NRII Part 10 & Weekend Musings

8/31 Monday    I expected supervisor Matt around 3:30.  At 3:45 I texted him to see if he was still coming, he replied that he had me on his calendar tomorrow.  Looking back I believe he was correct and I was jumping the gun.  I had not written it down.

9/1 Tuesday    Had a good meeting with Matt.  He saw my issues and said they would be corrected.

Prior to meeting Matt I got out the ladder and did some more checking.  The rain deflector over the walk-in garage door was short and had no angle.  And, an even bigger issue, the bottom row of shingles hung over the roof edge 1 to 2.5 inches, covering much of the gutters.  Ideally this should be 3/8 to 1/2 inch, tops.

Now I wait again.  It will be some time before they can get a crew out, but I'm okay with that as long as it all gets fixed before winter.

I cleaned up the back yard yesterday morning, before the heat and humidity moved in.  Temperatures actually aren't so bad this holiday weekend.  This past week was very hot and humid, with rain here and there.  Our drought status has improved to 'abnormally dry.'

I'm not sure if I will keep seeds from these sunflowers or not.  I've had thoughts of trying a different kind of sunflower than the mammoth, something that is supposed to have multiple blooms as the hybrid mammoths I have do continue to flower but the quality of the later blooms isn't that good.  We'll see what I decide, probably in spring.

Kate and I took a walk this afternoon.  Recently there had been some sort of burn in places along the creek.  Unannounced and the wrong time of year, so I'm not sure if was on purpose or arson.  Anyway, we found some ducks today.

Today I've made baguettes and taco sauce, already enjoyed the Brewer game and later the Wisconsin Badgers open their football season at Lambeau Field against Notre Dame, and I'll be right here watching.  Tomorrow is Labor Day, so a three day weekend and short work week, and I finally have a vacation coming.  Cheers, everyone.

New Roof II - Parts 1-9

8/10, Monday    8:30 a.m.  Roofing supplies on a pallet along with longer trim pieces are dropped off behind the house on the side of the driveway, a bit on the lawn.

8/11, Tuesday    11:30 a.m.  The roofing crew begins working after being delayed by rain.  Roofing and cleanup completed and the last truck leaves at 6:58 p.m.  Some sunflower disrespect pointed out when I got home from work, but mostly I let them work and checked in from my window views.  Also received text from Julia, saying she was the backup project manager and secondary contact to Isaac, the project manager - not on site.

8/13 & 14, Thursday & Friday    Gutter crew arrived late afternoon.  My house gutters are six inch, but they arrived with 5 inch for the porch.  They asked me, and I sighed and figured 5 inch was adequate for the porch and let them proceed.  Not ideal, but whatever.  When the porch gutters and gutter covers were completed they let me know they would be back the next day to put the gutter covers on the house since they only had 5 inch.

8/18, Tuesday    Morning text to Isaac hoping to get a timeline on the work that needed to be addressed yet, more later, and when extra roofing supplies would be removed - 1 week after roof was done.  I waited two days with no response.

8/20, Thursday    I texted Tony the sales guy about the lack of response and he responded right away.  Later that morning Isaac left a phone message.  Tony texted to verify he got a hold of me.  I called Isaac after work, we set up time on Tuesday at 3:30 for final fixes and walk-through.

8/23, Sunday    Trimmed bushes out front.  Collected my third pail of garbage, nails, shingles pieces, and other left by the roofers.

8/25, Tuesday    Expecting to meet Isaac at 3:30, found out he arrived earlier, did some work, talked to Kate and tried to get her to sign off as complete.  I really did not like this.

8/26, Wednesday    2:30 pm I texted backup project manager Julia, asked for Isaac's supervisor's name and number.  4:00 pm that day the leftover supplies got picked up, 15 days after roof completed.

8/27, Thursday    Project manager Julia texted back with names and a number.  When I called that afternoon that number never rang, so I looked up the Madison office number from their website.  Eventually I was put in contact with supervisor Matt.  We spoke that afternoon and I went through my whole complaint list, noting to him that in the grand scheme of things most of it was nothing, but it is the work that lasts.  We have an appointment at my house after work on Monday so he can see my issues in person.

These are pretty much my timeline notes so far, with video to back up almost all of it.  I should have written this in parts as it happened, but I was not expecting this to be so drawn out.  My big issue is with the seam between the porch and the house.  It has looked like shit since we bought the house so I expected it to look much cleaner after this, but it did not.  They did not use a wide enough board to cover the old black caulk, so you could see the old caulk and the new, and it was ugly.  Apparently Tony failed to measure this area too, beside my gutters.

Isaac's proposed fix was some paint.  I was skeptical, but was willing to see what he would do.  Then he was sure to get in and get out before I got home from work.  He knocked on the door and my wife happened to be home, so he told her generally what he did and handed her a paper with some random numbers to pay and asked her to sign it off as complete.  She wouldn't, of course.

He didn't paint, he attached a piece of flashing that creates a channel.  Well, I've never seen anything like it on a house so it's hard to describe, but I don't like it one bit.  Then I saw him on video strategically photograph it for their records, but not the view of the second picture below.

This is a very reputable company with great google reviews, an inspiring backstory, and an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, all reasons I chose this company.  But yet, service has been terrible and this is yet incomplete.  I require a better fix for this and we'll see what Matt says on Monday when he sees this work in person.  I can't imagine anyone thinking this is okay.

Our Pottery Pieces

As I noted before, we tried something small, but we think they turned out well and may try again with something more adventurous.  Fired Up Pottery; their website isn't much, but is here.

August This-And-Thats

I know I've lamented my waning use of the firepit each of the last few years, but it continues as I've only had the two so far this year.  The mosquitoes haven't seemed as bad this year, but that may be because I've spent less time outside with less fire pits.  Allergies have been present, but have been less severe as last year.  Again, less outside time, maybe?  We've had some good stretches of windows-open weather, but more stretches of heat and/or humidity keeping the air conditioning on.

Summer was at its peak when I mentioned it here, and a week after that it showed.  That's not saying there's not some good summer left, just that I recognized the peak.  Atwoodfest has normally been when I've accepted the season is waning.  It certainly doesn't mean that summer is over, but it's time to just appreciate the warmer weather while we still have it.

We attended Eken Park Fest yesterday for an hour or two.  A nice, nearby neighborhood festival, but small, and it actually snuck up on us.  When we realized it was this weekend we chose in the spur of the moment to go there to find lunch.  We chose a local Mexican restauranteur, and it was very good.  That morning we had gone to a pottery place where you can choose from premade pottery to paint/glaze yourself.  You pay, they fire it, then call you in about a week to pick it up.  It can get expensive so we started small to try it out.  Kate wanted to get a bear as a gift for a friend and they only had a small teddy bear one that will have a magnet on the back.  I did a small gnome in some common colors.  I had visited once before with a group of clients for work, and it was interesting enough I told my wife about it, and so we wanted to try it ourselves.  I hope they turn out well and we like it enough to get more adventurous the next time.

Roofing supplies were delivered on Monday, off to the side of the driveway in back.  The roof was done eventually on Tuesday, due to morning rain.  They got started about 11:30 in the morning and wound up leaving at 7:00 that evening with all roofing and cleanup finished.  Gutters were completed two and three days later.  Currently they still need to pick up the pallet with leftover supplies, add a water deflector above the walk-in garage door, and clean up the line of caulk above the porch where it meets the house.  More later as there is more to come.

The sunflowers took some damage from the roof and gutter replacement, but came out of it pretty good overall.  Some leaves snapped at most, from what I've seen.  The tall sunflower on the left has about 10 flowers currently, though tough to see in this picture, and more buds coming.  These multiple flowers generally get smaller and smaller as they bloom.  And the one in the corner has several blooms as well, but also has reached 10 feet and 2 inches as of today.

I like the idea of pure mammoth seeds that grow tall and have a large flower, but only the one.  But the unknown cross-pollination with the multiple flowers is more enjoyable, and for a longer time.  I must get the seeds of the first flower of at least one of the two I mentioned last paragraph, preferably the taller one but I'll try for both.

I've been making a different recipe of baguette recently, and I'm really liking the crumb.  I think I left this last batch in the oven a bit long, but the quest for the perfect baguette is a never-ending process, after all.  I made pizza dough this morning.  I'd been wanting larger portions so today I made the same amount of dough that I used to make for four crusts into just three.  Thicker than thin crust with 50/50 00/AP flour should be a good combination, I think.  Anyway this baguette made as crostini was absolutely fabulous.

I had some vague ideas when I started to write this, but it was mostly stream of consciousness.  Basically one of my this-and-thats posts, unformatted as such.  Oh well, good enough for me.  Go Brewers!

Rain 1, Sunflower 0

My heart skipped a beat this morning as I checked if anything happened overnight on the security camera.

The large sunflower (pictured last post) had fallen during the night, a little after 1 a.m.  It rained more often than not for the last day, and we needed it terribly, but the conditions just put it down.  It was only about seven in the morning but I immediately went out and wound up putting in three stakes to stabilize it.  The little one next to it came up with it but the cage that is still around it was enough support for that.

And after raining all day we just got a bit of sun so here it is now.  I think it's going to make it.  

That flower I was planning on bagging so I can collect the seeds, and it has at least 10 more buds on it to come yet.  The one on the right also has multiple buds coming.  I'm thankful for the sunflowers I have, but it has been a brutal year for them, overall.

Scorched Sunflowers & Follow-Ups

From what I noticed this afternoon we got up to 98ºF (37ºC), with a feels-like temperature of 114ºF (46ºC).  Definitely the hottest day of the year so far, but thankfully we should just be regular-hot the rest of the week.

The sunflower on the outside of the back steps was the first to bloom, but the petals are rather deformed.  This is the second one to bloom, and is a bit more picturesque.  That first one has no other blooms starting off the stem, while this one has them coming in all the way down.  I'm not sure why some of my mammoth sunflowers have multiple blooms and others don't.  Perhaps one is male and the other is female, I'm not sure.  The first batch planted are definitely the strongest, though, while the second plantings are much smaller plants yet still growing buds.

Our air quality is back to normal levels, though there is still smoke out there so if the winds shift the right way we may get smoky again.  I think I heard something like the smoke would affect us about one day a year until 2020, and has averaged about 8 days a year since.  That would explain why it seems like more now - because it is.

The protests continue with base camp at the intersection where it happened and nearby streets shut down.  The city has been working with them, providing port-o-potties and trash collection while working with the protesters to keep up services and driveway access for the unfortunate residents in the area.  One of which is a friend, who is not enjoying the extra traffic and hassle.  I'm not sure how long it will continue but would surely calm down if they announced criminal charges against the police officer.  Seems to be the right thing to do, but no rant on this today.

The neighbors have added some interesting lights to their house.  It was red, white and blue earlier this month for the holiday, and was like this the other night.  Thankfully we only have two windows on that side so it doesn't really affect us at all. I find it to be an interesting choice, what do you think?

And, finally, I'm feeling much better and practically back to normal after my fall a couple weeks ago.  When you're young you can bounce, and I haven't been young in a long time.  It would behoove me to avoid any more falls in the future, I think. 

Oh, and the new roof should be happening very soon, but I don't have a date yet.  Have a great week, everyone!

AtwoodFest 2026 - Canceled

Yesterday the decision was made to cancel this year's AtwoodFest, scheduled for today and tomorrow.  Since Wednesday, Madison has been in the national news for another cop killing a bad guy with excessive force, an incident that happened here on the near east side of town.  The ensuing outrage and protests have led to many event delays and cancellations over the last couple of days.

It just never stops.  Why can't we all just get along and do what's right in this world?

A Hot, Smoky Mess

I don't remember getting smoked out when I was younger, but we've had our moments over the last several years of smoke from wildfires moving in and depleting our air quality.  That's what's happening again now.

I took this picture while driving on my way to work this morning.  Looks like just a haze or a fog, but actually there's not a cloud in the sky, it's all smoke from wildfires in Canada and Minnesota.  And it got worse as the day went on, getting officially to 'hazardous' levels.  But should clear up to 'unhealthy' or 'very unhealthy' tomorrow, though I expect it to fluctuate a lot until we get a system to move this out.  This story has been national news the last couple days as it stretches from here in the Midwest all the way to the more important populated northeast states.

Not much else has happened since I last posted.  I took a stupid fall in the basement on Saturday afternoon, bruising my whole left side.  I took Monday and Tuesday off work, and when I went into work on Wednesday I used my cane, which just freaked out management.  I wound up being sent home and forced to see a doctor to fill out their paperwork before I could go back.  I knew a doctor wouldn't be able to do anything for me, but I saw one anyway and got their paperwork filled out.  I have some minor restrictions until Monday, and I'm sure I'll be good to go by then.

Meanwhile, our temperatures have been hotter this week than when I complained a couple posts ago, but should break soon.  The lawn needs mowing, weeds need spraying, and paint needs to be looked at and used/saved.  But it's very likely nothing will be done until the weekend.

Hope all is well where you are.  Cheers.

Project Updates & Sunflowers

I started this morning with grand plans of repainting all of the garage trim, then I remembered how much I hate painting.  I wound up just painting the lower parts of the trim and doing touch-up where needed.  If it doesn't blend well then I'll repaint all the rest tomorrow as the paint is still good but the rim has rusted out so this will be the last use of this quart, this weekend.  I know I get no style points for my paint job, but function over form for this project.

Meanwhile, I chose a contractor for roofing the house, porch and garage.  We will keep the gutters we have on the house as there's only one small dent on one side, but will replace the downspout that got all beat up.  Last time we did the roof we did not do the porch as we thought we'd be replacing it.  Well, that hasn't happened so we will have a new roof put on that and have the gutters replaced, and all gutters will get a gutter guard so I will no longer have to climb a ladder around the house twice a year to clean them out.  We considered putting gutters on the garage and getting a rain barrel by the garden.  It's still something I dream of doing, but not at this time to keep costs down.  The process of choosing a contractor was harder than it should have been, but that was mostly on the contractors I talked to (or got ghosted by).  The work is planned for sometime in a two week window starting later this month, I should know more soon.

If you remember, as part of our 2024 street reconstruction project included a footbridge across the creek.  That part of the project was stalled due to permitting issues, we were told, but construction is expected to begin this fall and be completed in 2027.  This unnecessary expenditure comes as the city is asking all departments to slash their budgets, still broke though we residents inexplicably voted to let them raise our property taxes to above state-mandated levels a couple years ago.  Egad, what a waste.  We can't wait for these city elections to oust everyone in office right now.

Still peak summer here, with the yard and gardens so alive.  The cone flowers have gotten really tall in the stump area, so no pots on the stump were actually needed this year.  Day lilies that Kate planted a few years ago are bursting with blooms, and other flowers come and go.

If you peek over the fence on the left you'll see the neighbor is getting a new fence to match ours installed today.

The sunflowers have had a hard go of it this year.  Out of 54 planted we have 15 left, so almost 3/4 of them have been lost.  I'll post the rundown after the break, otherwise have a great weekend!

Happy 4th of July - 250th

Happy holiday everyone, or happy Saturday if more appropriate.  Kate's working today so I had a lazy start to the morning before tackling a project outside.  It was muggy, buggy, and the threat of rain was everywhere though it held off until we got a shower this afternoon.

Over the years the lower part of the garage walk-in door frame has rotted, leaving gaps.  I made a temporary fix a year or two ago, but it was bad enough now to need something more permanent.  I'd considered just getting a new pre-hung door, but came up with a plan that should last for longer and save that few hundred bucks.

Previously I had chipped out all the rotten wood that I could, but then leaned a wood panel over it for the last week or so, waiting for the heat to break.  My first thought was to fill it in with chunks of wood using screws and construction adhesive, but my eventual plan of boxing it all in was much easier.  

I started with a thin strip to fill in the trim and make a 90 degree angle, then covered the inside frame and outside with two more pieces of plywood, using the construction adhesive to seal all around.  A few years ago I replaced the rotten wood in the threshold, so that got another layer slathered on as well.  Hopefully tomorrow I can get some paint on it and it will be hardly noticeable.

After that, lunch and a nap.  The Brewers play late tonight so if I want to stay up the nap was needed.  I think we'll be staying in tonight so I was hoping for a fire, but the mugginess, mossies and threat of a scattered shower or storm will likely keep me in.  So no big holiday plans here, I'm just enjoying a three day weekend while also feeling for my wife who has to work every day of it.

Have a great weekend, everyone.  Cheers!

Heat Wave Ramblings

This past week has been HOT, very hot and humid.  Temperatures have been in the low to mid 90's ºF all week, lowering just a couple degrees today but still very oppressive.  Not terribly unusual as we've gotten over 100ºF in recent memory, except for it now coming as early as the last week in June.  We had thunderstorms miss us or just nick us mostly north in the last day, but the next couple days will see more scattered storms.  Just perfect for a 3-day holiday weekend.  Oh well, Kate has to work the next four days so I'll be mostly on my own anyway.

Even as I write this, it is before 6 p.m. so would normally be full daylight but rather is very dark as a storm is approaching and a severe thunderstorm warning has been issued.  I just stepped out to take this picture below, and the pic seems lighter outside than actual.  I'm making dinner tonight, homemade pizza, so will continue writing after.

Dinner was very good, thank you.  I'd post a pic but you've likely seen enough of my pizzas.  The rain was heavy and began almost immediately after finishing the above, but short-lived.  Looks like more of the same off and on for the weekend.

So now, after dinner and a call with Mom, where was I?

Heat, storms, oh yeah, it's a three day weekend now with tomorrow off for Saturday's 4th of July holiday.  I have more contractor stuff to share but I think I'll wait on that.  I think maybe it's time to wrap this up for now.  I'll likely post something on Saturday for the holiday, so until then - Cheers!

Summer Solstice 2026

Flowers, Weeds & Contractors

First I planted 30 sunflowers around the yard.  Critters destroyed many so I started a box of 24 more, two of which didn't grow.  I planted 10 more around the yard and reseeded the two that did not grow.  Then, rather than take the rest to work (see earlier post) I hurriedly planted all of them around the yard and in the garden.  That's 54 seedlings planted around the yard this spring.

Of those 54 I currently have only 20 still alive, 12 of which appear straight and strong for their size while another 8 are broken, twisted and smaller.  Only one remains in front by the bird feeder with most of the rest around the back door.

It's been a brutal spring for my sunflowers.

And our lawn.  I mowed this morning right before taking these pictures, and was reminded that we have one kind of weed in the front yard that my weedkiller does not affect, and another kind of weed in the back lawn that is also unaffected.  I'm going to have to do some research on what exactly they are and how to get rid of them.

Elsewhere in the yard things are looking real good, good enough for me to want to share pictures, I guess.  Alium are going to seed as tiger lilies bloom, the hostas are huge and full along the back fence, and the stump area is thriving with wildflowers planted each of the last two years, now coming back on their own.

As for a hail/contractor update, I'm going to start again by researching three more companies to call on Monday to get quotes.  We've discussed it, and we will only get the roof and gutters done.  Residing the house I feel will open up an expensive can of worms.  We can live with a few dents on mostly the west side of the house.  The window and maybe some screens I should be able to get fixed rather cheaply.

Well, it's been a relatively productive day here so far.  Kate has to work tomorrow so what she says goes today, but will likely be lunch out followed with me watching the Brewer game this afternoon.  For dinner we plan on grilling out brats.  Another new-to-us brand as we continue our search for a new brand of bratwurst that we like.  Then later tonight I'm hoping I still have the energy to have a fire.  I'll feel guilty if I don't, as tomorrow is the solstice but expected to be rather damp out.  Wish me luck.

Faux Fire Pit

It's very nice to live in a neighborhood with full grown trees.  We don't have as many nearby as we did years ago, but there are still enough large trees and many new ones planted.

With trees comes stick shedding, further encouraged by our tumultuous weather this spring.  Since we got settled into this house I've welcomed all sticks, branches, and - sometimes reluctantly - many large to very large limbs as free firewood.  If it fell on my property then I take it as my responsibility to take care of it.  And when neighbor Dave was still around I gladly helped him and took care of the big things so he didn't have to.  Leaving them on the curb for the city to pick up wasn't acceptable to me, and disposing of sticks has never been an issue.  (I feel the same about fall leaves.)

So far this year I've only had the one fire pit, on the spring equinox.  I've had chances since, weekend nights where I've been too tired or else weather conditions weren't right.  But that's it, just the one, short fire so far this year.

Anyway, more sticks have accumulated this spring (since the spring equinox fire).  I already have two five-gallon buckets full of kindling and another of quick-burning sunflower stalks from last year.  I don't need any more fire starter material.   I just kept tossing sticks into the firepit, even stomping them down to fit more, but it was time to make room.

I made a drink, got out the lawn chair, and prepared with the fire screen and poker.  (There is at least one fire extinguisher inside the garage door.)  I used the garden torch to set it alight in a few places.  I thought I might have to keep using it, but once it got started it went up pretty quickly, as you can see here.

I did clean out the fire pit after that last fire, so I'm not worried about too many ashes or anything.  But I'm glad I had that fire screen handy once it got going.  When I first put it on it was sitting just above the fire pit on the pile of sticks, settling down quickly as they burned.  It didn't take long for it to burn down, and about 20 or 30 minutes later I started putting things away and came in to continue watching the Brewer game.  Not a true fire pit night, but now it's ready for the next time.

Next weekend Sunday is the summer solstice, so I intend to have a fire to commemorate the occasion, as I do.  Sunday evening is not ideal fire pit time for me, so maybe Friday or Saturday to compensate, but weather will likely be a deciding factor.

Sunflower Cat Contractors

I've not done an official count or inventory of sunflowers yet.  I feel it's still too early to tell what may come of these.  There are two different plantings, about 17 days apart.  Many of the first were destroyed early, thus the second planting.  While almost all are still around since the time of the second planting, they are still small and there are a few broken and many twisted yet.  Sunflowers are pretty hardy, when allowed to grow, so even broken or twisted may mature to the best of their ability.  I'll take stock of all soon enough.  This post is mainly to get the bad taste of the last post out of my mouth. 

A productive weekend here, mostly.  I still have some relatively bigger projects on my list that I want to get done soon, but all in due time.  This week, I was impressed by the first contractor's pitch, but it was also a bit over the top so I'm a little hesitant.  The second I sent on his way as this kid did not project the confidence or knowledge that I wanted to hear, so I was nice but didn't want to waste his time or mine.  The third seemed confident and level-headed.  I really hope I like what he comes back with.  I expect to make a decision by the end of the week, and it may also include new siding everywhere.

The cats are enjoying the windows and porch being open today, and I'm going to go enjoy the Brewer game now.

Happy Sunday and have a great week, everyone!

Sunflower Update & RANT

I originally planted 30 sunflower seedlings around the yard.  This batch was 12 days from seeding to planting, though they could have been planted on day 11, maybe 10.   Then the critters got many, so I seeded 24 more in cardboard tubes.  I figured I would fill in around the yard with half and take the other half to work for the clients to enjoy.  On Sunday, after only 8 days (but the nights had been warmer) I planted 10 seedlings around the yard, reseeded two that did not come up, and had 12 others to take to work.

Seeding to seedling came sooner than I expected for this batch.  I was busy on Monday at work, but I would have time Tuesday morning to take some of our early-arriving clients out to plant before classes started, so I pushed it 2 days longer than the seedlings would have preferred.  They were all more than as tall as the tube already and flopping over, but I felt they were still viable.

Then this morning came.  Well, someone called in sick so I had to cover their job coaching duties that morning, and I had my own duties that afternoon.  My boss said I was the only one that could, though I am well aware there was at least one other that could have if they wanted.  I told her about the sunflowers and how they had to get in the ground that day, and it fell on deaf ears.

This was personal to me.  I had planned this all spring (and they knew that), used my own time and resources, and looked forward to sharing these with the clients all summer.

Never again.  Never again will I donate any extra time or resources for this job.

I like the work we do, I personally like most of the people I work with - including management, and of course the clients are (mostly) great.  But this truly may be the most poorly managed place I ever worked.

I don't talk about my work much here.  It's mostly like any other place, with cliques and favoritism and gossip.  Whiners, slackers and assholes are everywhere.  (If I had to put myself in one of those categories it would be the latter.)  I was hoping to ride this out, but I feel I should find something else soon.  The only real hesitation to resigning is health insurance for me and my wife.  Even a one month gap could cost us several hundreds to a thousand dollars to remain insured, and it would more likely be 2-3 months that we would have to cover.  Healthcare in America is tied to full time employment, is rapidly declining, and the insurance system that supports it is rigged only to make money.  (As I write this I requested prescription renewals a week ago Friday.  I received a response on Tuesday to allow 48 to 72 hours.  Here it is a week after that and I've not heard anything yet.)

Anyway, I came home to a tangled box of seedlings that should have been in the ground days ago.  I got them all in the ground around here, someplace or another, but I'm sure not all will make it.

Yes, I could have waited another day or two and planted them at work and hoped for the best.  I  could plant another batch and try again in just over a week, too.  But no - just, no.  They knew, and that time has now passed.  My time for them may have now passed, too.  Believe me, this is not my first complaint.

Thanks for making it to the end of my rant.  I even got a good one in on healthcare there.  This weekend I'll take stock of the sunflowers and report back how many are still alive and how many I think will make it to maturity.  Thanks for listening, take care.

Spring Vacation Part II, Ring Cameras & Hail Update

Tuesday and Wednesday, days 7 and 8, I had dental appointments in the mornings.  See day 1 notes last post for all the dental details.  After the root canal on Tuesday I went home, and as I was driving down the street the neighbor's cat wandered out right in front of me, oblivious, as was her owner just on the sidewalk.  I stopped right behind the cat, waited a moment, then gave the horn a quick beep.  The cat scattered out of the roadway and I pulled into the driveway.  Next thing I know, this neighbor was coming down my driveway, flipping me off and swearing up a storm.  I started yelling back that her cat was in the damn road, but my mouth was still numb so didn't say a whole lot more other than to get the hell off my property.  This is the same neighbor that slashed my tire right after we first moved in, in 2009.  She's trash that's come into money and acts like she's the baddest bitch on the block.  We've never been friendly and we never will be.

We have dashcams in both cars now, more security for us.

I told the story to my wife and showed her the dashcam video.  My wife said that's it, we need a doorbell camera.  I spent that day and Wednesday researching and we bought a Ring doorbell and I got a Ring spotlight camera with solar panel for the back.  The doorbell camera I installed last weekend, and the later-arriving solar panel and spotlight camera were installed on the house this morning.  I must say, having the extra security feels pretty good.  Otherwise, I didn't do a whole lot on these dental days.

Thursday was day 9.  I know I took too long to write about all this; I haven't the foggiest idea what I did on Thursday.  There were many little jobs and projects that I did along the way, so I imagine a few of those and probably lunch out.

Friday, day 10, I had to go into work.  Ahead of time I had requested a certain client for a community outing, and we spent all day out and about, only going back in time for him to catch his bus.  I did not want to lose my vacation vibe yet, especially with a three day weekend after.

Kate had to work the weekend due to the holiday, so we missed my niece's high school graduation on Saturday, day 11.  Also on Saturday I planted 24 more sunflower seeds.  I'll plant 12 to fill in around the yard here and the other 12 I'm going to make some cages for and take them to work, we'll see how they fare there.  I originally planned on all 24 going to work but that seemed a bit ambitious and would take more of my own resources.  Twelve is much better than the two (of 3) I grew at work last year.  We'll have to find out if the critters out there will behave.  This new batch of seeds just popped out of the soil on Wednesday so should be ready to plant very soon.

Sunday and Monday, days 12 and 13, were mostly rest and relaxation as far as I can remember.  

A great view of the back.  The actual view extends about 25% further up and down, this pic is the size of my phone screen.

No fire pits on this vacation.  I had a couple opportunities but mostly it was too windy or I was too tired.  Last night would have been perfect too, but I was beat, and tonight is too windy again.  So far this year I've only had the one fire on the Spring equinox.  Let's hope I have another before the Summer solstice and before the mosquitoes emerge.

*          *     Hail     *         *

Also happening during this time, our auto claim for hail damage got settled.  The insurance company totaled my wife's van as the repairs would cost more than it was worth.  The settlement was for blue book value if we signed the van over to them, or the lesser trade-in value if we wanted to keep it.  Well, even used cars are much more expensive these days, so my wife opted to keep the van rather than hurriedly shop for cars and invest thousands more dollars, possibly tens of thousands.  We'll have to get the windshield replaced, but the dents will stay.  Final payment should be in our account by early next week.

The house claim has also mostly been settled.  Now I will have to fix the basement window, find someone to replace the roof and gutters, and we have to decide if we will have the window flashing replaced.  I am not planning on replacing the siding as those dents are not as noticeable and when we do replace some siding we'll do the whole house and maybe something a little different.  There also may be a few window screens to replace, and I think that's about it.  Once all is done and receipt copies uploaded, this will be done, too.  Repairs are happening rapidly all over this side of town, but I've been more patient.  All will be done long before winter.

And within the last two weeks we had our insurance premiums due for house and cars.  They did go up, but I'm not sure if the claims had anything to do with that or not.  What do you think?

Spring Vacation Part I

I took my spring vacation recently, 12 of 13 days in a row off from work.  I was unable to get last Friday off due to seniority and poor scheduling practices (in my opinion).  I had several possible projects planned for this vacation, but only got to some.  Others will still get done, hopefully before my fall vacation.

As I noted here, day 1 of my vacation, two weeks ago today, I had made a dental appointment with my dentist due to a crowned tooth starting to give me discomfort.  That resulted in a referral appointment the following Tuesday for a possible root canal.  Of course, I needed one, and they expected that so it was done that day.  Once home, and no longer numb, I called my dentist again to schedule having this old crown replaced.  They had an opening the next morning, so I took it.  I now have a temporary crown on the root-canalled tooth, due for replacing with the permanent crown a week from today.  This was probably better to do on my time off so using up less time off from work for three appointments, and I'm actually happy it went so quickly.  One more appointment to go, and for that I will only miss an hour of work at the end of the day.  Anyway, dental appointments were the main event for a couple of days the next week.

Day 1, after the dentist and before leaving for Mom's.  In the bucket is cat grass starting, then lettuce seeds my wife is starting in tubes, and 30 sunflower seedlings ready to plant.

Also on day 1, after the appointment, I took a trip down to see Mom.  We got a few spring things done for her and her household, but mostly relaxed and caught up.  She seems to keep busy with appointments, graduations and her social life.  And she seems happy, which is as much as I could ask for.  I returned to Madison about midday the following day, day 2.  

Later on day 2 my wife and I planted 30 sunflower seedlings around the yard in groups of two and mostly three, you can read and see more about that here.  It didn't take long for them to get noticed.  Just days later about half had been destroyed by critters despite being caged.  Whether it was a baby rabbit, ground squirrel or something else digging in to get them, they sure did a number on my seedlings this spring.  More on this later.

Friday, day 3, I had a 90 minute massage booked.  This is the third time I've gotten a professional massage on my vacation in the last couple years.  It was very nice, but I think 60 minutes is better.  All that time on my stomach getting massaged caused my sinuses to fill up and made breathing difficult.  An unwelcome distraction.  Of course, 5 minutes after getting up I was clear as a bell.  I don't remember what else happened on that day, but I likely went out to lunch and relaxed with a Brewers game that evening.

Saturday, day 4, was Plant Day around here.  My wife and I went out and got some plants for the flowerbeds and gardens.  You can read and see more about that here, if you wish.  I believe it was this weekend, with Sunday, day 5, that I paid more attention to the lawn, too.  Last year I had the lawn aerated, basically a last ditch effort to get better grass in front - it didn't help.  I pretty much gave up on the front lawn now.  Oh, I've made broad chemical efforts to maintain some decency, but I will no longer worry about fighting back the neighborhood's weeds too much.  The back yard, however, is more protected and will continue to get more care.  The latest problem is one of the groundcover wildflowers wanting to spread from the stump area.  I will need to spend some time on it again soon.  And yes, spray weeds individually.

Then on Monday, day 6, my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a nice dinner out and some ice cream at home.  It was only a Monday and she had to work that day, so that was about all we were up for.  I do believe it was also this day I spent the morning making a double batch of yummy flatbread.

The weather was pretty wonderful for this vacation.  I did get plenty of rest, relaxation, and went out for food and drink often, but that's pretty normal for us.  I do have more to say about the week that followed, but at a later time.  Cheers for now.

25th Anniversary

They've not all been easy, but we're still together and looking forward to new adventures in the future.  

I love you, Kate.  Cheers to you, always and forever.

Plant Day 2026

Plant day isn't as big here as it used to be, but it is still an annual occasion.  We were thinking of planting some of these red plants directly into the stump, but the stump is infested with ants so just a couple pots.  That's about all we're going to do in that area except wait and see what wildflowers return.  Already we can see we'll have cone flowers all around the stump.

We got another attractive hanging plant for the front.  This one seemed small and healthy, and will hopefully last all summer again.

More of that red plant made it into a pot out front, along with a couple other flowers picked out by my wife.  In the big pot we got a similar plant as we had there the last few years.

In the gardens, two pepper plants join the few garlic that survived the mild fall; the others rotted in the ground.  Also two tomato plants in the top right.  Same as last year, I believe, so may become monsters requiring the old ladder and bird netting later in the season.  Lettuce will eventually fill the bottom left garden, while we wait and see what we'll get for raspberries this year.

Aside from all the planting, the grill got cleaned, windows washed and back steps are now power-washed for sealing soon.  A productive day for us, overall.  Tonight we'll grill out some wieners for dinner and I'll be watching the Brewer game.  Kate has to work tomorrow, so I'll be picking more projects from my list to keep me busy.  I'll also need to make more baguette, tortillas, flatbread and taco sauce very soon.