Vacation Projects, Baking, Street Reconstruction #19 and More

I've been busy this past week, resting and recreating takes a lot of time and effort.  I'm on my first real vacation in a year since being new at a job and other than having Covid when I was on vacation last September.  As usual, a staycation to take care of little projects and other things without the interruptions of work.  So far I've gotten a few things done and we've had nice weather, for the most part.  There's a lot to say so I may jump around a bit, and I'll likely add a break due to the length once I add pictures.

Vacation Start

I started this vacation by going to my Mom's on Saturday.  We got a few little things done for her, but it was more about spending the time, I think.  I was just there a few weeks ago, but an overnight visit allows for more time and relaxation while catching up on what's going on in her life.  I got back to town mid-day Sunday and I don't think I did much the rest of the day.

Lots more after the break!

Cat Box

On Monday, the Memorial Day holiday, I started on another cat box project.  With Basil and his urinary issues we had a second litterbox downstairs hoping he would use it rather that just going anywhere downstairs, and while it seemed to work it got me thinking that maybe the cats would prefer their own box.  I bought another litter box and it fit in the cat drawer under the stairs with the other one, but that forced out the litter and bin containers.  I reviewed trail cam footage that left no doubt that Basil used the older, bigger litter box and Hamish used the newer, smaller litter box, exclusively.  So my thought appeared to have merit, but this setup wasn't working for me.

Using leftover lumber in the garage, I built a stand for the new cat box to keep it off the ground and bring it up closer to the height of the cat drawer.  It came together pretty easily and I was done building and painting it by that afternoon.  Perhaps not ideal, but seems better for the cats and that's what matters.

Tuesday morning I was able to get that area put together as you see it here.  The new cat box did not get used that first day, so I pulled it out more in front of the drawer and now it has been used and I expect Hamish to keep using it.  I have the trail camera watching and I'll review the pictures in a couple days to verify.

Massage

On my last vacation in September I had a massage scheduled, but of course had to cancel because I got Covid.  So this vacation I had a massage scheduled again, for Tuesday morning.  It had been probably over 20 years since my only other professional massage, and I guess I just felt ready.  It was an hour massage and it went by very quickly, but felt really good.  I'm tempted to get another soon, but it probably won't happen until my vacation in September.  Maybe I should just schedule it now.

House Needs

Also early this week I set up an appointment to have our lawn aerated.  The front lawn has been getting bare and the back lawn was getting trouble spots.  I inherited a good lawn when we bought the house in 2009 but over the years it has been getting away from me.  I have a constant influx of weeds from neighbor Jane's weed nursery next door and the trouble spots have become too much, essentially the whole front lawn and more spots in back.  I bought a manual plug aerator from Amazin' and tried it in a few areas, but doing the whole lawn seemed physically daunting so I called a guy with a machine.  I'll pay a few hundred bucks to have the entire lawn plug-aerated, over-seeded and fertilized.  Hopefully this gets us back on track.  The guy will be here on Monday or Tuesday, while I'm still off work, so I can be here for it and so I can discuss the new areas out front and whether they should be plugged or not.  I'm undecided about raking up the plugs, but I'm sure there will be more to come on this next week.

I also want to look up someone to soft wash the house, meaning hands-on and not just a power washer.  The buildup of dirt in the upper areas and garage also has caught up to us after being here for so long, so the house could look fresher, for sure.

We also took the time to pick out and order a new, larger area rug for the living room, and a rather expensive one at that ($550!), again from Amazin'.  It arrived yesterday, two days early and damaged.  The middle of one side of the roll had been pulled out and there were visible holes and the edging pulled off so the carpet was crumbling off in that area.  Within 10 minutes of it arriving I had the refund requested.  Once this has been returned (to be picked up by them on June 5) and refunded I think we'll look at different sellers.  We've bought rugs from Amazin' before, maybe not quite this big (9'x12'), but if we buy from someone who specializes in rugs my thought is their shipping might be more reliable.  But I could be wrong.

Glasses

I had my eyes checked and ordered two new pairs of glasses this morning, something I had been putting off the last couple months.  My eyes haven't changed much, but my current glasses have gotten rather scratched up, so though it had only been 2-3 years it was time for new.  I was only going to get one pair this time, but a second was less than 50% more so I picked out two frames and will have them in a couple weeks.  They are similar, but one is dark and one is clear, which will be a different look for me.

Seems like a busy week so far, but I assure you I had plenty of time to kick back and put my feet up while all this happened.  The firepit at the top happened on Tuesday evening.  Just a short one, but good to get out there.  Hopefully at least once more before I have to go back to work.

Cheese and Baking

I think I'm giving up on the cheesemaking.  I might try it once more and not add the salt as that seems to harm the stretchiness of the cheese, but I don't know.  The first batch worked, but wasn't great, and the second batch was worse.  Maybe a soft cheese if that's what you want, but it was not good mozzarella cheese.  I can be happy with making my own crust and sauce and buying cheese.

Yesterday I made another round of baguettes using the same classic baguette recipe from King Arthur that I've used for a long time now, but with a new method/technique for that same recipe from a different KA video.  It turned out well, and very tasty, but I just can't get the open crumb shown in the video that I'm looking for with this recipe.  I can with the newer baguette recipe I've been making, but then the crust isn't as good.  I doubt I'll ever achieve the perfect baguette, and that's okay because even the ones that fall short are still wonderful to eat.

Street Reconstruction #19

The other day we got some new signs on the street, and actually throughout the whole neighborhood.  There will be no parking on the only side of our street where parking is allowed, so no parking on the entire block, on Fridays between 8 am and 12 pm.  The purpose is to allow the street sweeper to come by to clean the street.  Even streets with parking on both sides have this sign now, but with different day/time for each side.  Whatever, I guess.

What we need is more parking enforcement.  As we predicted, people will still park where they want and we've seen many instances of people parking on this side and leaving the car unattended and without flashers.  Even when parking is available on the legal side of the street, just maybe not convenient enough.  I'm starting to take pictures every time I see it for a possible future complaint to the city.  But there is no enforcement anymore of driving or parking laws, seemingly.  I see so many moving violations in one day than you used to see in a month.  But with no enforcement people will just run red lights and stop signs at will.  And they do still make all cars with blinkers, don't they?  

Anyway, there's still no sign of work starting on the footbridge across the creek that was also a part of our street reconstruction project.  Necessary or not, that money will surely be spent this summer eventually.

Still To Do?

Other ideas I have written down for this vacation are cleaning windows, trimming the neighbors tree coming over by the compost bin, and cleaning out my closet.  I've been putting off the windows until rain chances yesterday and today pass, but they will get cleaned tomorrow.  The tree and closet may or may not get done, we'll just have to see.  And I still want to research getting the house washed and find a new rug to purchase.

Well, that's most of everything.  What gets done will get done and what doesn't get done, won't.  At least right now.  I want my slate to be clean by next week so I don't have to do anything I don't want to before returning to work on Wednesday.  Have a great week and weekend, everyone.