Friday, February 7, 2014

Friday, February 7, 2014 - Ten degrees today and yet I saw three freighters on the lake. I thought freighter traffic stopped in the winter.

I went up north today and no one was there working. The house was supposed to be done in six months. I had thought it might possibly be done by Halloween. Then Thanksgiving/Hanukkah. Then maybe Christmas. Or the First of the New Year. Who knows now? Valentine's Day? St. Patrick's Day? Easter/Passover? Memorial Day? Labor Day? Well, I honestly think it will be fairly soon.

                                 (Clicking on photos enlarges them.)

I blame myself. Probably I've been too accommodating, too easy going. I know that with some people you have to get mad and swear - a lot. You have got to get their attention. I'm really good at that but it does take me some time to get there. 

I love Anglo-Saxon words. They let people know how you're really feeling. It's just that I don't like having to resort to them to get my point across. Why are "those words" considered "bad"? I think that's a holdover from the Roman conquest of the British Isles. "Their" language was "good", "ours" was "bad", ignorant, barbarian. The law uses Latin which no one speaks any more. If you say it in Latin, no matter how bad or nasty, it's OK. If you use Anglo-Saxon words for exactly the same thing, it's wrong, evil, bad, inappropriate. Ugh! I hate the bias against words from the language of my ancestors. No one hits their thumb with a hammer and says, "Feces!". Or "Intercourse!". We all use words that express how we feel. Maybe that's the problem. We should NOT be expressing how we feel! Hold it in! (We know how effective that is!)

We are 25K over the bid - and still growing. Everything is "extra". Even the little things are extra. What, you may ask? The towel racks in the bathroom are extra. I bought three light fixtures - south closet, laundry, bathroom - extra. Drawer pulls (handles) - extra. Honestly, shouldn't those things be part of any bid. Rhetorical, I know. But really it's not the little things that pushed up the prices; it's the big things that have racked up the extra costs.

One of the reasons I chose a builder from up there is that I assumed a local guy would know stuff about things up there. The extra soil work added lots. I told him (them) last spring that I thought the soil would be a problem. The water wasn't draining. Again, it's my fault really. I should have insisted they pay attention to the ground and drainage.

I blame myself here too. (Above.) There should have been a spot-light on the west wall near where the head of the bed would be; there isn't.

There should have been a spot on the wall by the west porch door too and there isn't.

Half of my "stuff" is up north in the pole barn; the other half is down here. I've been living like a senior citizen in an Airstream for months. I'm singing the theme song from MASH lately.

For Brian: - The window 'cranks' are awesome looking.

To end on a happier note, for me: -