In my own little world

[Masha]

One of my new favorite songs....the heavy rock opening leads to the best part-around 1:33 mark:
[...]
I can't hear a chain saw being used in the neighborhood without breaking out in a sleazy dance.

I am sorry to say that this is one more point in how we differ.
It is to me that this is the only true lumberjack song:



I doubt seriously that my little chainsaw disturbs the neighbors. It is: 16" only and is corded electric. I have had hair dryers which are louder.

[jimimac71]

Oh, you did say 16 and not 6 inches.
Nevermind.

[TikiSoo]

The Monty Python Lumberjack song is very common, while Jackyl's Lumberjack song actually uses a CHAINSAW as a musical instrument!
Far more clever, imho.

[Masha]

The floorplan of our house does not lend itself to a secret room.

We have as yet four hundred and thirty-seven projects yet to do.

We can not afford the eleven hundred to eighteen hundred dollars to buy this.



I have a feeling we soon will have four hundred and thirty eight projects on the schedule ...

[TikiSoo]

A real tip off to that door is that it’s cheapo chipboard. I would use a real wood shelf unit.
It would be a real bonus if you tipped a sconce to unlatch the door.

[txfilmfan]

The floorplan of our house does not lend itself to a secret room.

We have as yet four hundred and thirty-seven projects yet to do.

We can not afford the eleven hundred to eighteen hundred dollars to buy this.



I have a feeling we soon will have four hundred and thirty eight projects on the schedule ...

Comes complete, with dust and fake books...

[Masha]

A real tip off to that door is that it’s cheapo chipboard. I would use a real wood shelf unit.
It would be a real bonus if you tipped a sconce to unlatch the door.

More telling is that the moulding around the door is not mitered. We do not see the bottom of the door but an out-swinging door will have trim which does not meet the floor or it leaves marks on the floor from its rubbing as it swings open and closed.

Properly crafted hidden doors open inward so that they abut the back of the surrounding moulding on all sides.

[Dargo]

Properly crafted hidden doors open inward so that they abut the back of the surrounding moulding on all sides.

Yeah, BUT wouldn't this ruin the scenes with hidden doors you'd see in every 'Abbott and Costello Meet (name your monster here)' movie they ever made???

Nope, they gotta spin around just like that one Tiki posted from 'Young Frankenstein' for true comic effect, ya know!

(...ah, but I suppose if comedy isn't your thing or what you're goin' for in your choices of home decor and conveniences........)

[Masha]

I attempted to post this earlier. It is possible that I screwed it up but I must wonder if some of the words caused it to be deleted. This post should show whether I am a moron or if: Otto Censor dislikes foreign words.


We went to IKEA!

We had to be in the city for other things most of the day and so we decided to make a slight detour on our way home.

We purchased two items in the: DJUNGELSKOG style collection and one in the: BLÅVINGAD style collection.



The bear is thirty-nine inches tall. The snake is a glove puppet sixty-seven inches long. The octopus is twenty inches tall/long.

They are to be birthday gifts for three of my little Fuzzy's six great-grandchildren. The other three are at an age when they likely do not understand the concept of a gift being from some person other than the one who hands it to them.

I have heard of quality concerns with: IKEA products and so examined each prior to purchase. All seams appear solid, there are no loose threads and all placements and alignments are proper.

We looked at some furniture also but only to investigate if they employ any unusual joining techniques or hardware which might be useful to keep in mind when we have a workshop once more. It is sad to say that it was all standard in all respects. I was a trifle surprised that the prices were actually in line with their cheap-and-cheerful nature.

I had occasion to mention a chair which I wished my little Fuzzy to examine but I did not dare say its name for fear I would mispronounce it and summon forth some obscure Norse deity with vengeful nature.

[Masha]

Properly crafted hidden doors open inward so that they abut the back of the surrounding moulding on all sides.

Yeah, BUT wouldn't this ruin the scenes with hidden doors you'd see in every 'Abbott and Costello Meet (name your monster here)' movie they ever made???

Nope, they gotta spin around just like that one Tiki posted from 'Young Frankenstein' for true comic effect, ya know!

(...ah, but I suppose if comedy isn't your thing or what you're goin' for in your choices of home decor and conveniences........)

I do not need humour in my home because my little Fuzzy is very funny but looks are not everything.

[Dargo]

...I had occasion to mention a chair which I wished my little Fuzzy to examine but I did not dare say its name for fear I would mispronounce it and summon forth some obscure Norse deity with vengeful nature.

Well, ya know, you COULD have attempted to say the name of that chair and STILL perhaps come really really close to sounding like a native born Swede, ya know.

Uh-huh, all ya had to do was say it how you think it might be correctly said, BUT say it in a sing-songy manner, and then you've got a 50/50 chance it WAS pronounced correctly!

(...ah, but then again I suppose with this still only being a 50/50 chance, it probably would've been best to not tempt fate and have someone like Loki casting an evil spell on ya, huh)

[CinemaInternational]

Well, in the past year, I have been helping to take care of quite a few stray cats, first one we've been feeding for years, then a mother cat, then her four kittens when they were weaned, then two more who came along the way. Well, several of the female cats are now expecting, and the mother cat just delivered another litter overnight of four more kittens. They are so incredibly tiny at this point.

[Masha]

I believe that there must be a secret database of people who are willing to cat-sit.

We did cat-sitting for some friends in the place where we lived until 2022. We were immediately beset when we moved here by both the local pound and an independent rescue who wanted us to foster cats until they could be neutered and to foster mother cats with new litters. The pound decided that they did not want us because we both smoke. The rescue is not so particular but they have not had a situation needing us at a time that was convenient to us.


Yardwork Update: We had to wait several days after the open burning period began because of high winds. It did not go well when we could safely burn because the stump is so very wet. It is doubtful that we will have further opportunity because the weather prediction is wet and miserable for the remainder of the period during which we can burn.

It is necessary to stay in proximity of any fire even although it is contained and so we spent the time in creating a new small flower bed, preparing the ground for an extension to that and doing some general weeding. We planted coneflower seeds into the new bed and transplanted some which we started last year. The extension to that bed will hold Shasta Daisies x Alaska which are currently under grow lights until they are larger and the weather has settled.

We are both guilty of going to the store and returning with things to plant. It is by this that we planted this week: two lavenders, one bee balm, four catnip and two raspberries (Rubus x Jewel).

We were to plant today two lilac shrubs and two honeysuckles. It is sad to say that weather predictions were for showers this evening but we woke to find that they started half a day early. We have had now sixty-five one-hundredths of an inch of rain and it does not look as if it will end soon.

Edit: I must add prior to some silly chicken hijacking my account under the claim of transparency:

We have also six hosta, two ferns and four phlox awaiting a new bed to be placed on the northern side of the house. Joining them will be some ajuga reptans and sagina from our very first flower bed. This new bed will be a trial to locate because it will have to fit in well with our long-term but semi-nebulous plan for that side of the house.

We had wanted our first flower bed to be a sort of nursery so that we could justify purchasing the best specimens of specific varieties of plants with the intent of raising them to a size where they could be divided to populate other beds. It was test also of which plants do well in this particular micro-climate.

One variety of creeping phlox did very well and the three plants can be split with ease now into a minimum of ten or twelve. A single plant of one variety of creeping phlox doubled in size. One of the plants of a third variety of creeping phlox died but the surviving one tripled in size. Every sagina plant expanded nicely in size but then died in the center to leave a circle of beautiful green around a corpse core. We suspect that it simply is not happy in full sun. We are hoping that moving it to new bed on the north of the house will suit it better. The English Daisies were lovely but did not survive the winter. The dianthus are healthy but spread very little. Two of the varieties of ajuga reptans spread gloriously. One variety spread well but parts of it died. The fourth variety was reduced to smaller than the size when purchased.

It is also that we must find time to dig out that complete bed and replant all in new soil because of an infestation of nutsedge.

[dianedebuda]

Sounds like quite a variety there. Been planting here too, but it's tomatoes, peppers and a few zucchini, cukes, & Romano beans. Not a big fan of beans, but since I can't buy these flat Italian ones fresh or frozen here, I plant some. Lots of different varieties of the tomatoes & peppers and when they're in season, have enough to supply the neighborhood & maybe the whole county. Hand watering the young transplants for now, but getting the drip irrigation set up again. How do you water your beds? It's a pain to have to dig up a bed and rebuild it - I feel for you. You should post some pics of the flowers when they bloom. Have never been very successful with those kinds of plants. When they seem to want to survive, the critters - mostly deer - eat them here. Have much better luck with things that I can eat. Strange, no?

[Masha]

[...]
How do you water your beds? It's a pain to have to dig up a bed and rebuild it - I feel for you. You should post some pics of the flowers when they bloom. Have never been very successful with those kinds of plants. When they seem to want to survive, the critters - mostly deer - eat them here. Have much better luck with things that I can eat. Strange, no?

I am sorry to say that I did not take a photograph when all was in bloom. I was attempting only to document their establishment. The top is when it was first planted. The lower is when it seemed all would survive:



The Dianthus are the purplish blossoms on the right. I remember that the sagina were in bloom also but their blossoms are white and nearly microscopic.

We water using a bubbler head on a hose. We are both great believers in watering deeply but infrequently. That and the thick mulch means that watering is a less-than-once-a-week chore in all but August. The house had one only sillcock and it is at the front of the house. We quickly added one at the back of the house for gardening. We learned quickly that one simply does not use sprinklers here. Our water bill is generally approx. twenty dollars but will jump to over sixty dollars if we water the lawn.

We must do much more work before we can consider growing vegetables. The best location is on the south side of the lawn. There is currently a garden shed there. We must build a new one in a proper place before removing it. It is also that the previous owner had a thing of tearing apart pallets for boards to build things. The nails, screws and nailing plates from this operation were simply thrown on the ground in several locations. It is obvious that we will have to dig out and sift all of that before we can begin to think of making a garden bed.

I believe that removing all of the plants in the current bed will be time-consuming but not particularly onerous. We dug out the bed space to a decent depth and filled it with our own growing mixture. This was necessary because there is a thin layer of soil which is suitable for grass but what is under that is not quite suitable for making bricks. It remains sufficiently friable that it is possible to wiggle-worm my hand into it to the depth of my wrist.