Transgender Day of Remembrance and the Window Saga in Pictures

Today is November 20th, also known as Transgender Day of Remembrance. The total number of transgender people killed over the past year is more than 450 people. I can't post everyone's names, but I will link to the Human Rights Council listing of the 46 transgender and gender non-conforming individuals who died since January 1st in the USA. Please allow your thoughts to turn to these people who, world-wide, face a very hard fight for acceptance in their countries. I invite you to click on a random name and look at the photo of that person. This was a vibrant individual who might have made incredible contributions to our world, cut down because of hatred and prejudice against them for NO legitimate reason at all. Here's your link: https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/marking-the-deadliest-year-on-record-human-rights-campaign-announces-release-of-annual-report-on-violence-against-transgender-and-gender-non-conforming-people

Following the recommendation I made above, let me introduce 
you to EJ Boykin, aka Novaa Watson, 23 years old and killed 
in June this year. As happens too often, he was misgendered in 
some of the media and police reports. He lived in Lynchburg, 
Virginia. 

Now, on to the next group, I promised photos of my window repair, so here they are. 

It was a blustery, very cold day. They arrived, carefully 
looked things over and removed the cardboard we had 
over the inside. After looking at the rod iron grating 
we have as well as the actual mounting strips for the 
window, the lead decided that removing the grate might 
not be necessary. 

They removed weatherstripping and caulk from the front, then 
came inside. The second person seemed to be almost 
superfluous, except his job was to hold the pane in place as 
all of the supports were being removed. It actually was a 
pretty important role, but it was freezing cold outside so I'm 
quite sure it wasn't a favorite job. 

After the caulking had been removed, they began pulling 
off the metal weatherstripping. They had pulled out the 
multitude of screws holding the metal in position. Progress 
is being made. LOL

That job of holding the pane into place became more and 
more important as the bracing was removed. Soon the only 
thing holding the pane into position was one skinny very 
young man who (as I told Chickie) should have been 
applying to Hogwart's School of Wizardry because he would 
have fit right in. 

Finally the old pane was removed completely and carried to 
one of the two vans. The goal was to lean it against the van, 
the reality was the pane shattered into thousands of pieces 
on the sidewalk and into the curbside. OOPS! I was relieved 
that hadn't happened when the window was in place, it would 
have been a massive mess. 

After more cleanup and prep work, they were ready to install 
the new pane of glass. Chickie and I were huddled at the front 
of the store, both of us wearing our winter coats. The wind was 
blowing in through the large open space. I was grateful 
it was winter so we didn't get any birds or insects into the 
store through the large opening, but we had to deal
with the cold. Here they are almost 
ready to pick up the new pane and put it into position. 

They very carefully lifted the pane into position, made some 
minor adjustments, and started replacing the metal stripping, 
screwing in new bolts into the pre-drilled holes. I suspect the 
original pane had been there since the 1950's or so, so it was 
a bit of a touchy job, but the worst was the size of the pane - 
84" x 80" - huge! After all of the screws were tightened, the 
lead put silicone sealant all around on the exterior, while 
the younger flunky began collecting and cleaning up the 
glass from the shattered pane. 

It took until early afternoon for the store to warm up again from the 30 minutes or so when we'd had no glass in the window, but eventually things returned to normal. I still need to put up some of the signage that we had removed, but our "OPEN" sign is up, turned on and working. I did that first thing. I went outside later in the afternoon to sweep up some pieces of glass on the sidewalk that had been missed. I decided to ignore the shards in the street. So ... the long saga is almost over. I still need to get the final invoice from the glass company. It wasn't emailed to me yet, so I'll be phoning them on Monday to get that going. I need to send it on to my insurance company. Then I'll consider the saga complete. 

Have a truly excellent weekend and I'll be back early Monday before I run off to the pool. Please, look at that list of people in the beginning of today's post and click on a random name. Just reading about that person will help cement them as a person worthy of respect and someone whose potential will never be realized. Mourn for that person because they deserved a full and rich life.