Icewind's Ramblings

I was going through some old boxes looking for something when I was sidetracked by a piece of paper I found.   As many of you know I used to have a dog Levi who was my constant companion and friend who went on many adventures with me or just sat at my feet while working at my desk or watching television.   I sure miss him but found something that gave me a chuckle and reminded me how much of my buddy Levi was. This was simply too much of a time saver not to share it with you. How to Clean a Toilet Put both lids of the toilet up then add 1/8 cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close the lid. You may need to stand on the lid. The cat will self agitate and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this. Flush the toilet three or four times. T...

It has been one of those weird Saturday’s with various things going on and nothing in particular. It was a bits and pieces kind of day with morning coffee and waiting for the concrete guy to show up to start his forms for pouring a slab in the garage.   Needless to say it was about noon before the phone call came in that he would not be here until Monday.   Possible morning golf missed before the weather turned, typical for this summer so far.   Then it was debated on heading out to the lake with golf tomorrow but the boat is still in for a tune up and not ready until next week so again no golf. Have a tee time for noon tomorrow so it allows time to piddle around finish laundry and other chores so not totally a wash plus I went to Lowe’s this afternoon and bought a BBQ grill and a couple chairs for the deck. A friend of mine emailed me this joke once he heard I was installing drains in the garage and possibly was going to install a urinal along with a slop sink in t...

As I enter the bathroom and lift the toilet seat I notice the intense light entering through the window projecting from the sun.   The light shines upon the toilet illuminating its presence as if it were a work of art.   As I begin to urinate I focus on the inner side of the toilet in order to decrease the amplification and splashing of my pee.   As I watch the pee enter the toilet I also notice an abundance of off-spray collecting upon the toilet’s seat underside, hinge, outer bowl sides and floor.   How disgusting I think to myself, all this pee everywhere.   From this moment on I began to wonder about all the pee from myself as well as my co-workers, glazing itself to the toilet. Cleaning and disinfecting the toilet may be one of the ickiest exercises of the home or apartment and one never knows who is cleaning these at work.   Someone must because there are new rolls of toilet paper there every morning.   For many of us, this can be quite disgu...

I finally had some time to upload the photos from my projects this spring and summer.  Travel has been taking up a lot of time this summer with several projects ongoing at any given time but I was able to finish several things going on. The bathroom project took much more time than originally thought.  It started during the winter after the first bathroom remodel went quickly over a couple weeks.  It was minor compared to the master bath. A quick make over with a new moose light fixture, paint, and remove and replace the vinyl flooring with tile.  I also relocated the sink and base cabinet to give additional room by the toilet.  I took bi-fold doors from the bedroom and installed them in the small closet.  Two weekends and the project was done and looked great. I can’t remember if I came home from a trip or just home from work a couple weekends later to find my wife had taken hammer and chisel to the tile in the master shower.  This was between Than...

I have written in the past about my travels to the rural (bush) villages for my work which is building water and sewer treatment plants for these native communities.  We provide what most of us take for granted in always having fresh drinking water or clean water for bathing, laundry, and brushing our teeth.  That is not always the case in many places off the road system here in Alaska and we are slowly bringing these necessary health changes to many places. We are changing people’s lives in the process of dealing with new technology or having ‘outsiders’ coming into the village to work on these projects.  Most villages welcome us once they understand what we are providing.  Change is hard to the elders whose existence in the harsh conditions is a way of life.  Hunting, fishing, and gathering food is a traditional way of life here and one that is important to the mindset of the tribes.  One of the things that my company does is hire local labor to hel...

My grandson is almost three years old and proud of the fact that he is potty trained and goes to the bathroom like ‘big people’.  Saturday started out like most others for him with the typical playing, coloring, and the jumping around that comes with his age. I went to breakfast as usual and returned home to do the normal chores that come on the weekends.  My grandson went about his day and was a pretty happy little guy until his world fell apart just before noon. He prides himself in being potty trained and usually alerts someone (everyone) when he goes so sometimes it’s a pretty big deal for him.  Sometimes being new to the procedure he tries to get things right.  He sometimes can barely pee on his own without shooting a stream like a fire hose was out of control on the bathroom floor.  The problem I have to admit is not totally his fault.  The hall commode is a cathedral of tile (new I might add) and fixture with a throne set almost too high for his...

This is the big weekend for Daylight Savings Time where those that observe this will set clocks forward one hour in the spring and set them back an hour in the fall. We pushed forward last night losing an hour of sleep during a time I seem to need more.  It’s been busy these last few weeks and my stress level I’m sure is elevated too even though I try not to let on. Friday evening I felt a big bump on the back of my neck which was quite painful but did not have the redness one would think of.  I thought it might an ingrown hair or possibly an ‘old fart’ pimple and went to sleep with some discomfort but no real thought about it.  I woke up Saturday morning for my breakfast meeting and felt more swelling and tenderness on the back right side of my neck.  It was painful and when I returned home after a few hours I felt totally like crap and had chills and was wiped out.  I took a couple of Aleve and lie on the sofa and fell asleep for a few hours.  This ...

The story continues from previous post . . . My wife learned quickly that things are not exactly as they are shown on HGTV where things are wrapped up nicely in a thirty or sixty minute television show.  They do not show the time preparing, marking lines on the walls and floor to install straight tiles or that time needed to mix the sand and mortar mixes used in the deck mud (concrete shower base) in the bottom of the shower.  With each batch there is the mixing to get the consistency of something that looks like toothpaste.  The adhesive thin set is applied to the walls and the tile itself and pushed onto the wall with a little wiggle and tap to make them stick to the wall surface.  What should happen next is the waiting time for the thin set to cure.  For us it did not happen that way for us . . . the tiles would slowly creep down below the line I had drawn to align the tiles.  This led to some heated words and a scramble to cut wood to make a ledge t...

If anyone has a decent memory you will remember I have been remodeling two bathrooms in my house.  The first one was completed with a quick pace using just a couple of weekends to accomplish the demolition and make the necessary repairs.  The changes were also done quickly and included installing new tile flooring, new moose light fixture, toilet and towel holders and relocating the lavatory/base cabinet giving more room next to the toilet. Moving on to my master bathroom I was reminded this week that the demolition pictures which started with tearing out the shower tile walls took place the last week of October, making this makeover several months longer than was initially anticipated. I worked on the demo and the repairs which were more than I thought we would find but nothing that really surprised me.  The work progressed getting the walls and floor stripped and the piping relocated for the water and drain lines.  The water damaged areas were cut out and the ...