Operation Paperback

 Joined Operation Paperback as a volunteer last week. Shipped my first box of books overseas today. Twenty-three books, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Science Fiction and Westerns shipped to our troops serving overseas. I'll get another address next month and send another shipment out in September.

Just a Word for July

Don't really have time for much, but I noticed I hadn't posted anything yet during July so....

Yard work going slowly, but getting done. I have been working in the garage and I'll add some of those pictures to the slide show to the right. Been shopping for a new 'fridge, looking mostly at ones with the freezer on the bottom.

Rosie's been her normal abnormal self this month. Soft and friendly most of the time, but every once in a while all fangs and laid back ears.

Last night I finished reading The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon. It was a very enjoyable read. I have to admit that I'd never heard of Percy Fawcett before starting this book. In reading this book I learned that he was the basis for several characters in books and movies that I am familiar with. I won't spoil the book by going into detail I will strongly recommend it if you like adventure stories like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. The Indiana Jones movie series, et cetera

More about Rosie

In my last post I mention how aggressive Rosie was the day after the thunderstorms. I now think this was because there was water in the basement.

This last Sunday I rearranged the bedroom. Rosie was underfoot the entire time snooping into everything I was doing and voicing her concerns the whole time. Meow this and Meow that, along with the occasional MMRRFFF and MURRURR and RRURKIK.

Last night a couple of police cars stopped in the intersection nearest my house, with their lights flashing. Rosie was sitting on her look-out table in the front window (one of those fold-up wooden TV trays). When the lights started flashing she took off and hid under the bed. Now, I'm concerned she's been doing something illegal while I'm at work. Possibly running a Cat-House. When I asked her about this she just looked at me all wide-eyed and innocent.

I mowed this morning. Not long, just on either side of the garage to the alley. It was WAY too long and I had to do just a little at a time. I have Thursday off this week so hopefully I'll get more done then.

Mowing, Storms and Kitty Cats

I mowed Thursday morning. My wrists still hurt. It stormed that night. It stormed again Friday night.

Rosie, my cat, does not like either storms or the storm sirens that the city kept sounding off most of the evening Friday. She was all over me for protection from the nasty sirens when I got home from work Friday. The next day she was cranky and aggressive. I guess just to prove she was her own cat and didn't need me, or something. I'm sure my left arm and right foot will grow back eventually.

Worked in the garage Tuesday night from about 9:30 to 11. It is now neater than it has been for 10 months, it's only 11 months old. Planning on working out there more tonight and tomorrow and doing laundry and the kitchen floor tomorrow.

On the Grill...

I've got this big, huge, CharGriller grill. It's way to big for my needs, but I have this bad habit of getting the biggest and best that I can afford when I buy something. The reason I mention the grill is: I cleaned it last night. It's been in storage for the last couple of years I brought it home a couple of weeks ago (dumping it out of the pickup on the way) and set it up Friday. I cleaned it Friday, but last night I scrubbed it and scrubbed it, soap, water and a wire brush; the whole 9-yards and no I don't know where that phrase comes from.

It works good, now. I grilled more hamburgers at around 9 pm. Yep, in the dark.

New Blog...

Instead of posting my comments on yard work and home ownership on my tech blog, I created this blog and moved such posts to it.

Did not do much work in the kitchen or living room last night. Spent about 2 hours doing yard work after working for 9 hours. I ache all over.

Power rakes? Need to buy or invent.....

Ongoing Homeowner Chinwag

As for my priority list from Monday I have mowed, cleaned the birdbath and whacked the weeds. Inside I've done laundry and some cleaning in the living room and kitchen. Since I open today and tomorrow (Friday & Saturday) I will have the evening free for more work in the kitchen and living room.

I also got the grill out and cleaned it. I then grilled up some hamburgers and brats. Just basic stuff, but it's been years since I last fired-up the grill so I'm happy I finally got it going again.

Back to the Yard

Bought a couple more bags of mulch last night (Sunday, May 23rd) after work. I parked on the street in front of my house and dumped the new bags on top of the existing mulch. After moving the car to the garage I watered the front yard. This morning I got up early and watered the backyard then went to work. My next 2 days off are Tuesday and Wednesday. According to Weather Bug on my Moto Droid there is a 50% chance of rain both days.

Depending on the weather I will try to get some stuff done outside, but since I'm getting behind in my housework I'll probably work on that most.
Top priorities for the outside Tuesday & Wednesday
1. Mow
2. Clean birdbath (not really too important but should only take a couple of minutes)
3. Weed-whack
4. Put old mulch along parking area.

Top priorities for the inside Tuesday & Wednesday
1. Clean Kitchen
2. Clean Living room
3. Work in Library
4. Laundry

Barnes and Noble Nook

You will see that the Barnes and Noble Nooke has been added to "Links to My Tech Stuff" list on the sidebar. Yes, I did get one. Somethings on it I like better than my Sony eReader (PRS-505) and somethings I like less. The main reason I got one was, of course, for the ease of purchasing new books. Many of my books are from Project Gutenburg, FeedBooks, Baen books, et cetera, but occasionally I do read newer stuff. And while Sony/Borders does have a much better selection than formerly, I decided I wanted the ease of over the air downloads. I chose the Nook over the Kindle as I didn't want a keyboard.

Front yard as of Saturday May 22, 2010.

I've more or less completed the mulching from the front door to the North-west corner. It needs a couple more bags of mulch as the landscaping fabric is showing through. I also forgot something on the list I made yesterday. I need to stain or paint the deck in back.

No Tech in this post, Just Yard Work, Lots and Lots of Yard Work.

At least it's a lot of yard work for me. I've got new grass coming up in the south-west corner of the front yard. I'd raked it thoroughly a couple of weeks ago and spread grass seed. I admit I've been a little haphazard on the watering, but it seems to be coming up fine. I spread some of that seed/feed/watering combo stuff in the backyard where they dug the trench to run electricity to the garage I've been watering it and the front this last week.

Wednesday and Thursday of this week I've spent about 5 hours either mowing or raking or weed-whacking. I've also spent over an hour raking up the red mulch in front of the house on the north side of the front stairs. The ground under the mulch was full of tunnels. I'm assuming mole tunnels as I know I have moles, it was also swarming with ants and other creepy-crawlies.

And speaking of moles, Did you hear about the family of moles living next to the sorghum factory? When Spring came and they woke-up the daddy and mommy mole started up the tunnel to the surface, followed by the baby mole. When they reached the top the daddy mole said "smell the fresh grass" mommy mole said "smell the flowers" and baby mole said "All I can smell is molasses."

After raking up all the mulch I took a shower and then decided to enjoy the outdoors. I picked up my eReader (there's the tech part of the blog) and went to the deck, sat down in my new lounger and started reading. After a couple of minutes I said "Rain, I finally a few minutes to enjoy the yard and it starts to rain, figures."

I have Tuesday and Wednesday of next week off so I hope to do more next week. I'm off at 5pm today so I might be able to do a little this evening and/or a little tomorrow morning or Sunday morning, but I'm not counting on it. Currently my yard work priorities are:
1. Put in the edging in front and then the landscaping fabric and new mulch. << Done <<
2. Finish raking the North side of the front yard and re-mow it shorter
3. Spread grass seed on North side of the front yard.
4. Spread grass seed in spotty areas.
5. Spread old mulch along North side of parking area. (also West side?) Or along South side of garage?
6. Rake rock from South side of house from side door to front of house. Replace landscaping fabric and put back rock.
7. Rake, clear, dig, whatever the area between the South side of the house and the sidewalk from the side door back to the South-East corner of the house. Put down fabric and top with rock or mulch.
8. Remove the edging around the South side of the deck and rake out the rock, leaves and what-not. Put down new edging and fabric, put the rock back in and possibly add some new rock or the rock from the North side of the deck.
9. Remove the edging from the North side of the deck and rake out the rock, leaves, et cetera. Put down new edging (extend out to the North edge of house?), fabric and either rock or mulch.
10. Decide what to do about the fence on the North side of yard.
11. Paint or stain the deck.

Well that's all I have time for now.

Rosie in the middle

Here's Rosie taking the lion's share of the bed. Again.