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Ebb and flow

rgdaniel — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:27:33 +0000

This day started with a rush of unsavory liquid. Actually, it started during the night, but Bob kindly let me sleep while he dashed around mopping up overflow from our septic system in the basement. By morning, it was clear neither of us could figure out what was wrong, much less fix it, so Bob had a helpful conversation with a plumber, who promised to send someone later in the day. The plumber’s suggestion allowed us to use water again without fear and he actually did show up as promised. Meanwhile we had the septic tank pumped out by the Wizard of Ooze. Many dollars later, everything is working again as it should. Functional plumbing is one of those perks of the civilized world I do not take for granted.
The day ended with a victory of another kind. Our Toastmasters team competed at the trivia contest fundraiser for two local museums, and we won!

Random information

rgdaniel — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:09:15 +0000

I’m trying a new way to recycle herbs and spices that are well beyond their best-before date. As you know, they don’t go bad, they just get impotent. My mother kindly shared a book on herbal vinegars, so I thought, what have I got to lose? So far the jar of fennel and dried chive vinegar smells only mildly interesting, but I’ll give it a few more days. The very idea of dried chives leaves me perplexed, but I just couldn’t throw the container out (I didn’t buy it, I inherited it, really!).
Bob has set up his music-making objects in the rec room in anticipation of practice sessions with partners in artistic noise. He’s doing test expressions as I write this to help me ascertain whether I need to move to the sunroom for tomorrow afternoon’s conference call. Fortunately, this house seems to be solid enough between floors that I won’t need to.

Me and my pitchfork, Mum and her hiking boots

rgdaniel — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 03:57:34 +0000

I moved a great many of the wood chips today, thanks to Bob’s suggestion to use a pitchfork to load them into the wheelbarrow. He was standing by to drive the mower with its attached cart, but couldn’t do much else because of severe back pain. We got a lot moved anyway and now have a soft path around the pond and several side paths here and there. Much more to be shifted, though. My mother’s accomplishment for today was also a very physical one, but much more impressive in my opinion. She did a 3 km hike with friends. Not bad for an old lady, eh?!

Back to the future

rgdaniel — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 04:11:11 +0000

Anyone who knows me may be surprised to hear that I invested in old technology today. I bought a sewing machine without a computer in it. I don’t do heaps of sewing — although I hope to do more now — and I have resisted for years the latest in sewing machine technology: electronic machines. They look wonderful for people who do a lot of fancy stitches, maybe they’re great for quilters, too. I am not one of those people. I do plain sewing on a variety of materials, the odd buttonhole or two. Years ago, I took a workshop in free-arm machine embroidery. My 1960s Bernina was more than equal to the technique. Now I have a replacement for that old beauty, and I’m very excited!

My chips came in

rgdaniel — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:47:47 +0000

This being my birthday, I was prepared to embrace a day of sloth. I actually made some headway with an email backlog, read some course material, updated software and made bread. With some of the afternoon still ahead, I was preparing to go out into the garden when I noticed the hydro crew clearing trees from the pole on the corner of our front yard. I had been expecting them for months since the advance man came around to let us know what would be done. After a brief conversation with the friendly crew, I arranged for their buddies coming along behind with the chipper truck to leave me a great birthday present — a whole truckload of wood chips! Bob was not quite as thrilled as I was, but joined in anyway to start shifting them to the back yard, where they are already becoming a path around the pond.

One thing at a time

rgdaniel — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:47:24 +0000

It became evident to me this week that taking two courses at a time is a bad idea. It’s not that I didn’t have time, actually, it’s that I didn’t have enough brain cells to consume the avalanche of material. I had just enough other things on deadline to divert my attention when I needed a lot of focus to keep up every day. Peaches ripening are a real deadline. They’re under control as of today, all picked and any we can’t eat fresh will become pie and maybe frozen slices. Grapes are threatening, but I have a couple of days’ grace I think, and the grape marathon won’t be anything like the peach one was. My first assignment in landscape design is due on Monday, so that’s what I’ll finish this weekend. Well, okay, start and finish. No multitasking.

Home in the rain

rgdaniel — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:08:39 +0000

On this rainy Sunday, I had lots to do indoors. Bob and I tackled installing light fixtures in three places, with two of the efforts going well. I struggled and failed with the first, then he stepped in and handled the other two with no problems — but his wiring setup was a lot easier than what I had, really! We’ll try again to finish it another day. I made another batch of ratatouille, this time with a bit of hot pepper, the only contribution from our own garden. My best achievement of the day was finding a new home for the oldest Mac. I posted it on freecycle and got several responses, the first being from the United Way, which has an agency that refurbishes old computers for people who need them. Bob will drop it off this week and that’s another big box out of my life.

Creemore is no more

rgdaniel — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:16:01 +0000

I am sad to report that our pheasant chick, Creemore, met a grisly end with an unknown predator, likely a rodent, although my only basis for that conjecture is the size of the remaining entry points to the cage. Nature laughs at our crude barriers.

One Chick Rescued

rgdaniel — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:19:14 +0000

I saw the harsh reality of what probably killed one of our chicks this morning. The father, Cornelius, would cruise over to the remaining chick and take a stab at it for no apparent reason. Needless to say, Bob and I scrambled to get baby Creemore safely into a bucket, then coaxed Cornelius into an adjoining cage. Single mom and baby are now reunited.

Down to One Chick

rgdaniel — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:35:03 +0000

Bob managed to kill the rat that was hanging around and even got some good pics of the pheasant babies yesterday, but this morning I found one dead, cause unknown. It’s a dangerous world.