June 4, 2008

           Who remembers when they used to put a free carpenter’s pencil in the box when you bought 50 pounds of nails? Not me, that was long before my time. I’ve heard old wood butchers talk about it. The idea was that it represented the American way. Something that cost a little extra but kept the customer coming back. No more, now the country is full of Third World efficiency experts. They can only cut the price by taking something away, real geniuses, that crowd. Here we have the mechanical carpenter’s pencil. See the tube of extra leads? The package doesn’t say whether this pencil is just as easy to lose as the free one.
           The soon-to-be un-Florida room is being measured for daily temperature. This morning it was 83 degrees before the sun came up. If all else, I have to see if I can make the room passable for Miss Pellet-breath, since her cat box won’t go anywhere else except in the living room. Question. Since the room has no soffits or vents, where does the heat go? Or put another way, before I got here, the only destination for heat was into the room. Floriduh. I got one for the state legislature, “When a dollar store goes bankrupt, what do they sell all the stuff for?”
           It is 10:30 A.M. and I’m fitting the fifth and last panel into place. The difference I reported in temperature (7 degrees) is apparent and not borne out by the thermometer. The largest gradient increase is between 8:00 and 10:00 in the morning. I’m going to partition the room with a heavy frame of 4x4” and hang a curtain for privacy. This will allow full access to both main entrances, although I still need a place to practice music.
           The insulation foil is almost the identical color of duct tape. Thus, I will carefully seal the joints and see if anybody notices. This got me to thinking why they don’t make designer duct tape? Then, silly me, I realized maybe the people who invented duct tape were from Florida and it already is. The point is that it is not so bad looking that I would even worry about it for now. Okay, I just finished the easy part. The last panel into place made the noticeable difference, meaning every cranny has to be sealed. The room isn’t as square as I thought.
           Marisa came by, for of all things, she had forgotten a toilet plunger in Mila’s bathroom. I never saw it, but then, I don’t spend much time in Mila’s bathroom. Marisa was wearing a postal uniform. And was wowed by the new ceiling in the Florida room. Since Mila had her door locked, Marisa will have to come back another time. Some people have their favorite plunger and that, I guess, is that.
           I biked the ten miles to Home Depot for more gear and prices. I spent the extra few dollars for some nice looking brackets to hold in the partition without anchoring anything to the walls. I used fence post brackets at fourteen dollars a pop. On the way back I stopped at Jimbo’s to make sure everything is okay for Friday if I can make it this week. (And to find out that Will is not talking to me. No loss to me, I don’t have a lot of patience for people with wild mood swings. Maybe he really liked that guitar?) I do tend to take side roads when biking long distance but the drop in traffic is dramatic. The few drivers left are more polite, indicating that there may be a critical mass needed for bad drivers to do their thing.