Judgement Day
Thursday, March 30th, 2023 10:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioI was awoken by a phone call at 9AM this morning. It was Chris, from A-Team Recyclers, calling to say he'd be by to get my TV any minute!
With all the patio negotiations lately, I forgot that I'd scheduled this thing for today!
I told him I was still in bed and also had to run to an ATM.
Chris said that was fine, he needed to get gas anyway... and he gave me 30 minutes!
I jumped out of bed and got the coffee going
The plan was to go straight out to the car and drive to Fiesta Food Mart to get the $40.00 cash needed... but my wallet was downstairs in the back room!
So I did have to calm Yvette down a bit and ask her to be patient as I grabbed my wallet and left for the ATM.
It had gone below freezing last night, and now, at 9:15AM, it wasn't any warmer. I ran in to Fiesta, got the cash, then went back home, and went straight out to the old shed.
I had to move a few things out of the way before I could get Dad's old TV out onto the lawn, but it didn't take long. Then I ran to the porch to fetch the dolly.
Dad's TV fell off the dolly once on it's bumpy ride up to the front parking... of course, but after it was on the curb, I brought the dolly back inside, and grabbed Yvette.
No sooner had we gone out front than Chris pulled up in a white van.
I gave him the cash. He gave me a receipt, and loaded up the TV.
As he drove away, Yvette, Snoop, Prowly, and I, all went into the back yard to start our chilly morning.
--<>--
This curbside pickup program for TVs is very new! For over a decade, it's been nearly impossible to get rid of a tube TV!
Banned from dumpsters, banned from bulk trash pickup, refused by electronics recyclers, illegal to bury in your back yard... tube TVs were, and are, obsolete, toxic garbage.
When I moved home in 2014, there was a tube TV upstairs that needed to go. I ended up taking it to the hospital's old campus, on the overnight shift, and hiding it behind a bunch of junk in, abandoned OR 11.
And I wanted to do the same with Dad's TV downstairs. I kept offering to buy him a modern flat screen set, but he would always refuse, saying his old TV worked just fine!
That's how it ended up in his old shed, while he lay dying in his bedroom!
--<>--
So, this little moment this morning was a pretty pivotal one!
With that stupid thing out of my life, I'm free to throw everything else from the old shed into a dumpster, before I dismantle the hull itself and throw that in there too!
While we were out back I took a closer look at the shed, and luckily, it's all held together by ordinary sheet metal screws. Not rivets, or nuts & bolts.
The screws are rusty, but most of them should come out without too much fuss [knocks wood].
So, once the dumpster is here, it should be a simple matter of emptying out the shed, and then breaking it down to it's constituent parts.
Even the rotting plywood Dad put down as a shitty floor inside the shed can go in the dumpster, leaving only a large rectangle of dirt.
And my grass seed mat is coming tomorrow!
--<>--
The lawn building, as Dad called it, was ordered from Sears in the early 1970s, and actually was a pretty nice shed, when it was new.
But Jesus, did it ever age poorly!
The first mistake was just putting it on the bare ground, because over fifty years it slowly sunk into the dirt, and as it did, the two sliding steel doors... which hung from an upper track... could not sink with the rest of the structure.
Instead they both buckled!.. to the point where they couldn't even be opened anymore!
Also, a heavy snow load, one winter in the late 1980s, buckled the roof!.. which dad had to then prop back up with a long 2X4 inside.
But some of the sheet metal up top had come loose, and so the wind began to tug on it... year after year, until it flapped backward, opening a huge hole for the rain to pour in.
It got dinged and dented. It rusted. Weeds and seedlings began to sprout around the base of it... growing into thick saplings.
By 2021 it was just a hideous monstrosity, surrounded by craggy little trees and bushes, rusting and falling apart, but impossible to get inside.
Wild mammals built nests in there, made of plastic bags and garbage.
I cut down all the trees around it, and removed the doors, but it was too far gone to try and save.
So I bought a new steel shed and built it on the concrete slab where the garage used to stand, so that it would have a solid base, and then I salvaged whatever was still useful out of the old shed.
Siblings complained that I'd put a shed on the patio!
Even though nobody had come to hang out in the back yard in twelve years.
Well, pretty soon there will be a real patio... and my new shed, over on that slab will be the only one in the yard!
--<>--
Well, there is the shitty plastic tractor shed by the driveway, but I'm now thinking of pitching that into the dumpster too!
That one's got a busted front door now too!.. and it's all covered in moss!
Most of the shit inside it can either be pitched, or put into the new shed.
The tractor itself, I picture putting in the front yard with a sign that reads, "FOR SALE. BEST OFFER. SEIZED PULLEY."
That shed only dates back to 2000, but again... it's sinking into the dirt, which is how the plastic door broke... and there's no repairing a plastic door!
The tractor itself was a nice ride!.. made mowing the lawn fun! But... a push mower offers a lot more accuracy, in tight spaces.
------------{=0=}------------
Okay, enough of the shed talk!
Sergio sent an email saying, "Received. Thank you. Will keep you posted."
So... not the enthusiastic response I was hoping for, but... I guess we'll see!
------------{=0=}------------
11:10PM
Well, it struck me that because it's spring break, I could go in an hour early.
And because I got up an hour early... that's what I did... clocking in at 2PM.
Jeremy used the overlap time to train me on the KyVac machine... which is for cleaning bathrooms, and looks like an evil, wet/dry vac on steroids.
It's got a power washer, with an air compressor, and also a vacuum tube, with a squeegee on the end, and they're both a million miles long.
In theory it's this wonderful machine that makes cleaning bathrooms easy because you just spray the fuck out of everything... walls, toilets, floors, sinks... and then vacuum the water off the floor and let it all air dry.
What could be simpler?
But in reality, it's so cumbersome, it takes forever to set up. And then when you're using it, potent chemicals are getting instantly aerosolized into the whole room, while the floor is getting super slippery!
And you have two long tubes to trip over on the slippery floor, while your eyes and lungs are burning from the toxic atmosphere.
What's that?... wear a mask and safety glasses?
Okay, now the mask is fogging up the safety glasses, so you're blind, and the mask isn't working, because what you really need is a respirator and a full face shield.
Vacuuming the water off the floor takes twice as long as mopping.
And then drying off the damn mirrors takes three times as long as normal.
Then you have to empty the damn thing out, rinse it out, and get it all packed away in the closet, which takes an extra 30 minutes.
So, it's actually a horrible machine that makes cleaning bathrooms ten times harder, and poisons you at the same time!
------------{=0=}------------
I'm glad it dawned on me this morning to get rid of the tractor shed, because it was gonna be in the way of the tree guys' equipment anyway. Martin already said we'd have to move it over, for him to get through.
So I'm gonna make time on Friday and Saturday to empty it out and dismantle it.
The dumpster won't come until Tuesday, but I can put all the refuse over by the side porch, where it's out of the way.
I did peek in there this morning and the only things I can see worth saving are my six foot ladder, and two long tree trimming poles. Oh, and Dad's gas can.
The rest is just garbage, if you don't count the tractor. But that's going in the front yard with a sign on it.
--<>--
And I think getting rid of the tractor shed is priority number one, to get it out of the way for Monday.
Priority two is getting rid of the juniper, because it's also kind of in their way a bit.
But to do that, I have to first assemble the chipper, fill it with gas and oil, and figure out how to run it!
That could eat up a whole day, depending on how many little parts there are, and if they're metric or not. So I'm not gonna touch it until the tractor shed is down.
But if everything goes smoothly, then I should have time to bust up the barbecue with the sledge hammer.
--<>--
I assume that the tree and brush removal is gonna take all damn day on Monday, from 8AM to sundown, because of the size of the trees and the volume of brush.
So I probably won't be doing anything monday, except running to the bank to withdraw cash for the job.
--<>--
Tuesday, the dumpster arrives, so I can then start loading shit into it in the mornings before work on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Then I'm off on Friday, and can focus on dismantling the old lawn building. If there's no room in the dumpster for all the steel, that's okay, because scrappers will take it off the curb.
I'll probably have enough time left that weekend to take care of the rock garden, and put down grass seed mat everywhere... and maybe even mow!
--<>--
No word today from Sergio about the patio so...
All I can say is, the longer he drags this out, the more likely I'll be to cancel the job.
I've got the six grand today, and I'm hyper about it today. But in a month or two, after I'm spending that money on bills and other projects... I dunno!..
Side porch is looking like shit on the outside!.. back stoop is falling apart too!..
Strike while the iron is hot, Sergio!
--<>--
Four days down, and one day left until my three day weekend!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
With all the patio negotiations lately, I forgot that I'd scheduled this thing for today!
I told him I was still in bed and also had to run to an ATM.
Chris said that was fine, he needed to get gas anyway... and he gave me 30 minutes!
I jumped out of bed and got the coffee going
The plan was to go straight out to the car and drive to Fiesta Food Mart to get the $40.00 cash needed... but my wallet was downstairs in the back room!
So I did have to calm Yvette down a bit and ask her to be patient as I grabbed my wallet and left for the ATM.
It had gone below freezing last night, and now, at 9:15AM, it wasn't any warmer. I ran in to Fiesta, got the cash, then went back home, and went straight out to the old shed.
I had to move a few things out of the way before I could get Dad's old TV out onto the lawn, but it didn't take long. Then I ran to the porch to fetch the dolly.
Dad's TV fell off the dolly once on it's bumpy ride up to the front parking... of course, but after it was on the curb, I brought the dolly back inside, and grabbed Yvette.
No sooner had we gone out front than Chris pulled up in a white van.
I gave him the cash. He gave me a receipt, and loaded up the TV.
As he drove away, Yvette, Snoop, Prowly, and I, all went into the back yard to start our chilly morning.
This curbside pickup program for TVs is very new! For over a decade, it's been nearly impossible to get rid of a tube TV!
Banned from dumpsters, banned from bulk trash pickup, refused by electronics recyclers, illegal to bury in your back yard... tube TVs were, and are, obsolete, toxic garbage.
When I moved home in 2014, there was a tube TV upstairs that needed to go. I ended up taking it to the hospital's old campus, on the overnight shift, and hiding it behind a bunch of junk in, abandoned OR 11.
And I wanted to do the same with Dad's TV downstairs. I kept offering to buy him a modern flat screen set, but he would always refuse, saying his old TV worked just fine!
That's how it ended up in his old shed, while he lay dying in his bedroom!
So, this little moment this morning was a pretty pivotal one!
With that stupid thing out of my life, I'm free to throw everything else from the old shed into a dumpster, before I dismantle the hull itself and throw that in there too!
While we were out back I took a closer look at the shed, and luckily, it's all held together by ordinary sheet metal screws. Not rivets, or nuts & bolts.
The screws are rusty, but most of them should come out without too much fuss [knocks wood].
So, once the dumpster is here, it should be a simple matter of emptying out the shed, and then breaking it down to it's constituent parts.
Even the rotting plywood Dad put down as a shitty floor inside the shed can go in the dumpster, leaving only a large rectangle of dirt.
And my grass seed mat is coming tomorrow!
The lawn building, as Dad called it, was ordered from Sears in the early 1970s, and actually was a pretty nice shed, when it was new.
But Jesus, did it ever age poorly!
The first mistake was just putting it on the bare ground, because over fifty years it slowly sunk into the dirt, and as it did, the two sliding steel doors... which hung from an upper track... could not sink with the rest of the structure.
Instead they both buckled!.. to the point where they couldn't even be opened anymore!
Also, a heavy snow load, one winter in the late 1980s, buckled the roof!.. which dad had to then prop back up with a long 2X4 inside.
But some of the sheet metal up top had come loose, and so the wind began to tug on it... year after year, until it flapped backward, opening a huge hole for the rain to pour in.
It got dinged and dented. It rusted. Weeds and seedlings began to sprout around the base of it... growing into thick saplings.
By 2021 it was just a hideous monstrosity, surrounded by craggy little trees and bushes, rusting and falling apart, but impossible to get inside.
Wild mammals built nests in there, made of plastic bags and garbage.
I cut down all the trees around it, and removed the doors, but it was too far gone to try and save.
So I bought a new steel shed and built it on the concrete slab where the garage used to stand, so that it would have a solid base, and then I salvaged whatever was still useful out of the old shed.
Siblings complained that I'd put a shed on the patio!
Even though nobody had come to hang out in the back yard in twelve years.
Well, pretty soon there will be a real patio... and my new shed, over on that slab will be the only one in the yard!
Well, there is the shitty plastic tractor shed by the driveway, but I'm now thinking of pitching that into the dumpster too!
That one's got a busted front door now too!.. and it's all covered in moss!
Most of the shit inside it can either be pitched, or put into the new shed.
The tractor itself, I picture putting in the front yard with a sign that reads, "FOR SALE. BEST OFFER. SEIZED PULLEY."
That shed only dates back to 2000, but again... it's sinking into the dirt, which is how the plastic door broke... and there's no repairing a plastic door!
The tractor itself was a nice ride!.. made mowing the lawn fun! But... a push mower offers a lot more accuracy, in tight spaces.
Okay, enough of the shed talk!
Sergio sent an email saying, "Received. Thank you. Will keep you posted."
So... not the enthusiastic response I was hoping for, but... I guess we'll see!
Well, it struck me that because it's spring break, I could go in an hour early.
And because I got up an hour early... that's what I did... clocking in at 2PM.
Jeremy used the overlap time to train me on the KyVac machine... which is for cleaning bathrooms, and looks like an evil, wet/dry vac on steroids.
It's got a power washer, with an air compressor, and also a vacuum tube, with a squeegee on the end, and they're both a million miles long.
In theory it's this wonderful machine that makes cleaning bathrooms easy because you just spray the fuck out of everything... walls, toilets, floors, sinks... and then vacuum the water off the floor and let it all air dry.
What could be simpler?
But in reality, it's so cumbersome, it takes forever to set up. And then when you're using it, potent chemicals are getting instantly aerosolized into the whole room, while the floor is getting super slippery!
And you have two long tubes to trip over on the slippery floor, while your eyes and lungs are burning from the toxic atmosphere.
What's that?... wear a mask and safety glasses?
Okay, now the mask is fogging up the safety glasses, so you're blind, and the mask isn't working, because what you really need is a respirator and a full face shield.
Vacuuming the water off the floor takes twice as long as mopping.
And then drying off the damn mirrors takes three times as long as normal.
Then you have to empty the damn thing out, rinse it out, and get it all packed away in the closet, which takes an extra 30 minutes.
So, it's actually a horrible machine that makes cleaning bathrooms ten times harder, and poisons you at the same time!
I'm glad it dawned on me this morning to get rid of the tractor shed, because it was gonna be in the way of the tree guys' equipment anyway. Martin already said we'd have to move it over, for him to get through.
So I'm gonna make time on Friday and Saturday to empty it out and dismantle it.
The dumpster won't come until Tuesday, but I can put all the refuse over by the side porch, where it's out of the way.
I did peek in there this morning and the only things I can see worth saving are my six foot ladder, and two long tree trimming poles. Oh, and Dad's gas can.
The rest is just garbage, if you don't count the tractor. But that's going in the front yard with a sign on it.
And I think getting rid of the tractor shed is priority number one, to get it out of the way for Monday.
Priority two is getting rid of the juniper, because it's also kind of in their way a bit.
But to do that, I have to first assemble the chipper, fill it with gas and oil, and figure out how to run it!
That could eat up a whole day, depending on how many little parts there are, and if they're metric or not. So I'm not gonna touch it until the tractor shed is down.
But if everything goes smoothly, then I should have time to bust up the barbecue with the sledge hammer.
I assume that the tree and brush removal is gonna take all damn day on Monday, from 8AM to sundown, because of the size of the trees and the volume of brush.
So I probably won't be doing anything monday, except running to the bank to withdraw cash for the job.
Tuesday, the dumpster arrives, so I can then start loading shit into it in the mornings before work on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Then I'm off on Friday, and can focus on dismantling the old lawn building. If there's no room in the dumpster for all the steel, that's okay, because scrappers will take it off the curb.
I'll probably have enough time left that weekend to take care of the rock garden, and put down grass seed mat everywhere... and maybe even mow!
No word today from Sergio about the patio so...
All I can say is, the longer he drags this out, the more likely I'll be to cancel the job.
I've got the six grand today, and I'm hyper about it today. But in a month or two, after I'm spending that money on bills and other projects... I dunno!..
Side porch is looking like shit on the outside!.. back stoop is falling apart too!..
Strike while the iron is hot, Sergio!
Four days down, and one day left until my three day weekend!
°¦}
