This week I intended to see “Oppenheimer” but the thought of sitting still, indoors, for three hours deterred me. There are many other projects to address this week, including the exciting and universally understood topic of home repairs.
I’m terrible with a hammer.
Me too! And please don’t make me use sandpaper. It feels so icky!
Don’t worry, Lily. You either, 9. The home repairs I’m talking about are way above your pay grade. Mine, too. These projects involve carpentry.
The first two are fairly straightforward. Some rotted boards covering the well head need to be replaced, , .
Home repairs: Rotted boards over the well head, and one has fallen in since the last time I looked!
and the large back deck needs a tune-up:
Home repairs: Though still relatively sane, the big deck is no longer safe!
But the third one- -ick! Remember when we had more than one male cat in the household?
We had three at one time: Friday, Piebald and Hoosegow.
I miss Friday and Piebald!
Me too, 9, but Hoosegow doesn’t seem to. He was low cat in the pecking order and sometimes went to extreme measures to assert himself. You know how guys (and, very occasionally, girls) crank up their car stereos so everyone has to listen to their music?
Yes. How infantile!
It’s what I refer to as sonic marking, like these guys are marking their territory with music.
Sounds logical.
Cats don’t have car stereos so they use the materials on hand to mark their territory. Dogs do too, if you get the picture.
Ew! You mean they lift their legs and pee on stuff?
The delivery style is a bit different but yes, 9, that’s pretty much it. The common term is “spraying.”
Not long after we moved into this house Hoosegow and Piebald started having regular spraying matches in the basement. This was a better location than anywhere upstairs, so in a way I was grateful. I cleaned up after them which was effective for most locations but one of their targets was the sliding doors for the built in storage cabinets. Unfortunately, the doors are made of fairly thin particle board, which eventually bubbled up under the paint in the affected area. It looks like this:
Home repairs: This one is so disgusting it’s practically unmentionable. . .
Gross!
I agree. This activity stopped after Piebald died in 2021. It took me a couple of years to realize that door replacement was really the only option. I warned the carpenter in advance about this one and he didn’t balk. He also does mold remediation so I’m sure he’s seen worse things.
Home ownership, as most people reading this probably know, is a parade of repairs and maintenance. I really love this house, it has plenty of character and is holding up well overall in its 75th year. Like me (a relative whippersnapper at 63), it needs some TLC from time to time. I go to the hair salon and the massage therapist. The house gets a house call from the carpenter.
I hope we’ll both stay in good repair for many years to come.
