Roadside find

I went to Ithaca to trap cats early Sunday and I noticed a door with glass panes sitting in a front yard with a washed out sign taped to it, well back from the highway so the panes wouldn't get broken by stones from passing traffic. Curious, I expected it was junk but I made a mental note to return home in the same direction to check it out.

With a car full of cats in traps on the way back, I remembered the door and pulled over. I trotted across the highway to look and the closer I got, the more certain I was that the washed out sign would say something like "$20" and not "Free" like I hoped. None of the glass panes were broken, there were no dog chews, it had the original hardware, and the doorknob was glass.

Once I got up to it, I made out the blurred word. "Free. Solid wood." Holy crap. Why hadn't anyone picked this up? Probably because it was so far from the road, everyone else, like myself, assumed it was for sale.

I went to pick it up and realized I was about to look very silly. It was extremely heavy, and I somehow had to get it in a compact car full of cats. I made it across the road, trying to look like I wasn't about to tip over, took the headrest off the front passenger seat, and was able to rest one end on the road and gently slide it in over the cats, braced at an angle on the passenger seat back.

I continue to be shocked at what the Kitty Kia (Soul) will hold.

On the way home I tried to think where I needed a door. It was an exterior door, but I certainly wasn't going to put a glass door on the exterior of my house. My home is old but doesn't look old inside. It looks rather like a 60's makeover, and I've worked hard to try and restore some charm to it. The door would help. I decided it would look nice on the bedroom. A curtain on the door would be privacy enough, here. The bolt lock works from the side of the door, although the key to work it from the outside is missing. I might be able to get a key fashioned, which would be great if anyone ever moved in up there. It would look great if I ever did sell the house, and the extra door could live in the barn so if a new person objected to having a see-through bedroom door, they could just put the original door back and use the antique door elsewhere.





Last night I measured the existing bedroom door, and wonder of wonders, the width is exactly the same! The antique door is taller, but I can cut it down with some careful measuring.

I took a minute to look online and found a chewed-up similar antique door, 36", $795 plus $125 freight. Thank you, unknown Rt 34/96 homeowner, for the beautiful door.

Amazing. Some day I may actually have a nice looking house from end to end.

The stand-up desk

It was getting a little hard to ignore all of those on-line articles about how sitting down all day will ultimately kill you.

A former colleague at work had a wonderful bar at her house that was stand-up height. It is in her very-sunny kitchen in the heart of her house. While my house isn't set up for the same sort of design, I do have a wall next to a window in my den, where my desk is (was), so I took the plunge, rummaged through the barn for a countertop, and set up my own stand-up desk.




I thought it would be harder to stand up all day, so I bought a cheap Big Lots upholstered stool, but I haven't used it much. I've discovered that with good music playing, I can boogie around a bit and keep moving as well. There is no longer the "oh hell, I have to work, I guess I'll go sit at the desk" attitude now. Working and living is more integrated. It can be a bit hard on the legs at the end of a long day (like right now) but in the morning and afternoon, it has been fine. I also brought my hand weights in so that periodically I can take a break and do a little exercise to the music I normally have playing.

I'm beginning to see some immediate health benefits that I'm not going to blog on for awhile until I note that they really are improvements and not just wishful thinking.

So far the only real drawback has been the lack of storage space, and the fact that I now have a big desk kicking around in the middle of my den until I find a new home for it. There are shelves in the entertainment center nearby that I can use for the time being, and I picked up an old wicker file box at the Re-Use Center in Ithaca to replace the file drawers I had.

At least I'm no longer sitting on my butt all day!

The stand-up desk is next to the window cat-seat, which has suddenly become quite popular now that I'm standing here all day.