February Vacation 2015, Day 2

I'm exhausted and so the evening will probably be spent crocheting while watching The Waltons or Little House on the Prairie or maybe a movie. Before I get into why I am exhausted, I'll start at the beginning of the day. I spent a big part of the morning doing online shopping into what products I need and where to buy them. I was planning on buying the DRIcore (subflooring for basements) at Lowes because their price was the cheapest. However, their price had gone up since the last time I looked online, so I ended up deciding to go to Home Depot as their price is now the cheapest and it is a lot closer and easier to get to. I was going to do the "buy online, pick up in the store" thing, but do you have any idea what a bewildering array of corner bead they have? My ex had told me not to get the paper covered stuff as it's harder to work with. Yes, my ex-husband is my consultant of choice for all things construction-related. He spent many years working in construction before he got into truck driving. However, in spite of having numerous selections online, they were all the paper-covered variety. Different angles, different widths, different lengths, offset, even leg (corner bead has legs???). I tried calling my ex for advice, but he didn't answer. So I called the store and found out that they actually have the all metal corner bead in the store. And it's cheaper than the paper covered stuff. I also found out that the person at the contractor's desk knows less than my ex-husband. I'm going to tell him that if he ever decides he wants to retire from trucking, but still earn a little money, he should apply at Home Depot. He'd probably be more help than most people there. Since at least the corner bead that I wanted was not online, I decided to forget the "pay online, pick up in store" thing and just go direct to the store. 
But back to my morning - I also spent some time posting the dinnerware I'm trying to sell on another site, coordinated a pickup for the man who bought my silk plant and left a message for the man who is buying my dog kennel, both items I've sold online. The man came for the silk plant before noon. After that, I was just trying to organize myself to go to the city when my niece's husband called and asked if I wanted to go for lunch. Since I hadn't eaten yet, I agreed to meet him at Subway and leave for the city from there. 
As most of you probably are aware, Home Depot is huge. At least I've never been in a small one. And staff aren't always easy to find. Nor are they always knowledgeable and helpful. I did not want to use screws to attach the corner bead. I want to use nails. Nails are much quicker and since it will also have mud holding it in place, I do not need the extra security that a screw can provide. The first staff member I talked to thought that was just weird. I had really hoped that my ex could have come with me for this shopping trip, but unfortunately he won't be home until next week. I'm going to have to program his new cell phone number into my cell phone because I could have really used his advice and expertise. Yes, I know some people think it's just weird that I can rely on him so much. Well, I spent 20 years with the guy and I know he's not all bad. He's not good husband material, but he does know construction. 
I have decided that next time I have to buy corner bead or anything else that's longer than me, I will not pick it up first. Home Depot may have nice wide aisles, but it's still hard to maneuver around with 8' sections of corner bead. I was afraid I was going to impale someone. I actually tried to put one of my gloves on the end of the corner bead so that it woudn't hurt so much if I hit someone with it, but the glove refused to stay on. Oh no, as I'm typing this, I just realized something: because I had the number '8' as in 8 foot in my head regarding corner bead, I bought 8 sections when I needed to buy 9! Oh well, they've probably got it at my local building supply place. It might be a little more expensive, but not as expensive as driving all the way back to the city. 
So I got the nails, drywall mud, dust masks, tin snips to cut the corner bead, sandpaper (coarse to sand the already painted walls so that the mud and new paint will adhere and finer to sand the dried mud), a flooring instalation kit, a larger tapping block than the one that's in the kit, DRIcore levelling kits and anything else I don't remember. And the DRIcore, of course. 70 sheets of it, each weighing 7.5 lb. according to the DRIcore website. Home Depot rounds it up to 8 lb. Either way, I'm glad I didn't know the weight before I loaded and unloaded it. I did get help loading it on the truck at the store and jokingly asked my helper if he wanted to come home with me and help unload it. Back home, I had to unload it all myself. I decided to do it in two stages: first, get it all into the entryway, and second, take it down to the basement. I only got the first stage done. I decided to carry 7 panels at a time. That's 52.5 pounds each trip for 10 trips and a total of 525 pounds. And that's why I'm exhausted and the DRIcore is still sitting in my entryway. It can stay there for now. The cats can get through to the basement and I can squeeze through as well. And that's all that matters since no one else lives here. Somehow I didn't feel like I was carrying over 50 pounds each time. A 20 kg bag of kitty litter - that's 44 pounds - is about my limit, and I didn't think I was carrying as much as that. Which begs the question: which is heavier: 50 pounds of kitty litter or 50 pounds of DRIcore? Obviously, the form that weight comes in can make it seem heavier or lighter. When I checked online and found out that each panel weighs 7.5 lb, I was dumbfounded. I figured there had to be some mistake because I couldn't believe I was carrying that much. 
While I was carrying all those panels in, I had the door propped open and the cats decided to check out the weather. I try to keep them indoors after having to pay for vet bills a couple of times when neighbourhood cats tried to take a round out of my Mystery. After an eye injury and I realized that he could have lost his eye, I decided that was enough and I wasn't going to take those risks any more and started keeping them indoors all the time. Most of the time, they don't seem to mind too much, but the weather was quite nice, -3C, and with the door propped open, the temptation was too great for them to resist. Mystery had had enough before I even finished bringing in the DRicore, but Tinker went out shortly before I finished and stayed out for awhile after I was done. But it wasn't long before she was at the door waiting to come in. After spending all of the time in a heated house, even -3 can feel pretty cold. 
While I was sitting here typing this, the man buying my dog kennel called. He's one of those people who just calls numbers because they're on his call display. He didn't bother to see if I'd left him a voice mail first. And since he didn't recognize my number, he wanted to know who I was and why I was calling. I don't understand why people don't listen to their voice mail. And if someoned didn't leave them a message, then you don't need to call back. And if they did, you don't need to make a rude phone call demanding to know who the person is and why she called you because you already know since you were intelligent enough to listen to your voice mail first. I get that at work sometimes. People will just call and say, "Somebody from there called me." This in a building that has 50+ people working on any given day. And unfortunately, the receptionist often transfers it to our department. I don't really know why. Maybe she just figures that home care is the most likely department to have called someone. Or maybe the caller thinks it was probably home care that called them. But it could have been anyone and it is really annoying. What makes people so obsessive that they have to return the call to every number in their call display? I've often been tempted to ask them if they call back the telemarketers. I actually had one woman call our work number because it came up on her call display. So I asked her if whoever called left a voicemail, and if not, then it must not have been that important. She said haughtily that I should tell all my coworkers that they should at least leave a message that it was a wrong number. I refrained from telling her that maybe she needed to stop returning every call that came on her call display. 
Here's a shot of the DRIcore sitting in my entryway:

The DRIcore website says to use either a jigsaw or a circular saw. I was going to opt for the jigsaw since it's lighter weight, but asked at the store (and confirmed with my ex) and was told that the circular saw would be better because it would give a more stable cut. So I think I will get a new blade. I actually have two circular saws that I bought at auction sales - one has a rechargeable battery and the other one has a plug. I'm not sure which one I'll use yet as I have never used either. But back to the DRIcore: the black plastic side goes down against the concrete. It's not solid to allow for air circulation and evaporation of any moisture. You'll notice that there's a defect in the plastic on the top left one. It's an opening which will leave the wood exposed to moisture from below. That one will have to go back. I haven't looked at all of them yet to see if there are any more defects. That can wait until I start installing. On the right you can see the space where I can squeeze through to the basement. 
Regarding the actual flooring, I originally intended to install laminate, but when I did more research I found that laminate is not advised for basements, particularly ones that get damp. And mine does. So I decided on a floating vinyl floor. I don't want to use adhesive, so will buy "click and lock" vinyl planks or tiles. I called one place that had advertised some reasonable prices but found out it was for ones that had to be glued down. So, the flooring will end up costing me more than I had originally planned on. It doesn't look like I will be moving my light fixtures at this time. Unless I cover some more "on call" for the other nurses. 
And still no buyer for my dinnerware. I've had some interest but no one committed to buy. And really I'd like it out of my living room. 
And I saw Thumper twice today. He was around in the side yard in the morning and he was still there (or there again) when I got home from the city today. But I probably haven't told you about Thumper and Bambi. I'm not sure if it was the first or second winter I lived here that I noticed deer tracks in the snow around my property. And I found out deer like mountain ash berries. There had been a lot of snow cover that year so she probably wasn't getting good grazing outside of town, so she (small prints, so I assume it's female) had obviously been helping herself to the good eats at Laura's place. I have a Mountain Ash in the front yard. I occasionally see her prints during the winter, but I've never seen her. This winter (actually I think it was late fall, but we already had snow on the ground), I saw a rabbit/hare crossing the road in front of my place and head up my driveway. I was on my way home from work and turned into the driveway with care so I didn't hit him, and he hopped off into the side yard. He has made himself very much at home at my place as I see rabbit trails all over my property and lots of droppings (when they're not covered with snow) in the side yard. The deer has also been in the side yard, so this time I figure they're feasting on the crabapples from the tree there. Naturally, with both a deer and a rabbit, they became Bambi and Thumper. If they were actually pets, I probably would have come up with more original names, but these are wild creatures and will stay wild. And while I appreciate having them enjoy my yard, I have no intention of making pets of them, so it's not like I'm ever going to be calling them by name to their faces. However, since they seem to be so much at home in my yard, especially Thumper, I'm beginning to wonder about the advisability of my plans to plant a vegetable garden this year. And if Thumper turns out to be a girl bunny, I could end up with a whole bunch of Thumpers living in my yard. Maybe I should plant two gardens: one for Thumper and one for me. 
Now I'm off to Walton's Mountain, or maybe Walnut Grove.