Record Breaking Winter

It is official! The snow that fell on Sunday put the area over the top for the most snow in one season. We have topped the old record set in the winter of 1949-50 by 1/10th of an inch at 93.5 inches of snow.

Now, let's be clear about this. That is not how much snow we have on the ground. It's how much snow we got over the season. It doesn't seem at all impressive considering it's all gone now.

So essentially, we had a shit load of snow for about two months. Most of it fell over a two week period and then slowly melted away.Then we had an occassional little addition here and there that caused no problems as far as every day life in winter conditions but added to the accumulation.

This is a dream come true for me because it puts me into a coveted Codger Category known as "Seen Worse". For the rest of my life, even if we have a winter with 90 inches of snow on the ground, when some repugnant little street urchin makes some comment about the rough winter we're currently enduring, I can just shrug and say, "Seen worse!" Then I'll spit and say, "Get off my Lawn!"

A Load of Whatnot

We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground. It didn't last long. I think it had mostly melted away by 11:00. I've tried checking into weather reports to see if this slight snowfall brought us any closer to breaking the record for snow accumulation in a season. I know we are inches away. I'll keep looking.

You might recall that we have an old house that we are working on restoring. It's been a while since we have done any of that work so today was a good day to get us back on track.

Susan did some work in the bathroom repairing some damaged wallpaper. It was directly above the area of the dining room that was damaged. She really knows her way around wall paper. I didn't watch the whole process but I think she removed a couple of large pieces of wall paper and replaced it with new, pristine stuff.

I worked on the stairs. I made good progress on the bottom eleven steps and now have the top four to complete. Then there is all the sundry railing, trim and whatnot. It's the whatnot that really has me concerned. Every time I glance around, I spy more whatnot that will need attention. More than anything in the house, we have a crap load of whatnot.
Here is a picture of today's progress. I should like to add that much of today's progress would not had been possible if not for the help of a call from my childhood pal, Mike, who is currently residing in Texas. He stops by this site from time to time and checks on us. He has already done much of this work on a house he owns on the other side of the state.

He suggested that I might have some luck in tight spaces with a paint scraper. He was absolutely correct. My sanders cannot get in real close to the corners and the detail sander we have is not the fastest way to go. But the scraper allows me to scrape away a great deal of the varnish that the sander has to sand away which saves that much more time.

Even so, I'm pretty sore from pushing the sander around and kneeling in a variety of uncomfortable positions. Perhaps it's time to take a shower and clean the chunks of sanding dust out of my many orifices to which it has settled.

That doesn't paint a very pretty picture.

Spring Like on the Park

Today was the first day since the arrival of Spring that it felt kind of Spring-like. I was going to do my mile around the park in preparation for Bloomsday, but I decided to exert myself in a yardwork sort of way.

The lawn needs to be cleaned up so I can get some fertilizer down. I bought of big bag last Fall and was supposed to put it down and let it sink in over the winter. Well, that never happened, of course and so now I am again playing ketchup. (I've never understood that phrase.)

I pulled out my power vac leaf sucker and went over the front lawn and the curb and removed all the debris that has collected over the Winter. I filled my garbage can and then my neighbors. (They're out of town and that's one the perks I get for looking after their cat.)

Afterwards, I celebrated with a beer and a cigar. The beer was fabulous. I regret the cigar. I always regret the cigar but I always smoke another one. I'm stupid that way.

I think I finally have the computer under control. I've been spending the last couple of nights loading programs and drivers and porn. It looks like it's all back to normal. I am very thankful that Susan bought me that external hard drive. I would have lost everything if I had not had that. That means 10 years worth of digital pictures, all our past invitations to parties, and lots of art projects I've done over the years. And then there's the porn. Don't even get me started on the porn.

I have to go now. You got me started!

Continuing Technical Difficulties

I was right that I did it wrong.

My re-format of my hard drive didn't work because I didn't really set it up right. I came home last night to discover the computer still behaving badly.

I should have realized it when I still had all my data and applications on the computer. So, I went back into the bowels of the operating system. It was a lot like that scene from "2001: A Space Odyssey" where Dave crawls into Hal and starts removing chips.

So now I have to re-load everything. Fortunately, all my important pictures and data are on my external hard drive. I haven't lost anything. I just have to get it back where I want it. It's like I have to refile all my papers.

Technical Difficulties

My computer seems to have had some kind of meltdown. I was on-line, looking at my bank account, I think, and the computer suddenly switched off. Then it went into this cycle of loading up, getting to the Windows start menu and then blinking out again only to try and re-load.

I called the place I bought it from and the guy ran through a bunch of diagnostic stuff. Finally he had me re-format the drive. It appears to have worked as I have had it running for a couple of hours now and I even have all my programs and data...which makes me wonder if I really did re-format it correctly.

Anyway, it's working right now so I guess I'll go with that and see what happens.

It's a rainy Sunday and I haven't done much of anything today. Susan is working on repairing the damage in the Dining Room. Refer to December 27th for the details.

I have done some minor organizing projects and taken the studded tires off Susan's car. Now the only studs she has is me.

A Big Fat Happy Honkin' Welcome to Vern

The Vernal Equinox is upon us and that means we can pack up all our cares and woe.

I worked last night on the heater. I had the help of my friend Jerry who laughed at me for the appropriate amount of time. We had a tough time running the new wire over to the thermostat because I did such a crappy job of drilling holes originally. I had to beat a couple of new holes in the bedroom wall next to the bathroom to facilitate a successful running of the wire.

So now that I have that fix taken care of, I need to turn my attention back to the stairs. Oh Jeez, the STAIRS! I had almost forgotten. Well, I have this weekend to make something happen. Hopefully, it will be a fertile environment for Remodeling Achievement.

Bathroom Heater Repair

It appears that the Dumb ass who installed the heater used the wrong gauge of wire to run to the thermostat. Even though the heater has been working for over a year, it is amazing it didn't burn the bathroom and subsequent surrounding house to the ground.

The afore mentioned Dumb ass shall remain nameless but I know where he lives. It is an incredible coincidence that his house didn't burn to the ground at the same time that this one didn't burn to the ground.

In the meantime, I shall endeavor to run the correct wire and then have it checked by a qualified friend who would have yelled at me...um...I mean, the other guy when it was installed.

Back to the Grind

For the last four days, we have been on Holiday. Susan and I, along with my sister Sherry, traveled to California to surprise my other sister, Stacey, on the event of her 50th birthday. The surprise went off beautifully and soon, I shall regale this site with all the details of our adventures.

But first, it is now time to get back to reality and resume our normal lives. We returned to discover that the heater in the upstairs bathroom is on the fritz and that will be my focus of attention when I return from work tonight.

In the meantime, all the cats appear to have survived our absence, the house is still standing, and the social and moral fabric of the community seem to be about where it was when we left.

All is well!

A Safer World because of Us!

We have successfully completed our week as a Nielsen Family. We studiously cataloged all our television viewing over the week and found that we watch a shit load of television. Much more than I thought.

Our TV was on for a total of 37 hours over the one week period. Four of those hours, it was on but we weren't really watching it. We have four TVs in the house but we primarily watch the one in the kitchen because that one is closest to the fridge.

I thought it was funny that the TV in what we call the TV Room, was not watched at all during the week. I'm beginning to wonder why we have a TV Room. It's really a Superfluous Room.

I started thinking about how much TV we watch compared to the time available to us for watching. There are 168 hours in a week. If you subtract out the sleep time, that brings it down to 112 hours. Take out another 45 for work and we are down to 67.

Now subtract out the time we watch TV and you have 30 hours. I can't for the life of me figure out what I do with those thirty hours. I suppose there's some eating in there as well as going to the bathroom. That alone probably uses up 17 hours. So now I will have to try and account for those 13 hours and make sure they count for something.

We are pleased to have done our duty to the entertainment industry and are confident that we helped to make the world a safer place for advertisers.

In less important news, it is still mighty frigid ot dere which compelled me to make a wonderful house warming fire last night. I was going through my files and decided it was time to throw out lots of old checkbooks. They went as far back as 2001 and as recent as 2007. They kept the fire stoked for a good hour as I threw a few in and then watched some TV (because it was on). Then at a commercial break, I threw in a few more.

Now all our financial information has been reduced to the ashes from whence we all came, thereby completing the circle of life.

Crime Scene Guy

The traffic reporting on the radio has always been a joke in my view. It rarely helps you avoid a backup. In fact, I usually hear about a backup when I'm already in it.

Yesterday, it actually worked for me. The reporter said that there was an accident at Third and Thor involving a car hanging off the freeway overpass.

That report allowed me plenty of time to have my camera ready to snap a provocative news scene photo. It's too bad the sun could not have cooperated to provide me better back lighting, but that is one of the problems you deal with when you're a professional news scene reporter camera guy. (Official Title)

It's another really cold day. The temperature is six degrees this morning. Not as cold as yesterday but when it gets to ten and below, what's the difference if it's six or six below?!

No Temperature

The forecast lived up to its hype. It was supposed to get down to one degree. My Thermopolis Forecaster Weather Station Twenty-Five Fifty said it was Zero this morning. That's right! There is NO TEMPERATURE out there today. And you can feel it too. It takes the car a long time before it feels comfortable. About as long as it takes to get to work. Thank the Lord God Almighty that we have heat at work. And coffee. Hot Coffee! That I can crawl into. And thaw.

Also, I'm thankful for April...but it's not here yet.

Progress on the stairs has slowed as we are doing some cleaning to try and keep up with the massive build up of sanding dust. I've tried my damnedest to seal up the immediate sanding area with hanging plastic and signs instructing the dust not to proceed beyond the area. But dust doesn't care. It seems to just go with the wind. It idly seeps to wherever it feels like going.
When it gets there, it invites it's friends and family.

Winter All Over Again

We got a nice dumping of snow yesterday. I had about three or four inches at the house. And most remarkable of all, I did NOT break out the Snow Blower. I just figured it will all be gone in a couple of days. It's supposed to reach the 50's by this weekend.

In the meantime, it is colder than a witches snot on the shady side of a submarine. (I think I mixed some metaphors there) It's supposed to be that way for another day or so. I went down to the river at lunch and it is really chilly. Bright blue sky and nothing to hold in the heat. The forecast is calling for a possible low of one degree tonight.

That makes it harder for the new snow to melt away. I guess I'll probably regret not having cleared the driveway and sidewalks. No doubt my neighbors are wondering where I am, after all my selfless Snow Blowing back in December. Well, I guess the answer is, I'm selfish again.

Falling Behind AGAIN!

I stated earlier that I wanted the stairs to be sanded and ready to go by St Patrick's Day. Well, that's just over a week away and I don't think it's going to happen. I still have a lot of sanding to accomplish.

Of course, I still have a good week to go before that time but this week looks very busy with other activities that will keep me off the stairs in the evening. I'm not too upset because goals are set to be broken, moved, re-set and ignored.

We're a Nielsen Family

About a month ago, I got a call asking us to be a Nielsen Family. Well, I've always heard about Nielsen Families, but I've never known anyone who is one. maybe you're not supposed to talk about it. If this post is deleted, you'll know they got to me.

Anyway, starting today, we are keeping the official Nielsen Family Diary on all our television watching. It's quite an elaborate system. There is even an entry for times like this, when the TV is on downstairs, but neither of us are watching it. "Kath n' Kim" is on and that is a show we just don't care for. So between "My Name is Earl" which we love, and "The Office" which we really love, we don't have the energy or environmental sensibility to turn the TV off when "Kath n' Kim" is on. We just leave the room and do other things. (I'm blogging and Susan is in the shower.)

So it should be an exciting adventure through the week as we catalog our viewing choices and help to shape the landscape of American Vacuousness.

For anyone who is wondering, the answer is Movie Tickets.The question Alex, is: What is the present for the Fifth Day of my Birthday Week?

Sanding and the Fourth Night of Birthday Week

I made some excellent progress on the stairs tonight. I'm just about done with the treads and risers. Then we will have to concentrate on the trim and railing. The picture above shows the stairs as they have progressed over the last two years. The two pictures were taken almost exactly two years apart. There's definitely a difference. You don't always realize that when you see them every day.



On the Fourth Day of my Birthday Week, I got a tool that I do not know how I have gotten along without it all this time. It is advertized as the perfect tool for the home remodeler. It's called a Catspaw and it is a cool little pry bar/nail puller. I sure do wish I had it when we were pulling up the floor.

The problem is that it is really nice and shiny right now. It's too nice to use.

Wine Night

We are taking a night off from sanding in order to pursue another of our interests, the making of alcohol. In this case, wine. To be more specific, Piesporter.

Susan has thrown herself into a festive frenzy with the arrival of my Birthday Week. On Sunday, I received a lovely bunch of chocolate dipped strawberries and apricots. These were of course, hand dipped by Susan. Yesterday, I received a Piesporter Wine Kit. Here on Square Root Day (3x3=09), it is the third day of my Birthday Week and I have not as yet received anything...but it's still early.

It seems like a good night to start the wine though. This way, we will have a fully semi-aged home made wine for the Summer Solstice Party. In fact, I guess I could record the event here as well as on my usual wine manifest that I keep of each wine we make.

Before that, let me briefly update the stairs project. Last night, I had a good but short night of sanding as I went through all my remaining sandpaper rather quickly. All the treads are done and many of the risers are semi-finished. I have to get into the corners and some areas that the belt sander cannot reach.

I have already purchased another round of sandpaper and so I can begin again tomorrow. Tomorrow is an excellent night for sanding as the moon will be in just the right place and there's not much on TV.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's enter the Wine Making Facilities at Waverly Place Vineries

and Wineyards.

Making wine is incredibly easy. Making wine from a kit is even easier. They give you all the ingredients you need to make a damn fine wine.

It is because of this ease that I think kit wines entered in the Fair's Wine Competition should be judged separately from wines made from scratch. With scratch Wines, you have to select the grape, or fruit if you go that way, mash it, add sugars, add sterilizers, add nutrients.

With kit wines, you open the box, pour in the juice, top it off with water, wait a few weeks, bottle it and drink it.

Such was the case with our wine tonight. We were done with the opening procedures in about half an hour. Now we have to wait a week and then transfer it into a clean fermenter. After another couple of weeks, we will again rack it into a clean fermenter, add some chemicals to aid the clearing process and let it age a few more weeks. Then we bottle andage until we crack it open on Saturday, June 20th, which is by coincidence, the day of our Solstice Party.

Pictured to the left is the Must, which is what we Vintners call the unfermented wine. It think it is called that because at this point, you Must not drink it.

It's really sweet. It tastes like grape juice. What a surprise, huh!

This will be a white wine, but right now it has that cloudy look due to chemical nutrients that we added. We also added some pencil shaving that came in the kit. They're not really pencil shavings but that what it looks like. It's meant to add a smoky, oaky flavor to the wine.

I'll update this in a week when we move on to Step number Two in the instructions.

Oh, by the way, I got a nice sport shirt for Day Number Three of my Birthday Week.

My House as a Chew Toy

I heard the tell tale signs of a scruffy fur-covered Arboreal Rodent chewing on the house this morning. I went outside and sure enough, the little bastard was up on the roof above the back door, chewing away trim on the side of the soffet.

So I pulled out the ladder and climbed up there to retreat the chew areas with more Pepper Spray. That should hold it for a while but I have to get on a schedule where I treat it every couple of weeks. That should train them to stay away.

They are persistent. I am not!

Symphony Update

It is astonishing to me that in a sleepy little sometimes backwards berg like Spokaloo, Warshington, we have an orchestra of the caliber of the Spokane Symphony. The performance we saw this afternoon was fabulous. One piece in particular was a Duke Ellington tune that they played in the first half of the show that was magnificent. It was great to hear a really off beat jazz number performed by an entire orchestra. You could tell that they were really enjoying playing it. The central piece they played was a commissioned symphony called "Letters from Lincoln". It was commissioned by the symphony to help commemorate Abraham Lincoln's Bi-Centennial. The lyrics used in the tunes were from actual Lincoln writings. Thomas Hampson, a rather highly regarded Baritone in the Opera world and local boy sang as the symphony debuted the piece. I snapped the above bootlegged picture at the end of the performance. Standing in front are the composer, the aforementioned baritone and the conductor. It was a great way to spend a Sunday.

Susan and I went out for dinner afterwards and made it home in time to lay about and watch some TV.

March Comes in Like a Socialist

The snow pole fell sometime yesterday. So if you picked February 28th, you win.

I made some good progress on the stairs Friday night. I have two treads left to sand but that does not mean I'm almost finished with the sanding. I have several risers to get to as well as a good deal of trim and all of the railing. However, I think I'm making good progress and we will be ready to re-stain and paint after St Patrick's Day.

We are accomplishing very little around here today. We have tickets to see the Spokane Symphony this afternoon and will follow the performance with a little dinner on the town. We are terribly social. You might say we are Socialists. However, I do not want Universal Health Care. Somehow, I have horribly strayed from the subject.