Saturday, April 24, 2021

Saturday

I guess it's just a time for some tears. All day yesterday, whenever I thought of our friend's son passing, I'd tear up. I tried to mostly stay off my computer and facebook yesterday. Then this morning I get on to read my favorite blogs and see one has just lost her son. And my heart breaks now for her, too.

We picked up some potting soil while at the lumber store yesterday. Today we will plant the little flowering shrub I bought in memory of our dog. I think we are going to mix his ashes in with the dirt to plant it. I may keep a little out, if I decide to send away and have something made with it. There is neat glass art done with ashes.

I see my mom got an email about 2 weeks ago from someone, with some pictures. She replied back a short email. But, she left the email in her inbox. Several days later she replied to him again, basically saying same. I left it in her inbox, thinking maybe she was keeping it because of the pictures, but then see this morning she replied again, not remembering she has already replied twice. So, I just moved it to her trash folder. 

Today I'm going to finish staining the bridge boards, as we bought another gallon of stain yesterday. DH may mow part of the lawn if the weather holds. Parts of it are very green and long now and in need. He's also going to start figuring out how to install the gate opener.

Short and sweet post this morning. It feels like Sunday, since I had yesterday off.

6 comments:

  1. Too many blo friends have experienced loss and health crisis. I hope they feel supported.

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    1. I hope so, too. We all need support wherever we can find it.

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  2. Sorry you are sad. But....you may find a perverse glee in the following story. As you know we are building another house on our other 5 acres (time is right due to market.) Well, as of Jan. 1, this county has changed building code to require energy credits, of which we need 6. In order to get to 6 in the most cost efficient way, contractor suggested solar panels. Our neighbor has them, and, after discussing with him, DH and I agreed it was a good idea. Contractor has never done this before, so it's new to him too, and he contacted a highly rated supplier. Bear in mind, we have to have the plan for the panels (vendor, location, etc.) in place BEFORE we can apply for the building permit.
    Here's the fun part:
    Our house is designed in such a way, that the garage faces due south. Got that? The garage faces south. It's clearly marked on the plans, and if you walk to our lot, you would see, the drive is on the south end. We, (correctly) assumed the panels would have to face south, on the roof of the garage, and asked to cut down as few fir trees as possible to allow for the panels to do their thing.
    1. Contractor contacts solar panel agency. The rep. emails me, and tells me she needs to meet with me 2 different times, before and after proposal. I wrote to her telling her she needed to go through my contractor, as I don't do anything absent of him. Then I wrote my contractor telling him I don't want to meet with her twice, I don't even want to meet with her once, but will if it is necessary.
    2.Contractor and rep. go to our lot last Friday, and she does her thing, including sending a solar catcher above the proposed location of the panels, which would be on the roof of our SOUTH FACING garage. Contractor tells me she should have package ready by Monday, Tuesday at the latest. Bear in mind, we can't even apply for the permit until we have this proposal in place.
    3. Wednesday Contractor forwards me an email he sent rep. saying he, as well as we, expected to hear something by now. Her response was thank you for your patience, but I ran into technical difficulties trying to pull information off the solar catcher, and I need 2 - 4 more days. Meanwhile, Contractor figured out a way to get us to our 6 energy credits without the panels, and told me to meet him the next day at the county office with a checkbook to apply for the permit.
    4. At the county office, official tells us 4 - 6 weeks for processing, and not to worry, and we can always add panels later, and if we do, that gives us flexibility in other areas (for instance, lets us put our on-demand water heater back in.)
    5. I LITERALLY get in the door from the county office when I get an email from contractor, forwarding me the rep's email, in which she asks if we can move the (south facing garage) to face south. If so, she can have the proposal in a few days, if not, she has to add something else, which effects pricing and she'll need more time for the proposal. So, basically, she needs another week, at least, to figure out her north from south. (Did I mention our garage faces south?)
    6. Contractor's response was quite terse: "Do you mean to the southwest? Garage is already facing south?"
    7. My response was not very nice. I told Contractor that actually, I was no longer interested, as she'd annoyed me.
    8. Contractor DID NOT forward my reply, but told me that he'd deal with her from now on, and we'd keep the option open.
    -WHY don't people communicate accurately? If she had kept the lines of communication open from the beginning, in that first week, even to tell contractor she couldn't pull the information off the solar catcher, she'd probably have a sale. I still do want solar panels, but not from her. And, actually, I think we only heard from her on Thursday, because contractor had told her we went ahead and applied for the permit without her.

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    1. I've come to the conclusion, after our build and dealing with contractors, that those who can and do make it through dealing with them deserve a medal, LOL.

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    2. I ONLY deal with my contractor and his superintendent, which was why I was so put out that she contacted me directly. That's why I HAVE A CONTRACTOR. In any case, I thought you'd enjoy her telling him that we'd have to move our south facing garage so it's south facing...
      He emailed me late yesterday afternoon saying that he would deal with her, and let me know when she comes up with something substantial. It's a shame, as I really do want solar panels...neighbor has some, and gets a $3,500 check from the power company every year. But I DO NOT WANT TO DEAL WITH HER, even if the company she represents is the best, she annoyed me.

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  3. Sorry for your losses. Virtual hugs...

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