Hunter I am Not

 

basement prep work

I slept well, but woke once again around 4am. However, this time I was easily able to drift back to sleep, finding my groove for another 90 minutes or so. Knowing I was working from home, I didn’t stress over being out of bed right at 530am. I slept in for a few extra minutes, waking for good around 540am. Soon, I was downstairs engaged in calisthenics completing sit-ups, windmills, and curls. Already near 6am, I went ahead and delivered Mindy’s coffee next. I then returned downstairs where I did meditation and stretching ahead of coffee and internet. Felt great.

It was 625am before I poured my first cup of coffee. By then, I was craving some. Finally in front of my PC, I got logged onto my work laptop. Time was moving fast. I quickly made the decision to postpone my run until after Bella was on the bus. Didn’t want to feel rushed. It feels good having an hour or so of early morning leisure time to do whatever I want. I opted to download photos and browse the new Hero3 HD again.

With me working from home, Mindy caught a break, too. She didn’t have to make my breakfast or pack a lunch. She left for school near 730am as usual. I took care of a handful of work related issues before bus stop time. We headed out with the pug near 810am. Dressed in my running clothes prompted Chrissy to ask if I was off work again. Nope, just working from home.

The bus showed up near 820am. Soon Eiknarf and I headed back home. I checked in with work. Thing s were quiet. I headed off for my run. I ran just three miles, just like I do on most work from home days. I was back around 9am and was soon back at my work station with a hot cup of fresh coffee. Yum!
I had an 11am & 415pm calls to join. 11am came around quick. The call seemed to go on forever. I had very little input. Just as well. I was expecting Mike O. around noon. But noon came and went. Just as I was beginning to wonder if he got caught up on something else he showed up with his tools around 1240pm.

With little fanfare, we headed for the basement to look at what I wanted done. Mike wasted little time loosening the make-shift clamps holding the set-run in place to the bottom of the floor joists. A month or so ago when we briefly looked at it, he thought there might be enough slack in the run to move it into the rafters (between the joists). However, after moving it as far as we could it was quickly apparent that there wasn’t enough length. Not a problem. Said we’d have to cut it and splice in a section. Thought he had enough pipe at home. He left for five minutes to get it.

Before cutting into the line, Mike moved the Freon to the AC condenser unit outside, effectively vacating the set-run of any gas. We then headed to the basement to cut the existing line and prepare it for soldering in about a 2’ section on each side – 3/4” and 3/8”. Mike worked pretty fast. Shared that the copper we were using is called ‘soft’ copper as compared to water system copper. And while Mike is a fireman by trade, he’s also a heating and cooling guy. Knows his stuff and has an awesome set of tools. Heating & Cooling is something I know comparatively little about. He did it professionally before becoming a fireman. Even after becoming a fireman, he continued working for the same HVAC company part-time for a number of years.

Had the new section soldered in quickly. Made double sure we had a good seal by doing a cool water test, then a soap bubble test. Has a large dental-type mirror to look at the top of the pipe. Cool idea! All good. He cleared the lines of any moisture before reintroducing the Freon from outside. He checked for leaks afterwards too. Good to go. The only thing left to do was to insulate the splice section. For that I would need to run to Home Depot or Lowes and pick some up. I planned to do it Friday at lunch. Mike reiterated how important it is to insulate the pipes. If you don’t they’ll surely sweat. And since I plan to drywall the ceiling, we would have a mess in a relatively short amount of time. Understood!

Mike wanted no money. Instead, he suggested perhaps some beer. I gave him $50 anyway. I appreciate the help and know how much my free time is worth. I’ll probably pick-up some beer for him too. I soon got back to work. Mike wasn’t gone 10 minutes when Jacob was in the door home from school. Man, time flies. He did his homework real quick then asked if he could head outside. He was halfway across the backyard when I hollered for him to come back and get the jacket Mike left in the basement.

Bella was home from school around 4pm. Almost immediately she started sucking up. I had no idea why until she hit me up. She reminded me of our discussion Tuesday evening, when I shared that I might be willing to sit at her gymnastics class for the entire 90 minutes just so Makayla could go watch, too. Not wanting to disappoint, I agreed. That made them both happy. Not only was Makayla already over, but Emily was too. They were playing Wii.

Mindy got home between 4-430pm. Sometime during the day Ashley sent a couple pictures of grandkid #5, Averie. Cute! Mindy said she got it too. Stayed plugged into work even past 530pm, though only loosely attached after that. Mindy made the girls pasta with pesto for dinner. Both Bella and Makayla love it. It was about 535pm when Mindy called Chrissy to make sure that it was OK if Makayla went to gymnastics with Bella. Chrissy was just getting home and wanted to check with Kenny. She called back a minute or two later. Nope, wanted her home. Off she went. Bella was sad. I agreed to take her and watch practice anyway. At the same time, Mindy and Jacob were heading out Xmas shopping.

We took 270, which turned out to be a mistake. Traffic was backed up from the second we were on 270 and I could see that it was backed up all the way to Georgesville Rd exit. I ended getting off at the Broad St exit heading east and taking it to Georgesville Rd. That saved us some time but it was bumper to bumper the entire way too. Bella was stressing, worried that she was going to be late to practice.

We arrived at 602pm. Her instructor was just walking in at the same time. I told Bella that I was running over to Lowes real quick but would be back in a jiffy. Traffic was tight getting there too, but it’s just around the corner. I found the pipe insulation I needed for the AC set-run. I picked up a 4-pack of CFLs for the light fixture over the island. First time I’ve seen them for a small-based socket.

Headed back to the gym. I took my book, blackberry and Galaxy in with me. As usual, folks were hogging more than one seat in the viewing area. I watched for a while but then headed to the admin area just outside the gymnasium where there’s a table and chairs available. From there I read and worked. Bella came out twice on break. I headed to the gym again for the last 15 minutes. This time I got a seat.
Practice was over promptly at 730pm. Kelly (her instructor) came up to let me know that she was RSVP’ing to our Xmas party Saturday night. Oh good! Bella and I headed for home. Bella was in a strange mood, especially after I denied her request for Wendy’s. She went on and on about how boring her mother and I have become as we age. Said we never do anything fun, like Kenny & Chrissy. I asked for examples. She shared that Chrissy always takes the girls shopping and that Kenny hunts. I suggested that she and I could go hunting. Went as far as to tell her that she and I would go out and buy guns on Saturday. Of course I didn’t mean it. A hunter I am not. By the time we arrived home, Bella managed to work herself into tears. Really? More than anything, she was still angry that Makayla wasn’t able to go to gymnastics with her. Mindy said she was over tired too. Probably.

Bella headed off for a shower, and I searched the pantry for popcorn. I was hungry having eaten only a small plate of pastas for dinner earlier. Couldn’t find the popcorn. Our pantry is ridiculous these days. Way too much stuff and in total disarray. Needs a heavy purging. In fact, the top rack recently collapsed in the back. Told Mindy that we need to evacuate the top shelf and the one just below so it can be fixed. She eventually came over and found a new box of popcorn on the very bottom. I looked there, but had no luck. That alone should make clear the problem.

I popped the popcorn then enjoyed it while playing on my PC. I made the mistake of checking work and got sucked into a problem needing my attention. Spent about an hour dealing with all that. By taking care of it then, it saved me the trouble Friday morning. Bella came down after her shower wanting to share some of my popcorn. She was in a far better mood. However, by then the popcorn was almost gone. She asked me to pop more. Sure, why not?

I popped more popcorn then helped Jacob study for a history quiz on eastern religion (Hindu & Buddhism). I was pleasantly surprised to find that they’re being exposed to such diversity. He seemed to know most of the terms and was at least somewhat familiar with what they meant. I ended up heading to the sofa and at first tuned to the Thursday night NFL game on the NFL Network. But I just wasn’t that interested. Instead, I went to our DVR menu and tuned to the three episodes of The Universe I DVR’d on Monday or Tuesday night. Cool!

Mindy and Bella headed off to bed just before 10pm. Bella was actually in her room before Mindy. Once again, I stayed up watching TV, fully expecting to fall asleep on the sofa. That’s exactly what happened. I woke around 1030pm and headed for bed.