House update: Monday

[electricland]

My aunt reports:

Hello,

Today John skipped a real lunch because he had to work here in the morning and wanted to get going. (I had a smoked salmon, cream cheese and cucumber sandwich.)

Sorry for not sending regular reports, but I have been working and at the cottage.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . ..

Stuart and Gill have cleaned extensively and organized tools.

Stuart has painted the front door and John has trimmed the hedge and cut the lawn. (Sorry, guys, the old car seats will no longer look so suitable in the front yard. Keep the beer bottles in the back.)

Stuart has also caulked Rob's third floor bathroom, sorted out lumber in the back yard, and is looking with an edgewise eye at leftover wood moulding.

John has been plumbing Jen's bathroom--a frustrating exercise in that the supplier, Ginger's, is so arty that they can't measure.* (You know the old joke about the guy that turned up at the express counter--marked for limited items--in a food store in Boston. The cashier said, "What's the matter, you from Harvard and you can't count or you from MIT and you can't read.")

William has been working on the top of the stairs in Robin's third floor and doing very fine work on detail work. He also got bit by a spider today and had a swelling as large as a small egg and John took him into the emergency walk-in clinic and they said it was nothing much and he refused to have antibiotics and went back to work.

Jen and Robin need to scrape paint on old window frames and pick a style for the ten air ducts that need to be filled in.**

Cheers, Helen

*Let me explain. Jen bought widespread (8" centre) faucets. The sink they sent has 4" centre holes. You see the problem. The other problem is that we bought these almost a year ago, but hey, if Ikea could sort it out... Jen has sent them an indignant email that ends "How can this problem be resolved?" so we will await developments.
**Jen and I resist this notion. William's priorities are not our priorities.

I went over to the house yesterday evening but William was in possession, so I just took the garbage and yard waste to the curb and went to meet Jen for dinner. monkeycommando stopped by and drank some of my beer. Resisted ice cream, helped crankygrrl with her living room -- not much, but every little helps. (First, though, I managed to let the cat out into the hall, where he resisted all my efforts to catch him. Not that they were very strenuous efforts.)

Really need to get done enough to move in to the house. This not-living-there is making me a little nuts. (Shut up, you in the back.)