Homeowner Activity

Alert visitors might recall the excitement over this addition to my hovel:
(click image to enlarge)


But wait, there's more! While the overhead sewer line provides greater insurance against sewage backups, high river and water table levels still burble beneath my basement. AND, to complicate matters, arctic temperatures of late rendered my sump pump useless, because the water froze and cracked the pipe running outside.

Enter the Basement Watchdog! Behold my sleek new battery backup system complete with a sweet bypass that allows me to pump the water to a location that shall remain secret, since it's technically a little bit "illegal" by village standards. Hey, ya know what should be illegal? "Storing" city sewage in people's basements because you don't have enough *&^%#! capacity in the system and then shrugging your shoulders when people complain about it! I got yer "inflow and infiltration" right here, pal! Alrightythen.




Here's a close up of the bypass valves -- they deserve their own photo.



You didn't see this photo here. Snaps to my handyman, Tim, for the ingenious installation, plus the addition of a new outlet pipe outside, which I didn't bother to photograph because it's not nearly as exciting as THIS.



Moving on, there's been a short burst of potholder activity, as I received a cheery supply of new loops in bold new colors. However, nothing's been documented, so you'll have to take my word for it. Photos coming soon!


To those who've asked about bread baking, YES! I did more or less perfect my Latvian Sourdough Rye bread recipe! Or were you just hinting that you wanted some? I make it on weekends because it takes two days to prepare (but it's not difficult -- if it were, trust me, I wouldn't be making it). Recently I've been packaging bread with my handy dandy food saver vacuum thingee so I can store a loaf or two in the deep freeze. I don't think I'll want to make this bread when the weather is warmer, because I have to turn the oven to 400. It's definitely a cold-day activity. Anyway, it's delicious, and even Lenore's mom liked it. If you want the recipe/process, let me know and maybe I'll post it.

Lenore gave me a sushi outing for xmas, so we went last weekend with Roland and Amy. I had the "dragon black," which was splendid (left side). I had to call Odie in FL to confirm my order though, because there were three dragons on the menu. Roland, what did you and Amy order? Lenore's chicken dish was also fabulous. We like this place a lot, though it's always cold in there, so we ate with scarfs and hats on. I wonder if they got the hint.





After dinner we all watched Ghost Town. I'm only mentioning it because we all enjoyed it so much. Really funny.

Ice Drama

Unlike last year, it's been too cold for snowman building around town, but we've spotted plenty of dramatic icicle formations. Lenore took the one above because even the little birdhouses have icicles. And the shadows are kind of neat too. The one below is funny -- I think those are real fake flowers.



Here are a few more. I've decided taking photos of ice is almost as difficult as capturing spider webs. But you get the idea. Click on any image to see it larger.






In other ice drama, I had a HUGE column of ice on the back corner of my house that was flowing over my cable TV line. I knocked some of it off, but in the process, I detached the ice from the house so it was hanging on the cable. Oops. This is bad, because I'm not technically paying for the actual service, per se, so if it rips off my house, it might be considered a little nervy to ask them to come out and fix it.
So.
What to do.
The idea of a super soaker filled with warm water began to form in my head. And a certain 9 year old who was spending the night that would make an able assistant. Lenore had the weapon, but no water tank. Crap.

Later that evening, in between watching Pixar Shorts and the Heffalump Movie and watching Anja put away almost an entire bag of cheesy rice cakes, I discovered a Dr. Pepper pop bottle fit perfectly. We were in business. So here's Anja just prior to launching the mission. She's talking to ground control headquarters. Or maybe her mom, I'm not sure.



First we took aim out the upstairs window. It was very sniper-like.



By the way, here is a close up of the offending ice. It's not true to size because 1. we had been squirting it already before I took this picture and 2. I knocked a few hunks off with a hoe earlier, which, in retrospect, was probably not the best idea since I was standing directly under it on a ladder to do it. Lenore, don't read that part.



So anyway...our plan appeard to be working! See dramatic action shots below:




However, the ice tried to escape by sliding down the wire. You can imagine the excitement! (The neighbors didn't have to imagine it, I'm sure they could hear it, I'm just glad they didn't call the police when they heard things like, "You try shooting it!" and "Gimme the gun now!")

Not to be outdone, we move the mission to ground level. I lost track of how many times we had to fill that damn pop bottle.



Mission accomplished!



Now a new one is forming, so I have to keep an eye on it and the super soaker loaded...

Special note to Lynda:
Baby it's cold outside!!

Counting the Seconds...

Weather Outside: Still Frightful!

(Sorry Lynda!)
Driving to work today, the temp. was minus (that's negative) 24. I would have stayed home, but my crappy house is much colder than my cubicle at work, so I opted to brave the commute. I wore long underwear under my duds and an extra jacket under my down coat. Much as I love my Mini, the heater kind of sucks! This afternoon, it got all the way up to 7.

So far the only homestead casualty (but who knows what's waiting) has been my new sump pump setup; the pvc pipe running out of the house froze and cracked big time, so I have to have that replaced before the thaw. The river/water table is so high, the pump had been running quite a bit, and it never occurred to me that once it leaves the house, it just might freeze. Oops. I won't say where I've got the outlet directed right now, cuz it's illegal. OK, who cares, it's going to the sink!

Prior to this brutal cold snap, I was able to enjoy the lovely snow properly while Lyla made sure Lenore behaved and stayed inside. The latest outing was documented by Roland's camera in Raceway Woods. Note the snappy red cap from Lenore. It's an insulated wool winter baseball hat!




Roland got frisky on his snowshoes.


In other news, this is the garland of real hair we bought at Sally's for Lenore's hats. Mom and I sewed pieces into a few hats so no one needs to know Lenore's head looks like a ping pong ball right now. I need to take a couple of better photos.



This was prior to trimming, though I kind of like it this way.


It's not quite as red as it's appearing here. This is Lenore's snowboarder look.


Now, the best for last, check out this great article about Lynda, her passion for dragon boating, raising a splendid son, and the art of being a cancer survivor. It's good advice for everybody. Sending peace, karma and ginger cookies to Lynda as she embarks on another round of chemo starting Monday.

Quote of the day: "That's why they call it *fighting* cancer." --Tom McDonald

Pictures from Williamsburg

If I were clever and able to create a separate picture page like Laura, I would do that. But I'm not, so happy scrolling! Below are some of the pictures I took while in Williamsburg with Lenore's family over Christmas. It was fun having everyone together in one place, and the scenery in and around Williamsburg offered many photo opps.

Within the confines of the lovely condos, there was much eating, hanging of stockings with care, presents and of course the annual Xmas competition.



This year's judges, the dynamic duo of Ben and Dennis (a.k.a. Bennis), had a tough job. Here they are with their honorary Xmas potholders, which, I might add, did NOTHING to secure a win. Not that I'm bitter. They succumbed to no bribes.



As mentioned earlier, Lenore's hair started falling out, so Lyla lent us her sewing sheers for an impromptu barbering session. Lenore needed to get good and liquored up prior to the trim.



We ventured out several times, visiting the historic district, the local outlet mall, and Yorktown. The mall was near Ye Old Hooters and Ye Old Walgreens, so it was very authentic. The historic district was very picturesque. I think I took about 900 photos of wreathes, as every door had a festive handmade wreath festooned with fruit and other thematic items. According to Lynda, though, using fruit at that time for decoration would have been deemed terribly wasteful, so it was a struggle not to make a scene over that bit of historic inaccuracy every time we saw hanging fruit.

Below is rush hour in Williamsburg, followed by several views that were pleasing to me at the time, but of course were captured inadequately via camera. (sigh) Click on any picture to see it larger.







Even the horses' tails were decorated. Merry Christm-ass?


I liked this wreath because it's purple and orange.


And I liked the shadow cast on this building.


I hung a blue ribbon on this one to make the owners feel good. (Not really.) Though I did think it would be fun to hang random blue ribbons everywhere so everybody could be a winner, not unlike T-ball, which I believe originated in Colonial times. I could be making that up.


They were waiting for a bus that never came.


I sampled this coffee when the guy wasn't looking, and it was indeed still hot!


Here are a few more shots from our trip to Yorktown. The battlefield is earily peaceful considering the magnitude of violence that took place there. I grew up walking through (and watching after-school fights in!) a historic graveyard in Dundee, but I've never walked over a site where so many died all at once.



These defensive structures -- trenches with spikey poles sticking out of the sides -- have a name, but I cannot remember what it is. I guess they must have been fairly effective at keeping the enemy at bay, because there were a lot of them. Then again, their methods of fighting were pretty lame (OK, you guys stand over there, we'll stand over here, and then well all run straight at each other and see how many are left standing! Ready, set...), so I could be wrong. The ghosts weren't telling.



On our way to the airport, we stopped to visit Laura's friend, Gail, who has many birds (including Zsa Zsa from the prior post). This is Lindsey, followed by the look Lindsey gave Lenore when Lenore wouldn't let Lindsey nibble off her plate. Lindsey grew up in a tough neighborhood, so in addition to being able to imitate Gail's alarm clock and cell phone, she could also swear like a longshoreman. I like that in a bird.