Do you ever have periods of time that you define or remember by a single phrase or word? When I look back upon this season the single defining thought is going to be COLD! LOL And yes, that would mean there's still no welcome warm air blowing from the furnace(s) in the cauldron.
It took the gas company all of about five seconds determine our pipes leaked - like that was a big surprise. Tom seemed annoyed but I'm getting pretty good at just shrugging. He's been working the past few days trying to find the leak(s) but that's about as successful as finding a good parking spot on a rainy day. You can stay positive and hope but the odds are against you LOL He did find a leak and fix it but testing over the weekend leads him to believe it wasn't the only one. Go figure there! Huge old building with pipes running here and there; at this point I wouldn't even want to estimate the number of possible leaks or where they might be. Tom is gamely continuing to track them down and I'm thinking wistfully of just replacing the lines and getting it done. Of course that costs money and so is a last resort but at the moment it makes me sigh longingly as much as any thought of warm, sandy beaches LOL
We had our first major disagreement, if it could even be called that, over the gas hook ups and more or less settled that amicably. Heck, it was on New Year's Eve. Wasn't either one of us going to get in a fight and be cranky for the fun later LOL Tom was in favor of the easiest fix for the actual gas hook ups and allowing them to install a larger meter at the current indoor site. Since that would have affected the showroom windows and the lines of the building, an irrational peeve of mine, I just couldn't agree to it. What store needs a huge gas meter front and center in the window? LOL Changing things will take extra time and money but it's also something we intended to do in the future in any case so I guess on this question my wants are likely going to prevail. And I learned a few things too, or maybe just came face-to-face with reality LOL It's not surprising that Tom and I have different view points on things or areas of expertise but I'm finding out design isn't one of Tom's strong points LOL Things that to me seem not even to be a question but are merely common sense such as the blocking of a storefront window are completely foreign to him. Conversely the whole pipe running thing is way beyond me. It should be fun as we move back and forth between his projects and mine to see what we each learn of the others areas.
So, the building is still cold and also waterless. We got lucky this past weekend though and had spring-like weather; it was actually warmer outside than inside the place LOL Tom shuffled some of the heavier items around along with chasing the leaks and I got the first two rooms of the store cleared of stuff and even washed the windows. Not only did we both work down there on New Year's Eve day but silly us turned off the football games on New Year's Day and headed back down. There might be a few problems but it's all good and we're having a fine time with the place. Along with the work we also had a chance to walk around and really discuss together some of the changes we'll need to make to bring things up to standard. We're hoping to install two furnaces in the apartments so each has their own rather than sharing a furnace as they do now. Same for the water heater. While that seems pretty easy to me and only a matter of moving things around I'm stumbling over building codes and what is common sense to Tom LOL A sample conversation on using a particular closet for the mechanics went something like this:
Tom - We can't put the furnace here and close it off because the circuit breakers are located here.
Me - Why not, there's no reason for the tenant to access the breakers anyway.
Yeah, I got one of those 'you're kidding me' stares LOL Along with the mention that circuit breakers do need reset at times and we didn't want to be called down every time that happened. Well, duh! LOL Good thing my 'job' is the cosmetic end LOL Speaking of the cosmetic, I ordered curtains for the store windows and earned another 'you're kidding' stare LOL The more time I spend in the cauldron building the more I realize this is going to be a long haul. We've got a lot of work to do and not only isn't it smart crime-wise to leave all the tools and materials exposed but it just looks bad to me. Tom and I had agreed that the windows would need to be covered but the more I thought about it the less I liked the idea of using paper. It would need to be up for a year at least and even if it was changed occasionally it would still look nasty. So, I ordered curtains LOL Shopping queen that I am they cost only a few dollars more than the roll of paper although with frugality comes little choice. We will soon have - are you ready for this? - turquoise and white tie-dye crushed satin drapes for our workspace! ROFLBO I really can understand why they didn't sell and are now on super clearance! It was way too cost effective to pass up though as well as way too funny to imagine the reactions of Tom and others. Or maybe it'll take every one's attention off the besom that gets hung on my next visit . . . hehehe I don't yet have a safe place to move my Ganesh statue to but I've got a lovely space over the front door to hang a broom =)
Today Ohio's back to winter cold and I'm already chilled thinking of working this week in a once-again cold building. On the plus side I'm picking up a vacuum for the place and one of those long Swiffer dusters so we can finally get rid of the cobwebs and dead leaves piled in the corners. We'll also begin working out some plan for paying the bills and keeping track of everything. That alone should be an adventure!
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