Thanks Again, Walmart

Although I think Sam Walton's children have too much money and Walmart employees don't have enough, I'm hard pressed, as a Walmart customer, to find much to complain about.  

Yesterday I pulled together, for return, all the bits and pieces of a double curtain rod I had purchased several weeks ago at Walmart thinking it was exactly what I needed for the draperies I have planned for the bunk beds here in the cabin.  I'd even spotted it in April and waited until I got my May Social Security check to buy it because it wasn't inexpensive.  

Yes, I knew it was intended for wall mounting, but with my usual spatial deficiencies, I could not visualize, until I got it out of the packaging and tried it, that ceiling mounting simply wouldn't work.  Both curtains would have been on the same plane instead of one behind the other!  

It was packaged in that really hard shell-like plastic and I absolutely had to cut the packaging into shreds in order to access it.  There were two rods, three supports and all the plugs and screws necessary for mounting.  I wouldn't have been surprised if they had refused to accept it for return even though I had my receipt, but when I drove it back to the Longmont Walmart and took it to customer service, they didn't blink an eye and gave me cash back.  

I also noted, and heard one of the Customer Service clerks comment to that effect, that they're no longer waylaying people coming back into the store with merchandise for return and marking it.  I stood around at the entrance for a bit waiting for someone to descend on me with the familiar stickers, and finally gave up and walked the curtain rod, cut up packaging and zip-lock baggie full of bits and pieces to Customer Service unchallenged.  That was a plus.

Although there were numerous items I needed, I knew I could easily have spent my entire refund, so went for the critical things....a broasted chicken to keep me and the foxes in protein and...some cover-up for my black eye.  The bruising is drifting south.  My dark glasses no longer cover it and I'm tired of trying to see inside in dark glasses and of getting those looks.  I had stopped at Walgreens and they had nothing...pancake make-up seems to be a thing of the past...but Walmart had this terrific cover-up...

I'll tell you, if they sold this in those five-gallon white spackle pails, I'd start using it on my entire body!


Here's my eye as of today with no make-up...

...here it is with my regular make-up base...

...and here it is with Glamoflauge...

I think it's a lot better.  At least it makes me feel less self-conscious even though that lump above my eyebrow doesn't seem to be getting any smaller and is still numb.


This was a really busy day.  It was warm and sunny, but too windy to paint, so I decided to put the oil cloth on the very weathered wooden picnic table and benches...

I was able to do this, tipping the table over on its head, cutting out the oil cloth and affixing it to the furniture, using the electric stapler, without pain to my injured arm, but by the time I got to the last bench, I noticed that my right arm muscles were trembling and not really obeying brain signals very well.


So I was ready to call it a day, then my neighbor, working with another resident whom I didn't know, came and took the old hide-a-bed away for the free Nederland trash pick-up tomorrow.  I suffered blog fog and forgot to take a picture of it riding away in the back of the pick-up with a bunch of other junk.  Then, he and his wife decided they were ready to take some of the free furniture they are cleaning out of these other cabins down to my apartment.  

Here is the chest of drawers, which the previous owner obviously had started to paint or prime, sitting on my neighbors' patio waiting to be loaded into the truck...

The hardware came with it, but I may eventually opt for something else.

I had loaded my car earlier in the day with stuff to take to the apartment and also needed to take my June rent down, so I led the way to the apartment building, and after my neighbors ran an errand, they returned and unloaded everything and put together the computer desk...

...I've even managed to get a television set out of this although I've been without T.V. for so long now I'm not sure I want to get back in the habit, and the apartment is right across from the Boulder Library.

Yesterday when I was in Longmont I stopped at Goodwill and was unusually sensible and disciplined in my shopping.  I saw four engraved water goblets in that color of glass I love...bronze? champagne?  They were $2 each and I thought, I can get 1.5 Cheap Chickens on Wednesdays for that, so passed them up.  Instead, I got a small bathroom waste basket and one of these shower caddies...

...you can see I just ripped the purple tag off of it, hung it over the shower head and I can't tell you what a thrill it was, after two years, to be able to hang up my bath brush...yes, it's actually a clothes brush but the bristles on the brushes usually sold for the bath are way too soft for me...and my wash cloth and to put my soap and shampoo in place.  I hope whoever patented these caddies got rich...they sure are useful.  I had seen a very snazzy chrome version at Goodwill in Boulder a couple of months ago, but didn't know if or when I'd get an apartment so didn't buy it.  Now I'm sorry I didn't nab it. 

My neighbors headed on back to Eldora and I stayed and had a shower then drove back.  Vixen was waiting for me...relaxing in the in the yard.  She ate and took off, and I just looked out the west window and saw this wonderful sky...

red sky at night sailor's delight...so had to get a quick shot.  When I opened the door, Valentino was waiting for chicken, so he's been fed too.  All's right with the world and I am exhausted and heading for bed.  Teddee

The New Hood

I've managed to take one carload of belongings down to the new apartment each day this week since I signed the lease on Tuesday.  I find it takes about three trips using the handy grocery carts kept on site to unload the car.  Then I shower, maybe do an errand or two in Boulder, drive back to the cabin, take a pain pill and fall into bed.  These injuries, especially the chipped shoulder bone, have really taken the starch out of me, but I'm making real progress. 

Today I'm unloading this steamer trunk...

...so when my neighbors get ready to take it and a few other large items down to the apartment for me in their pickup truck they won't have to worry about anything being inside.

I just found out day before yesterday that there is another cabin owner here in Eldora who has a practically new full-sized mattress and box springs they want to replace with a queen and it's mine free if I want it.  I've been assured by my neighbors I don't have to worry about its cleanliness, so, after determining yesterday that the bedroom is 9 feet wide, I have decided to take it.  I now have a bed and have also agreed to take a computer stand as well as a chest of drawers.  These odds and sods may not be what I'd pick if I had a choice, but you can't beat the price and I know I can make them work.


I thought I'd post a few photos of the exterior of the apartment building I'm moving into and the surrounding neighborhood...how all-American does Walnut and 7th sound?  Love the deciduous trees which I've not had in my environment since leaving Chicago for Phoenix in 1993!

...my balcony is the nice empty one.  I hope I don't get mine junked up over time...

The day I looked at my apartment there was all of this very loud construction going on in this lot directly to the west of the apartment building...

 ...I thought someone was constructing a house or office building and figured I would have construction noise for months.  The good news...

...a new park!

I think when the leaves drop off the trees in the fall, I'll be able to see this wonderful house from my living room...

...the bright sunshine was not only obliterating my view in the viewfinder, but I was having trouble raising my right arm.  I love this roof on the cupola...mansard?  Here's what Wikipedia says about mansard roofs...

Early use

The style was popularized in France by architect François Mansart (1598–1666). Although he was not the inventor of the style, his extensive and prominent use of it in his designs gave rise to the term "mansard roof", an adulteration of his name.^[11] The design tradition was continued by numerous architects, including Jules Hardouin-Mansart, (1675–1683), his great nephew, who is responsible for Château de Dampierre in Dampierre-en-Yvelines.

Second Empire

The mansard roof became popular once again during Haussmann's renovation of Paris beginning in the 1850s, in an architectural movement known as "Second Empire style".
Second Empire influence spread throughout the world, frequently adopted for large civic structures such as government administration buildings and city halls, as well as hotels and train stations. In the United States and Canada, and especially in New England, the Second Empire influence spread to family residences and mansions, often corrupted with Italianate and Gothic Revival elements. A mansard-topped tower became a popular element incorporated into many designs.^[19][20][21]

There are numerous similar buildings in this neighborhood, what appears to be referred to as the West End (of Pearl Street).  I wonder what they dozed to construct the apartment building?  I don't even want to think about it.

I wonder if the owners of this wonderful house would let me stay in their gatehouse?...

...even without gingerbread trim it's as cute as a button.  They also have a lovely English-style garden of which, again, I took poor photos because of my arm.  Is that a peach tree?...

I took these after unloading the car and I am so exhausted and in such pain afterward that I feel a little as if I had the flu, so I'll try to take more and better photos of some of the wonderful houses in the area the next time I make a trip down and do it before I unload.

In the meantime, I'm deliberately missing the half-off Saturday at all Colorado Goodwill stores.  There's nothing like packing, to  make you question your "junqueing" habit.  More later, Teddee

Plain Vanilla

I took a carload of stuff to the apartment in Boulder yesterday morning.  Luckily, because this building I'm moving into caters to the elderly (who, me?) and truly disabled, they have some grocery carts that remain on site and I was able to roll one of these to my car, load it up, push it into the elevator and all the way to my unit and unload it...

...which made it so much easier with this injured arm.  It took three trips from the car to the apartment, after which I took the long awaited hot shower, drove home, took a pain pill and took to my bed.


This morning I awoke to this...

It's melting and blowing off fairly rapidly.  It's about 40F degrees, but we're going to have lows in the 30F degrees off and on through Sunday so we might get even more snow.  NOAA predicts a high of 59F degrees on Monday, Memorial Day, however.


Yesterday I took some photos of what my brother called my "plain vanilla" apartment after I described it to him in a phone conversation.  And it is, but I've rented so much of my life that the white walls and beige carpet don't bother me.  They are just neutrals against which to display your owns tastes. 


So, here is the kitchen...

I was told these are new appliances and they appear to be.  The tote bag on the pass-through contains some plates I had yet to determine what to do with here in the cabin so they and some matching mugs are going to a new home.  Not too happy about the exposed concrete block and trying to think how I'll hang anything from that.


This is the bathroom...

 

I managed to get the shower curtain up with my left arm...

 

There's plenty of storage.  Thank goodness they had not replaced the sink with a pedestal sink and there is open shelf storage in the bathroom...

 

 

...and this entire little room which, knowing me, I'll have packed to the gills...

 

 The above photo refuses to center.  Wonder why?

This is the bedroom.  Small, but with a decent-sized closet, especially when you have had no closet for two years...

 

This cord hanging from the switch at the left is an emergency call button.  There's another one in the bathroom exactly where I'd expect the light switch to be.  I wonder how many times I'm going to mistakenly flip these before I get accustomed to them?

Here's the dining/living room.  More than adequate lighting and I don't abhor ceiling lights like some people do... 

And my most favorite part...

...the view from the tiny balcony.

So, that's it.  Here's my eye update...

...Day Three. The actual point of impact above my eyebrow is more obvious now.  I don't know if my eye looks better or worse.  I know my body feels worse today than it did yesterday.  I think it must be like over-exercising.  You are always sorer two days later than you are the very next day.  I'm going on the assumption it's not that I'm continuing trying to move piecemeal.  I figure if I avoid doing anything that hurts, I'll be OK, and so far, the things that hurt are rolling over and getting out of bed, trying to rearrange the bed clothes at night, getting dressed, inserting and turning the car key in the ignition and shifting gears.  I seem to be able to lift if I don't go over waist high, but reaching, or reaching and lifting, with my right arm are totally out of the question. I was having trouble getting my camera up at the right level to take photos and even keyboarding is a little difficult.

Well, it's still spitting snow, but most of the snow has melted off.  There is still a little on the deck.  I've fed the fox.  I missed her last evening so that's one thing off my mind.  I'm trying not to think about not being here daily to feed her, but hope I've seen her through a rough patch and that she'll go back to hunting when I can't be here on a regular basis.  I took the hummingbird feeder down on the west side of the cabin yesterday evening and don't think I had a bear visitation last night, but it was raining heavily, then snowing, so if it had any sense it just didn't venture out.

I've loaded several tote bags full of small numbers of books and magazines (heavy) into the car and will add a few more things, then make another run to Boulder today.  More later, Teddee

The Bear Wins

I think I'm going to be forced to heed the admonitions I received from personnel at both the Wild Bear Mountain Ecology Center in Eldora and Colorado Division of Wildlife and take down the hummingbird feeder on the west side of the cabin.


I had another visit from the bear or a bear last night about 10:30.  I had returned from signing the lease and a mound more paperwork for the apartment in Boulder and found I was really tired.  I guess because so many things I'm trying to do with this right arm are painful, but since it's all new I don't know until I try which things those are, I'd experienced quite a bit of intermittent pain during the day.  I'd fed the fox, made and eaten some supper and gone to bed to read, but had to take a pain pill.  It had been a hot day in Boulder and was warm here and I'd originally fallen asleep with this bottom screened panel on the cabin door open...

...preserves my privacy if someone should happen to come to the door, but lets some air in.  I had dozed off reading, but woke up and thought about leaving this panel open but, as it turned out, wisely decided against that, turned off Jazz Radio's Guitar Jazz, which I'd had streaming all evening, and turned out the light.  Within a few minutes, I heard the bear moving on the deck, with a little less wandering about than I'd noticed the other night, and what sounded like a lot more determination toward the bird feeder, with the exception that it stopped and tried the door!  Not making this up.  

Ever since it stopped snowing, I've been rather nonchalant about the condition of the front door.  The only thing between me and, in this case the bear, is this single barrel bolt...

...and ever since I took the door off to get the old hide-a-bed out of the cabin, unless I remember to pull up on the door knob when I close the door, it doesn't align.  I'm pretty sure I had the bolt shot last night.


When my brother-in-law made this door with the screened panels to increase the air circulation in the cabin during the summer, he decided to reuse the old door knob and lock set that my Dad had installed on the original door in 1939...

...looks quaint but doesn't really work any longer.  It really didn't work all last winter after I had the weather stripping installed and even after I removed that during the hide-a-bed episode, it barely latches.  And part of the other barrel bolt the carpenter installed last fall had fallen off.   I'm  not sure why the carpenter didn't use the right half of the old barrel bolt by aligning the new left half when he installed it, but the right half he installed was mounted on a little block of wood that split.  He probably had to shim it out in order to get it to align after installing all that weather stripping that never worked.

...I think, if I find I can actually use a screwdriver with this injured arm, I may try to fix this after last night.


The bear traveled north along the deck to the hummingbird feeder and I could hear it trying to knock the feeder down.  I got up and opened the curtain a crack and yelled through the window for the bear to move on.  I didn't want to draw a whole lot of attention to myself because I don't have my window screens on yet and although I don't think a little window screening would prevent a determined bear, it would be one more layer between me and those claws.

Again last night, even after I turned the porch light on, I couldn't see him or her out the west window so I don't know whether the bear was tall enough standing up to reach the feeder from the deck or had long enough arms that it was reaching the feeder from this table, covered with a drop cloth, that I'd pushed all the way to the north end of the deck waiting for my neighbors to take it to the new apartment...

Either way, the thought is a little intimidating.  Even though the bear did not succeed in knocking the feeder down the way it had during its last visit, the feeder, which was almost full, is empty, there are smudge marks on the window...

...which has a nice coating of sugar syrup on the outside.  Bear as glazier.

Today it's on to more mundane things.  I had very excitedly toted along with me to the lease signing yesterday everything I need to take a hot shower...my way of celebrating access to hot running water...only to realize I had no shower curtain...and with this arm I didn't want to get into the tub and find out I couldn't get out!  I recalled I had a credit at Marshall's that I'd had for almost a year so drove there and found a mildew-resistant shower curtain liner and some very classic shower curtain hooks...

...and still have about $6 left on the card.  

I had to drop off a donation bag at Savers and checked out the furniture at Savers, Goodwill and the Salvation Army, but saw nothing particularly appropriate for my new apartment.  It probably is going to remain sparsely furnished until I can access some of my furniture in storage and I have no idea how long it will be before I can afford to rent a truck and travel to either Arizona or Missouri.

I'm going to have to purchase a new twin bed mattress and box springs and it appears, after going on line, I can get one for about $200 although I want to go and try that one out before I make a decision.  Other than that, I have the table that can be raised for dining height or lowered to coffee table height, an interesting faux bois straight-backed chair in storage in Boulder, a wicker side table and lamp, the steamer trunk and the chest of drawers my neighbors told me about that is coming out of a cabin here in Eldora.  Have no idea what it looks like.  I enjoy a decorating challenge so this should be fun.  

It would be more fun if my right arm was in good working order.  This is going to be the first-of-its kind "tote bag" move in...

...I took a few things down yesterday and, like my approach to so many projects, I will simply do this little by little until I have it accomplished.  I want to get everything of mine out of the cabin that I can move by myself before I even get the neighbors involved moving the steamer trunk and other larger things.


So, I'm going to load up the car and make the drive to Boulder...and I am having that hot shower today!  More later...Teddee