In Which He Babbles about 926 Different Things

In theory, we’ll hopefully get all of the rough plumbing and electrical passed this afternoon at the Creek house, so that we can finally get rolling on sheetrock and paint. More than a little displeased at the delay, as I was hoping to get everything finished and passed last Friday, but such is life sometimes.

Although it is giving me a little devious pleasure, as the delay is about to cause the plumber’s head to explode. I’m happy enough with the work the plumber and his son have done, but his general behavior has managed to rub me the wrong way, and our contractor is pretty fed up with it as well. Nothing huge or major, but the plumber pitched a hissy fit when he started the job (three days late, mind you, when he swore he’d be there three days earlier), as far as showing up, interrupting our contractor when he was talking to another sub to demand his check (1/3rd of the total cost of his bid to get started), then made a huge production out of stomping off and leaving when the check wasn’t immediately there waiting for him.

And he’s pulling more of the same dramatic entrances and exits the last few days as the electricians finish up, as he doesn’t get his second draw until the rough inspection is done, so he’s stopping by the house 5 or 6 times a day, loudly talking about how broke he is, how he’d wish these damn electricians would hurry up so he can get paid, etc.

I try to let it amuse me more than annoy me, as it is kind of humorous to see a fifty year old man act like a five year old. Especially when he works in a trade where less scrupulous people than myself routinely drag out paying people like him for weeks and/or months at a time. Not that I’m unsympathetic to that, as I am, but until I personally do him dirty on a job, well, you know, please to be shutting the hell up and stop pissing off the people on the job trying to get things finished up.

We just got back the county property appraisals for 2009 for all our properties and it was good news, across the board. I’d been sweating it a little as our county appraisal district is apparently under pressure from the state to jack up property values across the board, after it was deemed that our county was well below par. But any worry was for naught, as our primary residence was the only one that showed any real increase in value, with two of the investment properties exactly the same as 2008, and the Wee House went up a whopping $100, to go from an appraised value of $4,500 to $4,600.

I must be failing mightily at this REI thing, purchasing and renovating a house at a cost of ~$32,000 that is appraised by the county at just $4,600. :) I’m obviously not complaining, but it does kind of baffle me as to why they bother at all, as they don’t seem to ever actually visit the properties, flag ones that have had building permits submitted, or anything like that.

In other completely random news, my wife quit her job about a month ago, so we’ve been experiencing the joys of being a single income household for the last month or so. It’s a temporary thing, as she was sick of her job and had been taking certification classes to become a teacher (and is looking for part time/full time work in the meantime as well until she’s actually teaching), but it’s actually been good as far as giving us a nudge in other areas.

It wasn’t great timing as far as the money I’m sinking into the renovation of the Creek house, so I finally got my butt in gear as far as cutting some expenses that needed cutting, the biggest of which has been cooking meals at home and taking my lunch to work. It’s pretty amazing, really, as far as how much money we’ve been saving by not both stopping for breakfast tacos on the way to work, both eating out at lunch, eating out/fast food for dinner, rinse and repeat, over and over and over. Not to mention that we’ve been eating infinitely more healthy, as I tend to cook pretty simple meals heavy on the chicken and steamed vegetables, pasta, etc.

In a backwards way, it’s actually encouraging as far as giving the REI thing a shot as my full-time job in the not-too-distant future, as it hasn’t been too painful getting by on just one traditional salary, so hopefully once my wife is gainfully employed again I can get more serious about ditching the day job.

I gave into curiosity last week and bought one of these, which arrived yesterday:

I’d read about the resurgence of manual push reel mowers somewhere or other online, with devotees claiming that the newer models did a great job, but I definitely had my doubts. The model I got is a Scott’s 20″ reel mower, which I found for $120 (shipping included) on ebay, and I have to admit I was pretty dang impressed. The thing only weighs about 30 pounds and takes all of ten minutes to assemble (just bolting the handle together) and you’re ready to roll. It won’t cut super close so if you’re into the immaculate ultra-short putting green look you’ll be disappointed, but I was suprisingly pleased with how close and evenly it cut, without a ton of pushing effort. I don’t know that I’ll use it regularly on our pretty huge yard, but the portability factor of it is pretty awesome, and I can definitely see myself using it to keep the front yard of an investment property nice and tidy.