Current Condition; Chrysler Building; Outside Stuff: picking up debris, raking, tarpaulin for metal shed, deposing of bird baths, stacking bricks, throwing out the old dining table; New front door; Taxes

I don't feel as bad. Buy I do feel very, very tired. I was able to sleep on and off during the day. I just had a slice of lightly-toasted French and a glass of iced tea.

Also, the world seems to have a slight sepia tint to it. I've encountered this several times over the years, but I have no explanation for it.

At Sunday lunch, my fellow diner mentioned my entry on finding a replica of the Chrysler Building made of steel mesh at Target's. They also had ones in a similar style for the Empire State Building and the Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster. He mentioned that as a kid, he had a kit that would be made into a model of the Chrysler Building.

There was a nearby Target's, so we zipped by, but they only had the Chrysler Building and Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster. I opted to buy the Clock Tower.

I checked the tiny label for information and discovered that the official name is "doodles architectural statue." They have a colorful, trendy website at Design Ideas - We Make Things Interesting.

If you wander around for a while, you might find "Signature Gifts," where you'll see replicas of the U.S. Capitol; Big Ben (wrong, wrong, wrong), it's the Clock Tower, Palace of Westminster; Tower of Pisa; Sears Tower; and the World Trade Center. The prices I paid at Target's were $15 per item. The one comparable item, on the web site, the Clock Tower, was $37.50.

Odd that I don't see the Chrysler Building or the Empire State Building. And it seems like the first I looked at this page, there was a version of the Taj Mahal.

This is one of those web sites that I don't care for. I don't like sites where you have to register. It's a colorful site, but the depth of merchandise is limited. Finding what you want is difficult; how would I know the replicas of famous landmarks is under "Signature Gifts."

Within the last two weeks, I've done a number of the outside chores.

Picking up debris is always number 1. I've been over the front several times and wandered into the back once or twice.

I raked the area between my drive and the north property line. I don't think that grass will ever grow in that area. It's in shade most of the day. And I vaguely remember that at one point, it was covered with gravel to make an extra parking place.

At some point, I tried to refurbish the metal shed by covering the top with a large, inexpensive piece of plastic. This worked fine, until I tried to straighten it, and it ripped in half. I bought a 10 x 16 piece of tarpaulin which is much sturdier. I also picked up some plastic clips that I've used on the north and south sides. I can't decide what type of clamps I'll need for the other two sides.

To the west of the shed were a pile of bricks and three bird bath supports and two basins. The third was filled with water and cracked during a freeze. These were ceramic and fairly heavy. About 15 minutes after placing them at the curb to be picked up by a passerby or the trash removal crew, the lady next door visits and wants to know if she can have them. I warn her they were fairly heavy, and she said she would send someone with a dolly. I noticed that she then drove off. And a few minutes later, I headed for lunch.

I also stacked the bricks in several neat towers.

When I return the supports and basins were gone. About an hour later the daughter of the lady next door showed up trying to figure out there the items were. Well. obviously, a greedy passerby grabbed them first. Which only goes to show that the early worm catches the bird bath.

As you may recall, I had an oak dining table with two extensions and a gated section at each end. Alas, the cats had a habit of jumping on the table with a considerable amount of force. So one day, the table collapsed. I looked at it very carefully but could not figure out how the accordion woodwork for the two extensions could be repaired. I think several pieces of the wood splintered. I left it up for several years leaning against the living room wall at the previous house. When I brought it out here, I placed it on the carport.

I finally decided I was going to have to do something with it. It was in about 20 different pieces. It appeared that the top was from one piece of furniture and the legs from another. I knew it would not be worth repairing, so I decided to throw it out. With hammer and screwdriver, I began the process of deconstruction. As I did I now noticed that the base of the table obviously had come from several sources. So the nice people, I bought it from, had taken a piecemeal set of parts and created a dining table. CRAP! By the way, these were people I thought I could trust. However, a period came in which one of the members was very critical and judgmental of anything I did. At that point, I decided it would be a good time to move along.

For months, I've trying to decide what to do with the front door. The inside door is hollow with only a key-in-the-knob lock. And sometimes, it does not even close properly. The outside door is an ordinary screen door with a single shutter in the middle - white on the outside, and yellow on the inside. I've never seen another door like it. It may have been something that common in the late 50s. You could open the inner door, but no one could see in because of the shutter. Yet, you had great air flow via your attic fan.

Trying to replace it is a lost cause, so into the trash it will go. Monday I stopped at Lowe's and looked again at their doors. Originally, I thought of one similar to the kitchen patio door which has a half-moon window at the top of plain glass. Except in this case, the window would be leaded glass. But as I looked I decided on one that has a narrow central panel of leaded glass.

I'd been reading a little about security, and what I read said the door should have a solid core panel. The clerk said they all did. I happened to think back to the kitchen door I had installed on Woodbury. It had a metal casing and looked sturdy. But then one day, I went to install a peep hole, and the second the drill hit the metal, styrofoam flakes began slipping out. So the under handed, fuckers who worked on the house bought an inside story and stuck it on the outside, and, no doubt, charged me three times the cost.

The carpenter was to call me three days from Monday to set up a time to look at the situation. But I've felt so terrible that I've unplugged the phone.

I did my federal taxes last week, and I think, I'll get back a few schekels. "Yahoo answer" has a section devoted to supplying information about questions. Since I couldn't remember how to spell schekels, I looked it up at Firefox. Here's the answer to the question, "What can I buy with 10,000 schekels?" The answer is an utter delight "At least two rabbits, one hamster and a giant sized Mars bar - I have them ready if you want to deal."

I need to look at my state income tax, my initial impression is that because I received a retirement check from the state, no state taxes are withdrawn.