The WPA...

If you said, "Works Progress Administration" or "Work Projects Administration" you get 25 bonus points.  For any whippersnappers who didn't study history or haven't been to any of the numerous National Parks and other public places that benefited from this program, the WPA was established to put Americans back to work during the Great Depression.  It was mostly unskilled labor building trails, bridges, roads, buildings, and other infrastructure.  There was no Welfare, so this gave Americans who were out of work the opportunity to earn a wage.

We have a program like that in our household of two and a cat.  Yes, there is our sweet daughter, but she is out on her own.  And Izzy falls under the "royalty exclusion": she is a little princess and as such, her duties are mostly ceremonial.  In return, she gets all meals and other needs attended to.  For the other two of us, "work projects" are required.

Don't get me wrong, I am not worked to the bone.  In fact, I consider myself mostly a "man of leisure."  (Also known as: a trophy husband.)  But frequently, there are projects doled out.  Infrastructure projects.  You may have seen the door locks/knobs of two days ago.  Yesterday was the Great Smart Thermometer Undertaking.  Today was more manual labor: one of us wanted to remove the glass from our storm door, remove the sunscreen film, and replace it with new darker sunscreen film.  That has the look of a 2-day project.  The other of us took the easier projects of dealing with the generator and putting away the un-used stand-up paddleboard.

The generator needed to have Sta-bil run through it, then drain the carburetor and float bowl, then siphon the gas out of it.  Pretty straight forward, and other than having to lift it and smell like gas, it wasn't that much of a chore.

You would think letting the air out of a stand-up paddleboard, rolling it up, and putting it in its bag would be simple.  You would be mistaken.  I twisted the valve to let the air out while I was working on the generator... yes, I am all about the efficiency.  Going against mandom, I looked at the instructions for deflating the SUP: remove the main fin, open the valve, roll it first from the back to push any air out (the valve is in the front), then roll it from the front for storage.  Seems simple enough.

I went over the SUP with Clorox Wipes to remove any grime it had accumulated.  Removed the large center fin.  With the valve open, I rolled it from the rear to push the air out.  When I went to roll it up from the front, apparently there were air pockets hiding in the SUP, thwarting my roll-up efforts.  I started from the back again, pushing air out as I rolled.  Rolling from the front, more damn sneaky air.  This was obviously a three-person project, but I didn't dare take the Blonde away from her storm door sun film removal project.  Besides, I wasn't going to let some stupid inflatable SUP get the best of me.  Four tries later, and there was still too much air inside to let it roll up properly.  I considered cutting a large hole in the aft end of it to let air escape... only briefly, then I thought about having to later patch that hole.

On the seventh try, I somehow managed to get enough air out of it that it rolled up enough to fit in its carrying bag.  It is another cool day here in the Tropical Tip (the timing was planned for the storm door window film project).  I was sweating like a farm animal.  I'm a city kid, so I don't know if that is a valid statement, but I heard it used once.  And, I was sweating that much.

Joan was able to remove all the old sunscreen film and reinstalled the glass to be able to clean it and will let it dry overnight before taking on the new sunscreen film install.  She was doing her project on the deck, in the shade - I was on the dock, in the sun.  No way would I have wanted to take on her project, but I did notice there was no swearing coming from the deck (the same can't be said for the project occurring on the dock), and when I saw her, there was no sweating.


Today was chosen for these projects based on the predicted cool weather.  With the new smart thermostat and temperature/humidity probes in other rooms and out on the deck, I can attest to this morning's "cool."  It was 54º when I got up this morning.  Yes, there were days when we were in the San Juans that I rode my scooter to work when it was 54º.  If that were to happen here, I would be calling in and saying it is too cold to come to work.  Perspective.  It was a very comfortable 70º in the house, with no heat running... but Joan did turn on the portable fireplace for ambiance (not heat) this morning.  ;-)

We let it warm up into the mid-60s before taking on today's projects.

The storm glass is back in the door, awaiting the next step in the project...