Beer in the Headlights

Spring arrived along with the seasonal "honey do" list. First item; ceiling fans.

Bought three ceiling fans from Lowe's for each of our (occupied) bedrooms. Two out of three weren't bad. But this one sucked. It's noisy, wouldn't go into reverse and now is inoperable. It's going back.

We bought our fans from Lowe's because Home Depot is my enemy, but that's a blog entry for another day.

I had to borrow an 8' step ladder from our neighbors as the gable ceiling in my daughter's room it 14' high. I'm 6'3" and could just reach the ceiling.

As mentioned above I detest Home Depot. Lowe's is better, but not great. You want great service? Go to Ace. I love my local Ace Hardware. I had to buy some extra wire, 40 watt bulbs for the ceiling fans, furnace filters, wire nuts, and #8 wood screws to fix the gate at the bottom of the stairs. They had it all there and they knew exactly where everything was located.

I got the notion to replace the lackluster light fixtures in our upstairs hallway with the ones I took down from our bedrooms. They look great. I slapped some 60 watt compact fluorescent bulbs into them. I didn't do it because I'm out to save polar bears or to keep spring and fall high tide engulfing Miami. I'm just a frugal guy and the cf bulbs do cost less to use than do incandescent bulbs. Gotta be the Scottish blood in my veins.

Fixed the hinge on the baby gate at the bottom of the steps. A couple weeks ago my son decided it was a playground implement and was swinging on it. The screws that held the top hinge to the banister post sheered off so I had to remount the hinges. Not looking forward to having a seriously scarred wood finish when it's time to take the gates down in a year or so.

After all that it was time to vacuum. I love our vacuum. It's a Simplicity upright and it will suck up small animals and maybe even midgets without breaking a sweat. We bought it from a terrific vacuum store in Gainesville, GA. Got up-sold on it in a big way, but I'll have to admit that the thing is worth every penny. Quality construction, great performance and made in the USA.

As I was vacuuming I got to thinking about items on one shouldn't skimp. Although a vacuum might not come to mind, I'll have to add it to the list. Other quality items include a chef's knife, a paring knife, grill (gas or charcoal), cookware, firearms, tents, hand tools and footwear. I'm sure there's plenty more I could add to the list.

Now it's time to get started on some paella for dinner.