Trimming The Holly Trees

 

Yesterday I went out to survey the damage from the recent blizzard. I saw one large holly branch down. Then another, and another and another. Time to call in the cavalry. In this case the cavalry is the father son team of Fernando and his son Alfredo. 

They used to trim my holly trees every year but I stopped about six years ago, just got too expensive trimming and shaping twenty-one holly trees. I let the trees go. Unfortunately with this blizzard and the heavy snow that stayed on the branches, there was a lot of damage that had to be cleaned up. So I bit the bullet (more expense) and had the job done. Probably the last time in this lifetime for me. 

Leaky Toilet Fixed!

 

Before

Something that has been bothering me the past few weeks is my leaky toilet. 

Here at Casa Tipton-Kelly, there is always something that needs looking after. Get one thing fixed and another thing pops up. Like whack-a-mole. 

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that there was a trickle of water seeping into my toilet bowl after I used it. Oh no. Here we go, another home maintenance project. This is the kind of thing that Bill always used to take care of. Yes, I had a live in handyman for over fifty years. Needless to say I was spoiled. Spoiled rotten some would say. When Bill started to lose his eyesight I had to start learning some basic handyman jobs. And you know me, this is not my milieu. I'm a charmer. My speciality is shopping. Not fixing things. 

I was especially reluctant to hire a plumber at random. For years I had a contract with a local service company but when their servicemen went on commission three years ago and I realized I was being taken advantage of, I dropped them. That's another whole story. I sign up for a service agreement at $260 a year but I'm still spending a couple thousand dollars a year replacing parts. I did a little research and found out the big home service companies when the repairman commission route. 

I thought I could fix this water trickle problem myself but to no avail. I replaced the ball. I replaced the flapper. I adjusted and adjusted and adjusted, and still a trickle of water seeped into my toilet bowl. 

During my research I discovered I had the old type of fixture in my toilet tank. What? Why is it everything I have "old", including me. Everything old is wearing out, including me. 

I checked YouTube and tried to fix it myself to no avail. I called my widowed neighbor and asked him to look at it. He's couldn't fix it either and only succeeded in breaking the arm to the floater ball. I don't need this. I got a new arm for the floater ball and had one helluva time getting the new it attached. One thing, it's all butch work. A long way away from baking pies for this sensitive gay guy. Finally I gave in and asked my neighbor who has a friend who is a plumber to install one of those new systems without the floater ball. He did that this morning and now my toilet works fine! 

After

Not a sexy story but another day in the Life of Ron On His Own. 

One day at a time folks. One day at a time. 

Roof Walking

My handyman cleaning out my roof gutters and installing gutter guards

Who is that on my roof? 

I can tell you who it's not......me!

I finally had gutter guards installed in two areas of my roof that constantly get clogged. 

That guy on my roof is a handyman who was previously working on my neighbor's enclosed deck.

For most of my years with Bill, he did this handyman type of work, including walking on roofs. Of course his later years he didn't do any roof climbing. And of course I wouldn't dare. I get woozy when I step on the second step of a foot ladder to change an overhead light.  Bill, in his good days even worked at the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago installing the antenna for General Electric.

Bill worked at the very top of the Sear Tower in Chicago to install that antennae 

At one time I even walking on our roof at our house in Pennsylvania during the construction phase. Of course this was back in the spring of 1980, when I was young and physically fit like this young man. I even have a picture somewhere of me on that roof but I can't locate it now. Which reminds me, I've only scanned about forty percent of my photos. I haven't scanned pictures since before COVID. I better get on that project before I check out for good.

Back to my roof. Every year I have clogged gutters from those three river birch trees in that photo. In the spring it's the seeds and in the fall it's the tiny leaves. Always a headache to get someone over her to clean out the gutters. My previous guy, I've had to call him three times and he still didn't come. I decided to seize the opportunity of asking my neighbor to ask her handyman if he could come over and clean out my gutters. Well, he not only cleaned out my gutters but he suggested putting in gutter guards, which I consented to. Now I won't have this problem every year of clogged gutters.

Owning a home, the maintenance is constant. But I much prefer to own my own home especially Casa Tipton-Kelly which is the culmination of my lifetime quest to have a perfect home. 

I'm so happy this job is done now. One less worry.

Next!