My plans to work outside today have been derailed by high winds.
Hopefully, all the leaves in the yard haven’t been blown away, because I was planning to use them as mulch!
Stuff did get done, though.
But first, the cuteness!
The kibble I picked up yesterday is a different brand from what I’d picked up at the beginning of the month. The pieces are quite a bit smaller. When I set them to soak, it was absolute mush by the time I headed out to feed the kitties.
They didn’t seem to care one whit! They are just loving their warm breakfasts!
Once back inside, my first priority was to see if the leftover pieces of wood lath could be used as spacers in the cutaway portion of the wall around the tub. I was afraid they would be too thick, but they turned out to be the same width as the fake tile paneling. They were too thick for some places that already had spacers of a sort in them. We’ll just have to work around that.
My main focus was around the pipes, and the outer edges. There were also a few nails that simply would not come out, nor could they be hammered in, along the back wall, and I wanted to make sure there were spacers in between them. The areas you can see in the photo above with no spacers added are where there are already spacers of various sizes.
After that was done, my daughter grabbed the tube of mold and mildew resistant sealant. Unfortunately, when she started to apply it with the tip of the tube, the back end of the tub popped open! So she ended up squeezing the sealant out the back and using her finger to scoop it and spread it. If you click through to the second image, you can see part of where she used it. She sealed the cut edges of the openings around the pipes, and every corner and edge around the cut out portion.
She used most of the tub, but there was still a bit left. Since the tub was broken, it wouldn’t last and we didn’t want it to go to waste. I was able to use the last of it for what I’d bought it for in the first place; this stuff is both sealant and adhesive, and I used it along the edge of the overlapping roof panels on the cat isolation shelter.
Unfortunately, there is just no way to clamp it down. I put weights on, but some places still just did not want to stay together. We will just pick up another tube – this stuff is very inexpensive – and go over it again later. The catio roof needs to be seals, too.
Working on that roof was somewhat alarming, though. I’m glad the entire structure is as heavy as it is! It’s in a sheltered area, but not from the south winds we have today. The south facing edge of the roof panel was being rattled by the wind quite a lot.
Thankfully, we screwed the roof panels down quite securely. It could still potentially get blown off, but it’s not that bad, yet. We will need to keep an eye on it, though, because the wind could loosen, if not tear off, some of the screws.
Speaking of which, I was curious about what is officially considered “high winds” so I looked it up.
Did you know there is a wind scale, like there is an earthquake scale? It’s call the Beaufort wind scale.
According to the weather app, we’re getting 30kph winds. On the Beautfort scale, that is a “fresh breeze”, when “Small trees with leaves begin to sway.”
Yeah, I’m calling BS on that. Based on what I was seeing when I was outside, we are somewhere between a 6 and a 7 on their chart – a “strong breeze” or “near gale”, with the occasional “gale” gust strong enough to take down branches. I’m finding small branches all over the place, these days.
Anyhow… where was I?
Ah, yes. Sealant.
The sealant needs a full 36 hours to dure. After that, everything will get one last coat of paint.
Once that is dry, we can try and figure out exactly where we need to cut holes into the tub surround to fit over the plumbing.
So we’re looking at a couple more days before we can start installing the tub surround.
Since there is nothing more we can do in the bathroom for now, and it’s too windy to work in the garden outside, my daughter and I really pushed to get as many dishes done as we could. Without hot water, we’ve been mostly just using the kettle for hot water, which doesn’t go very far when it comes to doing dishes. This time, we filled up our stock pots (not the giant one; that would be too heavy for our glass top stove) to heat, then kept refilling and heating more. We were finally able to get those odd items that gets set to one side as we do loads of things we use the most often that somehow never get done.
My older daughter, who was working all night on commissions, sent me some funds for take out, so as the last of the dishes were being done, I headed into town to pick that up. We’ve had more take out in this month than we’ve had in years!
When I opened the garage door for the truck, I saw something curious on the tailgate.
Tiny little hand prints in the dust, from something that was climbing up to the box cover.
Those are not kitty paw prints, that’s for sure. Those are tiny little racoon hand prints!
What I don’t know is, why would racoons be climbing the truck? The box is empty, and there isn’t even food garbage anywhere in the truck or garage.
As long as they don’t damage anything…
Anyhow…
The sealant in the bathroom needs dry conditions as it cures, so no one is going to be heating up stock pots of water and use the tub for washing. Back to sponge bathing in the sink!
With getting as many dishes done as we were able to, though, I was able to set up the slow cooker with just water in it. That can be left without someone continually there to keep an eye on it, and we’ll have a larger amount of hot water handy for general washing and can just top it up as needed. Much better than our poor, over worked kettle! Our kettle is clear glass, and we can see just how quickly the rust and scale builds up! My older daughter gave it a good scrubbing last night.
Well, we might not be able to get more done in the bathroom until the sealant cures, not work done outside, so I guess this is a good day to collect the ripened tomatoes and peppers in the living room and see if there is enough to process for the winter!
Time to get back to it, then!
The Re-Farmer
The Re-Farmer 