I’ve been busy the last couple of months. Some of you may know that SWMBO decreed that we shall have the storage trailer that’s built onto the house demolished. So I emptied it. (Much work!) I’ve mown lawns. I trimmed one of the bushes out front. I had the MGB towed to the mechanic for repair. Charged the battery on one of the motorcycles and started it. Yesterday I cleaned the kayak and burned the yard waste that was in the fire pit. (There was a stump I was unable to chop into fire wood a few years ago, and it was dry enough it almost all burned up. Finally rid of it!)
Still to do:
[ul][li]Bleach the kayak;[/li][li]Wash the Jeep;[/li][li]Put the rack on the Jeep;[/li][li]Take the kayak to Seattle to have the rudder cables fixed/replaced;[/li][li]Get a new seat for the kayak;[/li][li]Remove the ashes from the fire pit;[/li][li]Trim the other two hedges;[/li][li]Take the hedge trimmings to the dump;[/li][li]See if I can get the bleedin’ contractor to give me an estimate as to when he can demolish the trailer;[/li][li]Charge the battery on the other motorcycle;[/li][li]Wash both motorcycles;[/li][li]Wash Mrs. L.A.'s Toyota Tacoma;[/li][li]Burn the rest of the scrap wood;[/li][li]Take the Ugly Box I’ve been using to hold scrap wood down to the corner so someone can have it;[/li][li]See about selling the Jeep.[/ul][/li]
There are other things, but that’s all I can think of right now.
I have this problem to-do lists: “these four items shouldn’t take too long; I will get them done today”–and at the end of day the first item is about 80% done and I haven’t started on the rest.
I don’t suppose anyone else here has that problem?
There’s an old saying: Everything takes longer than expected, and costs twice as much.
Losing Creamsicle put my schedule back a week, and weather hampered progress for about another week. I have to bleach the kayak today, else I’ll run into rain again. And our spray bottle of bleach has been repurposed, so I need to go to the hardware store before I can do it. Then there’s the exercise regimen, which means I have to do my 3.4 miles after I finish working.
I’ve found the best way to get things done is to say to myself, ‘Dammit! You’re bored anyway. Just get it done! The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll finish!’
Said to me at the supermarket yesterday by another man: “Every other guy in the store is stopped in the middle of an aisle, on the phone, saying “Honey, what do you mean by ‘fresh?’ What goes in that salad you make?” and other shit except you and me. We’re the only guys with lists!”
I don’t make paper to-do lists for myself or Mr.Wrekker. It seems to be a point of contention. He asks me every morning what do you NEED done today. He don’t know it but I have a list in my head. I see words. I mentally check one or two off. Heh;)
Well, the kayak is bleached and looking nice, and I got most of the moss off of the Jeep. Then I took the Jeep to the car wash because I didn’t feel like waxing it after over an hour of scrubbing. Maybe tomorrow I’ll put on the rack.
We have a never-ending to do list. We live on a farm* which I like to call “the chore factory”. Top of the list for this weekend, buy plywood, etc., and try to turn our pole barn into a fortress before the hurricanes start.
*not the useful kind, but a large piece of property with many pets.
My short term to-do list (by end of August), in no particular order:
-cut grass (several times, actually)
-replace bad plug on AC fan in wife’s vehicle
-replace deck off master bedroom
-paint 2 story detached garage/barn
-pressure wash house and driveway
-sell my car
-sister sagging joist on lower deck
-finish repairing sheetrock in laundry room
-get estimates on replacing lower AC and furnace units
All while getting up to speed on my new job, taking car of Mom’s and Ma-in-Law’s house and spending time with kids & grandkids.
[ul][li][del]Bleach the kayak;[/del][/li][li][del]Wash the Jeep;[/del][/li][li][del]Put the rack on the Jeep;[/del][/li][li][del]Take the kayak to Seattle to have the rudder cables fixed/replaced;[/del][/li][li][del]Get a new seat for the kayak;[/del][/li][li]Remove the ashes from the fire pit;[/li][li][del]Trim the other two hedges;[/del][/li][li][del]Take the hedge trimmings to the dump;[/del][/li][li][del]See if I can get the bleedin’ contractor to give me an estimate as to when he can demolish the trailer;[/del][/li][li]Charge the battery on the other motorcycle;[/li][li]Wash both motorcycles;[/li][li]Wash Mrs. L.A.'s Toyota Tacoma;[/li][li][del]Burn the rest of the scrap wood;[/del][/li][li][del]Take the Ugly Box I’ve been using to hold scrap wood down to the corner so someone can have it;[/del][/li]See about selling the Jeep.[/ul]
After using the Jeep to haul the kayak to Seattle, I’m once again rethinking selling it. It seems every time I contemplate it, it comes in handy. Speaking of the Jeep, this was not on the list: Have the water pump replaced. It’s been replaced.
Tomorrow I could play with the motorcycles, but I’m thinking I may tear down a fence instead and haul it to the dump. I’ll see how it goes.
I’ve hooked the hose up to the air conditioner in the front bedroom, and I’ve turned it on. (It’s like 80º here.) Tomorrow I’m going to move plugs around in the living room so that I can plug the a/c into its own outlet and use the new opening window for the exhaust port. The phone and my watch winder are plugged in over there, but the copier and fax (!) are usually off. I can move the fan. I’m hoping the outlets over there are not on the same circuit as the TV/cable/modem/etc. Otherwise the a/c will have to go back into the front bedroom. Which would be suboptimal.
I tend to start with a task that will be short, just to make sure I get something crossed off the list. Also, the ones that are going to take a long time, I break down into smaller tasks, and so I may do pt.A of task 1, then do something else, then do pt.B, and might even do pt.C the next day, if that is feasible. I get a better feeling of accomplishing something.
I also build breaks into my list. If I don’t do that, I exhaust myself, and don’t finish. Better to get the whole thing done, even if I spend 10am-11am playing NES, and 2pm-3pm reading a book, then to conk out at 1:30pm (having been working since 5:30am), with stuff undone, and veg in front of the TV until I fall asleep, then wake up at 8pm, and eat some crap, because it’s easy to make.
This is especially troublesome, as usually when I have a long list, I have planned it around time off work, or even taken time off to get everything done.
Oh, the 'yak… I drove it all the way down to West Seattle today, about 120 miles. Dropped it off. Headed home. The 5 was shut down for major work, so I had to take the 90 to the 405. Quite a detour. I didn’t check the time, but it probably took about two and a half hours to get home to (almost) the Canadian border. Half an hour after I got home my phone rang. It was the shop. Turns out the rudder cables were fine. It was the rudder pin, which was very corroded. The guy at the shop sanded it down and sprayed it with WD-40 and the rudder works fine now. :smack:
I work on Harbor Island, and go into the office twice a week. I can get my kayak back on Tuesday. (Also, my Aqualung passed hydro and I can pick it up when I have time on Wednesday.)
I tore down the fence in front of the house today. As long as I was at it, I tore down the fence beside the driveway, along with the disused gate. And pulled up or cut a Tacoma-load of morning glory vines, ivy, blackberry vines, and some sort of invasive bush. Three trips to the dump. I didn’t note what time I started, but it took me between five and six hours.
I sent an email to the contractor to ask when we should expect him on Wednesday, and what space he needs to demolish the trailer. I have doubts as to whether he’ll actually show up, so I thought a passive-aggressive reminder might be in order.
We used chainsaws, a tractor, shovels and rakes and implements of destruction to remove major amounts of plant life from our property. Most of the work was cleaning up trees that fell during Hurricane Irma last year.
Goal for next weekend: Build and reinforce some stall doors in the barn to prevent those bastard goats from getting in and gorging themselves on chicken feed again. :smack:
Our property drops off into a creek out back. We never use that area, as some of it is a bit steep. Eventually I’d like to have it terraced to make it usable. (The guy diagonally across the creek has nice paths on his property.) But first, it’s full of brush. Blackberries (‘Kudzu of the North’, I call them), ferns, laurels, and who-knows-what-else. I don’t know whether to attack it with a machete, or to hire someone to clear it out. It would take dozens of trips to the dump in Mrs. L.A.'s truck.
So much to say, but nothing that really needs saying.
I’ve given up on to-do lists. For the past couple years it’s been “Wake up Saturday morning, conduct audience with the teens, teach them how to adult their ways through the current crises. Try to get a lawn mowed and groceries bought before Sunday night.” I still get quite a bit done during the surprise 10-15 minute breaks, run some tools out to the garage, adjust a sprinkler, etc.
I’ve moved the portable a/c out of the front bedroom and into the living room, and hooked up the exhaust panel in the new (opening!) window. My fingers are crossed it doesn’t trip a circuit breaker. It’s been on for an hour, and it hasn’t tripped the breaker yet. Mrs. L.A. is in the work-from-home part of her day. I told her I don’t know how much current the a/c pulls, so we need to be careful. It’s nice and cool in the house!
