Safety restored.

First, to answer a question from Marcy, I've been washing up in the kitchen sink. I've never been so happy to have a sprayer before. Every couple of days (when I needs to shave me legs) I grab my basket and head over the river to Mom's for a real shower. The novelty has worn off, believe me. At least I have a half-bath in the downstairs that only had a small leak in the sink supply lines (which have been fixed), so I didn't need to call Ed's Heads for a rental.

Now, onto today's update. The floor joists have been beautifully shored up by Joe, Jeff, and Rich. They should be back before long to put down the subfloor. They had to stop when they found that Bozo the Seller had made an electrical connection for the wall fixture above the medicine chest and buried it in THE FLOOR. Without a junction box around it. And he did it by cutting into the cloth-covered original wiring (you know, knob-and-tube) and connecting it with wire nuts. So not only is that really rather dangerous, it's illegal to bury a connection like that. (I have pictures.) He also managed, after installing this wiring, to nail through it not once, not twice, but THREE times with the same damn spikes he used to nail through the drain. (I have pictures of that, too.) Miraculously, he hit the ground wire each time. If he hadn't, and if we hadn't decided to really turn this into a renovation, between the poor connection and the nailed-through wiring, there was quite possibly a fire in my near future. And given that my ol' house has lath and plaster walls with lovely old cellulose insulation blown in, it really could have been interesting.

Why yes, since you ask, I do believe that a major balancing event is due in this guy's life. He's already being sued by the realtors because he won't pay the commission, and we seem to be building a case against him as well. Right now, if the only satisfaction I can get out of it is that Code Enforcement hammers his ass with fines, that'll do. Anything beyond that would be acceptable also.

Anyway. Fred the Amazing Electrician came by after lunch and set to work improving Bozo's handiwork. I now have three different Freds working on my house at various times: Fred the Amazing Plumber, Fred the Amazing Gas Installer, and Fred the Amazing Electrician. I mean those "amazings" in complete honesty, too. They're doing the work that needs to be done, doing it well, and doing it for a very reasonable price. The guys that I mentioned above are also wonderful. I'm lucky to have them here.

OK, I wish I didn't have to have them here, it's true...but since I do, these are the guys I want.