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It tried to snow several times yesterday and in some parts of town, it succeeded. But not around Corbin Park. It has been quite chilly which prompted me to turn on the furnace this morning, thus ending the Boiler Game for 2019.
I am presently between computers and am currently using the laptop from church. It has an annoying feature where the curser will suddenly jump from it's place and reappear in the middle of a previous paragraph. Since I'm not a touch typist, it is most confounding to look up from the keys and see I've typed a whole bunch into the middle of a previous paragraph. It has done it twice while I typed the last sentence.
But it is better than the Google Chrome book I've been using, which won't even let me access this blog.
We are coming to the end of the road with Oscar. Our 19 year old cat has slowed down dramatically in the last few weeks and now he is hardly eating.
Last night, I came home and found him hanging by his claw from the couch. He got stuck on a cushion and then fell off the couch and remained hooked. No telling how long he was stuck there. He was a little wobbly when I got him free but he seems to have bounced back.
For the last week, whenever I come down in the morning, or Susan comes home in the afternoon, we pensively look around and hope to find him still alive.
It's rainy and cold so we are not doing much today. It feels like a good day to sit and watch football.
It was 37 degrees when I left the house this morning. Today was the first day I wore a jacket, more of an insulated work shirt. And it was big time driving into the sun this morning until we hit the Sullivan Road over pass. I drove into a thick shroud of fog that blocked out the sun. Yet, if I looked straight up, I could see a hint of blue sky.
I think I'm losing my car heater. It was blowing warm on Wednesday, hot yesterday and today not so much. I am not prepared for a repair bill so this isn't good.
On top of all of this, the forecast calls for the chance of snow this weekend. If it does snow, it will be the earliest instance of snow fall in Spokane recorded history.
I'm hoping I can make it through the weekend without turning on the boiler. I will run the space heaters and even light a fire in the fireplace.
Another sure sign that autumn has arrived is the annual Greek Festival at the Greek Orthodox Church. It's going on this weekend and we are going tonight. I'm looking forward to Orzo and Lemon Beans.
It's the last full day of Summer and I celebrated by packing up the air conditioners and placing them in the closet.
We also continued to work in the TV Room, starting on removing the paint from the other window...the front window. Susan made great progress while I worked on replacing two plexiglass window panes with real glass.
I went to the Home Depot and bought two 10" x 12" window panes. It turns out I need the panes to be 10.25" x 10.875" I could actually shave a sixteenth off the .875 dimension.
Anyway, I could not use the panes I bought and will return them tomorrow. I'm also in search of window trim that is somewhat similar to the existing painted window trim so I don't have to spend the painstaking hours to remove the layers of paint on the trim we have.
The Autumnal Equinox is just a few days away but there are signs of Fall all over the place. Things like driving into the sun on my way to work, no sun this morning because of the thick blanket of chilly fog, trying to decide if I should wear a jacket, and the wall heater in the bathroom coming on automatically.
So that got me thinking about the Boiler Game. I have been hoping that I could make it to the middle of October before firing the boiler up. That is always the goal anyway. We have plenty of space heaters that can warm specific living areas...most prominently the kitchen.
But I must ask myself if that is cheating. The point of the Boiler Game is to see how long we can go before the furnace must be turned on. But that is a whole house issue. Being able to heat areas where we happen to be...most prominently the kitchen...does not abrogate the intention of the Boiler Game. That is my professional opinion as Commissioner of the Boiler Game. I just hope that it is the proper use of "abrogate".
Let's take a moment to review past Boiler Games.
- 2018 October 3rd
- 2017 September 23rd
- 2016 October 6th
- 2015 September 21st
- 2014 No Record
- 2013 October 8th
- 2012 October 5th
I found a note where I stated that the record is October 21st but I cannot find out what year that was.
Then I started reading posts from October of 2013. We were working on the Living Room and coming to the end of the project. I started looking at posts trying to find out the color of stain I used on the woodwork. It's the same color I will be wanting to use in the TV Room.
Then I remembered that I have already created a special page for such information. So that problem is solved.
We did okay with our wine entries at the fair. We got a Blue Ribbon with our Petit Verdot and a Blue Ribbon with a Special Commendation for our label.
Here are the judging sheets
No Grand Champions for us this year but we did do better than Ellen...which is all that really matters.
Today is the 12th running of Spokefest and we were all set to go. In fact, we went. We just didn't stay.
As we pulled out of the driveway, a very light rain started to fall. We parked the car at the Arena and rode our bikes down to Kendall Yards where they are staging the ride.
In the course of waiting for the ride to start, we decided it was going to be a miserable ride and we are not that fanatical about bike riding.
So we rode back to the Arena, packed up the bikes and drove home.
As I sit here now, imagining that we would be about half way through the ride at this time, the rain is pouring down. We are both glad that we wienied out of the ride. I would have been hating it if I was out there right now.
We have also continued our legacy participation in this event. We have entered every one of them and ridden in all but two now.
It is our Labor Day tradition to go to the Spokane Symphony Concert in Comstock Park. We'll be heading up there later but first, we have some stuff to do around the house on the last day of my vacation extravaganza.
First, I have to collect up all the accouterments we will need for the concert. I go up early and stake out a piece of real estate. This year I have a flag pole to designate our spot This will be helpful to others who will join us.
So, that is my first job.
Okay, that is done. I have the flag and base, some chairs and a tarp to designate our property.
Next, I'm doing more window work.
1:28 PM: I've been doing a little work on window trim and cleaning out the TV Room. I'm getting all the remodeling equipment stowed away so we can do a thorough clean of the house. It has finally gotten to a point that Susan can no longer stand it.
As I said, we will be heading for Comstock Park later and then after, maybe I'll be able to return one more time and conclude todays' post.
8:30PM: Wow! WE are home already. The concert was great as always and we got out of the area really fast.
Well, that's the end of summer!
We are back from church and ready to rock. It is noon straight up and we have an agenda for the day.
The day will conclude with a visit to Riverfront Park so we can take part in the annual Pig Out in the Park. We will listen to Sammy Eubanks at 8PM and return to the homestead after.
But first, it's back to the windows.
Later: We made pretty good progress. There is a therapeutic aspect to this work that is quite relaxing.
Here are some pictures of the rest of the day.
I was working on the window frame, trying to get all that gunky paint off the frame and trim.
Susan was working on the window.
Here is the problems she is dealing with. The little nooks and crannys on the trim are very time consuming. We are just going to keep working on it, little by little, until we are satisfied.
We went down to Pig Out about 6:00. We ate some good food and some not so good food. The Mac n'Cheese booth was disappointing. Kind of bland. It took no time for us to spend $25.00 a piece on food and beer.
Sammy was playing at the Clocktower Stage and he was great. Sammy is always a good show.
We left about ten and returned to the front porch for a malty beverage night cap.
