I had the opportunity to break out the snowblower this morning for another rousing round of using the snowblower. There was only a couple of inches and I didn't do the whole block like I usually do because I had to get to work.
The blower worked great, started right up and ran like a moderately well maintained piece of snow equipment.
That's all I had for this post. Just want to keep track of how often the snowblower gets used.
Nearly one year ago, on January 26th, we started a batch of wine. It was a kit wine we purchased because we were not able to buy grapes back in the fall of 2019.
The wine we started was a Cabernet-Merlot Blend. Kit wines usually are ready to bottle in about two months. We always let them go a little longer because they age better in bulk.
Today, we decided it was time to bottle.
My sister Stacey and her husband Craig have been in town since Friday and we invited them over, along with Mom to see the process.
Well, people coming over to the house means that Susan must prepare enough snacks and treats to feed a small vineyard. And tonight was to be no different.
We set 5:00 for the appointed time of the gathering. Susan made meatballs, cheese and crackers, and a salad.
At 4:45 we got the call from Stacey that Mom wasn't feeling great and would we be upset if they stayed with her. I told to stay with Mom since that's who she came to see anyway.
So we had a lovely meal of salad and meatballs. Yum!
We got to the bottling after we cleaned everything up and got 28 1/2 bottles. Everything went smoothly except for the occasional over fill.
I got up this morning to lots of wind whipping around the neighborhood. I was just preparing to cook my bacon and eggs when everything went dark. The power went out. I looked out the front door and it was dark for as far as I could see.
With nothing to do, I decided to leave for work. I was almost to work when my phone rang. It was Susan. She was asking how to get into the garage. I didn't even think about the garage being locked down with no power.
I got off at the Sullivan exit and headed back for home. I was within three blocks of the house when Susan called again. Guess what!
That's correct! I turned back around and returned to work.
Tonight, I will show her how to open the garage door when the power is out.
It is a cloudy January day with the temperature in the comfortable 40's.
I have some Christmas decorations to stow in the Carriage House and some general puttering around the yard and house to do.
Susan is in the TV Room working on her floor.
I'll post some pictures and updates as the day progresses.
I still have most of my fall harvest of leaves to get rid of. There's about 15 bags there. I try to drop a bag of leaves a week into the garbage.
They did a nice job of getting the leaves in the street gutter up. It would be nice if they could take a pass or two through the yard.
This is not a Sports Blog but since I have mentioned them, I shall mention them again. The Seattle Seahawks lost to the LA Rams today, so their journey to the Superbowl is over.
The way it works on the calendar, at least for me is, this is the last day of the 2020 Holiday Season. I'm going to take down the lights on the outside of the house and start stowing away all the Christmas Decorations. The sooner I get it done, the more football I can watch.
I'm only really interested in the Seahawks game, so that's the game I'll have on.
11:10AM: It looks like a pretty good day to get out there and get this work done. It's 53 degrees and sunny. I've got my new boots strapped on and it's time to break them in.
12:28PM: Phase one is finished. The front porch is clear of lights, timers, extension cords and power strips. Phase Two involves the upstairs balcony and Phase C is the easiest one, the back deck. I only have one string of lights out there and a lit stocking that could be on its way out.
I should mention that the inside decorations will be up at least another week. Susan likes for them to linger a bit in the house. Besides, today she is back to working on the floor in the TV Room.
2:38PM: We are at halftime for the Seahawks. They are playing San Francisco and they are winning by 3 points, 6 to 3. The ball has gone back and forth, to and fro, hither and thither and no one has scored a touchdown. It's all been field goals.
5:15PM: The Seahawks won so you can relax.
We are being active today and getting out into the world. I already went out once and ran over to see Mom. All is well with her.
The forecast calls for a warm and rainy weather for the next few days. The eight inches of snow we received last Wednesday is going to be gone by the end of the coming week.
It is raining right now and causing critical, life threatening conditions for our Snow Cat.
Gonzaga plays at seven tonight so we will be watching that and enjoying some Subway Sandwiches.
Today we had our second Christmas as we opened the gifts that Margaret sent us. As you will recall, they came in late...last Monday...so we waited until today.
Yesterday was the thirteenth snowiest December day in Spokane Weather History. The Weather Service said 7 1/2 inches fell but I measured eight here at the house.
I would like to thank and commend my lovely and sturdy wife for getting out there and shoveling the front walk and sidewalk. It was eight inches of wet, heavy snow that she shoveled by hand. Perhaps she forgot that we have a snow blower. When I got home from work and was ready to blow, half my work was done.
We decided to take advantage of the snow and do something that neither Susan or I have done in at least 20 years. We built a snow thing out in the front yard.
Because we are so Woke, we did not want to assign social constructs of gender to our snow creation. We decided to let it decide what it was going to be. It decided to be a cat.
It's just after 5 and the first neighborhood firework and been lit.
Happy New Year!
About 4:00 yesterday afternoon, it started to snow. I kept up through the night and I had five inches to deal with this morning.
Now it's time to watch Gonzaga play Virginia.
Okay the game is over and #16 Virginia (4-2) lost to #1 Gonzaga (7-0). The final score was 98 - 75.
We slept in until 9:00. That was great and a great way to ring in Christmas morning. After a Christmas Eve dinner at Mom's we returned home and watched "Elf", which neither of us had ever seen. Today I'm trying to find "A Christmas Story".
Then we opened some presents in front of the fire and had a splendid morning.
Now we are kicking back and returning to Mom's for a modest dinner.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
I wish I had important news to report for this post, but by now, I think you know better. We've had a pretty quiet day with just a few little items happening.
And we are drinking beer. All the restaurants and bars are closed again by Gubernatorial mandate because of the upsurge in Covid cases. So all our beer consumption is happening here at home. Which is fine because we stocked up on beer. But good luck finding any toilet paper.
We don't need any more furniture. And yet...
Mom bought a new bed that wasn't quite so high off the ground. And so we replaced the old California King with this new to us King size bed with a head board and foot board. It's quite high and almost requires a ladder to get up on it. But the view is spectacular.
It looks like it's really filling the whole room.
Susan finally got around to varnishing her project in the TV Room. She was delayed getting to the project for a good portion of the day. First, we realized that we threw away the old shammy block we used to varnish the floor with. So I went out to get another. $7.00! Then, she couldn't get the lid off the can of varnish.
I took it out to the Carriage House and used my jumbo screw driver on it. Once the lid was off, I had to remove a layer of skin that had formed on the top.
It was a beautiful Autumn day and we pretty much wasted it inside.
Before we go any further, please refer to my posts on October 23rd and 25th. That's when we had the first big snowfall of the season. Tree branches all over town snapped and fell, weighted down with snow and wet leaves. We had our maple tree to the west of the house drop a couple of big branches. They fell on the house and remained suspended up there...waiting for the next big wind to free them and swing into the house.
I contacted Randy, our insurance guy and he referred me to a tree trimmer they recommend for these kinds of things. Randy reminded me that we have a $1,000.00 deductible. I thought it was higher. Like $5,000.
The bid to remove the branches and clean up the tree came in at $1,700.00. Well, we'll get a little money back and the tree will be cleaned up and no longer threaten the chimney, which it had grown very close to.
The tree trimmers did the work and I submitted the invoice to the insurance company.
A few days later, I got a call from the local insurance adjuster who wanted to come and inspect the property. I told her I didn't think there was any damage, based on what the tree trimmer told me. Nonetheless, she was coming out to inspect. I asked if I needed to be there and she said no, as long as she didn't need to get in the house. I explained that we have no leaks we are aware of so entry in the house was not an issue.
I got a call today from Jody at Nationwide Insurance. She is the person whom Randy passed me on to and was handling the claim.
She told me that the adjuster said we needed a new roof and after spewing out a bunch of figures, told me they were sending a check for $13,000.00.
We are amazed! We did not expect to have to replace the roof, let alone have our insurance cover it.
We have a year to have the work done and if the bid comes in higher, I need to call and tell them.
Since we are heading into winter, we are not going to move forward with any decision until Spring.
So, that's the update on the roof. We are standing by now to see if they really do send us a check.
It is a weekend which means assorted stuff to do and beer to drink
The stuff I've done today include:
The Carriage House is going to be an on going ordeal. There is a lot of shit in there and I want most of it.
That's probably my biggest problem. I can't throw stuff away.
It has been trying to snow since I got up this morning but it's not really happening. It's cloudy enough and it's cold enough. It's just not moisty enough. That's my assessment as a former television weather person. And yes, "moisty" is a word. It must be because there it is right there...moisty.
We are enjoying a low effort Sunday. I'm going to stow some more summer deck stuff upstairs in the Carriage House and Susan is going to sand a little more. But right now we are watching the Seattle Seahawks lose their second game of the season to the Buffalo Billys. They are 6-2 for the season now. They were never really in this game. The final score was 44-34. Seattle was within se7en goal scores at one point, but the Billys pulled away.
With the potential for snow, I have a lovely fire blazing in the fireplace which inspired me to check out the Lookout Pass website.
There is a pile of leaves along the curb in front of the house. They run the length of the property and are mostly wet. Technically, they belong to the city. They are supposed to clean up leaves that fall in the street. Well, if I wait for the city to clean them up, I'm going to be blowing them out of the chute of my snow blower.
So I got out there today and filled my garbage can plus a couple of garbage bags with really wet heavy leaves. I've done my duty and am expecting a Citizen of the Year award soon.
She feels she has done enough damage for today.
One Halloween tradition we are continuing this year is the Punkin Toss. We only have two punkins to toss, so it's not as big an event as in past years.
