5:30 PM

So-so morning at mah jong today. Too many big or reasonable scores for me to get anywhere.

Cooler when I went out that I wished I had my jacket on. Just a little warmer on my way back. Suppose to rain on the weekend. Have to see what happens.

Got a couple of small things done at the grocery store.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, July 24, 2026 3:13 PM

Out and about on what seems to be a cooler day. Actually got some rain last night. Not a whole lot but some.

Need to do a bit of grocery shopping.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, July 24, 2026 6:06 PM

All done for today. When I went out temp was sitting around 78F seems we ticked up some. Now sitting 82F.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Friday, July 24, 2026 11:31 PM

One more day to work outside before it's back in the 90's for a few days.

Got my aunt's box sanded down and got some wood filler where it needs to go. Fortunately the work they'd done inside the box was pretty light and easy to take care of. Outside was a bear and took 12 of my velcro sanding pads. Good thing I've got about 20 boxes of those, and that was about half of one box.

I did the outside of the bookshelf from my grandma's house and started doing the inside, but I knew that wasn't going to work out well with all those inside corners. I still had about 1/5th of a pail of the stain/paint remover... Not the good stuff, but the crap that they sell us today after making the good stuff illegal, but it's good enough for what I need. I'm painting this thing, so it only needs to be sanded to get the shiny crap off. I almost threw that out last week, so I'm glad I saved it for today. Used it all up and now it's in the trash.

Also cleaned up the box hinges with my belt sander as well as the two sets of hinges for the bifolds I still need to finish and put up. Got primer on both sides and two coats of the Oil Rubbed Bronze on one side. They'll be easy to finish tomorrow.

Tomorrow I need to wash the rest of that crap off the bookshelf and then give it one more quick sand down.

After that, I'm going to start working on the 6 ceiling vents and the two wall vents for the basement. There doesn't appear to be too much rust on them, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

If I get all that done, that will leave me plenty to work on for a few days inside while I'm dodging the heat.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 12:43 AM

I wasn't going to post anything until I put finish on, but then I looked at the pics and thought it was worth a post.

First pic is that rear projection TV screen base I was talking about using to hold a bunch of the furniture I'd taken from my Grams, but I'd be able to move it around when I needed to. I hate it, and I can't wait for it to be gone, but at least it was movable. And all that will be left on it now is the really nice chest I took for myself, and that interesting little end-table piece on top, so it won't be in the way of much and will be a lot easier to push around now.

I forgot to take after pictures of the bookshelf from today's work since it's not finished anyway, so the only picture of it right now is the back of it on this pile.

Not too bad inside. I don't know what that dark crap was, but I'm actually thinking that it was a type of adhesive somebody used from probably 60 years ago. You can tell, only from the bottom, that there has been some repairs to this over the years. It's sturdy now. I beat the hell out if it with power sanders all day and it didn't fall apart on me.

I couldn't ultimately remove all of that dark stuff, but I'm not worried about it. This thing isn't going to be without its flaws no matter what I do before staining it, and things like that are going to add character to the final product and still look great under the polyurethane.

I didn't take any other pictures of the hinges. Probably should have after I hit them with the belt sander and got them all chrome and shiny, but they're 2 layers of paint over primer on them now. They're going to look great.

The outside was WORK...

The biggest problem when you're trying to sand pieces like this is that it doesn't matter how expensive your sandpaper was, it's just going to get almost immediately gummed up with all that ancient poly and that amber stain after the friction from sanding basically melts it into a wax. Had I been sanding something that was finished in the last 20 years it still would have happened, but to a much lesser degree and I wouldn't have flown through over a dozen sanding pads.

Those things aren't cheap, but I got a TON of them over the years when they were on a huge rebate, and then I noticed them on clearance. Tons of 40 packs of 80 and 120 grit. I could do everything left to do in my house 10 times with how many I'll still have left after this job, so no biggie.

This took the bulk of my day. I got a few hours into the bookshelf by working in the garage until 10PM and stripping that while I was sanding and spraying all my hinges.

THOSE DOVETAILS ARE BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

I'm far from ready for stain, but looking good so far. I have to spend some more time tomorrow with the power sanders so I can smooth out all the imperfections and work my way down to 120 grit paper. I'm not painting this thing and it's going to be in its Birthday Suit.

I want to keep the natural imperfections and I don't mind the remainder of that dark stuff in the bottom, but nothing looks worse on wood than sanding gouges. Even worse than the straight ones are the swirly ones you get from muscling around an orbital sander like I was doing out there all day with 80 grit because I didn't have any 50 grit to make it easy.

Some of the sand gouges are visible in this picture, but even the practically invisible ones will show up if you stain them. They all got to go. But it's still nice to see how well it cleaned up.

I'm both nervous and excited to see how the stain looks when it's finished. I've never used an unnatural color before, but this is going to be somewhat bluish-grey to match my aunt's existing furniture set. I took a swatch over there maybe 3 years ago now and bought the stain. Just finally getting to it now is all.

Oh... and I just remembered that I found a box of about 30 really nice sold black drawer pulls that I got for free after rebate a few years ago. And now that I just looked at my really nice chest at the bottom of the pile in the 1st pic and remembered it had handles, I may actually put nice black handles on either side of this box too. It would make it a lot easier to move around, I would think. I just throw it on my shoulder myself, but I know my aunt is never going to do that.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 1:13 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

That's beautiful wood! No wonder you don't want to paint it! Really fine grained and pretty figured. It might be birch, beech, or maple.

Very pretty!

One of these days I should put up a picture of a maple table I refinished about 45 years ago. It had this dark gunky stuff on it that I removed with methylene chloride paint stripper and sandpaper, and replaced with polyurethane. The coating is getting a little porous now. At some point it'll need refinishing again.

*****

I was a bit under the weather for a few days. Not majorly, but I had a sinus infection and my stuffy nose kept me from sleeping well, and I'm at the age where if I don't get enuf sleep I wind up spinning my wheels half the time the day following. But today I made up for all the wheel spinning, and managed to declutter/ dejunk more of the spare bedroom in addition to catching up on kitchen chores.

----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 1:38 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
That's beautiful wood! No wonder you don't want to paint it! Really fine grained and pretty figured. It might be birch, beech, or maple.

You're the expert.

I really wouldn't know, and that's a shame. My step-dad would have taught me all of that stuff if I wasn't too busy dicking around when I was younger. I knew it wasn't pine because it wasn't fun to sand.

Quote:
Very pretty!

Yeah. Thanks. I'm very pleased with the results so far and didn't really know how it was going to go. I haven't even looked at that thing since I stacked it up and had the chests covered with bed linens. I think in my mind it was worse than reality.

It was only after I posted pics here and looked at them that I realized just how much detail went into this piece originally. Obviously I knew the dovetails were there, but I took the top off immediately and didn't ever have the pieces together while I was working on it today.

I had no idea how nice those dovetails line up from top to bottom when the lid is on, and they also used the same piece of wood for the sides of the box and the side of the lid, so all that grain pattern matches up.

What a cool little box.

Yeah... You're right about this one. There are certain pieces you just don't put paint on. This is one of 'em.

And to think... It almost got thrown out.

My aunt made it sound for months like she wanted it, and then just about last minute she decided against it. She never told me why, but made it look like a painful choice to leave it behind. I think it was because it was so beat up. And she has no idea to this day that it wasn't thrown away.

Quote:
One of these days I should put up a picture of a maple table I refinished about 45 years ago. It had this dark gunky stuff on it that I removed with methylene chloride paint stripper and sandpaper, and replaced with polyurethane. The coating is getting a little porous now. At some point it'll need refinishing again.

I'd love to see it. You just need to resurface the top, or the whole table needs work? My grandma's cats made sure you'd have to do EVERYTHING.

Quote:
I was a bit under the weather for a few days. Not majorly, but I had a sinus infection and my stuffy nose kept me from sleeping well, and I'm at the age where if I don't get enuf sleep I wind up spinning my wheels half the time the day following. But today I made up for all the wheel spinning, and managed to declutter/ dejunk more of the spare bedroom in addition to catching up on kitchen chores.

I thought you were mad at me. Maybe you are. I deserve it. I'm never going to change my mind on that issue, regardless of how I came to that conclusion. I'm sorry that this keeps happening.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 4:16 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I get mad at you, SIX, but I don't stay mad!

I think you're incredibly ignorant about some things and people, but you're not innately malicious like some (AHEM!) people around here!

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 1:34 PM

That cabinet or whatever will look good once you do what you are going to do to it. But don't take this the wrong way but it sorta looks like an old coffin.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 1:35 PM

Laundry today to take it easy on my hands and also I have a secret about next weekend. I just hope nothing scuttles my plans.

Later an library return and something else small to do.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 2:32 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh SIX, I thought I should warn you about staining maple. Because the grain runs in different directions, it comes out BLOTCHY. REALLY blotchy.

I discovered that when I had to stain some maple legs to match the chest they were going to be added to. For me, in the end it didn't matter bc the wood I was staining wouldn't darken enough if I used the stain as a stain (i.e. wipe off) so I had to leave it on and use it as a glaze.

But it might come out BLOTCHY.

I also tried staining a scrap of birch plywood to see if I could color match a mahogany chest of drawers, and while the blotchiness wasn't as extreme, it was still there.

There are all kinds of tips and tricks to eliminate the blotchiness. The one that came out best, for me, was pre-finishing the wood with tung oil, but it still wasn't good. If I had used a solvent-based stain and mixed it with tung oil to make a finishing stain, it might have come out better. But I didn't have a lot of time to experiment so I never really solved the problem.

Anyway, do your research on staining maple, which is apparently the most difficult wood to stain evenly. Maybe see if you can find some scrap maple to practice on. I know you had a lot of practice staining your floors, so if you can find a good technique for staining maple, tell me about it! In detail!

*****

You're right, BRENDA. Come to think of it, it DOES kinda look like a coffin!

When SIX said he had a chest, I imagined, yanno, maybe something half that length. I was surprised how BIG it is. That's a serious amount of storage space!

How about a hint about next weekend, hmmmm?

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 2:37 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh, BTW I had to do the whole table. There was a deep red wine stain in the wood from when someone put a drippy bottle on it. In the end, I had to leave it bc I didn't want to sand that far down. But I think it gives the table character.

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 6:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh SIX, I thought I should warn you about staining maple. Because the grain runs in different directions, it comes out BLOTCHY. REALLY blotchy.

I discovered that when I had to stain some maple legs to match the chest they were going to be added to. For me, in the end it didn't matter bc the wood I was staining wouldn't darken enough if I used the stain as a stain (i.e. wipe off) so I had to leave it on and use it as a glaze.

But it might come out BLOTCHY.

I also tried staining a scrap of birch plywood to see if I could color match a mahogany chest of drawers, and while the blotchiness wasn't as extreme, it was still there.

There are all kinds of tips and tricks to eliminate the blotchiness. The one that came out best, for me, was pre-finishing the wood with tung oil, but it still wasn't good. If I had used a solvent-based stain and mixed it with tung oil to make a finishing stain, it might have come out better. But I didn't have a lot of time to experiment so I never really solved the problem.

Anyway, do your research on staining maple, which is apparently the most difficult wood to stain evenly. Maybe see if you can find some scrap maple to practice on. I know you had a lot of practice staining your floors, so if you can find a good technique for staining maple, tell me about it! In detail!

*****

You're right, BRENDA. Come to think of it, it DOES kinda look like a coffin!

When SIX said he had a chest, I imagined, yanno, maybe something half that length. I was surprised how BIG it is. That's a serious amount of storage space!

How about a hint about next weekend, hmmmm?

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

I know. Right. I was thinking of a chest something along the lines of the one I've got more modern.

Not a real big deal. I'm just hoping to hop over into Alberta for the long weekend. Only time my friends in Edmonton can squeeze me in.

I'm just concerned about the air line I take out there which is WestJet. Their attendants have decided to strike. If and that might be a big if, they wouldn't be able to do anything until August 2nd with 72hour strike notice. And that means that I might be able to get out there but getting back would be more difficult.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 6:18 PM

All done for today.

Got spat on when I went out and it tried again crossing from the library to the grocery store. Have to see if anything arrives to night.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 10:13 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I get mad at you, SIX, but I don't stay mad!

I think you're incredibly ignorant about some things and people, but you're not innately malicious like some (AHEM!) people around here!

Yeah... I can be pretty mean though. I know that. And I like you and I know you don't deserve that. But this one issue is always going to end with that result any time we revisit it.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
That cabinet or whatever will look good once you do what you are going to do to it. But don't take this the wrong way but it sorta looks like an old coffin.

No worries, Brenda. When I was carrying it in the house today over my shoulder, I thought the same thing. I had the scene from Terminator 3 when he was carrying Sarah Conner's coffin on his shoulder with a gat in the other hand shooting people.

It won't look anything like a coffin when it's done.

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh SIX, I thought I should warn you about staining maple. Because the grain runs in different directions, it comes out BLOTCHY. REALLY blotchy.

I discovered that when I had to stain some maple legs to match the chest they were going to be added to. For me, in the end it didn't matter bc the wood I was staining wouldn't darken enough if I used the stain as a stain (i.e. wipe off) so I had to leave it on and use it as a glaze.

But it might come out BLOTCHY.

I also tried staining a scrap of birch plywood to see if I could color match a mahogany chest of drawers, and while the blotchiness wasn't as extreme, it was still there.

There are all kinds of tips and tricks to eliminate the blotchiness. The one that came out best, for me, was pre-finishing the wood with tung oil, but it still wasn't good. If I had used a solvent-based stain and mixed it with tung oil to make a finishing stain, it might have come out better. But I didn't have a lot of time to experiment so I never really solved the problem.

Anyway, do your research on staining maple, which is apparently the most difficult wood to stain evenly. Maybe see if you can find some scrap maple to practice on. I know you had a lot of practice staining your floors, so if you can find a good technique for staining maple, tell me about it! In detail!

Are we sure it's maple? Did you figure that out or ask your husband to verify?

Any testing I'll do on the bottom. That makes the decision to just start with the bottom easy.

I don't have much hardwood floor experience. I only ever did it the one time in my house, and it was one of the first things I did after gutting the basement and getting the awful smell out of the house. I just did it so well that it looks like I have a lot of experience.

Yeah.. the only staining I've ever done in my life was those floors and the shelves and poles I did for my closets.

I'll make sure to wipe it all down with a wet rag before I start too. That helps open up the grain a bit, and even though I used my horse hair brush to dust it off, I know there's still residue on there that needs to come off before I start anyhow.

Hopefully it goes well. I've already burned the better part of 2 days on this and it's not work that's getting my house finished.

*****

Quote:
You're right, BRENDA. Come to think of it, it DOES kinda look like a coffin!

When SIX said he had a chest, I imagined, yanno, maybe something half that length. I was surprised how BIG it is. That's a serious amount of storage space!

How about a hint about next weekend, hmmmm?

My Grams called them "Hope Chests". She had 2 of them. The one I'm going to restore for myself one day is much nicer and probably quite a bit older too, but I've got to either repair or replace the entire bottom since that caved in at some point. I'm going to do whatever I can to use the old pieces and fix it because even though it will look nice either way, if there's any monetary value in it, I'm basically destroying that if I replace that bottom with new wood.

I've actually already got one in my house that's finished and beautiful from my mom and step dad. It's even got a "locking" mechanism. It doesn't actually lock, but in order to open it up, there is a button on the face at the center of a really decorative and elaborate face that you press in when lifting the top. I've got a beautiful antique set of furniture in the master bedroom from my lawyer uncle and his wife when they moved out of their huge house into a still huge condo in Chicago but not nearly big enough to stage half the stuff that was in that giant house. It's got a queen sized bed, and the chest sits at the base of the bed. It's less than a foot shy of the width of the Queen... probably 1/2 foot shy on either side sounds right. It's a great place to put extra blankets and pillows.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 10:23 PM

Another LONG day. I spent a good 4 hours on the box again doing my best to get it sanded down without any sanding gouges. I also took out my exacto knife and dental picks so I could cut away the glue that had made its way in the corners and sanded all that down too. It's not perfect inside, but I don't want it to be. If somebody wants perfect, they can go buy a piece of cardboard with a perfect spraypaint job from IKEA and wonder why it looks like crap and is falling apart 5 years from now.

I'm having another issue with another sensor. I'm wondering if this was a bad batch or something. It was fine for a couple of days, then all the sudden I was at 150 while working and without eating for probably 12 or more hours. That's not totally abnormal by itself since if I'm sweating and not rehydrating myself, a raise of 30 without food isn't out of the question.

But then it started going over 250, and I took insulin. And 30 minutes later I felt like shit and was sweating all over the place again. This one has never gone up to 400 yet, but I'm sitting at 330 right now, and I know that's bullshit. I had to take glucose tabs twice today to combat the lows I was giving myself because my monitors are trying to kill me.

Once I get settled in for the night I'll have some pictures. I got quite a lot done today.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 11:08 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Oh, jeez! about the monitor! Do you still have that glucose meter and strips? It wiuld be nice to know how low you've gone.

Oh not at all sure it's maple, but I had some of the same problem with birch. If you're prepared for maple it can only get better from there.

I hope you revisit the topic again some day. I think you're working from disinformation.

****

I hadn't really planned on it, but I took the grungy kitchen mat and a rug I'm going to give away, and dragged out dish detergent, the hose, and my old floor scrubber and scrubbed and rinsed them. The kitchen mat was horrific! I scrubbed and rinsed 3x and the water still ran off a little dirty.

While I was at it, I hosed off the vehicles and vacuumed the front carpets and mats. Not a great job but much MUCH better than before!

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 11:27 PM

Now that I got the bookshelf ready for paint I've got before and after pics. It doesn't look nearly as impressive as the sand job on the box, despite even using up all the rest of my stripping agent that was shockingly still good from when I did the kitchen cabinets. But it doesn't need to. I've removed more than enough for primer to hold, and it's all getting painted white anyhow.

It is some nice looking wood though. If it wasn't so gouged up and/or I really had time to put into it, this could look a lot nicer than a paint job. I'd have to replace the back too. It's just not worth it to me. It will be something I'll never get to if I start overthinking it.

My ceiling vents, and I'm really angry in retrospect that I didn't take a before picture of the backs of these things, because as bad as some of these look in the front, about 90% of the prep work was rust removal from the back of 1 in particular, but 3 in total that had a fair amount of it on the backs.

I sanded out as much rust as I possibly could by hand, using the stack of gummed up velcro sandpaper pads for my orbial sander. That's what I've been using to sand all the corners of the box and bookshelf too. They make for GREAT hand-held sandpaper with that thick padding in between from the soft side of the hook-and-loop.

And believe it or not, I didn't slice one of my fingers while doing it. I was quite sure that was going to happen, but I was careful.

All of this spray paint except for the $10 can of oil rubbed bronze that I've been using was free. I got about 12 cans of spray paint and primer free after rebate years back that I've slowly been burning through. I finished off the white primer today, unfortunately. But I have a can of grey primer, so it's not the end of the world. I should have been using that instead of white for the oil rubbed bronze. Duh.

Speaking of oil rubbed bronze...

While I was waiting for paint to dry, I spotted this ceiling lamp that I moved to the work bench to-do pile, so I got to work on it too. I haven't cleaned the paint off that glass yet, but I got it cleaned up and put one coat of the oil rubbed bronze on it. Didn't feel the need for primer on this one.

I still think it was the right call not spray painting one of the other vanity fixtures oil rubbed bronze, but that didn't turn out nearly as tacky looking as I thought it would with that much surface area.

Not sure when that's going to get put up in the basement bedroom to replace the ceiling fan that doubled as a tall-person decapitator.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Saturday, July 25, 2026 11:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh, jeez! about the monitor! Do you still have that glucose meter and strips? It wiuld be nice to know how low you've gone.

I wouldn't be able to tell how low after the fact. Would have had to catch it in the moment. It was bad enough to feel lousy and start sweating, but unlike the other day I made haste to get some sugar in me before it got bad. I did feel a little lousy twice today, but it was only for about 2 to 5 minutes each time. The other day when this first happened to me, I let it get pretty bad before doing something about it. I didn't start losing my vision, but I told you how I just sat in the shower for 3 minutes before I found the will to stand up.

Quote:
Oh not at all sure it's maple, but I had some of the same problem with birch. If you're prepared for maple it can only get better from there.

Gotcha. That's how I treat my electricity by doing everything to Cook County code.

Quote:
I hope you revisit the topic again some day. I think you're working from disinformation.

That may be true, Sigs. Unfortunately, if I'm right, revisiting the past isn't going to matter. War is coming. And I don't mean all these faggy wars we've been watching on TV for all my life.

Quote:
I hadn't really planned on it, but I took the grungy kitchen mat and a rug I'm going to give away, and dragged out dish detergent, the hose, and my old floor scrubber and scrubbed and rinsed them. The kitchen mat was horrific! I scrubbed and rinsed 3x and the water still ran off a little dirty.

You're probably talking about one of those beefy expensive boys, aren't you? I have my parents old dog mat for the back door. Thick rubber bottom on it, and these almost woven "pods" kind of sticking up with the valleys between them and a nice thick border all around it on the outskirts.

That thing was DISGUSTING when I took it.

But I knew what it was. That wasn't getting thrown out when they moved.

Every other mat I have in my house was from Dollar Tree. I'm pretty sure this single mat cost more than every mat I've ever bought or intend to buy in my entire life.

Quote:

While I was at it, I hosed off the vehicles and vacuumed the front carpets and mats. Not a great job but much MUCH better than before!

Good for you. Getting stuff done is nice.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Sunday, July 26, 2026 12:26 AM

Interesting...

I've decided, at least for the moment, I wanted to see what would happen if I just left this sensor in. I may be high right now, but I know I'm not low or on the verge of that anymore, so what would happen? Will it just be wrong forever now, or is this a temporary thing?

So in between the time I finished working for the night and now, it appears that it did go up to 400 for about 30 minutes (400 is the max), and then just about 20 minutes ago it started practically free-falling. It's in the 330's now, with the double arrow pointing down which usually means that you're probably in deep shit if your number was normal and you took too much insulin while eating or waited too long to eat after taking it.

I want to see where it's going to fall to now. Will it get back to my actual number?

If so, what is it about me being outside and working and sweating that would make this happen twice on two different sensors from the same batch? Or is that just a coincidence?

I can't be afraid of not being plugged in all the time. I've often wondered if doing that was a mistake that has led to complacency.

It would be a huge blow if I ever lost my insurance, but I always adapt to what I need to eventually. And it probably wouldn't be the end of the world if I had to be a lot more responsible with my diabetes than I am now.

--------------------------------------------------

Those who dance always seem crazy to those who can't hear the music.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Sunday, July 26, 2026 2:44 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I get mad at you, SIX, but I don't stay mad!

I think you're incredibly ignorant about some things and people, but you're not innately malicious like some (AHEM!) people around here!

Yeah... I can be pretty mean though. I know that. And I like you and I know you don't deserve that. But this one issue is always going to end with that result any time we revisit it.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
That cabinet or whatever will look good once you do what you are going to do to it. But don't take this the wrong way but it sorta looks like an old coffin.

No worries, Brenda. When I was carrying it in the house today over my shoulder, I thought the same thing. I had the scene from Terminator 3 when he was carrying Sarah Conner's coffin on his shoulder with a gat in the other hand shooting people.

It won't look anything like a coffin when it's done.

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh SIX, I thought I should warn you about staining maple. Because the grain runs in different directions, it comes out BLOTCHY. REALLY blotchy.

I discovered that when I had to stain some maple legs to match the chest they were going to be added to. For me, in the end it didn't matter bc the wood I was staining wouldn't darken enough if I used the stain as a stain (i.e. wipe off) so I had to leave it on and use it as a glaze.

But it might come out BLOTCHY.

I also tried staining a scrap of birch plywood to see if I could color match a mahogany chest of drawers, and while the blotchiness wasn't as extreme, it was still there.

There are all kinds of tips and tricks to eliminate the blotchiness. The one that came out best, for me, was pre-finishing the wood with tung oil, but it still wasn't good. If I had used a solvent-based stain and mixed it with tung oil to make a finishing stain, it might have come out better. But I didn't have a lot of time to experiment so I never really solved the problem.

Anyway, do your research on staining maple, which is apparently the most difficult wood to stain evenly. Maybe see if you can find some scrap maple to practice on. I know you had a lot of practice staining your floors, so if you can find a good technique for staining maple, tell me about it! In detail!

Are we sure it's maple? Did you figure that out or ask your husband to verify?

Any testing I'll do on the bottom. That makes the decision to just start with the bottom easy.

I don't have much hardwood floor experience. I only ever did it the one time in my house, and it was one of the first things I did after gutting the basement and getting the awful smell out of the house. I just did it so well that it looks like I have a lot of experience.

Yeah.. the only staining I've ever done in my life was those floors and the shelves and poles I did for my closets.

I'll make sure to wipe it all down with a wet rag before I start too. That helps open up the grain a bit, and even though I used my horse hair brush to dust it off, I know there's still residue on there that needs to come off before I start anyhow.

Hopefully it goes well. I've already burned the better part of 2 days on this and it's not work that's getting my house finished.

*****

Quote:
You're right, BRENDA. Come to think of it, it DOES kinda look like a coffin!

When SIX said he had a chest, I imagined, yanno, maybe something half that length. I was surprised how BIG it is. That's a serious amount of storage space!

How about a hint about next weekend, hmmmm?

I would imagine so. You know I've Terminator but I don't remember that scene. Don't worry about me saying that since it's been years since I've seen the film.

I know the phrase "hope chest". I just call my chest a trunk.

And I have said it needs some work.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Sunday, July 26, 2026 7:09 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Hmmm...

Yes, getting stuff done is definitely nice!

The mat is almost like car carpeting. I was trying to find a picture online, and the rubber on the back I've noticed is beginning to crack. But its super old, and I've had to cut the rubber edging off bc it was kind of tearing off in pieces. So not as beefy as you're prolly thinking but not cheap either. About $75 new, I think.

Ooooh, a mystery wood bookcase! Looking at the wood after you stripped it, I see the grain is coarser than the chest, and there are distinct bands of coarser grain and finer grain. I'm thinking maybe .... oak?

Huh. I see that some vents are definitely rustier (is that a word?) than others.

And not gonna drag political discussions in here after this, but... war is already here, SIX. And we started it. A lot of ill will has been building up for decades. Fingers crossed we don't get what we deserve.
OK, shutting up now!

-----------

"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Sunday, July 26, 2026 9:38 AM