Matching Tracksuits

around the house

Saturday, Late August

Saturday 27 August 2022

It’s late August — the time of year when cooler autumnal temperatures approach, but sometimes not quite fast enough. Daytime temperatures can still get up into the mid-90s, and summer’s humidity still lingers, making it feel even warmer.

That’s all fine and good if your HVAC system is working well. Sure, it might work a bit more than you would hope. The heavy heat of July is a thing of the past, and although it can be hot, late August usually brings a bit of a break for one’s HVAC system and one’s power bill compared to mid-July. Not much — just a bit.

Still, we have a relatively high-efficiency system, and the difference I guess is no big savings. Five or ten bucks perhaps.

But then the system starts stalling, starts leaking coolant, and the indoor temperature climbs despite the temperature outside. Specialists arrive, investigate, diagnose, and give a $2,200 quote for fixing the system or $800 for a temporary bandaid.

“How long will it last?”

“A few months to a few years.”

Cheap is expensive; lack of information leads to poor decisions. It lasts less than 24 hours. $800 for 20 hours of cooling.

More specialists arrive. They’ll do the fix for about 75% of the other company’s quote. We go for it. The system works for a couple of weeks, still showing some strain and problems but keeping the house comfortable.

And then the whole thing shuts down. Completely. When temperatures return to the mid-90s. And the company we’ve been working with doesn’t work on the weekend, so we’re stuck until Monday. And so you start researching things like this.

Our Games

Saturday 20 August 2022

The Boy’s first games with his new soccer team took place today. It was a tough start to the season: 0-4 and 0-5 losses. I was expecting him to be terribly disappointed about it, but he was surprisingly stoic: “We have some things we need to fix, but we could be good.”

The Girl’s high school varsity team, for which L plays middle, won their first tournament today.

A day of contrasts.

The Email

Friday 12 August 2022

On Wednesday 03 August, my wife and I had you come out to work on our HVAC system at [address removed]. The technician said that the reversing valve had a coolant leak, and he gave us two options: replace the valve for [a ridiculous amount of money] or add refrigerant and Stop Leak for [a somewhat-less ridiculous but still draw-dropping amount of money]. He explained that the second option, while cheaper, would only be a temporary fix. I asked him how long “temporary” meant, and he explained that he had seen it work for a few months and even on occasion for a couple of years. We decided to go with the second option (WO# [redacted]). However, the next day (Thursday 04 August), the system was again failing to cool the house. We had you come to check again. The second technician came Friday 05 August and determined that the reversing valve was still leaking and thus the system was low on refrigerant once again (WO# [redacted]). When I spoke with him about the addition of the Stop Leak two days earlier and asked why it was leaking again so quickly, he said that the Stop Leak sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t work. This obviously is not what the first technician told me. Had I known that there was a possibility of spending [an asinine amount of money] and it not working at all, I certainly would not have taken that risk. In fact, I’m not even certain why a company would sell a product that might not even work at all. I called to discuss getting a refund, and the individual I spoke with told me that everyone in accounting was gone. She said she would let them know and that they would contact me Monday 08 August. I never heard from them.

I was sold a product based on misleading information which led me to take a risk I did not even know I was taking. That is questionable at best, immoral at worst. In short, I want a refund of my money. Please contact me as soon as possible to let me know how you intend on processing this refund.

Teachers’ First Day 2022

Monday 8 August 2022

We had our first day back at school today — teachers have a week of preparation before the kids come back. To be honest, a lot of it is less preparation and more endless meetings: three hours this morning; meetings in both the morning and afternoon tomorrow.

In the afternoon, returning home, I discovered that the Boy had painted the ramp into Papa’s room (always it will be Papa’s room) in the morning. After dinner, he applied a quick second coat and now we have a lovely, freshly-painted ramp.

Wooden Bikes

Tuesday 19 July 2022

Day two of the wood adventure. Today, we focused on cutting the pieces that were too long to fit in Babcia’s furnace. That meant using an enormous and old homemade table saw to cut the pieces. The blade must have been 14 inches in diameter, with just under half the blade above the table and no way to adjust it. It was, in a word, a nerve-wracking experience. But we got it all done. And there awaits yet another pile, Babcia explained

In the afternoon, we focused on finally getting our bikes ready for a first ride. I had to put the new tire on my back tire having finished the front wheel and tire yesterday. The Boy pumped up the tires of his borrowed bike and we were ready to head out.

It’s been a long time since we’ve ridden; it’s been five years since we’ve ridden here. So many changes in the meantime.

Once the Boy tired and I took him back, I headed out for one of my favorite rides in Jablonka: a 15-kilometer circle through fields and forest.

Wood

Monday 18 July 2022

Today the Boy and I set out to tackle a basic but important project: sorting and storing all the wood Babcia had delivered in April. It’s largely to serve as kindling for coal-fed fires in the winter months, but during the short time that it’s not necessary to heat the whole house, the word heats the water.

Our job was to move and store the wood. And make a friend along the way:

We had an enormous pile with no before picture for comparison. All we have are pictures of all the various little corners we stored the wood.

And what with my little helper?

Thursday

Thursday 16 June 2022

We’re approaching our departure of nationals — the biggest volleyball tournament of the year. We’ll be going to Orlando for almost a week. So I’m trying to get the last bits of the to-do list completed.

The List Updated

Tuesday 14 June 2022

“Those trees really kicked my ass,” I texted our neighbor, “but I finally finished them today.” I was letting him know that I’d returned his beast trimmer that’s a holdover from his lawn care business. It’s a Husqvarna 525HE3:

That is to say, it’s an expensive, heavy hedge trimmer that is great for reaching high places. And our neighbor G is kind enough to let me borrow it whenever I need it. And when I’m trimming the Leyland Cypresses, I really need it. At first. Once I beat back all the smaller branches, I have to top the trees — or at least I had to this time. And lacking a pole saw, which costs about as much as the 525HE3, I have to use a reciprocating saw (I am not going up there with my chainsaw — no way I could hold it with one hand as needed) to cut out the thicker branches that have grown into mini-trunks.

So today, I finally finished trimming the trees. They look awful — they always do because I assault them. But they always grow back and everything is fine.

So now the list looks like this:

  • Trim the Leyland cypresses (a two-day job in and of itself)
  • Clean the outside of the house
  • Pressure-wash the deck
  • Apply ample coats of water-proofing to the deck
  • Pressure-wash the concrete portion of the drive
  • Complete the furniture assembly for the remodeled basement

And that’s a good feeling.

A Day in the Yard

Saturday 11 June 2022

My to-do list from earlier had a lot of outside chores — mostly outside chores. Trimming things. Painting things. And that’s why I spent the vast majority of the day outside today. I worked on the Leyland cypresses, which, truth be told, are just kicking my ass. I have to cut the top 10 feet or so out of them, which means cutting branches that are several inches in diameter. I topped the main trunks years ago: these are simply additional branches coming off of where I topped them initially. And I know, I know — it will happen again.

Today, I also trimmed several other things that needed it — I can only work so long in the cypresses since have to wear long pants and long sleeves to keep from getting scratched to pieces.

It wasn’t until after 10 that I thought to take a picture of the day’s work…

And I mowed. And K and I finished sealing the deck, with a little help from E while L was at work. And K collapsed into bed, and I cleaned up the kitchen a bit, poured, some scotch, lit a cigar, and wrote this.

Around the Yard

Thursday 9 June 2022

Before
Before
Before
Almost after
Almost after
Almost after

Oh and this

Off the Rails

Wednesday 8 June 2022

I’ve been listening to some of Herbert Armstrong’s sermons the last couple of days, and it’s been a fascinatingly awful experience. I knew what was coming: I grew up listening to this shit, but I still had forgotten about just how awful he was. Just how misogynistic he was. Just how much he liked to yell during sermons to impress upon congregants just how serious his words (and thus God’s words) were.

I made a mental note about a couple of the passages because they just stood out so drastically. In this one, for example, he goes from talking about the fall of Lucifer and his resulting transformation into Satan to the evils of women wearing makeup — without any kind of transition at all. None.

By the end of the sermon, he turns his attention to men and the inappropriate clothing some of them are wearing to church — shirts with no jacket!

What’s most interesting is he suggests that not everyone has to be dressed up just wearing the best clothes they’ve got without even thinking that perhaps the men who aren’t wearing suits are doing just that — wearing the best they’ve got. And then, of course, there’s the misogynistic double standard: women aren’t to worry about their appearance but men had better be dressed smart!

Beginning to cross yet another item off the list

As I’ve listened to these three or four sermons (how many more will I put myself through?!), I’ve come to re-learn the man’s cadences: I can predict with dreadful accuracy when he’s about to ramp up, go off the rails, and start yelling.

First Day of Break

Tuesday 7 June 2022

Today was my first full day off. What did I get scratched off that list? Something I’d forgotten even to add to the list in the first place. It’s something I started last summer. Or was it the summer before that? I could check, but what’s the point — the point is that it wasn’t completely finished, that French drain project. I’d intended to hook the whole system up to three of the five downspouts on the back of the house.

Since we’ve hired someone to enclose the area under our deck with lattice, and he was scheduled to start today, I knew I had to finish hooking everything up this morning.

Morning curiosity

While I worked, I conducted informal research on a project I’ve had lingering in the back of my mind for years now, something I’ve wanted to write but just never had the distance required to write about it. Now that both my parents have passed, I’ve started drafting ideas for an extended piece on my religious upbringing. A memoir? Who knows what it will be. But I’ve started exploring that world again, downloading old sermons from the 70s and 80s from an internet archive of impressive scope, a site that has made available all the literature (books, “booklets,” magazines, sermons, television broadcasts) of the Worldwide Church of God, the organization in which I grew up.

Tent where special church services were held in 1973

I grew up having expectations for my teen years and early adulthood that were so different that my peers’ expectations that they’re almost laughable now.

I’ve written about similar matters here, but mainly I’ve explored the groups that exist that profess, to varying degrees, the same theology of the WCG. Now, I’ll write about my own experiences growing up in such an environment.

More Yard Work

Sunday 5 June 2022

Today we headed out for a bit more yardwork. One portion of our fence had become so overgrown with weeds and vines that it was basically invisible.

In the process of clearing everything away, we found the wreath of artificial flowers L created a couple of years ago when we made our bamboo fortress. It was an unexpected flash of bright color in an overwhelmingly monochromatic (green being the color) morning.

Once we were done, we were shocked at the difference. We’d really let things get out of hand.

Once the girls were back, E was eager to spend some time with K. Boys’ weekends are fun, but the reunion afterward is better. Especially when it involves building a couch fort.

Tuesday Evening

Tuesday 3 May 2022

The Boy has a new chore: watering the grass in the front yard.

He does it even when it’s not needed.

I’m sure the fact that he needs to (in his mind) get soaked in the process has nothing to do with it.

In the meantime, K took some pictures of our flowers.

Of course, the real highlight for the Boy was in the evening, when his packages arrived.

The Day After, Again

Monday 18 April 2022

What is it about the day after Easter or Christmas that makes us want to do nothing? We do what we have to do, but it’s just off. And even if the day after is a day free from the obligations of work, it still feels off.

I’m not talking about hangovers — those are easily avoidable. Just don’t drink to excess. It’s undoubted the feeling of deflation, of everything coming down after building up for so long.

The party is over; the friends are gone; the spell is broken.

I want to say it’s because we don’t have anything to look forward to, but that’s not true. We look with anticipation and excitement at many things coming in our family’s near future: a camping trip, several tournaments, a summer trip to Poland.

Perhaps it’s the bustle of getting so much ready so quickly for a party, and then the sudden release of all that?

Or maybe it’s nothing…

Soccer and the Yard

Saturday 9 April 2022

E had two games today to make up for the game that got rained out some time ago. They won the second game 3-1, but the first game was tough: a 1-4 loss.

In the second half, E played goalie. It was 1-2 when the half started. On the opponents’ first possession, they scored.

I knew it would be tough on the Boy — he doesn’t like letting people down, whether or not that’s what actually happened. They scored one more on the Boy. I had the camera up, hoping to get a good action shot of E stopping the ball.

Not quite.

“I’m never playing goalie again,” he declared.