Winterizing & Smoking Loon

It's that time of year when I start drinking the "warmer" wines such as Merlot & Cabernet. This cold weekend was no exception as I got a bottle of Smoking Loon Merlot and helped do a few winterizing jobs. One that included putting caulk around windows or some such activity. Makes for a nice still life, wouldn't you say? Although it was probably good that I wasn't physically manning the caulking gun since I was having some of the grape!!

It has been and will continue to be an active weekend as we also are preparing for SO's departing for Oman on Wednesday. So he is trying to get all the little odds and ends tied up that usually get put off. One of those jobs was changing the various fluorescent lightbulbs that we have around the house.

Years ago, when his family moved their tavern from one location to another, SO got the idea to take several of the large light fixtures and bring them home to hang in various locations. He installed 3 in the basement so we have great lighting down there and one above the basement stairs and the last fixture he put on the kitchen ceiling and built an attractive wood thing around it etc.

Well, the kitchen needed new bulbs and naturally the VERY hard to reach fixture over the basement stairs. This made me very nervous as SO tried to stand on one step and reach across with his other leg and balance, somewhat precariously, on the edge of a shelf that one can reach as you descend the stairs. A reach of several feet. I was most certainly opposed to this type of activity, but he proceeded as I held the back of his shirt in case his shoe slipped off the edge of the shelf. Although I had visions of his shirt coming off and him still flying down the steps. Made me very uncomfortable indeed.

Well, it was still a very difficult reach and the first bulb went in, somewhat, by the way did I mention that these bulbs are about 4 feet long and not easy to manuver with one hand? So, it was decided that he would go out and get a ladder from the neighbor. This guy has one of those metal ladders that bends in 6 gazillion directions.

SO brought it in and as I sipped some more of the Smoking Loon we both looked at this ladder and tried to figure out what pieces parts to push and pull to make it go the way he wanted to make it stand on the steps and reach the fixture. I suggested looking at the pictures on the side, but I guess that is not what you guys do. You just like to mess with these contraptions and eventually get it right.

Ah, success!! The ladder is on two different steps, and I presume locked into position, and we are ready to try again. Although I am still not too confident that this will still not slide or slip off of a step I sit at the top step and grasp the ladder to keep it from falling. It was a long way down and I am not quite ready to have to adminiater CPR!! I unwillingly let go and get the bulbs and hand them up. Finally...... let there be light!!! Bulb changing success!!!!

Ladder returned, again as we try to close it up without pinching any fingers in the process, I again return to the lovely merlot. Several projects completed and a sense of accomplishment. Now Sunday has arrived and another list is looming. Smoke detector batteries, flashlights in working order and furnace filters. The nice thing about Tivo is that SO won't have to miss any football. He can watch it later. I will be having the rest of that Smoking Loon.