Taking a break from our afternoon bike ride.
Category: Family
Almost too tired to write (a good day)
It was 70-degrees here today. And Sunny.
We had a busy day. I would write all about it, but I’m too tired to spend enough effort to make a long post make sense. Or at least get the post to what passes as making sense (to me). So I’ll keep this short (which I’m sure Susanna is thankful for) plus post some pictures from today.
The boys had soccer practice this morning. I got to sit and watch, so I’m not as tired as they are. They spent most of the afternoon playing basketball. Or make-believe Pokemon with the basketball. I don’t think I’m making sense. But I don’t think they did either, so I’m not too worried. Anyway, it was some sort of game somewhat resembling basketball, but different.
Will got in trouble last night for complaining too much about helping clean up the kitchen. So he got to make and clean up all of lunch. He was upset at first because all he knew how to make was peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. And he is sick of them because that is what he makes every day for lunch at school. So I showed him how to make grilled cheese sandwiches. He made all but the first sandwich. With almost no help (though with supervision). Now he can make two things in the kitchen. He only burned himself once (a little bit). On the same hand that he had cut at breakfast trying to slice a loaf of bread (again a small injury). Yes, learning to cook can be painful. Just wait until he learns home repair.
Susanna and I cleaned the patio after lunch, cleaning off two years worth of leaves and fighting back the encroaching yard. It was much-needed. I had a chance to start sanding the bottom of the boat in preparation for painting. We are switching the bottom from blue to green.
Tonight we get to babysit Michael. It was a surprise (to me). Susanna had agreed a month ago, but we all had forgotten about it. Luckily we had no major pans (other than enjoy the nice weather). I actually got Will to help me take Michael for a walk down the road. Will even went to the neighbor’s house to borrow a stroller. We are finishing the night with two very tired adults, two exhausted and sleeping Curtis boys, and one not quite ready to sleep toddler.
So much for keeping this short.
Enjoying a perfect spring afternoon
Building Fences (and actually finishing a project in time)
Susanna and I have been wanting to replace the fence next to the workshop for a while. It wasn’t a big project, just everything else got in the way. Until today.
And I know that I’m not the best at guessing how long it will take me to complete a project. I’m just easily distracted. Susanna just mentally adjusts the expected completion of a project whenever I give her a date that I’ll be finished.
But sometimes they really don’t take that long to finish. I had guessed that the fence was an afternoon project; and we started bulding in the afternoon and finished before dinner. That included cleaning up (but not restacking the lumber beneath the barn). The old fence was a green wire fence (we needed a fence to keep the dogs from running out of the yard on that side of the barn. We replaced it with a three board fence. The invisible fence follows the wooden fence, so it will keep the dogs in the yard (Tucker escapes from the back of the yard anyway).
Another Sunday….
The rain mostly stopped. The temperature outside is in the 50s. It almost feels like spring. I think the whole family is enjoying the warmer weather and being able to be outside. It is good to see the everyone enjoying the day.
Ben is over at a friend’s house this afternoon (I’m assuming he is having fun – he always does). Will has a friend over and they are having fun, though I’m pretty sure they got their shoes soaking wet trying to explore the stream/river in the back yard. Susanna is starting a puzzle after working on lesson plans for next week for most of the afternoon. The dogs can finally spend most of the day outside, and I can time in the workshop (without having to blast the heater).
A wet morning (or the non-preferred method of cleaning the chicken coop)
I like the rain. But enough already. The seasonal stream in the backyard has turned into a seasonal river in the backyard. At least the rain is slowing down for now.
A quick walk around the yard (in the very squishy mud) finds our stream overflowing its banks. Not that there were really any defined banks. Hopefully it doesn’t erode too much from under the back of the garage.
The water has flooded under the workshop. Luckily the only things stored on the ground there are the canoe (and it should be okay), some aluminum ladders, and a pile of not-very nice lumber. Though there may be some sapele and cedar on the bottom of that stack. Oh well.
And a quick trip to the basement… let’s just say that it is much wetter than normal. Luckily nothing should be stored on the floor in the basement. Though I’m sure the cat doesn’t enjoy having to find her way around on the steam pipes to stay dry.
A little music for the night
Ben and Susanna took a few minutes tonight to play “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” together. Ben on his trumpet and Susanna on the piano. I’m impressed because I can’t play anything…
Feeding the Chickens (when I’m away)
I’m mostly happy with the chicken coop I built last summer. The biggest problem is that I made the entire top a single hinged lid. It is heavy. With 6″ of snow on top of it is really really heavy.
The feeder for the chickens is inside the coop and requires that I lift the lid every week to refill the feed. One option would be to saw the roof in half, and have a left and right side that are easier to lift individually. Or I cold build a new feeder that can be refilled from the outside.
Susanna voted for the second one. She doesn’t like the chickens, and would appreciate being able to care for them without having to hang out with them in the coop.
Today I went to the box store and for less than $20 I picked up 3″ piping and connectors to make a new feeder. It is a simple feeder, with a tube to hold the feed on the outside of the coop and a tray in the coop. Even though you can’t easily tell in the pictures, the tray does have an end – the feeder doesn’t just dump the feed into the coop.
I installed and filled the feeder today. Hopefully the birds won’t stand on it and poop in their own food. But they probably will.
Overall, this was a quick easy project. It may have worked better with 4″ piping (it would have held a lot more food – almost twice as much). Or maybe I could have used a longer section of piping to hold more food.
Melodifestivalen 2014
Today was the final for Melodifestivalen 2014 – Sweden’s music competition for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Susanna is a huge fan of the contest.
The time zone difference means that it is a 2pm show local time. We pushed the streaming video to the house TV and the whole family watched. Susanna and Ben both dressed up for the show. Will, Targa, Tucker and I didn’t so much. But we all enjoyed the concert. It helped that the songs we liked did well in the end.
Vacation Day at the Spa
Today Susanna and I took a day for ourselves. My Christmas present from her was a gift certificate at the Spa at Norwich Inn – not too far down the road from us. We headed out the door shortly after the boys left for school.
Our first appointment was a yoga class (and not I am not very flexible at all… I would probably benefit from some more yoga) followed by swimming and enjoying the hot tub/sauna/steam rooms. After a wonderful lunch at the restaurant upstairs, we had an afternoon massage session, followed by more time in the hot tub/sauna/steam room.
We finished up around 5pm, with plenty of time in the day to enjoy the cold Connecticut weather.
What a perfect way to start the week! It also means a short 4 day work week.