Ticking Things Off the List

How very odd. Last night and this morning I wrote in my calendar what I hoped to accomplish concerning the house today, and I actually did them! And it's not even 11:00 o'clock yet!

Here's the list:

*Go to the bank and sign the papers for my new home equity line of credit. It'll be a few days before it's accessible, due to the three-day recission rule and the paperwork that has to be done on the bank's end after that.

Well, I wasn't dying to use it right away, anyway. Just nice to have the lower interest rate, and know the money's there.

*Call the trash haulers and see if they'll take my old drafting board with the trash tomorrow morning. Check! (Though it'll be up to the driver to decide what the extra fee will be. Hope he's in a good mood.)

*Fill the rough places in the replacement plywood drafting board and make it smooth to receive the vinyl board cover. This was an all-day process, of course. Started with spackle, finished with joint compound. Started with wet sanding, finished with dry hand sanding. Started in my front room where I have plenty of floor space and light, finished in the basement which is darker but where I have a better chance of keeping the dust contained.

(Speaking of dust, do they make dust masks for people with small faces? When I wear the mask, I can't wear my glasses. The mask rides so high, the glasses won't stay on my nose!)

I played with the idea of going on tonight to iron on the edge banding and maybe even to stick down the vinyl cover, but I'll wait. I can just see me making a mess of my good clothes iron. Maybe I'll visit the Goodwill or the Sally Army thrift store tomorrow and see if they can sell me an iron I wouldn't mind mucking up.

*Remove the edge pull and other hardware from the old pocket-door-turned-drafting board. The edge pull I'm keeping. I've spent a lot of years fiddling with it when I should have been working, and why should I give it up now?

Here's the door/board detached from whatever you want to call that piece of plywood I had it hinged to to give it a slant. Looking at it from the other side, doesn't that old door just scream "1970s"?

*Put the old board out for the trash. All the way down from the third floor and out to the alley. Goodbye, old horse. You've served me well in your day. And thanks again after all these years to A. G., architect of PhilaPa, whose hand-me-down this was.

Then something that got added late in the day:

*Take the new high-pressure hose nozzle and knock the loose paint off the Adirondack furniture. Yeah, the set I was talking about repainting way back here.

It was chilly today. Fall and winter are definitely in the wind. Shortly before sunset it hit me that I'd better tackle this job now, if it's going to get done before next summer at all.

Because the only place to do it was the portion of the backyard closest to the house where my dog has messed up the grass. If I wait till next spring, the new grass will be trying to come up and I'd drown it with all the water. But if I power wash the chairs and table now, the water will dilute the doggie residue. And it won't mess up the grass-- there really isn't any. The paint chips will get raked up with the dead thatch. And doing it right away, there's half a chance I may still get some grass started this fall, before it gets too cold.

I'm debating what sort of surfactant to use to get the actual dirt off this furniture. I'm thinking maybe plain baking soda. Seems to me, it'd be good for the soil. It might neutralize all that doggie acid.

I came back in the house sopping wet, of course. Another good reason not to leave this job till the cold weather really hits.

*And finally, hooray, I made bread. Used to do it every two weeks. Now, hardly ever. Have bread, will eat!