The lilacs are blooming. Attila brings in fresh flowers for me every few days.
The scent is nostalgic and wonderful, it fills the living room.
Tuesday, May 26
For weeks now Attila has been working to install an ERV in our basement. The inspiration to install this has come from high radon levels in the house, everywhere in the house, not just the basement. We can clear the radon by opening the windows, and that is what we have been doing all spring. It has been a cold spring, and I have put my warm clothing to very good use as our house has been chilly for weeks. Ginger has a LOT of fur, so he can withstand the cool temperature, but he isn’t good-natured about it, not at all.
And this morning, at last, the project is done! The ERV is running.
The project involved buying the unit ($1350.00 CAN) and assorted materials such a foam insulation, creating a hole in the concrete wall of the basement through which to install the unit (the most time consuming part of the project), rebuilding the wall and insulation around the hole in the wall, and finally, over the last two days, installing the unit itself.
Now to see if it has any effect on the radon levels in the house. Right now the reading is 0 Bq/m3, but this morning when I arose it was 280 Bq/m3, sometimes it is as high as 400 Bq/m3 in the morning. When we close up the house for the night the levels start to rise. I will be very interested to see what the readings are tomorrow morning! Fingers crossed that this brings the levels down below the threshold for safety, or even lower.
Today is one of those days where the weather seems perfect, not too hot, not too cool, not too sunny, not too cloudy, not too windy, with a beautiful breeze to flutter the curtains. Every window on the main floor is open today. Even Ginger approves today!
Wednesday, May 27
It is early days assessing how well the new ERV will mitigate radon in the house. Overnight the level went from 0 Bq/m3 to 168 Bq/m3 this morning, a distinct improvement. It will take some time to see how this well works when the house is closed up for long periods of time.
This week I had my last eye assessment, before cataract surgery will be booked at the hospital. Measurements were taken, and I found out some interesting things about my eyes. One is that I have mild dry Macular Degeneration, sigh, that is disappointing. I think this condition is a result of my inherited lipid issues, as none of the lifestyle factors that cause it are relevant. I have started the AREDS2 vitamins, they might help to slow down its progress. As for the surgery, I have chosen monofocal lenses, for distance, and will need glasses for reading. I am happy with that. Rooting for my eyes to last me while I need them!
There is always tension around surgery, due to my anaphylaxis. My allergen can be in injections and pills, and I have had more than one traumatic experience in health care settings, where mistakes were made, putting me at great risk… despite initially having very clearly outlined my concerns. I wear a Medic Alert bracelet as well.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (Mist Cottage), Attila is out in the garden planting starts from his little greenhouses. He is relieved to have completed the ERV install, and to be back outside enjoying the sun and the breezes as he putters away at what he loves best, gardening.
I spent the day paying bills, puttering, and baking bread.
Ginger continues to enjoy sleeping. When I am sitting in the living room with my laptop, there are times when I look up to find him relaxed with his front paws crossed, staring at me with affection… when he notices me looking at him, he slowly bats his eyes at me. I respond in kind, and we spend time making eyes at each other. He tires of this before I do, and goes to sleep. Ginger thinks I am a cat, an unusual cat, but a cat.
Worldly
Weather
21°C
Date:
7:00 PM EDT Wednesday 27 May 2026
Condition: Mostly Cloudy
Pressure: 101.1 kPa
Tendency: Falling
Temperature: 20.9°C
Dew point: 10.2°C
Humidity: 73%
Wind: SE 10 km/h
Visibility: 24 km
Quote
“When someone does something good, applaud! You will make two people happy.”
Samuel Goldwyn
1882 – 1974
Fingers crossed the the ERV unit does exactly what you’re hoping it will do–and maybe adds some energy savings along the way.
Sorry to hear about the dry macular degeneration. It seems that it’s always something and something else as we age. Best wishes for successful and uneventful cataract surgeries when they happen.
Thanks for all the good wishes Wendy!
If the ERV does not completely resolve the radon issue, we will keep working to lower the levels. I think the ERV was a great addition to the house, even if it does not completely solve the radon issue! No regrets.
It does seem to always be something as we age. I had imagined that I would tweak my lifestyle and it would all just level out. HA! That was the optimism of youth, and inexperience, just a few short years ago. I am older and wiser now, and I imagine fate is going to make me much wiser if I get older, lol.
I hope you get the target reading you’re looking for with the ERV. Several vets have told me that when a cat looks at you and gives you a slow blink, it’s his/her way of saying “I love you!” Good luck with eye surgery. When my turn comes I would ask for your configuration.. I hope the pills help slow down the macular degeneration. HUGS!!
Thanks Sandy for all your good wishes! HUGS!!
Even if the ERV doesn’t resolve the radon issue, it will be a welcome addition to the infrastructure of the house. One of the benefits is that it will exhaust moisture, always a plus in the basement.
I think the vets are right about the slow blinks, Ginger looks so content and relaxed when he casts his blinks my way. He and I have a pretty nice setup here at Mist Cottage, we enjoy our good luck together.
I’ve been wearing glasses for almost forty years, so I know I am OK with wearing them. The monofocals have fewer issues than the expensive multifocals that offer glasses free sight, that often comes with night time blurr and haze around lights.
When cats cross their paws like you described, that also means they’re relaxed and content. When I was younger I wore contact lenses. My doctor prescribed an option where you wear one contact for reading and the other for distance vision. I forget what they call it. He aid that it fakes out the brain and gives you great, corrected vision. I wore them for a week and it’s a miracle I didn’t kill myself or others when I drove my car. I like simple solutions. I hadn’t herd about the blurring and haze around lights. I don’t mind glasses at all either. Have a great day!
Sandy, I think Ginger is living his best life! 🙂
I asked the surgeon about differing the lenses in the same way your contacts were different. She said that if I had had contacts like that and they worked well for me, that cataract lenses could be done that way. BUT apparently many people cannot adjust to the difference, with contacts that is easy to correct, with surgically implanted lenses that is a big deal to correct and I would have to pay out of pocket to change it if it did not work for me. I decided not to take the chance. BUT if you ever need cataract surgery, that would work wonderfully for you, because you know it works!!!
I hope the ERV unit is as effective as you’ve been hoping and the AREDS pills help. I learned I have the beginnings of cataracts, esp. in the right eye. I see the eye doctor in six months, he is monitoring the progress. I’ve always been careful to wear the sunglasses outside in our very sunny region. We do what we can!
Thank you Joan for your good wishes!
Time will tell about the ERV, I am leaning towards an improvement but not a full solution with it. No matter, it is a welcome addition to the house, with other benefits.
I think I need to buy sunglasses. I have been wearing ultra cheap sunglasses when travelling in the car, and I doubt they are what I need to protect my eyes. I read that I should have 100% UV protection, so I’ll be on the lookout for a pair of those. I guess I should wait until after my surgeries though, because I might not need them to go over glasses after the surgery, at least that is what I am thinking.
It will be great to have the glasses requirement removed from my driver’s license!
May your eyes last as long as you need them. I like that! Who could ask for more?
We should be dealing with radon at our house too. Scott did put in an air exchange system and I don’t know if that manages it or not.
Like your Atilla, he’s a garden-loving guy and right now has to be in the field when he’d rather be in his garden. It’s late for crop seeding this spring.
Kate, you are so right, who could ask for more!
I measure the radon with an Aranet Radon Plus device, very accurate, expensive for us. It measure every 10 minutes, and the results can be saved for a spreadsheet. It displays the reading on the device, and the app on the iPad shows a graph of readings over time. The level went up last night, so I will be tweaking the unit to see if I can configure it to work on the radon levels, time will tell. It will also monitor the humidity and make adjustments to the fan speed to deal with that.
A big job, crop seeding! The farm I grew up on produced tender fruit, very labour intensive farming from early spring until late fall, the winters were relatively low key. Attila managed apple farms, which was labour intensive from early spring until late fall, with some down time in the winter months. He thinks he is in heaven now, retired and able to spend his time in garden!
I enjoy the food that comes in from the garden, but left to my own devices it would only be the raised beds that would be planted and tended, no more on your knees work for me.
Glad to hear the demolition is done and your ERV is in place. That’s a big change in the numbers, even if it isn’t the lowest numbers.
Your cataract surgery choice is the same as what my DH chose. He can see well from blocks away to about an arm length away. He only needs the cheater glasses for actual reading but he does carry the glasses around the house with him, a lot.
Sorry to hear about the degeneration. Hopefully, your new pills will help with that.
Teri, it is a big change in the numbers! It is going up again overnight, so I am tinkering with the configuration of the unit to try and get it to take care of the radon, early days, I will have to wait and see. But even if it doesn’t completely resolve the issue, we will be glad to have installed it!
It will be a whole new lifestyle for me, needing glasses only for reading. I think about how I am going to handle having them handy for reading, as I do an awful lot of that, and am constantly up and down, reading between doing other things. I must have pockets!!!
It was a disappointment to learn of the macular degeneration, hopefully I can slow it down. I purchased some sunglasses with 100% UAV/UVB protection, and will get reading glasses that are good for blue light (computer use). Diet is important but not an issue for me, as my diet is as optimized as it can be for my health issues. The pills are supposed to slow it down, and I’ve no idea how rapidly is progresses, something to research.