Fireworks Finale and Failure

There were fireworks at my Mom's last night at a nearby park with a hill and cornfield in between.  And it rained, softly at first but pretty good by the end here.

And, an inch or two away from ending this orange nightmare.  Not right to say that, but...

Mysteries of Mud and Thunder

Been a pretty lazy Sunday around here.  We got a few things done this morning, but I spent way too much time playing games on my phone.  My wife and I went out to lunch at a Venezuelan restaurant we've not been to before (more Americanized than authentic, surely), then a few drinks at the local bar we frequent.  I got on the $5 add-up pool for the Brewer game the day before and won, so was handed 50 bucks when I sat down.  I hadn't known my number so glad we stopped in!  Now back home we baked a loaf of bread for my lunch sandwiches this week and are just relaxing now, me watching the Brewer game and typing this.

There is one picture I forgot to post yesterday, but I took better pics today.  It appears that some animal left their muddy imprint on the window of our back door recently.  Had to be a larger animal, probably attracted by seeing the cats on the porch, and our recent weather would explain its muddiness.  Realistic possibilities when considering the height of it could be another cat, a rare loose dog, raccoon, opossum, or possibly a fox.   But what animal and/or behavior would leave this kind of mark?  Wide view to the right for context, and close up below.

The symmetry and splatter marks are curious, so now I'm thinking maybe a muddy bird hit the window?  I'd like to hear all theories!

And we had an interesting phenomenon later last night, we heard a constant thunder for at least 15-20 minutes, maybe even longer, from the storms passing just north of us.  

There was a tornado watch at the time, but none reported.  Have you ever heard or heard of this kind of continuous thunder?

Fire Pit Visitors and Zoo

Shortly after starting the fire on Friday night I had two interesting visitors, as a welcome distraction.  A Brown-headed Cowbird couple came by, he to keep watch while she foraged along the flowerbed, not many feet away from me and the fire.  A good start to the weekend.

I visited my Mom again on Saturday, and we've kept busy today with a brunch downtown with friends and getting some more plants to cover the bare ground patches still along the fence and between the new bushes.  New batteries installed for new solar lights that came with bad batteries, and more spikes installed on the fence to discourage squirrel damage.  Four on top of the fence in strategic areas and now four on the cross bar beneath them as they would just go around the spikes on top otherwise, I hope this helps.

I got the opportunity to visit our zoo for work last week.  It had been several years since I last visited, one of those things that are so close and easy to do yet neglected, taken for granted.  It's still an animal jail but they do continue to make improvements to their habitats.  Two of us had several clients to keep an eye on and wheelchairs to push, but I still managed to take several pictures, I'll put some after the break.

Peonies And Rain

Peonies are a beautiful spring flower, yet, inevitably, it seems to rain hard every year right after they start blooming - or at least when ours at the corner of the house blooms.  And if you've had peonies, you know how discouraging this can be.  The flower heads collect the water and droop, never to fully rise again.  Hopefully it's early enough to not matter so much as there are many yet to open.  My bigger concern was seeing that my gutter was partially blocked.  Also areas of overflowing on the porch gutters, but less of a concern.  The helicopters from the maple trees have been flying, I hadn't thought so much this year but something is clogging the gutters.

It's a holiday weekend and I have a ladder.  This will be fixed.

New Bushes

We planted some new bushes today along the new fence in the tree stump area.  I had to remove several plants when we regraded the lot line to get the yards on the same level for the new fence, so we have a strip of dirt that we want occupied by plants of our choosing and not weeds.  We transplanted some vinca back there, but it needed much more.  We considered other perennials that would take up that space, but we did want something that grew a bit taller so started looking at different kinds of bushes.

Enlarge, if curious.

We went to a local nursery today and chose (the last) two of this spirea, which are to grow to 2-3 feet tall and as wide, and one tuxedo weigela, which will grow 4-5 feet tall and 3-4 feet wide.  We planted them five feet apart on center, and with a foot of dirt between the hole and the fence.  This seemed reasonable and we hope they fill the space well in a few years.  I had the trail cam out there keeping an eye on the tree stump and I happened to notice it, so I set it to make a short time lapse video of us planting the bushes, just for the hell of it.  I added these before and after pictures to the video and it turned out okay, so you can see that short video below.  No background music and nothing fancy, it just is what it is.

I'm reminded of when the workers next door were working on the roof.  One called out to us one day to point out how they could see many of the back yards in the area and ours was the nicest.  That was a very nice thing to say, and maybe justifies my pride in our back yard.  We inherited a good yard 15 years ago and have made great improvements ever since, in my opinion.  All contributing to my pleasure in spending evenings back there by the fire, which I was able to do again on Friday evening.

Friday, Saturday and today are the third, fourth, and fifth days we've been able to have windows open this year, though they almost got shut yesterday for the air conditioner with temperatures approaching 90ºF.  And I mowed for the second time on Friday as the grass was almost as long as when I first mowed it exactly a week before.  We still have a full month until summer officially begins, but I feel confident that the cloud of winter and threat of snow are finally behind us for a few months and I'm feeling so much more comfortable in bare feet and shorts.  (Plus a shirt - no one wants to see me go topless!)  Cheers, everyone.

New Fence II

Our new cedar fence was installed yesterday with few issues.  In fact, they were done by noon, a couple hours before the daylight very noticeably dimmed due to the partial eclipse we had here. We like the new fence a lot, it looks real good and the back yard feels so much more private now.

I set up three cameras to capture the installation.  Trailcam One just captures pink pictures and video now so was unused.  Trailcam Two was on the side steps pointing down the lot line and was set to take one picture when triggered.  Trailcam Three was strapped to the back steps and was set to take a time lapse with pictures 15 seconds apart.  (Side note: Trailcam Three was bought just a few days ago, the same camera as Trailcam One since I couldn't find another with a forward facing screen and time lapse.  Let's hope Three lasts longer than One did.)  I also put an old Galaxy phone of mine on the back fence to take video of the whole morning.  The crew leader also set up his phone by the back steps to take his own time lapse, and I took pictures with my phone, so that makes 5 cameras covering the action that morning.

When we had the back fence installed late in 2020 I learned that it was good to be there when it happens.  They had plenty of questions and I was there to answer them to get the fence put in the way I wanted.  Again, it was very good that I was here.  One big issue - they weren't told to have the good side facing in (Madison is one of the few cities that lets you do that, otherwise you are required to install the good side facing the neighbors).  So if I had not been here our fence would have been installed backwards.  Tree roots and the back corner were also a bit of an issue, but easily overcome.

Below are the time lapse video from Trailcam Three and a sped up video from the Galaxy.  I couldn't figure out a way to make a video of reasonable length with the over 600 pictures Trailcam Two took, except manually which would take far too long to be worth it.

We got the wood stacked again after work today, so now I just have to have a fire for the first time this year!  Hard to believe, but having a fire will be easier, more comfortable and private now, I think.

If that's not enough, I'll put some pictures of the process that I took with my phone after the break.

100º Sunflower Baking

I'm not sure what the official numbers were, but I saw 100ºF actual temperature and 117ºF as the 'feels like' temperature on Wednesday.  It was over 90% humidity in the morning but was down to mid-40's at the hottest part of the day, which is still more than enough to be very palpable at that temperature.  It was our first 100 degree day since July 2012, in a worse drought that year.  Thursday was much the same, just a few degrees less.  Kate dug up an old pan to put out with water for the critters so we did that and I threw some peanuts on the stump area to help bring them in so I could put out the trail camera to see what happened.

This new trail camera shows the temperature on the pictures but not the video, which is disappointing.  I've searched through the settings a few times, but the option just isn't there.  The video below is clips with pictures here and there, all in timeline order, of that time of the week so you can take a moment to consider the temperature and time of day.  The water pan wasn't used a whole lot yet, but it was a new thing, too.

Other than that, last post was the sunflower at its peak.  I now have a bungee cord helping stabilize it as it appeared to be leaning more, and with the heat and heaviness of the bloom the top is looking a bit more droopy.  And if you look close, the small one does have an odd, small attempt at a bloom.

You can't tell, but yes, I've been watering.

I also did some baking today, trying a new recipe for the second time.  It's a very versatile French bread recipe and a full batch makes a lot of dough.  This batch I made into 4 burger buns with 4 pepperoni and cheese rolls below those, and hot dog buns and a baguette on the right.

Oh, I was off work for an appointment today, so I had the time.  Have a great weekend, everyone!

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.

Duck Update

Well, so far so good, as far as I can tell.  I got a pretty good look in the nest today while the mother duck was elsewhere for some reason, and there's at least 6 eggs in the nest.  This picture was from an open window and I'm not sure why she left them uncovered for a bit.

After work today I brought in the trail camera to empty the SD card and see what's happened so far.  I saw all the critters previously mentioned poking around the nest area, some while the mother duck was right there.  Apparently squirrels are slightly afraid of ducks.  

But I did also see a mother opossum come around, which I was hoping I wouldn't as we suspect it was an opossum to get at the eggs the last time.  It doesn't appear she went after eggs this time, but there is a short period between when the camera will take these short videos so it's possible if she was quick about it.

But mostly so far has just been mother duck fussing about her nest.  I put a handful of dead plant I picked from nearby and she used that up quickly.  Later I put some of the failed nest from in back of the garage nearby and she's used some of that, too.  I'm not sure why the video is so pink/purple now.  I thought maybe because the sun was on it but that can't be all the time.  When I replaced it I put it under the other side of the steps so we'll see what it looks like next time.

The duck seems to leave the nest in the evenings before sunset and come back in the early morning to spend all day.  So later yesterday evening I was finally able to get out and plant sunflower seeds in that corner.  But now today I'm waiting for her to leave so I can water them.

The Duck Is Back

We have a duck under our back steps again, maybe the same one as 5 years ago.  We knew that a duck had been there, but there were a couple times we accidentally scared the heck out of them so thought they had moved on.  But, weren't sure so I moved the trail cam to behind the first step and under the second step facing the area.  I've used the trail cam in a few areas since unloading the SD card, it began overlooking the firepit area from the corner of the garage, then I moved it under the step here, then used it for a timelapse of a firepit last night, and after that a timelapse of a nest that was being built on top of the bat house on the garage.  The nest failed, sparrows I believe, everything blew off in the wind.

We hadn't noticed any more duck activity in several days, until today Kate noticed a female mallard land in our back yard and sure enough, she made her way under the stairs.  Just a bit ago I went out and got the trail camera, unloaded the card, then put it under the stair again.  Very carefully, of course, as to not disturb her while sitting on her nest, and also there was a male around the other side of the porch that I didn't want to rile up.  I hope it's at a good angle, but it's there now.

I hate to bring it up, and I'm not hoping it happens again, but it did not end well last time.  While reviewing the video shots of that area just now I've seen a couple different kinds of birds, squirrels, chipmunks, a rabbit, and a cat investigating the area before I saw this clip of the duck waddling in last Tuesday morning.  It's illegal for us to disturb her nest, but eventually something will and it will not be good for the ducks, unfortunately.  I don't think there's eggs yet, but it looks like there will be soon.

Sun, Wind, Snow, Now Hail

No matter what the month, the weather this spring has certainly been interesting.  This was the start of the hail about 11 this morning.  It went on for a few more minutes but it was cold and I was getting wet!

I know I've been mentioning the weather a lot lately, including 4 days in a row now, but it seems it's been more noteworthy for us than normal this year.  We don't often have 12 inches of snow in a day any time of year, let alone in March, and hot summer days in April are just as rare.  Tornado season is coming soon, let's hope we don't get one of those.

Has your spring seemed pretty normal where you are?  Have you had anything like these extremes?

Garden Trail Camera Video

I brought in the trail camera from the garden area to see what it may have captured, and it did capture a few interesting shots.  I changed the setting to just video hoping it would trigger better and it seemed to work.  So here's a few shots from the past week or so of critters small and big and other minor activity.

The squirrel at the beginning is just being very still, it seems the camera must make some small sound when activated as I've seen all animals notice before.  It didn't capture any of the snow the other day and the sun angle gives it a funky hue in the afternoons.  I didn't take any pictures of the firepit last Friday night, but the trail camera did.  The large flames are when I throw the black walnut leaf twigs on the fire, the same stuff I was raking up earlier in the video.  And it ends with an unknown cat on the prowl in the back yard early this morning.  I don't really like the background music, it seems to jump a bit for some reason between clips. But I'm no editor and don't want to spend any more time so it is what it is.

Now, where to place the trail camera next?

Snow Removal Time Lapse

I've been pretty frustrated with the trail camera recently, it seems to pick up only what is immediately in front of it and not all the time.  The critters eating the pumpkin worked out well, but several others I tried haven't.  I watched a couple videos on the subject so will have to keep in mind some hints, like not having something closer in the frame than where I want it to look, and I was reminded this trail camera has a time lapse option that I've never used.

I didn't consider using it for the snowfall the other day since we were only expecting a few inches and it started about 3 in the morning, but I did think about it when it came time to clearing that snow.  I didn't post the video earlier because I couldn't figure out how to blur the license plate when I pulled my wife's van into the driveway, but last night I sat down and edited the video to cut off before you can see it, slowed it down a bit, and added some free music in the background.  I know I made a similar video before, but it wasn't quite this much snow - at all.

I placed the trail camera on its little tripod on top of my car in the garage, sorry it's at an angle.  I also just brought it outside so don't believe the temperature - but do see it go down quickly as it acclimates.

You can see I wasn't trying to get it perfect, since I was expecting to have to do it again later.  And when I disappear out front I'm shoveling the walk to the front door, then knocking the snow off the heavily weighed-down arborvitae and clearing the snow off the van which was parked right in front of the house.  It would have been in the driveway to begin with if we knew we were getting this much, but it wasn't so I wanted to get it in the driveway before a snow plow came by.  It took several attempts of forward and reverse to get it back far enough (slightly uphill and through all that snow) to turn into the driveway, but I did it.

About 80% of it is melted already but we are expecting some more overnight as we sleep.  Not sure how much, but it will melt soon from the temperatures and the rain coming in the days ahead.  Out like a lamb, hopefully.

Cold, Cold Nights.. Again

Temperatures are about the same as around 1 year ago when I posted this originally, but more snow and icicles now.  At least the sun is out, but that's part of the reason we're so cold.  Anyway, this seemed appropriate to post again today. 

I took the rest of the day off today due to headache/mental health.  My counterpart at work has driven me nuts for years now, and after all this time I still just don't know what the hell they're thinking or why they do what they do much of the time.  Sometimes I just have to excuse myself from their company.  Despite the weather, I think I'll bundle up and go out for lunch today, and I may have a few drinks, too.

Happy Thanksgiving 2022

I'd been wanting to have a fire since we got the load of wood a few weeks ago.  I had all the wood splinters and small bark pieces that were swept up and put in the firepit and so have kept the lid on to keep that as dry as possible until I could burn it up.  Yesterday was my first good opportunity with the next day off and agreeable weather and wind.

It gets dark early now, sunset was at 4:27, so I got a start shortly after getting off work at 3.  I wasn't planning on spending the whole evening out there, just a good, small fire to burn stuff up, including the small stick pile that was out front.  I had the idea to film it and see what I could do with it, and only realized later as I was reviewing the footage that I did pretty much the same thing last year.  Not the first time I've repeated myself here, I'm sure.

Last year's video was clips of the evening, so since I had the footage already here's the first half hour of last night's firepit compressed into about 2 1/2 minutes.  Watch it or not, I had fun, and what I was watching on my phone was the end of a very close Badgers basketball game - they won :)  

Not much happening around here for the holiday, just a welcome break from work for 4 days.  Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone.

The Demise of Jack O. Lantern

What a difference a week or two can make.  Three weeks ago I got a load of wood and thought the outlook was good for several more fires before winter would not allow it, and I haven't had a fire since.  Due to weather; first wind, then wet, now snow and cold.  I still have hope as it's early yet in the season.

Today I brought in the trail camera to go through the pumpkin-eating footage, and there was lots to go through.  It was triggered enough that it ran out of space early on November 14th, so no footage of the snow we had for days afterward.  The camera is low on purpose and crooked not-on-purpose, and shakes in the wind or if the squirrels shake the chain link fence.  Still, I was happy with the footage it captured this time out.  I have video evidence of a neighbor's two cats that appear to hunt in our back yard at night, the likely backyard shitters.  Now I want to think of a new place to put the camera for a while.  It's interesting to see what goes on in your yard when you're not around.

I narrowed down the 10-second video clips to 103, out of 482, which would still be over 17 minutes long - and no one wants to watch that.  I also wasn't going to mess with the chronological order or edit any of the clips, just stitch them together.  But, of course, it was my first time using Clipchimp software, so it was interesting going, but manageable.

Anyway, the next pare-down was to 27 of the most interesting clips coming in at less than 5 minutes, a more reasonable length, I think.  Enjoy!

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.

Latest LIVE Listening Pleasure 40 - ZZ Top

I can't remember the last time I bought a ticket and saw a band play live, but it may have been Alice Cooper in July 2019.  That's over 3 years ago.  Now, I've not gone out to see bands as much the last several years (as I've been getting older), then the pandemic kept me away even when shows still happened during the last few years, until now.  ZZ Top has been around since 1969 so time is running out, for them and many of the great bands that have been the soundtrack to our lives.

I was almost late as I was thinking it started at 9 p.m. but it actually started at 8, so the first band was playing when I got there.  I jumped in line right away to get a t-shirt, and by the time I got to my seat the opening band was pretty much done.  That's okay, I couldn't tell you the name of the band now without looking it up.  The show, at the Sylvee here in Madison, was not sold out, but was a decent size crowd even with much of the standing room upstairs pretty empty.  And the demographics were similar to Alice Cooper, fans from 8 to 80 (or so).  The changeover between bands was pretty quick as ZZ Top has a pretty simple stage setup, and they started playing right about 9 o'clock.

ZZ Top - I'm Bad, I'm Nationwide

Their set was pretty efficient, and the same 16 songs they've been playing for at least the last few shows.  A lot of catchy tunes from the first album through their 80's heyday hits and more.  (My video for Sharp Dressed Man & Legs is here.)  

ZZ Top - Tube Snake Boogie

It was an expensive evening, for sure, but I'm still glad I went to see another band that I haven't seen yet and may not get another chance.  They played for about 80 minutes, whereas I would expect a bit more from a headliner normally, but again, they've been around for quite some time.  The show was tight, efficient, and pretty much no-frills as I would expect from ZZ Top.  I left halfway through their last song, La Grange, so I didn't get to see the confetti (or what ever was in the tubes behind the speakers) go off for the finale.  I had to park on the top floor of the ramp and wanted to beat the rush rather than wait in line to leave.  Also, I did have to work early in the morning, after all.   But overall, a good night and I'm glad I went.  Hopefully more shows will come through town soon that I'll want to see. 

Previous LLP Posts:

LLP 1 - Pain
LLP 2 - Nightwish
LLP 3 - Die Antwoord
LLP 4 - Pain part 2
LLP 5 - Andrew Bird LIVE
LLP 6 - Nightwish part 2
LLP 7 - Paramore
LLP 8 - Newsted
LLP 9 - U.D.O. LIVE
LLP 10 - Nightwish Imaginaerum Movie
LLP 11 - Kiss
LLP 12 - Rick Springfield
LLP 13 - Hyrax
LLP 14 - In This Moment
LLP 15 - Faster Pussycat LIVE
LLP 16 - Sebastian Bach
LLP 17 - Cradle Of Thorns
LLP 18 - Amaranthe
LLP 19 - Lindemann
LLP 20 - Halestorm
LLP 21 - Garbage LIVE
LLP 22 - Arcade
LLP 23 - Nightwish LIVE
LLP 24 - Ace Frehley
LLP 25 - Darkc3ll
LLP 26 - Dementia
LLP 27 - Rammstein
LLP 28 - Marilyn Manson LIVE
LLP 29 - The Harp Twins LIVE
LLP 30 - Diamante
LLP 31 - Steel Panther LIVE
LLP 32 - Scum Of The Earth

LLP 33 - Marty Friedman LIVE
LLP 34 - Buckethead LIVE
LLP 35 - Alice Cooper LIVE
LLP 36 - Poppy

LLP 37 - Code Orange

LLP 38 - Wargasm UK

LLP 39 - The Warning

LLP 40 - ZZ Top - LIVE

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.

Eeyore In The Rain

My wife is an Eeyore fan and acquired this stuffed singing version many years ago.  Seemed an appropriate thing to do today.