![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
Since LJ lists the most recent posts first, you may want to scan through this journal starting at the beginning. Click here to go to the first post of this journal, and you can work forward from there.
You can get the feed for the new blog in either ot two ways:
Go to the new blog, http://retrovation.blogspot.com, and add it to your feeds list (how you do it depends on your browser).
Or if you want to add the new blog to your LJ friends list, go to this page: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/retrov
If you're interested in continuing to read my houseblog, you can subscribe to it in either of two ways:
- Go to the new blog, http://retrovation.blogspot.com, and add it to your feeds list (how you do it depends on your browser).
- Or if you want to add the new blog to your LJ friends list, go to this page: http://syndicated.livejournal.com/retrov
ation/ and then click on the link on the top that says "Add it to your friends list".
everything done to it. On the back wall is a sample of the color we're
going to paint this room, but not this week (click to see larger
version).Bathroom: Here's the new color, which we both really like. We
also re-stained the sink cabinet to better match the antique pine
cabinet which will eventually go on the wall (which you can see
reflected in the mirror), once our studfinder starts working. Actually
for now the cabinet will go on the wall behind the toilet, but as soon
as budget allows, that white beat-up cheapo sawdust cabinet you see
will be replaced by something lower and the pine cabinet will go above
that.The mirror and light above the sink have GOT to go, but alas, not
until we recover from The Attack of the HVAC System.And just because I
think it's cute: Pug Yin-Yang.
the plumbing. Except today I got a wee bit over-frustrated at the drip
from the outside faucet, which really isn't outside, it's under the
crawlspace, and I broke that rule. And the results caused me to
remember WHY I do electric and Von does plumbing.Apparently it's been
dripping for a while and we just never noticed it, except it's gotten
worse. So what did I do in my attempt to see if I could fix it, since I
couldn't wait one more minute for Von to get to it? I broke off half
the handle, and made it so we're losing even more water.The only good
thing that came out of my aborted attempt to stop the drip is even
though there's even more water coming out than there was before, most
of it's now coming out of the faucet instead of around the handle, so I
was at least able to attach a hose and route that to a planter so that
the water's not idly hanging out in our crawlspace tempting nasty
things to live there.And of course the faucet was rigged by the
previous owners in a way that's going to be a real bitch to fix:
Everything under there is PVC, which in theory should make it easier,
but there's the house shutoff then basically no space at all before the
T-connector to which the metal spigot is glued into place. Yes, I said
glued into place. If they had given a little more room, then even
someone as plumbing-impaired as I am could have just cut the PVC to
either side of the T-connector and put something else in its place. But
noooooooo, it couldn't possibly be that simple.So now we have to figure
out a way to fix this mess, and as long as we're under there I'm
determined to get it routed to outside of the crawlspace, which means
piping it to the foundation, putting in its own shutoff valve (what a
concept!), drilling through the blocks, and installing the new faucet.
Which of course neither of us really know how to do but our lack of
funds trumps our lack of experience and lack of desire to do this
ourselves.I hate plumbing.And I've been working on the floor again
today which hasn't helped my mood at all.At least I got us some steaks
for the new grill for tonight. Grilled steak, grilled brussels sprouts
with olive oil and rosemary, and grilled fresh peaches over dulce de
leche ice cream. Can I hear a YUM? And I think a mojito will be in
order, too - after all, the mint I have in the fridge will go bad soon
if I don't use it up!Oh and the blue we chose for the bathroom looks
really, really nice. I'd describe it as kind of a faded denim color.
Since we got a whole gallon for that little tiny room, I think we'll
paint one of the third floor rooms that color as well.
it does now but not nearly what you really want because you don't have
the money to do otherwise, or wait until you can do it "right." We're
starting on the downstairs bathroom to do just "better than now"
quick & dirty fixup. This is basically just bandaid #1 out of several,
but I do already see how it's going to make the room look better. It
just chaps my butt not to be able to do it "right."What we're going to
do is:
- Sand and refinish the stock oak base sink cabinet plus put on new
knobs to better match the antique pine wall cabinet that we bought for
that room. What we (ok, more me than Von but still...) really wanted
was to put in the antique pedestal sink that someone gave us, but it's
too damaged to put in without some serious restoration work. And a new
pedestal sink, or a new sink of any kind, just isn't in the budget
right now. Von already has them sanded and has on the first coat of
stain, and it's going to look a lot better than it did.
- Paint, a nice blue that we both really liked. Yes, we're going to
have to repaint after we get a new mirror/cabinet/lights, get a new
cabinet for towels and TP, maybe get a new sink, and patch the drywall
where the thermostat used to be (and a junction box cover sits now) but
at least for now it will be painted.
- Put up the new antique wall cabinet. The problem is that we can't put
it where it ultimately needs to go, because the ugly messed-up sawdust
cabinet we're using now for towels and stuff is too tall to put it
over. So we're putting it up over the toilet for now, and moving it
later once we can buy what we really want for that space.
- Put up new bathroom hardware (towel bars/hooks, tp holder, etc.). We
probably won't end up with the style and quality we'd really prefer,
but we'll at least have something a few steps above the HellMart
quality stuff that's in there now.Way future plans would be to rip out
and redo the shower, maybe even move the door to be off the hallway
instead of off the mudroom, but that's all dreams for now.Von's on
vacation this week, so hopefully this week will end up being pretty
productive. Von's going to do most of the work in the bathroom, plus
paint the walls in the stairway to match the living room, and probably
extend the color to the upstairs hallway.I'm going to spend this week
working on the dining room floors. And working on the dining room
floors. And working on the dining room floors.Just kill me now, k?
doing is any more work on this blasted floor today. I'm taking at LEAST
a 12 hour break, minimum. Like, from 10:30pm until 10:30am, minimum.
GAH!So, where I am. Oy, Yoda am I? Yes, so tired. Where am I on
this "get the linoleum adhesive off the dining room floor"
project:Around 1/3 of the room has all the staples removed, all the
basic scraping done, which means I've scraped up the black stuff that
will come up relatively easily (though still hellishly tediously)
without a seemingly endless cycle of soak/scrape/soak/scrape, and it's
been mopped.Ah, but "mopped," that sounds like such an easy task, no?
NO. This is The Mopping Of The Brown Gunk. See, under the black hard
stuff is the Brown Gunk. You might THINK that you've made decent
progress by scraping up the black stuff, but the Brown Gunk, it fool
you bad. Yes, it "mops up" but this is not an exaggeration: For every 6
sq ft or so of floor which averages 1/2 black stuff (easy to mop) and
1/2 brown gunk (hell to mop), it took 3-4 buckets of mopping, emptying
the water only when it was beyond sludge, then taking a minimum of 5
minutes of rinsing the mop between each bucket so that it could be
deemed "clean enough" to continue mopping.The middle 1/3 of the room
has the staples removed, or at least the ones that my knee, momentarily
holding all my weight, hasn't found yet. In that section I have
completed about 3/5 of the rough scraping. So what is "rough scraping"
as opposed to "basic scraping"? Rough scraping consists of using my
half-moon garden edger to scrape up the really REALLY loose stuff. To
reach "basic scraping" level requires sitting on my butt with a razor
scraper, scraping up the "able to be scraped up without soaking" stuff.
I'm leaving all the must-be-soaked stuff for last because I learned
from the one tiny section I did that is totally cleaned that the easily
scraped off stuff really just gunks up things as you're trying to
scraped off the must-be-soaked stuff.Am I making any sense? Didn't
think so.Tomorrow's goal is to finish the room to the staples out/rough
scraped/basic scraped/mopping from hell level. Sunday's goal is to take
out the last bit of plywood which requires me to figure out a way to
cut it in a straight line right across the dog's hallway where we're
putting vinyl flooring for now, do the staples/scrape/mop routine on
that, then do as much of the final soak/scrape removal of the black
stuff as I can handle, physically and mentally.Thank Maude that we have
air conditioning. As I'm doing this work, I have zero ecological
consciousness: It was 100 degree heat factor outside today and I had
our new AC cranked down to 72, which is normally unheard of for me (I
normally freak if someone wants to put it below 78 unless the humidity
is just too high).Maybe I will get up and fix myself a drink.You say
I'm putting you on But it's no joke It's doing me harm, you know I
can't sleep I can't stop my brain, you know it's three [days]I'm going
insane You know I'd give you everything I've got for a little peace of
mind[or the money for a professional floor refinisher]:::insert a
string of incoherent mumbling that if you play backwards says "Leslie,
you're screwing up your wrists and shoulders, plus you're whining and
whining sucks":::
that we ripped off the dining room floor: All gone. Baseboard heaters
from throughout the house, all gone, to replace non-functioning units
or heat workshops (sold one of the thermostats, too!). Old grill that
needs several parts replaced, which we're replacing with a new
stainless-steel grill: Will be gone by Monday. Granddaughter's old bike
with the tires that need replaced: Will be gone tomorrow. We would have
had to drag all that stuff out to the curb Monday night and prayed that
the trash guys took it all, but instead other people came to our house
and gave it all a new loving home.I love Freecycle. I know I've
had "freecycle rocks" posts here before, but it just bears repeating.As
for being hijacked, fortunately it was the online variety, not the
vehicular kind! I've no clue how it might have happened since I'm
obsessive about not clicking on links within emails or things like
that, but someone managed to get into my ebay account, change my name
to Rhonda Wambold, change my email address, change my credit card (more
than likely to match the name, which I presume was a stolen identity),
set me up with a Rohnert Park, CA address and a MO phone number, and
listed several expensive classic rock guitars for sale "check or money
order only" which sold for a total of almost $2000.For whatever reason
the person hijacking my account didn't change my password, but I only
discovered what was going on by pure accident - I haven't been on ebay
forever, but a link for a cell phone battery led me to an ebay store,
which led me to check My Account just because I was bored, which led me
to notice that I had three things recently sold! It took ebay security
support about an hour to stop saying "we see no evidence that your
account was breached" and actually check the IP addresses from my
account activity history as I kept telling them to do. They had the
evidence that I opened my account from Delaware, they had the evidence
that all my account activity up until all my info was changed was based
in Delaware, they had the evidence that I was contacting them about
this from Delaware, and they had the evidence that I changed everything
about me from some other location, in order to sell things very
different than what I've ever sold, and accepting only check/MO when
I've only ever before accepted PayPal. "Please check the IP history."
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Duh-oyyy!!By the way, I'm intentionally listing
Rhonda Wambold's name because I have every reason to believe that she
was someone whose identity was stolen, and quite possibly the credit
card number was stolen from her or opened as part of her identity
theft. It's an unusual enough name that if someone Google's it, they
might see this and contact me (just comment below, no matter how much
time has passed, and include a way for me to contact you!) so that I
can give her the information about this whole situation (including the
last 4 numbers of the credit card the hijackers were using, and the
evidence from ebay that the name and credit card was used to hijack
someone else's account), in case that helps her to resolve the
never-ending nightmare that comes with having your identity stolen.
with a near-toddler in your care, but it's basically impossible to get
anything done when those big projects are in the most-used room of the
house. What I would like to do is just keep working on the dining room
floor until I've gotten off all that I can of the old linoleum
adhesive. But that's just not going to done by this weekend, and the
dining room is indispensable and unavoidable: You have to go through it
to get from our primary entrance (the back door) to any other room in
the house except for the laundry room and office. And you can't get to
the kitchen without going through the dining room. So we can't just
close it off and make it off limits to Crawling Monkey Baby (aka our 1
y.o. granddaughter) when she's with us on the weekends.So what that
means is, even though I'm only halfway through getting the subfloor
staples removed and getting just the loose flaky part of the old
adhesive up, and so not even 1/10th of the way through the overall time
I'll need to put into this project, come Friday we'll need to wash the
floor as well as we can, put the big area rug back down, put the
furniture either back into place or at least in a place that's not in
the way when we're trying to carry, feed, or watch the baby, and put
everything out of reach of monkey-girl's roaming hands. Then we'll have
to put things back into ready-to-work mode come Sunday night when they
leave.I love our granddaughters so much that it bursts my heart, and I
dearly love that we get to spend this much time with them, but the baby
in particular definitely makes house projects difficult.Oh, just to
record: All I was able to do today was remove staples from and
dry-scrape about1/3 of the room total. Tomorrow I have obligations that
will keep me from doing much until evening, then Friday I'll have to
focus more on baby-proofing than really making any progress.But since
work on the dining room floor is suspended over the weekend, at least I
can hopefully start work on my rainbarrels! If the design I've come up
with really works, I'm going to post a very detailed how-to in my blog,
because truthfully the instructions I've found online so far either
didn't make sense and/or called for parts that are either called
something else here or just weren't available. If I can help someone
else do this, that will be great! But again, the key thing is that I
need to make sure it works first.
taking up the plywood for another day. But Von came home as I was
mid-carpet pull and one thing led to another, and we pulled up all the
plywood.Ladies, Gentlemen and those elsewhere on the gender spectrum:
We have a wood floor in our dining room, in place of the nasty carpet
that has been the bane of my existence since we first moved here. I
mean, c'mon, what can you say about a beige carpet that you clean 6
times and the water still comes up into the carpet cleaner as black the
last time as the first?!? Pics are at the end of this post.The news on
the floor is mixed: Not as bad as we had feared it could be, but still
a lot of work ahead of us. No real evidence of smoke/water damage from
the fire that was in this room before PO's got hold of the house, but
there's LOTS of old linoleum glue on the wood. Oh happy happy joy joy
(NOT!). Some of it is being very kind and flaking right off, but most
of it is going to require some serious muscle. Sanding it off isn't an
option from what everyone has told me, because it will gunk the sander
up faster than my pug going after a treat. I ran some test patches of
various things that might work to help soften the glue, and doused
sections with goo-gone, Greased Lightning Orange Blast spray, Greased
Lightning concentrated cleaner mixed 1/2 & 1/2 with water, and pure
water as my control. The Greased Lighting spray was the winner in this
round. Greased Lightning totally rocks - it's the only cleaner I use
any more - but it's only softening a layer of the glue at a time, so
I'm going to test some other options tomorrow.The real bitch is the
staples. Oh lord the previous owners went freakin' nuts with that
freakin' staple gun when he was putting down that luan. And of course
all the staples went through the plywood and stayed in the floor when
we pulled up the luan. The only method I've found for removing them is
to jam one side of my needle-nose plyers into the staple, brace my
lineman's plyers behind them for leverage, then push down. My poor hand
is only marginally functional at this point, and yet I've barely made a
dent in all that are there. I'm definitely going to need a new
needle-nose when I'm done, I'm putting it through such intense abuse.
Do they made a needle-nose prybar?!?I'm so happy with having most of
the carpet gone (haven't taken it out of the doggie hall yet) that I
could work until my body is one solid muscle spasm. Oh, wait. I already
did that. ::groan:: I need some serious ibuprofen and a soak in the hot
tub. Except we don't have a hot tub. My friends do, though... Hmmmm, I
wonder if they're asleep...OK here are the pics.The before pic. Please
ignore the mess. I wasn't about to clean just before I turned the room
into a disaster area. The checked rug is the nasty ugly area rug that's
hiding the hideously awful carpet.Down to the luan, in half the room
anyway:There's the floor! We have no idea what that one stained area
might be in the second picture - it seemed to be there from before the
carpet.The Great Solvant Face-Off!For this teeny bit of progress, I
feel hit by a truck?!?
be manic/depressive" after I told her that I was installing junction
box covers at 11pm, was feeling extremely proud of myself for finishing
everything on today's to-do list plus some, have been obsessive about
list making and task completion, and am feeling like a little kid the
night before Christmas that tomorrow is Rip Out the Carpet day.L., I
love your concern darlin' but as I said, no I'm not suddenly bipolar
and flying high in a manic phase. I'm just free from school and excited
beyond measure that this year I actually get to DO something on the
house instead of just lying around being sick all summer. Am I going to
push myself this hard on house stuff all summer? No, because I'll
probably lose a lot of motivation once it gets really hot (though now
with central air maybe that won't be as likely), I'll probably lose a
lot of motivation just because I'm not one to stay this highly
motivated about anything for all that long, and soon my other
obligations such as teaching an online class and taking care of the
grandkids during the week will kick in and I won't be able to get
nearly as much done.But for now, if I feel like digging tools and
supplies out of the garage at 1am, or organizing the office at a pace
that makes me end up looking like I spent an hour on a stairmaster
(considering that I made at least 12 trips to carry boxes and other
things upstairs, that's a fair analogy), or if I want to put the
junction box covers over the old thermostat boxes at close to midnight,
I'm going to revel in it.
there originally because you have this sicko need for documented
evidence of your task, so you add it to the list just to cross it off?I
have been seriously guilty of that all my life, but especially now that
I'm in the midst of this near-manic obsession about getting some
clearly visible, tangible things done on the house.Don't get me wrong,
I'm not like those of you who talk casually about how you refinished
the floors in your entire house yesterday or the addition that you
built last week. I'm talking realistic for me, an ordinary human with
limited motivation, stamina, and time in a typical weekend, such as
getting over half of the baseboard heaters disconnected and the old
thermostats removed, hanging a mirror, making two trips to Lowes with a
stop at Home Depot, getting some laundry done, and not allowing my
grandbaby to drown in the pool or tumble down a flight of stairs.
How-To: The Enthusiast's Guide to Home
Improvementhttp://www.extremehowto.comW
here. Don't click unless you have some time to look around because if
you're a housefreak like me, you're not going to be able to poke your
nose in and then just come back later. They have a very broad range of
information and detailed how-to articles, and the ones I've read so far
are really appropriately geared towards the Everyday DIY-er.They also
have a Home Repair Forum which I haven't dared click on yet. I'll nary
make a dent in my to-do lists if I keep finding wonderful readable
resources like this!
sticker that says all is well, so now the installation is 100%
completely finished. I like how many times he said variations on "oh
wow, this guy does really nice work" and "look at how he did this, now
that's how to do it right." Leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling, that's
for sure.I was literally sweating when he arrived though, not from the
heat but because five minutes before he was supposed to be here I
remembered that I never got a cover for the junction box that I use for
the lights in the basement. I frantically went all through the house,
up and down the stairs, until I found what I knew we had somewhere -- a
random junction box covered up on the wall, which ended up being behind
something on the 3rd floor. I snagged the cover off of it, then raced
back down to the basement and was just about to put it on when...
ding-dong. So he inspected the basement electric but either just didn't
notice or was kind enough not to mention the open junction box right in
the center of the ceiling with a box cover, screws and screwdriver
laying on top of a roll of insulation underneath it. Of course now I
need to go get it, put it back on the 3rd floor, and add "junction box
cover" to our list of things to get at Lowes.I had permission to work
from home this morning, up until he arrived which could have been as
late as 1:30. Now the question is, do I work from home even though he's
already done, sitting here listening to the birds and drinking my tea,
or do I go in? Hmmm...
break. IF I don't have frequent childcare responsibilities, I hope to
get a lot done. I've decided to use weekly checklists/schedules. I
think the one I drew up for next week is perhaps a wee bit ambitious.
We'll see. Bold means Von can do or Von can help. I'm not including
stuff that only Von will be doing, like gobs of painting.If I can
actually do all this, thank Miracle Max. Monday:
Peek under vinyl in bathroomHang big white mirrorLowes/HD: plywood
sealer, tile for hallway (55sqft), stuff to make rain barrelsLunch for
Al’s birthday?3:00 Brewery tourTake off some radiators, thermostats
Tuesday:
Lunch for Al’s birthday?Remove all radiators/thermostats.Get Donna/Kim
to come pick up theirsList rest of them on Craigs list (take picture in
the house first)Remove carpet, carpet strips in DR, HallTake off
baseboard trim in hallwaySeal floor in hallway Wednesday:
Put down tile in hallwayBring all freecycle stuff to garageList all
freecycle stuff on freecycle5:30 BellydancingVon: Powerwash table and
fence? Thursday:
Hang with MA for first of summer sorta play day (sobriety
optional)Power-wash and seal outdoor tablePower-wash and seal fence
Friday:
Von’s first day of vacationRip up plywood in dining roomClean up floor
in dining room Saturday:
Mom’s birthday: Call her!!!Buy and install guttersStart making rain
barrels Sunday:
Set up, deliver rain barrelsVarnish painted picnic table
electrical inspectors can come out and do the final check for the new
HVAC system on Thursday. Nothing at all worth taking pictures of, just
three supercheapo little fluorescent fixtures positioned to give the
best overall lighting to our odd-shaped mini-basement.I felt like a
total idjit, though, when I turned on the breaker and saw that the
lights stayed on regardless of whether the switch was on or off. DOY! I
completed the circuit -- junction box/power source up the stairs to the
switch then a few inches over to the first light then down to the
bottom of the stairs to the second light then back around to the back
of the basement to third light. And that is where it was supposed to
stop but noooooo I just had to take it one step further and connect the
third light back to junction box. Considering that the 3rd light was
just 2" away from that junction box, it just seemed like the right
thing to do. Dad, if you're reading this, please don't cut me from the
will. I did everything else right, I promise.And soon after
houseblogs.net found out that they were banned from google for reasons
beyond comprehension, their server's been whonked and the site's been
inaccessible. Anyone know what's going on??
to expose the original floor, regardless of condition, was thwarted by
a change in plans regarding the grandkids, who will be here with us all
weekend after all. I wish that projects like this could be done with a
1 year old around, but realistically they just can't, especially when
it involves the most used room of the house.However, this has gotten me
thinking the upstairs bathroom. Right now there's ugly vinyl sheet
flooring, presumably over plywood, but then what's THAT over?I'm really
doubt if Von will be open to the idea of my looking (which is pretty
much an irreversable process), with the hopes of finding original tile,
at least not until we are able to start seriously remodeling that room.
But I may not be able to help myself...
good thing that I'm about to start my summer break because I'm about to
spend WAY too much time reading back-posts on this site. It's like porn
or crack for tool freaks like me.
but I need to finish the basement light installation first, and that's
not happening tonight. My goal is to finish it before the holiday
weekend, but with nothing scheduled for the weekend it won't kill me to
just plan on having it finished before Monday.Bills are received, and
the electrician is paid, but I'm waiting for an adjustment for the HVAC
contractor which I'll have and pay by Friday.But this is finally close
enough for me to consider it done.It's DONE. It felt like this day
would never come. Von thinks the two weeks went really fast, but then
again Von wasn't the one getting up 1.5 hours early every day the way I
had to, to let the contractors in and keep them from seeing me in my
nightgown.So please, grab your beverage of choice (mine at the moment
is a chocolate milkshake, though I did make some kick-ass good mojitos
this past weekend) and join me to celebrate the completion of our HVAC
system installation.WOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!(Now, watch it stay at super-mild
temps all summer so that we end up barely needing it!)
a very good thing. They tested the heat on Friday but it was so chilly
that they really didn't want to test the AC since they'd be back today
(Monday). It felt so good that I was almost tempted to keep the heat
on! But I'm morally opposed to running the heat in May. Or maybe I'm
just a tightwad and just use energy conservation as my excuse, who
knows. Today should have been the last day for it all, since they only
needed to get the humidifier hooked up, but as we were doing the final
walk-through we noticed that they brought the primary drain line for
the upstairs system down into the crawlspace but never continued it
outside, so that needs to be finished tomorrow.Overall I've been very
pleased with these contractors. They were pleasant to work with, I felt
that they were trustworthy and reliable, they seemed to know their
stuff, and from what I can tell, the work that they did was very good.
The only thing I'm not happy with is that they tossed a bunch of little
stuff that I'd planned to keep. I'm the first to admit that it was
stuff that would be considered junk to most people, stuff that didn't
have any real monetary value to anyone: the old disconnect switch, a
few of the old knobs from the old knob & tube wiring, and a bunch of
probably 40's-50's era tins with labels still intact that probably were
used to store screws and the like, including several old little stain
cans and an even older coffee tin with a metal lid. But it was MY junk,
dammit, not theirs to dispose of, and now its all gone. And yet there's
some other trash still left behind in the basement, such as the
insulation that they had to take down in order to run some of the
ductwork. Why couldn't they have tossed that out instead of my little
tins and knobs and electrical boxes?!?So would I recommend them? Yes,
most definitely, so if you're in Slower Lower and need a good HVAC
contractor, I'd be happy to pass along their name. But I'd just make
sure to remove any treasures that someone else might think is trash
that is in the area where they'd be working.
this house, and now it's gone: I know it's not the biggest deal in the
greater scheme of things, but it was a big deal to me.It wasn't even
really significantly in the way but someone on the HVAC crew took it
down from where it was hanging in the basement (by order of Main
Installation Guy who admitted to declaring it trash) and apparently
tossed it.:::insert stream of profanity totally unsuitable for a public
post:::They're going to check with the guy who took it down who isn't
here today, to see if by chance he has it in his truck. If he doesn't,
Main Installation Guy is going to search through the company's dumpster
to see if it got tossed there with the rest of the trash materials.I
feel like I shouldn't be as seriously upset about this as I am, but I
am. Not even angry, just very very sad. I know it was basically trash,
a rusted out bit of "junk," but it was one of the very few original
things left in this house, and when you're as desperate as I am for
original details, you appreciate the little things like this.
