A while ago I found a leak in the flashing around the chimney, and it’s gotten worse, so there’s no putting off finding a roofer to fix it. In the meantime, I’ve come up with this temporary workaround that reminds me of the funky idea I had when there was a leak in the basement a year ago last spring.
Well, this sure must look silly. I’m on my balance pad, doing the nightly workout for my ankle with tendinitis, while Ride the Wild Surf (Shelley Fabares!) happens to be TCM. I’m glad you can’t see this, because the way I’m wobbling to keep my balance on the pad with the surfing scenes on TV in front of me, it’s like I’m trying to play a video game.
I got started on a major shredding project, getting rid of ancient bills, and of course my old, toy-quality shredder died. Most of the new models I looked at weren’t right for the space I have, then I found the Fellowes P-12C for $80 at BJ’s Warehouse.
Sorting old magazines and comic books takes a lot of time, because I end up reading and remembering, but I was surprised that old bank statements have something of the same effect on me. This is a summary of my checking and savings accounts in August, 1984.
The deposits included business travel reimbursements, because I didn’t have a company credit card. The savings account is interesting. I had less than $1500 (about $3200, adjusted for inflation) and on that I earned over $6 interest. My savings account is much more substantial now, but it doesn’t earn that much in a year, even unadjusted for inflation; but, as you can see, the gain in ’84 was offset by the monthly fee for the checking account.
Follow-up: The shredder died in 2019, having seen only occasional light use.
It was an extremely tough winter here in Massachusetts. In February, when I was up on the roof shoveling snow, I wondered if there would be any damage left behind. Tonight, I know the answer is probably yes.
It’s raining very heavily, and Eric noticed water in the basement. It was coming down from the chimney wall, and I ended up in the attic (which is really more of a crawl space), and found a leak in the roof where the chimney goes through. The kitchen faucet has a bizarre problem, and I can see it was caused by the plumber doing a crappy installation job years ago.
A couple of days ago the automatic garage door wouldn’t open, and I found a broken wire in the electric eye transmitter that opens the door if the beam is broken. I redid all the wires and now it works. I was hoping that would be my only household emergency this week. Oh, well….
Slept late, french toast for breakfast, afternoon nap, now going for a run.
http://youtu.be/g1_pJL5GfG0
We’re getting a taste of what Alabama and Missouri suffered. A tornado touched down in Western Massachusetts, with two confirmed deaths in my old stomping grounds of Westfield. Mike Dobbs, whose “Out of the Inkwell” blog is a link over on the right, lost every tree in his Springfield yard, and one of them destroyed his car. The lightning/thunder/rain here, closer to Boston, has let up twice, only to get even worse again each time. The lights have flickered a couple of times, so I’ll post this now in case we lose power.
Update: news reports corrected the two deaths in Westfield. They were actually in West Springfield, a neighboring town.
