dbjc364's Blog

A full,interesting day..
Nov 19, 2008 | 3:14 AM PST
Tag: the thrill..
of moving. My daughters best friend- who lives 2 doors down from us,moved from a small 2 room apartment ,to a small 7 room house with her cat-BooBoo. And this is a 20 lb. cat... "I only have a few boxes left" she says,,haha- I should have known better,as the younger crowd just cant count.Ourselves-her parents and my daughter,but we had many many laughs at the silly stuff going wrong-along with a few glasses of wine, which took some of the stress off..lol..3 vehicles loaded,and later,boxes stacked. All the heavier stuff had been moved over there previously before us parents got there-thank god.lol. A cute little house,which shes renting till hopefully she buys it. The house party is on Saturday,I know I'll be ready for some more wine by then..lol. Our cellar, we never got back to-but there's always time..and this weekend looks clear. She has a very small yard,very easy to maintain,with one nice long flower bed,and her mother and I getting excited for her, discussed a future garden for her,and laughed, knowing she-like my own daughter-would have to be talked & eased into it a bit.My daughter was listening to her mother, and saying-"oh my god" you sound just like my mother!-let me out of here...lol.Ah-well- the excitement of your own first house is a thrill & apparently a stressor for many people.At least the younger ones.I always got excited and still do,so I had enough excitement for the both of us.I think she was mostly stressed out.. When she sees those blooms pop up in the spring- it'll certainly be hard not to smile or ignore them...

Piddly stuff,,
Nov 16, 2008 | 3:48 PM PST
Tag: ok-I'm ready to get back to insulating
ok- the cellar got cleaned of work debris-and he's pretty good,,but that needs an inspection from me as I dont trust any man to hoe out real good,I dont care who he is. Jim got the first register in our wall- now have good air current for heat drifting up and another to follow soon.I'm using my Tropical Hibiscus this year as my xmas tree,thats decorated-just add some balls tomorrow. I'm early this year-the earliest I've ever been.I'm already putting up decorations-maybe some garland tomorrow also.We cleaned the car-went on a dump run-just a bunch of piddly stuff,and helping a friend to move into her new place on tuesday- then some cellar work-wednesday to the coast-? and/or we're back down cellar. Two more window boxes left to go into the shed.oh- and he got the last of the trim on the mudroom windows,so that means I'm back to the last of the topcoating,,,I can bring up the Amaryllis from the cellar now..

Here comes the sun..
Nov 12, 2008 | 3:14 AM PST
Tag: what to do today..
A bit too cold out there for too long yesterday- but Jim got all the grading done,Landon got lots of crisp fresh air, and I got the slat bin together. The sister-in-law bought a new dishwasher that came crated up- so I didnt want the crate to just go to the dump.I stapled screening I'd been saving to the inside for air circulation-got everything all ready to chop up when the sun comes back out, to make leaf mold,and let it sit over the season.It'll hold quite a few bags if their chopped up. Burned off all my paper & cereal boxes- they always seem like its such a waste to put cereal in that type of packaging just for advertisement-not to mention how much room they take up on a shelf.Its rain again this saturday- so we're back down cellar for that day anyways & the new line will go in. Daughter will go with me to get the turkeys this afternoon,and whatever else we need for thanksgiving. We have to go today before the sale ends-the turkeys are .58 cents a pound if you buy $25 worth of groceries- so thats not hard to do.The other price I saw was .89 cents a pound..no thanks. We're thinking of driving to the coast one day next week before snow flies,smell the sea air,do a little shopping, and get some lobster while the prices are so low.The lobstermen here are having a difficult time-not getting a good price-as the price has sank to an all time low,which I dont understand cause everything else is sky-high.So people all around the state are buying lobster to help support them.We haven't seen it go below $5 a pound for a very long time.Maine lobsters are so very good & get shipped all across the country. Landon & I will pull up the fake bricks in the front bed today,and do some raking if the sun comes out.The car needs a desperate cleaning too.

Sometimes I'm safer in the garden,,or the gardens safer with me-
Nov 11, 2008 | 3:18 AM PST
Tag: easy does it..

but last week-it surely wasn't the laundry room! During the rain spells, got a little bored and tired of looking at Dust Bunnies,so decided to give the laundry room a good cleaning.Pulling out the freezer and washer far as I could,de-cluttering,and re-arranging a bit while cleaning. I pushed the appliances back in place,and got it all done.Ok- I was satisfied ,then on Monday, daughter gave us some deer meat,which is when I discovered the freezer not working! I should have been more careful- but completely forgot about the outlet problem-what idiot would position an outlet next to the floor behind a washing machine...? We knew last year it was going to get a new electric line & outlet soon as we could get to it-but of course-we havent gotton that far.I quess you now know- its on the top of the list when we go back down cellar. All the meat in the top bay was thawing out,I had to cook everything up- lost about $25-30 worth of stuff.Could have been much worse than that. All my garden tomatoes- and $40 worth of berries stayed frozen which was a miracle.well- the good news is I now have enough room for the turkey...and pies. Jim put a temporary extension up high where I can see that the light is on,till we get back down cellar.Whew! that was a close one..

I quess he was in the mood for playing on the tractor-he got the grading done- then dug up another huge circle in front of the steps so it would drain away better. Landon and him will gravel that back in this morning.The sun will make an appearance they say- so I'll get right out there and fashion that leaf bin- and stay away from the housework this morning.I'm ready to go get my turkey this week, and picking out what pies to have.

Twiddle my thumbs...
Nov 6, 2008 | 5:15 AM PST
Tag: running out of things to do..
As we get into the fall season more-there's less & less to do outside for many of us. We got the plastic on the lattice tractor carport done,and all the junk moved under cover away from the garage. Some of its garage sale stuff for next year- some is personal stuff- like what in the world are we hanging onto old army uniforms for??lol. everythings in totes and covered with a good tarp up on pallets.I know if I wander into Agway-I'm going to buy more bulbs,and I'm running out of room to put them.We're alternating between sun & rain these days. Its chilly then its downright warm. I think we'll get pounded with snow come January just like last year.We dont mind though- as we're better organized this year and ready for it.The tractor is now under cover & can easily be started without having to clear it off first.We have the new snow shovel,and a scoop-although I'm thinking that an electric shovel up on that roof might serve me better..I'm still putting garden stuff away which tells me I have too much stuff.I've already had at least 8 free piles and everytime the stuff goes quickly.I'm trying to whittle it down to what I really use & want now. Jim can now grade the gravel in front of the garage this weekend-so the water-ice doesnt flow into the garage this winter. I suppose I should go over the stuff behind the garden shed again & see if theres anything more I can get rid of.I would like to fashion a leaf compost bin so will gather some screening and stapler as I already have the wood slat bin,just need to keep the leaves from blowing out.Rain again this afternoon-so will go out this morning to get something done before it rolls in.

Gearing up a notch..
Nov 2, 2008 | 3:34 AM PST
Tag: solar rays..
Well, Jim plugged up the hole that was producing the small breezes in the cellar,now its warmer. Its maintaining a steady 50*. Two more pieces on the 2nd wall,and we're done with the bigger walls,the rest is all crawl space. I picked up myself one of those paper coveralls so I can get up in there with him and help hold the stuff while he staples.I'm not one to go out and buy a costume,I just grab whatever I have around the house.So I donned the white coveralls,added his goggles for insulating,drew a mustache on me,gloves, my silver hair. A bungee cord around my waist held my feather duster.I think I was the "Hazmat Fairy Duster".I took Landon up to my Nana's nursing home where they were having a Halloween party,and enjoyed a snack with her. My daughter works there,she was dressed as the "Love Child",and most of the nurses were dressed up.My Nana no longer knows who I am, but I am still familiar to her,she knows we're related somehow.Her mom had full blown Altzsiemers,but Nanas memory isnt completely gone.She was born in 1918,and has had a very full life,and now being cared for in the boarding home nearby,where we all can visit her regular.She has her own set routine- and by golly one doesn't ever interrupt her bingo playing..lol. She just ignores you anyways,but its nice to see her so passionate about her bingo-that she has played all her life. If they don't have bingo upstairs when she finally leaves this earth-she may just tell them all where to go..lol. Jim got the cabinet under the counter for me,it certainly looks better than just looking at 2x4's,and now have shelves for my cookbooks etc. We did a dump run- and went to pick up a ton of pellets also.Last year at this time we were waist deep in insulating this new room to stay warm,in between the holidays,so we're glad that part is done and over.As we were so busy last year we couldnt get to the solar collectors.That is at the top of the list this year after we are completely done outside.I tend to stockpile recycable things I know I will use but dont know what they are for necessarily at the time-so today we put them in the garage.We have 4 large windows-long and slim to make these "Solar Hot Air Collectors" out of. Its nothing more than an insulated box collecting the suns radiant heat-spewing out the hot air into the room. They even work on cloudy days-just not at 100% efficency.We have more sunny winter days than not.So we have 4 of these things to build,and mount-south & southwest. We have no doubt,we should be able to turn off the stove on a sunny day,even at -20 below,to clean it or save pellets,and still be comfortable.We're looking forward to putting these together,and also building our own solar tracking frame,in the near future.Neither of us are impressed with our state or federal government & we're not waiting for them to offer us incentives, tax breaks,or save us from this energy crisis,as we'll be in our 70's by the time they get their act together. I'm not that great at waiting anyways,if I get an idea that I feel will work I don't wait for someone else.. At 1500 sq. ft.this house is not considered large by todays standards. Geez- it sure would be nice to get dental care-instead of the budget taking it all for heating to keep our butts warm.I guess we're considered middle class america,as we're always over the limit for any programs going.Thank god, I have a ceramic turtle I don't have to feed...