A life less ordered

Meh. The snow can wait.

 I'm happily retired. That should be clearly understood. Still, there are times that I notice how the lack of order in my life is something to be overcome. I am generally self motivated, but now that there is always free time in the schedule, it becomes easy to delay the hard stuff, or at least the stuff that I enjoy less. For example, when I was working, clearing the snow after a storm was something I scheduled. Now it's much easier to throw another log on the fire, or have another coffee. 

I also find it more difficult to keep track of appointments and other scheduled items. I wake up every day thinking my day is up to me, and it often is not. It's so strange that I assume that now, and even putting most every thing in my phone calendar doesn't always work. 

I wonder if my less ordered life has completely affected the way I think, and the way I approach life in general. The freedom is amazing, and I'd never go back, but there is something to be said about having a general life plan for 30 years. 

We always had a vacation schedule, generally knowing where we were going and when, months in advance. Now, we happily plug along at life, always thinking that we'll get to planning a trip at some point. We haven't travelled much yet, but we have been on vacation since September of  2020.

The weather has been steadily improving as the days are noticeably longer. Another thing I have noticed is that I enjoy the cold less and less each year. I had thought that retirement would allow me to more embrace the seasons, since I was not forced to go out in it, but in reality there are plenty of times I need to go out and deal with the cold and snow. 

Ouch!

On the repair and restore front, someone decided to hit our Toyota, and of course, not leave a note. Luckily, it was mainly scratches, with one small dent. I was not inclined to contact the insurance company, and file a police report, so I decided to see what I could do with a quality scratch remover. I was pleased with the product and after a bit of work, it looked pretty good. There is a minor dent that is hard to see. I may call the ding and dent remover company, but I suspect it is not one they can fix.

Better

The irony of the situation is that I purchased an insurance policy with he pervious car, that covered this type of damage with little or no deductible. I never used it. Despite that I was interested in getting the same policy, but it was no longer offered. Oof. Bad timing.

It's becoming time to start planning spring projects. I think a permanent fence and perhaps a storage shed may be in order. I'm at my limit for things I can store in the garage, and a boy needs room for his toys.

Installing a door as winter teases

 I follow a video blog called Goonzquad. It's two young brothers that apparently have no jobs other than whatever YouTube pays them, and what they make on "merch" sales. They first started documenting their work as subcontractors in the construction trade, doing just about anything they were asked, like demolition, painting, and minor carpentry. Then, they began to buy wrecked exotic cars, completely disassembling them, buying new parts, and putting them together. Keep in mind they have apparently received no formal training, just learning as they go. They now have a garage filled with Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and other high end muscle cars. Recently, they bought an "abandoned" house on a Tennessee mountaintop, stripped it to the studs, and are rebuilding much of it on their own. What I like about it is their complete lack of fear of error, their unquenchable enthusiasm, and insistence on doing it right. They are an inspiration.

The door was here. Should have 
taken a picture before I removed it.

That helps when I tackle a new project, like finally replacing the inadequate, non-functioning, and dangerous side door into the pantry. Luckily the door was a standard size, so we picked a pre-hung door at Home Depot. Then under the direct supervision and guidance of my Uncle Ed, we installed the door.

 First I ripped out all the molding and found that the opening was not even close to square, with the center near the latch narrowing to exactly the same dimensions as the new frame. It JUST fit. Then, after installing the door and adjusting the level, it was time to insulate, put in new molding then paint it all. We decided to go with a similar scheme as the other side door. 

The door is metal and much more secure and tight. I'm quite sure the unheated pantry will stay much warmer in the winter and will help keep the pipes in the half bath from freezing in the winter. 

I've been puttering around with some other projects. I did some framing for the first time in the garage. The "sponginess" of the second floor of the garage has made me a bit nervous so I married some two by fours to help firm up the main support beam that spans the garage. 

Finished. I like the way it came out.
Got some stucco work to do too.

I wrote about the annual leaf battle and that war goes on with no clear victors. The community farming plot has been overwhelmed with community leaves so I'm back to bagging them and leaving at the curb. Good news is that the Norway Maples are finally giving up for the winter and dropping their leaves so this year's struggles will soon be over. 

I finally figured out how to take the dryer apart and completed a much overdue cleaning. This is a case where online videos lead me astray. Every Maytag dryer video I found showed that taking apart the dryer was a simple case of popping the top up and removing the front screws. I eventually noticed two other screws securing the top and front face of the dryer and was able to get the thing open. Pro tip: I highly recommend taking apart your dryer and getting out all the lint that escapes the filter. That lint is a real fire hazard. I also lubricated one of the rollers that was making a horrible screeching sound every time the dryer started up.

A very dirty dryer.

Winter did indeed tease us back near the end of October with truly bitter cold air and a bit of snow. I got the fireplace going and of course Natasha and Katia loved it and lived it for a few days. Being off work the fire was going all day and it was a bit shocking how much wood I went through, but with about a full cord and a half we should make it until spring. It helped that the cold snap was followed by a long warm and dry spell where we climbed back into the 70s.

Cozy.

Coming soon to a blog near you: Lighting the bar and installing a weather station!

A quick getaway while thinking about paint, and, winter continues, again

Love this room, but a little goes a long way. 

Slow progress continues in the hallway and now stairwell. Two coats of paint have been applied to the stairwell ceiling in anticipation of painting the walls. Painting the walls of the stairwell and upstairs hallway is dependent on us deciding on a color, which is something we continue to struggle with. When choosing subtle colors for a room or hall, you kind of have two families to chose from, the blue/gray/green spectrum of colors, and the brown/yellow/red spectrum. Of course, there are bold and bright colors that are good for a feature wall, but even those are some derivative of the primary colors. We did go bold in the guest room upstairs, but the hallway should be a bit more subdued, without being too dark since there is only one window in the hall.

Paint samples. Subtle, yet important
differences. 

The downstairs of our home is painted with colors in the brown/yellow family and we think it would make sense to continue that theme up the stairs to the second floor and in the hall way. Well, we got up to about 10 samples on the wall and they are all either too dark, or too light. We also would like have it stand off a bit from the creamy yellow of the living room which connects directly to the stairwell wall. We gave it one more try and finally came up with a winner. "White Mocha" was the choice and it seems like a nice compromise between being too dark and not gray. I spent the day on a Saturday painting both the stairwell and the vestibule and they came out beautifully. I'll add some pictures in the next blog.

While we were struggling mightily with the paint color, we decided to escape to one of our favorite getaways over spring break. In years past we would head to the Jersey shore near Cape May. It would not be swimming weather, but certainly walking and relaxing weather. Well, maybe not. The endless winter continues and forced us to rethink on our destination. We decide to embrace the bad weather and head into the teeth of it.

Cindy enjoys a Martini by the fireplace at our favorite
 restaurant, The Olde Bryan Inn.

We headed north to Albany and the southern Adirondacks near Lake George. It's built for cold there and there's plenty to do despite the awful weather. The most relaxing part is hitting our favorite restaurants, including The Olde Bryan Inn  in Saratoga and The Log Jam in Lake George. Both are classic, cozy northern woods restaurants with plentiful servings of steaks, seafood, and comfort food. You got to love a place that will serve lobster or a grilled cheese with equal care and cheerful service. We spent our days wandering, shopping and finding places to grab a quick bite. If you haven't been, the Saratoga Springs and Lake George area is beautiful, and in my opinion, best visited in the off season, which is roughly from November 1st through about Memorial Day. After that, hotels become very pricey and everything is packed. Plus, even in the Adirondacks they do not light their fireplaces in the summer.

I gave up on the 17th and lit a fire. It was snowing again. 

Winter really dragged on in April. We are now near the end of the month and we have finally seeing some milder weather, but the first half of the month was truly miserable, with snow falling everyday for the first 10 days of the month, and another couple inches falling in the middle of the month. As we now approach the end of the month, there is snow in the forecast again for the last weekend of the month, as if April has one more bad joke to pull on us. The disappointing spring weather we see around here does have a silver lining in the gray clouds though. It really leads us to a beautiful summer, usually not too hot, and very green. We had a summer visitor from Oklahoma to my office a couple of years ago and he couldn't get over how green it was around here, despite being the middle of summer. I'll take that as a huge compliment, without mentioning the price we pay to enjoy that.

Travel, hallways, and winter continues...

I tend to write a blog when I feel inspired, or when I've done enough to fill up a page or so. Of course, there are times when I am busy, but whatever I'm doing is just not worthy of interest. It is also somewhat embarrassing how little actual progress I make at times, so there is that too. For today's blog, I think I have enough to write about, and I think I'm inspired enough to make it interesting. We shall see.

Back in 2007, standing on a ridge in the Sierra mountains
with a not so active fire behind me. I got out in time. 

I spent last week out in Idaho, Boise specifically, for an Incident Meteorologist refresher. For those that do not know, I am an IMET (Incident Meteorologist) and get dispatched, primarily to wildfires in the western U.S., to provide specific weather forecasts for the incident. These forecasts are used to help plan the command staff direct operations against the fire in a safe manner. It's a great conference with intensive training and good people. One of the final things we must practice is deploying and getting into a fire shelter in a matter of seconds, always entertaining and interesting as I try to stuff this old, 6' 3" frame into what is essentially a large Zip-Lock bag. I have no doubt that if I were actually about to be overrun by a wildfire, I'd get into that thing amazingly fast.

Boise itself is a beautiful city. Up and coming, active, young and very western. Trendy restaurants seem to be popping up everywhere as the state capital and college town blend with old west sensibility. Fresh air and open spaces make the place invigorating. Keep in mind though, I was there in March, with average highs in the 50's and even a passing shower from time to time. In summer, 100 degrees is not uncommon as the desert-like nature of the place takes over. The natural vegetation, outside of the watered areas, is dead grass and rocks, until you get into the nearby mountains, where cooler air and additional precipitation allows for beautiful evergreens.

Just another March snowstorm.

While I was in Boise, it snowed at home, of course, leaving Cindy to deal with it. March is generally a snowy month in upstate NY, which is really quite cruel. The increased sunlight from the longer days gives you hope, only to have those hopes dashed in yet another storm. The problem is that Canada is still bitter cold, while the southern U.S. begins to warm. This creates a strong temperature gradient on which storms love to build. They also love to track up along the mid Atlantic and northeast coast, which puts Binghamton in a very favorable spot for snow, and lots of it. Luckily for Cindy, that strong March sun helps melt the snow, so she decided not to shovel and allow nature to take it's course. I'd be happy to teach my bride how to operate the snowblower, but the chance of her actually using it are about as low as the chance for a snow free March.

The repaired wall. Still needs a bit of fine sanding and
some primer. 

On the home improvement and remodel front, I've been mainly working in the upstairs hallway, The wall repair job that I wrote extensively about is pretty much done. Just some finishing sanding and the wall will be ready to paint. First of course, will be the ceiling, which is ready to go after repairs and other prep. I've also been working in the bathroom, repairing and painting the window frame and door. The bathroom door had a huge mirror, which I removed months ago. It left behind drill holes, but even worse was that the door had never been painted beneath the mirror. Four coats of thinly applied pair were needed to cover up the ugliness.

We've been using the alarm system I installed after Christmas, with only one false alarm. Cindy accidentally set off the alarm while leaving for work one morning, unfortunately while I was in the shower, This resulted in a sleepy person in California calling and asking for our safe word, and me tracking and dripping water all the way downstairs to turn off the alarm At least we know everything is working. We have three faulty sensors which I need to track down and get advice on from SimpliSafe but the door sensors are working perfectly, which is the main thing.

That's about all I have for now. Hopefully the next blog will document progress in the hallway, and a quick getaway trip to one of our favorite spots.

Our little spruce

 I love trees. I believe I get this from my father, who also loves trees. During his teen years in the 1940s, dad worked in a cemetery that his father managed, often trimming and pruning trees. In the late 1960s, and early 1970s, into my early teen years, dad planted a couple dozen trees of various types, including a few spruce. He taught me what types of trees are good for various purposes and locations.

Healthy White Spruce

I like extremes. The highest, lowest, fastest...this is the weather guy side of me. I grew up rooting for the strongest thunderstorms and heaviest snowfalls. So, what has the to do with trees, and particularly a spruce tree? Well, the spruce, specifically the white spruce, is an extreme tree. It's a North American native, and lives further north than any other tree. It survives well north of the Arctic Circle in places, and has been known to survive temperatures to -70F (-57C). Another neat thing about the spruce is that it is native to New York, and is common in the Adirondacks. They grow just fine in the Binghamton area, and can be found growing naturally in patches on northern facing slopes in the higher elevations of the area. There are other things to like about spruce trees. They are generally bug and disease free, they grow in almost any soil, require little maintenance, and are, of course, the classic Christmas tree.

So, you would think that this desirable and hardy tree would be readily available for purchase, right?  Ah...no. I couldn't find a local nursery or garden store that had one in stock. You can find Norway Spruce (too droopy), Frasier Fir (too weak), and Blue Spruce (too blue), but none of them are native New Yorkers. This leads to looking online for a tree. But purchasing a tree online is difficult, because you can't see the exact tree you are getting, and it must be shipped, which is both expensive and dangerous (for the tree). Lacking other options, short of stealing one, I forged ahead. What I found on the internet, was a wide variety of options and pricing. I won't bore you with the details but tell you I ended up buying a white spruce for $19.99 plus $10 shipping. There were no details other than it would be potted (good thing), not bare root (bad thing), and would be shipped in 7 to 10 days. Good. Fall is a perfect time to plant and I would still have enough time to plant before winter hit. Purchase completed, I would begin to look for our tree in a couple of weeks. I moved on.

That's about 18" of baby spruce. 

The next day I noticed a small box on our front step. Uh oh. It couldn't be. It was. Inside the box was the cutest little spruce tree you've ever seen. I had purchased a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. After my surprise wore off, like Charlie Brown I immediately fell in love with the little guy and am committed to letting him grow. There were issues though. First, was the weather. Despite their hardy reputation, you do need to take care in transplanting a spruce because it may have been grown in a warmer climate. Fall is the perfect time to plant it, but in typical Binghamton fashion, our near term forecast is for temperatures in the teens at night, with wind. Not exactly normal fall weather. I could keep the poor thing in the basement all winter, and bring it out in the spring, but I wasn't sure that would be good for it either. Bringing it into the warm house could cause it to prematurely bloom, damaging for next year. Looking carefully at the tree, I could see no fresh sprouts so I decided it would most likely be safe outdoors, so I went out to dig a hole in the side yard. I dug the hole about three times as deep as needed, not like I needed that it that deep, but I then removed the rocks and filled it two thirds of the way back up with loose dirt. I put the little spruce in and filled the hole, then watered. I need to put up a post or stake so we don't trample him since just an average snowstorm will bury him.

Can you see the tree? This spruce has

plenty of room to grow. 

If I can do so, I may get a tiny set of lights to decorate our spruce this holiday season, but that's if I can find the tree again, and assuming it's not buried. Anyway, it will be fun watching the tree grow.

On the same subject, but at the other end of the subject are cold hardy palms. There are species of palms that are very resistant to cold and grow without protection as far north as Cape Cod. I believe I can get one to grow in Binghamton, on the south side of my house, with some winter protection. That would give me the most northern most tree, and a southern tree, growing on the same property! I told you I like extremes.

On the home front, we raked and bagged for the third time this fall. An article in the local paper advised that you can simply leave the leaves where they fall, or mulch them, and they will fertilize your lawn. I think we have too many for that, plus I just don't like the look of the sloppy, wet mess on the lawn. I did run over what was left to mulch before I planted the spruce. You can see the result in the above picture.

After discussion with my lovely bride Cindy, we've decided to move our work into the upstairs bathroom for a freshen up. At some point we need to do a complete remodel, but until then we cannot live with the awful paint job, cracked walls, and leaky caulk. So I caulked the tub, repaired the cracks, and have begun to paint. The ceiling is done, and I have the first coat on the wall surrounding the tub and shower. I've been forced to turn the heat up in the house to help dry the paint. Seems to warm for me but Cindy and the cats love it.

The transition to fall accelerates

Last year's leaves. Soon to be repeated.

For whatever reason, we've had some very nice fall's lately. It's a far nicer season in upstate NY than spring, generally drier and warmer, with more sun. As a meteorologist, I understand the reasons for this, but as a resident and native, I appreciate it. It is truly the best time to be in this part of the world, well, most years anyway. We tend to spend days under high pressure bringing hours of sun, but cool and clear nights. No longer dependent on air conditioning for comfortable sleeping, breezes blow the curtains gently at night, As the inversion settles in late, fog develops and sound carries distant train whistles. Even the distant thrump of tires on the highway is somehow comforting. The days are dazzling. Color develops in the trees and is set off by deep blue skies. Mums, followed by pumpkins, appear on porches adding to the unique orange of the fall season. Our cats, hiding from the heat all summer, sense the impending cold and decide they want to snuggle again, and search for spots where sun streams through windows, warming the sill and the floor.

2016's Xmas tree. I did turn the
saw around properly before cutting.

The food changes as well. Cider and apples are everywhere, and even though you can get them year round, they taste better now. Soup for lunch or dinner is suddenly and option and grilling, while still an option, is less leisurely and seems more urgent as the evening sun is shorter, and the end of the season looms. Casseroles and couch time is more likely than burgers and porch time. It is a great time for walks, as the cooler air is more comfortable, and the bugs are less plentiful. Plus, who doesn't like kicking through crunchy leaves?

It's a great time of the year to be a sports fan. Football from high school to pro, is in full swing. Baseball playoffs are underway and the October classic is just around the corner. Very soon, the best spectator sport in town resumes as our local hockey team begins it's season. There's nothing better to do in January and February, on those long winter's nights, then to head to the bright lights and pulsing sounds of hockey. It's the place to be in the late fall and winter.

It's also time to begin planning for the holiday. Not just where to go and what to do, but also to begin baking. Cindy and I both work, I often on weekends, and we bake bread and cinnamon buns so we have to pick our time in advance. Cindy, first sister Karen, and first Aunt Kathie will no doubt have their annual cookie baking/vodka drinking party. I show up in time to be the designated driver, and designated broken cookie eater. We also need to chose a weekend to cut down and decorate our tree, a full two day task at least.

A full cord of firewood has been delivered and stacked, but I still must fine time to double check the furnace, and do a preliminary start up of the snow blower. But the days are still sunny and warm, so I don't feel the urgency. But winter can arrive in New York suddenly though, so I cannot let the benign weather fool me.

Miscellaneous...Part 3

We did find a new comforter and
blanket for the master, which
Katia and Natasha really
appreciated. 

I know, not exactly the most intriguing or clever title, but this blog will really be all over the place. It's been over a month since my last blog and a lot has happened, just nothing that would be a real headline grabber. It's kind of amazing how busy you can be but still not really be able to check off a major accomplishment. I guess in that spirit I'll start on the latest with the house. The best news is that I feel pretty confident that I have tracked down the last of the tub leaks that have damaged our kitchen ceiling. Even though any major kitchen renovation is well down the list and out in the future, I will take time now to repair the plaster and repaint the kitchen ceiling, hopefully for the last time. I worked in the downstairs bathroom as well, repairing the missing tiles and fixing the molding near the floor. I'm looking at a more permanent repair to the walls, perhaps replacing the tiles with something newer, cleaner, and more appealing. The room also needs paint on the ceiling, and a coat of something above the tiles but below the ceiling. The guest room project has stalled, mainly for a lack of time. I mentioned last month, the major repair/construction is completed, we've just stalled on selecting things like curtains and a comforter. I did a major cleanup of the windows and sills including climbing out on the porch roof to get the outside of the old windows.

We had the boardwalk to ourselves. I love the off season. 

It was a bit chilly on the balcony. I surprised Cindy with some
hot chocolate.

Our big, late winter snowstorm ended up messing up our spring break vacation. The Union - Endicott School District used up all their snow days and had to shave a day of spring break. I had already been approved for leave that week so our plans for traveling south became limited by time. In the end, we saved some money and "only" went to south New Jersey and stayed in Wildwood. If you haven't been there, you should know that Wildwood is kind of the quintessential New Jersey beach town with a long boardwalk, numerous amusements, and endless t-shirt shops. While that may not sound all that appealing, especially for a couple in their 50s, it does have a certain charm and it is just 5 minutes from Cape May, a scenic wonder with beautiful Victorian architecture, excellent restaurants, and a feeling that you are much further from home than you actually are. Interesting as well is that the beach in Wildwood is unique. First of all it is free, which is unusual for New Jersey. Also, it is growing!They actually have so much sand they were working on a project to remove some and send it on up the line. Amazing when you consider that most beach towns are struggling to save their beach while the Wildwoods are trying to figure out what to do with all that sand!

Our new couch. I'm watching the cats carefully.

Back on the home front, we finally had our new couch delivered. We had ordered it back in the fall and they told us it would be a few months before it arrived. Well, it arrived in a few weeks and we just weren't ready for it. We were getting increasingly desperate phone calls from the salesman that sold us the couch wondering when we were going to pick it up. The problem was that I wanted to donate our 20 some year old couch to a friend in need and we had to get that done before the new one could be delivered. Easier said than done. First, it was HUGE, and knew they struggled to get it in the house, and we would struggle to get it out. Also, upstate New York winter weather is not conducive to uncovered couch delivery. Finally I got a helping hand and pickup truck from a brother firefighter at Prospect Terrace. A break in the weather arrived and we got it done. Then, Olum's arrived later that some day and I watched their THREE delivery men struggle with a smaller couch. Even the professionals realized what a tight fit that front door is.

Final accomplishment of note (by me) was the cleaning of the garage. I also donated an old window air conditioner which freed up some space in the garage. This allowed be to better stow the snow blower for the season, but not before repairing the electric starter (YAY!). Turned out it was just loose and not engaging the fly wheel properly. I was afraid I had burned it out cranking on it when I stupidly forgot to put the key in. Anyway, I got all the old leaves out of the garage, swept up, stowed the snow tires for the Charger, and pulled out old storm windows and a rug that will go in the trash. My garage is not longer an embarrassment to the neighborhood. Cindy continues to work on the less glamorous but no less important jobs of daily maintenance, cleaning, and the unending task of switching our clothes and home for the different seasons.

In the immediate future is yard work, including getting the chain saw out, chopping roots, and seeing if I can coax another season out of that old mower.