Another early up and out morning happened again, and mostly because I wanted to get some office work completed before it started getting hot, because I knew my day would be very much filled with manual labor out of doors.
I”d started a window washing job several days ago, and because they’d not been washed for a very long time, I discovered they not only hadn’t been washed in decades, but also having been painted shut, so yours truly not only had the job of washing, but also getting the stops removed so I could get the bottom sashes out, which enabled me to finally get at their combination storms.
Minutes quickly turned into hours, and after getting the first one completely taken apart, cleaned, and then reinstalled, along with nailing the stops back in place, I knew I’d created a very long and tedious project.
Just for everyone’s information, the longer windows go unwashed, the more caked on dirt becomes to where it’s an exercise in futility to get them cleaned on their “exterior facing” sides. After several attempts with muriatic acid, and then vinegar, I finally resigned myself to wearing out at least five single-edged razor blades, which I used to scrape off the dirt build-ups on those panes.
I’ve never had a problem washing windows in the past, but those nasty things were a work-out. I don’t even want to think how many hours I spent cleaning ten windows, but in reality I washed a grand total of 40, because there were the top and bottom sashes of the inside windows, and then the top and bottom sashes of the combination storms. Now that I actually counted them in my mind, I don’t feel much of a failure due to the number of hours I spent.
After that nasty work-out was completed, I stood back and noticed a few spots I’d missed with those razor blades, but I just shook my head and said to myself, “I ain’t going back because they look 100% better than they did.”
What really gets me, is how few if any people wash their windows on a regular basis, which completely blows my mind when knowing how all the many now have tilt-in thermal units which don’t require getting on ladders to wash the outside of the inside sashes.
Whenever listing a home, I highly recommend sellers to wash all their shiny surfaces, and especially their windows. Some listen, but most don’t, which in my estimation, creates a longer listing period and a lesser sales price. Believe it or not, some of the most unkempt buyers, still gravitate to clean and maintenance free homes. I guess it must be the mentality of, “I’ll live in my sty, but I’m not moving into someone else’s.”
I’ve also noticed how some buyers who have animals which they don’t take very good care of, bristle when looking at homes where there’s been a dog or cat. I still can’t get that figured out, but again it could be the going back to that similar mentality of “I’ll live in my own, but…”
In spite of my not wanting to do it, I had to force myself to get some much-needed mowing done because I certainly won’t have the time these coming days. It was a scorcher our there for me, and mostly my fault for not getting at it earlier. It’s a good thing I had plenty of bottled water because I was soaking wet by the time I finished. But, it had to be done come heck or high water.
When noticing yards of neighbors, it was again confirmed how far more particular I am about keeping the grass clipped before it grows so tall that it leaves windrows of grass after mowing. I know everyone’s back to work, but please, why can’t the occupants of so many of those homes be more conscientious about the appearance of their lawns.
Just today I had a nice visit with the owner of a home who takes exceptional pride in the way her home presents itself. I couldn’t have complimented her more on how her homestead looks, until finally her husband exclaimed, “Don’t encourage her!” I had to laugh when sharing the mentality of my grandfather and great-grandfather who were so fussy about their dooryards, that it was said, “You couldn’t even find a crosswise straw lying out there.” His wife then laughed and said to her husband, “See! I’m not the only one who’s crazy about the exterior appearance of our home.” Too funny!
I was a little late this morning at getting my spiritual renewal session taken care of, and likely because I was so caught up with getting those much-needed chores done to where I almost forgot all about it. In spite of being late, it was still all good, and once again, thankful I finally got back into the groove of it all when this coronavirus appeared.
With these China-virus cases on the rise in our County, as well as some areas of the USA, I won’t be surprised if there’ll be some closures of non-essential businesses again. When recently visiting with a medical professional, I insisted that our new cases are likely coming from all those summer residents over at Clear Lake. I do sell homes over there from time to time, but certainly glad that’s not my bread and butter market.
While out with my camera several days ago, I happened to notice an apple tree which was loaded with its green fruit. I’ve always been a fan of apples, and when looking at the above photo, it brought to mind, “An apple a day keeps the doctor at bay.”
Tonight’s one-liner is: What we see, depends mainly on what we’re looking for.
