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xelaTomorrow (touch wood) we should finally get hot water in the kitchen. It's been two days since the construction workers stopped using saws extensively in the house, which has cut the dust down some. (There's still a lot of dust around the place, but it's nowhere near as heavy in the air. My throat is scratchy as hell, but my eyes aren't as puffy and scratchy as they were.) Today they cleared out most of their tools, and moved the scrap pile in the basement into the construction dumpster (which goes away bright and early tomorrow morning). In the process, they found my watch, which is still accurate to the second, so no harm done there.
There's still a lot left to be done, but the house is starting the transition from construction-site-I'm-camping-out-in, to a house-where-we're-having-some-workers-in. I figure within a week we'll have crossed the nebulous boundary between those two. If all goes well tomorrow, I may start unpacking the kitchen as soon as Friday. (Currently I've unpacked only the food in the fridge, an electric skillet I bought just to get by in a stoveless kitchen, a toaster, a microwave, a measuring cup (to boil water in in the microwave), 1 cup, 1 glass, 1 plate, 1 bowl, and a small handful of silverware. It will be nice to unpack more.)
Also on the schedule for tomorrow is hooking up the washer and dryer. (It turns out current electrical code requires 4-prong outlets for dryers; our dryer had a 3-prong old-style cord. I bought a replacement cord, and discovered a severe lack of documentation for our dryer online, to the point where I was 99% sure how to proceed but unwilling to take the 1% risk that the dryer would catch fire. It was a matter of taking the dryer apart to trace a wire — or hope the electrician could just look at it and say authoritatively when he came by on Mon. Which he did. So I proceeded to change the cord Monday afternoon. A small comedy of errors ensued: The dryer's stock cord had spade lugs; the replacement, eyelets. The nuts in the dryer's terminal block were not captive. (Why would you remove the screws to connect spade lugs?) Can you guess where the nuts (yes, I lost more than one) fell? So I ended up taking the dryer apart anyway. But that's done now. I bought a vent kit for the dryer today, and (touching wood again) I'll be able to do laundry tomorrow. If not, I'll be decamping to a laundry tomorrow: I have one day's change of clothes left. Wish me luck.
There's still a lot left to be done, but the house is starting the transition from construction-site-I'm-camping-out-in, to a house-where-we're-having-some-workers-in. I figure within a week we'll have crossed the nebulous boundary between those two. If all goes well tomorrow, I may start unpacking the kitchen as soon as Friday. (Currently I've unpacked only the food in the fridge, an electric skillet I bought just to get by in a stoveless kitchen, a toaster, a microwave, a measuring cup (to boil water in in the microwave), 1 cup, 1 glass, 1 plate, 1 bowl, and a small handful of silverware. It will be nice to unpack more.)
Also on the schedule for tomorrow is hooking up the washer and dryer. (It turns out current electrical code requires 4-prong outlets for dryers; our dryer had a 3-prong old-style cord. I bought a replacement cord, and discovered a severe lack of documentation for our dryer online, to the point where I was 99% sure how to proceed but unwilling to take the 1% risk that the dryer would catch fire. It was a matter of taking the dryer apart to trace a wire — or hope the electrician could just look at it and say authoritatively when he came by on Mon. Which he did. So I proceeded to change the cord Monday afternoon. A small comedy of errors ensued: The dryer's stock cord had spade lugs; the replacement, eyelets. The nuts in the dryer's terminal block were not captive. (Why would you remove the screws to connect spade lugs?) Can you guess where the nuts (yes, I lost more than one) fell? So I ended up taking the dryer apart anyway. But that's done now. I bought a vent kit for the dryer today, and (touching wood again) I'll be able to do laundry tomorrow. If not, I'll be decamping to a laundry tomorrow: I have one day's change of clothes left. Wish me luck.
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Date: 2009-05-15 07:26 pm (UTC)What a time you've been having. I'd have thought that if something so major happens as a change from 3-pin to 4-pin sockets in mains electricity, there'd be a public education programme or free conversion services or something. Most people don't have your electrical skills and if it was hard for you, I dread to think how many accidents have happened.
Glad to hear about the watch.