Kevin Standlee: Fandom Is My Way of Life

Lisa continued to work on cutting the pallets down to size. Kayla was working at my Day Jobbe today, but after she was finished, I put on my work clothes and came out to help Lisa.

( Pallet Destruction )

We had to stop for the day when both Lisa and my gloves failed, and we discovered that we were out of duct tape with which to repair them. We will get more duct tape and maybe new work gloves when Kayla and I get back from Canada next week.

There are two working bathrooms in Fernley House. (The upstairs bathroom plumbing has never worked because the previous owner ruined it, and we've never prioritized the substantial cost of fixing it.) One of the two bathroom's toilets backed up last week, and none of the things I tried worked. The toilet in the other bathroom has been a problem because the flapper valve was leaking continuously and I couldn't find any part at Lowe's that would replace it.

Until a few years ago, I would have called the plumbing company for which Steve-the-Plumber worked and they'd fix it. But that company was sold, and at that time Steve retired from it. He now maintains stuff for a bunch of houses in Yerrington, where he lives. (No more having to drive to Fernley or Tonopah for jobs.) I called him (he still cleans our chimney once a year) and asked his advice. After discussing it, I called a local plumbing company. It wasn't an emergency, so I made an appointment for which they could get to us on Monday.

On Monday during the window promised, the plumber arrived. Using a power auger, he got the rear bathroom toiled unplugged. I was worried that we had a frozen drain, but it was just a stubborn clog.

For the forward bathroom toilet, he said he'd go to Lowe's and buy the necessary part. It took longer than expected, and explained why I couldn't find anything: instead of putting it with the other toilet parts, Lowe's had it on an end-cap an aisle away. But anyway, he installed the replacement part and (aside from having a whole lot of cleaning left to do on the rear toilet), we're mostly back in business. The cost, including parts, was less than $200.

The toilet seat in the forward bathroom broke last month, and Lowe's no longer carries the replacement that we want. We need to find the time to go look at places in Reno. We can get by, however.

I went out on the front porch this morning just after 8 AM. It had rained a little bit this morning. The temperature was hovering around freezing, and the overcast from the rain meant that there was no sun. As I was looking to see if Amtrak was about to pass on time, my feet went out from under me and down I went. I was pretty lucky in that I did not land that hard, but it was still startling. It could have been far worse. I gingerly got back on my feet just as the California Zephyr went by.

Later today, I have a dentist appointment in Reno. I think it's generally safe for me to go. My nose continues to run, but that's from the Ozempic. The rest of the cold seems to have passed. I'll see what they think at the dentist's office.

When I got home from the Seattle trip on Monday, I urgently needed to use the toilet, so I dashed inside, rushed into the bathroom, and swung the door closed behind me. While doing my business, it dawned on me that something wasn't the same. Sure enough, when I turned back to the door, I saw that Lisa had been busy while I was away.

( Home Improvement )

I'm very happy with the result here, and grateful to Lisa for doing this home improvement project.

Someone unexpectedly (I didn't see it in the weather forecast), we got a tiny bit of snow overnight.

( Light Dusting )

The forecast for today is to stay pretty cold, although it should eventually get above freezing for a while. The chance of snow is <5% for today and tomorrow.

This morning, very light snow (not enough to stick) was falling when I went out to wave at Amtrak coming through. Little bits of cold rain, sleet, or snow fell off and on throughout the morning. There was a break in the weather and around 1:30 PM we decided to take a shot at getting that firewood unloaded.

( Firewood, Completed )

Just as we were putting the sheets of plastic over the wood and getting the box closed, the snow/sleet mix started again. It still wouldn't stick (the air temperature was 4°C), fortunately. Lisa moved the trailer over back behind the house, chained it to the fence to discourage people from trying to haul it away, and got the pickup truck back into the garage.

So that's the firewood situation settled for another month. After I get back from SMOFCon, we will need to see about getting another pallet. Possibly before them I will check with them to make sure that they've ordered more pallets of wood. If we had a place to keep the pallets, we'd order more than one of them, but we have no way to unload an entire pallet at once for ground storage. Even if we had a forklift, it would probably get bogged down in the soft dirt in the East Lot.

The temperatures have dropped low enough and stayed that way the the electric heater cannot stave off the cold any longer. Yesterday, I gave in and got the fireplace lit for the first time this season.

( Burn, baby, burn )

The living room is now warm enough that I can feel my fingers again.

While we had about a half-full wood box at the end of last season, Big R told me yesterday that they have only one pallet of the Pres-to-logs in stock and none on order, so at our first opportunity, Lisa and I plan to go over and buy that pallet. Running out of wood is a Bad Thing.

Yesterday morning, when I went into the kitchen to turn the hot water pot on for coffee, I was startled by a mouse. The mouse was startled by me as well and scampered away, but I could hear it running around somewhere in the area. I got the humane mousetrap that sits on the floor of the kitchen and put fresh crackers into it, then put it on the kitchen counter in the area where the mouse had been frequenting.

( Dealing With the Mouse )

The mouse will need to take its chances with the various cats that roam the neighborhood and the small raptors that patrol the area.

Lisa and I were married on a Vintage Trolley on the Portland light rail system on this date in 1996. This year we are obviously far apart from each other, as Lisa is at sea in transit from Denmark to Iceland. We have been able to stay in contact, and I see that Kuma Bear is watching the ocean for fishes.

I've been doing cleaning. Bissell has merged Rug Doctor, so I rented a Bissell Big Green Machine, which is in practice the same as a Rug Doctor. Our last carpet cleaning attempt went awry when all of the Rug Doctor machines in Fernley broke. This time things went smoothly, and indeed, I learned that I needn't have bothered renting the machine for two days, as I could have got everything done in one had I tried. Boy, a lot dirt came out of those carpets! Now I have the machine all cleaned up and will return it later today.

On Sunday, after having breakfast at the Wigwam, I had just barely enough energy to try and cut back some of the summer's growth. Eight weeks of summer gave our trees a lot of time to expand.

( Before and After )

I would like to have worked more on this, but even with my right leg not hurting as much as it was, I think it's important to not rush things. This was the most urgent trimming, but not the end of the job.