New
Digs, Odd Rigs
Friday,
26 August 2016
Well, 9 days now in the new house, and still waiting on the handyman/squatter to remove his stuff from the master bedroom, 2nd floor bathroom, kitchen, and basement. He has thankfully, turned in his key to Jim. (Hopefully, he made no copies... )
The queen sized mattress on the upstairs bed is pretty well trashed, very dirty and who knows what resides inside it. Danny, the part time handyman that Jim, my landlord has used to do work on the place (and brother of the last non rent paying tenant), has told Jim that he would be by today or Saturday to pickup his stuff. He also told him he wants to take the mattress with him. He is welcome to it. Saves me from having to haul it to the curb.
So now I need to find a queen size mattress to sleep on (been sleeping in my high backed upholstered desk chair in my study/den that we have dubbed the “Blue Room”, and my back is killing me!)
If Danny doesn't show by Saturday night (with advance warning) I will pack up what I believe to be his stuff including the mattress, and will put it in the garage.
If I can find room for it, that is! I put my trike away in the garage tonight after returning from CVS and the Post Office, and there was barely enough floor space to park the Worksman 3 wheeler and still shut the door on the one car garage!
Spent the last couple of days doing many loads of dishes in the dishwasher and putting them away in cupboards (hmm, they will all need some new contact paper); doing endless loads of laundry in the washer and dryer, but only folding the clothes and leaving them in laundry baskets, as I need to move the bureau that John gave me upstairs after I clean out the master bedroom and then empty & clean the chest of drawers located there.
Thank goodness that Joe was nice enough to wash, fold, and store all of my clothes in plastic tubs that were in his basement that I had in my Puerto Rican matched luggage! (Yes, I know, that it's not a Politically Correct term, but I also know that most if not all of my readers are hip to what it means and are not offended! And since when did anyone think I was ever PC to begin with?)
I am typing this on the nice Computer Desk that John gave me, and I have been busy the last few days, as my Internet only just got connected on Tuesday! (TWC was supposed to turn it on and plug me in last Friday, but the subcontractor that took the work order, never even climbed the pole. At least that I what the subcontractor tech said on Tuesday who made the service call to see why I was not Online yet.)
I now have a 1 GBPS connection, though I still get service interruptions. But it is a far sight better connection than the weak Windstream service I had at the long term motel in Bath Township!
Now I can watch movies, anime, and YouTube videos without them constantly having to rebuffer! Unfortunately, I failed to remove the brand new Wireless Antenna USB plug that I got for my desktop PC, and it was damaged in transit. So I have no wireless capability with the Hewlett Packard at this time. I am using the RJ45 cable that TWC provided with the Modem/Router unit I am renting from them.
I have tried unsuccessfully to log onto my wi/fi with both my 24” Smart TV and Sony Playstation 3 Game Console. There are 4 RJ45 jacks on the modem, so I will just hardwire those 2 units for now, until I can find a teenager to be my IT/IS geek! (I have an opening Maggie!)
Meanwhile, I am watching DVDs on my little LG DVD player, and movies on YouTube on the computer.
This house is filled with retro and old school electronics, and I am checking out 2 1970-80's Integrated Stereo Receivers that were in the basement. But I will need to clean them up first.
Even if the tuners aren't working, I hope to employ one in the front room for an audio system with a digital HD tuner (if I can find a good one for home component use) and a CD player with some good speakers. Again, there are a variety of loud speakers/sound monitors in the basement, but so far, no matched pairs. This sounds like a good project, building some nice cabinet speakers from older high end audio parts!
The other amp will either go with the flat screen TV in the Blue Room for TV/Radio listening, or in the master bedroom for same. I have a tiny 40W (X2) stereo power/pre amp that I have a pair of 4 ohm marine speakers for, and that will be built into a headboard for a bed, or possibly for a couch or Futon in the Blue Room for movie nights.
My friend Sheryl whom I shared a house with in Canton, is selling me the couch that was in my room there, and the brown recliner from the living room. She is also throwing in a couple of CRT TVs that she doesn't want anymore.
I have many months of work ahead of me here, cleaning and sorting, painting, and fixing. As well as outfitting 2 bedrooms, the front room, and the back room, with furniture and new curtains.
My current long term plan is to sleep in the master bedroom after obtaining a new queen sized mattress and sheet sets, building a nice headboard and shelves/bookcases, and putting my clothes in the closets and bureaus; keeping my stuff in the 2nd floor bathroom and using the 1st floor bathroom for company (it does have a very nice stall shower, but is very cramped); turn the smaller upstairs bedroom (after replacing the torn carpet and damaged ceiling tiles) into a guest room/sewing room, with a bed, bureau, TV, nightstand, et al, and a small work table for the Brother sewing machine that is in the basement.
There is also a sewing table, probably a Singer, sans machine, too. But the small bedroom has four dormer windows with lots of daylight, making it a fine hobby/sewing room.
The assorted closets and cubby holes of this 1919 two story wood frame house will be cleaned out of the empty boxes and obsolescent electronics as time permits, with the one of them being large enough off of the small bedroom, to be used for another bedroom! (And there are closets off of that one, too!)
The Blue Room on the first floor will be my Man Cave, housing my computer, gun safe, and HAM Radio Gear. (Did I mention that Jim, my landlord, is also a HAM and that he installed a 35' Antenna Mast in the side yard with a plethora of HAM antennas in every band?) I also hope to fit a couch in there, to make it a cozy place to watch movies.
The dining room table needs some work as it wobbles. But it has an iron frame and a nice wood 4' round tabletop. Joe has equipped me with some wood chairs for it, but I will make it a quest to find/build matching chairs for 6. The overhead lamp needs new bulbs, and I can foresee building/finding a nice hutch to finish the dining room. It also has the only curtains in the house that I will not replace!
The front room will need a lot of attention. There is a big screen projection TV there with a cracked screen, and as I really don't want to use the front room for TV watching, I think I will dispose of it rather than try to fix it. (There you go, free to a good home! Just come and haul it away!)
There are some built in shelves, but I see books, and not DVDs or games there. And maybe a media center with CDs. But those curtains and the rods need to be replaced, probably even before I put furniture in there. Right now I have a nice recliner that Joe gave me, and the revolving fan, a coffee table that was here, and an end table that John brought over.
The back room is going to become my “Mud Room”, with a boot bench, coat rack, and lots of wall shelves. This was Jim's “Radio Shack”, and all of the antenna leads terminate here from the through the wall plate. I will need his and John's help to route the 2 meter cable to the Blue Room for my rig. I now have real incentive to study for and pass the General Class FCC Amateur License Exam! Then I can rig up 6 & 10 meter Base Radios!
I am currently using the side door to come and go, as that is the only key I have until Jim changes all of the locks (we will key them alike this time around). Then I will use the back door instead of the side door. This will save stepping into the narrow driveway and dealing with the uneven concrete steps and unusual concrete driveway construction that poses some tripping hazards.
Speaking of which. There are some soil issues in the area, with sidewalk slabs heaving and tree roots moving slabs and cracking driveways. This includes a concrete slab in front of my garage. It is a full 3” above the neighboring slabs, making it a tire hazard for both cars and my trike! “Can you say, 'Grout Stabilization?' Good! I knew you could.”
But that is expensive, and my landlord has enough on his plate with cancer and other health issues. So I foresee some serious digging by hand, and some sand leveling after removing the dead root section from the Silver Maple that was recently taken down.
Otherwise, I think the drive is safe for vehicles. But it is a challenge for folks like me with balance issues! LOL!
And speaking of that downed tree, it is in pieces resting against the back porch, and needs to be split and stacked in the back of the yard to season as firewood! (Putting out a call for any idle teens looking for some $$! And if you are a computer geek, so much the better!)
The awning over the back porch was damaged either by the tree before it was felled, or during the felling process, and needs to be repaired. It is aluminum, and the columns are sound, so it looks like some re-engineering is in order before the snow starts falling!
I won't go into the basement issues in this installment, as that is a 5 year project with lots of potential. Suffice it to say, there are 3 workbenches already in place, in 3 different areas, a 12”x36” engine lathe, and lots of steel shelving units. There are 2 stationary tubs, and a shower stall. Use your imagination…
I will save the garage for spring, so long as I have room to store the trike inside.
But the back yard is begging for a picnic table and some Adirondack chairs! And a firepit/grill. I'd love to design and build a brick BBQ, and am not beyond considering a deck and maybe a tiny pool for soaking in! (I know, $$$ and lots of time! But time I do have! And money apparently grows on trees according to the current Administration! LOL!)
Well, I am whooped after a trike ride to the CVS and the Post Office on E. Cuyahoga Falls Road and back (4 miles round trip, and some inclines… ), So I will start winding this down.
But since I am still on the subject of uneven and damaged concrete, and being a certified concrete field and lab technician, I feel I must comment on the condition of the city sidewalks and the tree lawns!
As I mentioned earlier, there are soil issues that have caused movement of slabs, both the older stone pieces and the newer concrete slab replacements are all out of alignment, making for a very bumpy and in some cases, a scary ride!
The streets (even the side streets) are busy with traffic, and the motorists seem very impatient with an old fart riding a 3 wheeler with a 7' bike flag and flashing LED head and tail lights in the street, so I stayed on the sidewalks as much as possible.
I also see the immediate need for an audible warning device (I think dual Marine Air Horns would be appropriate considering the traffic around here), but a bell or a squeeze bulb horn would work. I also need to up my search for an appropriate bike helmet, as I nearly spilled several times where the pavement was uneven, there were heaved slabs, where the utility poles and other “planted” item impeded my progress, but mostly from the trees on the tree lawn, which originally had decorative iron grates surrounding them, but most are MIA leaving openings in the sidewalk that swallow up my back wheels!
I also am acutely aware of the newer concrete sidewalks having been cast in place at an angle towards the street, forcing me to correct my ballast to the lawn side at an uncomfortable angle, and putting me in a precarious state of balance whenever I crossed the driveway aprons that were cast monolithic-ally with the sidewalks with a steeper angle that starts mid sidewalk!
I'm thinking MotoSports CE armor might also be in order, even though I am only averaging 10 MPH! Road rash is road rash! Wish I still had my fabric Fieldsheer Motorcycle Jacket with the CE armor and removable lining, and multiple adjustable vents! It was bright yellow to match my Arai Quantuim full face helmet (I was buying a new YELLOW 2004 Ducati Monster M600 at the time, before I decided on the dark gray 1994 M900 Monster!), with reflective stripes.
Although maybe BMX or Moto Crass chest armor, knee & shin guards, and gauntlets might be better suited to sidewalk riding!
On a side note, some 20 years ago while racing sailboats on Lake Erie, I proposed that competitive sailors should wear lightweight climbing/skateboard helmets, plastic chest armor, knee and shin guards (I was one of the few sailors who wore knee pads, though many more used them in subsequent seasons), and eye protection! Everyone laughed and thought I was being funny. But I recently Googled the America's Cup crews, and see that they are all now bedecked with helmets and custom armor!!!
So who is having the last laugh?
Well, I will design a specialty urban protective trike riding ensemble, and model it here on these posts!
So until next time, sportsfans, “Love rules, Hate drools!”
