Halloween Stuff
Sunday, September 24th, 2023 04:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Another day up to 77F. I slept in until 1PM and was out back by 1:30 with Yvette and Prowly. Snoop chose to stay inside. While we were out there, the Amazon van came and delivered all the halloween decorations I'd ordered last week.
So I unboxed those to have a quick look at them, but then went out to the porch to use the last of my epoxy wood putty on the seams of the fronts of the two storm frames. And those patches are now drying.
After a quick smoke in the glinding rocker, I went out and mowed the front lawn.
Then when I was done with that, I got my wheelbarrow and clippers out to the front to prune back the front bushes... which will soon have lights and webbing on them.
And I pruned the lilac bush ouside the porch as well.
And cut down all the crap weeds that had grown out of the topsoil mound in front of the driveway.
And by then I was sweating bullets, because why would I catch a goddam break outside on a weekend just because the equinox has passed?
So now I'm cooling off, and then it'll be big dog walk time.
After a smoke run, I took Yvette for a walk. Longish, but not as long as yesterday.
And then it was time to get the lights and webbing out onto the bushes.
And holy fuck!.. did I sweat my ass off!.. even though it was nearly sundown!
Front bushes, as freshly pruned, with lights, webbing, and a giant spider that you can barely see, because he blends in too much with the webbing.
Close up of the giant spider in the bushes.
Webbing and lights on the lilac bush, with a second giant spider nearby.
Three light up jack-o-lanterns in the porch window.
The whole side door entry.
The whole front of the house.
So, there are a ton more decorations to put up, on the house, in the house, and out in the back yard.
And I have to get those lights on timers.
And of course it would be nice to have the finished storm windows installed out front.
But things are slowly coming together.
Okay, I managed to paint the front sides of both storm frames!
This is Window A.
Here's B on the table, with A standing by the door!
They're really starting to look like legit storms, reminiscent of the originals on this house!
I wish Dad was alive to see these, because he'd be really impressed!
I can't wait to get the glass in, and put these things on!
And after it got star dark, I took more pics of the lights...
Side door area at night.
I love how the webbing diffuses the light, like a lens over a lamp!
An unexpected benefit of this decoration strategy.
Front of the house at night.
I used to do webbing on my front bushes back when I lived on Illinois Avenue, but this is the first time I've ever put out lights for Halloween.
Whole thing at night.
I've been seeing more and more halloween lights over the years, but so far, I have not seen anybody do lights and webbing like this together.
I feel like I have to do this every year now!
But what's the protocol? Like... get rid of the webbing on November 1st, but keep the orange lights until Thanksgiving?
Then switch to Christmas lights the next day?
I've shaved & showered, and my clothes are now in the washer.
This has been one of the busiest 2-day weekends of the whole year!
I really did myself a favor by getting the crossbars together, and joined to the frames, over the work week!
Because that allowed me to get the bezels on... which are more complex bezels than I first planned for... and get the frames stained on their backs, and painted on their fronts, by the end of Sunday night.
And in addition to that, I mowed the entire lawn... which hasn't been done for many weeks... and do a lot of pruning around the yard.
And in addition to that, I managed to get a big head start on the Halloween decorations!
I was in constant motion, both Saturday, and today, jumping from one task to another... yard work... storm work... decoration... dog walking... errand running... conference calling.
But we have other news to discuss, here on Sunday night.
For starters, I got a text on Saturday from an, AJ with 313 saying... "Hey Patrick, HR has tried reaching out and left voicemails so you can do your intake etc. if still interested please contact them back on Monday. Thank you! -AJ"
I did get a voicemail late on Friday, which I missed (probably because of the burrito that destroyed me) but that was the only contact all last week.
At any rate, I will be calling them back, first thing tomorrow... and we'll see what the next step is.
I had planned to get out to the lawyer's office first thing tomorrow, to sign that authorization, but... I may put that off to Tuesday, given this new development.
I also haven't measured for the glass yet, because I was in such a hurry to paint the fronts of the frames.
But that has to happen this week, as well as picking up the glass, and maybe getting a start on installing it.
So I'm gonna have to be getting up early to run out all week... to sign papers... get glass... do onboarding stuff... it's gonna be kinda crazy!
I'm pretty sure things are just gonna keep ramping up from here on out until the reunion!
In other news, Brian DID trade in the Avenger for a new car yesterday!
This is a big breakthrough, but not as great a move as it could've been.
He was unable to go through Carmax, for one thing, because they don't have a Carmax in DeKalb, and his car was too sketchy to drive out to Naperville... the closest one, here in the metro.
Instead he took it to a local Chevy dealership... again, bad call, because Chevy's are garbage... and traded it in for a 2017 Chevy Cruze, with 80K miles.
His FICO score was 600, which is... kinda low. And they trade-in value for the Avenger was $1700... under the $2000.00 I think Carmax would've given him for it.
So it all worked out to a $300.00 monthly payment... which is kinda high... at a way too high APR.
If he'd done this deal last year, during the chip shortage, like I did, when the Avenger was still able to make the trip to Naperville... he'd have gotten a way better deal... especially if he'd gone for a Toyota.
But it is what it is!
At least he took the leap!
As far as I can tell, the Cruze might be reliable, for another 300K miles.
So if he trades it in before it hits 130K miles, he could do okay.
As for his rehersal space... well, some generous soul donated him $350.00 to stay there one last month.
But he also said his first car payment isn't due until November 3rd, so I guarantee you, he'll try to spin that so he can get two more months in the rehersal space... rather than just having a little extra money to get ahead.
So, Bri won't be facing the end of karaoke drum fun until December, which happens to be when I hope to start recording in earnest in my studio.
So, we'll just have to see what happens over the winter.
I think that about brings everything up to date.
Things kicked into a higher gear this weekend, and it looks like things will stay in a higher gear from here through the rest of October.
So... buckle up, I guess.
But with that, it's time to wind on down and get to bed.
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