Upon my return from my 2.5 week sojourn I re-entered my domain with new energies and new eyes. I saw that my windows truly needed some serious cleaning. I have LOTS of windows, so this is no idle undertaking. I started with the kitchen and living area since these are the ones with the views of the woods and water that I use the most. Three glass doors and 11 windows of casement or sash! (I have 27 windows or glass doors on the first floor alone and this is why, to date, I have not hired anyone to wash them. I struggle through on my own spring and fall. The sash ones tilt out and are very heavy, so my history of doing this on my own will reach a point in time where I have to ask for help.)
I looked up window cleaning solutions on the Internet, got a spray bottle, rags, paper towels and got busy. I put something on the big screen TV to keep me from going insane with the 'wash on-wash off' nature of things. Three hours later I had finished that part of the house. As I went to close the last casement window above the kitchen sink, it refused to shut completely. I tried opening and closing and after a few minutes I got up on a stool and saw that the cross hinge at the bottom was not attached to the window. I worked for another 30 minutes trying to understand its dyslexia and even used some WD-40, but could not get it attached. Another session of huge rains was starting, so I climbed down off the kitchen counter after closing the window as much as possible.
That next morning I perused the yellow pages, the Internet, and Angie's list and found that my area is so nice and rural that window repair companies are less than a handful. I picked the first and called at 8:30 AM.
"Hello?" (He sounded like I had gotten him out of bed.)
"Um...do you repair window hinges?"
(short pause)...."yeah."
"I have an Eagle casement window that will not close."
"Um...where do you live?"
I gave him my address and he perked up a little. "Oh good, that is just a mile from where I live. I could get there in about an hour."
My antennae are already vibrating. (An hour...does he not have any business today? He is so lazy he only works a mile from home? He doesn't even identify his company when he answers the phone!)
He was intelligent enough to ask for my address before he hung up.
Well, he did finally arrive after about THREE hours knocking loudly instead of using the doorbell. He was a 50 something overweight fellow accompanied by another young 30 something man with long hair who looked a lot like Colin Farrell. Both were dressed casually, but at least clean and pleasant in demeanor.
"Do I have to take off my shoes?" he asked standing in the doorway.
Tabor who has the spine of a worm looked at his heavy construction boots and said "Only if they are really dirty?" I really need to buy some hospital shoe covers.
She directed both of them to the kitchen and they began to test how my windows open and close. As they proceeded, the older man asked the younger if he had a small screwdriver and the young man replied that it was in the van. I provided a screwdriver from my took kit to avoid them tracking more dirt in and out of my house. They also needed some wood glue, a small finishing nail and some pieces of wood...which I again provided from my handy took box which I had now placed on the kitchen counter.
They studied the identical working window beside the broken one and within minutes they had completed the repairs. The younger man went out to the truck to get something and the older man turned to me and smiled and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly with his hands in the air. "Well," he began, "Don't know what to charge you...Why don't you just give that young man something?"
That left me a little speechless. I was expecting an invoice and a minimum of a $50 visit charge.
I smiled with a little guilt and took $20 (all the large cash I had left out of my wallet after my recent trip) and gave it to them.
So now I guess I really do live in Mayberry or Our Town.
I looked up window cleaning solutions on the Internet, got a spray bottle, rags, paper towels and got busy. I put something on the big screen TV to keep me from going insane with the 'wash on-wash off' nature of things. Three hours later I had finished that part of the house. As I went to close the last casement window above the kitchen sink, it refused to shut completely. I tried opening and closing and after a few minutes I got up on a stool and saw that the cross hinge at the bottom was not attached to the window. I worked for another 30 minutes trying to understand its dyslexia and even used some WD-40, but could not get it attached. Another session of huge rains was starting, so I climbed down off the kitchen counter after closing the window as much as possible.
That next morning I perused the yellow pages, the Internet, and Angie's list and found that my area is so nice and rural that window repair companies are less than a handful. I picked the first and called at 8:30 AM.
"Hello?" (He sounded like I had gotten him out of bed.)
"Um...do you repair window hinges?"
(short pause)...."yeah."
"I have an Eagle casement window that will not close."
"Um...where do you live?"
I gave him my address and he perked up a little. "Oh good, that is just a mile from where I live. I could get there in about an hour."
My antennae are already vibrating. (An hour...does he not have any business today? He is so lazy he only works a mile from home? He doesn't even identify his company when he answers the phone!)
He was intelligent enough to ask for my address before he hung up.
Well, he did finally arrive after about THREE hours knocking loudly instead of using the doorbell. He was a 50 something overweight fellow accompanied by another young 30 something man with long hair who looked a lot like Colin Farrell. Both were dressed casually, but at least clean and pleasant in demeanor.
"Do I have to take off my shoes?" he asked standing in the doorway.
Tabor who has the spine of a worm looked at his heavy construction boots and said "Only if they are really dirty?" I really need to buy some hospital shoe covers.
She directed both of them to the kitchen and they began to test how my windows open and close. As they proceeded, the older man asked the younger if he had a small screwdriver and the young man replied that it was in the van. I provided a screwdriver from my took kit to avoid them tracking more dirt in and out of my house. They also needed some wood glue, a small finishing nail and some pieces of wood...which I again provided from my handy took box which I had now placed on the kitchen counter.
They studied the identical working window beside the broken one and within minutes they had completed the repairs. The younger man went out to the truck to get something and the older man turned to me and smiled and shrugged his shoulders sheepishly with his hands in the air. "Well," he began, "Don't know what to charge you...Why don't you just give that young man something?"
That left me a little speechless. I was expecting an invoice and a minimum of a $50 visit charge.
I smiled with a little guilt and took $20 (all the large cash I had left out of my wallet after my recent trip) and gave it to them.
So now I guess I really do live in Mayberry or Our Town.