Electrician and labor

The electrician got here at 8:15 a.m. after no-showing yesterday. He was supposed to be here at 7:30 because the contractor thought we had inspection today. Fortunately, we didn't. This may sound really bad, but if all of our contractors were only this unreliable life would be a lot easier. He put the exterior lights up and powered up the new outlets and switches that came about when we had to re-do the windows and install the back door.

Here is a shot of the new back door with the light fixtures installed:



Here is a shot of the new light fixture. It's certainly not designer-fabulous, but it works well, meets code and didn't cost a lot. I wish it wasn't fluted, but it was the plainest, most contemporary looking light fixture I could find on short notice. Maybe some year we'll upgrade them.



Thursdays are a day I enjoy because I do yard work and labor. Seriously, I actually like doing it. C has begun to enjoy it too - he says there is a certain sense of satisfaction that comes from doing it yourself. I agree. I am still working on the ivy in the backyard, but each week I get more cut. The biggest holdup in the size of my yard waste bin. But, it's no big deal if it takes a few more weeks. Once I've made my first pass cutting as high as I can, it will be time to get a ladder and hedge trimmer and get the high-up stuff. I also cut the weeds on the median strip between the sidewalk and street. There's no real grass there, so it must look funny to see me cutting them, but in the summer if I don't hit the area at least weekly we end up with thigh-high weeds really fast. I use a manual mower, which I really like. I estimate it takes 25% longer than it would with a power mower, but I like the feel of the manual. There is something very satisfying about the mechanical way it cuts, seeing the cut blades of grass (weeds) fly, and the feel of it. The sound (or lack thereof) is also nice. I also like that it's a bit of a workout too (but not as much as you might think, it's really not that hard). I view it as a time saver because I combine exercise with lawn cutting.

I also filled the hole adjacent to the back door landing. It is so nice the be able to walk right out and not jump over a hole or step on a rickety board covering the hole. It was a lot of work (you don't realize how much dirt a hole holds until you have to fill it). After shoveling in all the available nearby dirt, I started hauling shovelfuls from further away and realized it was going to take forever. I finally used the wagon we bought for the dog. He has a health issue and gets tired really easily, so we have been "walking" him in the wagon. Believe it or not, when he is tired enough to be in there he'll go right in and stay in there.

Here is the hole after it is filled in. Look for the dark patch of dirt in front of the front right corner of the landing.




Here is the wagon we bought for the dog, but ended up using for it's intended purposed of yard work. It even has a dumping feature, where the whole thing upends like a dump truck. Needless to say, we don't use this feature for the dog, but it sure came in handy today.


Here is the dog in the wagon. He is really tired here.







I also got up on a ladder and stuck some house numbers on the fascia board just under the roof line. A prior inspector told us to put numbers up before final inspection. Seems like a minor point, but for $3 worth of stickers I wasn't going to get another correction. So I dragged the ladder out and put the stickers up. When I stepped back to look, I realized why he said to put numbers up. Ours were hidden behind a tree. The new ones I put up right on top of the old ones were thus hidden as well. Oh well, I'm glad it was only stickers. It's just another trip to the hardware store. Now I know that no job ever gets done with just one trip to the hardware store, but come on, this was really minor and I really thought this would be the elusive one-trip job. Alas, it was not meant to be.

I got home after dark and was very pleasantly surprised by the new lights by the back door. Those two fluorescent lights really light up the whole yard and driveway. It is so nice to have light finally in the backyard. I'm really pleased with how well the two inexpensive light fixtures work.