how I spent my fall vacation

[arduinna]

As usual, this was meant to be an errands-and-chores vacation, with a big side of "and this year, I'm going to write my entire Yuletide story before Thanksgiving!!" determination.

Also as usual, most of that didn't happen. I've been so social in the last couple of months that mostly I just sat quietly in my silent apartment, doing I don't even know what, trying to decompress. I think I played a lot of solitaire, maybe watched some mindless tv. And I actually wound up working through some of it, because of a delayed project on a tight deadline, bah. But I did get some cleaning done, and a few errands run.

One of my chores was going to be "put plastic up over all the windows"; I have to do this every year, and while in theory it's not a big job, I don't like doing it, and always put it off as long as possible (or longer). Partly it's because once it's up, that's it: my house is sealed up for the winter, with little hope of fresh air till spring. But also it always takes longer than it should, and I just don't have it in me to spend an entire day going from window to window taking care of this (I have 10 windows that need the plastic). You're also supposed to do it before it gets frigid out, because if your window frame is too cold, the tape won't adhere properly. I got the two kitchen windows done early in the week, but then never got around to the rest - until Saturday, when I discovered that Sunday the temps were going to plummet, and we'd be having wind chills in the single digits. (And holy crap, they weren't kidding. Current wind chill is 8 F / -13.3 C. brr.)

So I'm still not done -- the living room is very drafty and cold right now -- but I did the bathroom, bedroom, and library yesterday afternoon. I can cope with needing blankets to watch tv or read; I can cope less with freezing in the shower, or waking up to an icy bedroom. So woo, go me. \o/

Yeah. I woke up today to the sounds of tearing plastic. Of course. Darien didn't even let the bedroom plastic alone for 24 hours; by the time I looked over there, he'd torn through it enough to climb inside and sit on the windowsill, happy as a furry orange clam.

So I hauled him out and dumped him on the floor. He jumped up and started for the plastic; I dumped him. We repeated this about four times and then he crouched doubtfully on the floor looking up at me while I taped up all the tears he'd made, and eventually he wandered off. Then I went to brush my teeth, cranky but resigned. Most years I at least get a few weeks of clear plastic before a cat goes all "FREEDOMMMM" on me. I start putting out food for the other cat, when I hear the unmistakable sound of more plastic tearing.

I go into the bedroom, and there's Dari, happily sitting inside the plastic on the window sill on the other, used-to-be-untorn side of the window.

I didn't get pictures of his first foray, because I literally started taping it up as soon as I got out of bed to chase him out. But I brought my phone when I heard him there again.





This plastic had been crystal clear for almost 24 hours. Dari did this in seconds..




So now his claws are trimmed way back -- which he hates, and which usually I don't have to do because he's really good about not using his claws inappropriately -- and I am staring grimly at a shoppping cart full of thermal curtains, with drapery rods to hang them on. Argh.

I've avoided these for years, because a) pricey, omg, even the cheap ones, when you figure I need to put them up over 8 of these windows (the kitchen's just going to have to be cool, I'm not putting anything heavy in there), and b) room-darkening, which I hate, because it gets so damn gloomy in here when I have dark curtains up. I'm on a busy road, both car and foot traffic, with neighbors barely a driveway's width apart on both sides, so I leave my blinds shut almost all the time, just counting on the light coming through them to keep things bright enough. So I've just done light-colored mini blinds with light sheers over them, and plastic for insulation. But clearly that is no longer enough. Beyond the obvious unwillingness to allow plastic insulation this year, both cats have destroyed one of my street-facing blinds in their determination to always be able to see out (never mind that I leave them a few inches at the bottom of almost every window; they want to sit on the back of my chair, and see out from that level on that window). Every time I fix it, one of them comes over and breaks it in a new spot. (Which is actually kind of hysterical. Annoying, but hysterical. Clearly they think this is the "compromise" we've "agreed on" -- they get this one particular window for a higher view, no matter what.)

This is why we can't have nice things, cats!

*listens to the other cat happily trying to pull the strainer out of the sink, sighs*

Oh well. If nothing else, all of this convinced me that this should be a day for a proper pot of tea, so here I sit with a teapot in a cozy (okay really just wrapped up in a towel), one of my mom's wedding-china teacups, and a sugar bowl and creamer on a salver, as civilized as can be.

... omg tactical error. *slaps paper towel and hand over creamer to keep Hobbes out of it*

First he tries gentle persuasion. "Pardon me, Mom, but your hand appears to be blocking my way to this delicious dairy product."



Then he goes a little nuts. "OMG MOM DAIRY, C'MOOOOOOON" (he didn't actually bite me; he just wanted to make sure he had my attention *g*)




My life, ladies and gentlemen.

Comments

[sakana17]

Yes, cats: why we can't have nice things!

Btw, I told talking_sock that I felt soooo guilty for being in the area when I was, because I'd read how you were exhausted from visitors. I was glad I got to see you, but I'm really sorry about the crappy timing! :(

[arduinna]

Oh, dude, no worries! I was really happy to see you (we all were) -- it was totally worth it. *g* I had fun with everything I was doing over the last couple of months! Just there was a lot more than usual, between family, friends, meeting new people, and work changing from "~1 meeting per month that I can lurk at" to "~2 meetings per week that I have to participate in".

I'm completely used to this sort of cycle in general; I call 'em hermit vacations for a reason. *g* As long as I know I can get some genuine downtime reasonably soon after a heavy bout of socializing, I'm totally good.

[ithildin]

This is why we can't have nice things, cats!

This.

Just got a new dining room set with metal legs, etc., and wooden seats -- no fabric anywhere! I'm now decorating to suit the cats, not me.

[arduinna]

No kidding! When I finally replaced my 30-year-old saggy awful couch, I went straight for the discount store. I couldn't even imagine paying the price for a good couch only to have the boys turn it into a scratching post.

It's a damn good thing they're cute, man.

[gwyn]

Bad, bad kitties!!!

I suppose there's no hope of getting the landlord to install thermal pane windows? I feel for you about the light aspect. We're having severe cold but sunshine (when we get sun in winter, it's always really cold), and I can't tell you how much of a difference it's made, being able to open window blinds and actually see. It's so fucking gloomy here in winter.

[arduinna]

I actually have one replacement window in my bedroom that they put in about 10 years ago, which is fab; on a warm winter day I can get a little fresh air in, even if I can't have a cross-breeze. But they're expensive, and my landlady doesn't have a lot of cash; they only replaced that one because the original window was basically falling out of the house. *g*

So I'm bummed about the darker aspect of things with darker, heavier curtains, but I don't see a lot of choice. And I ordered half of them in a light ivory, for two rooms; for the living room I went with grey, as it'll match my furniture better. It'll close the room in a little, but it might also make it feel a bit more finished than it does right now, now that I look at it and see how much the walls are all sort of this boring tone-on-tone expanse of off-white everywhere. We shall see! Fingers crossed for cozy instead of cramped. *g*

(I bet it will help that I've purged so much crap since the last time I had even slightly darker curtains than my current sheers. There used to be clutter and piles everywhere, and now there are mostly clear surfaces, which helps open things up.)

The one advantage to the curtains I bought is they have grommets, so they should slide pretty easily on the drapery rods. So if the sun's out, hopefully I can at least get some light in by sliding them around. (Usually I buy curtains to go on those budget pocket-rod things, where nothing really slides and the best you can hope for is a tieback that doesn't do much good.) It might actually be nice to have grommeted curtains that can be slid back so they punctuate the walls in color on bright days...

... I am turning into that person who talks about grommeted curtains.

argh, cold.

[talking_sock]

Your awful cat is still cute. I didn't ever think of this plastic trick. I'm currently freezing at my kitchen table, with some kind of draft from the bay window thingy. I made a thermal lined curtain for a window in my bedroom, but maybe i need to do it everywhere (yes, expense!).

I feel like I want a new countertop more than I want grommety stuff. Oh, house stuff.

Great to see you guys, too... I'd have you all over here but my living room isn't well set up for multi-fan viewing events, mutter.

Re: argh, cold.

[arduinna]

(More than you ever wanted to know about insulating windows without using curtains!)

The plastic makes a HUGE difference. You can get it at any hardware store, and it's a lot cheaper than thermal curtains (well, long run, it's not, because you need to buy new every year, but). They make multi-window packs, and Ace, at least, makes its own brand that costs less than the 3M kind. It's amazing that a piece of plastic that flimsy can provide that much insulation, but it really does. I can always tell, walking into my place, if the cats have sliced through some plastic somewhere, because the temperature difference is that noticeable.

(The cats always go through it. All the cats. Everywhere. You just need to keep tape on hand; it's not pretty, but it's effective. And until they go through, the plastic is basically entirely invisible.)

I have ancient windows that still have the rope sash cords connected to metal weights, which basically sit in these tall uninsulated holes running the length of the window, and which then open up into the window frame at the top. So a few years ago I took to also buying 2-inch-thich foam weather sealer, slicing it in half lengthwise, and sticking each half into the window channel to block as much cold and draft as possible. (Plus also some 1 1/4-inch ones, which I stuff as-is into the usually poor seals between top and bottom windows - nothing in my house is true at this point, so nothing closes properly.) This step is a pain the first time you buy the foam, because it's too thick to cut with scissors; you have to slice it down with a utility knife from both sides, then rip/slice it apart where those two cuts fail to meet in the middle. But once it's the right size, you can reuse the same pieces for several years until the foam starts to go bad.

The plastic itself really isn't hard; the proper way to do it is to clean all the window frames first and go over them with rubbing alcohol for a perfectly clean, good seal, but I gave up on that years ago. The paint on my windows is peeling and crappy, so washing just means I lose lots of paint. So I do overkill instead.

I put the tape from the package up, then put up plastic and cut off the extra around the edges, then before I blow-dry it taut, I go around the entire edge with 2-in wide weatherstrip tape. This helps take care of any spots where the double-sided tape isn't adhering tightly enough, and also cuts down on the amount of damage strong winds can do -- the double-sided tape can actually pull up off the windows just from air pressure. (The plastic sheets bell into the room in wind -- you can totally see them protecting you from bad drafts.) I also wind up putting the plastic up around some odd corners and whatnot, so an extra level of tape can only help.

That tape (and the narrower version you can also buy) is what I use to patch up the holes the cats rip in it, too.

All the plastic comes in unbroken sheets that you cut down to size as you go, so it doesn't matter if your windows aren't standard sizes. If your bay window is also very tall, you can get a package meant for the inside of patio doors.

Most people figure that you can't use your blinds once you put plastic up, unless you figure out a way to put the plastic underneath. This is mostly true! But it also drove me crazy, and one year I had a package that explained how to get around it: you temporarily put the plastic up along the top line of tape, then mark where the blind cord and/or the -- er, turny rod thing -- go, mark circles there with sharpie, then put tape up over the sharpie on both sides of the plastic. (From experience: make ovals, not circles, and make the blind-cord one be horizontal to allow for pulling sideways to release/lock the cord, and make the turny thing vertical to allow for space to lie more flat rather than sticking straight out; make both of them at least an inch longer than you think you'll need.) Remove the turny thing entirely while you have the plastic pulled away to put the tape on it, and pull the blind cord through its hole if you're using it. Then put the plastic up as usual, blow it dry, and put the turny thing back up.

After lots of years of this, I don't bother with the blind cord, and I only leave the turny thing out in half my windows. So half have a perfect seal with no holes, and half have a 2-3-inch hole near the top. It does lead to some airflow, but it's manageable, and lets me have some light if I want it. (If you decide it's too much cold, you can just tape the hole over later.)

It's entirely possible to do an entire house's worth of plastic in one day; I just hate giving up an entire day to house stuff. So I do one room at a time, or even one window at a time, as things get colder. Most years I'm still putting plastic up into late December; it was only that truly vicious cold snap that got me moving so "early" this year. But man, it makes a big difference.

Re: argh, cold.

[talking_sock]

Also - meant to say thank you for this epic reply on the subject of window protection :) I'm still pondering the right thing to do here. Also, like you, I don't like losing days on house stuff, so it's coming along pretty slowly. I should just get a few of my windows replaced, too, once I have money again.