Musings on a Small Life

Note: Comments are off for this post.   I just wanted to thank everyone for their support, I truly appreciate it.   I really don't have the "patience of a saint," it's that I absolutely loathe drama and conflict and I'd prefer to walk away than fight. I'm a "flight" person! LOL. I'll only turn and fight if there's no other viable option. Also, fighting takes a lot of mental and emotional energy and I'm pretty short on that right now, particularly as a close family member currently has a significant health issue to deal with and a lot of my energy is focused on that person, especially as, because of COVID, I'm not able to be there with them.   All that said, thanks to one of yesterday's comments, I now know that the shingles on the roof are architectural shingles and are supposed to be textured like that.   Pic from a Google search.   That eases my mind somewhat, though doesn't guarantee that my roof won't leak.   I still w...

For anyone who actually wants to know what the "next chapter" of the really, really bad roof story is, here we go:   It didn't take long for two (different) guys from the construction company to come out on Saturday morning, Jan 16th, after the leak in the guest room. They went up and put another "waterproof" membrane down on top of the one that had been put on the day before. One of the two guys DID come and look up in the attic for himself, saw the leaking mess and took pics. Neither of them claimed to understand how this could have happened, of course. (Do I look like I'm fresh out of the cabbage patch to believe that bs? But no one steps up and takes responsibility for errors and bad jobs nowadays, something I find especially frustrating and annoying.)   On Friday Jan 22 two of the same three guys who had done the prep work on the 15th came back to actually shingle the back half. I made my feelings known, though neither said a thing, of course. They did...

After yesterday's back-half roof repair, I now have a leaky guest room.     Unbelievable.   I opened up the attic hatch to see that the entire back half they redid is saturated from the rain we had overnight.     I have taken a slew of pics and sent them to the property manager and company president, and followed up with an email with all the pics for official purposes. I'm beyond words at the level of incompetence. I'm waiting to see what the property manager will say about this and what will be done. If this isn't addressed right away, and PROPERLY repaired, yes, I will be hiring a lawyer. Comments are off; what can anyone say? Just please send some positive thoughts for this!! Take care and stay well.

It's Friday January 15 as I type this and the roofers have just left. Yes, they were here! They actually did the back half of the roof, and supposedly will be back on Monday to do the front, unless it's too icy. (They weren't able to do the entire roof at once because it took too long for the frost to melt this morning.)   I was talking with one of the guys (not the foreman), and he was explaining that they had put a synthetic membrane down first (not done originally, or when they re-roofed about 15 years ago) and that the shingles now are a different type, will last longer. They don't slot together, they're all of a piece. So he assured me that the roof won't leak; at least the back half won't. (It hasn't anyway.) I told him that one of the issues has been a gap at the gable, allowing water into the master bedroom (front of the unit, over the garage), but he told me that they had wrapped the gable with the membrane and that it should be fine. (Fingers c...

I've asked myself several times this morning if it's really Friday. It's my first full week of work after many, many weeks of working only 4 days/week or less, to use up vacation time, and then the 16-day holiday break. Five days is loooonnnnggggg. LOL.   Vector image from a Google search   I don't have anything exciting to relate, as I've not gone anywhere in six days (!), the longest I ever have spent inside in my entire adult life. We're still in full lockdown, so other than getting groceries, which I have to do tomorrow, there's nowhere to go anyway. The weather has been dull and depressing for days on end, but today the sun is trying very hard to break through the heavy cloud cover. Perhaps, for our neighbours to the south and to the world in general, this can be a metaphor for better times to come. On the leaky roof front: I now have a dumpster sitting in my driveway. A few guys showed up yesterday and tried to clear as much snow off the roof as possib...

Happy New Year! My wish for 2021 is that the year brings good health, hope and happiness for us all, and definitely and an end to the pandemic, an end to all the upheaval and suffering it has caused.   I have only one more vacation day before I return to work (i.e. the home office) on Monday the 4th. It's going to be a challenge to turn the computer on for 8 AM, after puttering around at my leisure for 16 days.   The days off have been so-so: a lot of phone and virtual connecting, which has been wonderful, though sometimes that has made me feel a bit lonelier too. I suspect I'm not the only person to feel that way. In addition, with our lock-down, I haven't been able to get out and do the things I typically would while on holiday, like picture-taking, thrift store shopping, jaunts into Starbucks, etc. But then, I'm not alone in that either. Even so, the time away from work has been terrific, and I find myself hoping that somehow I'll be able to retire before 65.   D...

 I hope everyone had a lovely, peaceful holiday, however you celebrated this year.   Unfortunately, with the approximately 60mm of rain on Christmas Eve, coming out of the west and pounding against the outer side wall of my unit, my master bedroom ceiling started leaking again, worse than before. Coupled with that was the water dripping behind the partition wall that separates my master bedroom from the home office, and that was so bad that water managed to seep down and completely saturate my carpet in a 6x2 ft area. It took 3 days of sopping it up with thick bath sheets and bath mats, plus running my (mercifully silent) heater all day, to dry it out. I was not a happy camper, given this has been an ongoing problem, now allowed to have become worse, for 16 months. Of course I sent texts, with pics, to my property manager and the president of the management company as soon as I discovered it, which was late Christmas Eve evening. Yesterday I sent an email for official record p...

Happy Christmas Eve to all! 2020 has been a challenging year for us in so many ways, but in spite of it all, I'm feeling blessed today:   I have a home of my own, and even though I loathe adjoining housing and where I live, and the unit needs so much cosmetic work (plus the roof, still waiting on that!), I  know I'm so fortunate to have it. The fridge, freezer and cupboards are filled with an abundance of food, both for myself and for Derry. We should be able to weather the impending province-wide lockdown (starting Boxing Day) without problem. I've been able to transition to working from home without impact to my salary and benefits. I HAVE a salary and benefits! That alone is tremendously lucky and something for which I'm grateful every day. I have terrific bosses and co-workers, and so that makes up for the mostly boring (to me) work. I've had more medical appointments this year than any other, most around a chronic issue that even with a complete change in diet ...

Not for Christmas, as my family is on the east and west coasts and I always find this season  challenging*, but for the impending work break. Today is my last day until January 4th.   Our province might be facing a full lock-down, we'll find out soon enough, so it won't be quite the same break as usual, even for me, especially if transit is as drastically cut back as it was during the first wave. However, I will enjoy the hiatus from my job nonetheless, and will appreciate being able to do my morning indoor workouts at my leisure, without any "rush" to get to the "office" for 8 AM. (Oddly, it IS hard to get my butt upstairs and at the computer for 8 AM; I'm often scrambling and half dressed. LOL. Right now I can't even fathom returning to a "normal" commuting schedule!)   I don't think Derry would want me to return to "normal," either. I brought a cat stand into the "office" and have it beside my work table, with the...

I popped out to do a few errands on Sunday, one of which included a stop at our nearby Pet Valu for Derry's treats. While there I succumbed to the temptation of a good price on a cat bed (hahaha--we all know how well received THOSE are).   When I got home I unpacked everything and put the cat bed down on the dining table while I went downstairs to put a load of laundry in the washer. When I came back upstairs, this is what I found:     Some Kitty, who knows full well he's not allowed up on the dining table (or kitchen counter), had already made himself comfortable. I guess he approves of his early Christmas gift!   Of course I laughed myself silly over this, and after I'd taken a few pics, he jumped down of his own accord.   I've now put the bed on the couch, at least for the time being, and he seems content enough to use it even after 24 hours.  Cats being the fickle creatures that they are, however, I expect the novelty will wear off quickly. No matt...

We had wet snow this morning, and for part of the day. (It's a slushy mess now.) I had popped out for a quick Starbucks run before work hours, and walked through the swamp on the way home.   It was pretty; great for a few snapshots! (Click to enlarge them.)     We're slated for rain this weekend, a "Texas low," apparently, so the slush won't stick, at least not this time. Soon enough. I console myself by the fact that we're very close to the Winter Solstice, after which we'll begin to regain daylight, and also by the fact that we're one day closer to Spring. :-) My "boss" knows where to hang out to stay warm, above. I usually have my little heater on in the mornings in the home "office," because the room is so cold and my back is to the window. (The room is very small, as all the bedrooms are, and there's isn't sufficient space to move the table anywhere else.) Anyway, Derry and I will remind you to please take our holiday e...

Hi and happy Friday! Pic from last weekend's walk along Lake Ontario Park. It's a dreary, rainy day (at least it's not snow...yet), so we've been snuggled inside. Me here in the home office, the "boss" in the guest room, below.   I've actually moved us into the guest room now for the winter, because the master bedroom is just too damp and too cold, being over the un-insulated, unheated garage. You can feel how cold that room is as soon as you step in, and after spending a few months last winter in the guest room because of the roof leak, I realized how much warmer and drier it is in there, even though it faces north. I would move in there permanently if the room were just a bit bigger, but it's a tight squeeze with just a double bed and a nightstand and small dresser, plus it no longer has a closet (I had a built-in bookcase put in when I first bought the unit). Anyway, I just consider myself very lucky to have another room to sleep in! The "boss...