07 October 2009

,mmm

Title of this post is courtesy of Lola Kid. She was walking all over the desk while I was in the cutting room apparently. It works out OK. I have trouble thinking up an appropriate title to these posts sometimes. Lola didn't exactly hit the nail on the head today, but close enough. What more can we expect from a 7 week old kitten?



I do hope the world is being good to you all. All in all, I can't complain too much. I am in a great deal of pain these days from an infection but the daily aches and pains aren't any worse than usual.



I forgot to read my last post before I started in on this one so if I repeat myself, just chalk it up to old age creeping in! ;)



I'm pretty sure I told you all about Lola Kid so we won't be repeating that again. It looks as though she is here to stay, and that's alright with me. She's a nice little Kitten. Not too crazy about her name being Lola but she knows that is her name so we will keep it. I didn't name her. Susan and Linda did. Someday I'll show you a picture of her.



She and Fred had a gay ol' time following the weatherization guy around this morning. He came out to check over my house to see if they may be able to help me out with energy effeciency.

He was here for 4 hours checking out the furnace, hot water heater, water pipes, cook stove, insulation and other things. He was back here in my deskroom with the vent cover off one of the heater ducts, down on his hands and knees with his handy dandy mirror gadget and his flashlight. The dog was right down there with him, trying to see what it was he was looking at in that hole in the floor. The Kitten jumped from the top of the desk on to his back and was looking over his shoulder to see just what he and that dog were looking at. It was quite a sight! Then he put the vent cover back on, got the screws all screwed back in and says, "Dang! I left my flashlight in there!" He retrieved his flashlight and continued on with his inspection.

He had all kinds of cool gadgets! That little long handled mirror was something! When I first laid eyes on it I thought to myself, 'prisoners in jail would kill for that cool little thing!' I saw no use for it myself though.

He checked for air flow too. I didn't get to watch that test, wish I could have. He checked (with one of his (biggest) cool gadgets) to see how much air was getting in or out of the windows and doors. He had this big fan, a black bag with some equipment (never seen what was in the bag) and what appeared to be a screen door frame. He used the backdoor to do this test. I was in the livingroom talking to RW and Sam at the time.

He drilled two holes in the ceiling: one in the laundryroom and one in the cutting room closet, to check how much insulation is in the attic crawlspace. I live in a trailer house, I don't really have an attic! Then he drilled another hole in the outside wall in my closet to see how much insulation was in the outside walls of the house.

He crawled under the house to check the water pipes, looked under the kitchen and bathrooms sinks (I have 2 bathrooms). He was at the furnace for quite some time. He checked and tested the hot water heater and turned it down a touch cause it was at full blast. (I thought that water was awfully warm this morning while I was in the shower! I just hope he didn't turn it down too much! Cause I like me some hot water in the shower in the winter especially!)

He had this other gadget that detected gas leaks. It went nutso in the kitchen. My cookstove is leaking propane. He's gonna get someone out here pronto to fix that!

I really didn't think he would be here as long as he was. I had intended to go to bed once he left cause I got up at 7 pm last night from a six hour nap. I didn't get to bed till 4 pm and was awake by 10pm.

Seems I'll be getting a new furnace, insulation in the attic, insulation on the underbelly of the house, insulation and a blanket for the hot water heater, the stove fixed and something else... I knew I should have written that all down!

He said it would take 2 to 5 months for all this occur but it will happen! The furnace I have now works, it just isn't effecient. He also said he would try to get the central air unit hooked up as well but he didn't hold out much hope for that. I'll more than likely get a new screen door for the front door as well.

So..... good things happened today on that front. They called yesterday to say they would be coming this morning to do the inspection. They called Ma's number though. She came down last evening, did the dishes and helped me clean up the kitchen. Actually she did the majority of the work cause I was asleep when she got here and was three hours later I woke up to a bunch of noise in the kitchen.

I tried calling her this afternoon when the fella left but she wasn't home. Then I went to bed and woke up after she'd gone to bed.



I got all my ATC envies folded. Still have about 75 of them to glue. I'm done with ATC envies till I need more. I cut paper for matchbook notepads while Lola was in here walking all over the keyboard giving this post a title. (Some of those will end up as Christmas gifts this year. You know that is right around the corner, don't you?) Later, after I get something to eat, I'm going to put together more little handmade books. They're all made, paper cut, just got to put them together. Have about 30 of them ready for assembly.



I'm throwing around the idea of entering a chunky page swap. I'm not in any swaps right now and my plate is empty as far as trading art is concerned. The theme of the swap is fairy godmothers. Penlowe gave me an idea to fairy-up a picture of Ma as the cleaning fairy. I love the idea! Just haven't decided if I want to commit to it just yet. The pages aren't due till November but that is just around the corner too! You all will get to see them if I enter the swap.



Yes, I know you all are waiting (patiently) for me to scan the art in the little basket atop the printer. That might happen later tonight. That involves a lot of arm movement...putting them on the scanner bed, taking them off...and this right arm of mine just doesn't want to move too awful much today. It hurts like a big dog to move that arm!



Lola Kid is asleep on the desktop with her little head drapped over my right wrist at the moment. Typing doesn't require painful movements of my arm.

Doob is atop the computer tower with her eyes shut tight like she's afraid of something and just doesn't want to look! Lola Kid taught Doob to play with the things hanging on the wall behind the tower. There were four rosaries there when Lola came to live with me. There are now only two of them there cause Lola Kid pulled two of them down and they are on the floor behind the desk where I cannot easily retrieve them. Those rosaries and most of the other stuff on the walls has been there for 3 years now. Doob never touched them till after she saw Lola playing with them. Doob is 14 yrs old, not much of a player anymore, but she sat up there playing with as much as enthusiasm as Lola plays earlier this morning.



I need to dose Fred with Noromectin before the sun rises. Dose #2 for his mange problem. It seems to be getting better. He doesn't itch near as much since he started the treatment. He's still bald on his belly though. I think that's gonna take awhile for him to grow his hair back. I'm gonna have to make him a sweater for the winter cause that dog's belly is gonna freeze if I don't! I'll go to the thriftstore on Friday and see if I can find a sweatshirt I can modify. Don't want him freezing his belly! Three more doses to go...once a week.

Go get your hugs for the day!
Peace
831

3 comments:

John said...

Hi Donna, hope your arm is better.

By the way, is that guy who went around checking your house and things, from the government or something? Or a private energy efficiency company? Are the checks frequent?

Donna said...

Hi John,
this fella is from the Weatherization Program through Social Services. It is known as LIEAP (Low Income Energy Assistance Program) and yes it is a government agency. To qualify for this program you have to meet certain income guidelines. None of the improvements they will be doing to my house will cost me unless the price goes above a certain point...I'm not sure how much they will spend before I am responsible for the remainder...It is a one time thing.
Once a year I qualify for a portion of my heating/cooling bills to be paid in part. They generally send a check (to my suppliers; half to the coop for propane, the other half to the electric company) for about $200. This happens in March.
I applied for the weatherization program way back last March (2008) and I am just now getting to the top of the list to have my house inspected and then approved or disapproved for the improvements.
I'll find out about whether or not I am approved for the improvements in a couple of weeks.I am fairly certain I will be approved.
Someone is coming to fix my cook stove though as it is leaking propane gas and that is not a good thing! They will be here on Monday!

John said...

Wow, that's really cool to know that you don't have to pay for anything, until it goes over a certain amount!

Is there any similar program for those with higher incomes? Not from Social Services, but for those who can afford to pay for the improvements? Just wondering, because it would be great if somebody could check the apartment that me and my wife is renting. But then again, probably that's not my call, since the owner would most probably the one responsible for anything to do with the house... So sigh...

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