House 2: bathroom and basement work ; medical prep for Africa trip
(posted from home)
(This post covers 13 to 21 July, 2011)
---------------------
Thursday, 21 July-
Today we had to go in to Memorial Hospital to have our TB tests checked. Labashi wanted to have lunch at Texas Roadhouse today but they're not open at lunch time on weekdays. I got on the web to find an alternative and saw listings for La Casa de Tapas in downtown York. Once I saw they have gazpacho on the menu, I was interested and knew Labashi would be too.
That turned out to be a great find. We not only had the gazpacho, we also had ceviche, fried goat-cheese, fried plantains, home-made breads (with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar dip) and both red and white sangrias. I guess we over-did it (especially for a lunch) but we certainly did enjoy this very nice little restaurant.
We then drove on to the hospital's Industrial Resource Center to have our TB tests checked. This part of the process is establishing a baseline before our trip.
We then went to the East-side Wal-mart to pick up our malaria-prevention prescriptions. They only had enough pills on hand to fill one of our prescriptions but will have the other filled by tomorrow.
While at the Wal-mart I had a chance to look for a small camera for our trip. I really liked one I saw but of course needed more info from the Web. Back home I was pleasantly surprised to find that this model-- the Canon SX230 HS-- is rated very highly by multiple digital-camera review sites. I think I may have found just what we need.
Oh, yeah. On the way home we stopped at the local Toyota dealer to look over a Tacoma 4-door pickup. The Tacoma is the US version of the Toyota 'HiLux' pickup we'll be renting in Africa (the HiLux is diesel-powered and right-hand drive, though). We happened to get a very friendly sales guy who wasn't put off by the fact that we weren't really there to buy and in fact was very interested in our trip. He did a very thorough job of introducing us to the various Tacoma options, trim-levels, and features. Nicely done, sir.
That evening we watched 'United States of Tara' episodes.
----------------------
Wednesday, 20 July-
More medical stuff today. We're not feeling any ill effects from the vaccines though our arms are a bit stiff and sore at the needle sites. I rode the Concours up to my dentist's office for the insertion of a crown this morning.
In the extra-hot afternoon weather I took the F650GS over to my tax-prep person to drop off a form and then spent the rest of the afternoon catching up the blog.
That evening we resumed watching 'The Good Wife'- Season One episodes.
-------------------
Tuesday, 19 July -
Today our main objective was to get our immunizations for the Africa trip. We spent the entire afternoon at Memorial Hospital in York. A doctor gave us minor physicals and then we reviewed the CDC immunization recommendations for travel to South Africa and Botswana. We then were both given immunizations for Hep-A, Hep-B, and yellow fever, plus prescriptions for typhoid and malaria pills as well as a TB baseline test.
That evening we watched a documentary called '21Up Africa: Mandela's Children'. This film series follows the fortunes and misfortunes of seven South Aftrican children at seven-year intervals. The subjects were drawn from very different backgrounds and it's quite interesting to see how they've grown and changed.
--------------------
Monday, 18 July -
This morning I installed the replacement wall-telephone jack after repairing the wall with Plaster Patch. I also once again 'fixed' the front and carport doors. These fir doors expand so much in the heat and humidity that they begin sticking so badly that they have to be kicked open.
Labashi finished up the repair and painting work to the medicine cabinet and light fixture in the bathroom. We then pulled nails, cleaned, and sanded the vintage baseboard trim and toe strip and Labashi gave them a coat of paint.
By 1500 we were wiped out. We loaded up Labashi's car and headed home. Along the way we shopped at the Home Depot for a replacement toilet seat to match the new color scheme.
We arrived home around 1800 and settled in quickly, then watched the final two episodes of 'Shaka Zulu'.
------------------------
Sunday, 17 July-
This morning I finished the vanity's plumbing and we turned on the water. We had a leak in one of the compression fittings and that took several tries to resolve. The soft-copper pipe had been bent, so that took it a bit out-of-round and the compression fitting didn't like that. After futzing with it for awhile I called Maypo for ideas and he came over and got it done.
In the meantime Labashi had re-started our basement-painting project. Maypo and I joined her for an afternoon paint-party and we the basement walls its second and final coat of Drylok Extreme.
The dehumidifier has been working overtime but did have the basement down around 50% humidity. The number climbed to 69% while we painted but by the next morning was back down to $50.
That evening we went to dinner with Maypo and his wife at Norland Pub, then we reaturned to watch the last two eps of 'Nurse Jackie, Season Two'
--------------------------
Saturday, 16 July-
We re-installed the toilet and installed the new bathroom vanity today. I had cut off the water pipes leading into the bathroom because of the old-style copper-to-chrome transitions so needed to extend the water pipes up through the floor using short lengths of copper and compression fittings. While I worked on that Labashi disassembled and cleaned the light fixture above the medicine cabinet and gave the cabinet a very thorough cleaning.
We then set the vanity in place and I leveled it and bolted it down, then added the sink/top. We had hoped to turn water on today but I wasn't quite ready by the end of the day.
We watched more 'Treme', Season One that evening.
--------------------------
Friday, 15 July -
Today we worked on the bathroom floor in House 2. Last week I had cut OSB subfloor sections to fit the floor's odd shape and today used them as a pattern to cut lauan plywood as underlayment for the sheet-vinyl flooring material. We used the lauan pattern to cut the sheet-vinyl. I then screwed down the OSB and stapled down the lauan. We then final-fit the vinyl and glued it down.
I made the mistake of using the wrong trowel-notch size so we had an excessive amount of adhesive pushed out around the edges. It was just a bit messy to clean up and then make a final clean-up pass with Goof-Off solvent. Lookin' good!
That evening we watched two episodes of 'Treme'- Season One in our TV room (lawn chairs in front of the laptop balanced on an paint bucket).
-------------------------
Thursday, 14 July -
This morning my task was to drink a gallon and a half of water and a pint of less-than-pleasant oral contrast solution to prep for my now-yearly CT scan of my kidneys. I had the first pint of contrast last night and then had an intravenous injection of another contrast while on the scanner table. Scans were done before and after the IV contrast. All this to get the best look possible at a growth and (hopefully) confirm that it has not grown significantly.
On the way home I decided to get Mocha Joe washed for our trip to Chambersburg later today. But as I soaped up the left-front wheel, I heard a hissing sound and saw steam. The wheel and aluminum hubcap were very hot. After finishing the wash job I took the van home and jacked up the left-front end and tried turning the wheel. It would only turn a short distance; there's definitely something wrong.
I took it up to the garage and found them very busy and unable to get to the van until early next week. Labashi and I thought it over a bit and decided we could still go to Chambersburg but we'll have to sleep in the house. So of course we had to take air mattresses and a whole car-load of 'stuff'.
On the way to C-burg we stopped at Gettysburg for Labashi to try some shoes she had found on the web (the company has an outlet store in Gettysburg).
We made it to Chambersburg around supper time so hit the Fuddrucker's for a burger before going on to the house and setting up our bedroom for the next few days.
We then watched two episodes of 'Treme' DVD on the laptop, sitting on folding camp chairs. Ah, the joys of the mobile life!
-------------------------
Wednesday, 13 July -
Today I continued looking through various online forums related to travel in southern Africa. Some contain trip reports, crime reports, reports of animal attacks (or rumors thereof) and they make compelling reading for us.
I've just finished reading 'The Lost World of the Kalahari', a late-Fifties account of a search for 'authentic' Bushmen, now known as the San. This one pulled no punches in explaining the sorry history of white interactions with the San. And I particularly enjoyed the detailed explanations of the preparations for, and journey into, the wilds of Botswana (then Bechuwanaland) in the search of remnants of the San people living in the traditional ways.
Late in the morning I realized I had better mow the lawn since we'll be gone for a few days. I used Labashi's self-powered mower and it worked very well. I was able to mow all in one go of a little over two hours. And so I don't need my walk today!
While Labashi drove up to see how the parental units are doing today, I recovered from my mowing by reading through online accounts of camping in lion and hyena country. I also browsed through websites of various private and public campgrounds to get a sense of price and facilities. One problem I hadn't thought about until now was the problem of noise from other campers. I had envisioned us camping alone most of the time but we'll be in the tail end of the high season there so I need to expect some minor problems.
That evening we watched two more episodes of 'Shaka Zulu', the 1986 mini-series.
****** END OF POST **********
(posted from home)
(This post covers 13 to 21 July, 2011)
---------------------
Thursday, 21 July-
Today we had to go in to Memorial Hospital to have our TB tests checked. Labashi wanted to have lunch at Texas Roadhouse today but they're not open at lunch time on weekdays. I got on the web to find an alternative and saw listings for La Casa de Tapas in downtown York. Once I saw they have gazpacho on the menu, I was interested and knew Labashi would be too.
That turned out to be a great find. We not only had the gazpacho, we also had ceviche, fried goat-cheese, fried plantains, home-made breads (with olive oil and Balsamic vinegar dip) and both red and white sangrias. I guess we over-did it (especially for a lunch) but we certainly did enjoy this very nice little restaurant.
We then drove on to the hospital's Industrial Resource Center to have our TB tests checked. This part of the process is establishing a baseline before our trip.
We then went to the East-side Wal-mart to pick up our malaria-prevention prescriptions. They only had enough pills on hand to fill one of our prescriptions but will have the other filled by tomorrow.
While at the Wal-mart I had a chance to look for a small camera for our trip. I really liked one I saw but of course needed more info from the Web. Back home I was pleasantly surprised to find that this model-- the Canon SX230 HS-- is rated very highly by multiple digital-camera review sites. I think I may have found just what we need.
Oh, yeah. On the way home we stopped at the local Toyota dealer to look over a Tacoma 4-door pickup. The Tacoma is the US version of the Toyota 'HiLux' pickup we'll be renting in Africa (the HiLux is diesel-powered and right-hand drive, though). We happened to get a very friendly sales guy who wasn't put off by the fact that we weren't really there to buy and in fact was very interested in our trip. He did a very thorough job of introducing us to the various Tacoma options, trim-levels, and features. Nicely done, sir.
That evening we watched 'United States of Tara' episodes.
----------------------
Wednesday, 20 July-
More medical stuff today. We're not feeling any ill effects from the vaccines though our arms are a bit stiff and sore at the needle sites. I rode the Concours up to my dentist's office for the insertion of a crown this morning.
In the extra-hot afternoon weather I took the F650GS over to my tax-prep person to drop off a form and then spent the rest of the afternoon catching up the blog.
That evening we resumed watching 'The Good Wife'- Season One episodes.
-------------------
Tuesday, 19 July -
Today our main objective was to get our immunizations for the Africa trip. We spent the entire afternoon at Memorial Hospital in York. A doctor gave us minor physicals and then we reviewed the CDC immunization recommendations for travel to South Africa and Botswana. We then were both given immunizations for Hep-A, Hep-B, and yellow fever, plus prescriptions for typhoid and malaria pills as well as a TB baseline test.
That evening we watched a documentary called '21Up Africa: Mandela's Children'. This film series follows the fortunes and misfortunes of seven South Aftrican children at seven-year intervals. The subjects were drawn from very different backgrounds and it's quite interesting to see how they've grown and changed.
--------------------
Monday, 18 July -
This morning I installed the replacement wall-telephone jack after repairing the wall with Plaster Patch. I also once again 'fixed' the front and carport doors. These fir doors expand so much in the heat and humidity that they begin sticking so badly that they have to be kicked open.
Labashi finished up the repair and painting work to the medicine cabinet and light fixture in the bathroom. We then pulled nails, cleaned, and sanded the vintage baseboard trim and toe strip and Labashi gave them a coat of paint.
By 1500 we were wiped out. We loaded up Labashi's car and headed home. Along the way we shopped at the Home Depot for a replacement toilet seat to match the new color scheme.
We arrived home around 1800 and settled in quickly, then watched the final two episodes of 'Shaka Zulu'.
------------------------
Sunday, 17 July-
This morning I finished the vanity's plumbing and we turned on the water. We had a leak in one of the compression fittings and that took several tries to resolve. The soft-copper pipe had been bent, so that took it a bit out-of-round and the compression fitting didn't like that. After futzing with it for awhile I called Maypo for ideas and he came over and got it done.
In the meantime Labashi had re-started our basement-painting project. Maypo and I joined her for an afternoon paint-party and we the basement walls its second and final coat of Drylok Extreme.
The dehumidifier has been working overtime but did have the basement down around 50% humidity. The number climbed to 69% while we painted but by the next morning was back down to $50.
That evening we went to dinner with Maypo and his wife at Norland Pub, then we reaturned to watch the last two eps of 'Nurse Jackie, Season Two'
--------------------------
Saturday, 16 July-
We re-installed the toilet and installed the new bathroom vanity today. I had cut off the water pipes leading into the bathroom because of the old-style copper-to-chrome transitions so needed to extend the water pipes up through the floor using short lengths of copper and compression fittings. While I worked on that Labashi disassembled and cleaned the light fixture above the medicine cabinet and gave the cabinet a very thorough cleaning.
We then set the vanity in place and I leveled it and bolted it down, then added the sink/top. We had hoped to turn water on today but I wasn't quite ready by the end of the day.
We watched more 'Treme', Season One that evening.
--------------------------
Friday, 15 July -
Today we worked on the bathroom floor in House 2. Last week I had cut OSB subfloor sections to fit the floor's odd shape and today used them as a pattern to cut lauan plywood as underlayment for the sheet-vinyl flooring material. We used the lauan pattern to cut the sheet-vinyl. I then screwed down the OSB and stapled down the lauan. We then final-fit the vinyl and glued it down.
I made the mistake of using the wrong trowel-notch size so we had an excessive amount of adhesive pushed out around the edges. It was just a bit messy to clean up and then make a final clean-up pass with Goof-Off solvent. Lookin' good!
That evening we watched two episodes of 'Treme'- Season One in our TV room (lawn chairs in front of the laptop balanced on an paint bucket).
-------------------------
Thursday, 14 July -
This morning my task was to drink a gallon and a half of water and a pint of less-than-pleasant oral contrast solution to prep for my now-yearly CT scan of my kidneys. I had the first pint of contrast last night and then had an intravenous injection of another contrast while on the scanner table. Scans were done before and after the IV contrast. All this to get the best look possible at a growth and (hopefully) confirm that it has not grown significantly.
On the way home I decided to get Mocha Joe washed for our trip to Chambersburg later today. But as I soaped up the left-front wheel, I heard a hissing sound and saw steam. The wheel and aluminum hubcap were very hot. After finishing the wash job I took the van home and jacked up the left-front end and tried turning the wheel. It would only turn a short distance; there's definitely something wrong.
I took it up to the garage and found them very busy and unable to get to the van until early next week. Labashi and I thought it over a bit and decided we could still go to Chambersburg but we'll have to sleep in the house. So of course we had to take air mattresses and a whole car-load of 'stuff'.
On the way to C-burg we stopped at Gettysburg for Labashi to try some shoes she had found on the web (the company has an outlet store in Gettysburg).
We made it to Chambersburg around supper time so hit the Fuddrucker's for a burger before going on to the house and setting up our bedroom for the next few days.
We then watched two episodes of 'Treme' DVD on the laptop, sitting on folding camp chairs. Ah, the joys of the mobile life!
-------------------------
Wednesday, 13 July -
Today I continued looking through various online forums related to travel in southern Africa. Some contain trip reports, crime reports, reports of animal attacks (or rumors thereof) and they make compelling reading for us.
I've just finished reading 'The Lost World of the Kalahari', a late-Fifties account of a search for 'authentic' Bushmen, now known as the San. This one pulled no punches in explaining the sorry history of white interactions with the San. And I particularly enjoyed the detailed explanations of the preparations for, and journey into, the wilds of Botswana (then Bechuwanaland) in the search of remnants of the San people living in the traditional ways.
Late in the morning I realized I had better mow the lawn since we'll be gone for a few days. I used Labashi's self-powered mower and it worked very well. I was able to mow all in one go of a little over two hours. And so I don't need my walk today!
While Labashi drove up to see how the parental units are doing today, I recovered from my mowing by reading through online accounts of camping in lion and hyena country. I also browsed through websites of various private and public campgrounds to get a sense of price and facilities. One problem I hadn't thought about until now was the problem of noise from other campers. I had envisioned us camping alone most of the time but we'll be in the tail end of the high season there so I need to expect some minor problems.
That evening we watched two more episodes of 'Shaka Zulu', the 1986 mini-series.
****** END OF POST **********
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 19:22
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