Tag Archives: open windows

Dog Yellers

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The heat broke sometime after midnight. Today is lovely and sunny and mild and breezy and perfect. So perfect that the windows are open, to let the breeze wander through. Even the dining windows are open, as very little heat is generated by the sun that shines brightly on the new metal roof. This is heavenly, lovely windows that open, lovely insulation that keeps the house temperature on an even keel, and a lovely light coloured metal roof just outside my dining window.

The breeze is not the only thing that wanders through. The neighbours across the street are having power struggles with their little dog. If they aren’t loudly reprimanding the dog, the dog is barking at them.

The thunderstorm in the forecast for last night did not materialize, no rain fell. Attila watered the garden well last night. There isn’t any significant rain in the forecast, so watering will be frequent. The new roof is not finished and the eves troughs are still dismantled, so our rain barrels are of little use. This is a downside of the garage roof project, which can be compensated for by paying for water through the utility company. There are many hidden advantages, and hidden costs, to any project.

There are a lot of earwigs in the house at the moment. I found one on my plate at lunch time! Now how did he get there? Most insects cause me little concern, except disease carrying types, like mosquitoes and black ticks. As far as I know earwigs are just ugly and annoying, but won’t make you sick.

Tonight’s Instant Pot dinner will be a repeat of yesterday’s dinner, the Spicy Orange Chicken. The orange juice needs to be used before it turns, simplifying the decision making process. I don’t mind a repeat though, the chicken dish was very tasty.

And now, it being so very lovely here on my easy chair, with the breeze gently breathing through the curtains, and sighing through the leaves on the trees outside the window, I think I’ll put up my feet and have myself a little nap!

Worldly Distractions

Weather

21°C
Date: 1:00 PM EDT Friday 6 July 2018
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.2 kPa
Tendency: Rising
Temperature: 21.4°C
Dew point: 8.6°C
Humidity: 43%
Wind: NNW 31 gust 45 km/h
Humidex: 22
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.”
John Wayne
1907 – 1979

Learning

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Oh the excitement! Well, by modern standards of drama, not really. OK, admittedly by the standards of recent drama in my own life, not really. But I can muster a little bit of excitement over this.

On Wednesday evening, after 7:00 p.m. the dishwasher was doing its thing. The dishwasher generates heat, as it does its thing. Unexpectedly, the dishwasher raised the temperature in the house a whopping 1.5C, which put it at 22.5C. That is too warm for sleeping! The temperature in the house, due to new insulation and new windows, remains constant. Attila suggested turning on the air conditioning. I was resistant. The compromise was to open all the windows in the house until bed time, which brought the temperature down to 21.5. Better. It will take some time to learn how to manage the temperature in the house! I might just open the windows while the dishwasher is running, and see if that keeps the temperature down.

I have been enjoying the beautiful warm sunny afternoons, and chilly clear nights. Everything is green. The leaves are unfurling, the perennials are shooting up towards the sun.

This morning I washed laundry before 7:00 a.m.; it has been hanging out to dry on the back porch clothesline. It has not been a terribly busy day. Attila’s iPad needed some updating, did that. My web sites needed software upgrades, did that. Time is flying by, so I must be having fun.

Things between Attila and I remain friendly, a new rhythm of life is slowly emerging, and I find I am comfortable with that process. The future is unwritten.

Attila’s garden is in the planning stages. The seed packets are spread all over the kitchen table: Swiss Chard, Scarlet Runner Beans, Climbing Peas, Blue Hubbard Squash, Butternut Squash, Basil, Spinach, and a few others yet to be chosen. The Scarlet Runner Beans, Blue Hubbard Squash, and Butternut Squash are seeds we saved from previous harvests at Mist Cottage, originally saved from produce purchased from organic farms. Some of the remaining seeds are Heirloom seeds purchased from Salt Spring Seeds, and some were ordered from William Dam Seeds. This is a gardening weekend for Attila.

I have just come indoors to finish writing this entry. The mosquitoes were beginning to be bothersome. Attila and I had been sitting out on the porch, chatting, and watching the big bonfire that the neighbours had built in their back yard; all the enjoyment, none of the work. There is a party going on around that bonfire tonight, but the revelry won’t disturb me, I’ve been sleeping well most of the time lately.

Worldly Distractions

Weather

17°C
Date: 8:00 PM EDT Friday 18 May 2018
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 102.6 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 16.5°C
Dew point: -2.6°C
Humidity: 27%
Wind: NE 18 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“It’s easier to put on slippers than to carpet the whole world.”
Al Franken

Open Windows

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I made it, the windows are open in April! Yes, it is the last day of April, and yes I am wearing a sweater indoors to keep warm, but all of the windows on the main floor of the house are wide open and the breeze is blowing through. It is the last day April and the universe sent sunny, relatively mild weather so that I could open these windows. Somebody up there likes me.

Other than enjoying sitting in the living room, watching the wandering breeze flutter the curtains, I’ve had a busy day.

I had washed Iris the trailer during the last brief series of days when the sun shone, and so I was keen to get back to the task today. After removing the lichen, black spots remained all over the roof, and required a lot of elbow grease to remove. I opted to use 30 Seconds solution, which I purchased at Canadian Tire. I added it to the sprayer and up the ladder I went, soaking the entire roof with the solution. And work it did, the black spots dissolved, and what little remained came off easily with a small brush. To rinse the roof I had to carry bucket after bucket of cold water up the ladder, to dump it on the roof. This was very tedious, as the outdoor taps has not been turned on for the summer, so a trip up and down the stairs to the kitchen sink was required for each bucketful. I got my exercise for today.

I found it interesting that the 30 Seconds solution splashed onto my pants and my shirt, and where it landed the fabric has corroded into brown spots that are almost transparent. I believe that 30 Seconds is a very strong bleaching agent. Luckily I was wearing my work clothes, which I removed immediately after finishing the job, and soaked in a sink full of cold clear water. Then I hung the wet clothes on the clothesline across the back porch. That is another first today, the first time I’ve hung laundry to dry outside in 2018, and managed it in April to boot.

Before I sprayed the 30 Seconds on the roof I had to temporarily protect the failing patch on the roof. This I did with aluminum duct tape, placing a round piece of paper against the sticky side, so that the paper would protect the patch from the adhesive, and would not be damaged when the tape is removed.

I shared the driveway with a parade of wasps. They would land on the trailer, on my ladder, on the front door, on the door to the garage. I killed every single one I ran into. I hate wasps around the doors and outdoor activity areas. Attila is allergic to their sting, and although I am not allergic, I know what a wasp sting feels like and I am not keen on the experience.

The robins are hopping all over the back yard, and are so much fun to watch. They stare me down if they see me looking at them out of the window, or today as I stood on the back porch. Early mornings I see two to three rabbits nibbling on our lawn (which is really a well manicured weed field). They are very cute, with red fur on their legs and ears, and a patch of red fur on their backs. Their tales are fluffy white, and they look as if they have been sitting on balls of cotton.

There is nothing like a sunny day to bring cheer into a day.

Well, I am off to make dinner, cauliflower, sweet potato, and Coconut Lime Fish. The windows are still open!

Worldly Distractions

Weather

19°C
Date: 4:00 PM EDT Monday 30 April 2018
Condition: Partly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.5 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 18.6°C
Dew point: -2.0°C
Humidity: 24%
Wind: NNW 20 gust 41 km/h
Visibility: 24 km

Quote

“Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)”
Walt Whitman
1819 – 1892