home repairs – Ahuva’s Blog

La La La La La

tall canna lily front garden

Isn’t that what you say when you cover your ears so you can’t hear what someone is saying to you? La la la la la la la. I do NOT have the energy today to deal with macro issues: return to school? presidential election? senatorial elections? college football? eating out? La la la la la la.

1st mushroom sighting — The first sighting of the mushrooms. They look harmless, don’t they?

Unfortunately for me, my little micro concerns were also difficult this week. Sigh. So no cat pictures today – still a little bit too sad about GC for that. Which leaves me only the garden and yard for an escape. Oh – and food. There is always food, right?

crustless quiche — crustless vegetable quiche

Let’s do food first. My husband has been cooking. His new obsession is making pot stickers from scratch. I can assure that yes, you CAN get bored with eating pot stickers. The last two times he suggested it I vetoed the idea. That got me homemade pasta with sauce (oh yum yum yum) and a delicious flatbread pizza. I also got a crustless quiche. You can tell from the photo that he LOVES cooking tomatoes. I’m not as fond of cooked tomatoes as he is but at the moment they are still preferred over yet more pot stickers. The night he made the pasta he made a tandori sauce to go on it. Out of this world delicious. Remember Snuffles, the treat loving dog from Quick Draw McGraw? That describes the 4 of us having dinner. My brother-in-law is usually the bread baker, as I’ve told you. His breads are beyond compare. He was busy all day, however, so baking the challah fell to me. It was good, but it convinced me to get myself a bread thermometer. I worried about it being under-baked so I gave it more time than I thought it probably needed. I’d rather have it that way, even though over-baking means leftovers dry out faster.

Ahuva's challah — That is a 5-strand braided challah. Haven’t done one in years and so my strands were not as evenly thick at the end of the braiding.

The local news reported today that July was the hottest month on record for New Jersey. As everyone commented – tell us something we DIDN’T know. When I was a young lass, maybe all the way up to my 30s, NJ summers were my favorite weather. Hazy hot & humid did not faze me. Now that I am older, I have more empathy for those who complain about NJ summers. The humidity wipes me out. I learned in Arizona that temperatures above 100 are probably more heat than I enjoy, but I can go up into the 90s and have no problem if it is dry. I finally understand the phrase “it’s not the heat it’s the humidity”. Yes, it’s the humidity. And the dratted no-see-ums that are eating me alive every time I water the plants. My legs are covered with scratched bites and scabs. My legs look like the legs of a grade schooler (if there were still such a thing as grade school – oh wait – do NOT go there). My wonderful husband heard me moaning every night after watering the plants and bought me mosquito netting pants!!!! They do work! The problem, I think, for me is that I sweat so heavily from the humidity, that it is still attracting them through the pants. The number of bites is greatly reduced but I still got bitten the other night. I think I’ll try spraying the pants with insect repellent and see if that makes any difference. I could try to get up early when there are fewer bugs about but mostly I get up that early to make sandwiches.

You may laugh but everyone who has seen them or heard me talk about them has asked where they can get them (search on mosquito netting pants)

I came home from making sandwiches yesterday and went to pull into my driveway. And I stopped. There was a man from the utility company walking out of my driveway and 5 orange cones IN my driveway. I rolled down my window and looked at him, and asked “What are you doing?” He explained that he had cleared it with the man in the house (*grin* I said – my husband, he said – I didn’t want to presume, I said – wise approach these days). The apron of the driveway was damaged when we got the new gas and electric to the house back in February or whenever it was. They are finally getting around to repairing it. He said we couldn’t drive on it for 3 or 4 days. That means no convertible – it is in the garage. Too bad, because the temperatures are only supposed to be in the 80s for the rest of this week. Of course, the humidity is also supposed to be in the 80s. It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity.
driveway before and after

Last year I mentioned that I should plant lots and lots of canna lilies because the butterflies seemed to really enjoy them. I have only seen 2 butterflies this year so far. I showed you the monarch butterfly on the butterfly weed. There has also been a black swallowtail I’ve seen periodically. The swallowtail seems to check out everything but the things I planted specifically to make butterflies happy. It seems to really like the echinacea. I saw it today checking out the herbs, tomatoes and superbells, but it flitted away before landing anywhere. Camera-shy I guess.

black swallowtail butterfly on echinacea — Black swallowtail butterfly

I planted 2 gardenias this year – one in a hanging pot and one in a pot along the front walk. I believe that the one in the hanging pot was burned out by the hot weather, after managing to produce 2 flowers in the late spring. The one along the walk has produced one full bloom. It does smell heavenly.

Not only has it been humid, we’ve gotten a lot of rain. The fun part is when it rains in the evening so I don’t have to brave the no-see-ums and can skip watering the plants. Apparently it has been even wetter than I realized. This week my neighbor’s lawn has sprouted mushrooms. Every day they have gotten larger and larger. There must be a good story to write there but at the moment I only have the illustrations. 🙂 If they get much larger they are going to cross the line from impressive to creepy.

mushrooms day 2 — okay, a little wider, but still not too creepy

Then of course there are the canna lilies. The “rescued” cannas have been thriving in the pots along the walk. FINALLY one of the ones I planted has begun to bloom. I get very impatient in the spring. Even knowing things will grow, I don’t want a lot of empty space that needs weeding and looks neglected. I cram way too many plants into one area. I have this gorgeous stupendously tall canna right smack in the middle of the lawn garden. Beautiful. BUT – crammed in that spot are 2 Rose Mallows, perennials that are in the hibiscus family. One of them was doing quite well before the canna began shooting up. The other is nestled under a canna leaf. When I can brave the biting-bug-filled lawn to go there, I rearrange it to be in front of the leaf. But somehow it always resets to under and behind. I hope it is sufficiently rooted to survive.

Mushrooms day 3 — There are actually 5 of these things in the yard. These 2 are about 6 inches across at a minimum.

I like so many flowers, and I’ve now got so many perennials. I want MORE rudbeckia laciniata hortensia, but I’m not sure where I can put them. I will have to pull out the firecrackers or chop down the variegated grass. Or pull out the rudbeckia laciniata (single bloom rudbeckia). That might work, except I also have the goose neck flowers there and I added the swamp milkweed as well. Sigh. Maybe I should put a border garden along the walk? That gets lots of sun.

rudbeckia after the rain — Rudbeckia laciniata hortensia after the rain. do you see the HUGE mushrooms?

Whatever it is that snuck into my planters now has flowers. I can’t wait to see what I’m growing. I thought that purple-edged leaf vine was a sweet pea vine – that’s what I was calling it in my head. But it’s not, according to my search. According to my search I have no idea what it is, other than beautiful. I also have no idea what to tell the lad who cuts my grass. I’m tired of moving pots and putting them back. I think I’ll tell him to just ignore the grass under the vines. *laughing* There isn’t really any grass, is there? My lawn is really nothing but weeds. 🙂
vines in the grass

tall canna lily and rose mallow — Rose mallow, canna lilies and dahlias

Can I Call a Plumber?

Gorilla tape this time instead of merely duct tape

We are all practicing separation, reduced contact with others. There are still stores open – those deemed essential. Some workers have also been deemed essential. I’m willing to bet that plumbers would be considered essential. The question for me now is whether I need the plumber so much that the need will override what is now habit – avoiding anyone who is not already in my germ pool? It’s interesting that the longer the stay-at-home is in effect, the harder it might be to actually interact with strangers again. If I were my friend Honour, I’m sure I could read instructions, shut off the water, remove the leaking spigot outside, replace it and not need to have a hose attached to keep the drip. And I’d be able to pull up the tiles around and in the bathtub, regrout, replace the tiles and not have to worry about more damage to my kitchen ceiling. But, alas, I am not that competent and so I wonder – should I call the plumber?

See how tight those nuts and bolts are????

SOME of my home repairs have been successful. I’ve been working for weeks now with the dining room table as my desk. I have papers everywhere and two computers set up. One is my work laptop, with huge attached monitor. The other is my personal computer. I sit in one chair for work and move to the NEXT chair for play. 🙂 It’s an interesting switch because one is a Mac and one is Windows. It can be confusing when I forget which machine I’m on. Anyway, when I switched to the play chair, I realized that it was incredibly loose. The back was not firmly attached. Ditto the chair next to that one. This IS something I can fix. I got out my trusty tool box (thank you, Randi!), flipped over the chairs and began tightening the nuts. I was intrigued by the fact that the chair has one kind of connection in the front of the seat and a differing one on the back. I decided it had to do with fact that the back has the joining piece and the hardware needed to be hidden but accessible. Am I right?

The other theory of course is that we lost the original screws, nuts and washers. 🙂

Some of my other attempts at home maintenance have not been as successful as the dining room chairs. I did very well with protecting the plants last week. I bought MORE plants this week (you know very well that I am incapable of not buying lots and lots of herbs and flowers). I was SURE we were not going to have any more frost warnings. More fool me. Frost warnings last night and for tonight. I’d ripped the drop-cloth I’d used the first time so I needed to come up with something else. I did alright with the plants outside along the walk – used a heavy tarp and anchored it sufficiently. On the porch, where the more delicate plants were – that’s where the wind got the better of me. You can see that it blew off the covers. I wonder if it was really the wind. Could it have been an animal looking for food? Anyway, I think the plants are alright. I’ll do a better job anchoring that tonight.

I find it hard to believe that the wind moved that blanket. I guess it was blowing from the front of the house

I’m dreading the other repair I need to do. I have to change the light in the range hood of the stove. At least I’ve already done that once before and learned how to do it properly. *grin* YAY for blogging!!! The big issue for that is getting the proper bulb. I’ll probably order it online because I’m not in such need that I have to go to the store. How our lives have changed. I never would have thought twice about driving to the store for one bulb.

Like the plants with the frost warnings, there are items IN the house that need protection. As are so many other folks, my husband is working on a jigsaw puzzle. We set up a 4 foot folding table for the puzzle work. It was going quite well until the cats decided to help him. Cat help consists of walking on the puzzle, napping in the box, jumping from the table to the couch, and batting pieces onto the floor. He devised a way to protect the work in progress. He commandeered a sheet and covered the puzzle. I came down the next morning and found the sheet, and puzzle pieces, on the floor. Obviously the sheet needed more weight. Hence the addition of the afghan. Having noticed the desirability of the open puzzle box as a bed, my husband offered an incentive to leave the sheet and afghan in place. He placed the top and bottom of the box on top of the sheet. This offering has appeased the GC, who has taken to napping in the boxes. BC now ignores it all because things don’t move. WC never cared – she is curled up in her bed on the couch and that’s what she needs to be happy.

GC in action. The moment she sees my camera she starts moving.

Should I call the plumber or turn the water on again from inside the house only when I need to use the hose?

Life has no cares when you have good house staff.

I Am NOT Handy

Subtitle: How many Ahuva’s does it take to change a light bulb?

Sub-subtitle: It pays to blog

If you own a house, or rent a home, or spend any part of your life existing under a roof within 4 walls that is somewhat your responsibility, you know the Homeowners’ Motto:

IT’S ALWAYS SOMETHING.

The halogen light on my new range hood burned out. It’s a light bulb, right? No biggie. I get out the instruction manual, look up the maintenance guide, find the information I need. It’s a specific halogen lightbulb: 120 volt 50 watt halogen bulb. I go online to see where I can buy this. Great – the big box store near my office carries them. This week I picked up a package.

I’m working from home today because it is brutally hot and disgustingly humid. In the old days, when my cats were young, and I had a dog, and I was more thrifty than I am currently, this weather would have sent me straight to the office! Let THEM pay for air conditioning!!! I’d leave all the shades drawn, and the wall a/c unit on in the dog’s room, and know that the cats could either hang with the dog or go down into the basement which is much cooler.

But time moves on and my cats move less. WC in particular has been having major issues and seems to need to stay on the first floor. GC is also looking a bit wobbly. I could turn on the a/c in what used to be the dog’s area but none of the cats hang out there. I don’t think the cooler air would be sufficient lure.

So I’m working from home so that I can keep the house air conditioned for the cats. Why do I have to be here you might ask? Because I do not have central air and I don’t like leaving so many wall/window units going with no one here to monitor. As long as I’m here, I can change that light bulb. I have some time between meetings – should be no big deal.

HAH!!!

First, trying to get the old bulb out took more elbow grease than expected. I did manage to get it out. Thank goodness it looked exactly like the new ones I bought. Still following directions (Don’t touch the bulb!!!) I climb the step stool to insert the new bulb. It doesn’t go in. I have spent over 20 minutes trying to get that blankety blank bulb’s prongs into the blankety blank base. I shined a light up there but of course once you start inserting the bulb, you can’t see the base. I decide I’m blogging this activity. I start taking photos. And I LOOK at the pictures. And I realize that I’m mistaking the screws of the base for the place to insert. It’s much clearer when I can look straight at the base and not have my neck twisted about peering into darkness, while I balance on a step stool.

Once I figured out WHERE I needed to aim the bulb, it only took another five full minutes to get it engaged and set. Nope, I’m NOT handy. But I DID change a lightbulb. One Ahuva. 🙂