Today's coffee

and it is still coming down (my arm is sticking out the door).
Record setting, epic, and such words are being used in the news today.

This morning's coffee

looked like this. Not that it will last long, since there are snowflakes in the forecast later this week.

Sometimes,

it is the little things in life that make me happy, even when there is more snow in the near future.

A few weeks ago,

(well, February 22, to be precise, since that was when this picture was taken) our front west-side yard looked like this.

 

A few days later (February 29), the morning after an ice/freezing rain storm it looked like this.

 

Saturday our west-side neighbors (the ones that are on the other side of that forest and don't have to drive past our house to get to theirs) came over to see if we wanted to borrow a chainsaw. Pretty much not, since we don't have a 35+ foot ladder to reach all the broken stuff, nor the desire/time/insurance to do it ourselves. As soon as the ground dries out just a little bit more, the tree folks will be out to make it better, plus they will haul it all away. Which we are sure the neighbors will prefer to what we would do with it, aka leave it piled in the forest to decay away.

We have a shed in our yard.

A nice, basic shed for stuff. You know, stuff like lawnmowers, lawn and garden tools, pots and potting soil, stuff like that. Well, after a couple years of "First shed opening in the spring," we decided we needed to do something about the fact that we were not the only ones using it for storage purposes. Of course we don't get into it much during the winter, mostly due to the door getting frozen shut and snow to tromp through, but the other users seem to pretty much concentrate on winter storage/use. There is just something about the knee-deep pine cones that we were cleaning out every spring that made us decide to cut off the external squirrel access. So, DTY attached a good covering of chicken wire to the underside of all the eves (it seemed like the most likely spot of entry, considering the amount of visible space between the walls and roof), and that seemed to solve the problem for several years. We have found a few small piles of pine cones the last year or two, but we think there is an access point from the second story, but haven't pursued it very closely. (Something about a small pile that is only ankle-deep vs the knee-deep, three foot wide, all around the edges tends to put perspective on the situation.)
Now (as you can see above) we also happen to own a cat (as much as a cat, especially this one, can be "owned"); this cat happens to really like the out-of-doors, be very curious, and think that climbing is one of her very best skills/life goals (I think it has something to do with being able to see more stuff the higher up one is).
Well, while Hubband and I were away on our trip (yes, I know I am very behind on trip reports, but having fun vacating was a higher priority for me than reports on the vacation; I will get back to the reports) and the D's were taking care of the home/animal front, we received an email from home with a link to this picture. (Sorry it is so big, but that is how I can get it). It came with the message of "We don't know how she got there so don't ask."

 

 

Well, Hubband and I have figured out how she got there since we got home; of course the fact that she has gotten there again helps a lot. She hides out in the shed when you have the door open so of course you don't realize she is in there when it comes time to close up for the day. Apparently once the door is closed and she is done investigating/hiding/napping she climbs up the shed wall to the roof line and out into the chicken wire designed to keep squirrels from getting into the shed; apparently it keeps cats from getting all the way out as well.

 

 

It also turns out, being the weird creature she is, she likes being in the chicken wire hammock and is rather content to stay there.

 

 

We finally had to just pull her out, which couldn't have been all bad, since she was purring the whole time, just like she had been during the videos of her trying to pet me (or maybe get me to join her?)
Obviously we will need to reattach the chicken wire before winter-storage season starts.

Last weekend

I was able to stand on the deck and get some pictures of Oribel surveying her domain to the west.

 

 

I was even able to get her to look at me by calling her name,

 

but that didn't last long as soon as she realized I didn't have anything interesting for her.

 

Sunday morning at our house

One of the flurries of activity

These pictures aren't really about animals, though it might look that way. They are examples of why we needed to do something with the deck again this year. When we moved to the (non)mid-west ten years ago, our house did not have a deck, it just had a sliding glass door drop-off to the yard. After we had been here for a few years we were able to add the deck and then stained it the following spring. (For some reason it had to age a little while before that could be done. Don't ask me why, I am just repeating what I was told at the time.)
A few years later it needed to be redone, and the time had come, once again, for it to need re-staining. Apparently if you use translucent stain it lasts just about three years before you see wood instead of stain. Interestingly enough, that is what it says on the can too. Anyways, this was the summer it needed to be done. Of course this required a fair amount of work, mostly on Hubband's part (on account of our regular summer help not being home and we didn't get our act together to have Vet-Girl do it before she left for grad school).

 

I did help with the moving of plants off of the deck onto the patio, making and distribution of ice tea while work was done, and entertaining of animals in the house that really wanted to go see what was happening on their deck. The what was happening involved masking stuff (like the house itself) and stripping what stain was left with nasty stuff that animals didn't need all over their feet, despite what they may have thought about the subject.

 

That part of the deck project took two weekends but fortunately the animals were allowed out there during the week. Unfortunately all the normal deck furniture was down on the patio, but the bench got a bit more use than normal.

 

The next part of the deck project involved paintbrushes and rollers. I was still in charge of animal and ice tea wrangling; I guess I must be pretty good at them. (I must admit to also being in charge of general replenishing of the fuel consumption needed for the general labor contractor as well.)
Of course, after all the paintbrushes and rollers were put away and everything was dry, I helped with the returning of plants and furniture to their proper places. And since I was done with the basset herding job, they got to give everything the required thorough inspection.

 

This time we used an opaque stain that the can says lasts ten years, which sounds way better than doing this every three! Now we just need to do the favorite chairs too. Well, whenever I can stop knitting and stay out of them long enough.

They aren't dead,

they are taking a long winter nap. If they were dead, they would look like this tree in our yard,

 

and would be home to some of Oribel's favorite channel on "Kitty TV".

PS4 March 5

North 2:30 PM
The first part of Project Spectrum involves the following information

NORTH (March/April)
Color: Green
Material: Stones/Gems/Rocks
Season: Winter
Element: Earth

Lolly, the genius behind PS, suggested the other day to face North and take a picture of what you see. Thus, the pictures of the trees/yard yesterday. Today I went out and wandered about the yard, looking for green, things that reminded me of the earth and my connection to it, and bits of winter. I never cease to be amazed at the moss and lichens that grow on everything around here. If I had wandered a bit out into the forest, I am sure I would have seen some on rocks as well. I am thinking it would be fun to take a picture everyday to watch the season change.

 

Jelly-ear Fungus

OK, there is something going on around here today.

Not a whole lot, in my opinion, but a little. For the record, I am all alone here, except for the dogs, cat, turkeys, and other wildlife around here. As you know, the girl children are back at school, and as I mentioned, travel season has started. Well, it may not be a whole season, but it is for a couple of weeks to start. Hubband left for Wuhan University, on Monday, and will be gone for a week. Then he will leave for Washington, DC, about thirty-six hours after he gets home from China, and will be gone until the end of next week. So it is rather quiet around here for the most part. No phone calls from the other side of the world, but we do have Skype instant messaging. Of course, that means that I don't always go to bed at a reasonable time, but it is a sacrifice I am willing to make if it means I get to "talk" to him.

The biggest activity for today is my construction project for the day. I went to check out the fire bowl Hubband told me he saw at SuperTarget the other day, and decided it fit the bill for the patio.

 

Of course it won't be quite so shiny after the first fire (which would be tonight, but I have Knitting Night, and it would be a bit lonely having a fire by myself).

 

Extra cool is the included "weather cover." There is a "Bonus Feature" of a table-top gel-burner. Hmm, we'll see how much use that gets.

 

Oribel wasn't around to help me put it together, which is probably just as well. I wasn't really paying attention to what was happening when she first came across it out there, but I would guess that it got a going over. I did catch her hanging out under the table on the deck and she even decided to cooperate and look at me when I wanted to take her picture.


Currently she smells very "piney." I could hope she decided to rub herself all over the rosemary on the deck and that's why, but I kind of doubt it. I think her pine-scent has more to do with the forest and burs stuck in her fur.

 

One Sweet Patio

(Almost finished)

More brick information

After showing you pictures of our bricks yesterday, and promising to tell you all what we are building (here), I realized that some of you out there that actually read this blog, may not read it on the weekend. So..... I am going to give you some pictures and some of what we are doing to the bricks, and will do the "reveal post" on Monday afternoon, just in case anyone want to guess. (Not that there I have any prizes associated with this, but you do get some self-satisfaction if you guess correctly.)

 

There is cutting of the bricks involved at this point of the project. Hubband did straight cuts with a chisel, but DTY is running the saw for the angle cuts.

 

(Have I ever mentioned that she kind of likes power tools?)

Have you ever wondered

what 1400 bricks in your driveway would look like? No? Well, perhaps just as well you didn't ask me, 'cause I wouldn't know the answer. However, I can show you what 1400 bricks in our driveway looks like.

Well, 1380 bricks to be precise, but what is another 20 bricks at this point?

 

Good thing the wrapping is several layers think and very strong, considering the slope of our drive.

 

This is how all those bricks get to the driveway, just in case you were wondering.

 

The stabilizing foot of the truck did this while they were unloading the first pallet.

 

This is what it looked like before the arm got very far from the truck (and the rest of the time after the first pallet was set onto the concrete).

You have one more day to figure out what we are building. The main course is being consumed right now, but the hole won't be finished eating for at least a day or two. After that it will still get to have desert, but I will give you a sneak peek tomorrow. It is going to be SO cool when it is all done!

What is it?

I started a mystery project yesterday. Well, I know what it is, but a mystery in that I am making it for someone else (for the WhoDuKnit One Skein Swap). Sharon sent me a skein of Sundara yarn to work with . So far there has been a lot of knitting, holding of stitches, stopping knitting, and starting all over again.

 

The rain storm that happened here in the "Mid-West" night before last left a little over two inches of water in our rain gauge (causing great problems a lot of places, but fortunately not for us). It did cause the mud balls to melt and one of them to fall to its death. Hmmmm, and they didn't even have green skin....
Also on the "What is it?" front, growth has recommenced and sand is being laid and leveled as I type. I need to be off to get a needed tool (DTY says she doesn't need it, but we'll use it for more than just this project. Guessing from the noise I just heard, she is going to be wishing she had taken me up on it several days ago.)