Working between the rain clouds

I had to stop painting because it's raining and the kitchen is too dark to see well enough to apply the 2nd coat right now. It rained most of last night, and most of today - a torrential rain. I know we need it and I don't mind rain, but I would rather see an entire week of slow steady rain than the downpours in Sacramento. I don't think I've ever seen a gentle rain here.

I did manage to get a lot done this morning, and can re-hang 3 of the cabinet fronts tomorrow. If it lightens up enough to finish the wall I stopped on, then I can hang the curtain rod and move the table back over to the wall. It is currently in the center of the kitchen and difficult to move around.

Several people commented that my allergies might be connected to paint fumes, but I don't think so. For one thing, I've done a whole lot of painting in this house so far, with little or no trouble. When I pulled into the Home Depot parking lot yesterday I believe I saw the source of my allergies. HD has planted a tree about every 5 parking spaces throughout their ENTIRE PARKING LOT! Those trees are now flowering, which means that trees and other plants all over the city are flowering as well. I don't know why I have the bronchitis-type cough, but I'm sure it's part of the allergic reaction. I'm taking a Benadryl tablet and a tbsp. of prescription cough syrup before going to bed at night, so at least I'm sleeping fairly well.

After writing these words I had lunch, the rain stopped and the sun came out long enough for me to finish the wall I was working on. Now the heavens have opened up again, and that's a signal for me to stop and take a break - maybe even a nap.

What I've done so far looks beautiful, and will be even more so when I get the cabinets finished and re-hung. I'm not going to attempt the bottom cabinets now, although I may have a change of heart and get them done before leaving for NY. The painting is tedious enough, but it's cleaning those cabinets that is the problem. I clean them outside so I can't resume that job until a sunny day.

LATER: I finally got my registration card in the mail from the Dept. of Housing and Community Development. I paid $30 for this year's registration. I think Yvonne told me that when she bought the unit 20 yrs ago, the registration was something like $318 per year. Like auto registration, it generally goes down over the years, and I don't know if $30 is rock bottom but I'm satisfied with it, considering I won't have any kind of property tax.