short for renovation

the house reno. actually just the living room reno.

i actually thought it might take only ten days or so. it seems to have taken two and a half months or so... it seems that at every step i decided to make things harder, or that they just were harder. really looking back it took about six days in total, all added up, just to do the painting. Re-finishing the floors took about six days, from peeling up the carpet and lino and plywood, patching the problem area in the fir floor, sanding, and three stinky coats of polyurathane.

i could list other acounts of the days, but you get the idea. that and some days i was kinda lazy and didn't get much of anything done.

here are a couple pix. one is pretty much the floor with the last of all the tools. the other is a detail of the window trim, which i rebuilt to be much more like what the original must have been like in 1913 when the house was built.

all these things.

a bunch of things going on in my head...

the reno: refinishing the floors. the old Fir floors that we found under so much history. history like old nasty wall-to-wall carpet, underlay, plywood, and ugly lino tiles from the 50's. the reno is interesting, kinda fun (?) and a distraction from other things...

the Cat: did i tell ya? one of my cats got a bit broken, about 6 weeks ago? pretty traunatic for him and me too. i've been caring for him all this time... and working on the house a bit. he's doing better, slowly. and he's a very expensive cat now. i do love him, but it's been a long difficult time.
i have 2 cats, one is Munnin, and the other is Magni. he's the one that got hurt, mostly a broken jaw. they are two black beasties, brothers, and good company. i think they are here to help me learn compassion, especially with this recovering beast.

the train wreck: well, it's been on my mind a bit, not too much. it sure doesn't use up much of my emotional resources these days; it's just fading into the past. sort of. i sure do need to deal with it soon, just to make things run a bit smoother in social circles, where such things can over-lap. and clearing things up, emotionally, is always a good idea. i guess. the person this all happened with has been away a lot, but i think she gets back again this weekend, and i'm going to make an effort to get in touch and start talking.

the Cub: the thing that is most on my thoughts... the guy that is most on my thoughts. the Cub. he is the guy that i have stong feelings for, and things have been hard to figure out, and a bit rough. a few days ago now, finally, things have started to feel like they are coming together somewhat. this is very cool... also i need to think about it a lot, give our friendship a lot of care, and attention, and respect.
i have known this guy for almost a year, and quite a lot has happened, a lot of it internal... in my thoughts and emotions. as a way to reflect on this, and recall events, and record them for later i suppose, i have started today to write what might be called a journal with a focus on this guy and all that has evolved with us.
writing might be a better pastime, in some ways, than maybe watching tv is.

* if you are wondering what "Cub" means in this context, here is a link.