Memorial Weekend Sojourn

We have just returned from a long Memorial Weekend where we drove a 20 foot U-Haul truck loaded with furniture down to my sister in Sacramento.

It wasn't the way we wanted to spend our holiday weekend but it needed to get done. We've been paying to store all this stuff since Mom died last June.

So I rented a truck, got it loaded and drove it down last Saturday. We made it as far as Klamath Falls, OR and then stopped for the night. That was about eight hours of driving through some pretty intense rain at times.

The next day, Sunday, we drove the remaining five hours to Pilot Hill, a small town in the mountains outside of Sacramento where Stacey and Craig live.

We arrived about 2:30 and slowly unloaded the truck. We then drove it to a nearby hardware store that was a U-Haul dealer and dropped it off.

We had Monday to lay about and do not much of anything and then flew out on Tuesday. The whole thing went smoothly but we are glad to be home.    

Two Big Projects

The forecast for today calls for no rain, which turns out to be very beneficial for my plans for the day. I have two big projects and I will be performing each one at the same time.

Project one is to finish this flower bed. I believe I have all the ancillary equipment and material to get it done today.

My second project is to slow cook some meat.

I bought half of a corned beef brisket, the flat rather than the point. I am going to use the same slow cooking method I have used before on a full sized brisket using a charcoal snake. I will light one end of the snake and it should provide enough heat to last around six or seven hours. I'm not sure how long this smaller cut of brisket will take but I'm going to start it now.

7:05AM: I prepared the charcoal snake yesterday so all I had to do was get a few briquets of charcoal going and place them at the start of the snake.

7:35AM: The brisket is in the Weber. Here we go.

I am using my new bluetooth meat thermometer, the Meater! You can see it sticking in the right side of the brisket.

I bought the Meater specifically for this purpose. I've used it a couple of times but this is the event I've been waiting for.

It connects to my iPad and shows me all kinds of information. I am waiting for it now to get up to heat and give me an estimated cooking time. In the meantime, I'm going to have some french toast.

8:11AM: Okay breakfast has been had and the dishes have been cleaned up and put away.

While preparing breakfast, I had a visitor.

The Meater has set itself and I'm a little surprised by the data.

This is supposed to take a few hours. Meater says fifty-five minutes. I went out and shut down the lower vent. I was hoping to keep the heat around 275°. I'm well into the 300's. I opened it up to take a look which is a no no. But I was hoping that pulling the lid off would cool it down a bit and let me make sure that the lower vent was closed. It didn't appear to make a difference as far as the cooking time goes. 

Well, on to the garden.

9:37AM: The Flower Box project is going much faster than I thought it would.

I have the first layer down and my measurements for the length of boards I needed are spot on. I can't afford to screw up a single cut. So far, so good. I'm going to cut the second layer just like I did the first layer. Then I'll be able to screw everything together and back fill. Then, I just have to level the dirt and roto-till.

The Brisket project has evened itself out.

 I came in to check the temp and the thermometer had lost it's connection. 

When I got it back, it was a little more in line with what I was expecting for cooking time. It helped to shut down the lower vent. I have opened it just a crack and the temperature in the barbecue is rising. It's already back up to 303°.

10:45AM: I just pulled the brisket from the grill and wrapped it in aluminum foil. It took 3 hours and fifteen minutes to cook it to 170°. Now I have reset it to cook to 205°. I'm waiting now for Meater to give me an new estimate.

I opened up the vents so that it will raise the temp. I'll have to keep an eye on it.

11:10AM: It only took 25 minutes to get to my finish temperature. So this recipe is all screwed up when using a smaller cut of meat. It was designed for a full brisket weighing around 12 to 15 pounds. It remains to be seen if it will be any good. The brisket is currently sitting in an ice chest and I'm waiting for it to cool to 160°.

I am done with the border to the flowerbed and am backfilling the dirt. Then I will break out my little roto-tiller and mix some good dirt in with the crap that's there and get it all evened out.

11:53AM: It's not even noon and I am finished with the two projects that I thought would take all day. The brisket is still cooling and it expect it will take another hour before it gets down to 160°. I think I am going to go buy a couple bags of manure to mix it and maybe some tomato plants as well.

It didn't take very long for the brisket to cool to 160°. While this recipe didn't work exactly right as far as the time goes, it still worked.

The meat is tender and tasty. I consider this a success.

 

631 Update

Time for some updates to catch up on wazzup.

Here is our skunk. She has no name yet but we have decided her pronouns are her, she, and shmelly. I just don't know what to do with her. I could trap her and relocate her out to the country as I have done in the past. I'm thinking I have waited too long and soon there will be little puppy skunks running around. I don't want to trap her if she has already had her shmelly litter.

Yesterday was one of the first nice days of this Spring. We have yet to have a 70° day this Spring. I think we hit the high 60's yesterday. We took advantage of the nice weather to toil in the yard. Susan finished painting the light fixture for the TV Room and I worked on my Halloween Paper Mache Pumpkins.

Then we moved out front and cleaned up the flower beds. They are all nice and clean and ready to accept some flowery vegetation. When that will happen is anyone's guess.

Since Susan finished her overhaul of our light fixture, I took the time today to get it installed. Formerly, it was a shiny gold finish. She bought some spray paint that gave it a mottled brass texture and it looks fantastic.

We bought new shades for it a while back that cost $120.00 plus tax. I think they look great...like they cost #150.00, so we made a little money there.   

SkyFest 2022

 All kinds of traditions are returning. We had Bloomsday earlier this month, we will have the Lilac Parade in a week and today we had SkyFest.

SkyFest is an event at nearby Fairchild Air Force Base. The base is open to the public and there are lots of aircraft to see and aerial demonstrations of all kinds. The stars this year were the Thunderbirds, the Air Forces elite formation flying squadron.

We didn't want to go out to the base and face the throngs of people but we settled on driving out to Airways Heights and watching from the parking lot of a grocery store, along with several other people who had the same idea.

The show was really awesome. Those jets are loud and they are fast. I took over 200 pictures and these were among my best.

Maybe next year we'll go all the way and attend on base. I'm going to need a chair. Maybe a walker.

2022 Pool Plunge

April 29th is the Annual Marge Arndt Pool Plunge. Marge was Tammy's Mom who died a few years ago. Every year on her birthday, she would jump in the pool. The completely unheated pool. In April.

We have carried on the tradition since her death. This year was the sparsest turn out so far, but that's okay in a post Covid world.

That's Tammy, Fat Stan and Shelby keeping the tradition alive.

  

So we made it over to the Hub about 12:20 and started drinking beer.

The run was scheduled to start at 1:00. We had fun and ended up with an Honorable Mention for the Costume Contest.

We knew we were better than that but we won last year so we suspected it would not be our year.

Nonetheless, we looked pretty awesome.  

BatGrampa

 So here is how my mask came out. It's not exactly7 what I was hoping for but it's okay. The Hub Fun Run is tomorrow and we will be ready.

Hub Fun Run 2022 Prep

Have I ever talked about the Hub? It's the Hub Tavern. It's one of the things that makes this neighborhood so great. It's located three blocks away on the corner of Monroe and Fairfield. That's about a five minute walk. so we go there a lot.

This Saturday, April 23rd, is their fourth or fifth annual fun run. It is .o8 miles long. You run from the Hub, two blocks south to the Mosey Inn, chugg (sip) a beer and run back. The record is about two and a half minutes.

There is a theme to the run every year and this years them is Batman and Joggin'. So it's Super Hero themed.

Susan and I won the Costume Contest last year. See the post from April ?? So we are motivated to have good costumes again. Susan is obviously going as CatWoman and I'm going as Batman.

I have a vague idea for the custom loosely based on the Adam West Batman.

Today I began work on the Bat Cowl. Here's what I have so far.

I still have a couple more days working with the paper mache, getting the things defined and ready for painting. I must admit it doesn't look like much here. 

2022’s First Mow

 I don’t remember ever keeping a record of my earliest mow of the year but I think today might qualify for that distinction.

The lawn was not really that bad but I had a bunch of leaves I wanted to suck up so mowing seemed like the right choice. 

Susan is not happy that I chose to mow. In fact, she has been lobbying for us to hire a mowing service. I am against that for two reasons: 

A) I’m retired with not a lot to do. Mowing not only gives me something to do but it gives me some exercise. I admit that when I am finished with mowing I am quite spent. But I know how to pace myself and I can mow the lawn in sections over a couple of days if I need to.

And B) I don’t feel like paying someone to do something I have the time and ability to do.

And 3) What am I going to do with my mower, which started on the fourth pull today after a loooooong winter slumber.

In any event, that’s one mowing down.

ChatNoir

About six weeks ago, this little black cat started hanging around the deck.

At first it was very skittish and would run off whenever I went outside. My neighbor told me she thought it was getting into their cats food. It was also eating the peanuts that I left out for the squirrels.

So, we reluctantly decided to feed it. We named her ChatNoir. Noir for short. I made a little house out of a Styrofoam cooler for it to sleep in and hopefully stay a little warm. We had some really cold nights a few weeks back. 

By the way, we haven't confirmed her sex but believe her pronouns to be she, her and they.

As we began to feed her, she warmed up to us pretty quickly. We were thinking she was feral but she really liked being petted. She would weave her way through your legs and rub up on you.

Then, for no reason at all, she will take a swipe at you and try to bite. This feature of her personality made us decide this cat had to go.

We tried to fit it into the schedule to trap her and taking her to SCRAPS, the local animal control authority.

I finally got around to it last Wednesday, March 23rd. I waited until about 11:30 to feed Noir. I had the trap set up and placed a can of wet food in the trap. She finally came by, smelled it, and figured out how to get to it. She walked onto the plate that sets off the trap and began eating. Nothing happened. I ended up having to go out there and trip the trap door.

I loaded her into the truck and drove to SCRAPS for the drop off. She was clearly not very happy.

I told them the story of how we came about having her and explained that she was a nice cat but would lash out unexpectedly.

They explained to me that if they determined she was feral and therefore unadoptable, they would return her to the neighborhood where she came from after having her fixed. They would clip her ear to indicate she had been processed.

She showed up back on the deck today. Two days later. She had a clipped ear. They made no attempt to adopt her out.

So now, we are ignoring her. We taped some cardboard to the French Doors to prevent her from looking in. Really, it prevents us from seeing her looking at us and wondering why we're not feeding her. 

We're looking for some other alternative for this cat but because of her unpredictable nature, we don't want her around.

It's really going to be hard to be so callous towards this cat but we don't have any other options.

      

Should Be Skiing

It looks like a semi good day on  Mt. Spokane. It's overcast here in the city but the mountain is above it all...mostly.

Here is a progression of pictures I took off the website from Chair Number Three.

You can see the fog move in and up the mountain.

It's really foggy at the lodge.

Not much is on the agenda for today. We are going out to lunch around 1 or 2 o'clock. Susan had lunch plans with the girls but it fell through.

When I'm finished here, I'll go find some stuff to do.    

Hot Tub Cleaning

 Several weeks ago I made a major faux pas with the hot tub. I have been using bromine based chemicals to maintain the water and my supplier stopped selling it. So I bought chlorine based chemicals that replaced the old stuff.

I should have drained the tub containing the bromine chemicals because when I added the chlorine, the water turned yellow. The two systems are not compatible.

So it took me until today to fix the problem. The tub has been drained and there is scorched earth area of my front lawn where the old water went. I’m going to put some ice melt down on the sidewalk to prevent the water that made it that far from icing up.

I just checked the tub and it is almost half way full. Once the water covers the heating duct, I can turn on the pump and heater and begin the reheating process. It might even be ready tonight.

The heat is on now and it should not be much longer before the tub is full.

It’s taken me less than two hours to complete this little project. I haven’t yet decided whether to use the chlorine chemicals or find a new outlet for bromine, which I’m much more used to.

Now it’s time for some Gonzaga Basket Weaving. Today they are weaving their way through the Bronco Boys from Santa Clara.

Later: Gonzaga appears to be well on the way to winning this basket weaving game. With less than three minutes, they are up by 34 weaves.

A Little Later: It's 5:00 and I just checked the tub. It will not be ready for tonight unless one wants to get into 50° water.

Precarious Treachery

I've been going to Northtown Mall to walk for the last couple of weeks. Originally, it was just too cold for a walk. Then the sloppy nature of winter and several un shoveled sidewalks kept me at the mall.

This morning, Susan and I ventured out to circle the park. It's a bright sunny day with the temperature in the 40's.

However, the sidewalks were still pretty treacherous. We didn't even get past our property before I had a near fall on a patch of ice. 

So much rain fell that it has pooled up in low spots of the sidewalks, requiring us to walk up on peoples lawns that at least were snowy, although very crusty.

We managed to make it around but it was precarious.

We have some Christmas decorations to stow today and then we are going out to watch Gonzaga play Basketball against Pepperdine.     

After the Snow

I estimate that about se7en inches of snow fell yesterday. It started to rain about 4:00 and the rain continued well into the night. It was still raining when I got up around 1:00AM.

The streets around the neighborhood are sloppy messes right now but the main arterials and bare and wet. So I use four wheel drive in the neighborhood and switch back to two wheel when I get to the main roads.

I would say the snow plow crews have done a pretty good job. It's 43° out right now and it looks from the forecast as though our cold spell is over.

I managed to knock down that problem icicle I referenced yesterday. I'm still not convinced that there is not a problem with pooling water up there. I'm sure there is a good puddle of water up in that crevice where the roofs meets. I'm depending in the new roof to keep that water from leaking down the wall as it once did.

I'm keeping an eye on it.

My job for today is to get all the Christmas stuff put away up in the Carriage House.    

Thursday for the Retired Guy

 There is at least four inches of fresh snow on the ground and it is still snowing. I'm not heading out to snow blow until the snow quits. They don't expect the snow to stop for a while yet.

So I am hanging out here in my office area in the back bedroom and figuring out my day.

I guess I will get dressed and go out and take some pictures.

I did some preliminary clean up. Just enough to make a path to the garage and clear the front steps.

I measured the snow on the deck rail and it was five inches deep.

I just asked Alexa when the snow would end and it responded the snow would stop in about 15 minutes. It's still coming down at a good rate and I don't expect it to stop that soon. In fact, the flakes were pretty large when I was taking these pictures but they are much smaller right now.

To quote a bit of Native American wisdom, "Big Snow, Little Snow. Little Snow, Big Snow!"

To simplify, if the snow flakes falling are large, it's not going to snow very much. If they are small, look out.

Well, I'm looking out for now.

I was hoping that the new roof would eliminate this little problem we have every year. I'm going to have to knock this icicle down. But what I really need to do is remember what I did with the heat cable I took down and get it back up there.

It's been 20 minutes and the snow is still falling. However, now the flakes are really small.

3:54PM: I finally started snow blowing about 11:00 and I finished around 1:30. I think there was a good six inches on the ground. I had to take it slow and about 3/4 of a swath to blow efficiently.

My block is now safe.

Snowin' and Blowin' and Skiin'

 I awoke to four inches of snow this morning. It was light and easily snow blown away. I covered my usual territory and kept the block free of slippery sidewalks.

After blowing, I went skiing with my life long friend Robba. We skied seven runs but it was not pretty for me. My stamina continues to vex me. I make a few turns and then stop to rest and catch my breath. I don't feel confident in my abilities anymore. I am now pretty much a fair weather skier.

I remember when my Dad became a fair weather skier. I was really caught off guard because he had always been such a gung ho ski guy. Suddenly, he was skiing three runs and heading for the lodge.

Well, I continue to turn into my Dad.

We have more snow on the way tonight. They are saying it's possible that seven inches could fall. We shall see. I'm not holding my breath though.

Frosty Holiday Lights

 We did indeed go and check out some Holiday lights last night. There is a thing going on out at the fairgrounds called Northwest Holiday Lights. They have a bunch of displays like this.

It cost $17.00 for each of us to get in and it really wasn't worth it.

Part of the problem was that it was 9° out. They had a couple of heating stations which was helpful, but 9° is not a pleasant temperature to be out in. Especially at our age.

We think we might be able to salvage the experience by using some of the pictures I took for next years Christmas Card.

Happy Twenty Twenty-Two!

There are few simple pleasures better than sleeping in on New Years Day. We had an uneventful evening that we spent over at our friends, Randy and Karen.

We had a nice dinner, played some games, and toasted the New Year at midnight.

I ended up staying up until almost three, which is five hours later than I normally go to bed.

We are going over to Northtown Mall shortly to walk. It's far too cold to walk outside for any length of time.

The rest of the day shall be peaceful without a lot of activity. We might go see some Christmas light later. Then, it all comes down tomorrow.

Gonzaga vs Northern Alabama

I got a call yesterday from my friend Ron. He had access to two tickets to the Gonzaga basketball game at 2:00 and wanted to know if I wanted them.

Not just yes, but HELL YES!

Tickets to Zags games are a hot commodity these days and it turns out that these tickets are great seats.

I recorded the game so we could see if you can see us.

And you can. Obviously, you can't tell it's us. But I assure you it is.

We had a great time. It was a great way to spend a chilly afternoon.   

After Christmas Monday

 We are heading into a cold spell for the next week. It's 20° right now and that is going to be the high for the week. They are projecting a low of zero on Wednesday.

It snowed enough last night for me to break out the snow blower this morning and hit the neighborhood. It's been threatening to snow more, but so far it hasn't happened.

I'm using my time today to set up an office space for me. I have kept this laptop computer down on the kitchen table and I gather too much crap too quickly there and soon, the table doesn't have a bare spot on it. 

So I'm setting up in the upstairs back bedroom. We have a good long counter space there which will be good for me to work on the computer away from the TV and give me some drawing space as well.

There is a shit load of clutter on the counter right now and I'm trying to de-clutterize. (Is that a word?)

My other main goal for today is to fix our EdenPure heater that we use in the kitchen. A couple of years ago, the power switch on it stopped working. The heat and electricity going through it finally cooked it. I managed to find some replacement switches through Granger.com but they are not sturdy enough to last very long. I got six last year and I have used them up. 

Needless to say, I am now quite adept at replacing the switch. I ordered some new ones directly from EdenPure so they should be built to take the amps and heat that the heater produces.

We shall see.

Later: Well, that didn't go well. I got the new switch in and it has power. However, there must be something else going on because the heater never came on. Now I'm going to have to really dig into and check the heating elements.