Lots o Little Piles

It was a good productive day here at the ranch.

I started by installing a rain gutter that fell down last year because I wanted to see how long an icicle would get. I learned my lesson and there shall be no more icicle competitions. All the rain we have had (1/2 inch on Friday) necessitated the rain gutter. It's right above the back door and you can't go down the stairs without passing through a curtain of runoff when it's raining.

After that, we went to work on the leaves. Most have fallen and it was time to get them raked up. I didn't have access to my friends truck today so we just raked them into a bunch of piles and I will try to take them to the dump later this week.

The problem of course with dumping rain soaked leaves is the amount of water I am paying to dump. There is a private dump spot I use for things like this because they look at the load and charge according to that rather than by weight.

The problem with using them is that they are a bit farther out in the sticks. But what I spend on gas will be saved at the dump.

I have started doing some research on Horse-Chestnuts. I didn't really know anything about these things other than I have a bunch of them. The chestnuts in the picture were gathered up in about two minutes from one of the leaf piles. They are quite prolific in the front yard. I'm going to take this little pile and see if they burn very well.

I have learned that they contain a toxin called Aesculin. It causes destruction of red blood cells. The interesting thing is that deer and squirrels are resistant to the toxin. I know the squirrels eat them but they don't eat them a lot. I think it is their go-to food when other more tasty morsels are unavailable.

I've also learned you can pulverize the nuts and repeatedly boil them into a wholesome porridge. The continuous boiling leaches out the toxin. They are also used in Homeopathic medicine to relieve pain in the sacroiliac region as well as the rectal region. If we are ever beset with Hemorrhoids, we are golden. I can't find any info with regards to burning them so we'll have to see for ourselves.

And now, I would like to present a new feature of this Blog,

Today's Tidbit:

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitsgerald. Nobody would even care if not for Gordon Lightfoot.

Economics of Gasoline

I feel compelled to write today about the price of gas.

It has been dropping since the end of Summer and it seems to keep going. You can see from the picture what the price I paid today is. I don't think it has been this low in several years. When I stopped working for the Wall Street Journal in May of 2003, the price of gas was about $1.35 a gallon. Back in July when I was riding my bike to work, it was over $4.00 a gallon. It has dropped $2.00 in about three months.

I never thought I would see two dollar gas again. I should be buying up gas cans and getting all I can. Of course, I won't because it isn't practical. But when it starts going back up again, I'll be complaining because I didn't.

Weather Report

Wow! It's really raining. I could hear the rain coming down while laying in bed this morning. I got up and saw that it was a pretty good driving rain. On the freeway, everyone was driving a bit slower in order to be able to see.

I set a coffee cup on top of the car when I got to work in order to see how much rain it collects during the morning. A weather station that I check in with on line says it's coming down at .04 inches per hour right now. I forgot to look at my Weather Station at home to see what info it had to offer.

I'm hoping this will knock the rest of the leaves out of my trees. I would really like to get them raked up this weekend. I won't be taking them to the dump this time. Too much water. I'll take the load out to Busy Bee where it will cost me about $10.00 a load.

The radio is on and they just reported that there are power outages in Seattle and all around the west side of the state due to all this rain. Apparently, an inch of rain fell there yesterday. The forecast is calling for more rain over the next couple of days.

Weather Update: As I drove out of the parking lot to go to lunch, I heard a clunk on the roof that reminded me that I had placed a cup up there. I pulled over and was pleased to see it was still there and upright. It had a bit less than a quarter of an inch of rain water in it.

I have made a couple of changes to the Blog. I changed the template and I added a site counter. As I write this, the counter is at 007 and I am responsible for all se7en hits. Even though this blog is for us to reference improvements on the house, I am still vain enough that I want to know if other people are reading it. Nobody ever leaves comments so a counter is the only tool I have to know if people other than me show up here.

Blog Review

I have spent the last couple of days looking over all the entries I've made to this Blog over the last couple of years. I've tried to be really careful about spelling and punctuation, as well as adhering to my own special grammatical rules. I was astonished to see lots of misspelled words. I tried to correct them as I went but it became rather tedious and time consuming so I didn't get them all. Damn Spell Checker!

The other thing I noticed is that I repeat stuff a LOT! I guess I need to hire an editor. Perhaps I'll wait until it comes out in book form.

Best of all though, it really is a good record of what we have been doing. Not only with the house but with our lives. I read lots of stuff that I had forgotten about. Other things reminded me of things that happened that I didn't even remember that I wrote about. Damn Memory!

All in all, I am happy with this Blog and I shall continue to update it. I think it is time to change the look of it though. I don't know exactly what the change will be but it will be more personalized. Also, it will be something that is readable on a Mac. This template I have chosen doesn't display itself very well when you read it on a Mac. Damn Macs!

As I was walking out the door to work this morning, I noticed a squirrel up on the roof over the back door. That's the area that had been chewed up a couple weeks ago. It must have been Chewie the Chewer that I saw up there because a whole new area of siding had been removed. I pulled out the ladder and the Pepper Spray and got up there and soaked the siding and the roof as best I could. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on it for a while and probably treat it again in a few days. Damn Squirrels!

Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope

I awoke this morning to a new America.

It's an America were hope is alive and anyone can grow up to become President. An America where the unpopular, failed policies of the past are swept away like yesterday's wet, soggy leaves in order to make way for the transitional coldness of winter where sleeps the buds of new ideas ready to spring forth under the unfamiliar freshness of a new sun and sentences seem to run on and on and on forever without end or any chance of anyone realizing the original point that was trying to be so lamely made.

I am speaking of course, of the new chicken-wire blockade I laid down over the old skunk hole and the whole side of the Carriage House. Here is a picture with Oscar the Chicken-Wire Inspector as he scrutinizes my craftsmanship.

It is temporary measure so it is not very attractive. It is designed to get us Skunk Free through the Winter. We will lay down our new brick breezeway when the Spring time weather allows it.

Rain, Skunks and the Vermin We Elect

It has been raining steadily through the night which means that my leaves will be knocked out of the trees and very very wet. Oh well! Frankly, I'm amazed that we have gotten this far into Autumn without more rain. October was a dry month.

There is no digging. I did a little work next to the Carriage House last night (in the dark) and made it look like a sand trap. The area was undisturbed this morning. That means that I officially declare our house "Skunk Free".

Now I need to see to it that it remains that way. I'm going to get out there tonight and lay down some chicken wire. I'm not going to go through the time and effort to bury it. I'm just going to lay it down against the baseboard of the building and stretch it over the ground and then secure it with stakes and wire. That should be good enough to get us through the winter. Next spring we will put down the paver bricks and seal the thing up really good.

Today is Election Day and there will be a new President tomorrow. I am soooooooo ready for this election season to be over. The political ads are loathsome, repugnant and loaded with half truths designed to sway the mass of stupid people who don't study the issues and cancel out my vote. I find myself hoping for a good old fashioned Hemorrhoid Commercial.

As far as the Presidency goes, I'm not a fan of either candidate. I'm less of a fan of Barack Obama. I take solace in the fact that our system is designed so no one guy can screw it up too badly over eight years. Although, one could make a persuasive argument concerning Lame W.

Skunk Check

There is the possibility that there was some digging going on last night around the Skunk Hole. It was not at the Skunk Hole but further down the wall from the Skunk Hole. And it was just a little digging. It barely looked big enough for a skunk to crawl through. So I am not exactly sure what I have going on there.

I am going to properly prepare the surface tonight and then take before and after pictures in order to confirm or repudiate my contention that there may or may not be more skunkus verminosis under the Carriage House.....which may need to be renamed, Skunk Club.

On the landscaping/yard work side of things, we cleaned up all our Halloween Decorations and got them properly stowed. Plus, I made a run to the dump with $5.00 worth of leaves. That was a full pick up bed. If I don't get to more leaves before the rain comes, that same load will cost me $20.00.

I love paying to dump water.

Skunk # Nine

Standard Time has kicked back into our daily lives and I haven't used my extra hour yet. To me, it's 10:30 right now. I'm not sure when I am going to use it. Perhaps in a couple of weeks.

I am happy to say that we trapped Skunk Number Nine last night. It was an un-eventful catch and release. I buried the skunk hole after taking him to the skunk dump. I will find out in the morning if it was indeed the last skunk. If the skunk hole is disturbed, I still got vermin. If it is undisturbed, I lay down a shit load of Skunk Away Spray and bury chicken wire to keep them from digging their way back under the Carriage House.

815 Trick or Treaters

We have two neighbors who keep a pretty good account of the number of Trick of Treaters we get. We have too much fun handing out candy and trying to scare kids to keep track so we rely on their numbers. I do not believe they are off by much. Halloween was an absolute zoo and one of the best times we've had on the park.

The combination of a wonderful, warm autumn evening and a Friday night made it one of the biggest ever. We had friends come over to help us and they always thought I was full of crap when I told them how many kids we get. The are singing a different tune to whistle Dixie to today.

There were times when the line ran down the steps and out to the sidewalk. It was just nuts. I say this every year but I really mean it this year. I'm going to start buying candy NOW!

We ran through the first 336 full size candy bars by 6:30 and ended up giving out licorice sticks until 8:30 when those dried up.

I even gave out my cans of Spam to some lucky kid!

All in all, a wonderfully fun evening and a great little party in the house afterwards.

Happy Halloween

Hershey Bars..........................36
Three Muskateers.................18
Starburst.................................18
M&M Plain..............................36
M&M Peanut..........................36
Skittles....................................24
Snickers..................................48
Butterfinger...........................40
Nestles Crunch......................40
Baby Ruth..............................40

Total Full Size Candy Bars 336

Fun Size Candy Bars...........338

Twizzlers Licorice Sticks.....360

Money Spent on Candy: Couple Hun
Filling the diapers of some two year old cuz we're soooo scary: Priceless

One Day to Halloween

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I ponder drunk and blurry, over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten beer, while I tossed back the results of brewing, suddenly there came a chewing, as of something gently gnawing, gnawing on my chamber door.

Okay, the rhyming is off. Clearly, I'm no E.A. Poe. I thought that writing poetry, however poorly plagiarised, would have a calming effect on me. I just had to calm down from the Damn Squirrel. Yesterday's home remedy treatment of mothballs and cayenne pepper didn't seem to surcease his squirrely whiles. I came home last night and there among more shards of siding, were smashed mothballs on the ground.

So I went out and bought some Squirrel AwayTM...a spray that allows me to soak the area with a very irritating formulation. As I was up on the roof spraying this stuff around, I caught wind of it. It was burning my eyes and making me cough. So at least I know it will keep me off the roof. I'll find out tonight if it is effective on Chewie the Chewer!

If not, we may have a bloodier Halloween display than I thought.

Two Days to Halloween

Today's vituperative subject concerns Squirrels.

Squirrels are the majority population of species living around the Park. They easily out number peoples. The whole neighborhood is a giant Squirrel City. They have Squirrel Malls, Squirrel Office Buildings, Squirrel Apartment Complexes, and of course, Squirrel Starbuck's.

I have been managing one of the Food Courts for the Southwest Squirrel Mall. I spend about five bucks a week on peanuts. At one time, the Food Court had a wonderful Squirrel Feeder. But, the Gansta Squirrels chewed the hell out of it and ruined it for all the other Squirrels. I have yet to replace the Squirrel Feeder.

Then there was the Hoodlum Squirrel that decided to chew into the soffit on the eves of the house and establish some sort of Squirrel Crack House. I had to put up a metal barrier and then replace the trim that got all chewed up. Damn Squirrel chewed right through the new trim the next day but couldn't get past the metal. I have yet to replace the trim.

I came home last night and noticed a bunch of shards of wood all over the back steps. Upon closer investigation, some low life Hooligan Squirrel chewed the hell out of the siding up next to the roof in an attempt to find shelter.

I hope he enjoys his chewing today. The whole area is laced with Cayenne Pepper and Moth Balls. The Food Court is no longer in business. The area is blighted anyway. The tree needs to come down to make way for a larger garage. That's progress in Squirrel Town.

And now, a word about Halloween.

Three Days to Halloween

I spent last night putting together a new Halloween Decoration that we bought. One of the instructions caught my attention. It said to be sure and wash your hands thoroughly after assembly as the decoration is made with lead-based paint. Another fine product from China. I'm getting close to boycotting anything made in China. The only problem with that is I would not be able to buy ANYTHING!

Anyway, the new decoration is a skeleton in a coffin. It moves back and forth and is sort of okay. I don't want our house to look too much like any other house that can go out and buy a bunch of stuff. We've tried to create our own style of scary decorations. When we do buy something, we usually try to add to it or use it in a different way.

On a different note, we saw our one remaining skunk last night. It's definitely a young one and we only saw the one, so I'm pretty sure he's the last. I'm going to set a trap again tonight and see if I can score. I better make arrangement for a truck first.

Four Days to Halloween

Our Fourth Annual Pumpkin Carving Party was a success. We were worried about the turnout but it worked out great; just the right amount of peoples.

With the party behind us and ten new pumpkins to add to our collection, we should have a mellow week leading up to Friday Night. I'm really looking forward to it. We have several people coming to the house to help hand out candy and scare children. Susan is making a big pot o'Chili and there will be plenty of adult beverages available.

I haven't got the actual count yet but I think we have over 700 pieces of candy to dole out. The first three hundred candy bars are full size. I'm going to hold back one box (or maybe just half a box) for later in the night. And I'm going to attempt to enforce the No Costume/No Candy Law. One can get candy if one doesn't have a costume, but one had better have a good dance routine prepared for oneself or no candy for you. And what kind of a name is "One"?!

Five Days to Halloween

Friday night was the annual neighborhood progressive dinner. We do it just before Halloween every year and this year was a great success. I would say we had about 35 people. Susan and I hosted the hors d'oeuvre portion of the dinner. As you can see from the items above, I have married Martha Stewart.

After our house, we went down the street to the Nelson's house. We had not met them before nor had we been in their house. We love it when we get to go into a house we haven't snooped through yet.

I was very jealous of them because they have wonderfully framed, old pictures of their house. They look like they may have been taken in the 20's or there abouts. I would love to see old pictures of our house and the people who lived here. It would be so informative to see how things looked when the house was new.

I got so involved with visiting and checking things out, I forgot to take any pictures. Except for one item at the Nelson's house. They have a beautiful little study/library that they had built. The bookcase was magnificent and I took pictures of it to reference when we build a small bookcase upstairs.

Tonight is our Pumpkin carving party. We have no idea how many people will be here. It could be eight...it could be 25. I guess we shall see. I'll try to remember to take pictures.

Times and Prices a-Changin'

Three months ago, the price of gas was so bad that I decided to ride my bike to work rather than dole out $4.00 a gallon to the Oil Companies. Today, I can buy gas for $2.96 a gallon and it appears that it will continue to go lower. I wish I was able to understand why it fluctuates so. Demand hasn't dropped. It doesn't seem like there is a glut of oil on the market. Oh sure, the economy sucks and the stock market is tanking every day. But nobody knows why.

I should be buying cheap gas cans and stocking up on petrol. Unfortunately, I'm not that forward thinking. Not even now that I'm thinking about it.

I actually considered riding the bicycle this morning. Then I saw it was 27 degrees. Then I remembered that I'm still a pussy. So I drove.

It's a busy weekend of parties coming up. We are hosting the first leg of the neighborhood progressive Halloween dinner on Friday night. Therefore, some people who shall remain Susan, are on a mad cleaning jag...and forcing me to join the jag.

Sunday is our fourth annual Punkin Party. We always put a lot of Jack-o-lanterns in the yard and so we invite friends over to help us carve. We also invite our neighbor Tammy over to serve as Judge for the many exciting prize categories we have.

But I can't write any more now. I have cleaning to do.

Anniversary Trip

We are writing to you LIVE from Walla Walla, Washington. It's the town they liked so much they named it twice.

We have been attending many wineries and sampling their products and then napping A LOT!

We have purchased about five bottles of wine that we will put down in the basement for a later date. Perhaps tomorrow.

We stayed in a private home that is available for rent. It's very cool cuz it's just like having a house. They have everything you would have at home including a computer with high speed Internet.

Time to sign off as we have to get outta here by 11:00. Then it's off to more wineries and then home.

LATER THAT SAME DAY:

We have successfully made it home after a long drive with many stops at wineries. We hit about five more wineries between Walla Walla and Pasco. In total, we bought 11 bottles of wine at an estimated total of around $300.00. Most of those bottles we are going to stick in the basement for a few years and enjoy them when they have aged properly...or we run out of cheap wine.

As I look back on the whole weekend, it was a pretty pretentious activity. Driving around to all the Vineyards, swirling glasses of wine and pretending we can taste the floral bouquets of cinnamon and berries highlighted by the rich tannins and leathery mouth feel that explodes into a cascade of adjectives.

Don't get me wrong. It was fun and we'll do it again. But it was still pretentious.

New Art

We finally added a picture to the wall up on the landing. We have been very picky about what goes up on the walls. As such, we don't have much art to display.

I was going through some of my dad's old stuff that we have stored here and came upon this print. It was in a neat old plaster frame that was pretty beat up. I took it to my local framer and she put this together. It looks fabulous.

The print is an old serigraph from an English artist named Fred Morgan. This picture is pretty typical of his style; idyllic childhood scenes. I don't think it's worth a whole bunch other than the $250.00 it cost for framing.

4th

Yesterday, Susan and I celebrated our fourth anniversary as a married entity. We didn't do anything special as we have plans for the future to celebrate the event properly.

In the meantime, we are progressing to getting the house "Halloweened" up, along with the many events and parties we are participating in for Halloween. The Halloween House (our major decorating competition on the park) is getting their stuff out on the lawn. They have a nice light display that changes to scary music you can hear over your car radio. It's a nice gimmick, and I'm sure it's very impressive to today's attention deficit society. But we believe that the low budget classic display that we are developing will stand the test of time and still look good when the power goes out. And...we're jealous!

Into the Sun

My morning drive to work is a bit difficult this time of year. The sun is just peeking over the mountains as I head east to Liberty Lake. If I drive fast, I can beat it before it comes up and blinds me. The closer I get to Liberty Lake, the closer I get to the mountain that blocks the sun. So even while it is cresting, I can keep it behind the mountain. It's a little competition I have.

Clearly, I have no reason to be making an entry today.