Wednesday, August 24, 2016

I don't have problems

In any adventure, things are going to go wrong. Heck, that's a big part of what makes it an adventure.

I don't want to get all math on you, but remember...

Adventure = Discomfort.

You can be out in a strange place seeing amazing things, but if you are doing so from a safe, secure, and comfortable place, you are on vacation, not an adventure.

So, when adventure inevitably happens, it's important to stay positive. Some people call these events challenges, some call them opportunities.  I don't like those. You can fail to meet a challenge and it's easy to let opportunity pass you by.  I don't have problems, certainly. Problems can grow too big to handle and defeat you. Nope, I don't have problems.

I have details I haven't figured out yet.

That's all they are. Something happens and we have to work through it. I find it easier to handle if I think of it that way.  It simplifies things.  In order to make progress, all I have to do it figure out the details of how to do whatever is in front of me at that moment.

House flooded?  What are the details? How do we stop the water? How much area is affected? Is there standing water? Is electricity an issue?  Details.

We found termites rotting the floor joists. How far back does it go? Do we have to remove flooring? How much? Are there cabinets or walls above it? What about plumbing? Details.

Hungry for lunch? What is available? Should we go out or eat in? Is the kitchen currently flooded? Details.

If there are a whole lot of projects, try to figure out which ones to do first and get after it. The details will crop up and get dealt with. And, while you are dealing with the details of a project, try to focus on that one project. You can have a thousand projects, but only the one in front of you matters while you are working on it.

Let's take a look at some details.

Work progresses incrementally and persistently





We've made the turn around the corner to the final side of the house.
 Now, let's take a look at one of those details that just gets right up and irritates the crap out of me.


Many, many, curse words.
 I imagine the guys installing these windows at the factory with some super-flexible, way-too powerful super drill. Sometimes I imagine they are having a contest to see who can put the screw in at the most impossible angle. Sometimes I imagine them hurriedly driving the screws in so far they puncture the vinyl because it is nearly quitting time or lunch time and they are just done giving a crap. Mostly I imagine setting lit bags of dog poo on their porches before I ring the bell and run away or covering their cars in saran wrap. Bastages.

Not a problem. 


Sometimes, they are such an odd angle or screwed in so deeply, I have to get our a ratchet and a socket to back them out enough for the drill to catch. Sometimes, I have to cut the vinyl and pull the screw out when the window is removed.

Minor detail.

When the weather got too hot to work outside, I went back to the bathroom. Nope, no problems there.

Yes, that is actually a bathroom.

Lots of details still to be worked out.
I ripped up the rest of the rotten sub floor and started adding bracing so I would have a surface to screw the new sub floor down.




But then it was back outside to rip off more siding.

This is not how insulation is supposed to be installed. Details.

The black stuff in this picture concerned me, so I had to take a closer look.
Generations of dessicated insect corpses left by spiders.
 That spider must be huge.

Okay, that might be a problem.