Musings on a Small Life

 ...means a newly installed toilet in the bathroom! No more multiple nighttime trips down to the unfinished basement, flashlight in hand.  :-) The vanity is on order, with an expected delivery between July 16 and 29, so it could be a couple of weeks yet before everything is done. However, that's the only piece I'm waiting for, everything else is here and ready to go in after the vanity. I finally can see some light at the end of the reno tunnel! I have one very frightened cat who alternately hides under the covers on the guest bed or under the plants in the garden. He'll be VERY happy to have everything done! (He was trembling uncontrollably when I snapped this pic, I could see the leaves around him shaking. Poor love.) Take care, all!

The feral cat has been waiting for me for the past couple of mornings, from his vantage point of underneath a nearby parked car. He alternately squeaks and hisses at me, but he doesn't go too far, having quickly come to understand that I have his breakfast. (I had to zoom in with the phone for the snap below.) He's got something stuck in his tail and there's a small patch of something else stuck to his fur (looks like a surface thing, not a skin issue) on his right haunch. Poor little man. I've seen him only in the mornings, would be happy to feed him supper too, if he came by and I saw him. When he finishes eating he heads off in a specific direction, so I guess he has his territory. As a bittersweet contrast, here's MY mancat late yesterday. He was pretty clingy all Saturday, but had settled down a bit by Sunday. ****** I'm just waiting for the guys to show up, they should be here around 8 AM. I think they'll only be sanding and mudding the drywall patches...

How things were left yesterday: The tub drain had to be moved today, because the old one didn't line up with the new tub. (Of course not, that would be too easy.) One of the guys did tell me yesterday that the plumber might have to cut through the bedroom side to gain access, so with that in mind I emptied the built-in bookcase early this morning. (This is the room I now sleep in, so I had a lot of stuff on it.) What a mess now in the spare room! Everything from the hall, bathroom and my bedroom is crammed in there now. It's a good thing I was proactive, because I popped out to make a Starbucks run and came home to this: Three shelves removed, and looking toward the new tub and surround. The guys also had to remove the door frame and extra drywall because the new tub was too wide to (a) get in the doorway and (b) maneuver into place. However, it's in: I didn't want glass doors, too hard to keep clean, and I don't think there's a shower rod yet. Maybe I have to g...

Early this morning, before the demo. Last fall's plumbing repair included the wrong colour plate to cover the older, large hole from the two separate taps that were there before.  White duct tape comes in handy.  :-P I've been living with a cracked tub surround for about 20 years and with a steel tub that had patches of its finish long gone. I will be glad to have a new tub and surround installed! I was off visiting a friend yesterday, have some critter to pics to share another time. For now, I'm just trying to get through the chaos! Derry was out for part of the morning, and I had wanted him to stay outside in the garden, but he got around me and made a beeline for the front bedroom, where he is now, hiding under the covers. Oh, and there's a young feral cat, the cause of Derry's early morning howling outside. I finally spied him yesterday morning and gave him a couple of cans of Fancy Feast. I had to back up about 20 feet, but he ate them, he's starving. He at...

So picture me early this morning, armed with a soup ladle and turkey baster, plus a plastic container from the recycle bin, trying to get the standing water out of the old toilet bowl and tank. Interesting image, I'm sure! I had been adding water to the tank (the toilet is on two tarps in a spare room) to keep the inside rubber pieces moist, but of course the water was just trickling out into the bowl. So in advance of the plumber, I wanted to get as much of it out before its removal for disposal. I had visions of dirty water spilling everywhere. I have to say, that old toilet is solid and heavy! I did manage to lean it toward me with one hand while ladling with the other, and so got most of the standing water that way. *** Nicki had his rescheduled vet appointment this morning. Anal glands and claws. It was quick, though he wasn't happy. He's up two ounces (oops), weighed in at 5.9 kg or 12.98 pounds. *** Derry did his normal business around 4 A...

[Note: I started typing this while the floor guy was here, and am too tired to edit.] I planned to buy a toilet and flooring for the bathroom. What I ended up with was a toilet from Home Depot, to be picked up by the plumber tomorrow. What I also ended up with was enough flooring for the bathroom, kitchen and entry way, plus all the laminate needed for the upper hall and the main level, all the underlay, the stair nosings, the T-mouldings, the glue for the loose-lay sheet flooring, etc. What I ended up with was $2042.03 on my credit card, to be shunted over to the line of credit, which already is run up from previous work, house purchases, etc. I almost needed smelling salts in the store (End of the Roll, same place I got the bedroom carpet), and it took me a bit to settle my mind (sort of) enough to pull out the credit card. None of that includes labour, of course. Labour for all of it will be an additional $1000. But the laminate was a great price, and it...