Outside work is done!

The first round of fellas have completed their outside work on the family room:

If you look at my earlier post, you will get the before and after effect. This is before the guttering was put up — that turned out nice too.  They did a good job with the siding — you’d never know that there was ever a breezeway originally attaching the two buildings.

The flagstone patio (not shown) is a bit worse for wear, but it needs reset anyway — we didn’t know what we were doing at the time.

Not sure how my hollyhocks or Joe Pye fared being tromped on and such, but I saved hollyhock seed and have a Joe in the front that I need to move to the back anyway. Besides…I’ve been toying with the idea of putting a smallish spirea bush in the corner there…

Spring should be interesting…

And here is what happened to my kitchen window:

The vaulted roof line just clipped it, but according to the contractor, he will come up with something creative to handle a pass through type of thing

Anyway — now it is the plumber’s turn to install the radiant floor heating — I am really curious as to how that will be accomplished.

Went to the carpet place today to get a very rough estimate, go over the wood laminate selection I made earlier — I think I am staying with it — and also to look at DuraCeramic tile for the entryway and laundry/bathroom. I still hate shopping, but so far all the salespeople have been helpful and not at all pushy.

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NP: FlashForward, but I am not paying close attention. I think V will be taking the place of that. And of course there is Fringe — I’ve been missing my weekly dose of Walter.

Where’s Sophie? On the couch where she can lick the TV tray. Ew. Leave it, Sophie!!

Lest you believe

…I had a perfect day yesterday — I managed to spill part of a root beer float and then sat on it whilst getting in my car.

The indignity of it all.

However my ice cream cone — that I did not drop a bit of whatsoever — was mighty tasty.
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AND THEN — went to a Starlight Radio concert in B-town. It was at a nature preserve. Did I think for one minute that it was an OUTDOOR venue and LAWN CHAIRS might be nice to sit on?

Oh no.

So I stood during the concert-where-everyone-else-was-seated, hoping that I didn’t put the musicians off any…

…until DH went back home, grabbed the chairs, and came back — an eighteen mile round trip.
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Today however was putt-putting right along — really busy at work and the time went fairly fast. Got home after work and told Soph we were going for an uptown walkie, when I saw the answering machine blinking.

“This is so-and-so. We need to schedule your house appraisal.”

Now doesn’t this look nice?

I knew this was coming — we are refinancing our house with the idea of getting it paid for before we <insert hysterical laughter> retire.

I was hoping for just one of those “drive by” kind of appraisals — silliness sometimes reigns in my head — but I guess it should be done properly.

So how in the world am I suppose to get this place put together for a decent first impression? We always have the “lived in look” downstairs, which doesn’t bother me much — but the upstairs! Egads! It’s basically storage and stuff strewn about — not the two bedroom area it should be.

…and the basement. That has to be DH’s realm…

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Did I mention that we are also getting ready to go on vacation?

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NP: The tv weatherman, two fans and the air conditioner

What’s Soph doing? Pushing around her food cube. You should see her — she could do quite well in soccer.

Mood-o-meter: exasperated

How’s the garden growin’?

Take a look see. Oh, and excuse the rocky ground — it’s hopeless:

This picture was before the radishes were thinned. The cilantro “es muy excelente” in tacos and salsa and chips. The pansies are for you, Grandma PoPo.

…and there is more garden than this. Tomatoes and zucchini are doing fine.

Nora Barlow columbine

I thought she was a goner, as in: none of these came up last year from the year before…

…sooo pretty!

NP: Nada. There is nothing on TV. I just might have a go at the book I’m tryng to read.

Where’s Soph?: On her perch, looking out the window.

Mood: Meh.

Gotta love it. No, really. Well, maybe not.

Last weekend, DH covered up our ‘maters and zucchini and brought in the flower basket due to a frost advisory for early Sunday morning. All was well for our little garden, it being snug and warm.

Yet another frost “sort of” advisory followed for the wee hours of Monday morning — but neither of us made a move to cover up or bring in anything. How lazy can we get?

Fortunately the garden survived our unexplainable neglect. The sweet potato vine looked a bit sad, but snapped out of it. The jacob’s ladder was worse for the frosty morning, however I think it will come back. Everything else didn’t care and looks fine.

So today – Wednesday – we are supposed to be very close to ninety degrees.

Ninety.

Oh my word.

The farmers are working like crazy — which means DH is also. He’s already been told he’ll be working this weekend — and Memorial Day — so looks like it will be me and Soph cooking out.

…and your little dog too!

It was such a nice early evening that Soph and I went outside.

I tethered Sophie out in the middle of the front yard, then went back to sit on the steps.

Soph likes putting her nose to the ground to “track” in the grass, eating the bugs, sniffing the air and watching the traffic go by.

After a while, I took a swing around the flowers — my sorbet peony is full of buds and the Japanese painted fern is as pretty as I ever have seen it!  The ninebark is all dark-leaved and starting to get buds on it. It looks like the clump of fireworks golden rod we moved likes where it is at. The transplanted Becky daisy and purple coneflower both are good too.

Then I though to call Mom.

Back on the steps I went to sit a spell because Mom can talk … quite a bit!

This time when she answered, I asked if it was the dog pound, that I had a stray in my front yard… She said no, it was the Doggie Daycare…

Anyway we visited for a while — then I saw Sophie look up into the sky.

She never really looks up like that, so I wondered to Mom what the dog could be looking at.

It was this.

And not just one, but six, seven, or eight!

And they started circling our yard.

Mom, I gotta get Sophie inside!!

I unhooked her tie-out, which is incredibly tangly — and she thought she’d start grabbing at it and getting under my feet and jumping and biting…

I could have sold tickets!

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Yeahyeahyeah…they MOSTLY eat carrion. MOSTLY.

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NP: American Idol on mute while I wait for the season finale of Fringe.

Just out of the oven: Rhubarb crisp. Not so crisp though. I tried to cheat on the topping and it sorta didn’t work. Sigh. Still tastes good.

Coming up: The weather man says nasty storms tonight and tomorrow.

In the garden…

…we have:

• asparagus — and we have been eating our fill!
• rhubarb — DH cut some for cobbler…now if he’d eat the brownies faster…oh, wait! Take the brownies out of the pan, wash it up, fill with cobbler. Got it.
• tomatoes…bigger girls? better boys?
• zucchini — hoping it stays disease free this year.
• a row of pansies — for you, Grandma PoPo!
• Yes, it’s a real small operation…

And new this year in the perennial beds:

• Creeping Jenny. I think it will be just the thing for the north side of the house, amongst the grape hyacynth and painted ferns.
• Creeping Phlox. On the border on the west side, in front of the Fireworks goldenrod, next to the steps.
• Mulch. I give up trying to fight all the combatants in The Year Of The Violet. Covering ‘em up.
• Less of sedum kamtschaticum. It does its job way too well – covering the ground — but it is taking over the purple cone flowers and daisies, and just everything in its path. So I yanked about a sackful of it up. It didn’t seem to mind at all. In fact, I think it laughed at me…

As for the yard…

• I can’t say when the yard has looked better! The grass is coming in thick and lush — all the better to keep the weeds out — you too, violets — so I imagine as long as we don’t cut it too short, it should stay nice for most of the season.
• DH edged the yard — looks great!
• He also shoveled in some soil and seeded a couple spots left over from the new porch building last year.

What about the house?

• Put the window air in. Wish we had one that fit proper.
• Took down the plastic from the windows. Yay! If the windows were clean, we could see outside…
• Nothing else much got done and it shows.

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NP: JoC’s Long Fall Back to Earth

What’s Sophie doing? Eating her treat from her obedience class instructor — because we practiced walking at the fairgrounds and after a bit, she was getting the hang of walking correctly by me. Practice make permanent, I hope.

Waiting for: DH to get home. Looks like another long day for him.

Tonight’s TV viewing: Wah! No Chuck.  But there’s 24 and Castle. Seems I blogged about this last Monday. How dull.

Musings of a mind too tired to think straight, or…

…“Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.” Margo Channing (Bette Davis, All About Eve)

• I love my little R2D2-like single serve coffee/tea/hot water (really?) maker. Had to retire the nifty 12 cuppa unit that J bought me a long time back — the hard water did a number on it…wah! Right this very minute I am enjoying a Dunkin Donut medium roast w/creamer. It is very good.
  
• However, I still can taste a bit of the bergamot from the loose leaf “Earl Grey, hot!” tea I had yesterday…hmmm. Must clean the filter better…
• DH will be late coming home tonight. I have no food to feed him.
  
• So glad work is over for the week.
• I spent too much time being Counselor Troi (without the hair extensions) one day at work — an inordinate amount, actually…so guess my workload is not obvious to others.
• So the next day I tried the wild-eyed, wild-hair look (well, it was windy out)…and suddenly I became leprous. I need to try that more often.
  
• DH wants to try raised bed gardening. He has no time to plan. I would, but…
• Really need to get the kitchen floor replaced. Think ugly and hard to keep clean.
• Got the new Jars of Clay CD today via Amazon…listened to part of it on the way back to work after lunch. Jury is still out, but it seems likeable.
• Why do wild violets have to be so prolific and hard to kill?
• Southern Cousin had two interviews this week…not sure if either will pan out.
• Hard to believe, I know, but seems my workplace has become a tornado shelter. I would explain, but…
• While cutting some more asparagus, I jammed a bit of last year’s asparagus fibrous material underneath my fingernail.
• OUCH!
• I wonder about that little boy who joined me and Sophie on our walk at the park. Nice kid. I hope he stays that way.
• I wish I had the yet-to-be-family room cleared of all the cardboard boxes we throw in there with such wild abandon.
• And I will abandon that idea once the weather gets hot. Like tomorrow.
• What?! GM is going to get rid of its Pontiac line?!
• What!!?
• Tomorrow is Sophie’s last class. She’s such a good dog. Even when she’s rotten. Did I tell you she’s just about got “sit pretty” down?! Yep.
  
• Wish we could go to rally, but it’s at a bad time schedule-wise. Sigh.
• Need to go see Mom & Dad.
• Can I have a serving of simpler times, please?
• Sympathetic co-worked threw a dollar in the lotto ticket pool for me so when the group wins big this weekend, I won’t be left to do it all in the department.
• I tried to tell them me being in on it will dash any hope of winning.
  
• I’ll have to remind them of that on Monday. Or maybe not.
  

Pardon me…I’m just sleep-walking

Crazy time has arrived at our place. DH has been working way too many hours all week — last night it was…gee the nights all run together…I think it was after 9 PM before he came home. He had to be to work by 6 AM. I end up being on the same wake up/go to bed schedule as he is — and I am not shifting gears very well this time round.

And of course, Sophie is scratching her head over all the schedule disruption. This is a dog that likes order. If a door is open, she whines at it until it is shut. If a toy is not where it should be, she moves it.

Last night she moped in Daddee’s recliner. She misses him.

But anyway, DH does have the morning off for church, but his boss wants him to call in to see if there’s work for him to do in the afternoon.

I hope it rains.

Time’s like these make me to wonder again — why are we doing this?

Never mind. It’s a long story.

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Bright spot yesterday: Cut some asparagus for a very very late supper! And the rhubarb is coming up!

Puzzling issue yesterday: Seems some of my perennials didn’t make it through the winter… not some, really… lots. And I don’t think it’s too early to be wondering about them. Hmmm.

Not happy moment right now: Day of Discovery is no longer available on our local TV channel. At least not in its normal time slot…

Looking forward to: Eating out after church. Taking a nap this afternoon…who am I kidding? And…I might ring up Southern Cousin.

Puppy goes to back to school

Saturday we went to Fundamentals II — Sopher’s first class since before Christmas. She rode all the way to B-town in her princess seat — a booster seat for dogs — that keeps her tethered yet able to watch the world go by her at sixty mph.

Our beloved Trixie would get car sick during rides any farther than the vet’s office, so we were wondering what this Cairn Terrier would do.

She took the drive really well. Oh there was a bit of whining going on back there — she is a pretty vocal pooch and doesn’t hesitate to let you know what she’s thinking.

Then she started to bark.

Well, what was this?

Sophie, whatsamatter, girl?

You will never guess what she didn’t like.

Never.

Don’t even try to guess.

We have lived in this area nearly twenty years and have become used to seeing this thing. Scarcely give it a second thought now.

But Sophie noticed it for the first time.

The dual plumes of the local nuclear plant.

She DID NOT like seeing them.

Arf Arf Arf!!!

The road we take goes along a river, so going around a bend put the stacks out of sight.

She was quiet…until we came around again.

ARF ARF ARF!!!

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Sophie is in a class of four dogs — which I hope is to her advantage.  She is the youngest and the smallest, and gets special mention because she is a terrier…sigh. But I really like the instructor — she is very knowlegeable, and if someone has a terrier and has no idea how to handle one, well, she’d be the one to tell them.

The goal for all the dogs is to be able to pass the Canine Good Citizen test.

Oh dear.

Well, if Sophie can accomplish a few of the requirements, she’ll be a much better doggie for it.

I don’ think personality alone will be enough.

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Garden news! Hollyhocks and lamium are greening up!!!

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NP: DH snoring.

Where’s Soph? Sacked out on the floor.

Tonight’s Telly viewing: Chuck, 24, Castle