Carpe Diem

9 a.m. Friday, October 5th - rarin' to go.  I'll post the "After" photo once I've got the light fixtures, mailbox, flagpole and kitchen shutters back up. . . .  tomorrow?

I'm totally spent. Worked on the painting from 9am till 6pm with only a half hour break for lunch. Weather here today was ideal for painting. . . . in the high 70s. . . . . and according to the weather forecasts we're not likely to have another day like this for a long time to come, so it was Seize The Day.

Neighbor Rocky invited me over for dinner with him and Lizbeth at 6:30 and I'm just back now. That's 2 nights in a row being "taken in" for dinner. . . . last night was at Bob & Mary's. Had a very nice time at both. Caught up with Bob and Mary on all the stuff that's happened to them and to me over the past month or so. . . . Likewise with Rocky and Lizbeth tonight.

I got the front of the house and garage side wall painted by 6pm. Several neighbors commented on how much better it now looks. Would like to do the kitchen side wall, too, but that'll have to wait till at least Wednesday. We're having rain tomorrow afternoon and the weather will be much cooler until Wednesday - and even on that day the high is expected to only be 67 degrees.

So tomorrow I figure I'll start 'putting things back together again.' Will put the light fixtures up (I plan to buy new ones for the front door and over the garage since the old ones are pitted and corroded), as well as the flagpole and the mailbox.  Will also put the new kitchen shutters up.  Maybe I'll also paint the front door. . . . I could take it off its hinges and lay it flat on the painter's dropcloth in the middle of the living room to work on it - rain or shine. But I am feeling awfully sore all over right now, so maybe _that_ can wait.

Another crisis arose night before last. The gas cooktop's pilot spark came on - all by itself - and just wouldn't stop. I tried unplugging and re-plugging the thing, but that didn't help. Smelled a faint trace of gas, too, so I shut off the gas line under the counter and decided I'd better go shopping for a new cooktop. . . . This one is at least as old as the kitchen's last remodeling - which I _think_ was done in the late 1970s, so I figured that rather than trying to repair it I'd be better off buying a new one. Went to Home Depot, Lowes, and P.C.Richards appliance store. Found a decent unit - by Frigidaire, of all companies - at P.C.Richard's for $799 - and the guy said he'd knock $100 off that if I took their interest-free financing. I told him I was okay with that but that I wanted to go home first and take the measurements to make sure the unit he's selling me would fit in the space I have (and to check Consumer Reports for the rating of it - but I didn't tell him _that_).

So I get home and on the way in, take in the mail. One piece of mail is a flyer from a small _local_ appliance store. Well whaddya know. . . . they're having a sale - up to 50% off some one-of-a-kind items they have (floor samples, returns, etc.). What the hey. . . . I drive over to them and am greeted as I walk in by a friendly salesguy who tells me he's new to the job and when I tell him why I'm there he leads me over to about a half dozen or so cooktop units that are part of the 50% off sale. Well, I felt like I had stepped in shit when I saw the first one - it was the same Frigidaire as at P.C. Richard's, but for $399! Sold! The salesman, John, told me that there was nothing wrong with the unit and all the parts are there, but it is not in its original box and had been returned by the buyer because they had thought that it was a larger, 36 inch unit, rather than a 30 inch unit (the size _I_ need). So sometime within the next few days I will install it. . . . the old one went out with this morning's trash collection already.

So that's what I've been doing the past couple of days. And what I'll be involved in for the next few days to come as well, it seems. Was thinking of going on a hike tomorrow with the Long Island Greenbelt Society at Caleb Smith Park, but I'm so tired, sore and achy from today's exploits that I think I'll skip the hike and - if I feel better tomorrow - set up those light fixtures and/or paint the front door. If I _don't_ feel less sore, I'll just 'cocoon' and do some reading and studying (reading No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin, studying Spanish for my Adult Ed course that I started last Tuesday).