Today’s first picture is not of the new place. See how nice I am when I want to be? This card fell out of a second-hand book I purchased. The upper right corner states they’ve been in business since 1797. You get a lot of that kind of thing in England. The other side shows that in addition to this being an insert, it is also a postcard. Cheery bunch over there, wot?
I can’t find my grits. Things get lost in any move, but my grits? They will show up but meanwhile I had to eat cereal for breakfast. You know, artificially flavored dry crunchy pelletoids. Right in front of Pudding-Tat. Plus I was up late last night finishing those 16 disks of Hungarian Rock. I listened to a few that had English-like titles, “Erogena Zona” and “Porsches u Kafene”. Not only are the tunes stereotyped, I think many of them are copyright infringement, but like who’s gonna know? (Another rip-off, but I’ve seen this one everywhere in the world, is to name some half-baked.local song identically to a popular American tune. There is a Bolivian song “It’s Five O’clock Somewhere” that has nothing to do with Alan Jackson.)Up at 5:00 A.M. to beat the heat, I finally shut down the salvage operation at 10:30 A.M. That beautiful hot water heater is really wired in there so I had to leave it for tomorrow, chancing it will still be un-stolen. I got enough material to make the new place very comfortable, including the two air conditioners. By coincidence there is a History Channel program about hardware, featuring nails and screws. This got my attention and I see that several manufacturers, such as 3M, say their new adhesives will put traditional fasteners out of business. Okay, but with glue, what happens if you change your mind?
To find out more, I researched the aisles at Home Depot. They are supposed to have everything you ever needed to build a house. This rigid ½” insulation is designed to be covered with drywall, not an option here—the roof will not support it. Whatever I decide will require insulation any way, so I purchased some Liquid Nails. I don’t know why they are called Florida rooms when you can’t even walk through them in comfort except on the few coolest days of the year. Or maybe that is why they call them Florida rooms? I’m thinking as I exited the orange box, I’ve got a measuring tape, a screwdriver and Liquid Nails. I’m only missing one thing to be a contractor in this town. Duct tape.
There is a plastic molding which I am not sure whether I should remove or bury. I’m going to try figuring out how to build a jig rather than trying to find anyone reliable to help out. Ceiling panels are a two-person job. These panels have a foil side which the instructions say must face out. Well now hold on there, I say. If insulation keeps heat out and cool in, what happens if you put a second layer of panels with the other face out? I have to ponder these fledgling problems of the Universe before Wallace gets here. I’ve heard of a white paint that has better reflecting properties than the standard grey-silver, which I’ll check into. I predict the electric bill to keep this place comfortable will hit $120 per month, still less than a heating bill.
Pudding-Tat is spending more time outside, which means leaving the west patio doors open which in turn means this place always smells like flowers. Reminds me of lilacs when I was in grade school. The cat has inspected every inch of the patio. She is not used to wide open spaces. Those eight brick fence-posts seem to be made of real brick. That must have been a lot of work but they sure look nice. An example of “good skillsmanship”.
