Quick Bits

Tonight, I start alittle late and alittle spacey. Jackie suggested a topic earlier tonight, but I can't remember what it was for the life of me. And as Jackie announces her ascent to bed, I ask her what was it again, and she can't remember too. Really, has it been one of those days? Let's recount.

*

Tuesday morning at 1 AM, I finish combing over different product parts and typing up a big supply order with our main screen vendor. These orders take forever it feels. For example, an average window screen has 18 parts: four sides, four corners, two handles, two springs, a spline gasket and the fabric that goes in the screen. But if you have the kind of window which pushes out instead of sliding left to right or up and down, you need different and additional parts. And then, within these categories of parts, there are different grades. I automatically skip the plastic stuff because they are cheap and break easily. In the metal versions of parts, there are different thicknesses, ranging between minimal and ridiculously expensive. I spend an inordinate amount of time grousing over these details. In the end, it always feels like, "I just spent 3 grand, and this is all I got!"

*     *

Morning comes far too quickly and I jump in the shower. Jackie rousts Joanna out of bed and starts the dressing process. I can only imagine what my buddies would do if they had a little girl's hair to comb and fuss over before being allowed to ship the kid out the door. It makes me smile. I can't complain. She'd have a hat and mismatched clothes on if I was tasked with dressing my kid. No doubt, it would lead to some anxiety or low self esteem issue down the road. 

As it stands, I am lucky. I have a healthy, happy, and most importantly, fully trained little girl who is quite capable of picking out her own clothes and tells me what bows to put in her hair. When I bring her to school and she is satisfied with the ride, she tips me with a hug and a pat on the head.

*     *     *

This afternoon, I saw a repeat customer who used us back when we first started the business. I've been doing this eight years now, and it is so much fun to see the crap I improvised when I had no clue what I was doing back then. I wondered if I would find anything odd or peculiar. Unfortunately, I did not escape that house without an embarrassing admission. After I presented the bill for today's work, the customer did have an addendum item.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Could you take a look at this screen? It is just sort of hanging." I agree readily. She leads me upstairs to an office and points at the window. "I think you made that one, right?"

I open the window and look at the screen handles. They are mine. I recognize the metal lift clips that I rarely see anyone else use. In my inspired moment of desperation eight years ago, I attached around the edges of the screen three cadmium retainer clips that look like the little letter n. Then I stuck the screen to the outside of the window, using pointy parts of the n clip to grab hold of the window. So really, the screen was hanging by its fingernails just outside of the window. What was I thinking? And of course, within seconds of touching that screen today, I drop it twenty feet down. As the screen slipped from my fingers, it falls away from me settling into a prone position and I imagine it screeching, "Finally, my torture ends now! Bring me to the recycling heaven now!"

She chuckles and volunteers to pick up the screen. Oh no, I dropped it. It's on me, ma'am. I quickly run down there and check out the screen. The fabric and frame are dusty and dirty. More importantly, the screen is unpunctured and the frame is unbent. And this is why I don't buy the absolute cheapest stuff I can find. So I can drop stuff from the second floor and get a mulligan. 

The cadmium clips are bright and shiny still. I pluck those things off and apologize to the screen. Sorry about that drop, and the strange clip situation, Mr Old Screen. Lets find out why I just didn't put you in the window the right way. 

At first, it seemed the screen was alittle bit short. I adjusted it by sliding the screen into the outside channel. It fit snuggly on the loose side now and did not budge when I tapped the screen with my palm. I closed the window, looked at the middle of the window and saw no gap there if the screen was truly too small. I guess the drop must have compressed the height or width into the right measurement that I didn't have eight years ago. Or, Mr Screen was just thankful to have his cadmium handcuffs removed and eagerly stayed in the spot he should have been in for the last eight years.