Category: Me and the House

Posted on

Undone

So, part of my desire to stay on track last week was to have the weekend to fix my bedroom closet door and to do my income taxes.

Re the closet door: one of the bifold door’s upper hardware pieces failed. I kind of fixed it some months ago but it did not hold up. Looking at everything, I bought an entire new set of hardware and rail for both of the doors thinking to just replace everything.

Sheesh!

MUCH worse than the island parts and instructions.

I read through everything, gathered the tools specified…

And kind of procrastinated.

Then I dug in.

And then I reconsidered.

I did take all of the failed hardware off the one door. And I found a reference to the hardware manufacturer – original hardware – on a door hinge.

I googled.

I ordered new hardware for just the one door and the one track – the original hardware – vs replacing everything with a different brand hardware.

And so, for today, the closet door fix remains undone.

But, Auggie had fun!

He put one of his birdies behind the door.

Then he tried to retrieve it the hard way. This is the game, the puzzle, the “what to do when it is cloudy and raining outside”…

Put the birdie in the tool bag!

Onward.

Income taxes.

Yuck.

It was alternately blustery and sunny.

I have NINE days left for the tax prep. Procrastinating.

Undone: closet door and income taxes.

Done: Playing outside when the sun is shining!

Posted on

It’s Thursday ???

Yes, Thursday.

I’ve struggled with my work hours this week.

I need a monster day tomorrow, Friday and I’ll still need to work a bit over half a day Saturday. Not my favorite, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

I’m blaming it on the Yellow Jackets.

You heard me…Yellow Jackets!

Last Sunday, there was one in the house. Auggie made a flying leap after it. I grabbed Auggie and then a paper towel and after a brief battle in the window sill rail I persevered and 1 dead queen went in the trash.

I did some reading and found out that the queens emerge in March and April.

YIKES!

I ordered some traps and attractant. The attractant shipped but the traps were backordered.

And THEN!! Yesterday as in Wednesday…ANOTHER yellow jacket in the house. I won that battle also.

After some online research noted that Home Depot in Kalispell had the traps in stock, I decided that I would head there first thing this morning and get the traps.

Each queen yellow jacket is an egg making machine capable of laying up to 5000 eggs.

Right.

The mission is to trap as many queens as possible BEFORE they start the egg laying thing. According to Scott at Bug Hunters, Inc., the queens emerge about the time the day and night hours become equal and temperatures are about 40F. As in now.

As scary as it was to have the two queens in the house … and I had doors open at the time so they might have flown in… it gave me some notice as to timing. Outside, the queens are sparse enough, I doubt I would have noticed.

So, this morning, off to Home Depot Bear and I went.

This has nothing to do with anything except that this truck was parked in the contractor pick up area and I noticed the dog.

And I laughed.

The truck is an extended cab and the dog is in the back, hanging out over the cab window and lounging on the tool box.

I’m partial to Northern Breed dogs and also it just looked so funny to see the dog casually half out of the window, resting on the tool box…waiting for the person.

Ok.

So, I got the Yellow Jacket stuff and some other Home Depot stuff and a quick stop at my favorite natural food spot: Mountain Valley Foods and then home we came.

Funny.

I thought this was a good supply of stuff.

Then I read the instructions.

The instructions say 8-16 traps per acre.

GAH!

Well, we will see if we get any queens with this lot and if so I’ll consider more.

Srsly.

I do NOT want a repeat of last summer.

Maybe we will have to run away in the motorhome…

But we are so comfortable here.

And we have an island.

It’s Thursday ???

***Really, though, I am so grateful every day for all we have. I’m grateful for Bear and Auggie and this house and the woods. There is so much truly horrendous stuff happening in the world. Every night, before closing my eyes, I tell Bear and Auggie that I love them, I send a prayer of honor to Bob, Karl, Gus, Zack, Jake, my Papa and my grandparents, and I give thanks for another day on earth. It’s Thursday and I’m behind on work and the yellow jackets…but in the whole scheme of things…Life is so very good!

Posted on

Island Paradise

Island Paradise??? (Friday morning…snowing)

Well at least there is sun, now. (Friday, late afternoon)

And FedEx brought 3 boxes, total weight a bit over 200 pounds.

I bought a Kitchen Island.

On Amazon.

Amazon Prime!

It came FedEx 2day … free. I have absolutely no problem with Amazon increasing the Prime membership to $99.00!!

The unpacking.

Each box had a list with the contents of the box.

Every single piece had a little sticker with an alpha character that corresponded to the content list.

Hoo…I say HOO-RAH!

There was no mystery about which piece was which.

The directions were explicit.

The top was all in one piece!

The good news is that I didn’t have to assemble drawers or drawer rails, etc.

The bad news is the top weighed a bit over 60 pounds.

Bear stayed out of the fray in the sunroom.

Auggie, naturally, was my supervisor-helper!

Working alone (no other human) required a bit of creative thinking in how to balance things so that all of the pegs and holes lined up as I went along. So, it took longer than if there were 2, but still manageable.

It helped greatly that everything fit perfectly!

I put Auggie in the sunroom with Bear so I didn’t have to worry about something heavy falling on him. He took it well and I heard no complaints.

This is about the 1 hour, 15 minute point. I decided to clean up some of the wrapping and regroup before the last push.

I was worrying a bit about getting that heavy top on and needed a little time to think.

Ironically, the part that I least suspected would have alignment problems…did. The holes for the hinge screws for the eating leaf were completely out of alignment for 1 hinge.

Power tool to the rescue. I drilled new holes and all was well.

Getting the top on top of the base actually was no problem. I set it against the length of the base, tipped it up and moved it into position.

Done.

My first glass of wine and a bowl of salad, feta and kalmata olives.

I’ve looked at islands since buying this house but everything I liked was VERY expensive.

I’ve tended to often eat my meals at my desk instead of the table…partly as I am looking at food blogs or the news and partly because the table is not that comfortable…low and a bit dark.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought…boy, I’d really like to sit higher and be looking out the window…

On a whim, I searched Kitchen Islands on Amazon….

I absolutely LOVE the island.

There is plenty of room around it.

I have some new storage area and new work space near the stove.

I have a bright spot to have my meals.

I might need another chair…

Island Paradise.

Posted on

I bow to the inevitable

Right.

Was there ever any question???

I am unclear if there will be a clear definition of which chair is whose, but there are 2 chairs so all should be well.

I’ve actually had the red chair for a year and a half. Red chair has been quietly living in the garage.

Summer 2012, the green chair developed a crack in the back. I thought it would worsen over Winter and as the chairs are only available during Summer, bought the red chair in anticipation of the green chair’s demise.

Surprise!

The green chair lived on and the crack did not expand.

Enter Auggie…

…and now a need for 2 chairs.

Hurrah for a bit of proactive chair procurement!

Posted on

Snow, cont’d.

When we last left our story, it had been snowing heavily most of the day (Sunday) and into the evening and the temperature was 8F.

This morning, the temperature was 13F…

…and we had about a foot of new snow on top of a settled foot of snow.

Auggie is sitting at the edge of where I’d shoveled at the time.

The un-shoveled snow is a bit above chest-height on Auggie.

We got snow!

Beautiful, but it was a bit of work. I went up on the roof yesterday afternoon and cleared vents.

This morning, I looked at the load on the front porch and raked a good bit off.

It is to be 40F by the weekend and the meltdown is likely to be VERY messy.

My neighbor to the rescue yet again. And really to the rescue.

The snow around that tree was piling up. When things start melting, it would contribute to the driveway lake and maybe to the garage floor. Neighbor, Mike, moved most of that snow out to an area that will drain to the woods.

It is going to be messy, but less so from this thoughtfulness.

This evening as I write this, it is still 27F at 6:30 p.m.! There is warm air above and rain, turning to freezing rain, is falling.

Messy.

I hope all stay safe this coming week. Avalanche danger is high and I know this snow calls to people looking to play in it.

Bear and I are staying home on our flattish land. And speaking of Bear. This is the most snow we’ve had since he’s lived in Montana and he has been enjoying it. He’s running and playing and having a great time on good, strong legs.

I am happy.