Press "Enter" to skip to content

Category: Home improvement

Cleaning out the closets of the mind

Published December 17, 2014 10:44 am by Claire

When I moved into this house, nearly 18 months ago now, I didn’t have time to do it right. So many urgent things had to be done — and I’m talking bleach-the-mold-off-the-walls urgent, rip-entire-walls-out urgent, tear-off-rotted-rooms urgent — that many niceties got neglected. Boxes went unpacked. Stuff got stuffed … wherever.

Besides, after having lived small for 10 years (between Cabin Sweet Cabin and that crumbling fifth-wheel in the desert), I had just spent the previous three years in house with an attic, a basement, and a garage. This house … not so much.

Then there was the teeny, tiny problem of closets. This place had not a single one. Not. One. Closet.

Continue readingCleaning out the closets of the mind
19 Comments

Monday links

Published October 27, 2014 6:33 am by Claire

Okay, not hermitting yet. So here are some newslinks. Just vaporware so far, but Forbes thinks cops might soon add ‘Net-connected guns to their growing arsenal of monitoring gear. Nastiest political tactic of the year: siccing SWAT teams on your opponents and critics. A southerner apologizes for bigotry. But with the southerner being Fred Reed, things don’t quite come out the way northern liberals might wish. Nooz you can use (if you’re really into alternative housing): grain-bin homes. (I love the stuccoed one, but I’d like to know how you keep these things from getting hotter than the hinges of…

Continue readingMonday links
14 Comments

Gratitude and solitude (and also construction)

Published October 21, 2014 11:37 am by Claire

I am so grateful today.

I’m grateful to have a solid roof over my head (and Ava, Robbie, and Kitsu the cat would say the same if they could speak) as the rain pours down all week and the season’s first high-wind warnings go up.

This sense of security I owe to you.

—–

I owe C-B, S.H., M.K., L.P., and especially Anonymous and the Mysterious Rockefeller for the latest round of help, which repaired the section of roof that collapsed while the rest of the roof was being refurbished. I also owe many of you, especially Paul Bonneau, for construction advice.

In case you’re wondering, I ended up not having the “Full Joe” repair.

Continue readingGratitude and solitude (and also construction)
8 Comments

The name’s Rockefeller.

Published October 17, 2014 5:22 am by Claire

Or so the envelope said. The return address (I looked it up) was the HQ of the Council on Foreign Relations. My correspondent has a sense of humor. Based on what was in the envelope, my correspondent can call him or herself Rockefeller, Gates, Buffett, Rothschild, Medici, Windsor or anything else great heart desires. It would fit! In their own world, they must have Rockefeller-level pull. They somehow talked their local post office into sending the priority envelope without either a postmark or the required tracking sticker. (Hilariously, this put my postmaster into a high huff. She was ready to…

Continue readingThe name’s Rockefeller.
8 Comments

Tuesday links

Published October 14, 2014 7:54 am by Claire

The FBI’s report on mass shootings … doesn’t actually report on mass shootings. So says John Lott. Attorney wants to overturn the “machine-gun ban” and then take on the NFA. In four days, he’s more than half funded. (Via David Codrea) Blogs are 20 years old now. That’s older than dinosaurs in ‘Net time. (H/T JB) Robinson Jeffers handcrafted stone cottage. Just because. (This strikes me as a very apt sort of thing for a poet to do. H/T A.G.) They were Irish and they were slaves. Where are our reparations???

5 Comments

Now this tiny house looks cool

Published October 12, 2014 1:39 pm by Claire

Not long ago, I rolled my eyes and said the tiny-house movement had jumped the shark. Then this morning, friend G. sent me to this site. And this 192-square-foot house, the Axia. While there’s a suspicious dearth of info (the link to TechDwell’s pdf brochure is 404), it’s a for-real thing. Portland, Oregon, is building a village of these for the homeless. If they’re as easy to build (and unbuild) as they say … well, that’s remarkable. On price, on tech, on a number of measures, they’d beat the usual overpriced tiny house hands down. (That is, if somebody doesn’t…

Continue readingNow this tiny house looks cool
11 Comments

Monday musings + the sort of dilemma nobody could really mind having, even though I have it and I still find it awkward

Published October 6, 2014 1:15 am by Claire

Gads, it was 80 degrees yesterday. Eighty in October in the Great NorthWET. There are entire summers when we don’t see 80. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this warm this late in this corner of the world.

Not due to global warming. But oh man, what an amazing season it’s been!

Supposed to be “only” in the 70s for the rest of this week. Oh, poor us.

—–

With construction catastrophes keeping the house in chaos, I’ve been trying to de-clutter to help deal with the fact that every time I organize stuff in one area, it immediately has to be moved back out because … oh, the roof falls in or somesuch.

So I’m whipping myself into a crusade to de-stuff.

Continue readingMonday musings + the sort of dilemma nobody could really mind having, even though I have it and I still find it awkward
12 Comments

If it ain’t one damn thing, it’s another: Part II

Published September 19, 2014 12:18 pm by Claire

Roofing crew arrived at 7:30 sharp this morning. Never saw any group of people move so fast and with such coordination and obvious expertise. Freakin’ impressive! After they’d been here three hours I went outside and took pictures of their astounding progress. Then I came back in, figured I’d play with the dogs a bit, quit being jumpy from the noise and chaos, and try to get some actual writing done. Sat down on the floor to toss a nerf ball for Ava. Looked up. And … whoops. Scary whoops. The heavy, old-fashioned wooden beadboard ceiling in one room had…

Continue readingIf it ain’t one damn thing, it’s another: Part II
21 Comments