Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
home improvements

home improvement trifecta

My house was in need of a new roof this year. So, I got one. This is the second roof since I’ve been here and hopefully the last. It’s a “lifetime” roof, whatever that means, so surely that will last longer than the last one (20-ish years). They wrapped up on Wednesday.

Mid-summer, I also got an estimate for a garage door, but there was a 6-8 week wait for that. Brian replaced the original garage door with French doors, way back when, but the doors were a little worse for the wear and needed replaced, too. Jake wanted to have a garage he could use at the house, so I had a garage door installed. Unfortunately, this project created some new projects for me…the installers had to add some new framing and it needs painted, as does the original trim that’s around the opening. No big deal, right? Well, the bottom of one of the original trim boards was rotten, so I had to remove it and now I need to install a new piece. Also, the metal brick lintel is all rusty, so I need to derustify that and paint it as well. All of this stuff was covered up by the French door trim, previously, so that is why it was all a surprise. And, there’s some chipped concrete that I’m going to patch, too. So much for relaxing this weekend.

The roof and garage door projects overlapped. Let me tell you, that was a fun day to work from home.

We finally got a day off from people working on the house and then I got notification that the seamless gutter guy was going to come today. He wasn’t as noisy as those other people, but I’m glad that he’s done. And, it’s going to be nice to have gutters that don’t leak.

pets

play date

Ralphie and I met up at the Windber Rec dog park with one of my coworkers/employees and her dog yesterday. They ran around like a bunch of loonies for about two hours. They had met before at the office, so we knew they’d play nicely together. When we were getting ready to leave, someone else came with their dog, which looked like a puppy, but was much bigger than Ralphie. Everything went fine, so I guess Ralphie gets along with other dogs.

Ralphie was pretty tired last night, but he’s back to normal this morning. I guess a walk is in order for later today.

me

haircut

Earlier today, I got my first haircut since the pandemic started (I believe I last went in February). Let’s just say I was way overdue. Well, it’s not like any of us could get haircuts for a while, but since my hair was growing anyway, I decided to grow my bangs longer before getting another haircut. Mission accomplished. With cold/flu/coronavirus season approaching, now seemed like a good time to get it cut. If I have to go 6 months again, I think I can do it.

do-it-yourself

clogged

The drain in the bathroom was running really slow, so I tried my usual recipe of baking soda and vinegar. But, this time, it only made the problem worse. I then dumped some chemicals down the drain. And, the problem got even worse.

I do not have a drain snake, so I ran to Home Depot and bought a “hair snake” as I figured it was probably filled with hair. Well, I put it through the drain and nothing came out, so then I removed all of the drain pipes and saw that there was a bunch of sludge in the pipe that goes into the wall. I don’t know if the sludge was the original problem or if it was created by all the crap I put down the drain. I was able to clean it out (bonus: without getting a chemical burn!) and I put everything back together. I turned on the water and it flowed freely down the drain. Victory was mine, or so it seemed–the one pipe connection leaked. I got it tightened the best I could but there’s still a small leak I need to address. Perhaps it needs a new washer? We shall find out tonight. Still, I’m glad I didn’t have to call the plumber over this. I will try the drain snake first the next time, though.

pandemic, relationships

first date

It’s has been 27 years since I dated, but here I go again. I had my first “date” with someone yesterday afternoon. We went to Sandyvale to walk around and let our dogs play at the dog park. We do not have another date set up at this time, but I think/hope we will get together again.

Dating during a pandemic is interesting, though not all bad. Going to a dog park is definitely less stressful than going on a traditional date. Once the weather turns cold and outdoor stuff is off the table, I’m not sure how things will work, but I guess I’ll worry about it then. Dating at this age also seems quite a bit different than dating when you’re younger, but maybe that’s just me.