Bathroom Update - Week Nine

So have you ever heard the joke about the man who's just finished laying carpet and he calls out to his wife, "Honey, have you seen the canary?" And in the background, you see a small lump in the middle of the newly laid carpet?


That's the story of the story this week. You can clearly seen a big bow in the plywood here. It was worse in the middle and at one point, Warren took out three screws and we lifted it up just to be sure. I could have sworn there was something under there, it bowed so much. Silly me, nothing was hiding under there. We joked about the canary under the plywood all day. Warren had to put more screws in than was called for in the instructions, just to be sure the canary was gone. :)

But I'm ahead of myself. We started out in the bathroom by measuring the layout of the rest of the floor to be covered by plywood. We were hoping to get the largest area possible covered by one large sheet of 4 x 8 plywood. It would require cutting several notches and angles here and there to do it. But then there would be just a half dozen small pieces to fill in the leftover spaces. Then we'd be done with this stage and could start the concrete backer board next.

So after we took all the measurements, and trouped upstairs and downstairs twice to make more measurement (Remember Vern the Carpenter of "Measure twice, Cut once" fame?) Eventually we got it drawn out and started cutting. No saw horse so we used old chairs from the basement and the older car.


We stopped to chat with our neighbor, Linda, when she stopped by.

Then we got back to work. Now, you do understand, don't you, that when I say, "We got back to work," I'm talking about Warren, right? Because about all I've been good for so far is holding the boards when Shop Guy saws with the dangerous circular saw. Well, I do do some vacuuming up of sawdust, which we all know is VERY important. But really, Warren's doing all the work, we all know that, right?

So after not very much more trimming, we got the big piece glued and started screwing it into the subfloor.

INSERT CANARY STORY HERE.
After that was done we, I mean Warren, got to the "easy" part of piecing the smaller spaces around the room.


And by 12:30 we were done. We had plans to go to a movie, but decided to take a leisurely lunch and do the movie tomorrow instead.

While I'm blogging about Week Nine, Warren is off the Lowe's AGAIN to see about the concrete backer board that is our next phase of the project, which won't take place till two weeks after Easter because we've got company coming for the holidays and would rather have fun with family, thank you very much!

So that's all for now, folks. Catch us in April for the next installment of the Bathroom Project!

Oh, for a parting shot, here's Miss Ellie, Princess of the House, looking slightly annoyed that her morning nap is being so rudely disturbed by all this noise and commotion.

Here's Hammy hiding in between the coffee table and the couch, waiting for innocent little Miss Ellie to walk by so he can POUNCE!

It was a Warm and Freaky Night...

I have to give you some background. I've been reading a scifi thriller called The Grays by Whitley Strieber. I love scifi. I never get spooked by scifi or any other type of book. Most gore and alien freaknoidness comes across to me as stage makeup and augmentation. (I have a theater background.) For example, the movie Aliens got to me as far as the startle reflex, but it didn't freak me out or carry over into my real life. It didn't bother me much. The Grays is different, I guess. It's got lots of aliens buzzing around people, there but not there. You never know who's human and who's not. What's gonna come at you in the dark. Another bit of background for you. I LIKE the dark. Did even as a little girl. I loved a dark room. Just ask my sister.

So last night, I grab my camera and go out on the dark front porch at about 9 pm. I'm planning to take a photo of the thermometer there that has a freaky temperature for nine o'clock at night in March, even in Missouri. Here, take a look at it:

Pretty neat, huh! I knew rain was coming for tomorrow and maybe even snow this weekend and I just wanted to take a photo of this Sign of Spring.

And here's where it gets freaky. A white pickup truck comes driving down the street, just about when I snap the photo. It slows down just as it passes my driveway, which is to the right and in front of where I am standing in the dark. The dark where this bright light just flashed.

The pickup truck slowed down. Came to a complete stop. I'm a tad uncomfortable at this point.

It sits there for a second or two. Then the driver's side of the truck opens and a man with a flashlight gets out. My comfort level is just about gone right now. I'm frozen. I'm trying to cover the glowing of my camera. I'm not "daring" to open my front door and quietly step back inside. I just stand there and get uncomfortable.

The man with the flashlight walks around the front of the truck and stands under the streetlight that sits right at the edge of our property. A little background here. This streetlight flickers all night long. Our neighbors have called the city to complain and nothing has happened. I don't remember this as I try to melt into the front porch wall. I just wonder if this man is sneaking toward me, blocked from my view by the garage, which juts out beyond the porch.

At this point, I step into the house. Not so quietly. Speed is the main thing on my mind. I lock the door and go to the front window that's the farthest from the door and sneak a peek between the curtains, carefully. The man is still there. There's another man in the passenger side of the truck. They're talking through his open window.

Flashlight Man gets back into the truck. It drives slowly down the street. I go back out onto the porch to take a couple more shots. I can see the truck's lights on the next street over. It comes back around. I don't know if it will turn onto my street again or drive off. It slows down as it gets to my street. Whoa. I get back inside the house and peek out the curtain again.

The truck drives off down the road. I try a giggle to see if I can. It's pretty weak. I'm still uncomfortable.

I gotta stop reading scifi for a while. I'm spooking myself out for no good reason. For heaven's sake. There's gotta be a rational reason for this man to be doing this. Probably a city worker. You can't check out a flickering streetlight in the middle of the day, right? You gotta drive by at night. Gotcha. I know this to be true. Still, I'm freaked out and slightly ashamed of myself. I'm supposed to be this big brave sister. Ha!

Here's a picture I took tonight. You can see the rain has come. Warren's station Jeep is sitting in front of the garage. The streetlight is visible above the St. Patty's Day flag.


I guess inside of each of us is this freakometer, ready to respond to a threat, however real or imagined, however inspired by pulp science fiction. I hope that book from Laurie gets here soon. I'm ready to read about lions and elephants and Africa in the 1930s!