Well ...

I can semi-cross one off the list. We've pondered over this closet that is across from the powder room. We decided that we would convert it to a utility closet, and any guest coats we would deal with in another location.

We still haven't figured out a "guest coat" location (perhaps the traditional upstairs bed, as so many do), but having the extra space is a good thing. We can put the FoodSaver, toaster, etc., in this other space and not be bothered in our pantry.

Mom would hate this, but we're also putting the kitty-litter scoop in this closet. Granted, it's on the lowest shelf, but if you have gritty toast when you're here, you'll know where that's from.

However ... we haven't trained them to use the bathtub in the guest bathroom for a litter box.

Maybe we'll do that before you all come. (I can feel Mom laughing right now ... "There's cat hair in this pie!") ...

Weekend Update

Well, our plan to "divide and conquer" with my seeding of the bare spots in the front yard, and Janice continuing with painting chores got a bit derailed this weekend.

Janice focused on catching up with laundry chores and doing some straightening up of the house on Saturday, while I went out to pick up a few things at the local market that we needed. While I was there, they had some nice mums on sale - 3 for $16.99 - so I picked out six of the nicest ones (in my favorite colors for fall ... burgundy and gold).

Late Saturday afternoon, I started removing some of the dead grass and thatch from the front yard. What a job. In retrospect, if I had some way of getting it here, I should have rented a power thatcher.

Sunday, we were supposed to get showers here (which never exactly materialized) so I went out pretty early to continue on the yard. Janice did a run over to Home Depot for more grass seed - 21 pounds of it, to be exact - while I worked on more bare spots. Once she got home, she helped with the bare spots so we could get it all done before dark.

All told, we removed 8 heaping wheelbarrows full of thatch and dead grass (note: it's nice having the wetlands on the left side of the house). We also uncovered the source of a few of our bare spots not attributable to dollar spot. I found a few sections where we had some grubs, so next year I will have to remember to put down some insect control to prevent that from reoccuring.

We also uncovered some of the biggest, longest, plumpest earthworms I have ever seen. There were several of them that were at least 10 inches long! I hope we're not sitting on a uranium deposit or something that has made them mutate into these giants. Every now and then, Janice would uncover one and let out a yelp when she raked it onto her sandaled feet.

Anyway, I am pleased to report that the front lawn got a good heavy overseeding before dark, and with any help from Mother Nature, should be back on its way to looking fuller and more evenly grassy. I saved a little of the seed to do repairs to the back yard near the basement walk-out door where we're having the new screen door put on. I didn't want to overseed that thin area until the contractor finished up with his work.

Next up for yard work - planting the mums.

Thursday Update

Last night, I took advantage of the nice cool weather we're having here and got the grass cut. The days are getting shorter now, and my afterwork grass-cutting window is down to about an hour and a half now, before it starts getting dark. I guess later on, I'll have to start cutting grass with the John Deere's headlights on. That should be interesting, especially over by the rock-lined wetlands area.

The newly-seeded spots are coming in pretty well now. One of them I almost could have cut, but decided to let it go another week or so before hitting it with the mower.

I think I forgot to mention that we're replacing the storm door on the walk-out basement door. We ordered that up at Lowe's last Saturday. The one on there now is a real piece of crap, that the previous owner apparently put in himself. It's missing the lower panel for some reason. It is also so out of square you can't even raise or lower the glass to use the screen.

So ... we looked at a few at Lowe's and found one we liked. It's a nice heavy duty storm door, wood core under the aluminum cladding, and is one of those with the disappearing screens. Installation was pretty reasonable, so we went with having it done by one of their contractors.

I'm meeting him here this afternoon around 4:30 so he can get measurements of that door, the entry door on the garage, and the front door and side glasses. The entry door on the garage and the front door don't have storm doors on them, so we'll have the measurements on file at Lowe's if we decide to put storm doors on those doors as well. I'm thinking one on the front door might be a good idea for energy efficiency, although the house seems pretty "tight" as it is.

As for weekend plans, there are still a multitude of bare spots in the front yard for overseeding, so if we dodge a bullet and don't get too much rain, I'll be doing that. Janice will continue with the door-painting work and get some more "Posh Red" on the exterior doors. If it does rain (and probably even if it doesn't) we'll continue hanging artwork. That's a two-person job anyway ... me doing the hanging and my supervisor telling where things should go. ;-)

Anyway, that's it for now ... have a great weekend!

Tuesday Evening Update

Monday evening, I came home and decided to throw on the first coat of the "Posh Red" paint onto at least one of the doors. I focused on the outside garage door and put a nice coat on it. It will take at least two or three coats, I bet.

This morning, I got up, had some coffee, waited until the garbagemen came and the recycling men came, then went out to pull the garbage can and the recycling bin back into the garage.

We must have had some hellacious dew last night, because part of the first coat of "Posh Red" paint had seemingly become even more wet than when I left it last night. Parts where I knew were tacky last night were soaked this morning, and there was also some "running". I grabbed a touch-up brush, and smoothed things out a bit, then I went upstairs for Janice's blowdryer.

I didn't look too closely, after all things were said and done, but I think Janice is still blonde, with no "Posh Red" highlights. LOL

We had a warm semi-sunny day here, but I knew we were to get a little rain overnight. I decided not to do any more painting, but instead to work on a few more brown/bare spots with grass seed.

Well ... I got about 20 minutes into that, before the rain started up. I made a "dent", but there are a lot more brown spots left to go. I'm hoping that I don't find more damage to the front lawn than I had originally attributed to Dollar Spot. One patch I scarified seemed to be teeming with Sod Webworms. Fortunately, these are both typical summer-time ailments. Hopefully, with some good fertilization this fall, and some overseeding with some more resistant cultivars of Kentucky Bluegrass, Fine Fescue (which I really don't like, but it's prevalent in the Northeast) and some hardy Perennial Ryegrass, things will turn around by springtime.

I know ... most of you are of the opinion that "green is good". I like having a nice lawn, when I have one, and so be it ... I'm a little "weird" about it. I'd like to always have the nicest lawn on the block. This one may take me a few years. By the time we'd moved in, the dollar spot had already taken a pretty good toll, and the previous owners, whatever they had done before, weren't continuing to do.

I am, however, happy to report that the areas I seeded last week are now beginning to show some new growth. They are a day or so apart, so the one spot is starting to come in pretty nicely, the other is just now starting to show "life".

Because we are hilly, here, and the soil is by and large pretty clayish, mixed with some sand, I think I am going to petition the other owner here for a tow-behind aerator/spreader for the John Deere, next year. I would continue to use the Scotts push-type broadcast spreader (it really does a good job, if you're using Scotts products - you don't have to do any conversions on "OK if the Scotts fertilizer says to use a setting of "3", what do I set this other brand spreader to?"). What I am afraid of, is the tree line in the back, and a couple of areas just outside the front door. Those area get a lot of moisture (along the treeline) or they dry out very easily (just outside the front door), and can become compacted quite easily either way you look at it.

With an aerator/spreader combo, I could easily hit those areas and all others (since we also want to gradually expand the lawn a bit out into what is now the woods) with a deep aeration and combined seeding and then follow it all up with a Scotts-applied fertilization.

Oh well ... anyway ... I'm a little weird about the lawn. It sucked having a "rain-out" this evening. I could have gotten so much more done.

Then again ... ... ... maybe this is a good thing. I'll get a little rest! Yeah, that's the ticket! :-)

Weekend Update

Man am I sore. We spent the majority of Saturday at Lowe's, picking up things for lawn care and some paint for the exterior doors. We have never liked the teal color the previous owner had painted the exterior doors (side garage door, basement walk-out door and the front door and two side-lights). We also made a run to Sam's Club and I picked out a nice whole beef tenderloin for cutting up into filets, and a family pack of chicken breasts. We stocked up on some other stuff, too.

So ... yesterday morning, I got out pretty early and fertilized the lawn. Janice thought I didn't need the John Deere tow-behind fertilizer spreader, but could manage with a push-type broadcast spreader from Scotts. So ... after nearly having a coronary pushing the thing up and down our hills ... I finished with that around 11:00. I had picked up some herbicide spray, so I also did some spot spraying with that.

We had a little breakfast out on the deck, then hit the ground running with our painting chores. We picked up some tinted primer, and gave all the exterior doors a good coat of primer to start with. We'll let that dry well, and I'll probably work on the doors with the first coat of paint each evening this week. We bought a nice-looking red (sort of like a Japanese maple red) that will look good with the light tan of the vinyl siding. At least we hope so.

We spent a little time Saturday evening hanging pictures, so we'll continue with that until that's finished.

I'm looking out the back slider here in the family room, and we have a few trees that are just starting to turn. It's a little early still, but with the cool weather we've had here the past few days, we are seeing a little gold here and there.

As for my siblings' departure time, in October, I would say it's up to you all. If you're not too tired, then I would say come on up as soon as you can. Usually on Saturday nights we're up pretty late watching Saturday Night Live, so we can wait up for you. We're really looking forward to it!!!

Where

is everyone? I know it's a bad time of the year with all the kids going back to school, etc., etc., but people we need to keep this thing up.

Keep this going ... even if you have less "news" or "views" than I do.

More Rain ...

Geez, I hope all this grass seed doesn't mildew from our last two days of rain.

Either that, or we're going to have one hell of a stand of grass down in the "wetlands" after it has all washed down there. "John, Sandi, Jane, Marion ... please observe the lovely new lawn I've planted down in that there gully." LOL

Seriously, though ... it's been a pretty good rain here for the past couple of days, so I think everything will be fine.

On A Second Note ...

We've begun what most people say is the final phase of move-in ... hanging art.

We spent the better part of last night discussing and "rough-placing" our things in the first level. I think things are going to look pretty good once we're done.

We'll put things up tomorrow, while it continues to rain.

Life On Birch Mountain

It's 7:51 PM here, as I begin this, and I've just come in from a hard evening's work. Since it is September, and it's the first time I've had to do this, I have been working on re-seeding some annoying bare spots in the yard. Everyone knows that a fall seeding gives new grass two cool seasons to grow before being tested by the heat of the following summer.

So ... I hit one of the bare spots last night, which was the shape of a rear end of a Siemens Controls van. Coincidentally, that's who the previous owner worked for.

Tonight, however, I hit the "big one" ... the one that has pissed me off ever since we bought the house. It's just off the left side of the stairs as you come off the deck. At first, I thought it was where the prior owners let their lazy smelly dog out to take a whiz or a poo in the winter. However, tonight, I might have found an insight to a combination of factors that make the bigger picture.

While the "whiz and poo" theory is still a valid hypothesis, during the arduous process of "scarifying" the soil (as any good turf manager would do) I began to uncover rocks.

Many of them were small, garden-variety, 2" or 3" diameter rocks. However ... I have now begun a little rock garden with the five or six 20-pounders that I dug up.

So ... while I had the pick-axe out, I decided to take care of a few others that have sprung up in the back yard over the summer. These, however, were what we call "iceberg rocks" in Connecticut. 10% of the rock shows above ground, just high enough to present an obstacle to a rotating lawn-mower blade. The other 90% resides well underground, and in two cases tonight, enshrouded in small tree roots. They, too, make a lovely addition to the new rock garden. These required the use of the wheelbarrow that the prior owners left us. We are fortunate that we are on a ... ahem ... "mountain". I used a spade to dig up some of that "mountain" to fill in the holes left from these quasi-boulders. A couple of them had to top 100 pounds and were a foot or more in diameter.

I now firmly believe that the abundance of rock walls from the 16-and-1700's here in Middle-State Connecticut are not because the landowners wanted to follow the "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" rule, but rather because they just didn't know what the heck to do with them all.

All told, the objective was accomplished (albeit with the aid of our backyard floodlights) and the reseeding was completed.

You know ... I just hope we have some grass there by the time the siblings arrive. :-)

And also ... I think a Jacuzzi soak is now in order.

An Update ...

First

It's Tuesday, and we're back from the Seabee Reunion 2006 at Lancaster, over this past weekend (we got back Sunday evening around 8:00 PM).

There were 15 Seabees there, from the combined 5th NCB (2 of them) and the 67th NCB (the other 13, obviously), along with their wives and kids. There were about 50 people for the Saturday night banquet. Each year it seems to be the truly hardy stock of the US WWII veterans that makes it to these reunions, come rain or come shine. One fellow had lost his wife not three months ago, but there he was, in appearance.

The trouble with some of these reunions is that it is so difficult to find some of these guys. Perhaps they've gone into an assisted living facility over the course of the past year, or perhaps they've passed on. The organizers seem to never know.

Amazing however, after all the years, is how these older gentlemen still go back to the days when they were18, 19, 20 years old, and can remember nearly each and every day.

But, what makes it more blessed is that they still to this day, remain "brothers-in-arms".

Second

Our boys are quite happy we're home. While they never like it when we're away, they are well cared for by Marge, our "cat sitter". She comes once a day, and spends about an hour or so with them, to feed them and give them water and to clean their litter (which takes about 10 minutes). The rest of the time, she plays with them.

Last night, while watching Monday Night Football, both Jake and Elwood fought for space on "Daddy's" lap while the games were on.

It reminded me of a "certain black cat", Kazzy, who used to do the same thing. I swear Kazzy knew the theme songs to all the NFL pre-game shows. He would hear them come on, and even after he'd lost all his sight, he knew where to go on Sundays or Monday nights.

Third

I'm happy the siblings are coming up in October.

Fourth

I would never recommend the "Good 'N Plenty Restaurant" in Lancaster (or Smoketown) to a person suffering from Bulemia Nervosa.

Good God. I might wear some of that off in late January of 2009.

For Those Of You Needing A "Program" ...

... Frank and Jenny established separate domiciles, and have been officially "split" for some time. Jenny is Burke's (Frank's son) mom, and last I knew, Frank was helping her maintain an apartment. His attendance at Liz's post-birthday dinner, with Jenny and Burke, was more of a "Jenny would like to see Liz" kind of thing, and of course, we always enjoy seeing Burke ... he's a funny and intelligent kid. And, we determined, after talking, that it's been close to two years since we've seen Jenny. Very odd, but I think looking back, it is true.

They are handling things pretty wisely - no "huge" drama - and are trying to keep things as normal as possible for Burke. I can appreciate that.

He's a great little kid ... very funny, and a complete "sponge". I talked to him a little about the "Perseid" meteors, and he proceeded to ask a ton of questions about meteor showers, and where they came from, what they were composed of, and how often they came around. He has a natural curiosity that is just amazing for a 5-year-old.

Jenny dates, now and then, according to an off-side discussion she had with Janice, but is naturally more inclined to take care of Burke. Frank dates Angie, now and then, which we already knew. Over a couple of years, we've met Angie two or three times. Nothing seedy ... in fact, Angie has a daughter Frank has not met, and Angie has not met Burke (to my knowledge). It seems like everything is pretty much structured to keep the kids sheltered, grounded to each parent, and non-conflicting. I guess that's a "good" thing, or at least it works for them all.

Beyond that, I don't have much of a "program" ... but it seems, as always, somewhat complicated.

I'm only glad I don't have the same level of ... complications.

It's Been A While ...

... since anyone has posted. So here goes.

Liz's visit was great. She got in on the 23rd (eve of her birthday) and we had a low-key night, and I made a really good fettucini carbonara and a nice salad.

I had bought a whole beef tenderloin at Sam's Club and some King Crab legs for her birthday dinner on Thursday. We had a good time.

On Friday, her friend from Delaware, Mike, took the train up to Hartford from Wilmington and helped us celebrate. Her friend from Worcester, MA (who she met in Tucson, working at Janos), Lindsay, came down and we all headed over to "The Hungry Tiger", a renowned venue here in Manchester for good old blues, and rock and roll. We had a bite to eat, met up with Frank, his new girlfriend, and his cousin Carmen from Albany. The band was a hoot - "Diamondback" - sort of a 70's-style classic rock band, and we all had a good time.

Lindsay spent the night here, despite her alleged allergies to cats (she didn't seem to have much of a problem) and we had a pretty lazy day on Saturday. Janice and Liz went to our local market and picked up a few things, and we had a cookout with burgers and cheddarwurst, potato salad, etc. Saturday afternoon. Mike and Liz went up to Worcester with Lindsay for Saturday night. Lindsay is in graduate school up there, at the Worcester location for UMass's Biomedical Science graduate program. She's very nice, but I think a bit naive for what she's gotten herself into with the winters here ... "I think I need to buy a coat, right?" She grew up in AZ, so ... I guess that explains that.

Janice and I had a pretty low-key day on Sunday. Liz and Mike came back Sunday night, after dinner.

Monday, we had a little dinner party here. Frank came over, with Jenny and Burke (his "former" and their son). I made filets, potato with onion basil and rosemary grill packets, and sweet corn on the grill, and we had a nice salad and some sauteed mushrooms. Dinner was great.

Tuesday, we were all going to go see the new movie, "Invincible", but Janice was detained a bit at work, so I played "Mr. Mom" and dropped the "kids" off at the local theater. Again, a pretty low-key night for us. Liz wanted Chinese food on the way home, so we stopped and picked some up.

Wednesday, Liz and I took Mike to the train station for his ride back to Wilmington. Then after, the "Lydall Football League" had its fantasy football draft at Adam's Mill here in Manchester. Liz was my assistant (I'm the League Commissioner) and Janice joined us there.

Thursday morning, I dropped Liz off at the airport, and she made it home just fine. Everything was on time, she had no security hassles, and I heard from her around 3:00 PM our time once she made it home.

Friday, we celebrated Janice's "29th" birthday with a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, "Cavey's", here in Manchester. Another relatively low-key night, although one of the other patrons, Karen, who is an aunt of one of our local real-estate "bigwigs" needed a little assistance. I (and Janice) was recruited by the barmaid, Shay, to help her take her home, after she had two martinis and had walked square into one of the pipes that holds up the awning over the entrance to the restaurant. I had followed Shay when she was headed out (noticing Shay's worried look) and when we both got outside, Karen was on her butt on the sidewalk. She had almost knocked herself out, and had a huge lump (about the size of a golf ball) over her right eye. I helped her get up, we piled her into Shay's minivan, and then got her home and inside her house. I think she'll be alright, but I also think she's going to have one heck of a "shiner".

The rest of the evening was very low-key, and Steve Cavaignaro (the owner of Cavey's) brought out a nice "Happy Birthday" dessert sampler "on the house".

Anyway ... that pretty much sums up the week. Any news from the other folks on the Brookhart Blog?