Pictures!!

I finally transferred the pictures from my camera to my computer today. Here are some shots of my journey back from the visit to Pennsylvania and Maryland.

These were taken at a scenic view pull-off on, I think, Skyline Drive in Virginia.

This was taken in the parking lot of the place I had breakfast on Skyline Drive.

 

 This is the survey marker at that place on Skyline Drive

At 3703 feet above sea level, temperatures are considerably cooler than they are in, oh, say Baltimore, Maryland. As you can see, my head was in the clouds. Literally.

When one is in the midst of a cloud and on the ground, it's called fog. I prefer to think of it as clouds. 

 Obviously I didn't have those majestic vistas that Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway are so famous for, but there was a beautiful sense of isolation and serenity there in the clouds.

 Later in the afternoon the clouds lifted some and I was able to see into the valley.

My drive through the mountains established a peace within my soul. 

This next photo is of the James River in North Carolina along the Blue Ridge Parkway. So pretty! 

I didn't stay here long. I only stopped for a bathroom break and to stretch my legs a bit. Superman was eager for me to return home. Can't say as I blame him, but I really didn't want to come back to what passes for my life here.

But I eventually did come home. I've posted a few times about our adventures since. Most of them are unpleasant. Which may not be entirely fair. My life here isn't totally unpleasant all of the time. There are definite good times. But Diva's presence casts a pall over everything. 

In other news...

I've been laid up with a broken toe since Friday evening. I told you about it in the previous blog post. I did not see the doctor Monday as I said I might. Didn't want to leave the house. Didn't want to try to put a shoe on my right foot. This morning, however, I called the doctor's office for an appointment. I need to get my blood pressure and blood sugar levels (A1C) checked anyway. (My doc keeps tabs on these things every three or four months.) However, the first available appointment my doctor has is for next Monday. So I took that one. The toe will have to do its thing without my doctor's supervision. Nothing to be done about it anyway. 

And today I took pictures! 

 I gotta tell ya', it isn't easy taking a picture of one's own foot, especially if one is "circumferentially challenged" as I am.

 The shot below is sort of scary.

 This next shot seems to show the extent of the bruise better. It's faint, but extends in an arc about 2, maybe 2.5 inches from the pinkie toe.

It hurts a lot less today than it has. I put on my shoes (yes, both of them!) and went out this afternoon. Didn't really have anything to do, but I've been lying around on my ass for three days and felt the need to get out. I had an omelet at IHOP then went for a little drive. 

The drive was helpful. Kids are out of school now so they're home all the time. Diva is, anyway. Sproing goes out to hang with his friends some. Having her in the house oppresses me. As helpful as my drive through the mountains was, I thought perhaps a local excursion would be nice. And it was. I drove north to the next little town, then hung an east and made a big circle (well, part of a circle) around the burg. Out in the country, maybe 10-15 miles from town. It was lovely. And I stopped to pick up an application to the local agency on aging. The nice lady said they didn't have anything available now, but were accepting applications and keep them on file for six months. Maybe. Whatever. 

And when I got home I felt more empowered than I have in days. I enforced some rules with the kids, stood my ground and administered consequences. It wasn't all ugly or nothin', just a few things that needed to be addressed. Then I came back to my room and put my foot up again, 'cause damn! That sucker hurt! My foot swelled up around the toe area after a bit of activity, and it was time to rest again. That shoe didn't feel nearly as comfortable as it had when I put it on. 

And that's about all I've got for now. 

My kitchen, or something like it

 ... or what's left of it. Let's see if I can post these pictures. These are our lovely new curtains! They do a marvelous job keeping the kitchen climate from encroaching on the rest of the house.

To the right (I think)(not sure about the format here) and below are the cabinets before Superman started tearing things out.

 Superman cut a wedge from the squishiest part of the floor, there next to the A/C vent. It's our first look at the underlayment. She don't look good, boss.

My sexy Superman removes that ugly-ass counter. Ain't he cute?

The sink and counter are gone from this cabinet.

 Superman uses the reciprocating saw (that's fun to type: reciprocating saw)

 and something shiny to break up the cabinet.

He has a small pry bar,

  but not a large crowbar. Here's another good (?) use for a large pipe wrench.

 You can see the water damage to the underlayment underneath the cabinet he just removed.

 Twitch holds a board that shows some rot.

 This dark icky stuff looks like tar paper to me, but it's the wet moldy particle board underlayment beneath the sink cabinet. Yes, it smells bad. 

 These next two shots are more of the underlayment, I think, that extends beyond the sink cabinet.

 And it goes all the way under the stove. That's where the stove was. Superman has it off to the left, blocking the narrow path from the kitchen to our tiny laundry room. I haven't washed clothes in weeks because I can't get to the laundry room. Superman can, though, so I have clean clothes. That's why he's Superman!

 See, there's the back of the stove. And he has a box fan in the window blowing icky air toward the back yard. 

 This is what the floor looked like as Superman broke up the damaged particle board. The orange cat (sometimes called Saratoga, sometimes Caramel, sometimes Marmalade) loves to "help."

 And here the subfloor is revealed. Oh look! It's wet, too! And for some reason it's painted white. I don't know why. And only a portion of it is painted. Weird.

Superman let this dry out for a couple of days, but to no avail. It was still pretty damp.

See, only part of it is painted. And this is the subfloor, which gets covered by the underlayment for the vinyl. No one will ever see it unless the floor gets damaged somehow... Oh, right. 

 What a mess.

 Oh look! Superman went to (only big box home improvement store in town) for supplies!

The subfloor must come out. He had hoped to remove and replace it in one day so our house wouldn't be exposed to the crawl space overnight. No such luck. He did this Monday, if I recall, and it's early Thursday morning now and still looks like this.

 You can see sawdust on the insulation. The insulation is wet, too, no surprise.

 No more insulation! But wait, what's that on the ground? We've got a huge swath of plastic covering the dirt in the crawl space. I forget what that's called, but the plumbers said it's a good idea. It adds to the value of the home, too, a little bit. Maybe. It also captures water that drips from the house. Yep, there's a big puddle of water on the ground under where the sink used to be. Does that mean there is still an active leak? Superman disabled the sink the day after Thanksgiving. Nothing has gone down the drain for a month. Are the supply lines leaking?

 Ah, there are the supply lines. Superman called the plumbers back out here to check their work. They came Wednesday. Nope, it isn't the supply lines. When he talked to the plumbers Tuesday they said that water can sit for a long time, and to give it some air flow. He put the box fan across the joists pointing down, and the puddle was nearly gone Wednesday morning.

Can you see the damage to the wall studs and sill behind the supply lines? He's going to have to replace the sill and studs under the window where the sink was.

I need to take pictures of our makeshift kitchen in the living room. I have some shots of the living room in its Christmas glory, such as it was.

This evening Superman and I went out to one of our favorite date locations: the big box home improvement store! We bought two small heaters which are now set up on either side of the hole in the floor, blowing toward each other. The idea is that the dry heat will help dry the joists, which Superman really doesn't want to replace. He's going to sister the joists anyway, so there will be more substance to the joists when he's done. But he doesn't see the need to remove and replace the ones there. The heaters and the fan are working to dry out what's left.

We also bought a new sink. As shown in one of the above photos, the old sink is a big beige cast iron clunker with bits of enamel chipped off the edges. OK, the photo probably doesn't show that much detail, but trust me. So we got a new 20 gauge stainless steel 8" deep double bowl sink. It was on clearance for a decent price, and Superman wanted to buy it now before it wasn't available anymore. There's no place to put it, but whatever. We also looked at cabinets, and tentatively decided on the prefab unfinished suckers. They're cheaper and quicker than building our own, and we can choose a counter top and then finish the cabinets to match. 

Since we're putting the new kitchen on the (big box home improvement store) credit card, we've decided to add a new refrigerator to the deal. We've needed a new fridge for ages. The one we have isn't big enough for the size of our household, and is old and inefficient and falling apart. So we looked at refrigerators, too. I know which one I really want, and it's come down in price since it first came out half a dozen years ago. It is 22.5 cubic feet and now less than $1000. Barely less, but less is less. Used to be only the 18 cu. ft. fridges were that cheap, and most of the smaller ones don't come in the configuration and with the features that I want. Don't know if that's the one we'll end up with, but I hope so.

My land it's late! I'm tired. And this post is way too long now. It's mostly pictures, though, for what that's worth. I'll be back in a day or so with Christmas pictures (maybe) and more updated shots of the kitchen. Heck, I might add photos of the bathroom that Superman has been remodeling for 2, maybe 3 years. This kitchen best go faster than that!

Road Trip! With pictures!

Hi! I had too much caffeine this morning! I am hyper!

The ADD is on overdrive because of the caffeine, which makes little sense. Stimulants are used to treat ADD symptoms. This caffeine is making me hyper-spastic.

Light and I are in Indiana, Pennsylvania. She will start grad school next month at Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP). We're here to secure housing and some kind of part-time employment for her.

We got to Indiana yesterday (Saturday) late afternoon. It's a quaint little place, seems like a college town, but I'm not sure yet. It isn't big; smaller than Greenwood SC where we live. We've been to Wal-Mart twice already (sigh). We're staying in a rustic, quaint little place on the east side of town. "Rustic" and "quaint" means cheap and old. I kinda' like it. Do you remember the trip I took last summer to Massachusetts with C? He would HATE this little motel. The place reminds me of my grandmother. It smells old and musty, but in a good, nostalgic way. It's plain, but clean and functional. There's an air conditioner, a very noisy window unit that cools slowly but well. We turned it off this morning to get some peace and quiet. It makes good white noise for sleeping. I will have to take some pictures of the place to show you. I'm particularly fond of the shower stall and the tile pattern on the bathroom floor.

So I've been taking road trip pictures to share with you. Let me tell you about the no-tell motel where we stayed Friday night. It's a Knights Inn in Ghent, WV. OMG, West Virginia! It reminded me forcefully of South Carolina, but with cooler temps and prettier scenery. I was amused. We were on I-77. We saw quite a few "adult entertainment and novelty" establishments, more so than I've seen in SC. So, this Knights Inn: a large gravel parking area with plenty of room for truck parking; an "adult books and video" store in front of the place.

Here's a pic of the Lion's Den

Panning left, the hotel

You may need to embiggen this to tell, but landscaping is not high on the priority list.

View of the Lion's Den from our room

View of the large gravel parking lot with huge pot holes; Lion's Den entrance on the left

Moving down the road a bit, this is the ladies room in the visitor's center at the New River Gorge park. IIRC, it's a national park. I'll show you more of that shortly. The sign taped to the wall says "Hand Washing ONLY." Why? What other kind of washing are they precluding?

Does this mean I can hand wash my delicates in these sinks?

Moving on from the bathrooms, here's a picture from the little museum area in the visitor's center. The area along the New River was used in the mining industry back in the early 20th century. This is an example of a homemade mandolin. Cool, huh? Makes me want to get my scroll saw out try it myself.
There is an overlook of the New River Gorge and the bridge that crosses it. This visitor's center shows the history of the mining industry as well as the process of building the bridge. The bridge is pretty impressive!

A pretty flowering bush (mountain laurel, maybe? Rhododendron?) on the way to the overlook

The bridge, looking south.

We of course were driving north, so we crossed the bridge then came upon the park. I couldn't resist. Light humored me, we stopped. She was in a hurry to get to Indiana. I am all about enjoying the trip. She's a very patient daughter.

The bridge is very high. I'm not fond of being on bridges, but the engineering aspect of bridge design and construction fascinates me. This bridge, as you can see from the diagram below, is as high as the Washington Monument plus two Statues of Liberty. Cool, huh?

Looking east into the New River Gorge

The place is beautiful. Superman has been to the Pacific Northwest and seen the Columbia River Gorge, which I understand is logarithmically more impressive than this, but this is what I saw, photographed, and am telling you about. Interesting factoid: The New River is actually very old, and flows north. In the northern hemisphere most rivers flow south. The St Johns River in eastern Florida flows north. It is one of the largest north-flowing rivers in this hemisphere, and is at sea level. The New River in West Virginia runs through the mountains, so I'm pretty sure the northward flow is all about gravity and downhill. Not as impressive as the St Johns*, imho. Here's what Wikipedia says about the New River.

I've been sitting here in this Starbucks for a few hours now. It's time to move along. Haven't had internet access in two or three days, so I'm catching up a little bit. Haven't had a chance to look at other blogs in almost a week. HOPEFULLY I'll do some of that later this week.

*OK, according to Wikipedia, the St Johns flow is about gravity, too, but it's a minor drop in elevation.