A day at the Harbor

Okay, so just for the record...August 15th 2008, HELL froze over.

Given the overall happiness from the peons at work, the head of our dept realized (thanks bucky) that things were not well in munchkinland. One of the things he is trying to do is to improve moral (I think those of us involved know the biggest way to improve moral) and very generously has given everyone in the dept a day off with pay. Way cool, huh?

Not to let something like that go to waste, V, R, Butch and myself set off for the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. (or as Butch laughs at my pronunciation...Bawlmer). Butch and I used to spend a good bit of time there as I had season tickets to dem O-ri-o's, and we'd have dinner there and walk up the street to Camden Yards for the game. After 15 years, I gave my season tickets up a couple of years ago. Is it any wonder? sorry, i digress, that's another too long story.

We took the subway in from Owings Mills and I forgot to tell V that Lydia always had to take a Dramamine. She got a little green there towards the end of the ride.

We wandered around and decided to do the boat tour. There are 4 boats and a lighthouse at the harbor. The Constellation one of the oldest navel vessels still around and has been at the center of the Inner Harbor since it was built. The Coast Guard cutter, Taney, is the last vessel that survived Pearl Harbor, it was decommissioned in the late 80's. The lightship Chesapeake, and the submarine Torsk. V and I went on the Constellation and the Taney, but after that subway ride she was not going into that submarine, and I've been in it and knew I didn't like it. So the boys went on all 4 and V and I waited patiently while they (Butch) read every single thing on every bit of history of these boats (see Williamsburg trip for another example).

This is from the deck of the Constellation looking across to the Aquarium with the lightship Chesapeake to the left and the submarine Torsk to the right. World Trade center is the building on the far left (worlds tallest 5 sided building....woo, hoo)

By the looks of this picture Butch is telling R how something works. He's got that look on his face and he is majorly talking with his hands. Nice shot of Federal Hill in the background.

Butch and R on the deck of the Chesapeake. It made me laugh since it looks like there is a really big building coming up from the deck.

We topped the day off with a McHenry draft beer and a crab cake from Phillips...mmmmm!

Odie's World-Odie's World-Odies World

Today's guest Blogger is the one and only Odie of Odie's World......

Hi all, Odie here. We were out at the park on Saturday with our people and decided to stop by drafter and Butch's house. They were actually home and trying to scare a bunny with the horn of the big truck. Unfortunately, they were parked in the garage when they blew the horn so that might account for them saying huh? alot. Didn't scare the bunny though. Because of AB having to be on a leash, I also had to have one on and I didn't get a chance to chase him. But more about that dumb leash later.

We got to sniff around the backyard while our people got watered with something in a green bottle. I got him to knock it over so I could take a taste, but it was pretty nasty. Something from Canada. Personally, I prefer Brown Dogs. drafter brought some water out for AB and myself, we were really parched after that park walk.

Here's a picture of us with our people.

Okay, here's the story about that dumb leash. I don't have to wear it when I'm at home, but out for walks and all, they make sure I have it on. Well, I don't run away and I listen when I'm spoken to, but AB is a totally different story. She's too crazy to be let loose on the world. Maybe, when she gets a bit older she'll be better, but in the meantime I have to put up with this....

Now, you see that my person can not manage to not get that leash knotted up around my legs? Well, we're out relaxing on the back patio, sippin on some cold ones, and my male person was not paying attention and didn't see when I walked under this chair. Well, the next thing I know that chair was chasing me across the patio. Everyone started screaming and I'm just trying to get the heck away from that dumb chair and my man is trying to catch me and drafter is trying to get my leash unwrapped from the chair leg and the dumb chair is still chasing me. So finally drafter gets the chair, and my man holds me down and they get me untied from that stupid chair leg the leash was tangled around. I'll tell you, that was some scary chair. I kept my eye on it the rest of the night.

We hung out and AB ran circles around the yard for a while. It was starting to get dark so I couldn't find any bee's and of course I didn't get a chance to chase any bunnies. We took off and headed home after that. It was fun, but I still don't trust that dumb chair.

Quick check in

Way busy and just wanted to check in. We're at the Ringold Street houses all the time it seems. We got rolling on 326 and the renovation, and got stopped by finally getting the deadbeats out of 328. They were not the most awful we've ever had (that was reserved by the Nurse and her jobless husband who had fleas so bad we bombed the house 4 times-after we pulled every carpet from the place). But we've been over there cleaning the place. I swear, in the year and a half they were there, I truly don't think they owned a mop or a vacum cleaner. I've been on my hands and knees cleaning who knows what off walls and (shutter) bathroom. Butch has spent 5 days in the kitchen trying to clean what hasn't been cleaned in 18 months. He actually had to resort to a putty knife for cleaning the oven.
Just a word of advice....if ever anyone ever tells you that you can make money through investing in rentals...punch them, they lie. There are houses we actually have decent people in, that pay their rent and actually clean, but you have to go through about 3 crappy tenants before you get a good one. Anyway, we're pretty much done in 328 and can go back to 326 and the renovation. Thank heaven for R! He's the day shift (Butch and I are the 2nd shift) and he's has kicked butt working there!
gonna run, too much to do and too little time......

Ka-Chunk!

So last I left you, we'd spent a weekend pulling up the old Masonite and floor off the Ringold St kitchen floor. Well, we got through that and got it all loaded up and off to the dump. Now, we can start re-building. This is an old duplex house. I mean old. Okay, we're not talking about historical registers or anything, but they're damn old. Which actually means that there is nothing straight, level, or flat. The old tongue and groove wood floor base was severely cupped and sagging on at least two sides. So there's a product that is basically like silly sand, but it's cement. You mix this stuff up and you keep stirring until you pour and it sets up and hopefully your floor is better than what you started out with. Cool. So Butch got the luwan cut to size and placed and last Friday night we picked up the STAPLER! You hook this baby up to the air compressor and away you go! Well, I'm sitting on a stool with wheels so I can scoot around and have this stapler in hand and Butch says make sure you put a staple every 4 inches. I kinda figured this was an approximate measurement and he was like no, every 4 inches. So, I'm sitting there facing into a corner and the drywall square was there leaning on the wall. So, I flipped it down on the floor thinking that I could use it as a guide to 4 inches-you know, just for a bit till I got the hang of it. So I start off and the stapler is so cool. Ka-chunk, Ka-chunk, Ka-chunk......
Ka-chink!

Okay, I stapled the damn drywall square to the stinkin' floor. All I could do was laugh. Actually after prying it off the floor, Butch wasn't too pleased with me. For all he knew I could have stapled my foot to the floor, but nooooooo, just because his square now has a hole at 38 3/8 inches he was all upset with me. After I did that, I gave up on that 4" thing and just went for "about 4" "
I'm terrified of the nail gun, but that stapler was pretty damn fun.
He's been on shut-down at work this week, so he's been over there in the day, which means I get out of working at night. R has been helping him out with the painting and electric stuff. Butch says R knows what needs to be done and he just goes and does it. I think I'm jealous. I'll just bet he's not as much fun as me.....and I'm sure Butch sure doesn't have to worry as much either.

The Floor no more

Okay, remember a while ago I told you about Butch grinding all those nail heads?
Well, we were rolling along gutting that kitchen, thinking we could patch it where it needed to be and level it and go on from there. Doug, the floor guy came to measure and was not to optimistic about being able to work with it like that. So we've spent the last 2 days tearing it up. We're now down to original old tongue and groove boards. The pick-up is overflowing with old floor bits. And there are still some at the house.
This is what went on....you sat on a stool/milkcrate/something and with my favorite tool, a pry bar, and a hammer pried the damn floor up 4 inches at a time. Why 4 inches? Because that was how far apart the Person who put it down nailed it. I thought 432 staples he put in the one ceiling were bad. Of course, it's been mid 90 degrees all weekend. Talk about a hot pissed off grouch, and I was even worse!
We got the framing for the new ceiling up last weekend, and we did get it primed this past week, so we don't have to look at those scary walls. I had to scrub them down before we could even put the Kiltz on it. I honestly don't think that they'd ever been cleaned of kitchen grease or cigarette smoke...ever. I didn't remember to take the camera along, so no great photos of the mess.
Another night for rum and Motrin.....I sure hope we never run out of either!

2 years

See the picture over to the left? The happy couple barefoot in the sand of their favorite place in the world? Well, that was 2 years ago, yesterday.

We'll be back there the week after Richmond. There's nothing like September on Hatteras Island. It's even worth the very real threat of hurricanes. A couple of years ago, we ran off one side of the island while Isabelle was coming on the other side. Just wish we could find a way to hide there for a very long time.

Here's a couple of pictures from two years ago....

Lyd, and the girls

An explanation...my something old was a gold pin shaped like a palm tree. My grandfather, on probably the only vacation he ever had, went to Florida, and brought Lydia back the pin. So, I didn't want to lose something that meant so much by having it pinned somewhere, so I put it down the front of the brassiere. When Butch squeezed me and leaned me backward, the torture strapless bra threw my boobs up to my chin and smooshed the sharp leaves of the pin into the ta's. That was the moment the photographer took this picture.

We spent about 10 days on the island and towards the end of our HONEYMOON, I looked at my now husband, and realized that the one baseball cap he had been wearing the entire time of our HONEYMOON said.....

I'd Rather Be Racing!

432...

that is how many staples I pulled out of a ceiling in a 7'x13' room, and yeah, I counted. Yes, we're back to re-habbing. We kinda slacked off while Connie was up. (okay, that's just a good excuse) We were back to it this morning. Butch was down in the demo'd kitchen grinding those kabillion nail heads out of the floor, and I was upstairs pulling down a ceiling. So tonight his knees hurt (from kneeling all that time) and my neck hurts (from looking up over my head for 432 staples).

This is what will one day actually be a kitchen. I know you're thinking where can I get that gorgeous combination of lower paneling, textured paneling with the 1800's theme over top and to say nothing for that unbelievable flooring. You just can't get a designer look like this at lowe's, this could have only come from the 1970's. We do have an avacado green stove and fridge, maybe I could get something for them at the yard sale. So I'm hoping that after layers of Kilz that I can paint the lower paneling white and the uppper a light blue with a chair rail running between the two. Hopefully, it will give the impression of wainscoating. Okay, so I'm not holding my breath, but it will look a whole lot better than this crap. The drywalled wall is where the cabinets are going to be, with the sink under the window. The stove will be in about the space now occupied by that darling rolling table and precious table lamp. It truly is amazing what crap people leave behind when they move.

Off to refill the ice in Butch's ice pack and to meet up with Dr Bacardi.