The MAN Post

On the remodeling front, Rick has been busy lately with the kitchen ceiling.  After taking out the fluorescent light fixtures, we replaced them with recessed lighting.
   We called in the pros for this one, after a disastrous experience with the first set of lights that we bought from the Home Depot.  Their kitchen recessed lights were so bright that I had spots in my eyes when they were on. The new set, bought from a local lighting company with expert advice, has energy efficient bulbs that will last and last.   

The ceiling has a slight arch shape to it, which made sanding and applying drywall compound a pain in the arse.

What you see up here is the first stage of the sanding.  After that was done, another coat of drywall compound was applied... which meant he had to go through the sanding process all over again.
Wet/dry vacs are worth their weight in gold.
Then several coats of primer went up. 
Up next is the paint job and then, by God, we're DONE!

Manly Truck Related Paragraph:

So one day last March, the transmission on his old, OLD, oldddd, beat-up, Ford F150 (or 250?) bit the dust, and never ran again.

Richard decided to replace it.   The man likes his truck.
Ihateit.  Ialwayshavehatedit.  The only thing I like about it is that it's Paid For.   Which, in this economy, is something priceless, indeed.

So he took the tranny all apart and had me take dozens of photos of the process, step by step, having never done this before.  If he screwed up, we'd be out around $400 for the transmission and the parts and stuff needed to install it.  If he succeeded, we'd be ahead well over $1200 that we would have had to pay someone to fix.   

Turns out Ford doesn't sell that type of transmission anymore.  So he ordered it from ... some company... I'm honestly not sure what the story is here because when he starts talking engine repair, I find my head bobbing along as it floats in a sea of sleep, fighting to get to shore and wake up again.

But there was some problem involved in finding the right size transmission, and suffice it to say, when I woke up, we had the new transmission in the garage!

I did take pictures along the way. Lots of pics, labeled in sequential order to use to use for reference.

He was itching to get at it but we had to go to Ohio for Britt's competition instead.  The day we got back, he headed out to the garage and went to work immediately.  There I was, conked out on the couch.
In the process, he discovered several other errors that a nearby repair shop caused when they worked on the truck the last time.  And that blinkin "check engine!" light?  gawd, that thing is annoying! it's off!

The man has saved us thousands, I do mean thousands of dollars in all this remodeling and car repair nemesis.
When we sell these forsaken money pits of house and truck, I'm going to move into  a rental condo and let everyone else take care of the repair jobs.  We will own nothin, and therefore, we won't need to repair anythin...

Did I just say that?

Richard wants to buy another house and do it all over again.

Comments

[SwampAngel65]

No, no, no...tell Richard you don't need to buy another house to do it all over again. Just come to my house! You can pretend we're on "Trading Spaces" only while you guys remodel my entire house, me and the fam will set up camp in your nice place. Yeah...that'd work!

Let me know when you're ready to swap keys!

[Janet]

Richard is MORE than welcome to come up north and fix my 200 year old house. He'd have a BALL with that!

[pam]

I was just out in the yard cutting *more* stuff back... I can see why older people move into patio homes...

The truck pictures remind me of the time Arthur took his Harley motor apart bit by bit... and I took photos! :D

[dani813]

Hmmm...I see we both suffer from the same head bobbing "sure honey" disorder.

[Sugar Britches]

Ugh. Looks like drywall. That is job to hire out at all costs. It can ruin a marriage.

...no foolin'.

[Laura]

LOL Sugar, It ranks right up there with wallpaper, only worse!