24 inconvenient hours and nary a baño.

When last I touched base, Todd the Vinyl Planking Guy had just broken a screen door window, tried to blame it on a bird, and ended up a few boxes short of flooring.

Boy, Thursday was a weird day.

But Friday was better. Todd showed up at 9:30, immediately apologizing for being late. He was halfway to our house to install the rest of the flooring when Home Depot called him and asked if he was planning on picking up the rest of the flooring. Apparently he was running on autopilot and forgot that the flooring wasn’t already in his truck(?), so he had to backtrack to Home Depot, delaying his arrival a bit.

Oh, Todd.

Fortunately, he finished up the rest of the job without incident. That evening, we wasted no time in unpacking our albums and setting up our record player.

The Neil Young album was a gift from Justin the Realtor. Fittingly, it was the first record we played.

We didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy our new setup though, because the carpet installers were coming to do the bedrooms on Monday (today). That meant emptying out all three rooms Sunday evening–including my home office–and moving all the furniture into the living room.

Was that a pain in the ass and a major inconvenience? It was, but we told each other it was just for 24 hours. Normally I go into the office in Janesville on Monday, but today I worked from the dining room table with mattresses piled up against the wall behind me. Not ideal, but it was less disruptive than Thursday. Carpet installation is a little less noisy, and this crew didn’t cause any Todd-level chaos. The only problem was, they barely spoke English and I don’t know Spanish. The language barrier reared its ugly head when the lead guy asked me a couple of questions and I had to have him repeat them multiple times. It’s uncomfortable when that happens, and then when I suddenly comprehended what he was saying, I was so excited to understand him I overcompensated in the enthusiasm department.

“Oh, you want me to open the garage! Of course!! I’m happy to do so!!!”

The only incident of note occurred when I had to pee. I got up from my makeshift desk, walked to the bathroom, but was stopped short because the carpet crew were using it as a staging area. They’d removed closet doors and put them in there, along with rolls of carpet and padding.

No problem, I thought. I’ll just use the basement bathroom.

Only that one was inaccessible too, because Tara and I had moved the treadmill and loveseat out of the family room and into the hallway between the bathroom and garage so they could lay carpet down there.

I pondered my dilemma for a few moments. It was mid-morning and they had hours to go before finishing. I knew I couldn’t possibly hold my bladder that long, but then a lightbulb went off when I realized we have a stand of woods on the edge of our property. Five minutes later I was back at my computer after using the green latrine. Whew! I was good for the rest of the afternoon after that.

They finished up at 3:30 and I was very impressed with their work. What a difference between the old mismatched carpet that we’d splattered with paint and the plush new stuff.

You think that’s something, check out the basement the first time we saw it versus today.

I am so glad all the big projects are now finished. We can finally unpack all our stuff and settle in. It’s only a matter of time before I find that elusive potato masher!

Living in Wisconsin is giving me whiplash.

Last week was unseasonably warm. We reached the 80s three days in a row and actually had to turn on the A/C. I held my breath when flipping that switch; we didn’t even know if the A/C worked because the home inspector was unable to test it out in February given that it was 15º that day. Fortunately, it came right on and works great.

Saturday, we ran errands in shorts and t-shirts and marveled over our backyard. The grass is nice and green, flowers are blooming, trees are budding. It felt like we’d skipped straight to summer.

That’s when Old Man Winter said, “Hold my beer.”

Sunday we awoke to a cold rain. It poured all day and then turned to snow in the evening. We went from 82° on Saturday to 32° on Sunday. A 50-degree temperature drop in a little over 24 hours is just plain nuts

Not that I was complaining. Three days into false summer and I was already over it. We only got a little bit of snow anyway and it’s already melted.

48 thoughts on “24 inconvenient hours and nary a baño.”

  1. You bought that house just for the album wall didn’t you? How can it be the shelving is a perfect fit? Nice work and I laughed cause if you stacked those cubes 2 over 2 it would be my daughters/SIL’s same set up- minus the lava lamps replaced with plants and a hanging vampire bat.

    Carpet looks great, and that green not-a-basement is growing on me, but really- peeing in the woods at your age- I think not 😉

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    1. I can’t believe what a perfect fit that wall is either! Couldn’t have asked for a better setup. And it’s nice having the records upstairs in this house instead of confined to the basement.

      Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go! You think I don’t do that while hiking all the time? 🙂

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      1. Now you are just flaunting the luxury a male hiker has over the rest of us… especially those of us who always pee on their shoes. Not cool Mark 😉

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      2. True story: I was hiking once in WA state, came around a bend in the trail, and nearly stumbled over a woman squatting in the bushes, pants down around her ankles. She was super embarrassed. Come to think of it, so was I…

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  2. The green latrine – I love it! Thank goodness you got all that done. Whew!

    I was looking for the potato masher this weekend with the kids to mash up fruit and I chuckled as I got it out of the drawer. I wonder if I’ll always associate it with you two and your move from now on?

    Good luck with Wisconsin spring – which seems to have you springing back and forth between the seasons on either side. Aptly named? 🙂

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  7. You know when they suggest women have penis envy – it’s only ever for those moments when peeing in the words is required.

    The vinyl/record player set up looks FAB!

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  8. Wait a minute.. you have a heated driveway AND central air? This really is a dream house. The new flooring looks great and celebrating with Neil sounds perfect. We had a bit of whiplash as well with 70 one day, 34 the next… but no snow.

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      1. No one has central air in Maine. To be honest , we never needed it before now. Cars sold in this state never used to have it either. I’m seriously considering installing it… though I’m sure it would cost a fortune.

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      2. Sounds like Oregon and Washington. When I moved to the Portland area in 1994, central air was rare. In fact, when I bought my first house in 1996, there was no A/C. We did add that a few years later because I am not a fan of heat. That was a worthwhile expense. Nowadays, everybody’s got it. I’m sure Maine won’t be too far behind thanks to good ol’ climate change.

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    1. Damn good question, Carl. In fact, that’s exactly what Home Depot told us when we bought it. Imagine our surprise when we were informed a few days beforehand that they wouldn’t move a single piece of furniture. What would we have done if we nowhere to put everything? Those rooms weren’t full only because we haven’t unpacked half our stuff yet. I’m still peeved about that.

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  11. I also feel bad when I can’t understand someone. You know they are trying and I give them credit for learning English. Sooo nice to get new carpet. Enjoy!

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    1. Pretty sure I was the last graduating senior who never had a foreign language requirement. I wish I’d taken one, but if I had, it would have been French or Russian or something, just to be different. I still wouldn’t have understood the poor guys yesterday.

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    1. We are going to use the wood stove next winter to see how it performs and make a decision based on that. I’m guessing we’ll just keep it; it’ll be a lot more energy-efficient and provide better warmth than a fireplace, and besides, we’ll be spending most of our time upstairs anyway.

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  14. I remember one year where the weather in early October was 90-95F and our heater tech came out for furnace maintenance. Turning the heat on was not optimal that day, but I guess losing a pound or two doesn’t hurt anyone lol. As for bathrooms being blocked, your Plan B is the go-to. The expression is “nature calls!”

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  15. “Three days into false summer and I was already over it.” This is me. That is why I could never live in Arizona or Florida.

    Your house is coming along nicely. You’re very fortunate to have a bano in the woods. This property has so many advantages… 😊

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  19. Oh I HATE it when remodeling crews come into the house and suddenly all bathrooms are no longer usable. Plumbers warn you, but remodelers are not concerned. On a lighter note, I like your wall of albums. Classy in an old-school way.

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    1. Thanks! That collection is our pride and joy. Even more so than the lava lamps.

      All day long, I was wondering what THEY were doing when they had to go to the bathroom. Because unlike Todd and his helper, these guys never even took a lunch break.

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  20. The only time I heard my fave band in concert, Eddie had the stomach flu, played one song, and went to the hospital, or something. Neil Young played the rest of the concert, his songs, with the PJ band. I was most disappointed. Maybe you would’ve dug it, though.
    Love the sage green walls. One of my favorite colors.
    You gotta wonder where the workers were peeing. Did they really not have to go the whole time they were there?
    Crazy about the fast temp drop!

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  21. Todd has ingested too many items containing marijuana; he’s not all there.
    The carpet is a huge upgrade; so nice and clean!
    I was perplexed by your latrine dilemma as my husband’s favorite thing to do is pee outside. 😜

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  22. We had a planned landscapers visit that ended up being an UNplanned water-off “visit”… Glad we had some old water bottles stashed away somewhere. Not all surprises are good surprises?

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