Unutterably Silly So what are you doing RIGHT NOW?

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Rumpelteazer

In four weeks time he and my father are meeting again to iron out the details. That week it's two years ago that the fire broke out. Hopefully everybody can agree enough to resolve it. After that I don't want to see my uncle ever again. It feels like my life has been on hold for two years. It'll be strange when/if everything is resolved. But until then I'm only hoping and not counting on it.

Good luck, Bianca. Family strife can really be a heartbreaker. We can pick our friends, but we can't pick our family. My brother and I haven't spoken a word in over 15 years.

It's sad when we realize that although they are 'family,' we don't want to be associated with them any longer. We feel that we 'should,' because they are family, but people are people. There are ones we want to be around and ones we want to avoid. The label 'family' doesn't change that. It just makes it sad...


Stitchawl

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Good luck, Bianca. Family strife can really be a heartbreaker. We can pick our friends, but we can't pick our family. My brother and I haven't spoken a word in over 15 years.

It's sad when we realize that although they are 'family,' we don't want to be associated with them any longer. We feel that we 'should,' because they are family, but people are people. There are ones we want to be around and ones we want to avoid. The label 'family' doesn't change that. It just makes it sad...


Stitchawl

Thank you.

Even before this all started I had taken the decision that I wanted as little to do with my uncle as possible. He's only friendly to you when he wants or needs something of you. He's arrogant and looks down on other people. He's also extremely jealous of my father and aunt; according to him my grand parents always put them over him. Which is kinda true, but only because of his behaviour. He's always looked down on the family business (started by my great grandfather), my father followed in my grandfather's footsteps and took over store, he never showed any interest in it.

This behaviour is also the root of all the problems. But now he realizes he's got his back against the wall. My aunt is now on our side, the judges has ruled in our favour in one case and in the other the judge, before sending my father and uncle to mediation, asked some very difficult questions and my uncles answers didn't satisfy him.

As I said, the details need to be hammered out. That won't happen for another month. You never know if my uncle's got a trick up his sleeve, but chances are very slim at the moment.

[Stitchawl]

More than likely your uncle will feel that you 'hate' him. I know my brother feels that I hate him. But in fact, I don't. Not at all. I simply don't like him and don't want to have anything to do with him. He's not a person with whom I wish to associate, despite familiar ties. Many people will say that we 'must' make allowances because they are 'family.' I disagree. There are people with whom I wish to be friends and people I do not want in my life. We only have one life, and we get to choose who we want in it. That's based on character and behavior, not on genetics.


Stitchawl

[Rumpelteazer]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

More than likely your uncle will feel that you 'hate' him.

I'm not sure if he cares, since he's always felt a lot better than us. But at the moment, after two years of detestable behaviour we do hate him. But we also realize he's pathetic, because of his behaviour he hardly has any real friends.

Today we finally tackled the ceiling in the livingroom. It was still dirty from the fire (and my mother's smoking), with spots where wet soot had gathered. Today we cleaned it and on Sunday it's going to be painted. My father and sister were on the rolling scaffolding cleaning the ceiling and I handed them and rinsed the rags they used. My neck is sore from looking up and I have a headache from the sticky water in the buckets. I'm awaiting my turn to take a shower and I'll use the showergel with the most powerful smell I can find to get the sooty smell off me.

[Wearever]

Hi Rumpleteazer, Even though you're cleaning up after cleaning the ceiling. You & your family sound very sweet

Your Uncle is clearly the black sheep in your family, and it is truly his loss. I hope one day he can see what he has lost, and perhaps make amends to you.

Like the Poet, Robert Frost has said " Family is the one place, where they have to take you in " Sadly some make that very difficult indeed. I hope it all works out for you.

[Bilbo1967]

At work right now, in our London office, but looking forward to a weekend in London with Mrs B and my younger son. They're coming down on the train this evening and I'll meet them at the station and we're stopping in a flat that the company has in London for a couple of nights.

Planning to meet up with some old friends and do some touristy stuff!

[Stitchawl]

Tying a 13 lead/4 bight Turks head knot around a new salt shaker.


Stitchawl

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Tying a 13 lead/4 bight Turks head knott around a new salt shaker.


Stitchawl

Thanks, Stitch. That looks too complicated (like, where in that process, do you actually insert the salt shaker?) BUT that page led me to a few videos for a simple paracord bracelet which I was going to finally get around to doing this weekend. So the videos will help.

Only, I'm doing it with some elastic cord, rather than paracord. So who knows whether it will actually work out. Or how I'll manage to tie off and seal it, at the end of the project.

I need the elastic cord because, instead of a buckle, I have a metal plate which will have some medical allergy information. So the elastic will allow me to put the bracelet on, since the metal plate has no release buckle. We'll see if the whole concept works out, anyway.

bgDeb

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Thanks, Stitch. That looks too complicated (like, where in that process, do you actually insert the salt shaker?)

After the knot is tied, but not snugged up, the tube is removed and the salt shaker inserted. THEN the long process of snugging up each winding begins. That takes longer than actually tying the knot!

There are much better videos on YouTube for tying Turks Head knots, but I chose that one simply because it showed the knot mostly completed. I used this one to learn, and made my own peg board.

Only, I'm doing it with some elastic cord, rather than paracord. So who knows whether it will actually work out. Or how I'll manage to tie off and seal it, at the end of the project.

There is a product called "Fletch-tite" sold in Archery supply stores (Sporting Goods shops) that will work for bonding bungee cord type things. It's a strong but very flexible glue made for attaching fletching (feathers?) to arrows, and when it dries, is not uncomfortable against the skin. Another choice would be Sugru which you can mix colors to match the cord, but is less flexible though just as strong.


Stitchawl

[badgoodDeb]

Thanks! I thought you might have some suggestions.

[Rumpelteazer]

The ceiling has been painted, mostly. We ran out of paint and couldn't do the last section. But we still need to do the kitchen, so when we're going to do that we can paint the last bit of the livingroom ceiling, too.

I couldn't help out as much as on Thursday. Just refill the paint trays every once in a while, fetch things and help move things when needed.

It looks great, a nice fresh off-white colour. The only problem now is that the walls look horrible (the ceiling was a lot worse after the fire than the walls). But those needed to be re-wallpapered anyway.

[Bilbo1967]

Not long back from London. Had a happy two days doing the tourist thing with some old friends who live down that way.

Visited the Globe Theatre and then went up to the 35th storey Sky Garden in the Walkie Talkie Tower in the city of London. Great views from up there! Meal in a nearby restaurant and then took a walk to Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and Buckingham Palace. Today, we visited the Natural History Museum before travelling home.

Great weekend, but I'm exhausted now!

[poohbear_nc]

Just got done loading another batch of branches into the yard waste trash cart - whittling away at the pile accumulated during the winter's last snowstorm - that dumped incredibly heavy wet snow - which broke/damaged a lot of branches on our pine & juniper trees.

Had to be a bit more careful - wear Wellies & use a grass whip to pull apart the pile - have seen some snakes - not close enough to see if they're copperheads or corn snakes - so caution is called for.

[cromag]

Rebounding.

Spent Thursday and Friday on the road, picking up my son and (partially) moving him out of his apartment (he'll be back for the summer in a few weeks). Friday night into Saturday I slept for eleven hours straight.

Having tea and catching up on things right now, but I just got a "last minute" call that my Dad needs a ride to an eye doctor tomorrow morning. It'll be a couple long rides in heavy traffic, on highways in the NYC area, but at least not rush hour! And, my son and I were planning on getting up to see them this week, so we'll kill two birds with one stone.

And I can resume rebounding and decompressing on Tuesday. (As far as I know right now.)

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Just got done loading another batch of branches into the yard waste trash cart - whittling away at the pile accumulated during the winter's last snowstorm - that dumped incredibly heavy wet snow - which broke/damaged a lot of branches on our pine & juniper trees.

Had to be a bit more careful - wear Wellies & use a grass whip to pull apart the pile - have seen some snakes - not close enough to see if they're copperheads or corn snakes - so caution is called for.

Not sure if I'd trust Wellingtons to be be snake-proof. I would think that a snake might be able to bite through them. It's good to be cautious, though. Snakes that you see won't hurt you. It's the ones you don't see that pose the problem. I once saw a water moccasin beside a lake. When it saw me, it immediately slithered under a large rock. Wanting a closer look, I lifted the rock by one edge to reveal not one, but two off the little beauties. Then I realized I had created a dilemma. If I let go of the rock, I risked injuring the creatures, but if I didn't, I was at their mercy. Fortunately the snakes provided their own solution by quickly slithering into the water. What passes for conventional wisdom by folks who haven't studied cottonmouths is that they are extremely aggressive snakes who will attack without provocation. The truth is that if you don't molest them, they won't bother you. Of course, some are quicker to bite then others when they perceive a threat, and both cottonmouths and copperheads fall into that category.