Me and the House | The Road Home

Posts from the ‘Me and the House’ category

It’s Thursday ???

Yes, Thursday.

I’ve struggled with my work hours this week.

I need a monster day tomorrow, Friday and I’ll still need to work a bit over half a day Saturday. Not my favorite, but that’s the way it goes sometimes.

I’m blaming it on the Yellow Jackets.

You heard me…Yellow Jackets!

Last Sunday, there was one in the house. Auggie made a flying leap after it. I grabbed Auggie and then a paper towel and after a brief battle in the window sill rail I persevered and 1 dead queen went in the trash.

I did some reading and found out that the queens emerge in March and April.

YIKES!

I ordered some traps and attractant. The attractant shipped but the traps were backordered.

And THEN!! Yesterday as in Wednesday…ANOTHER yellow jacket in the house. I won that battle also.

After some online research noted that Home Depot in Kalispell had the traps in stock, I decided that I would head there first thing this morning and get the traps.

Each queen yellow jacket is an egg making machine capable of laying up to 5000 eggs.

Right.

The mission is to trap as many queens as possible BEFORE they start the egg laying thing. According to Scott at Bug Hunters, Inc., the queens emerge about the time the day and night hours become equal and temperatures are about 40F. As in now.

As scary as it was to have the two queens in the house … and I had doors open at the time so they might have flown in… it gave me some notice as to timing. Outside, the queens are sparse enough, I doubt I would have noticed.

So, this morning, off to Home Depot Bear and I went.

This has nothing to do with anything except that this truck was parked in the contractor pick up area and I noticed the dog.

And I laughed.

The truck is an extended cab and the dog is in the back, hanging out over the cab window and lounging on the tool box.

I’m partial to Northern Breed dogs and also it just looked so funny to see the dog casually half out of the window, resting on the tool box…waiting for the person.

Ok.

So, I got the Yellow Jacket stuff and some other Home Depot stuff and a quick stop at my favorite natural food spot: Mountain Valley Foods and then home we came.

Funny.

I thought this was a good supply of stuff.

Then I read the instructions.

The instructions say 8-16 traps per acre.

GAH!

Well, we will see if we get any queens with this lot and if so I’ll consider more.

Srsly.

I do NOT want a repeat of last summer.

Maybe we will have to run away in the motorhome…

But we are so comfortable here.

And we have an island.

It’s Thursday ???

***Really, though, I am so grateful every day for all we have. I’m grateful for Bear and Auggie and this house and the woods. There is so much truly horrendous stuff happening in the world. Every night, before closing my eyes, I tell Bear and Auggie that I love them, I send a prayer of honor to Bob, Karl, Gus, Zack, Jake, my Papa and my grandparents, and I give thanks for another day on earth. It’s Thursday and I’m behind on work and the yellow jackets…but in the whole scheme of things…Life is so very good!

Island Paradise

Island Paradise??? (Friday morning…snowing)

Well at least there is sun, now. (Friday, late afternoon)

And FedEx brought 3 boxes, total weight a bit over 200 pounds.

I bought a Kitchen Island.

On Amazon.

Amazon Prime!

It came FedEx 2day … free. I have absolutely no problem with Amazon increasing the Prime membership to $99.00!!

The unpacking.

Each box had a list with the contents of the box.

Every single piece had a little sticker with an alpha character that corresponded to the content list.

Hoo…I say HOO-RAH!

There was no mystery about which piece was which.

The directions were explicit.

The top was all in one piece!

The good news is that I didn’t have to assemble drawers or drawer rails, etc.

The bad news is the top weighed a bit over 60 pounds.

Bear stayed out of the fray in the sunroom.

Auggie, naturally, was my supervisor-helper!

Working alone (no other human) required a bit of creative thinking in how to balance things so that all of the pegs and holes lined up as I went along. So, it took longer than if there were 2, but still manageable.

It helped greatly that everything fit perfectly!

I put Auggie in the sunroom with Bear so I didn’t have to worry about something heavy falling on him. He took it well and I heard no complaints.

This is about the 1 hour, 15 minute point. I decided to clean up some of the wrapping and regroup before the last push.

I was worrying a bit about getting that heavy top on and needed a little time to think.

Ironically, the part that I least suspected would have alignment problems…did. The holes for the hinge screws for the eating leaf were completely out of alignment for 1 hinge.

Power tool to the rescue. I drilled new holes and all was well.

Getting the top on top of the base actually was no problem. I set it against the length of the base, tipped it up and moved it into position.

Done.

My first glass of wine and a bowl of salad, feta and kalmata olives.

I’ve looked at islands since buying this house but everything I liked was VERY expensive.

I’ve tended to often eat my meals at my desk instead of the table…partly as I am looking at food blogs or the news and partly because the table is not that comfortable…low and a bit dark.

A couple of weeks ago, I thought…boy, I’d really like to sit higher and be looking out the window…

On a whim, I searched Kitchen Islands on Amazon….

I absolutely LOVE the island.

There is plenty of room around it.

I have some new storage area and new work space near the stove.

I have a bright spot to have my meals.

I might need another chair…

Island Paradise.

I bow to the inevitable

Right.

Was there ever any question???

I am unclear if there will be a clear definition of which chair is whose, but there are 2 chairs so all should be well.

I’ve actually had the red chair for a year and a half. Red chair has been quietly living in the garage.

Summer 2012, the green chair developed a crack in the back. I thought it would worsen over Winter and as the chairs are only available during Summer, bought the red chair in anticipation of the green chair’s demise.

Surprise!

The green chair lived on and the crack did not expand.

Enter Auggie…

…and now a need for 2 chairs.

Hurrah for a bit of proactive chair procurement!

Snow, cont’d.

When we last left our story, it had been snowing heavily most of the day (Sunday) and into the evening and the temperature was 8F.

This morning, the temperature was 13F…

…and we had about a foot of new snow on top of a settled foot of snow.

Auggie is sitting at the edge of where I’d shoveled at the time.

The un-shoveled snow is a bit above chest-height on Auggie.

We got snow!

Beautiful, but it was a bit of work. I went up on the roof yesterday afternoon and cleared vents.

This morning, I looked at the load on the front porch and raked a good bit off.

It is to be 40F by the weekend and the meltdown is likely to be VERY messy.

My neighbor to the rescue yet again. And really to the rescue.

The snow around that tree was piling up. When things start melting, it would contribute to the driveway lake and maybe to the garage floor. Neighbor, Mike, moved most of that snow out to an area that will drain to the woods.

It is going to be messy, but less so from this thoughtfulness.

This evening as I write this, it is still 27F at 6:30 p.m.! There is warm air above and rain, turning to freezing rain, is falling.

Messy.

I hope all stay safe this coming week. Avalanche danger is high and I know this snow calls to people looking to play in it.

Bear and I are staying home on our flattish land. And speaking of Bear. This is the most snow we’ve had since he’s lived in Montana and he has been enjoying it. He’s running and playing and having a great time on good, strong legs.

I am happy.

Chores

It has been snowing since early afternoon: very fine flakes but a LOT of them coming down. A Winter Storm Watch began at 11:00 a.m. and continues until 11 tomorrow (Monday). NOAA is particularly specific in a caution to take an emergency kit if travel is necessary. A bit unusual and I’m not sure if it is due to the storm or the flack that NOAA, et. al. took after the Atlanta fiasco. At any rate, WE HAVE BEEN WARNED!!

Me, I don’t need to go anywhere. Bear and I took our usual weekend run to town early on Saturday morning and there is more than enough food for all of us for some time.

Back at home…Sunday…a few pre-storm chores:

I always take extra care to stock the firewood carrier on the front porch and the inside supply when there is a Winter Storm Watch or Warning. My giant wheelbarrow makes the chore easy…except that the front tire is/has been low and I keep forgetting until I try to push the first load on a soft tire. I’ve been just pushing and saying bad words…

Today, though, I got out the air machine and just did it!

In short order, the tire was inflated to stated 30 p.s.i. and the wood stocking proceeded with only good and happy words.

Auggie had a grand time following me around, playing in the garage and sometimes checking on Bear…

…who stayed out of the fray on Beardog point!

And while I had the air machine out, I filled the new exercise ball that has been sitting…deflated…in its box.

The OLD exercise ball met its demise by Auggie’s claws. The OLD exercise ball was temporarily in the corner of the room. Auggie jumped on it from a nightstand and as it rolled, he dug in. End of OLD exercise ball. I was going to patch it, but the OLD ball really was OLD…as in over 10 years old. It had travelled a lot, been outside a lot. Since a new ball was the grand sum of $16.99, a NEW exercise ball was procured.

YAY!!

NEW exercise ball, fully inflated and ready to go. It is being stored UNDER the table in a spot that cannot be jumped on by a certain kitten. We’ll see.