Angelique

I grew up reading mostly science and science fiction.  I was never into fairy tales (according to my mother's memories (even as a child).  By the time I was 11 or 12, I had exhausted the local library's collection of "young adult" science fiction and was allowed to take out adult books.  In 10th grade, I was so far beyond the usual modern novels (Dickens bored me to death) being discussed, and the lame weekly vocabulary tests )it was the 60's), that I was allowed to sit in the back of the room and just read anything in the teachers bookshelf as long as I produced a book report weekly.

Forward to 20.  I was majoring in Political Science, thinking of a law degree, and thinking a political future.  New scince fiction being few at the time, I happened upon something called "Historical Fiction" set in France at the time of Louis The Sun King (and my minor degree was history).  I asked an employee about it and he explained that it was actual history told from the point of view of a minor or even "symbolic" person alive at the time.  And he said there was "Historical Romances" that combined that with history (like Gone With The Wind.  But he said this particular book was (generally) accurate history and some exciting romance.  And had read it and was impressed.

Ok, I needed something to read other than how to construct political polls and the histories of English Kings...

I fell in love with Angelique, and who wouldn't?  From being the daughter of a destitute minor Baron in rural southern France, to the heights of the King's court, to abject poverty among the knaves of Paris, to a new rise as a commercial restaranteur, to married nobility again, a new fall, and a rise again in Canada with her first love, and other challenges, I read each book time and time again.

And then it all seemed to end.  I understand there are 3 more books not translated into English.  I await those.

But a week ago, I found a DVD version of the first few books made in French and overdubbed in English.  The reviews were good, but I know the story well enough, I could probably follow it in French.

The dubbing is so good I can't even notice it.  The DVD movie version doesn't follow the books perfectly, but I know the missing parts and errors well enough that I don't mind that much.

I watched Part 1 of 3 two nights ago, Part 2 last night, and was enraptured.  Tonight I will watch Part 3 of 3.  Sadly, that will be only half of the books I've read of the series and I haven't even read the last 3 books (available in French only). 

Someone should translate the last books into English.  And someone should make 2 movies to cover the last 6 (?) books.

And someone should make decent movies of the Jean Auel series of books about Ayla, the equally wonderful heroine I discovered after the Angelique books stopped.  Aren't there enough Spiderman and X-Men movies now (of which I also admire) to suggest heroines from the past?

The Shower Leak Grows

In my house, there is a main bathroom, a showerstall bath off the main bedroom, and a "powder room" in the basement (that I installed) for convenience.  I never used the shower stall off the bedroom.  Actually, the shower stall was so useless to me that I set plastic liner in it and kept a painted turtle there for several years.  When you live alone, you can do weird stuff.

The turtle finally died (not from lack of good food) and I cleared the shower stall.  For whatever reasons, the drain leaked after that and I didn't bother with it for 15 years.   While having some general house renovations done. I had them fix the stall drain.

Several years ago, I discovered  that the shower pipes were leaking, so I put a repair on the "To DO; list.  Forward 5 years...

Having joined Angie's List to get top contractors for other reasons, I decided to have someone fix the shower stall leak.  Um, I didn't think to see if the shower stall pipes were still leaking.  Once leaking, always leaking, right?

So on the hour before the plumbers were to show up, I turned on the shower so they could see where the leak was.

No leak...

But when I flushed the toilet, water fell into the basement.  Talk about serendipidy!  It took a good 30 minutes for the 2 plumber guys and I to figure out where the water was coming from.  The water was leaking out around the air vent stack, not a water supply pipe. So:

1. There was a leak around the new roof flashing.
2.  The shower stall was leaking at the base where the tiles meet the fiberglass shower stall.
3.  There was a leak around a toilet or sink pipe.
4.  The toilet had a crack.
5.  The wax ring around the bottom of the toilet had dried and cracked.

The plumbers went for #1 because that wouldn't be their problem to fix.  And #2 for the same reason.  Now think about that.  They DIDN'T want a problem they could fix...  Don't they make money by solving problems?

So we all went into the basement to identify all the pipes.  OK, granted that I know the positions of the "equipment" upstairs, they couldn't figure out which pipes went to where.  Its understandable.  My builder's guys did some really weird stuff in the house, and I didn't know because I lived 60 miles away and only visited the construction site every 2 weeks.  And what would I know anyway?  I'd never seen a house being built.

It was #5 that was the problem.  On the VERY day before the plumbers came, the wax ring under the toilet had cracked and a gallon of water came out each time it was flushed.

It wasn't what they had been called to fix, but it was what was needed.  Sometimes, you just get lucky!  I'm not used to that kind of luck, but I'll take it when it comes...

In the next few days, I have contractors coming to look at replacing the crumbling 26 year old asphalt driveway and the 20 year old deck that I am beginning to think I will fall through.  And an electrician to hang a 17 pound fake Tiffany lamp over the stairs, add a lower stair lamp fixture, replace 2 smoke detectors, and fix a basement electric plug I can't make work. 

And THEN get someone out here to remove a ridge in the back yard that has aggravated me for 20 years (it was 5 years before I even really knew it was there because it was covered with thorny locust scrub trees that I spent 3 years killing).

So much stuff to catch up on, but this is the year I will do it.

Sort Of Missing Relative

First, just let me say there is a happy outcome; I'm not drama-dredging here. 

But I have an elderly widowed Aunt who never had children and I never heard of any family on the husband's side.  I'm not at my best on the telephone with social talk, so I send homemade cards and the occasional letter.  I never expected replies because she is quite elderly.

So when I wanted to write a new letter to her about my Dad moving to an assisted-living facility, I checked with a family member to see if she already knew about that.  No need to go into great detail about Dad if she already knew, right?

Imagine my shock to be told "Oh I called and the phone was disconnected and she didnt reply to any letters.  She seems to have disappeared a couple of years ago."

What???  I had visions of her lonely and abandoned in some awful nursing home, or even a virtual prisoner in her own home by some dominating caretaker or housemate (I have a vivid imagination, and there HAVE been horrible things in the news).  And who would want to just say "Oh everything is probably fine" and then discover it was not later.

I live hundreds of miles away, and I didn't really know any relative to call (actually, there was one relative I could have called, but I was all upset.

So I googled her address and found a detective agency in the town.  I'm NOT kidding.  They do exist and not just for getting sneaky pictures of people having affairs etc.  I explained that I just wanted to know where she was and how to contact her; no crimes or big inheritances involved, just "out of touch for 2 years and I wanted to make sure she was OK".

They assured me that "they do nice stuff too" and estimated it would take an initial 3 hours work (with a prepayment).  I agreed.  After I hung up the phone, I felt a bit like a sucker.  Sure, they would use up the 3 hours and then need another 3 hours and again and again.

I am happy to say I was wrong.  They visited her listed address, got the name of a relative, who got them to an assisted-living facility.  It turns out that my aunt stopped wearing her medical alert button, fell and broke her hip and laid on the floor for 10 hours until someone found her.

I received an email from the detective agency and a call from one of her nephews explaining the past several years and her "disappearence" (from my POV).  It was an awkward conversation.  I grew up in New England, but I could hardly understand a word he said, so I had to keep asking for repeats (and even spellings a few times).

It turns out that there are numerous family on her deceased husbands side that I never knew about (well they didn't know I existed either) and are close to her (geographically and socially).  They brought her to various assisted-living facilities until she liked one and she is there, healthy and happy (for her age). 

So I am relieved.  I did "The Right Thing" by checking on her.

The nephew says OUR aunt probably doesn't know about my Dad going into assisted living, and MIGHT not even know her sister (my Mom) died in 2010.  So I will write about all that.  And writing to her about Dad was what started all of this.

Now lets see about how I am related to the nephew who called me.  I'm terrible at that stuff.  Beyond immediate cousins, I give up.  My aunt is a sister of my mother.  My aunt was married.  The nephew of my aunt is the son of the sister of my aunt's deceased husband.  So from me, it goes to my mother, to her sister, to HER husband to HIS sister to HER son.  So is that like second cousins, first cousins twice removed, or what?

I am curious but confused.

The important thing is that my aunt is "OK" and getting good care and attention.  And while it wasn't necessary to my aunt's health and well-being I DID something to make sure about it.

I will sleep better tonight

Stream Of Semi-Conciousness

You shouldn't have to take a shower at 7:30 AM after being up all night when you are retired.

It started with playing Risk online all night.  Then, at dawn, I decided I was tired of having people drop by to see if I was selling the boat or the trailer, so I decided to move them both into the backyard (inside the fence) out of sight.

Easier said than done!  Its really hard for one person to get the car's trailer hitch and the boat or hauling trailer hitch lined up.  Both are TOO DAMN HEAVY to lift and move around.

So I spent a good (bad?) quarter hour getting the boat attached to the car.  Then drove it into the backyard.  THEN spent another quarter hour trying to get it backed into the spot I had in mind.  Then the trailer support pipe was too low to put a cinder block under so I had to find scrap wood wide enough to support the weight on the ground.  THEN unhitched the boat trailer from the car (breathing fumes from the car because I didn't want to keep turning it on and off).

Then I repeated the whole joyful process with the hauling trailer, except that I can't SEE the trailer as I back it into position unless I prop myself up on the seat and that causes cramps in my side muscles which are REALLY painful and DAMN I hate that.

And IT was too low to put a cinder block under the thing that raises and lowers the support, the name of which escapes me at the moment, so I needed MORE boards to keep that pipe from pushing into the ground.

And the whole process took 2 hours when I REALLY wanted to be in bed asleep but I sure hope my neighbors will STOP asking me if they are for sale...  Out of sight, out of mind, I hope.

And NO, I'm not "that guy" in the neighborhood with the dead car up on cinderblocks, (the cinderblocks should be painted a matching house color; just kidding, LOL)!  I'm just the guy with the organic well-mowed and landscaped yard who doesn't happen to use his boat or half-rebuilt trailer very often... So I'll rebuild the trailer in the back yard and leave it there until I use it again.  I prefer to do my work out of sight anyway.  I should have moved the boat and the trailer into the backyard months ago.

HMMPHHH!

Now it's 8 am and I'm trying to decide whether to just stay up today and get some other work done in the yard or go to bed and get up at 4 pm and blow the whole day!  If I stay up, I'll kind of collapse around 8 pm  and wake up at 4 AM, so I'm pretty much screwed up either way today.

I think I'll play with the cats for a while then clean house until lunchtime.  After that it's a roll of the dice... 

One Time too Many

Hairy Houdini Squirrel went for the lushious peanut butter bait one too many times this morning.

And this time I did not handle the cage wrong, nor did I place him into the waters in trashcan of water in a way that allowed an escape.

I searched the house yesterdy and found a large plastic container larger than the live cage.  I filled it with water last night.  Hairy Houdini Squirrel went in horizontally that didn't release the doors and he didn't make an escape.

It was quick.  5 seconds of confusion, one blurp, and gone.

I have set the cage-trap up again, because my heirloom tomatoes are ripening, but I am VERY much hoping Hairy Houdini was the last of the squirrels who had learned to raid the garden.

I am designing a total 1" chicken wire garden enclosure for next year that will keep all natural animals around the yard out.   I do not wish to kill anything again.

But I HAVE learned how to set a live cage on the top on a fence that doesn't fail.  I will post tomorrow about that for people that want to know for their own reasons.  You don't have to read it.

Some Projects Are Hell, Part 2

I mentioned explaining the obvious solution to my problem with the light fixture yesterday.  Here it is...

Had I seen the insides of the light fixture after the wooden frame was off, things would have been simpler.  I sort of casually assumed that the wooden light frame was equally fitted to the light fixture at both ends.  So I just chose the end least visible to attach the hinge.  Had I chosen the other end, things would have gone as planned. 

As it turned out, the wooden frame was attached tight to the light fixture at the other (most visible) end, meaning that when I attached the hinge to the opposite end, there was no freedom of movement.  What I unknowingly did was pull the end of the wood frame tightly against the opposite end.  When I installed the hinge and then pulled the opposite end of the frame down (with some effort), I couldn't push it back up. The wooden frame hit the metal of the light fixture from flex.  Even levering the wood frame with a screwdriver could not overcome the problem.

Had I realized at the time that loosening the screw at the hinge end would have given me 1/4" clearance, I could have saved myself an hour of frustration and adjustments that had no effect. 

Well, at least I know now!

The hard but sad rule of DIY home projects is that you could always do them better the 2nd time but seldom ever need to.  That's where professionals get the edge; they made the same mistake the first time but have learned and done the same thing right afterwards a few dozen or hundred times.

But I'm still going to DIY it when possible...  LOL!

Some Projects Are Hell!

This is a long story about what OUGHT to have been a simple project..

It seemed like such a simple idea.

I had a 4' fluorescent kitchen light installed 15 years ago.  It replaced the incandescent 2 bulb light originally installed and provides a lot more light  It has a nice wood frame and a diffuser panel.  Thoroughly attractive. 

But in the heat of July and August, it doesn't want to come on.  Multiple flippings of the light switch tend to get it on eventually at first, but on the very hottest days, it just won't.  Something about the ballast getting hot from the hot atc above it.  Adding more insulation didn't solve the problem (nor did removing it).

So, for years, I have removed the frame cover in mid July to late August and taken out the diffuser panel.  That apparently let enough cool house air to let it come on. 

2 years ago, I drilled ten 2" holes along the sides of the frame to let cool house air in (5 each on the 2 sides).  That only helped a little.  Removing the wood frame to take out the diffuser panel is a real pain. 

Being just me here, I had to unscrew one end of the wood frame from the actual lamp fixture and then stick a nail in the screw-hole to keep that end in place temporarily.  Then I had to walk across 3 chairs to the other end and remove THAT screw.  Then I had to hold the whole frame up in the center to pull out the opposite nail.  Then I could lower the wood frame down and remove the diffuser panel.  Removing the diffuser panel DOES let enough cool house air DOES allow the light to come on.  I should mention that I live in constant house air 72F year round.

But that sure makes the kitchen ungodly bright for July and August.  I could actually live with that, but it seems to annoy visitors.  So that's why I tried drilling the 2" hoes in the sides.  I was SURE that would keep it cool enough to come on (and it almost looks like a design element) but that didn't work.

Replacing the diffuser on September 1st (the usual date for attic cooling) was the hardest part.  Its one thing to hold up the wood frame in the center with one hand and pull OUT a nail and each end of the frame in July.  It's an entirely different effort to replace the screws that hold the wooden frame in place while holding the 4" frame against the ceiling.  Lets just say there are eventually Really Bad Words and eventual frustration-screaming involved.  It DOES get done, but I am emotionally and even physically exhausted.

So this year, I decided there HAD to be a better way.  I stared at the wood frame several times and decided that I needed a hinge on one end of the wood frame.  I am "sort of competent" at most projects (I always have to make surprise adjustments to my plans), but my talent is being "creative".  Eventually, things work.

The hinges I had wouldn't work.  Most hinges have large round areas at the corner and there was no space for that.  I found "piano hinges". 
 
They fit into tight corners.  So far, so good.  I marked the holes of the 12" long piano hinge I bought onto the wooden frame, drilled holes for the enclosed screws and set in the screws.  Then I marked the spots for holes into the ceiling for toggle bolts.

Toggle bolts

are weird things that have wings that fold down to go through a hole through thin material like a drywall ceiling and then open by springs.  When you tighten them, the opened wings come down flush with the drywall top.  It's as if you had a large fender washer above the drywall to tighten against.  So after I attached one part of the piano hinge  to the wood frame, I went to drill holes for the toggle bolts through the ceiling drywall.

No go!!!  The toggle bolts were 3 inches long (It takes some length to fold the toggle wings down enough to get them THROUGH the 3/4" drywall to open up above, and the hinge would not allow that angle, being attached to the wood frame.

If this is hard to follow, just trust me on the statements and continue...

So I had to remove the screws holding the piano hinge to the wood light frame.  But if I did THAT, it would fall down.  And guess what I discovered I had overlooked?  There was the screw holding the wood frame to the actual light fixture.  And the hinge covered it!  So I had to remove the entire hinge anyway.  So I had to figure a way to hold the wood frame in place while the screw was removed. 

I decided that I could take 2 boards and clamp them both so that one was set on the floor and the other was pushing the frame up and the top.  But that was requiring 3 hands and I was short one.  Then I noticed an "expander bar sitting in the corner of the basement.  Thats a small pipe inside a larger pipe and so can pull the smaller one out and fix it in place (mechansms vary).  Setting a metal can on the floor below the wood light frame, the expander bar reached the wood frame and held it in place. 

Great.  So I marked the spot on the ceiling where the toggle bolts had to go and removed the hinge and drilled the holes.  Then I put the toggle bolts through the hinge tighten them and put the screws on the other half of the hinge back into the wooden light frame.  I was DONE!

No. I wasn't...  I still had to put the other end of the wood frame back in place and get the screw in.  I thought that would be simple.  The far end was hinged, just lift the other end into place and replace the screw.  Nope.  The wood frame hit the lightfixture too short and would not go over it to the ceiling.

I should have taken pictures, but quite frankly, I was not in the mood for that.

I eventually solved the problem by putting longer screws in the hinge end and leaving them 1/4" loose (to give some sliding room) and the whole wooden cover minus the diffuser fit well enough to attach again firmly. 

But that's why I say I have the worst luck with what SHOULD be simple projects sometimes.  I should be the Murphys Law (anything that CAN go wrong Will go wrong) poster boy...  What SHOULD logically have taken 20 minutes took 3 hours!  Worse, when I could see inside the wooden light frame, I saw the solution will simple, but was not observable until the effort was finished.  I will explain about that tomorrow...

On the other hand, the light came right ON after I gave in 10 minutes to cool down with  the house air.  I turned it off and back on several times just for the pleasure of seeing my efforts work.

There are some things some people are naturally talented at.  There are  somethings some people will NEVER figure out how to do.  And then there are SOME of us who are just unnaturally persistent and accomplish things we are not talented at anyway.  LOL!

Houdini Squirrel

There seem to be 3 squirrels in the Grove Tree Gang who attack my garden.  The small grove of trees on the east side dont have food trees like oaks, so they have learned to raid gardens and fruit trees.

In desperation this year, I set up a live trap.  I caught 2 of them in 3 days.  But the 3rd one must be the mastermind.  I keep finding the trap shut yet the peanut butter all cleaned off the trigger lever.  Its been 13 days of resetting the cage and applying new peanut butter sometimes even twice per day.

Today I walked out to the cage and heard a rattling sound.  I GOT it!  I was excited.  I loosened the rope tied to the cage handle that keeps it from falling over the fence into the neighbor's yard and went to carry it away.

Oops, I forgot the wire that holds the cage to the fence.  It made me lose my grip on the cage and fall 2 feet to the end of the rope.  That caused the wire that holds the doors closed to flip loose and Squirrel Houdini was out in a flash.

I said a LOT of Very Bad Words...

So I did what I have done every day the past 2 weeks and reset the trap.  I'm sure Squirrel Houdini is going to be leery of the cage.  But I also know it LOVES the peanut butter.  So it is a game of squirrel gluttony vs patience.

I'll  get it eventually.  And when the last of the Grove Tree Gang is removed, I hope the replacements don't learn the same garden-raiding tricks.

I don't have anything in particular against squirrels.  We coexisted peacefully for 23 years before this one group started destroying my garden (and I put 2 squirrel baffles on the birdfeeder pole years ago).  I even like them in their natural habitat (living in trees and eating acorns - of which there are plenty here).  But last year they pulled every green aple of my trees and ate all but 2 tomatoes. This year they have pulled up 3 plantings of corn, beans and cucumbers.

Here it is the middle of July and I have eaten just 2 beans (and just tonight).  The cukes are only a foot high.  The last corn seedlings died under the cover I put over them (too hot, I guess) and there is probably no point in replanting them at this point.  There is a new planting of beans under a tent of 1" mesh chicken wire. I MIGHT get some beans from this planting

I don't have a problem with the squirrels on the west side of the yard.  There are 2 huge oak trees there so they seem to have all the acorns they need, and apparently, the birdfeeder is in their territory.  They eat the seeds the birds spill out and they are welcome to them.  No squirrel of the west side has ever run toward the east grove.  I never bother animals that don't attack my food.

My only fight is with the east Grove Tree Gang.  Sheriff Cavebear IS going to get them...

A Blast From The Past

I used to play a complex strategic computer game called Civilization 2 (not an action/shooter game).  There would be a large map (unseen at the start) and you would slowly establish and improve cities with military, civil and science improvements.  You would discover the map as you moved slowly.  You started around 3,000 BC and very gradually moved to launching a spaceship to Alpha Centuri competing with up to 6? 8? other players.  The game took many hours to play.  I was obsessed by it.

But I quit when the new version (Civilization 3) of the game gave less and less control to the player and whole cities would switch sides to another player for no particular reason I understood ("through cultural influence").  And then I switched from Windows to Mac and my CD didn't work any more anyway.  So I moved on to blogging.

Well, I suddenly developed a great desire to play the game again.  I still had the old PC around and thought to have it cleaned and upgraded, but then decided that I liked internet multi-player competition, so I simply bought the Mac version of Civ 2.  The CD should arrive in a few days.

But I wanted to review some of the game strategies and looked at the current Civ 2 discussion board.  Its been 7-8 years since I played.

Imagine my surprise when the very first post I saw was advice FROM ME.  LOL!  And it was quoted by someone else as "from veteran player xxxxxxx", ME.

THUD!

It is going to take a while for me to get back into the details of the game.  This rejoining the game is going to be VERRRY INTERESTING...  I'm going to get KILLED at first until I remember the old strategies and catch up on the new ones.  But that's the kind of thing that keeps the brain working, you know?

I could die of many causes.  But brain boredom ISN'T going to be one of them.  LOL!

[Update:  The Civ 2 CD arrived today.  I am devastated.  The CD is too old to load on my up-to-date Mac...  My anticipated thrill at playing Civ 2 again is stomped by technology failure.  It looks like I will have to get the old Windows computer cleaned and working if I want to play Civ2. 

Let There Be Light!

No offence intended but my bathroom is interior and light has always been an issue.  It came to a head when I bought a new sagegreen bath towel and it looked dead gray on the towel rack.  So I also bought a bright blue towel that matched the fancy marine fish shower curtain and it looked PURPLE!

OK, I decided to get some daylight in there.  No, not a skylight, just "daylight" bulbs.  I figured there were regular incandescent daylight bulbs, but I couldn't find any.  I had to get compact fluorescent bulbs.

WHAT a difference!  The color of both towels sprung to life.  Now, I don't want to suggest that the color of my towels defines my life.  But it WAS annoying that they looked so different than in daylight and I never saw a problem I didn't want to fix.

And don't get me wrong about the towels either.  I'm both genetically and by upbringing used to going "cheap", but my escape is that I go by value rather than price.  The $13 towels at Walmart and Target are as good as the $30 ones at Bed, Bath&Beyond.  Soft, absorbent, oversize and 100% top cotton.  I'm glad to see the true colors of the new towels.

But, OMG, I'm going to need to clean the bathroom a lot more often!!!  And forgive me if I won't explain why...

But the towel color with regular incandescent and "daylight fluorescent"?

Big difference, huh?