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Days lost....
I can report that not all viruses transfer in the same fashion--I think W's cold has infected me in making me unable to think in a straight line. Everything has taken 4x as long this week. Add to that the hands not working well, and rental house joys, and it's been a long week.
Our friends renting W's old house went on vacation for three days this week. There were plumbing and electrical issues in the house that were annoying but not crucial--they wanted us to know about them, but not to feel they were immediate. I tried getting hold of the plumber/handyman who had done the construction plumbing on our addition (and very well) and was amazed to be able to get him for 1 day total this week, spread over two days. He normally has a slow Nov-Dec and fast Jan-Feb--this year it's been the opposite for him. So, he reamed out slow sinks, rearranged dishwasher lines, fixed slow-working kitchen sink lines, cut out a new florescent cover for the kitchen (natural tubes, no less, we used to leave them on 18 hours a day. The last batch lasted 14 years, W told me) replaced washers in ancient manifolds in the hall shower handles, put a new stopper in the master bathtub (which may or may not work--it may need a new boot, but that's another two hours of work we had no time for)--
And then there was taking down the old, cheap fan in the master (the last left from the only previous owners) and moving the nice fan and light from the kitchenette into the master, and hanging a new light in the kitchenette. The fan no longer works on the variable dial--you have to adjust it with the pull chain--but it's silent and multi-speed, and the light is 160w as opposed to 100w. And all this was for $20/hour. I was delighted, except that the gremlins fighting us meant I had to go to Home Depot 3x in 4 hours on Friday. So no calling for a nonprofit or writing research happened on my end!
The renters are a couple where he works night shift for a local Fab, she works days at UT--so finding a hole to go in and work without disturbing someone is tricky. Hence my desire to improve several things while they were gone.
But handling this for W is something I can do for him, so I was glad to get it taken care of. We are the sort of people who want to keep a place up, even if it's just the little things. I actually find I enjoy the satisfaction of doing this right. If my hands ever stop hurting, I might actually take a class in home repairs.
I wonder if it would be deductible if W sent me and made me his manager... %^)
W still has no idea if he wants to sell the house or rent it--since the house next door has not sold in a year, he is in no hurry to sell it, despite how cute and big for its size it is. I think if we could guarantee having great renters like we do now, he'd keep renting it. But unfortunately, you can't always guarantee that.
Our friends renting W's old house went on vacation for three days this week. There were plumbing and electrical issues in the house that were annoying but not crucial--they wanted us to know about them, but not to feel they were immediate. I tried getting hold of the plumber/handyman who had done the construction plumbing on our addition (and very well) and was amazed to be able to get him for 1 day total this week, spread over two days. He normally has a slow Nov-Dec and fast Jan-Feb--this year it's been the opposite for him. So, he reamed out slow sinks, rearranged dishwasher lines, fixed slow-working kitchen sink lines, cut out a new florescent cover for the kitchen (natural tubes, no less, we used to leave them on 18 hours a day. The last batch lasted 14 years, W told me) replaced washers in ancient manifolds in the hall shower handles, put a new stopper in the master bathtub (which may or may not work--it may need a new boot, but that's another two hours of work we had no time for)--
And then there was taking down the old, cheap fan in the master (the last left from the only previous owners) and moving the nice fan and light from the kitchenette into the master, and hanging a new light in the kitchenette. The fan no longer works on the variable dial--you have to adjust it with the pull chain--but it's silent and multi-speed, and the light is 160w as opposed to 100w. And all this was for $20/hour. I was delighted, except that the gremlins fighting us meant I had to go to Home Depot 3x in 4 hours on Friday. So no calling for a nonprofit or writing research happened on my end!
The renters are a couple where he works night shift for a local Fab, she works days at UT--so finding a hole to go in and work without disturbing someone is tricky. Hence my desire to improve several things while they were gone.
But handling this for W is something I can do for him, so I was glad to get it taken care of. We are the sort of people who want to keep a place up, even if it's just the little things. I actually find I enjoy the satisfaction of doing this right. If my hands ever stop hurting, I might actually take a class in home repairs.
I wonder if it would be deductible if W sent me and made me his manager... %^)
W still has no idea if he wants to sell the house or rent it--since the house next door has not sold in a year, he is in no hurry to sell it, despite how cute and big for its size it is. I think if we could guarantee having great renters like we do now, he'd keep renting it. But unfortunately, you can't always guarantee that.
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