Going black, Tricks

So when I got home from work Friday I dug into my chicken tasks before setting up to do another rowing session.  I want to resume running but my energy level all week has felt shitty.  The more I consider my symptoms the more I think I have a thyroid issue, just like my mom did and my sister does.  It would explain the random flare ups of unusual fatigue I have been dealing with since last summer.

So as I was walking through the living area on Thursday I glanced down and saw a section of the wood tile floor had black grout all of a sudden.  I spun around and asked Cindy what was going on, why has the grout changed from grey to black without my knowledge??  Cindy made a command decision to make the change without telling me, something there was obviously “discussion” about as I like to normally at least know about proposed changes to the house before they occur.  However her intent was good, the black actually did look better than the grey grout as it allows the wood ceramic tile to merge more instead of being visually separated by the light color border.  Her other reason was to fill the grout seams better which were never done to our satisfaction when the project was done a few years ago.

So once I got over the frustration of being kept out of the loop with this project, I had to deal with what will be required to get it done.  I installed ceramic tile in the kitchen, utility room and both bathrooms so I knew how much of a pain in the ass grouting is.  We went to Home Depot Friday night to get a few things to make the job go better.  When we got home we started to work on grouting some more, Cindy and I in different spots.

So Cindy had been using an unconventional technique in the area she had done so far, using a spatula to press the charcoal grout into the seam.  I showed her how I did it before using a grout float along with some water to smooth things out.  Well my technique works well if you are installing grout on fresh tile with big empty seams.  However when you are just going over existing grout it wasn’t so great.  It just was a big huge mess that frustrated the hell out of me.  After doing maybe 50 square feet or so that night I told Cindy I just don’t have the patience to do it.  She said she was fine doing it since this was her surprise project in the first place.  Her method was yielding better results anyway.  I told her I can do more of the grunt work, moving stuff as needed and dumping/refilling the bucket used for cleaning the tiles.

On Saturday I spent most of the day outside working on things like mowing the grass, replacing sprinkler heads, attaching a chicken wire strip to the rusted area of the chicken fence, and a few other things.  I also got a chance to do more clean up of the coop solar project.  After cleaning up the wires I also added some more tech.  I installed another smart switch that is connected to the AC input of the solar generator.  This allows me on cloudy days to remotely “plug in” the Yeti wall charger to pump juice into the battery as needed.  I also installed a web cam out there with the intent of it allowing me to see the Yeti display remotely so I can monitor the status.  Unfortunately it seems like reflections on the display make reading it pretty difficult but I will keep tweaking it.  The solar panels seem to really be kicking ass as long as the sun is shining.  The highest input I saw was 270 watts which is pretty damn good considering the two 160 watt panels are connected via a 40 foot cable.

Cindy spent most of her day at home continuing to work on the floor.  She made steady progress which was fine by me.  Luckily she almost enjoyed the process compared to my outright hate of flooring work.  On Saturday night we watched Blockers, a surprisingly funny comedy that had me laughing out loud a lot.  I didn’t expect John Cena, the WWE wrestler to shine in such a role but he was responsible for some of the biggest laughs in the B+ flick.

Sunday morning was unexpectedly mostly raining.  I used the time to work on cleaning and purging some stuff in the office while Cindy continued the groutathon.  I plan to expand the purge/reorganization efforts to other areas of the property both indoor and out.  There are just a lot of things that can be thrown out/recycled/given away if you take a few moments to evaluate their practical need.  I also shot a video outlining the CPU cooler install, just for fun.

So later in the day the weather cleared so I decided to take my One Wheel out for a ride.  I pegged it as a chance for me to expand my One Wheel bag of tricks, with me practicing a few new skills like a 180 turn, jump mount, and curb jumping.  I came out of the session with no significant injuries so I call that a win.

By the time Sunday was winding down Cindy was probably 80% done with the grout project, meaning she should probably be able to finish up today.  It will be nice to have the house back in order, I never feel good in the midst of organizational chaos.  Although the way the flooring change came to be is not a scenario I want to repeat, Cindy’s effort in getting it done has been monumental and in the big picture the end result is an improvement over the status quo.