It's brighter in here...

The last couple of weeks have been truly interesting. I’ve re-read my previous entry and realized that my mild depression of traveling may have been the result of me being extremely sick. For the month of September and October I had been getting my blood pressure reading done by the company nurse. The results were extremely high for both months (145/97 average). I had been concerned that I would be required to take medication to regulate my blood pressure issues. During the week of Halloween, about three weeks ago, I was having extreme back pains and a low grade fever (100.8 °F) so I went to the doctors. I was diagnosed with a kidney infection. For first week of November, I was laid up in bed doing absolutely nothing.

Since I was unable to do anything, I decide to contact someone to rake the leaves in the yard. Last year a landscape company own by a young gentleman had raked the leaves for about $150 for the entire yard. I had contacted him once again, but he had increased his rate to $350 for my yard. Soooo, towards the end of that week I began to feel a little better and went outside to rake leaves. My strength level was still low but I was able to fill 36 of the 30 gallon ecologically friendly bags (brown paper bags). I was extremely weak after doing the leaves, but I could not bring myself to pay that amount of money.

I was limited from doing anything else around the house. But, I am happy to report that as of last Friday, my kidney infection has subsided and my blood pressure dropped back to normal (135/70). The doctor thinks that my high blood pressure may have been the result of having kidney issue since September. The doctor is not sure what may have caused me to have the kidney problem. But, I’m just happy that my health is back to normal. Also for good measure, a cup of cranberry juice has been added to my daily liquid intake...

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the back yard

Here is a picture of the missing trees that I promised a couple of entries ago.

So with that completed, I started the weekend with finishing the workout room. I began by moving the radiator out of the way. Yes I said it, I move the radiator… This time I did employ the proper lifting techniques to move the radiator. It would appear that the radiator never operated due to the damaged valve. This could explain for all of the dust bunnies trapped within the ribs.

After cleaning the radiator I installed the rest of the plywood. I had to cut the plywood to clear the wall and also the radiator valve. After completing the plywood installation, I continued the process of installing the laminate flooring.

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed room…

Here is a picture of the room prior to moving the radiator

The floor with the new plywood

Here is a picture of the new floor...

Now, I need the plumber to install the new valve and radiator. But I’ll be contacting him after I install the hardwood flooring in the front hallway. But time to move onto another project.

While doing stuff around the basement, I realized that the lighting was pretty dreary. It was difficult to see things around the basement with the lighting. The pull string light fixtures were of a white porcelain material that would get extremely hot when turned on. Several months ago I had purchased a couple of shop lights which have been collecting dust in the basement. I figured it would be a good time to finally install them.

Prior to installing the shop lights, I had to replace the porcelain light fixtures with outlets. However, I had to install new junction boxes for the outlets. Here are a couple of pictures showing the new shop lights.

The light fixture in this picture didn't work. The pull string was missing.

Here is a picture of the new outlet for the shop lights.

I plan on getting some more shop lights for the basement. With the new shop lights installed, I’m starting to realize how filthy and cluttered the basement really is. So in the future, the new lights will help in the cleaning and organizing of the basement. However, next on the “honey do list” is to finish the living room. Anyway, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving… Please be safe and enjoy the holidays. Until next time, happy building...