Oldfartitis Moves In For the Kill

Today, I was all set to help Dianna hang some Roman shades she had purchased online. They were going to go above the 12-foot expanse of glass we have in the living room/kitchen of the guesthouse. I originally was going to use a chalk-line to lay out the horizontal so that all three blinds would be level, but thought, no, I'll use my handy-dandy laser level that I've had for years and have used up to this point - once.

Attempting to fire it up, I found the batteries dead. I dug into our battery box and found the two brand new AAA batteries I had stored for just such an event. Lo, to my chagrin, the new (still in their poly wrapper) batteries were corroded and leaking. Hmph! So, a road trip was mandated to replenish the battery supply. It takes two of the little buggers to power up the laser level.

I zoomed off, dogless for once. The doggies, apparently were all pooped out from a night of barking at everything and anything and didn't demand to be taken for a ride.

I stopped at the pharmacy to pick up some cotton swabs (alright, Q-tips. I was trying to avoid naming names here). Next stop was D's Supermarket as they're about the only place in Corozal that consistently sells genuine Coppertop batteries, instead of the Chinese knockoffs. But, since I was there, I took advantage of the situation to load up on some necessaries - Snickers candy bars (4), a couple bags of potato chips, a couple packs of cookies (for morning coffee), and some other stuff equally needed.

I got up to the counter and proudly announced to Elisea, the checker, that I was buying only junk food this time. I think I did that so that she wouldn't think that was all we existed on.

Anyway, as she started to unload my basket, she asked me if I had been in Monday or Tuesday? Not your usual checkout question. I said I think it was Monday as she grinning from ear to ear, opened a drawer and pulled out a pack of coffeemaker filters and handed them to me.
"Aha!" I said. "I wondered where those got to. I am down to two or three filters and was going to ask Dianna where she secreted the new ones away." I tossed the pack into the bag. and started to get some money ready to pay for this load of nutritious goodies.

Next thing I know, Elisea is handing me a Sam's Club membership card she'd pulled from the register drawer. "Odd." I thought. Till I flipped it over and saw my picture staring back at me and my name, complete with misspelled middle name. How'd she get that?

Elisea told me she'd had it in the register for a while now. I thanked her for saving it and the filters for me.

After settling up, I stepped back from the counter and said "I just want to make sure I'm not dropping anything else." I thanked her once again, took my bags of goodies and departed.

Talk about something that makes you feel old... Lucky I didn't forget my belt. I'd probably have lost my pants too... Oh, that's right. I don't wear a belt. Whew! Still got my shorts on.

So, anyway, I made it back to Casa Winjama without losing anything else (that I know of). Talk about something happening that makes you feel your age and then some, but two of them back to back? What's next?

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As you might guess, it seems a lot has been happening with the guesthouse lately. For starters, we finally got the stove hooked up and into its proper position.

Guesthouse Stove In Place

No butane yet, but the stove's ready to go. Looks nice there too.

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Dianna's had a project going for several days now too. She's putting small glass tiles on the tops of the nightstands for the guesthouse. Here they are, with the tile already glued on (We used a glue similar to Liquid Nails as the adhesive), ready to be grouted.

Tile Topped Night Stands

Never known for being neat and tidy while working on a project, whether it's artwork or remodeling, Dianna tends to get fully involved, if you know what I mean. Thus, grouting the nightstands is right up her alley. I think she had more grout on her than on the tile. But, she had fun and the project turned out looking outstanding in the end.

Dianna Grouting Nightstands

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I finally got my new wireless, solar-powered weather station up and functioning... somewhat. Now, all I have to do is figure out the pseudo-English instructions to set up the base unit which has a USB port so I'll be able to download the weather information to my laptop and track historical trends and all that cool sort of stuff.

Weather Station

Course, I could just look out the window and see what the weather is, but that wouldn't be near as much fun, nor as involved either.

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The great locust invasion of 2010 thankfully turned out to be more of a curiosity than a plague. We're still finding the critters every now and then. Yesterday, I found this guy on our screen door for the guesthouse.  Even though the threat appears to be minimal, we take no prisoners. He went to the great swarm in the sky.

Invader Locust

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Yesterday, Ruth from Bessa Decor, along with a couple of workers and her young son, Raymond showed up about 2:15 PM, to install our medicine cabinet and bathroom storage cabinet.

Dianna was finishing up buffing the grout off the tile, so Ruth and Raymond took the opportunity to check out the project.

Ruth and Raymond Admiring Dianna's Tile Job

Installing the Medicine Cabinet

Installing the Storage Cabinet & Doors

As luck would have it, the storage cabinet doors wouldn't adjust right and the medicine cabinet didn't have an adjustable bottom shelf. So, in the end, it was off with the doors and the medicine cabinet and back to the shop. They also took one of the kitchen cabinets that missed getting a final coat of white paint first time around.

Since they left around 6:30 PM, we didn't expect to see anyone from Bessa Decor till at least Tuesday (after the Pan America Day holiday on Monday). More likely would have been Wednesday.

Lo and behold, about 10:30 AM, this morning, here's Ruth and a worker back, installed everything and away they went by 11:45 AM. It all looks gorgeous.

Bathroom Storage Cabinet

The Storage cabinet is tall enough that we'll both need a step-ladder to reach the upper shelves, but that's ok. That's where the stuff that isn't needed often goes. TP goes on the bottom shelf.

Medicine Cabinet

The medicine cabinet now has an adjustable bottom shelf and the doors fit great on both units. Also, the kitchen cabinet door now has a proper coat of white paint. Hey, all's well that ends well.

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This morning, just before Ruth and company showed up, I was busy hanging our new Roman shades. Well, really, I had managed to hang all the brackets for them and had just finished hanging one of the three blinds (two three-footers and one six-footer). That was as far as I managed to get as Ruth showed up. They needed the ladder to hang the cabinet and doors, so that ended my work.

Dave Hanging Roman Shades

And, besides, after they left, it was lunch time, then it would be pool-time and since it has warmed up considerably, that was a must do.

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Since I was having such a time figuring out the instructions for the weather base station, I enlisted the help of Miss Blue. Here she is hard at work figuring out the system for me.

Miss Blue and the Base Station

That's it till next time... unless I forgot something.