Oliver’s Bungalow Blog

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Slight Hail Storm Damage

Christine

We just had a brief hail storm here. Thankfully it did minimal damage. One small porch plant got knocked over. Strange, because it was in the middle of a cluster of potted plants. And my largest tree, the one I always worry about during storms, only suffered a few small broken branches and one sizable branch.

20 June 2008
This is nothing like the violent hail storm we had last summer. One year ago yesterday, in fact. I was almost home when it started, and I could hardly see the road. Most people were pulling over, but I only had about six blocks to go, and wanted to get home to make sure Oliver was safe. It was absolutely the worst storm I can ever remember, and it downed trees all over the neighborhood. My neighbor across the street, Mike, came out out on his front porch too, and we kept a close eye on the sky. I would not have been surprised to see a funnel cloud that day. We lost power for a couple of hours, although I don’t know if it was the whole town, or just our street because of the giant tree branch hanging on the lines. No one was hurt, thank goodness.
Anyway, I lost about the top third of my biggest tree that day. It is the only one that provides major shade to the house, so I was really upset. And we were afraid it might need to come down altogether, but we’ve just let it go, and it seems to be doing okay.
19 June 2007
Another huge branch of it fell over the fence, onto the factory’s yard. It did no damage to their building or the fence, and they were really good about it. They had many trees down elsewhere and had some of their guys to clean it up, and offered to take care of that branch for me. That was really great, because I would have had to hire someone.
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World’s Ugliest Babies

Christine

Well, Mother Robin is being very protective now that her babies have hatched. I believe they were born sometime on Sunday, and I snapped these pictures that afternoon:Oliver is not allowed to be on the front porch until these little guys have learned to fly. Any guess how long that will be?

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The Sky Is Falling! No, It’s Just Plaster.

Christine

So, Oli insisted on going outside at 1:42 this morning. I was barely awake. Until I saw this:
Yeah… that loose plaster finally came down. On its own. Glad no one was standing under that. I have been meaning to take a picture of it sagging, and how the P.O.s used clear silicone caulk to hold it in place. But now I have lost my chance to document that fab use of caulk. Although, that bit hanging down? That’s caulk plus plaster dirt.
I swept it all up while Oliver was doing his business outside, and in hindsight, I think I probably should have worn a dust mask. Don’t really need to be breathing the dust of who-knows-what. But it was quarter to two, and the doggie could bark at any moment, so I just wanted to get it all cleaned up before he came back in. ‘Cause you just know he would have walked through it. Or stolen a chunk of plaster. That would have been a good game.

I’m so not ready to tackle this project right now, so I see some heavy mil plastic and duct tape in my near future.

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Always Look Before You Water

Christine

Looks like a perfectly ordinary hanging plant, right?

Well, to Mother Robin, it must have looked like the perfect sheltered spot for her soon-to-be babies.

I guess there is no way to water this poor plant now, so I’m just going to hope it hangs on until the baby robins are out of the nest. It is used to a bit of neglect.
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Room to Roam

Christine
I’ve expanded Oliver’s daytime area. He normally has access the long, narrow room at the back of the house that used to be a porch, and the adjoining bathroom.

Last night, I moved his gate so that he now can roam around the kitchen, dining room, Oliver’s room, and the bathroom. He was a bit confused this morning, even though I showed him what we were doing last night, and he watched with curiosity as I cleaned and moved things around. (Actually, he mostly barked and chased the vacuum through the cleaning part.)

Mostly, I’ve done this because the only air conditioner that is installed is in the dining room, and we are having a bit of a heat wave right now. I don’t want my little boy to be too hot while I’m not home.

So, cross your fingers, and let’s hope he didn’t find anything naughty to get into today.