Home invasion. Chipmunks

It was a fine warm sunny day.  Working on the bathroom, going in and out, we left the door open for a while.  Thinking that Stupid Beast, pictured here, would be on guard.
Not a chance.  Turned around and there was a chipmunk, in the kitchen, checking out the cat's dish.  I guess chipmunks are OK with catfood.
Stupid Beast just sat there, chipmunk in plain sight, and did nothing. 
Unworthy of the name of cat.

Tax Hikes

I'm watching Meet the Press, my usual Sunday morning fair.  They get to the talking head part of the show and I hear the democratic mayor of Atlanta, GA say "We cannot have a budget deal without a revenue increase."
In other words, I want a tax hike no matter what.  And I don't want to cut anything.  Just jack up the taxes to meet the bills.

The bathroom tile project moves forward.

In the top photo we have the rotted studs and window sill removed and replaced with fresh new 2 by 4s. 

Next we have installed insulation. Extruded foam board, a two inch piece and a one inch piece to completely fill the space between the 2 by 4 studs.  The foam board is held in lace with just friction, no glue.  This bit of exterior wall is now the best insulated wall in the house.

 And here we have the concrete board (Hardiebacker) up. The fit is pretty good if I do say so my self. 

And finally, the tile goes up.  Had to buy a carbide hole saw to cut the holes for the pipes.  Rented a tile saw to cut the fractional tile pieces. 

Still to do.  Grout the tile and make a new window casing.  We started this job on Monday and got the tile up on Friday. 

Actually, they hate our guts.

The Obama administration has been attempting to blame that anti- Islam movie for the violence against US embassies and the slaying of a US ambassador.  Why?
  Could the real reason be, that they just plain hate our guts? And the movie has nothing to do with it?  Which is an uncomfortable thought for any American, be they leftists or rightists. 
   To avoid such uncomfortable thoughts, the administration is peddling the idea that it's all the fault of some nasty hate thought thinking California movie makers.  Just suppress all such thought crimes and the world will be a better place.  And Republicans will stop asking inconvenient questions about US foreign policy.

Things you learn tiling bathrooms

Putting up the backer board for the new tile.  In the old days they used plain old drywall, but, when a leak in the tile lets water thru the tile and into the drywall, it becomes wetwall and just dissolves.   This job is being done with state-of-the-art  Hardiebacker pure concrete board.  It's so waterproof you can immerse it in water for 20 years without trouble. 
  Being pure concrete, how do you cut it?  Two ways.  Score it with a box cutter knife and snap it.  Or cut it with a diamond blade in a skilsaw.  Score and snap is the way to go for most cuts.  For real thin cuts, you gotta use the saw.  Seven inch diamond blade was cheaper than you might think, only $13 at the local Big Box.  Use the skilsaw out of doors, it makes a dense cloud of cement saw dust that is nasty stuff to clean up.  Bad for the lungs too.    Holes for pipes get cut with an ordinary hole saw in an electric drill. 

Battle Cry, Movie based upon Leon Uris Novel

It's in Technicolor, it's made in 1955.  I rented it largely to see how things came out.  I started reading the novel way back when (grade school) and the folks objected and made the paperback disappear.  They figured I might learn bad language or something.  Anyhow I thought the flick would be a quick answer to "how-it-comes-out" for a book I never finished in childhood.
  It's the standard WWII movie, we follow the men leaving home, doing boot camp, and into combat.  Trouble is, the flick is just one long, long soap opera centering upon the love lives of our heroes.  They fall in love, some of 'em get married, others get Dear Johnned.  The romantic entanglements are right out of "Days of our Lives" or any other TV soap.  We the audience can guess how it's going to turn out long before anything happens on screen.
   They do get into combat.  We see they marching in formation down the dock to board ship.  And after a very brief and bloodless fight, they are back on board ship heading back to New Zealand to pick up the romances where they left off. 

Bathroom Tile Project

 The bathroom.  The tile around the shower had been getting soft for years.  Two or three go rounds with silicone bathtub caulk hadn't done much.  Crud and water was dripping downstairs.  Time to do some thing about it.
  Step A is getting the old tile out.  This is youngest son, Jonathan, going at it
This is the original tile that came with the house in 1962.  The insulation batts are fiberglass and original too.  They are in fair shape considering their age and the water that has leaked onto them over the years.
 

 Water leaking behind the tile has done a number on the studs.  We flushed out a big carpenter ant's nest when we pulled out the last piece of soggy dry wall.  Concrete board or blue board hadn't been inventing in 1962, the tile was laid on plain old paper covered drywall. 
  When the ant's were discovered, I handed Jon a can of bug bomb.  "But this says for flying insects" he objected.   "Give it to 'em anyhow."
And the ants curled up and died in a very satisfactory fashion.

Whacking old tile.