Hot and humid. Maybe rain. In other words, July.
Certainly got hot yesterday here in the Bayou City. Despite being Tree City USA, the sun was crisping up everything it touched. I burned my forearm on the new door I had in the back of the truck. The glass was too hot to touch.
So I manned up, got it to the shade, and let it chill in the grass for a while. I removed the back door with the broken window pane, and determined that it would be easier to rehang the new door in the old frame than tear up the molding and old doorframe to install the new, pre-hung door as a unit. It meant cutting new mortises for the hinges and strike plates, but it was totally worth it. I will let the painter (my wife) make the repairs to the door jamb and strike side. The new steel door will be marginally more secure than the old solid wood one too. Then I had to get all the little grains of safety glass up. The old door went on the heavy trash pile, which still hasn’t been collected.
I’ve now upgraded all three exterior doors since we moved in, and both doors at my rent house. We changed all the interior doors here when we moved in- from flat hollow core to 6 panel hollow core. It’s not hard, the look was dramatically improved, and you get better at it with every one. I also learned how to re-key Kwikset locks a long time ago, and I do that myself at the rental, and I did it here when we moved in. Heck I even did it at my secondary location using commercial locksets. Again, a great skill to have. I am grateful that my parents taught me so much about remodeling and maintenance and DIY. I’ve learned a ton since then, but the idea was planted when I was a little ‘helper’.
On the other hand, watching my dad do car repair in the dark, cold, and wet convinced me I never wanted to do it myself. I WILL do it, out of the desire to save money, or if it’s not a particularly nasty job, but I don’t enjoy it the way I like working around the house.
Dealing with the broken door window stole some time from all the rest of the stuff I needed to do this week. Dealing with the unplugged freezer stole some more. My fingers still stink from just picking up the spoiled packages and putting them in the trash, and I re-froze them first! Several soapy hand washes, and the bleach wash of the freezer couldn’t get the stink off. It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t be able to get the stink out of the freezer itself, so thanks for the heads up whoever mentioned it yesterday. I took the time to bleach and wash out the freezer. It still smelled ‘off’ after doing that a couple of times, so I got out the Mold Armor spray. It’s a disinfectant, viricide, mildewcide, and odor killer. It also turns yellow when in contact with rotten meat juice residue. That last fact was a super handy surprise. A couple of applications of Mold Armor, wiped up with paper towels, and then rinsed with water got it smelling ok. I sprayed one last time and didn’t wash it out. I’ve got the door wide open to dry, and today I’ll point it at the sun to get some UV into it too. I started to total the value of the contents and then stopped. Several hundred dollars certainly. It would have been a lot more if it was full.
I need to quit putting it off and get the garage reorg’d so I can get the freezer in place. I hate change in my personal life and will resist it. I’m my own worst enemy in this case. Well, I wouldn’t be quite so reluctant if the temps were mid-70s either instead of low 100s with humidity at ‘full’.
Today or tomorrow I’ll be picking up more auction items. Namely a dresser and desk for my daughter’s room. Did I mention that my wife now knows that I can buy stuff at auction? Got the desk for 2/5ths of retail and the dresser for about 1/5th of retail. Hopefully, they are both in great condition inside their shipping boxes, or it’s something I can fix if not. There is a certain amount of risk involved. Getting better quality for the same price as cheap, or saving big on decent quality (and high style) is the trade off for the risk that something is missing or broken.
Dinner was late, and needed to be quick and easy so I got shrimps from the other freezer and saute’d them with garlic and butter. Served over 90 second ‘pouch’ rice for a complete meal 🙂 It was either that or ‘breakfast for dinner…’
Keep stacking, keep learning, save some money, save a life…
nick