Friday, not as planned

Peaceful scene early this morning 

The day was supposed to go like: breakfast of seedy bread and strawberries, shower, postcards, knitting, lunch, Friday Knitting Group, and so on, on-line meeting in the evening.

This didn't quite happen. In fact I was still in robe and jimjams when there was a ring at the door, large man with clipboard, contractor truck behind him. Hugh, his name was, ready to clear out and put a new grill over the stove duct at the street side.

This is a long running problem all over the development, everyone's stove exhaust duct being a perfect size for nesting, birds and squirrel love them. Warm from the stove indoors,  dry and cosy for their families.

But they get hopelessly clogged with nesting debris, these tenants being terrible housekeepers. This renders the stove exhaust inoperable, aside from being a diabolical liberty.

Gary has been going to clear it for, um, quite a while, allowing for the baby birds to fledge and take off, then forgetting. So I put in a work order and to my amazement, Hugh showed up. 

I never got my shower, in fact ended up outside, still in robe,  explaining the situation to Hugh, then having to keep running indoors,  switching on and off the stove fan while he diagnosed the issue. 

Then Gary came over, many serious consultations about manly tools. Then after Hugh found he didn't have the tools necessary to complete the job, Gary said fine, hold everything.

I was in charge of getting the info about the tool, and listening to Hugh's life story, while Gary showered and dashed off to shop, returning with the tool, now stored in my outside storage area, for neighborhood use.

Eventually the whole thing was done, the entire L shaped duct exposed from inside, Gary dashing off for drop cloths to throw over the stove while I moved the stuff on the counter.

I now have a good understanding of the mechanism of the duct, the best maintenance practice, the nasty bully Hugh had to deal with at work, the board asking him why he's doing the job he's paid for, and how nice Hugh's wife is, lovely to go home to.  I know where he lives, also where the, now fired, bully lives, and Hugh's theory that he's a big kid preferring negative attention to no attention. 

All in all, after Hugh, the site manager, who showed up to look at doors, why not, everyone else was there, including interested neighbors, finally departed, it was late afternoon and no postcards nor knitting group had happened. Nor shower, now scheduled for this evening, unless something else crops up. I had to collect and return the things Gary had forgotten, his jacket, drop cloth, various tools, usual post operative task 

Never a dull moment. It wasn't as planned, but it was certainly interesting, the most testosterone filled day.  Everyone went away happy. 

I have, aside from becoming a hearing aid evangelist, become an expert diagnostician. Hugh needs hearing aids. Bellowing speech, though very friendly, close attention to speakers' faces, inability to grasp what's said out of sight.  I'd be glad to set him up in my amateur practice..

Now I hope my online meeting goes without unplanned events.

Good word from e, whose comments you see in here, safe after the hurricane, power restored. Other friends too managed to dodge it. Still waiting to hear, as of Friday evening,  about Mary Moon, though. Vibes galore there.

Happy day everyone, stay ready for irruptions of all kinds!

History made, twice

 Yesterday was a great day for history and finally something right happening. I shed a few happy tears. Just look

And, coming all the way down to the everyday of my little corner, the stove or whatever it's called, is still working, no knowing how long for. 

Yesterday the repair people called with information about the two parts needed for an actual repair. It's not fixed, just a temp bandaid.  It can go out any time without the new parts. 

Proposed cost almost $500, parts and labor. I asked them to leave this with me for now. Translation: WHAT?  I'm wondering, since that's almost the cost of a new stove, if I should be thinking about that instead. Always something.

So I plan to keep limping this one along as long as I can, while I consider my options.  Sigh. Suggestions gratefully received.

Meanwhile back at the Library of Congress, I've been trying to get Josie George's  A Still Life for ages, library couldn't buy it, not available to their vendors, tried for interlibrary loan, not available on any ILL other than a copy I can borrow from the Library of Congress. But there are strings. 

I can't remove it from the branch library. Have to borrow, read immediately, and hand back. This is a thoughtful book for slow reading and thinking, so it's impossible to comply. Libraries are still discouraging long visits. 

I asked them to cancel. I may need to end up buying it, which is not exactly my plan, but might become the plan. File this under We Tried.

And the famous purple socks are done, pressed and ready to go with the others, for this month's parcel.

Misfits box expected this afternoon. I hope they don't request I eat the contents immediately and hand back the box, is all.

Happy day! 

Rain, baking spree, Sock Ministry

So I have good things to report about the happy reunion with a working oven. The repair people had undertaken to call between 8 and 9 with an ETA of the repairman. On the stroke of 8 they called. Expect him between 9 and 11. Bang on 10 he's there.  And they don't say stove or oven. They say range. As in home on the, I suppose.

Anyway, technician Larry pulled out the stove, did a hard reset, panel came to life. 

I could have done it but I can't pull out the stove and I wouldn't ask Gary, just too stressful for his aging back, and he's done enough. The techie did explain once the panel's gone out, it will do it again, so he's checking into getting a new panel unit. 

I notice the oven is now heating up about twice as fast as it had been lately. Probably a sign it was about to strike. 

Techie Larry told me the alternate way to do the reset, if it gives out in the meantime, is to turn it off at the breaker, leave it about an hour, try again.  

I had tried, unsuccessfully, to find the breaker on the circuit panel, which is badly labeled, when the oven first broke down.  I'll need a co-conspirator to let me know from indoors, the panel being in the storage closet outside the front door. One person outside switches, one  person inside shouts the results. So that's the interim plan.

So I paid a service visit charge, with geezer, I mean senior, discount. Could be worse.

And since I don't know how long it will hold up, got into a baking frenzy, just in case.

Raisin hot biscuits. I was almost out of olive oil so used homemade butter as well, very good results.

Giant loaf, making four smaller ones, once cut on those scorelines. Short of flour, too, used the last of the wholewheat, plus the last of the oatmeal, plus some gluten free flour which I don't need personally, but it was all I could get at the time. It's good considering all the substitutions.

The endless rain is also good, for the knitting output. Today I'll finish the Popular Purple Socks. Note they're posed on a hand dyed yellow cloth, opposite on the color wheel, very tricky stuff.

Tomorrow I'll send out a pack of four pairs. It's about a pair a week, I estimate. 

I don't feel pressed, though. I just do a couple of inches when I sit down, and soon there's a sock. Much faster than scarves or kitty blankets. It's calming work, particularly knowing that,  sitting alone in my house,  I'm still linked up with the other members of the knitting ministry.  

In another post I'll tell you about the kitty blanket caper. That was a different form of ministry.

Meanwhile breakfast in bed. Toasted hot biscuit, tea.

Praying for Ukraine and for the swift prosecution of the war criminals of Putin's army.

Textiles and Tea, stove repair prep

Aftereffects of the booster seem to be fading now,  happy to report. About a day's worth of bouts of shivering chills and feeling like flu, alternating with feeling just fine. I did get things done in the feeling well intervals.

One involved sorting the stove ready for today's repairman. I took out the heavy cast iron pans from the storage drawer, then took out the drawer, dislodging a spider or two, and swept under it.  

I expect he will have to pull out the stove from the wall and this will save time from what will probably be an expensive repair.  In about fifteen years it's the second repair, so I guess that's not so bad. I'd like to keep it going. 

Yesterday's Textiles and Tea, with Robyn Spady,  was very entertaining, a speaker properly set up, very audible, engaging, clearly used to an audience. 

The slight drawback to a non loom weaver was that her technical discussion of complex weave forms and patterns was baffling. It was one of the times it would have been nice to have Joanne here to explain.

But I still enjoyed the designs she showed, and there are books and an online magazine for weavers who want to know more. 

From her comments about teaching, I think she's a great teacher, concerned with putting herself in the place of the student, rather than excitedly talking about what engrosses her. 

Looking forward to having a working stove again here, happy day everyone!

A day of observances

 Those of us old enough to remember the long, brave fight of the  California farmworkers  to get a fair deal with the grape growers, culminating in la Huelga, a long desperate strike, resulting in a contract with the now recognized United Farmworkers Union , know and honor Cesar Chavez. There are gatherings to honor him today, on what would be his birthday, particularly in his home state of California.

Here's the bust of Chavez that Biden put in the oval office almost as soon as he got there.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, honored him. Kamala Harris, Vice President, honored him.

Dem Governor Newsom has refused to meet with the Farmworkers today to  honor  Chavez.  Long history of conflict. Wrong side of history.

Moving to other brave and besieged people, today is Trans Visibility Day. 

We need to honor and protect transgender people, and help support their right to be who they are, to live their lives.

Meanwhile ordinary life trundles on. The fencers were at work tearing down fences today. Here's the current view.

And another unwelcome view. 

The control panel on my stove up and quit. No oven functions, no clock, timer, just burners working.  Suddenly. 

So I pawed through my files for information about the stove, such as where to find the model number,  and searched for the people who repaired it last time.

To my amazement, I found their bill from 2012. I had asked the neighbor who put me onto them did she remember the name and number. Then I found them, and she said she had no idea, could I now tell her! 

So they played loud music while they searched to check if the parts were still made and in stock. They seem to be, because next Wednesday they're coming to fix it. At least that's the plan.

Knitting required now.  Handsome Son spent part of the afternoon here eating chocolate cake and being calm about my exciting week. He collected his bp monitor which I don't need for now. All being well.

Tomorrow is Misfits box and knitting group. All being well.

Stove Capers

 If you're cooking and baking a lot as I seem to be, the stove starts showing it. And if you haven't let your lovely cleaning family in since March, it looks a bit pathetic. 

So I improved the shining hour and the top has emerged looking much better.  The stove door glass, after ammonia, fans, open windows, soaking, scraping, wiping, cursing, sighing, yielded to force majeure and now you can see through it.

Which reveals a little problem, namely spider webs.

 These are a constant in this climate so it's not surprising. There's a narrow gap at the bottom of the door, through which they moved in.

 You can't actually get into the inside because it's so close to the floor you can't insert anything to clean with. I've tried wire with cloth attached, small bottle brush, and everything meets the same problem. Physics.

So I thought, maybe I even have to take off the door and insert something like a yardstick or something, with a rag firmly attached, and wave it about? 

Bothering my silly little head, no doubt there's a Better, a Manly Way to do this. Aside from the fact that I would need a burly man to lift this heavy door off its hinges without dropping it. 

YouTube. Official instructions. First this is a two person job. Remove the door. Okay, I unearthed the manual, I know how.

And then, here comes the Manly Official Way to clean inside the door of a high end appliance. See the yardstick, cloth attached, being waved about?

Does this strike anyone as a major design fail? Someone who had never cleaned an oven "designed" this.  This is the best they can do? 

If I had a burly man in residence this might be what he gets to do this afternoon. I bet he's glad he doesn't live here.