Handyman Special
Renovating that old house on Market Street

November 24

Last sunday was a busy workday. The transfer station is open 8:30 - 11:00 and that's the window of opportunity for getting rid of the all the debris. One option would be to pay a carting company for use of a dumpster but here in Lyme, my property taxes pay for the dump and it accepts everything outside of hazardous waste. The carting company was looking for $500 plus rental of the dumpster and all kinds of restrictions on what I could put in it. All I need is a means to get the debris to the dump. Our neighbors have offered to lend me their pickup truck, and I'll take them up on the offer, but the reality is I need my own utility vehicle for this project. This day I loaded up the Volvo twice to get a small start on a big job that will start in earnest next week.

After the dump I went to check out an old Ford F150 4x4 pickup truck that was advertised for $1000 in the paper. My hopes were high but it turned out that the floor was rusted through and the windshield was cracked. At minimum the truck will need to pass the state safety inspection. No new-old truck yet.

There is, of course, a big downside to taking on an old vehicle. The time, energy, and dinero (TED) required to keep it running. The next chore on sunday was to work on the old Volvo, my de facto carting vehicle and regular backup ride.

The Volvo (a pestering distraction)- I traded the classic Mercedes for this vehicle because the merc wouldn't pass inspection without a serious investment. What we needed was a regular runner with an automatic transmission. Cybele is learning how to drive and the stick shift on the beemer was slowing the process.

Well turning the Volvo into a regular runner hasn't gone all that smoothly. It needed a variety of repairs including new front right headlight and parking light, new brakes in the rear and new taillight circuit boards. The interior needed a new center console and a radio. Some of these things I was able to pick up at the salvage yard. All this set me back some TED over the past couple months. Sunday I discovered that the louvers that control the defroster/heater weren't working. I spent part of the day ripping out the dashboard to figure out that the louvers are controlled by the vacuum system and a split vacuum hose in the engine compartment was keeping them from working. By the time I had fixed that, it was time for lunch.

After lunch I headed over to Chez Melendy to continue demolition work on the upstairs. So far I've been pulling out old wallboard but this evening I got into some old plaster walls that lined the closet. Tearing out plaster is, in a word, dusty. However, I'm pretty well protected by my disposable coveralls and fine particulate respirator (I look like I'm working on a superfund site).

While demolishing the smaller upstairs bedroom I discovered a little secret hiding place. Not sure what this could of been intended for, maybe a heating register that never got installed. I looked pretty hard for the bag of money but haven't come up with one yet. Even a forgotten nickel bag would've been fine.

I was also pulling some crumbling plaster off of the chimney and that fed my anxieties later as I woke up from a nightmare where I was chipping away at the chimney and the whole thing started to collapse. I kept trying to replace the bricks but they kept falling and turning to dust in my hands. Arrrrgh! On the way to work this morning I glanced over at Chez Melendy to make sure the chimney was still poking up through the middle. Whew!

A few "treasures" I've found in the wall include a medicine bottle (with Merck stamped in to the cap -- still medicating after all these years), a cardboard box labeled "Cordella Linens" that served as a mouse nest, a protractor, and a tin box that held absolutely zero gold doubloons.

Now the road to grandmother's house is calling. We'll take a little break from the dust and debris for thanksgiving turkey and stuffing. Hopefully next year Chez Melendy will be filled with the smells of holiday cooking.

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Love,

James, Cybele, Ramon

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