A much anticipated event, our garage was to have been demo’d last weekend.  We had the volunteers. We had the food and beverages.  What we didn’t have was a bin to put the unsalvageable pieces of the old garage into. It was supposed to have arrived between Wednesday and Friday.  It’s now a week later and still, no bin.

Opportunity knocks.

A neighbour (yes, this place is crawling with them) is looking for a shed he can turn into a small workshop.  He wants something he can set some tools up in that is semi-protected from the elements.  Enter our garage.  It’s immense size has the neighbour drooling.  He has an old concrete pad to place it on.

So, the garage isn’t officially being demo’d anymore.  It’s being jacked up, loaded onto a flatbed trailer, and driven one block over and a few houses down.  The neighbour will have to ensure he’s got all the necessary permits in place to affix everything.  Moving the garage counts as “removal and/or demolition” and fits our permit.  According to the guys, this will also be a much quicker route to follow.  Instead of spending days taking down the garage by hand, they’ll spend a few hours.  It’s cheaper too.  It costs less to rent the trailer than it does to rent the bin.  It’s a win/win.

Now all we have to do is get the temporary fencing in place in the backyard before the guys start moving the building.  It will be too late once the back fence is down and the garage is gone.  I don’t plan on spending a few weeks chasing the dogs around the neighbourhood like we did Bubba a few weeks back.

The new removal method also has other bonus features.  Because it won’t take the entire weekend to accomplish the boys will be able to do the cribbing for the concrete pour tomorrow.  Which means our contractor can order up the concrete.  There’s a 10 day waitlist for a pour so we likely won’t have it completed before next weekend but it shouldn’t be too long of a wait.  Cross your fingers.  If all goes well, I’ll have a new garage in place (minus the interior finishing) by the end of the month.

w00t!

There is too much drama in the neighbourhood of late.

We met K when R was dating her.  He claims they never were dating but for a few weeks they spent a tonne of time together and he brought her to poker games, BBQ’s and firepit gatherings.  Whatever went wrong between them isn’t any of my business.

I do, however, think K is a nice woman and since we’re all grown ups I figured we’d still be able to spend time with her.  He’s long since moved on to other women so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?

That’s what I thought.

I suppose I should mention at this point that I’ve probably known R about a month longer than K.  He’s a new addition to the neighbourhood and prior to a few months ago, I didn’t even know he existed.  Drew might have known him for a bit longer since he knows some contractors and construction workers I’ve never met.  I’m not sure.  Suffice to say, it’s not like we’re bosom buddies who have spent years crawling through fire together.

We invited K over for a BBQ on Canada day and it was the most tense and unpleasant experience for her – and R wasn’t even in the neighbourhood at the time.  What he was doing was texting her continuously throughout the night.  For reasons I won’t disclose, she couldn’t turn the phone off.  All she could do was avoid picking it up every time it beeped that a new message had come through.  Which it seemed to do every 5 minutes.  K stayed for the meal and a short while afterwards before heading out to another friends house.

R gave me the silent treatment for days afterwards.  Didn’t even look me in the eye or acknowledge my presence when we were around.  *sigh*  It was just like being in Jr. High all over again.  So and So can’t be friends with Ms. X cause she’s got cooties.  ‘Twas powerful stuff back in the day.

Except now I’m a woman in my 30s and no aquaintence or neighbour is going to dictate who can and can’t visit my home or who I can and can’t spend time with.  Drew’s opinion might have sway in the situation but, since he also thinks that K is a nice person, he can’t see the problem with her visiting us either…

Too. Much. Drama.

Wow!  It’s been a long time since I’ve completed a T13.  In fact, about a year has passed since I posted my last one.  So much has changed in such a short time.  Then again, much has also remained the same.  Continuing on from before the year-long break makes this the 34th edition of the screaming pages Thursday Thirteen.

Thirteen things I need to do today… Zee hubby is off work this week so I need to wake him up and convince him to drive me to work so he can fix the tail pipe on my truck, get the dogs’ nails trimmed, replace the weather stripping around the doors, etc.  I’d feel guilty except I know he’ll drive strait home from dropping me off and go right back to sleep.  We’ll see how much of his Honey Do list is completed by the time he picks me up at 4… Stock my work fridge with healthy snacks – individual servings of cheese, yogurt, fruit, etc. so when I have a giant mid-morning snack attack I’m at least eating something good for me. Call the dentist and book an appointment.  Apparently they called to schedule one last week.  It’s the first time I’ve missed one of their messages but that’s likely due to the fact that they left the message on my cell phone rather than my home phone.  My cell hasn’t been on much lately. Meet with the new project manager to discuss project status and install the database front end on her system.  She’s going to give me a new list of fields she needs tracked so I’ve a feeling I’ll be redesigning the database again soon. Replicate course sites.  Add users and await feedback and change requests.  Revise AA course code. Register for final exams for my Enviro Chem and Psych classes. Register for the courses I’ll be taking next semester.  I’m not amused that the bookstore isn’t listing a single fall course in their textbook search yet.  With my luck I’ll be registering myself for another multi-book 300+ $$ extravaganza. Email W and let her know I have gotten the book “15 days” back from R and can lend it to her. Email also needs to include arrangements for chanter practice.  Drew and I have been way too lax of late and need to get back into the swing of things.  Besides, I miss seeing P & W. Confirm date and location of dinner with Boo next week. Confirm which of the July 19th BBQ’s we’ll be attending.  We’ve been invited to a dinner and 2 BBQ’s – and it’s Drew’s birthday – and apparently staying home isn’t an option.  Drew picked which one we’ll be attending. I’m just the messenger. Chase after my source of frustration admin to ensure she’s actually doing the work she’s been assigned. Attempt to define my job so I can go into my review meeting with an accurate picture of what I actually do. Invite my neighbours to a Candle Light party a friend is holding on Sunday. Get the Thursday Thirteen code here! The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted! View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Where ever you find yourself today – lake, cottage, campground, backyard or BBQ – I wish you well.  Have a wonderful celebration and stay safe.

The garage didn’t end up coming down this weekend.  30C in the shade for most of Saturday and Sunday made it far too uncomfortable for anyone to do any work.  Add to that the fact that our bin isn’t arriving until Wednesday and we needed to put it off.  On the bright side, it is completely cleaned out and Drew did spend a bit of the day yesterday tearing down all the built in benches that were inside.  He also managed to scavenge enough wood from the tear down to build us a small woodshed for our backyard firepit.  L patiently supervised Drew’s construction so it’s good looking and well made.  Highlight of the day was the death of the other side of the hedge.  Drew is going to dig out the roots on a cooler day but we’ve finally agreed on what we’ll be replacing it with.  I’d like a nice stone front with 3 small junipers on each side.  Drew isn’t 100% certain he wants junipers, but has agreed to the rocks and bush concept.  Especially since the rocks are being pulled from our driveway – where they would otherwise been buried in concrete in a few short weeks – and won’t cost us anything.

I managed to get some reading done this weekend.  Unfortunately not enough as I’m still a number of chapters behind.  I do have today and tomorrow off though, so I’ll see about finding time to get some more reading in.  This week’s dose of homework is done just under the wire.

An old friend from back home is in town visiting her brothers and we’ll be heading out to see her a little bit later today.  Until then, I think we need to take a nice trip out to the nursery to grab some plants to put in the front yard to make up for the semi-eyesore we have now that the hedges are down.  Until that area is completed we won’t be bragging about having the best looking front entryway on the street.  Even when it’s done I doubt we’d win that title – but we won’t be an embarrassment.

Isn’t home ownership fun?