Tag Archives: remodeling

Isabelle and Hummer

By lytspeed Posted in General, Pets Leave a reply

Due to my wife getting off work late and the prospect of painting a ceiling in the dark, we didn’t get anything done on the house last night. But I did read up on how to use the power painter properly, so I can know which rules I’m breaking and why the final result won’t be what I expected. I should have enough daylight to get the ceiling painted tonight, though. All the pieces are in place, and all I have to do is hook up and paint. I might even be able to get it done before my wife gets off work.

I noticed some bare spots in our new kitten’s neck fur, where our older cat (Isabelle) has been carrying her around. Hummer, the kitten, is about 3 months old now, and has bonded well with Isabelle. However, I think Isabelle’s motherly instincts might be off on their timing. It’s almost as if she’s adopted the kitten, but thinks she is younger than she actually is. So, she drags Hummer all over the house. Isabelle is a small cat, and can’t manage to completely pick up Hummer by the nape of the neck, so she has to drag her. She has been dragging her around so much that I can see marks on the kitten’s neck through the thinning fur.

I’m concerned about that behavior, and I’m trying to break Isabelle of it, but the kitten seems unconcerned. She meows in alarm when Isabelle drags her around, but then when she breaks out of the grip, she immediately goes back to playing with her surrogate mother. I guess I will just have to monitor the situation and let Isabelle’s natural timetable follow through. As long as the kitten is not showing any other signs of distress, I think things are probably okay.

Morning Morrowind

By lytspeed Posted in Gaming, Writing Leave a reply

I felt better today, and attended work as usual. I’m upset with myself for missing work over a silly sinus problem, because I also missed a meeting that I was actually looking forward to attending. This morning, I got up at 5:30 AM and rode the exercise bike for a while, then discovered that I had plenty of time to do something else before I went to work.

So I played Morrowind. I know, I know, I’m supposed to write, not play games during this morning time. That was the agreement I made with myself. Hey, at least I exercised. That’s a start, and hopefully I will be able to get into that full bore when I’m not so worn out from playing “This Ole House” every night.

I should at least be able to get the hall ceiling painted tonight, and my wife can get some particularly needful parts of the bedroom primed.

Silly Sinus Problems

By lytspeed Posted in General, Reading Leave a reply

I stayed home from work today. I’ve been fighting with my sinuses since before we went to Las Vegas, and I think the sawdust from the bookshelf project did me in. I didn’t do much except sleep, sniffle, and read Sophie’s World today, but in the evening I did replace a damaged door upstairs. We wanted to get the new door up before painting the bedroom. Hopefully I will be able to paint the hall and bedroom ceilings tomorrow night, but I’m not overly optimistic.

Creative Space

By lytspeed Posted in General Leave a reply

Today I worked on populating the bookshelves, a full-day job. A number of books that were downstairs had to come upstairs, and vice versa. For the first time in my life, I have more bookshelf space than books to fill it, and I find this creates a sense of silly urgency in me. My wife stripped wallpaper in our bedroom and prepped those walls for paint.

It was nice to be able to sit in the office in the evening, feel the rain-scented evening breeze blow in through the window, and look at a finished room, with everything I want at my fingertips or across the room. This should be a good creative space.

Frankenbookshelf

By lytspeed Posted in General Leave a reply

It worked! My wife and I cut the bookshelves in half, and we now have six merely huge shelves. We were even able to save the backing on three of them, so it only took me $20 to buy sheets of 1/8″ hardboard to use as backing for the other three. I have three standing next to each other along one wall of the office and a fourth at a right angle to the others. My computer desk and servers are along the wall opposite the three shelves, and the center of the room is clear except for an exercise bike. It’s all set up!

I guess there is some creativity involved in all of this house working; it may not be writing or music, but it certainly requires creativity to overcome some of the obstacles in building or repairing things. It’s not over yet, either. We still have four complete rooms to paint, some wallpaper to hang, and some wainscoting to tack up in the next week or two.