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Oliver and Thunder and Lightning

Christine

Incidentally, before the storm Friday night I tried to take Oli for a walk and it didn’t go so well. I knew he was bored and I knew it might rain in a little while, so I saddled him up with the Easy Walk Harness– which works great, but he doesn’t really like it. Turns him into stiff doggie. I think it is because he knows that he can’t pull when he’s wearing it. He also knows that harness = walks.
Anyway, he usually loves going for walks, but that night he kept stopping, like something was bothering him. He stopped first in front of our next door neighbor’s house and refused to move. I thought maybe something was hurting him. I checked the harness, making sure it wasn’t twisted, the clips hadn’t caught his hair, then I checked all four paws. Nothing amiss. Patted him down and gave him a little rub of encouragement then tried to get him to walk again.

We passed two more houses and he stopped again. He hadn’t been walking with his normal gusto and wasn’t even interested in the other dog a block away, walking toward us. Something was up. I got down to his level, petting, soothing, trying to figure out what was up with my guy. The the heat lightning flashed a bit stronger than it had been and he stiffened up even more. Hmm. Storms don’t generally bother him, but it seemed he didn’t like being outside during the thunder and lightning. I didn’t think much of it because the heat lightning and rumbles of thunder had been going on for several hours by then.

I asked him if he just wanted to go back home, and he was more than ready. We trotted back to the house at a clipping pace. I made him sit on the porch steps with me for a few minutes before we went in. I wanted him to get comfortable being outside, with mommy’s protection, while the sky flashed and rumbled. I did my best to make him feel safe and not make a huge deal over it. We did this with him for the first couple of storms when he was a puppy, and we thought they didn’t bother him. I guess that only did part of the job.

So now we know. Oliver is fine with storms from the safety of the house, but he doesn’t want to be outside when there is thunder and lightning.

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Why the Painted Plywood?

Christine

See the shiny spots at the top of the roller? Yeah, that’d be rainwater! It seems to be coming in from the top of the window and running down between the frame and the header trim. Seems we may be missing some flashing or caulking or both.

At least we finally know where the water is coming from. When I bought the house we soon discovered that there was a sheet of plywood under this set of windows (as well as under the set in the front bedroom) indicating that some sort of damage had occurred and someone was too lazy to do anything about it. Aside from the natty painted plywood quick fix. You can see in this picture that was taken before we did any work to the house that their paint-over-plywood trick wasn’t holding up too well either.

We discovered that there wasn’t the appropriate flashing, etc. around the bottom of this set of windows and remedied that. Then we re-plastered. Imagine our dismay when the new plaster in this area began to effloresce. We were at a complete loss. No idea where the problem lie. Then it seemed to stop, so we forgot about it. Until the rocking rainstorm Friday night.

I really figured we would lose power, so I cleared the kitchen table and set lit a candle in the center. Then I headed upstairs for the small flashlights we keep in the night stand. I usually have one under the kitchen sink, too, but couldn’t find that one. Must remember to track that down.

As I was going up the stairs it occurred to me that I should shut the air conditioner off, as it was cooling outside, and if the power did go off, I didn’t want any problems if we had a surge when it came back on. I was about halfway into the room when my bare feet encountered a huge puddle. Rain was coming in through the air conditioner! The wind was blowing the rain horizontal and so hard that it was coming in through the vents.

I was momentarily stunned. I just stood there, taking it all in. All this water. And you know how these floors are- water runs straight through and next thing you know you have wet plaster on the dining room ceiling. So don’t need that. I grabbed some towels and started mopping things up. It soon dawned on me that not all the water was coming in through the air conditioner. The curtains were soaked, I pulled them off. That’s when I saw what you see in the pictures above. I couldn’t understand it. I thought maybe the top sash had come down a bit, allowing water in, but that seemed unlikely since most of them are still painted shut (one of these years we’ll get around to that).

I mopped up all the water the best I could, having to move furniture out of the way. Of course most of the clothes piled on the desk in front of the windows had gotten wet. Then I discovered that the quilt on the bed was wet. I started peeling back layers when I stepped in more water. Under the bed! Of course the puddle under the bed had golden retriever dust bunnies to add to the fun.

Eventually I got it all mopped up, moved all the wet clothes and bed linens out of the room and set up a fan to dry the wall. The storm had died off by then and thankfully the electricity never did go out. I put fresh linens on the bed and called it a night.

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Vintage Deco Flowers

Christine

I’m a sucker for cotton muslin.I ordered this set of antique pillowcases from ebay. One was completed, the other barely started. The finished case is much whiter than the unfinished one, but I had no way of knowing if the unfinished case would wash up after it was stitched. It didn’t. Actually, it is a bit better, but not much. I don’t think I’ll ever do this again. The fabric is far better than anything I could buy today in a kit, but the whole time I was working this pillowcase, I kept thinking, I don’t know where this has been, who handled it over the past several decades. And of course, you can’t wash it before you finish stitching because the stamped pattern is water soluble. It made me want to wash my hands repeatedly.Also, my stitching is very different from the original stitcher’s. I connect my cross stitches, but the other pillowcase is stitched with each X independent. That is why my case looks darker.

I’ll be keeping this set for myself, but I hope to do the pattern again on a clean, new set of pillowcases.See, the real draw was the original pattern included. I fell in love with those deco flowers. Next time I’ll use deco colors!I painstakingly matched up the wild colors chosen by some unknown person long ago.

DMC rose #335
DMC aquamarine #3814
DMC medium tangerine #741

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Squash Sautee

Christine

This is one of our favourite side dishes. So simple. A little dash of olive oil or a pat of butter, bit of diced onions, a sprinkling of Mrs. Dash, and a bag of squash. Saute until the squash reaches the tenderness you prefer, and done! So hopefully next winter we will not need to buy any squash from good ‘ole Hanover Foods (don’t worry, we still buy lots of other frozen veggies from you, Hanover) because we’ll have our own garden-grow, home-frozen squash blend.

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Getting Back in the Garden

Christine

I got a gorgeous black and blue salvia at Noggle’s Nursery yesterday. It is now the centerpiece of the crescent bed. I also got a couple of smaller blue and white ones to put around it. Someone had been letting their dog pee on the one Swiss chard plant that sort of made it from last summer. It had been intensely interesting to Oli for several weeks, but I eventually pulled it out. It was stunted and didn’t really look nice. Besides, Oliver really enjoyed tearing up the root. That boy does love roots! Anyway, if some rude person is going to let their dog do that, I don’t want any food plants that close to the sidewalk. So where I was going to plant peas, I’ve just put in that row of salvia. Just as well, because it is a little late for peas, and that spot may be too hot and dry for them.

The white cucumber seeds that I planted on Saturday already have their first leaves. They should be ready to plant in just a few more days. When I get the cucumbers planted, then the crescent bed should be finished.

I mostly finished planting the tomato bed last night. I added the four celeriac plants I bought. We are going to give that a try this year. I need to track down some Swiss chard plants. It is so pretty, and I am determined to figure out how to eat it this year. I promised myself that if we don’t eat it this year, I won’t plant it again. It is too pretty not to plant, so I’ll figure out how to prepare and serve Swiss chard.I got one each of blanketflower and melampodium, but I still have room for one more of each. I need something tough right by the door, so if Oli’s rope catches it, the plant will still be okay. I think the dwarf melampodium can handle that. I’d like a red blanketflower, but she only had yellow at Noggle’s.

I’m hoping Lewis puts my squash fence in today- he said he would, but he may run out of time. The plumber is coming again today to fix the hot water heater. Luckily, the whole shebang did not need replaced. It was something to do with a valve, which became blocked. The plumber thinks he can fix it, but if he can’t, they only need to replace this $50 valve. That plus labor, of course. But still way better that a whole new hot water heater.

Anyway, if Lewis gets the squash fence in, then I can plant my yellow squash and zucchini tonight. I didn’t use mom’s seeds. Noggle’s had peat pots for $.99, so I just bought 3 zucchini plants. I know buying plants isn’t as economical as starting seeds, and I feel badly about that this year, but I knew I just didn’t have the ambition and energy to get them started when they needed to be. Next year. I also plan to plant beans from seed and hopefully I can just get them in the ground tonight. Then I’ll pretty much be done. That will feel good.

I’ve given up on planting on the fence line this year, too. I adjusted my carefully thought out plans and cut back a bit. I don’t want to plant more than I can handle. Also, just walking around that side is treacherous. The bed is full of weeds and it stresses Oli out when he can’t see me. Maybe we can get that strip under control this summer, and I won’t have to worry about damaging my veggies. We’ll see.