Never thought retirement would be like this

I was feeling pretty good yesterday morning about handling the latest communication with the engineer. Maybe getting downright cocky about it, in fact. ;) With no advice, no need to bounce ideas off anyone except myself, I composed a polite, brief, carefully worded email response asking for some clarification.

At 11:45 pm I got a response. What the engineer had sent me was a contract. No details, just a lump sum proposal along with a list of the hourly rates of various people/tasks. After I sign and return it, then he will come up with a design for the dam renovation. I'm supposed to pay him within 30 days after he's finished with the design, then he sends the design to the contractor (G), and then according to him, G will give me an estimate for the rest of the job. :rolleyes:

The problem is G has already postponed this job for almost a year. What if he just fades away, like the others and never gets to it, even in spite of nagging? Then I'm stuck with a very expensive design plan, and the NEXT guy I try to hire may want his own plan. In fact I won't even have the plan, G will. I didn't ask this guy to come out, G did. It seems to me G should arrange these payments whenever he starts the job.

Right now my thoughts are to send a copy of this contract to G and ask if this is the way he usually does business. I sort of wonder if the engineer isn't just trying to guarantee he gets paid by whoever is quickest on the draw. Heading off to lunch to do some bouncing of ideas again today. So I'm not quite grown up yet. {sigh}


Calories (7/19) 1630 (took the day off)

 

The consensus was to send a copy of the engineer's contract to G, just in case engineer is inflating the price to me because I don't know what is fair, and to subtly remind G about the job again, without appearing to nag. ;)

Tell G I'd prefer to pay him, instead of the engineer, but will do whatever he recommends. (I will)

G has a good reputation, and he seemed like a very honest guy to me when I met him.

This has got me in a bit of a tizzy. When I get in a tizzy I get nervous and want to type, and type details, but I'm trying to control myself.:rolleyes:

Being in a tizzy also increases metabolism, which burns calories, so it's all good.:)
 
Pappy said:
Maybe I should try tizzy more often. I could sure lose some weight. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Pappy...
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:lame: ..... What can I say... :shrug:
 
Just heard back from the contractor. Two sentences:

"I would suggest that, since Engineer of XYZ Engineering is a separate business entity from G's Construction, it would be best to keep the two separate. I would prefer that you pay them directly for their services."

Not what I wanted to hear. And no updates or committments on G's (the contractor's) part.:(

So.... I guess I'm about to make a $3000 gamble. At least I put some serious thought into it.

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Seems like sooner or later alot of my friends have moved to Florida. Me, I moved here at 19 to Florida an never left. I talked my Mom an family into moving down
when my Dad got sick. My brother came home from Nam a paraplegic so she took care of him ALL the time. It was me ,Mom, my son,brother an Dad. We purchased
a home together, after Dad passed Mom help me with Jeff my son. I worked an we were very very happy.I had all these years to spend with her, I'am so thankful, I know
maybe alittle weird but I loved them When Mom got into her late 80's I retired in 2003 to take care of my brother an her. My brother passed in 2008, my Mom ,of coursed,
wasn't far behind an passed in 2009. She died on her 99th birthday, yea,no kidding. Now it's me an this 4 bedroom home, thinking of downsizing. My son an his wife live about
5 minutes from me. I'm just not sure right now what I want to do, so I'll do nothing. I thank God for all the time Mom an I had together. I miss her so.
 
Ruthanne where can I find your blogs, I find you to be a fascinating person. I would love to go to Uganda is it safe now?? I'm very adventures the safer trips I'll do at 90
but the "Holy cow you went where" vacations I want to do now. Did you see gorilla's , I noticed alot of baboons all over the place. I went to Zimbawa , Zambia,Botswanna
an South Africa. I didn't spell them right but you get the idea. I would so like to see the Gorillas in the wild. I find your life amazing ,all the travel an living places you have been
to. You or your hubby must have worked different jobs to enable you to do so? I'm so jealous.Thanks
 
It finally rained out at the lake and the grass is starting to grow again. Forced myself yesterday to jump on that cheap lawnmower that still won't start (the "got nothing to lose" mower) and tear it apart down to the carburetor. First time I have ever tried anything like this.

Everything looked perfectly clean to me, but ran little wires and sprayed cleaner through all holes, anyway, according to Youtube video. [Then got all parts dirty again trying to put them back together.:rolleyes:] Much harder prying apart plastic pieces without breaking them, than unscrewing screws. Regardless...it started with only two pulls!!!!...and again this morning, completely cold.

I know this mower is only toying with me, waiting until I go to the trouble of loading it onto the truck and hauling it back out to the lake, before it quits again. Have no clue what was, or is, wrong with it. The important thing is....

I didn't ruin it by taking it apart!
My father bought one of those DR walk-behind trimmers. It's like a gasoline string trimmer on wheels. Also comes with a blade. Looks something like this.

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It has been sitting for probably 20 years. I've never tried to start it. Feeling daring enough now to see if I can get it working. It might be just the thing for keeping the front side of the dam cleaned off in the future...if I can get it over there. It's lighter than a lawn mower.
 
Nancy, that looks like a neat trimmer! I have an old one for my weeds that was a real pain to use, string always breaking and eventually died. I'm not fussy about my lawn, of course you have a LOT more land to deal with than I have. Starting on 2 pulls is great, good job, hope it doesn't fail you at the lake.
 
Another memory popped into my head today.

As I posted earlier here, I was about 14 when my parents took me on a summer vacation trip to Alaska (1962). I think my father got the idea to take that trip from a guy he worked with who had been there. He told us to take: (1) more than one spare tire, and (2) a sign with our names, date and hometown. The sign was to put on a post at Watson Lake, Yukon Territory.

My dad cut a piece of wood, I burned the information into it, and painted it with some clear coating. It turned out rather pretty, a dark shade. The sign posts were right along the side of the road. No one was there when we stopped. We nailed the sign on a post near the ground in the center of the bunch.

We didn't take a picture, but the whole area at the time looked no bigger than in this picture I found on the internet (no date). I don't think the green city limits signs were standard back then (?), so this may be much later. The romantic in me wants to think that the dark sign at the arrow is ours, but realistically, likely not. I don't think it would have lasted very long in the weather up there.

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I Googled that place, and now it is called Sign Post Forest. It has an interesting history, has moved back off the main road, and now has over 72,000 signs!

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Btw, over 1100 miles of gravel road we never had a single flat tire.:)
 
Pappy, here's my analysis of the goat "tragedy." ;)

Goats love to scratch. Dixie has a favorite fallen tree, about 18" off the ground and she will run hop over it and straddle it to rub her stomach. It looks so funny to see her do that. They are always rubbing their heads and sides against trees. The big goats will take down a fence by constantly rubbing on it, and why we had to string an electric wire inside down low on it. The hot weather lately probably has something to do with it. They will shed hair at various times, depends on the breed. My mother once took a brush and brushed all the hair off of the back of one of the goats before she noticed what she was doing. He is still alive.

That cattle rub was soaked with a weak solution of permethrin earlier this summer---same thing as in flea powder and tick dip for dogs. It is to keep the ticks and flies away from their heads. Ticks will migrate right to their eyelids and dig in. It's hard to pick a tick off a goat's eyelid. It works well for the ticks.

[Oops, I should have figured out a way to rehome all those ticks and flies, shouldn't I? :lol:]

Anyway, it should have pretty much worn off by now, and of all places to get mites it would surely not be where the goat is rubbing against the cattle rub, anywhere else maybe. For the same reason it wouldn't be contact dermititis, because it would have happened earlier when the solution was stronger. It's true that as animals age their immune systems weaken and they are prone to all sorts of things. But bottom line is THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF ANY TYPE OF SKIN IRRITATION AT ALL.

Isn't it true that goats don't go to heaven when they die, because they don't behave themselves, like sheep do? That's why I try to keep them alive as long as possible. I actually thought the picture was funny, but I deleted it. (wrong forum:rolleyes:)
　
 
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A couple of years ago I completely redid the guest bedroom---patched old plaster, straightened the closet door, closed off the fireplace, put a trim edge on the plain window and door frames, new ceiling fixture, and repainted everything.

Filled dozens of old nail holes in the window frame, accumulated over decades of former residents putting up curtain rods, and put up a half window shutter that I bought many years ago when they were well made.

After all that work, I was determined not to put a single nail back into that frame unless it was the very last one I would ever put in there!

This is my temporary, just for the summer, sun-blocking curtain. Used the picture rail molding, a little fishing line, a stick, and some dark fabric that was just laying around. Don't wake up automatically at 7:30 anymore.:) I can sleep 'til noon now if I want.:D The secret was cold air, darkness, and ignore the cat. She likes it better upstairs where it's hot anyway. I'll move back upstairs come November. (Gotta love picture rail molding.)

If I ever get overnight company, I can just yank it down in 5 minutes. Let them deal with the sun, or get up early. Ha!

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Still can't decide what to put permanently at the top of the window, if anything. I know I don't want a black curtain up there. Maybe just go with a full length window shutter. Would have to be custom made... So expensive...:(

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I still have a full size Goodyear Airfoam Mattress---half of an old Englander set. It has been wedged under a newer mattress in the guest room for years. The box spring was traded in years ago. Weighed a ton. Can you believe there is a vintage ad for these on YouTube! I would guess early 50's.


This mattress is at least 60 years old. Best mattress ever, until is started crumbling a few years ago. So much better than that awful memory foam.:p It came with two latex pillows, which are long gone. As I recall those were great pillows, too. Just tore it apart last night to see what shape it is in. It is hardened on the surfaces but the rubber is still healthy inside. I am going to cut a few chunks out of that mattress and see if I might get a couple of good pillows, or cushions, out of it, just for fun. Almost bound to be better than what they make now.

It bothers me to throw this away because it has followed me everywhere since I was a kid {sniff :rolleyes:}. I'll save the tag off the cover. That won't take up much space. (In the 1950's, $79.75 was equivalent to about $730 today, with inflation.)

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High temp today was only 95F, but the "real feel" temp was 105F (40.6C). Sure went through a lot of head bands.:p

Headed out to the lake this evening a little later than usual. There was nothing planned except unload more shrub clippings and check on the goats. They were fine, hair already starting to come back on the white one, no more rubbing. Cheap lawn mower started on just one pull, so trimmed around the house a little.

Two weeks ago the fence still had a charge of 7200 volts. It had stayed that way since I found one broken insulator almost 3 months ago---right where those fishermen came through the fence. My mother always suspected the neighbors were monkeying with the fence, but I discounted it. Maybe she was right.:confused: I don't think they've been back.

One week ago the refrigerator was out, long enough to ruin a few things in the freezer. It was just a tripped breaker. Never thought much about it.

Tonight I just happened to notice the fence charger was not ticking. It is surrounded by fence wire and temporary posts to keep the goats from messing with it. You have to rig up a stool and a ladder to get over that wire, and it always catches the leg of your pants just as you are going over.:) The charger was completely dead. Lightning probably struck the fence, likely at the same time the fridge breaker tripped. Took the charger down.

Fixed a huge cup of grape drink to take on the way back home, knocked it over on the countertop and onto the floor. As I was cleaning that up I saw ants. Countertop is speckled gray and I'd never have noticed them except for the spilled drink. They were after a scoop I left on the counter with sugar crusted on it (used to make hummingbird nectar).:( Cleared the counter, drenched it in bug spray and left it. I don't think they'll be back.

By the time I left out there it was almost 10pm. So... I go get a new fence charger tomorrow. May be just the incentive needed to get moving and get some things done, regardless of the heat. Oh, and I got a few fire ant bites, but no more than usual.:rolleyes:

I consider it a good day when nothing happens that I don't know how to fix...so it was a good day!
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Potentially some good news....

I believe this is the 4th fence charger in 10 years---all ruined by lightning. I suppose it could be a faulty product, but there is a lot of fence available to be hit. Gambled on a 2 year extended warranty on this one, for $30. Thought it had just expired, but the 2 years were in addition to the standard warranty, so it is covered, specifically including lightning strikes. The full price of a new one is $200. The mark up on these must be huge.

They emailed me a paid for UPS label and I have to send the old charger in for "inspection." If it passes they will send $170---the original purchase price (only because it was on sale the day I bought it). Some bother, but a net gain of $140 would be worth it. I can't imagine a very rigorous inspection. It wouldn't be cost efficient for them. We'll see...
 
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