How to Move a Barcalounger

Since Susan and I have been married, we've always gotten our Costco membership through Susan's boss, Bill Reed. Since she no longer works for Bill, we had to get it ourselves. He paid for it by mistake last year but we finally find ourselves out in the wilderness with no one to support our Costco habit but ourselves.

So, we ventured to Costco yesterday to re-new our membership and grab some stuff.

While strolling through, we saw a three seat couch that reclines for $500.00. That's less by a hundred dollars than what we have found so far.

We decided we should get it. In talking to the Costco people, we found that the display model was the last one in stock but they would be receiving more in a week or so. They told us there were 30 available on line.

When we got home, I went on line to check it out. They were sold out.

We decided we should go get that display model before they all disappear. I called my friend Jerry and borrowed his truck. I called my friend Mark and borrowed his muscles.

We got the couch loaded and back to the house. Mark and I had little trouble getting it into the entry way but that's where we hit the road block. We could not get it to fit into the TV Room. After many tries, we decided it had to go in through the front window.  But that would be for tomorrow.

Which is now today.

So that is my task for today. I need to peel out the glazing and remove the glass from the window frame. Then, Mark will come over and help me slide it through the window.

It's 11:15 and the clock is running. So I'm heading out to the front porch to remove the glazing from the window.

The picture above is the upper right corner of the glass. I've carved a little glazing away from the corner. All in all, it came off pretty easily and I had the whole thing cleaned off in less than an hour.

1:12 PM: Mark is coming over and we're moving the couch.

2:03 PM: It's in. It's done. Mark just left.

The glass slipped out of the frame easily. The couch went in through the window with inches to spare. Now I need to lay in the glazing and it will be as if it never happened.

3:33 PM: As Jesus said, "It is finished!" The couch is in position. The glass is back in the frame and the glazing looks every bit of okay. Sorry I didn't have better pictures of it going through the window, but we had our hands full.

This is another landmark event in our nearly three year TV Room Renovation.    

Another Vacation Day

7:26AM: Based on Murphy's Law, I was pretty sure that once I got the snow blower working again, there would be no more snow this season.

So I was delighted to wake up this morning and see the snow really coming down. There is about a half inch on the ground and it is supposed to snow until 8:30...according to Alexa, the Magical Weather Person.

I have the day off. Things are really slow at work and I offered to use up some of my vacation days. So I'm off today and tomorrow. My plan is to go skiing tomorrow. Which leaves me today to do something.

I have decided that the "something" will be to clean the house. It'll be a little surprise for Susan. I'm also going to fix a space heater we have and watch a little Gonzaga basketball at 4:00.

And of course, I will be snow blowing when this snowfall blows over.

Stay tuned for ACTION!

There is the snow depth for you as of 9:12 PST in the AM. I measure it at 2 1/2 inches. I suppose you want me to prove it to you.

I've never thought of you as skeptical!

Okay, the scheduled time for the snow to cease is now in about half an hour. That puts it at 10:05. See you then.

10:18AM: The snow has stopped. I'm heading out.

12:10PM: I am finished! I did a super blow, the biggest one I have ever blown. I did the driveway, the street in front of the driveway, the alley, three quarters of my block and Lou and Tammy's side of the street. I left their driveway to Tammy, who needs to get out and get some exercise. 

I'm really having a wonderful day. It feels good to get all this stuff done.

I'm heading upstairs to finish my cleaning.

7:50PM: I got the upstairs cleaned. I also got the kitchen and downstairs bathroom. Then I went to the Hub and watched Gonzaga barely squeak past Santa Clara. They're still undefeated. They're still number one in the nation.

Not a bad day!

By the way, the snow was all melted by 3:00 in the afternoon.

My Life As A Dumbass

We got hit with snow last Monday.

It started falling Sunday night and went on through Monday. I decided I needed to get ahead of the impending flurry so I went out before leaving for work and fired up the snow blower.

I usually use Premium gas for the snow blower. I have a gas can dedicated for Premium. Unfortunately, it was empty. So I poured what I had of regular from my five gallon gas can and topped off the tank.

I did the driveway and the sidewalk up to Cleveland street. I was making my way back to do my sidewalk when the snow blower started to sputter. It choked along the sidewalk and died right at the driveway.

I pushed it into the garage so I could fire it up again with the electric starter. It's very difficult to start with the pull cord, even when it is warmed up. It ran for a couple of seconds and died.

I concluded that the gas in the five gallon tank must have gone bad or been contaminated. I have had it since sometime last Summer so it seemed logical.

I ended up shoveling our walkway but leaving the sidewalk untouched before I left for work.

It snowed all day and into the night. It continued to snow on Tuesday. What little I had blown was covered up again with another couple of inches of snow.

I decided I had to wait for the weekend to drain the gas, refill it with fresh Premium, and hopefully get it running again.

I specifically set my Saturday morning for Snow Blower repair.

As I was heading upstairs to get dressed, Mom called and said she was having some chest pains. Susan and I dressed quickly, jumped in the car and headed for Mom.

We decided it was prudent to go to the E.R. and get her checked out properly. Saturday shot.

Mom's okay, by the way, but I was at Sacred Heart for four hours.

So now it fell to Sunday to get this damn thing working again. It was becoming more critical because the forecast is calling for snow later in the week.

After church, I ran out to fill a prescription for Mom.  Then I went to the valley Winco store to get some peanuts for the squirrels. They have been looking through the French Doors wondering where their meal was.

On my way home, I stopped at a gas station and filled my designated Premium Gas Can with non-ethanol gasoline.

I set up my workshop in the garage. I backed Susan's car out. I laid down a tarp. I brought in some halogen shop lights to light my way, and began my task of draining the tank.

I grabbed a mostly empty gas can I have for the bad gas. I tipped the snow blower on its side and held the can next to the tank spout to catch the gas. I had it all the way over on its side and nothing was coming out. I grabbed my flash light and peered into a bone dry gas tank.

Perhaps that was the reason the snow blower behaved like it was out of gas.

I was positive that I had topped it off, or at least nearly topped it off when I added gas at the start. I also thought I had about a half tank when I filled it. 

But I have a habit of not paying attention to detail and then concocting some plausible story to explain my lack of attention to detail.

I once tore the whole electrical system of my motorcycle apart because the tail light wasn't working rather than check the bulb.

The good news is that it was an easy fix. I got it running, I finished clearing off the sidewalk. I finished the driveway and the backyard. And now I have time to sit here and write about my stupidity.

Back to Bars

Today is the last day of my nine days off from work. If I haven't said it yet, I'm really looking forward to retirement. And that is just over a year away.

The other really exciting news for today and the main reason I'm posting, restaurants and bars are finally allowed to open again. In celebration, we walked over to the Hub.

It was great! It's so nice to be allowed to do something we have always taken for granted.

Susan and I met Mark at 3:00 and had a couple of pitchers. Of beer! Wednesday is the start of Lent and once again, I'm giving up beer. Mostly because it will help me lose weight but there is some respect for God in there too.

The Second Day of Vacation

I have just returned from skiing at Lookout Pass. It was a good day but I am woefully out of shape. That's pretty much a recurring complaint with me.

If you interested in my ski day, more details are available at www.porkymccorpulent.blogspot.com.

Vacation Project One

 I am on vacation this week. I have over 120 hours of vacation time to use up and so, here I am on vacation. I plan to ski at least one day, tomorrow. I have a couple of projects I would like to do. Chief among them, I would like to clean out and organize the Carriage House.

In order to do that, I first need to clean up and organize the Paint Room in the basement.

It looks like this.

That, by the way, is a horrible picture of the closet we call the Paint Room. You can't even see the stuff on the floor. There is a ton of it and you cannot walk into the room. There is no organization involved in any of it.

It now looks like this.

Better. Well, emptier.

Back when this house was a group home for Retarded Adults, this closet was a bathroom for the staff. Nice, huh?

Now, it looks like this. I'm installing the supports for the shelving. I have to take a break right now because my drill and power driver need to be recharged.

It's 1:35 right now. I shall wait until 2:00. In the meantime, I would like to talk about this next picture.

I am also cleaning and organizing my closet. It contains just a huge backlog of crap in there. Among the crap are these items of footwear.

They are all still wearable shoes for someone who has unwearable shoes. But for me, I don't wear them anymore. I feel guilty just tossing them out but I don't think they are good enough for Goodwill. And so they are being tossed.

You know what, I take that back. I'm going to let Goodwill decide.

4:22PM: Okay, the project is done and I am pleased.

I'm going to buy one more 48 inch shelf to put in the middle of the bottom shelf and the next one up. I'll be able to get all the paint out of the Carriage House and create some much needed space.

I am tired after all that and a little sore...because I'm in such great shape. I definitely worked harder today than I ever do at work. I hope the boss never reads this