In my own little world

[jimimac71]

Just noticed your latest addition to your meme thread. Figured you've returned home from your trip to Switzerland, and so welcome back!

(...hope everything worked out well for those you went there to assist in their move)

Yes! I agree with the D Man.
You're a special person on this forum.
Then again, Dargo might drink for any good reason, but not the basic
associated here. I think some of his classy tequila is in order for nice people.

[Masha]

Dargo: I thank you for your concern.

All are now safely ensconced in apartments and have either started work or will start in the coming week. They all have provisional permission to remain for a minimum of eighteen months.

I had one thirty-two hour and one thirty-five hour periods with no sleep. I have had to adapt to time zone difference twice. I can not offer a proper estimate of how long that it will take for me to fully recover. I did come home to a little present of an eighth of: Durban Haze which should help.

[Masha]

You're a special person on this forum.
Then again, Dargo might drink for any good reason, but not the basic
associated here. I think some of his classy tequila is in order for nice people.

I thank you for your kind words.

I should perhaps note that I am primarily a vodka girl. I will drink other things if necessary but they are not as enjoyable.

[jimimac71]

Masha, I hope you are getting the rest you need.
Sometimes a little nip brings on the sandman.
Sweet Dreams!

[Masha]

I have just now completed the task of purchasing, loading, unloading and carrying to the top floor forty-two rolls of R-30 fiberglass insulation at a cost of $1,232.49. This required four trips because my little SUV could hold no more than eleven rolls at a time. Ten was easier because the eleventh had to be stacked on top of one in the passenger seat and so two of the trips were made with only the outside driver's door mirror usable. I was not about to make a fifth trip for just two because the lumber yard requires a check-in with identification when entering the pick-up yard and a wait in line to exit the yard as staff inspects each vehicle for what is being removed and checks it against the sales/pick ticket.

This is part of our division of labor. I acquire the material and place it in a staging area. The two of us will move it into the attic. My little Fuzzy will then go into the attic, clear the present insulation away from the soffit vents, seal the plumbing vents to prevent air infiltration, staple on some radiant barrier where applicable and lay the new insulation.

He was to have enlarged the entrance trap to the attic and fitted a temporary door while I was busy with this but he has disappeared without a trace. I have checked and found that his passport is in the safe and so he is sure to be back before the end of the month. I believe that he knows well that a return within a few hours will require a tribute of cheesecake.

I must keep telling myself that this cost is not egregious. The insulation is on sale for: $31.48 per roll. They offer bulk-pricing of: $26.75 per roll when purchasing more than twenty rolls. It is Menard's and so there will be $123.59 merchandise rebate also if I remember to prepare and mail the receipt and rebate form prior to the twenty-fifth of the month.

This project is an intrusion into our schedule of updates/renovation. It was given priority because the electricity bill which arrived Saturday demands: $285.48. A rough calculation shows that this project might have a payback period of four years only. There are warnings that rates for both electricity and natural gas will increase within two years and so it may be less time.

A major factor is also that such attention should also make the house more comfortable during temperature extremes.

Renting was much easier on my nerves and back.

[Dargo]

Yeah...



...they all said, RIGHT?!

[TikiSoo]

This project is an intrusion into our schedule of updates/renovation. It was given priority because the electricity bill which arrived Saturday demands: $285.48. (snipped)
There are warnings that rates for both electricity and natural gas will increase within two years and so it may be less time.
A major factor is also that such attention should also make the house more comfortable during temperature extremes.

Cudos to you for taking on the huge responsibility of being a home owner. Knowing how to do your own home maintenance & repairs is essential.
I live very modestly in a 100 year old drafty house. My gas/electric bill is $78/month all year and my actual usage this summer has been about $10/month.
How do I do this? Not by buying anything, but by managing the sunlight & air flow. I have not turned an air conditioner ONCE so far this year, and used it only 3 days last summer.

Learn the path of the sun in relation to your windows & doors. You can open/close your windows/doors to capture the sun's warmth or cool the air with ventilation. Architects design houses to optimize air flow.

Having old house high ceilings, it doesn't make sense to crank the furnace in winter. Instead, dress accordingly and just heat "yourself" with an electric blanket for the couple hours you're sedentary-watching movies or reading. (down comforter for sleeping!)

Everyone tries to sell me new double pane, vinyl frame windows. My big old single pane lead glass windows in wood frames are far more insulating than thin, modern window glass. Insulated drapes provide an extra barrier when needed.

[Detective Jim McLeod]

[Masha]

Cudos to you for taking on the huge responsibility of being a home owner. Knowing how to do your own home maintenance & repairs is essential.
I live very modestly in a 100 year old drafty house. My gas/electric bill is $78/month all year and my actual usage this summer has been about $10/month.
How do I do this? Not by buying anything, but by managing the sunlight & air flow. I have not turned an air conditioner ONCE so far this year, and used it only 3 days last summer.

Learn the path of the sun in relation to your windows & doors. You can open/close your windows/doors to capture the sun's warmth or cool the air with ventilation. Architects design houses to optimize air flow.

Having old house high ceilings, it doesn't make sense to crank the furnace in winter. Instead, dress accordingly and just heat "yourself" with an electric blanket for the couple hours you're sedentary-watching movies or reading. (down comforter for sleeping!)

Everyone tries to sell me new double pane, vinyl frame windows. My big old single pane lead glass windows in wood frames are far more insulating than thin, modern window glass. Insulated drapes provide an extra barrier when needed.

One must learn basic home maintenance and repair here if they are not fabulously wealthy. Electricians, plumbers and HVAC are reluctant to schedule any work likely to cost less than a thousand dollars. Handymen are available at sixty dollars per hour with three hour minimum during which they are sure to perform at least twenty minutes of actual work.

Even acquiring supplies to do your own work can be expensive. I could have elected to have the insulation delivered. The website's estimate for delivery was $119 and it could not be scheduled before the coming weekend. It thus became time for me to determine how best to load my little SUV to maximize what could be carried and time to ignore the inefficiency of making four trips.

Your weather must be significantly different from ours. We recently came off eight days of approx. one hundred degree heat with nights not falling much below eighty degrees. Humidity was very high also. Such can not be moderated to any great extent by ventilation. Several major construction projects in this area were suspended and are facing suspension again because concrete is compromised when poured in such temperatures. Police, fire department and EMTs are aiding in the distribution and installation of air conditioners for the elderly and disabled.

We have installed film on most windows. This has had some effect as the curtains now register nearly fifteen degrees cooler when measured with non-contact thermometer in late afternoon.

We are constantly learning that we can not take current condition of the house at face value. What looked like ten inch batt insulation around the perimeter of the attic is actually two inch thick insulation on chicken-wire framework. We have no idea why any person would have gone to so much trouble for so little effect.

[Bronxgirl48]

Masha, to quote Martha O'Driscoll from 1945's HOUSE OF DRACULA as John Carradine is hypnotizing her into becoming a vampire like himself, "Your world is coming closer and closer!"

And I love it! I am rooting for you in every endeavor you undertake.

I live in a small Florida condo with tiny anole lizards and flying palmetto bugs. No garden, only a patio (decently sized) This is hurricane season (June through November) so I've stocked up on the basics -- bottled water, tuna, crackers, Pepperidge Farm cookies and Lay's Dill Pickle flavored potato chips.

I lead an exciting life, lol.

[txfilmfan]

Cudos to you for taking on the huge responsibility of being a home owner. Knowing how to do your own home maintenance & repairs is essential.
I live very modestly in a 100 year old drafty house. My gas/electric bill is $78/month all year and my actual usage this summer has been about $10/month.
How do I do this? Not by buying anything, but by managing the sunlight & air flow. I have not turned an air conditioner ONCE so far this year, and used it only 3 days last summer.

Learn the path of the sun in relation to your windows & doors. You can open/close your windows/doors to capture the sun's warmth or cool the air with ventilation. Architects design houses to optimize air flow.

Having old house high ceilings, it doesn't make sense to crank the furnace in winter. Instead, dress accordingly and just heat "yourself" with an electric blanket for the couple hours you're sedentary-watching movies or reading. (down comforter for sleeping!)

Everyone tries to sell me new double pane, vinyl frame windows. My big old single pane lead glass windows in wood frames are far more insulating than thin, modern window glass. Insulated drapes provide an extra barrier when needed.

One must learn basic home maintenance and repair here if they are not fabulously wealthy. Electricians, plumbers and HVAC are reluctant to schedule any work likely to cost less than a thousand dollars. Handymen are available at sixty dollars per hour with three hour minimum during which they are sure to perform at least twenty minutes of actual work.

Even acquiring supplies to do your own work can be expensive. I could have elected to have the insulation delivered. The website's estimate for delivery was $119 and it could not be scheduled before the coming weekend. It thus became time for me to determine how best to load my little SUV to maximize what could be carried and time to ignore the inefficiency of making four trips.

Your weather must be significantly different from ours. We recently came off eight days of approx. one hundred degree heat with nights not falling much below eighty degrees. Humidity was very high also. Such can not be moderated to any great extent by ventilation. Several major construction projects in this area were suspended and are facing suspension again because concrete is compromised when poured in such temperatures. Police, fire department and EMTs are aiding in the distribution and installation of air conditioners for the elderly and disabled.

We have installed film on most windows. This has had some effect as the curtains now register nearly fifteen degrees cooler when measured with non-contact thermometer in late afternoon.

We are constantly learning that we can not take current condition of the house at face value. What looked like ten inch batt insulation around the perimeter of the attic is actually two inch thick insulation on chicken-wire framework. We have no idea why any person would have gone to so much trouble for so little effect.

In the mid-70s, my Dad was undertaking an overhaul of the electric wiring in our house, adding outlets and a new circuit breaker box. Seems the allotment of outlets in 1951 didn't suit living in the modern electronic age, even in those dinosaur years of the 70s. When he started fishing around behind the sheetrock, he discovered that the house had no insulation at all in the walls. So a more pressing project ensued, where all the sheetrock of exterior facing walls came down to install insulation. The house was a mess for about two months that summer.

[Masha]

Masha, to quote Martha O'Driscoll from 1945's HOUSE OF DRACULA as John Carradine is hypnotizing her into becoming a vampire like himself, "Your world is coming closer and closer!"

And I love it! I am rooting for you in every endeavor you undertake.

I live in a small Florida condo with tiny anole lizards and flying palmetto bugs. No garden, only a patio (decently sized) This is hurricane season (June through November) so I've stocked up on the basics -- bottled water, tuna, crackers, Pepperidge Farm cookies and Lay's Dill Pickle flavored potato chips.

I lead an exciting life, lol.

I thank you for your kind support.

I remember there was an incident a few years ago when you had a visitor which was neither a lizard nor a bug. You were not able to identify it but you did state that it looked much like this:

[Dargo]

Wait! That looks like a gorblick! And you sure don't ever want any gorblicks hangin' around your house, as they'll find any stash of Oreo cookies you might have in your cupboards and/or cookie jar and'll eat 'em all up, leaving nothin' but crumbs you'll then have to clean up.

That's why they look like that, ya know. Like they say, "you are what you eat".

And they're not picky either, 'cause they'll even resort to eatin' Hydrox cookies if that's all you've got lyin' around.

(...okay sure, this was silly, but hey, I have a lot of free time on my hands lately and so a guy's gotta entertain himself somehow, right?!...and especially seein' as how I don't have any home renovation projects to worry about at the moment, I'm happy to say...NOT that I'm rubbin' this in here, mind you!)

[Masha]

...NOT that I'm rubbin' this in here, mind you!)

Please do not be as everyone says that you are!

Also: the wee beastie is a: Susuwatari aka: "Soot Sprite"

[Dargo]

...NOT that I'm rubbin' this in here, mind you!)

Please do not be as everyone says that you are!

Also: the wee beastie is a: Susuwatari aka: "Soot Sprite"

No, no, no! Susuwataris are MUCH smaller than Gorblicks which originated from just outside Poughkeepsie NY before speading throughout this great country of ours sometime during the mid-1970s, and which coincidentally coincided with the outbreak of Disco.

Susawataris, on the other hand, have never made it across the wide Pacific Ocean from their native Japan, and so....

(...WAIT...now WHO exactly IS this "everyone" you're talkin' about here anyway???)