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.<\/p>\n
Not due to global warming<\/a>. But oh man, what an amazing season it’s been!<\/p>\n Supposed to be “only” in the 70s for the rest of this week. Oh, poor us.<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n With construction catastrophes<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n So I’m whipping myself into a crusade to de-stuff. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In sorting through books to donate to the library, I ran across my autographed copy of Get Organized, Stay Organized<\/i><\/a> by Christine Shuck (a reader of this blog; hi, Christine!)<\/p>\n That one won’t get donated. Nope. That one will get consulted<\/i>.<\/p>\n Christine has since moved on to fiction<\/a> and a different variety of non-fiction<\/a> based on her own unfortunate experience with the War on Some Drugs.<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n My desire for an ambiance of almost zenlike simplicity conflicts badly with both my garage-sale jones and my prepping habits. (“I can’t get rid of that<\/i>! I might neeeeeeeed<\/i> it someday!”)<\/p>\n I did manage to get a good carload down to the local thrift store and library today, mostly by reminding myself, “You got it all at garage sales, anyhow. When the house is done and you’re ready for more, there won’t be any shortage of garage sale STUFF.”<\/p>\n —–<\/p>\n Speaking of that tree-borne construction catastrophe<\/a> … I have some wonderful news. But it comes with a dilemma. A certain Anonymous (I think I know who, but the person I suspect admits nothing) has been agitating in comments for me to go with the full Contractor Joe rebuild<\/a> rather than the Contractor Mike make-do on that collapsed section of roof<\/a>. <\/p>\n The “Joe” fix is not within my reality. I believe the “Mike” fix will work, though it has its risks. But a few days ago Anonymous put his (or her?) money where his (or her?) mouth is. Zowie. Anon provided a full 1\/4 of the “Joe” cost. But s\/he wants me to “reset the thermometer”<\/a> (which doesn’t, in that blog entry, reflect the four donations people have generously given beyond the original roof bleg) and ask for the “full Joe.”<\/p>\n I feel I’ve already asked too much and that you guys have simply given more than I could ever have hoped for. And the more I talk to DIYers (Commentariat member Paul Bonneau has been particularly helpful, though guys have given many good reality checks), the more I think the “Mike” fix will work okay. <\/p>\n