Showing posts with label house. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house. Show all posts

Monday, November 6, 2023

Saturday Night Fire

 Was a good night for it, but got colder soon after dark.  Here you can also see some of the work on neighbor Dave's house, where the inside is gutted and now a new re-pitched roof.  Lots of happenings around here, not sure how much I want to talk about it yet, though.  Real life needs doing, not writing.

Monday, July 3, 2023

Holiday Weekend Updates

Happy holiday weekend, everyone.  I know not everyone has today off, but I took it off to have a four day weekend with the Fourth of July tomorrow.  Anyway, so far I've had a one mow May and a 1/2 mow June; will I mow in July?  I only remember because I noted it here, but I first mowed this year on May 13, then mowed only the back yard on June 4, and it looks like it may be some time yet before I mow again.  The front yard is mostly brown while the back is mostly hanging on to green and all of it stopped growing long ago but for going to seed.

Raspberries are almost done and today I noticed the first several walnuts had fallen in the yard.  But where are the helicopters from the maple trees?  They normally fall like rain later in the spring, causing a cleaning of the gutters, but so far nothing.  I can't even be sure if I see them in the trees or not.  As dry as it's been it may be possible that there won't be any this year, or maybe a very few.  The humidity finally arrived last week, so temperatures that were more than bearable before now require the air conditioning on and outside chores planned around the weather.

All four sunflowers are still alive, two seem to be doing very well while the other two almost died but recovered though they seem stunted, so we'll see how they do.  But the other two are looking very promising.

The bird feeder now requires refilling once a day.  It's gone in less than a day but I will only refill it once a day.  I got the gardens cleaned up somewhat this morning, including digging up the monster oregano plant, leaving just a tiny sprig to live on.   We gave up on the strawberries, they exist only for the critters now.  And I have the new trail camera trained on the stump where I've been putting the extra peanuts from the bird food (since too many clog the feeder) so will have to bring that in soon and see what's been enjoying the feasts I put out.  And I've painted more doors.

Yes, after painting the front door there was still a lot of the quart of paint left over so we decided to paint the back porch door and the side garage door.  And there's still at least 1/3 of the quart left but I think that's enough painting for now.  Henceforth we may be known as the Purple Door House!

I'll put pictures of the doors after the break.

Monday, June 19, 2023

Purple Door

The trail camera showed up after I started preparing yesterday and the SD card while I was painting, so I did not try a time lapse of painting the front door purple.  But no matter, the job got done and the results are pretty good, we think.

Two coats went on yesterday and some touching up this morning.  For some reason it never occurred to me that it would take more than one coat, but of course, covering a lighter color with a darker one will do that.  Still, didn't use much of the quart of paint so a shame there's nothing else we want painted purple.  I also spray painted black all the formerly brass hardware on the outside of the door.  I figured that was a better option than leaving them brass and more in line with our black and white outside theme.  Overall, I think it's a good addition of color without being loud or obnoxious.

On my last trip to see my Mom she reminded me of all the different colors she had painted our front door years ago, so maybe we'll change it up in a few years if we tire of purple.

Sunday, June 18, 2023

June This-And-Thats

I've a few things on my mind and I have a new keyboard to get used to so I need to do some typing to see if I still like full size keys, so here we go!

  • New computers come with a keyboard but they are cheap ones with flat, "chiclet" keys and I can't stand those.  For the last few years I've had a keyboard with actual keys, about half size keys, but keys.  There's nothing wrong with that keyboard but it is filthy, as keyboards get over time, so I ordered a new one that has full size keys.  What size keys do you prefer?
  • The bird food we have now is good but has some large dried fruit and lots of peanuts, and sometimes those clog up the feeder so I've been going through it and removing those dried fruits and many of the peanuts.  Now, without the clogging, the birds have been emptying the feeder in just about 2 days.  Plenty of entertainment for the cats, for sure, but tiresome to keep going through the bird food and refilling so often.  My wife knows more about bird food so will get something different soon, but there's still a few pounds left.  The dried fruit and peanuts that I remove I've been putting on the stump around the gnome for the critters.  I put the trail camera there to watch and while there's a few entertaining videos they are all pink still, hard to watch so unusable.
  • Because of that, I ordered a new trail camera, this one.  I spent a bit more hoping it's worth it, and it should be here anytime, actually, maybe by the time I'm done writing here.  Then a few hours later a new SD card is scheduled to arrive, as well.  I know BW bought the same trail camera as I had, and I hope she has better luck with it than I did.  And I'm hoping I like the new one better since it has been very interesting putting it in different areas and seeing what happens when we're not around.
  • Early this afternoon I want to paint the front door, so if the trail camera and SD card arrive in time I was thinking of trying a time lapse.  The door is currently a dirty white, and so we picked out a shade of purple to add a little color.  If I don't do it today it will be at least 2 weeks until I can get it done because we're going to be hot so very likely will have the air conditioning on for much if not all of that time so the door will have to be closed.
  • Because I just touched upon the weather, since I last reported on it we've had some very cool days and some comfortable days recently, but just a very little rain.  And while there is a small chance of rain today I don't see it happening and there's no real chance for the next week or more.  We've officially moved from "dry" to "mild drought" again.
  • So we've still been watering the gardens and sunflowers every day.  One sunflower has really taken off, the pair seem to be doing okay still, just younger.  And the other seems to have been struggling a bit, so I hope it makes it.  I feel I should take the cage off the bigger one but I'm afraid a critter will fell it with one bite.  Precedence was established long ago.
  • I made baguette again yesterday, and my latest baking purchase was a UFO lame for making the cuts.  I hate it.  It doesn't work as well as a sharp serrated knife and seems very dangerous when loosening/tightening as one slip and your finger would slip into the razor blade.  I'll stick with the knife, see the difference in the picture here.
  • Top two serrated knife, bottom UFO lame.
    Someone also mentioned the state of our street recently and I noted how there are worse.  In fact, the next block over is much worse.  Well, there's been a surveyor in the neighborhood recently and little pink flags started appearing on the lot lines, see bird feeder picture.  I talked to him the other day, and the city is looking to update our street and that other street, and I'm sure the sewer under it while they're at it.  He surveys and creates a 3D model which then is used for the planning.  Our two streets create a horseshoe so it makes sense to do them both at one time, and likely next year, he said.  It won't be fun while it's happening but will sure be nice when they're done.  
I think I'll get used to this new keyboard, but work will be the real test.  Worst case, I clean up and reconnect the old one.  Now I have to go fill the bird feeder again, and the trail camera is late...

Monday, May 22, 2023

Vacation, Plant Day, Jets, Ducks And An Ex-Stump

It's been a pretty good vacation, a nice time away from work.  I had all of last week off and tomorrow yet, before I have to return on Wednesday.  No big projects but some spring chores done and much needed relaxation.  I have one day left tomorrow, and I've been trying to keep it pretty clear so I can just relax most of the day and do whatever I feel like doing, so today I feel like writing.

Every spring I've had what I called Plant Day, the vacation day that I get a bunch of plants to pot or plant them around.  This year has been a little different; I got a couple hanging plants for out front plus the big pot out front and planted sunflower seeds for the first time, but so far haven't potted anything for the decaying stump area.  That option is still open, just not so urgent this year.  And out of 50 sunflower seeds I'm seeing 6-8 coming up so far.  I could see that critters were sniffing them out and eating them almost as quick as I could plant them, but thankfully it looks like a few survived.  More on this later, I'm sure.

I got a couple short videos the other day of some of our new F-35s coming in for a landing, they always seem to go in twos.  I don't see that they're louder when landing than the prior F-16s, maybe louder when taking off but they're up and out so quick it doesn't last long.  And from before the eggs were ransacked I got an interesting - and common - duck scene on video, too.  It was fun to follow Mother Duck as she tried to have her nest under our stairs, but it's just too exposed to end well.  While I have the destruction and heartbreak on video I won't be posting it and hope they don't try to nest here again.  Watch this instead.  :)

And while I wanted to sleep in later this morning, instead I was roused by the sound of large equipment running nearby.  Neighbor Jane's tree stump was getting removed.  Shortly after taking pictures of the bird feeder, seen here recently, there was fresh paint and flags for the utilities, plus someone came out last week and dug some test holes to verify just how deep those utilities were.  I watched through our front window as removing the stump was an interesting process to see up close, and just took a few hours.  I guess some other crew will be by to seed it and lay the hay mat over it, we'll see.

I'll put a few more pictures of the stump to terrace renovation after the break.

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Spring Thaw?

We had a good rain yesterday until about midday, melting some of the snow we had, but we had water in the basement that afternoon.  This is what it looks like by the drain when this happens.  Water gets in all around where the foundation walls meet the floor, and trickles toward the drain.  There is one area on the other side of the basement where it does pool a bit, and that was the last area still wet today.  I spread it around so it would evaporate, pushing it to the drain would be the same thing.  The dehumidifier has been running ever since yesterday and will probably continue for a few days, at least.  But we are very wet right now with more rain to snow coming tonight.

A pretty rare occurrence, overall, thankfully, but it does happen.  And not unusual for the neighborhood, from what I can gather.  We've prepared the basement for this, but we do have to remember to get the rugs up in time.

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Happy Halloween 2022, and Wood

I'm not really a holiday person but for taking advantage of the occasional paid days off work, but of all the holidays I like Halloween the best.  It has the most fun imagery and characters, with the least apparent religious connections.

I wore the same mask as I did last year since these are still Covid times, and again it went over pretty well with the few trick or treaters that came by.  We had over 400 pieces of candy to hand out, after our own nibbling the last few days.  We waited to get candy so we wouldn't get into it, but we buy the candy we like so what else would happen?  We expected lots more kids to come by this year than last, but that was far from the case as we only got a dozen or so.  Leftover candy will go in the freezer.

I had bought a pumpkin for the first time in maybe 20 years, and carved it with the classic jack-o-lantern face.  And I used a sharp kitchen knife, just as I used when I was a kid, and I still have all my fingers.  Later, after I bought this one, I saw the lumpy gray ones for sale that you don't normally see.  I like the look of them, maybe a bit spookier, so next year I'm going to have to keep an eye out and get one of those if I can.

And for the 5th year in a row (skipping 2020) I put the mummy in the front corner windows.  I kind of like it, and it's a good decoration for a few hours while the kids come around.  At the same time I bought the mummy I bought a couple window cling film decorations but it's always been too cold to try to put them on the door windows in years past, but the weather was very good for Halloween this year so I finally got them out and put them on the front storm door.  It was only 2019 when we had several inches of snow for the holiday and the other years we've been colder than what we've seen this year so far.  And our immediate forecast is rather favorable, too.

Favorable enough weather for weekend fires for some time yet.  Fresh load of firewood after the break!

Friday, October 7, 2022

Early October This-And-Thats

It's jacket weather today, light jacket.  The air becomes crisp though the sun shines.  There's a bit of a breeze, but that's supposed to drop off in a couple hours.  I'm counting on it as I'm planning on a fire and having a friend over.

  • Markings showed up around the tree stump in front of neighbor Jane's.  I'm not sure exactly what the colors mean, but interesting how they're so close to the stump.  I hope the stump-grinding crew is careful.
  • The artificial intelligence that creates 'art' from your input had made the news a couple weeks ago.  I finally played around with it last night, and it's pretty neat but I want to play around with it more and get more creative with my input.  You have to create an account, but you can use your google account.  Check it out here.  If I get it to create something really cool or unusual I'll share it here sometime.
  • I'd kept forgetting to mention it, but the blog emails finally stopped going out around the beginning of August.  I know many who read via the emails may not make the effort to come to the site to read, but I hope they do.  I never found a similar service for free, but TinyLetter is an interesting option.  It's more like a newsletter you sign up for, so I'd have to create that.  Maybe paste the blog into it or, more likely, send one out once a month or so with links to my posts.  Everything and nothing is on the table still, it depends on the effort I want to put forth.
  • I found poop in the back yard again today, and I don't have the trail cam back there.  I had it back there for a few weeks and all it caught was a whole lot of squirrel activity, no pooper.  Right now, it's on neighbor Jane's fence across from the back door, close to the ground.  My thought was to see what could be coming into the back yard down the driveway side, plus security for the garage and back door.  I've not checked those images and video yet.
  • We had rain on 8 weekends in a row until last weekend.  Not washouts, but at some point every weekend.  And the porch roof started to leak a bit onto one of the new ceiling tiles.  I do have extra tiles but a little white spray paint will probably fix it fine, I did that to some of the old tiles more than once.  Several years ago I got up there and sprayed some of that flex seal stuff where the porch roof meets the house.  The porch is not the house, certainly not built to code, and will get replaced someday so we don't want to spend much, if any, money fixing it up.  So I crawled up the ladder a few days ago and gave it another good coat of flex seal.  Hopefully that will last a few more years now.
  • The Green Bay Packers play in London on Sunday morning, 8:30 a.m. our time so I think 2:30 p.m. there?  The last NFL team to play a game internationally because they are one of the smallest markets so didn't give up a home game before and no other team would give up their home game against the Packers because their fans could fill any stadium ($).  Being one of the most popular teams, Packer fans travel well and are located all over the place, here and the world.  My wife is planning a fancy breakfast for us for the game and I'm really looking forward to it.  There's a lot I should get done later that Sunday, but I'm just going to enjoy the unusual morning game and we'll just have to see what happens.
I've been thinking lately that I want to post less more often.  Less words and topics in one post, maybe.  It's a thought, anyway.  Have a good weekend, everyone.

Hasn't that wind died down yet?

Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Rambling and New Stuff

Things have seemed a little busy around here recently.  A couple larger purchases and gearing up for the end of the fiscal year at work.  Football has begun so I have games I like to watch every weekend, and some weekdays.  Outside chores are beckoning as the weather continues to cool and this coming month will be time to get a good start, but really the weather will dictate and it's still too early for much yet.

Out in the back yard the woodpile is getting smaller, (not quickly but I hope to get another load delivered before the end of October), the walnuts are piling up in the corner and their litter is all over the yard thanks to the squirrels.  I don't have the count handy right now, but it's not turned out to be so many as I thought it would be.

There is nothing to report on the stump in front of neighbor Jane's, but I still think they may get it removed yet this year.  I actually used the city website to report a couple private property trees in the area that made the sidewalks impassable, and on our walk yesterday we noticed both trees had been trimmed.  I'm tall, so still have to watch out in some areas where we walk, but these two were pretty bad and worth reporting.

Four years already?  It seems that every 4 years I have to get a new computer, or at least since 2014 now.  Two or three months ago we had a very short power outage, just a few seconds, three separate times in about as many days.  Each time the computer was on and it took a lot of time for it to come back to life.  The last time it wouldn't even turn on for hours after.  This prompted me to finally buy an uninterrupted power supply, and one just a bit bigger than what I need.  Now if the power goes out the computer and monitors will run off the battery for 45 minutes to an hour, but I have it set to shut down 5 minutes after the power goes out and doesn't come back on.  Anyway, I sat down one day and hit the space bar to wake it up.  The screen came on for half a second then it was off.  The computer just shut off abruptly.  Again I went through the process of watching the computer piece itself together after not shutting down properly.  I believe I ordered another computer with a day or two of that incident.  I went through that tedious new computer setup process last weekend and am now humming along again.

Another big purchase was a treadmill so we can continue to walk when winter comes and it gets much easier to be sedentary.  My wife has used it a few times so far, even for jogging.  I've tried it a few times and I need to get used to it.  The first time I tried really threw my equilibrium off, but that did get better on the next short tries.  Still, I prefer to walk outdoors so will mostly continue those daily walks until weather forces me in.

So now we have two pieces of exercise equipment in the basement, side by side so we can both exercise at the same time.  For regular reader's perspective, from this angle the washer and dryer are behind and the cat drawer and stairs are on the left.  This quarter of the basement has, from left to right, the furnace, my basement workbench, the chest freezer and the kitchen gadget/cookware overflow shelf.  Also the brightest part of the basement, for sure on sunny days.  No, not a finished basement, but still good, useful space.

I wanted to get some of this written before the weekend gets here as I think we may be busy again.  Hopefully a few fires in the near future, I want to get the wood down to next to nothing before ordering more, and it usually gets here within days when ordered.  It hasn't been unusual in recent years to enjoy a fire right up to the winter solstice, and the autumnal equinox just happened recently so that helps my perspective - plenty of time for fires yet.

Cheers, everyone.  Have a great upcoming weekend and may all your sports teams win.  (Mine, too!)

Friday, September 16, 2022

Vacation Wrap-up

 I still have the weekend but my vacation is essentially over.  All my vacation projects have been completed and I find myself today a bit bored.  I went for a drive, grabbed some food at a drive-through and parked by a lake to eat.  Then I went to a small mom and pop style tavern only to find it strangely closed, so I just came back home.  It's a beautiful day out, but I'm a bit sore so will wait for my wife to finish her workday then we can take a nice walk.

I'm glad I did the power washing early due to the rains that came after and the drying time needed before sealing the back steps.  I was mostly idle on Sunday and Monday due to that rain, and we did get some water in the basement for the first time in a couple years.  We didn't pick up the rugs in time so some got a bit wet, but as of yesterday everything was dry again and back to normal.  I had put the trail camera down there to see if the cats use the walkway so they don't have to step on the floor but it failed to capture the cats over several days but for a couple times when they walked right up to the camera.  Not sure why, and I don't see anything in the settings to fix that.  I may have to try again later from a different angle, but now I have the trail camera back outside on the fence by the wood rack facing the gardens.  I found poop back there again and want to find out what is doing that.

On Tuesday I edged all our concrete.  It had been a few years since I did it last and it was due.  I think a combination of the concrete sinking over the years and the sod rising from mulched grass has caused the front grass to be quite higher than the walk.  And I don't believe I've ever edged the curb side of the terrace before but you can see how much it was covering the curb.  It took about 16 five gallon buckets over 3 trips to the dump as it was just too much sod to compost here.  It was a bit of work, but it is very satisfying to see it all cleaned up and several inches of space reclaimed.

Wednesday was spent sealing the driveway seams in front of the garage.  I think water gets under it and when it freezes in the winter it makes one corner of a slab rise in front of the garage so hopefully this will help.  More of these seams will need to be redone in the future but I'll be looking into a different method.  I just did this area again to use up the crack filler left over from several years ago.  Other than that, just a few errands, can't remember what else so probably nothing.

By Thursday the wooden steps were dry enough to get sealed.  It was supposed to be mostly or partly cloudy out, perfect for the job, but I wanted to get an early start but not too early for the morning dew to evaporate.  Well, I overslept a bit so got a late morning start, then the water sealer I had must have been old as it had a cottage cheese consistency.  So I ran out to get more and in my haste got a slightly different version than I've used before - and learned that 'clear' and 'transparent' are two very different things.  I accepted my mistake and forged ahead, and it turns out it made the steps look pretty good.  Before the wood was a light gray but now, well, what do you think?  I'm calling it a happy accident.

So, back to today.  I guess today is turning out to be a pretty lazy day for me, and that's okay.  Soon here my wife and I will go on probably a 30 minute walk.  Later we're having Italian beef sandwiches for dinner (that's been smelling really good in the slow cooker all day!) but just a quiet night in.  Tomorrow we have a few things lined up but other than that I think I'm done with my vacation chore list and will just relax and try not to think about the shitstorm that I know will be waiting for me on Monday morning.

Walnut count:  My yard ~460, Dave's yard ~1320.  I expected these numbers to be higher by now, but we're not done yet.

Monday, September 12, 2022

Vacation, Rain, Birthday, and More Rain

I got a start on my vacation list after work on Thursday, getting the back steps fully power-washed and some of the driveway.  I was going to finish the power washing after work on Friday but the end of the garden hose popped off, so I took that as a sign that I was meant to relax that evening.  In the morning I took a trip to the big box DIY store, fixed the hose and completed the power washing.  The steps needed a thorough wash this year and once the wood has dried this week I'll apply a water seal.  I've never really power washed the driveway before, but the low parts down by and around the garage were looking pretty filthy with just dirt from rain and standing water over the years, but looks a lot better now.

That was done on Saturday morning.  On Saturday afternoon the Badgers played, and lost, and the rain moved in later that night.  Sunday, the Packers played, and lost, while it rained continuously all day long.  We did make a trip out for lunch before the game, but it was a miserable day for a birthday (55 this year).  While today, Monday, the rain has let up some but still a very cool, damp, and dark gray day again.  Makes it hard to get much motivation to do anything with weather like this, but the forecast is looking better for the rest of the week so hopefully I can start my vacation week properly tomorrow.

Not sure what day yet, but I do want to have at least one evening this week for relaxing by the fire.  I last had one the prior weekend and made dinner out there with our, well, I've heard them called different things, but little pie irons for camping to cook on the coals.  I burned the crap out of the first one, of course, but then made a couple perfectly cooked ones.  Overall, more work, mess and bother to cook this way, but it had been a very long time so was fun just the same.  There is also a bigger view of the sky over the house now.  Not so long ago there were 3 trees there, now just one. 

I didn't know that praying mantis lived in Wisconsin, but per Google they can be found here in the summer months, growing up to two inches including wings.  We had this one on our front window screen all day Saturday, from early morning until we shut the windows at night.  Not sure if it was resting after a big meal or what, but the rains that came that night surely made it move on to a more secure location.  And this one was at least 4 inches long.  I don't remember ever seeing one here before, so was interesting to watch and check on that day.

Well, tomorrow is a new day and we should see the sun and the temperature should come back up to shorts and t-shirt weather.  Most of my vacation to-do list is outside chores, and I need a good day to lift my spirits after the last couple.

Lastly, my condolences to my UK friends on the passing of the Queen.  In a world where public scenes and boorish behavior has become normal, she was always the picture of quiet dignity.  We need more of that again.

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Squirrel Eviction

 One of my neighbors got evicted yesterday morning,  And rather rudely evicted, at that.


A crew from the city showed up yesterday morning to remove the tree in front of neighbor Jane's house, as we knew they would eventually.  They made short order of it, too, arriving around 9 in the morning and finished by 1:30 in the afternoon - with an hour lunch break.  This crew had an extendable grabber with a saw, so they just had to grab a branch, cut it off, then bring it down, all with a remote control.  While they made quite a mess out there, unavoidable, they also cleaned it up very well, too.

After trying to determine how old it was when I posted about it last I had been planning on going out there when they were done, brushing off the sawdust and getting the cross section wet to better see the rings.  Then I wanted to get some good, clear pictures so I could enlarge them on the computer and get a count.  Our house was built in 1947, so I was thinking the tree was probably planted right about that time, give or take a couple years.

Anyway, I was working all day out of view of the tree while my wife was off taking care of her dad, so I only got up and grabbed a few pictures here and there.  Neighbor Jane is retired so sat on her front porch and watched the whole thing.  When it came time to bring the big trunk down I took a few minutes away from work and walked out to watch and talk to her.  

Once it fell, both our jaws dropped as we gasped at the sight of how hollow it was.

If we had known this sooner the tree would have been reported and removed long ago.  Scary to think of a tree that big falling on anyone's house. I'm sure we've all seen similar on the news before, and I'd really rather not have to go though that if at all possible.  But, you can't always spend your time worrying about what might be or happen, either.  We still have neighbor Dave's tree, same kind of maple and likely the same age but passed the city arborist's muster, I guess.  We'll enjoy our last remaining big tree in front of the house while we still can.

Saturday, July 30, 2022

Pride

No, not that kind, that was June.  Pride, satisfaction, happiness, gratification, fulfillment, contentment; whatever you want to call it.  It's a good feeling, even if fleeting.  I've felt a bit of that lately, as I sat by the fire last night I looked around me and just appreciated it all.



My wife and I have a nice house, if small, that's in pretty good shape and we've made some good improvements, inside and out, so far.  We have an exceptional lawn for the area, as it was when we bought it so I've maintained that, which does take some doing.  The gardens and flowerbeds are looking good and the compost bin I built with just a vague plan to start is still holding up great and looking good.  The garage is stuffed full but well organized so even I can usually get 3/4 way around the car to get to anything anytime.  The firepit and wood rack have been a great addition to the yard and got me out of the house and outside much more during a pandemic, and still, obviously.  We live on a nice street and though the street itself is getting a little rough in spots the neighborhood is nice, calm and family-oriented.  And in a good part of town, on the bike path to easily get to other parts of town or as far as you're willing to walk or bike.  The city itself has many outstanding features that are unique, including the middle of the city is our state capitol building on an isthmus.

And, well, now Livability rated Madison as the best place to live in the US for a second year in a row.  The link is a quick read, points out some highlights and numbers.  Not that I take a whole lot of stock in the ranking, whatever number, but to consistently be on lists like these, it must be a pretty good place.  A related article here points out lots more of those lists, and more of the varied features of the city that are too numerous for me to try to list here.

It's easy to take for granted.  We live here every day, this is normal to us.  But realizing you have it pretty good in a pretty good place feels pretty damn good, sometimes.  I like to ignore the weight of the world in those moments, and just be proud of what we have.  And that's okay.

Monday, July 18, 2022

284-7624 and Nuts!

Cheers to everyone who can remember their childhood phone number!  I can remember this from very young when living in the 3rd house I remember growing up in, in Illinois.

There was a white house we lived in the upstairs, I believe - my first memory of a place I lived.  Then a pink house on a street called Steinman, small and one story with a separate garage and shared driveway.  Then a red house on the corner of Jefferson Avenue (1135 - still remember the street number, too) and another street, two stories with a big yard, huge willow tree, and a tire swing.  I think we moved there about 1973, so I was about 5 or 6 years old.  This is the house that I remember most and we had that phone number until we moved to Wisconsin. 

It was a party line when we first had the phone there, meaning the whole street shared the same phone line.  You could pick up the phone and hear a neighbor on a call so have to wait your turn.  I don't remember the party line lasting long, and then we had our own line and this was the number.  It was taught to me at that young age just in case I was abducted or, much more likely, gotten lost as an oblivious child sometimes will.  I've now remembered a phone number I've not had for about 44 years, yet I can forget why I entered a room a minute ago.

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I found the above as an old draft from last year and figured why waste mediocre writing?  I just cleaned it up a bit and here it is.  I sat down this afternoon after work to write about the creek thing I did on Saturday morning and got distracted with finding that and another idea I had more recently, below, so I'll write about the creek monitoring later in the week.

*          *          *

The other day I cleaned up some downed live branches from one of neighbor Dave's three black walnut trees in his back yard.  At the time I noticed the walnuts were pretty much full size already, and I have a feeling this year is going to be a bumper crop, so I decided to keep a running total of the number of walnuts I pick up with my grabber and send to the corner behind the lilac.  I've done this before, informally, both daily and cumulatively one year but gave up at about a thousand.  This time I'll note the counts in my garage notebook and update the total here whenever I post.  As the count goes up, remember, these are just from my small yard, next to the yard with the walnut trees.  I'd imagine Dave gets at least 5 times as many as I'll get, and probably more.

And before you ask, no, I do not try to save them, shell them, dry them, crack and eat them.  I leave that for the squirrels, they don't seem to mind fattening up on them.

Walnut Count:  22

Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Another Tree Going, More

We found out yesterday that we're losing another tree on the street, very close to home.  Right by the driveway, in fact.  The city deems it dangerous so it will be removed.

About when we moved in back in 2009 we lost a couple large trees toward the bottom of the street, removed by the city.  Between then and 2021 we lost at least a couple on the street, including one just across and a house up and one just two houses up, but I don't think I posted about them.  Then, in early 2021, while snow was still on the ground, we had 3 large trees removed toward the top of the street.  After that, in June 2021, we lost the big tree directly across the street from us.  Now, we're going to lose the large tree just to the left in front of neighbor Jane's house.  It does have a dead branch hanging pretty much over our front awning, but we hesitated to report it because we were afraid they would remove the whole tree.  Now that will happen anyway.

My wife overheard the guy from the city talking to neighbor Jane about it, and it seems he pointed out some good reasons.  He also said it may be some time before it actually gets removed.  A few weeks ago we had some strong storms come through, causing damage with sticks, branches and whole trees coming down.  Last I heard, about a week or so ago, they had already removed over 3 million pounds of debris from across the city and it seems they still have a ways to go.  I know my stick pile just got picked up recently.  It was a rather large pile, but thankfully just sticks and I picked them up from both my and neighbor Dave's yards as he is recovering from a torn achilles (at 84!).  That was a lot of trips to the curb (but no bending over thanks to my trusty stick grabber).

I'm always sad to see big trees go, especially in our own neighborhood, but I do understand the dangerous situations they can sometimes create.  We still have a similar tree on the other side, in front of neighbor Dave's house, and if that one is removed my heart will break again and we will not have any large trees left in front of the house.

In other news, during a walk around our section of the creek today we saw all the wildflowers that were blooming or getting there.  Some get very tall so they just take some time to grow.  I also noticed how the steps and canoe slide, installed in September 2019 (parts one, two, and three), were looking.

The steps look like they have not been used at all, but for the ducks, while the canoe slide has seen a bit more action.  It's not uncommon to see someone get dropped off or carry/wheel their canoe down the street to the slide for summer fun.  Certainly not every day or even weekend, but not uncommon and good to see it does get used.

But at least these are summer happenings, much more fun to write about than winter happenings.  I hope everyone is enjoying their summer so far.  Don't let it slip by, it will be cold again before we know it!

Thursday, May 26, 2022

Drop Ceiling and Clean Glass

I caved and started up the furnace yesterday afternoon.  It was pretty chilly in the house and I do like to be comfortable, and just a few degrees made a world of difference.  The heat was turned off again first thing this morning, hopefully for at least 5 or 6 months this time.

So today being a much nicer day and windows open again, it was time to get back to work on the drop ceiling in the porch.  They had been there for a long time and, especially the full-size tiles, had quite a sag in the middle, not to mention cracks and old water stains.  I removed all the old full size tiles last weekend so I could get them in the garbage, but the old tiles around the edges that will need to be cut to size remained.  As the 128-second video starts you'll see me remove them before going to the garage to cut the new piece.  To do the room would take 15 tiles so I bought 17, just in case since they were pretty cheap.  Toward the end you'll see me doubling up a couple so they're stashed up there in case anything happens and one is needed in the future.  

All in all, it went pretty smooth and quicker than I thought it would.  And too bad the camera was just a little too high to catch Hamish, who watched me do most of it from the top of the cat tree.

After the tiles I had to try to get that glass door clearer.  Thanks for the suggestions, we always have a good supply of vinegar here.  One other thing I forgot is that over winter we had one of those humidifiers that creates a fine mist but also creates a fine film on everything.  I cleaned all the other windows in the house as soon as the weather allowed, but did not do the sliding glass door at that time.  

The first picture is the 'before,' with two panes of glass on the left, one in the middle and none on the right.

This second picture is the 'after,' cleaned twice with vinegar and newspaper.  Much more clear than they were, yet still a bit cloudy.

Up close in the third pic you can see the spots still on the cleaned windows, one kind or side of the glass spots is visible more along the top and the other kind/side below, but throughout the picture and all over the glass.  It was like this when we bought the house and I still can't clean it off, but it's better than it was so I probably won't think about it again until fall when it is time to clean them again.

Monday, May 23, 2022

Plant Day and Vacation


Slightly cooler weather has made us have the windows shut for several days now and maybe until the weekend, but that didn't stop us from the spring ritual of getting some decorative plants to put around the house yesterday.  We put two hanging plants out front to go along with the big pot, just a few for the stump area since the stump is rotting away, and a couple more plants for the garden.

We always used to put a hanging plant on a shepherd's hook by the back stairs, but that area is full sun all day and was pretty harsh on most things we put there.  We talked about putting it by the garage door, but at the bottom of the front steps seemed like a better idea and nice to add more color there.

Only 3 pots on the stump this year.  My wife also floated the idea of just sprinkling seeds on the decaying stump, and that might still happen.  I'm okay with less pots here this year, was less plants to have to pick out and hopefully less issues with squirrels digging them up.  I checked for that first thing this morning.

And my wife added basil and parsley to the garden, where she's already planted a tomato, pepper and a couple other plants and rows of seeds.  Only two garlic survived the winter, and we're pretty sure that's due to the the constant freezing and thawing last fall and early winter, so the rest just rot in the ground.  Meanwhile, we got a fence around the strawberry plants a bit late to keep many from getting eaten, and the raspberries are starting out well.

Saturday began a stretch of 10 days off work for me, and sorely needed.  I don't talk here about work much, and for a reason, but I can say that I've really not been happy for some time now.  Change may happen soon, by my choice or maybe even theirs the way things have been going.  But this is my vacation now, so I wish I could get it out of my head.

A week or so ago I was discussing painting the porch with my wife, and that project got lowered to the bottom of the list.  We decided to just replace the ceiling tiles for now, and I picked those up this morning.  Later in the week I'll do more with those as most will require cutting to size.  

So on Saturday morning we got started on the computer room.  We had a television that wasn't being used, so I got a wall mount and put it up above the computer desk.  This will be used for watching sports, concerts and other programs while I work or otherwise use the computer.  We then proceeded to move most everything out of the room, turned the rug, then cleaned and rearranged a bit as we put it all back.  The result is a bit more space in the room, and a computer desk that even more resembles a cockpit or some sort of command center with now three 32-inch screens.  I also have some decorative baskets ordered that will arrive today to make some areas look more organized.

So aside from ceiling tiles I have a few more small projects and chores to get done this week.  Should be just enough to keep me busy when I want to be with plenty of time to rest, relax and pursue whatever else I may fancy that day.

I do have one question to pose.  Our sliding glass door is very old and cleaning it with regular glass cleaner just doesn't get it very clear.  Does anyone have any hints on how to get old glass clear again?

Monday, May 9, 2022

New Couch

At last! 258 days after we bought it, our new sleeper sofa and ottoman arrived this afternoon.


We've had the rug repositioned and ready for a week or two now.  This couch is about 8 inches longer than the old one and, straight across from the couch, the newer buffet table we got a while ago is smaller than the old tv stand we had, so the rug fits the space better now.

The old couch was moved to the porch yesterday.  I thought we'd have to take it out the front door, carry it down the driveway and bring it in to the porch that way, but the length was just short enough to fit through the doors and hallway vertically, turning it through the doorways (with the legs removed).  My spring vacation project will likely be painting the porch so I'll get pictures of that area to share in a few weeks.

Well, I'm glad we didn't cancel the order a few months ago.  The color is pretty good, the cushions firm and the fabric is the best we could find for having cats.  The sleeper pulls out easily and the ottoman has storage in it.  Finding something else we liked would have been difficult, and this set now goes for a couple hundred dollars more than we paid for it on August 24 last year than if we bought it today.

For today's weather report:  Sunny but very windy, and nice - currently 82ºF (about 26ºC).  I've not gone for a walk today due to an appointment after work and then many trips downstairs and to the garage for cleaning stuff out of the porch, but will get back to that this week.  And we have the windows open for the second time so far this year!  The goal is to not have to close them again until overnight temperatures make it necessary, but getting through a couple days this week without having to start the air conditioner might be difficult.  That was my fear, going pretty much straight from heating to air conditioning, and I really hope we don't.

Friday, April 8, 2022

Lucky 13 and Spring Plans

My blog is now a teenager, this being my 13th year as of today.  In some ways it seems much shorter, in other ways much longer, and it has changed a bit over the years.  I used to have smaller, more frivolous posts, then I began writing less often but (hopefully) more thought-out posts.  I've had my moments of wondering what I'm doing still writing here, but the occasional feedback has been nice and I still appreciate this as a good record of major events and milestones in my life.  But, while inspiration comes and goes at times, I have no plans of stopping anytime soon.

We've not had as nice of a spring day since I last posted, which was on the first day of spring.  Since then, it's snowed more often than it had all winter (including today) and the number of days with snow in the last 3 weeks is probably only outnumbered by the amount of days with rain.  The sun has shown up a few times, but we've not come close to temperatures we had that first spring day.  By this time last year I'd already had a few fires and grilled dinners while neither has happened yet this year.  But, there I go talking about the weather again.

There hasn't been much other than the weather to talk about that's been happening recently, but I do have plans for when the weather finally does turn and my attention turns to projects around the house.  

First, I want to paint the dark paneling on the porch and possibly replace the ceiling tiles.  And if I replace the ceiling tiles I'll take a hard look at insulating the rafters to hopefully retain more heat in the early spring and late fall so we can have it open longer.  Not sure the color just yet, but perhaps use up some paint we already have.  With all the windows there's not much wall space so shouldn't take much paint to do it, but lots of taping on the trim.

Second, I want to somehow rearrange our computer room, the room I spend most of my time in - by far now that I work from home.  I'm thinking of moving the dresser and the file cabinet to at least give the illusion of more space, and I want to flip the rug around the other direction due to a small stain on it and so I'm not vacuuming against the grain, so to speak.  To do this I'll need to move those and more to the porch so it should be warmer out so we can leave the door open.

Another thing we've been waiting on for some time now already.  We've had a sofa and ottoman on order now since last August but due to the pandemic furniture just hasn't been in stock.  Currently it is expected to be delivered in late May, and I really hope this will finally happen.  We could look for something else, but availability is an issue everywhere.  The plan is to move the living room rug a bit to better fit the space with the new sofa and the new buffet table we bought a couple months ago that replaced our larger TV stand in the living room.  The old sofa will then be moved to the porch.

I have another vacation coming up in May so hopefully I can get at least some of this done then, but as long as they get done I'll be happy.  I took a half day off today so I think I'll go out to lunch and relax a bit.  Happy blogday to me and have a nice weekend, everyone.

Saturday, January 8, 2022

Quiet New Year, Mostly

It's been a fairly quiet new year so far, aside from my most recent medical issue acting up again.  This Omicron variant is everywhere so we're trying to be extra careful.  We, or mostly just I, had been going out for lunch once every weekend for a while now just to get out of the house, but no longer.  Other than that most trips outside the house are for necessities only.

I say 'most' because we did leave the house today to go look at furniture.  In early August last year we ordered - and paid for - a sofa sleeper and ottoman.  Well, it keeps getting delayed and then delayed again.  At one point it was scheduled for delivery on January 4, but that was cancelled and now has been estimated to be late May.  How does that happen?  I think the scheduled delivery was just a ploy as they do not have the sofa in their warehouse yet and may not ever, the way things are looking now.  We didn't find anything we wanted to replace what we already paid for, though, and all furniture stores are having big issues with stock and long delays in delivery, so we just decided to let it ride for now and not cancel and get a refund yet.  The sofa we have now we planned on moving out to the porch.  It will be a good seating area out there and we may then use the porch more in the warmer months.  But for now, it will remain as our living room couch.

I've been on antibiotics again for two weeks now, yet I started to get a fever and more pain again on Thursday, so I contacted the specialist I'd been seeing.  She had me go to a clinic on Friday, not the overflowing-with-Covid hospital thankfully, for lab work and another CT scan and it showed inflammation and still a micro perforation of my colon.  She does think that this is still treatable at home, but if it worsens I may have to go into the hospital again for IV antibiotics for a few days.  Worst case scenario is emergency surgery to remove part of my colon then I live with a colostomy bag for about 8 months.  For now, another two weeks of antibiotics.  This time a combination of two different antibiotics than I had been taking.  Wish me luck, I really need to get over this hump.

The weather is very cold and it snows now and again but nothing major to complain about.  We had the plumber out again due to a clog in our kitchen sink drain, same guy who was out in December to clear out our main waste line that goes to the the street.  The sink pipes likely have never been clogged or cleared before judging by the muck he got out, the main needs to be cleared every couple of years now due to tree roots.  Not much else that I can think about now, but that's okay, I'll take a quiet new year for now.

It's winter in Wisconsin during a pandemic.  We just don't do much of anything exciting and likely won't for several months, so not sure what I'll be writing about but I'll think of something every now and again.  Aside from my health, just a mundane time of year.