Of course, the continuation for the title is "...find time to work?" It's a cliche, but I really don't know where I found the time to spend 9 or 10 hours at work each day.
Yesterday and today are pretty much consumed by grading exams for my class, so the cabinets haven't progressed at all. I am substituting at the temple this evening, and tomorrow I fly up to see my mother.
Let me be clear, however, I am not complaining. I love being retired!
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Slight Soffit Hope
Well, after ripping off about half the soffit on the side where I wanted to put the cabinet there is a slight improvement - the drain from the bathroom actually does not extend down into the soffit. That is at least one thing I don't have to worry about.
I took down all the upper cabinets in the kitchen yesterday as preparation for tearing out the soffit. It is amazing how much stuff was in some of those cabinets. My body is telling me that I could have eased into this exercise a little more gently.
The interesting part about taking down the cabinets is that after removing the screws they still wouldn't budge - every single one was held to the wall by the paint behind it. In general that meant I really had to pry them off the wall, but the largest one (the corner cabinet) came loose all at once and crashed down onto the counter top. That was exciting.
I took down all the upper cabinets in the kitchen yesterday as preparation for tearing out the soffit. It is amazing how much stuff was in some of those cabinets. My body is telling me that I could have eased into this exercise a little more gently.
The interesting part about taking down the cabinets is that after removing the screws they still wouldn't budge - every single one was held to the wall by the paint behind it. In general that meant I really had to pry them off the wall, but the largest one (the corner cabinet) came loose all at once and crashed down onto the counter top. That was exciting.
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Great Soffitin' Succotash
Sorry, Charlie - we only walked 54 minutes this morning.
Yesterday I decided to install the first cabinet in the kitchen. It is kind of off to one side by itself, so I figured it would be pretty straight-forward. Right.
We decided we wanted to get rid of the soffit so that our cabinets could go up to the ceiling. When we were ordering the cabinets I even cut into one part of the soffit to make sure there was nothing inside.
As it turns out, there are soffits on two sides of the kitchen. The one I cut into had nothing in it. However, I am installing the cabinet on the other wall. Maybe a picture is worth a few words:
That is looking straight up from where I cut out a section of the soffit covering. Yes - lots of electrical wires, water pipes, and ... Wait, what is that 1.5" PVC pipe? I have no idea. To the left of the picture you can see the joist for the ceiling - it would have taken the builders a lot of work to run everything 6" higher so it was within the joists instead of the soffit, but Noooo! Also, if we could pivot and look behind where this picture is taken we would see the drain from the upstairs bathroom which also extends down into the soffit. So this job went from a couple of hours of destruction to days of rerouting things.
Well, it's not like I don't have the time...
Yesterday I decided to install the first cabinet in the kitchen. It is kind of off to one side by itself, so I figured it would be pretty straight-forward. Right.
We decided we wanted to get rid of the soffit so that our cabinets could go up to the ceiling. When we were ordering the cabinets I even cut into one part of the soffit to make sure there was nothing inside.
As it turns out, there are soffits on two sides of the kitchen. The one I cut into had nothing in it. However, I am installing the cabinet on the other wall. Maybe a picture is worth a few words:
That is looking straight up from where I cut out a section of the soffit covering. Yes - lots of electrical wires, water pipes, and ... Wait, what is that 1.5" PVC pipe? I have no idea. To the left of the picture you can see the joist for the ceiling - it would have taken the builders a lot of work to run everything 6" higher so it was within the joists instead of the soffit, but Noooo! Also, if we could pivot and look behind where this picture is taken we would see the drain from the upstairs bathroom which also extends down into the soffit. So this job went from a couple of hours of destruction to days of rerouting things.
Well, it's not like I don't have the time...
Monday, February 6, 2017
New Week, New Walk
Delkys is not feeling well, so she stayed home from school, and I slept in so I got a really late start. Charlie and I walked for an hour and a half because we went quite a ways from home and, while not lost, didn't know exactly where we were. When we got back into an area we knew we discovered the trail was closed for work on a bridge, so we had to detour onto some smaller trails that turned out to be very muddy. It was 60° and I was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, but it still got rather hot.
Primary was wonderful yesterday. The kids are so enthusiastic, and we have a lot of fun. Yesterday we were talking about the restored gospel, and we had a discussion about what it means to restore something. I had them pass around an interesting crystal decoration we have, and then told one of the kids to hide it behind his back. When the others wanted their turn to see it I explained it was lost, and needed to be restored. Maybe a little corny, but I figure they'll remember what the word means.
Primary was wonderful yesterday. The kids are so enthusiastic, and we have a lot of fun. Yesterday we were talking about the restored gospel, and we had a discussion about what it means to restore something. I had them pass around an interesting crystal decoration we have, and then told one of the kids to hide it behind his back. When the others wanted their turn to see it I explained it was lost, and needed to be restored. Maybe a little corny, but I figure they'll remember what the word means.
Saturday, February 4, 2017
Not All Time Is My Own
Friday illustrated another truth about retired life - sometimes being retired means being available for things that others simply cannot do. A friend needed someone to provide transportation to and from the hospital for some "minor" surgery. So most of Friday was spent at the hospital. Hopefully I can always remember to make myself available to help.
My mother also called to tell me she has Parkinson's disease. After accompanying my father on his way down the Parkinson's trail she knows what she is in for, but is trying to keep herself on an even keel anyway. She is a remarkable example of a good person. She will have to make a number of decisions in a fairly short time, which is not her style, but no matter what she chooses I know she will do well.
My mother also called to tell me she has Parkinson's disease. After accompanying my father on his way down the Parkinson's trail she knows what she is in for, but is trying to keep herself on an even keel anyway. She is a remarkable example of a good person. She will have to make a number of decisions in a fairly short time, which is not her style, but no matter what she chooses I know she will do well.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Freezing Rain
It is not very common in Denver to get freezing rain, but we got some last night. When I went out to walk Charlie I quickly realized it was very slippery. I had my vibram-soled boots on, but before I made it two houses down the street I slipped and fell. Ouch. So we walked our full hour, but what Charlie noticed was that we didn't go as far as normal because I was walking on the grass or whatever next to the sidewalk the whole way. He has 4-wheel drive, so he really does not understand the limitations under which I labor.
Being in the temple yesterday was wonderful. There are plenty of things to remind me how human and fallible I am, but I also enjoy the opportunity to give service. At one point I was talking with a young couple who were there, and he told me that I taught him in Primary many years ago - for three weeks before the ward was divided. I was amazed that he would remember.
I have just had two phone calls from people needing help at odd times, and it is really wonderful to be able to say "Sure, I can do that!" Being retired is a really good thing.
Being in the temple yesterday was wonderful. There are plenty of things to remind me how human and fallible I am, but I also enjoy the opportunity to give service. At one point I was talking with a young couple who were there, and he told me that I taught him in Primary many years ago - for three weeks before the ward was divided. I was amazed that he would remember.
I have just had two phone calls from people needing help at odd times, and it is really wonderful to be able to say "Sure, I can do that!" Being retired is a really good thing.
Wednesday, February 1, 2017
Temple Day
For quite a while I have officiated at the 6:30 a.m. session at the temple on the first Wednesday of the month. This month I asked the coordinator if I could stay and work the entire shift. Once he learned about my employment status he asked if I could work every Wednesday morning, which was what I was planning anyway. For the moment I am not working the second shift on Wednesday so that I can come home and do a little during the day, but even that might change.
Yesterday I undid what I had done the previous day in connecting the island cabinets together because I realized I didn't like the way I had done it. I made some improvements to my technique, and now the island is all joined together in one giant block of cabinets. Still need to attach it to the floor, but first I need to decide exactly where it is going to be located.
I got a USB disk enclosure yesterday so I was able to remove the hard drive from my (water damaged) computer, but for some reason I can't get it to mount correctly, so I still haven't recovered any data from the drive. I will work on that more as I get time.
Yesterday I undid what I had done the previous day in connecting the island cabinets together because I realized I didn't like the way I had done it. I made some improvements to my technique, and now the island is all joined together in one giant block of cabinets. Still need to attach it to the floor, but first I need to decide exactly where it is going to be located.
I got a USB disk enclosure yesterday so I was able to remove the hard drive from my (water damaged) computer, but for some reason I can't get it to mount correctly, so I still haven't recovered any data from the drive. I will work on that more as I get time.
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