Musings on a Small Life

[S]He works hard for the money So hard for it, honey [S]He works hard for the money So you better treat [her] him right I'm not sure if I mean Nicki or Chuck (Robin's husband)! Both!     Robin and Chuck came up yesterday, and Chuck very kindly took down my old, ugly ceiling fan and replaced it with the one I purchased on sale when my aunt was visiting last month. Of course Nicki had to get in on the action and make sure Chuck was doing everything properly!       It was a two (sometimes three) person plus one cat job. Finicky to install, but when all was said and done, I have a new ceiling fan, simple and modern in design. (The blades are white, even though they look grey in the snapshot.) We made a Value Village run after lunch and dropped off the old fan for donation, so it's well and truly gone from my space and life now. Yay! (I hated the dangling cords to operate it and the yellow/brassy metal colour too. Shades of the 1980s!) ...

Derry: Are you calling me a sow's ear?! No, baby bear, I'm not. I'm referring to this house! Friends Robin and Chuck came up today for several hours, and once again I have to thank Chuck in particular for doing his best to "make a silk purse out of a sow's ear." This time he installed my bathroom vanity doors, purchased at Home Depot in the spring and sitting on my spare room floor since early June. He did a great job and they're nice doors for inexpensive (albeit custom order) MDF ones. They're heavy and smooth and close beautifully, unlike the old 30+ year old creaky, stiff doors that had been there before. They do, however, emphasize how crappy the base cabinet and old laminate counter top are. I'm not keen to have the cabinet itself ripped out and replaced, especially now, but at some point I'll have the old sink and counter top done. Even so, nothing can turn a sow's ear into a silk purse! I also have to th...

In this case, only two.  :-) (See http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0122e.html for three rather dark versions of the folk tale.) I had taken an early train to visit Robin for the day ( check her blog for awesome close-ups , far better than any pics I took), and our first stop was at Reid's Dairy, where they have a little "sanctuary." They have two resident goats, plus a miscellany of ducks, geese and turtles.       Robin noted that we actually spent 45 minutes there, snapping pics, but it seemed like only a few minutes to me. I'd love to have something like this, accessible, in our city, but I suppose if we did I'd constantly be there and would never get my errands done! There was a fresh "crop" of ducklings, so adorable!         And plenty of geese, too. Actually, there seemed to be two flocks, one on each side of the little bridge, and when the one group got too close to the other, lots of hissing ensued. ...

Friends Robin and Chuck came up this weekend, he to work on my baseboard trim. (I know I've said it many times already, but I'm so lucky and so thankful to have met them, and I'd feel that way even without all their help.) What a delight to have baseboards, and not just any slapped on, poorly done baseboards, but nice trim! It was worth all the mess and cleaning.  :-)     All that's left is the kitchen (which means two or three small pieces) and the basement landing (two small pieces). But I do need to pick up a few more lengths of trim to finish. I thought what I got with Dad would be more than enough, but not quite. Anyway, we took an early Sunday morning walk, when all was quiet, and made some new four-legged friends. This is George, whom I'd met within the past few weeks while on the way home from work. Quite elderly, a bit senile, very friendly. He didn't hesitate to run to Robin for attention. He also still had enough energy to run to ...

Or in this case, a lot of help. Robin and her husband came up yesterday morning and spent most of the weekend here. He toiled away at my upstairs baseboard trim for two days, and she chauffeured me around on errands, made the best vegetarian pizza ever (for supper Saturday) and then got my little back space all tidied up this morning. All those short cuts and uneven floors!  Notice Nicki helping her, below. Other than my floor guy--and he was being paid for it--I don't think I've ever seen someone work as hard as Chuck. He absolutely toiled away up there, with the all the finicky cuts, and he did it all by hand. I have to paint it sometime soon! For the first time in many, many years, I have baseboards in the upper hall, plus new baseboards in the bathroom and my bedroom. It looks frickin' awesome up there, and it all just needs some paint (which I recently purchased). The other thing Chuck did for me was put up a newly-purchased living room cur...

On Thursday I took a day trip via train to visit with friends, Robin and Chuck ( A Bird's Life ). They went above and beyond in the chauffeur department, picking me up in Belleville and then taking me back to the train station late in the afternoon--all through construction and detours, I might add. I was thrilled to finally see "Robin's" goats!       These are the goats behind Reid's Dairy, and Robin has taken a number of pictures of them since she started her blog in the spring. They're so cute, though definitely a handful. One of them started to munch on my jacket, but Chuck rescued it from being goat fodder.  :-) I also got to see her turtles, though didn't get a good snapshot, they were too far away. I got the grand tour of their lovely home; they've put a lot of work/renovations into it since purchasing it last year, and it shows. Gorgeous kitchen and bathroom, immaculate house. They live in an older neighbourhood with lot...