Sunday, December 20th, 2009
I would like to start off this post by telling you that I was just kidding when I wrote my last post regarding the massive impending blizzard-like snow storm we were about to get. My sister, brother and I had been going back and forth through email all day. They were sending pictures and snowfall amounts and my sister kept telling me that we were really in for it. Apparently, they each got over a foot.
My little joke yesterday was telling people about all the snow that had already fallen in states that are south of us. I said things like, “See? I told you. That’s why we don’t move down there. Too much snow.” Of course, we get more snow than them in general. I was being foolish and I apologize for the deception.
Throughout the day, important televised programs were interrupted by an over-eager weatherman forecasting the apocalypse, or armageddon if you will. Sorry, I just wanted to use those words. There were scrollers going across the screen, important updates, flashing lights and at times, the TV vibrated.
Are you ready for the official snowfall measurement? And to think, I ran out and bought an emergency case of baked beans.
Snowfall measurement
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Monday, September 7th, 2009
This is a project that I have been waiting all year to do. It’s called, “Overseeding the lawn” (the correct time of year).
Every time I have put down grass seed, it was during the hottest, driest time of year. The seed didn’t do much because there was nothing much to do. Eventually, I think it actually grew, but that was months later when things cooled off and the rain returned.
They say to overseed your lawn in early September. This is because, like I said above, the Summertime drought is most likely over and rain falls more frequently. Unfortunately for me, the ten day forecast shows ten perfectly orange pictures of sunshine. Only me.
The reason I did the whole lawn dethatch, aerate and overseed the day I did was because of the rain we got the previous two days. In order to properly aerate, you need moist soil. If the soil is too dry, the aerator can’t get down into the dirt deep enough and you won’t pull a substantial plug. I got plugs that were about one and a half to two inches long. I would offer a picture, but it’s been about a week since I did this job and the plugs are all dried up and not very attractive.
I thought I would breeze through this particular project. In actuality, it took longer than expected. First, I dethatched the grass. I did this by towing the dethatcher I bought at Home Depot around the yard. Since grass and thatch kept clumping up in the tines, I had to stop frequently to clean it out. After that was done, I put the bagger back on the mower and mowed the grass at a height of three inches. I know the general advice is to mow at one inch or less when overseeding, but I just didn’t have the heart to scrape the dirt when I had no guarantee of rain in the future. I am not about to water 11,000 square feet of grass either. Mother Nature is going to have to take care of this one.
After I dethatched and mowed, I pulled out the tow behind plug aerator and did my thing. I did a few passes over the lawn to make sure I roughed up the dirt enough. I did a good job, but I still think I should have done more. It’s just that while doing this kind of thing, you want to get it done. Driving around in circles isn’t all that entertaining.
Okay, so once the aerating was finished, I filled the seed spreader up with my custom mixture of Kentucky Bluegrass and Perennial Ryegrass. I chose these two types of grass because the Kentucky Bluegrass is just awesome looking and it is supposed to spread to fill in bare spots. The thing is, it takes forever to germinate. The Perennial Ryegrass is a good looking durable grass that germinates much faster and will fill things in while waiting for the Bluegrass.
As I said above, it’s been about a week with no rain and there isn’t much action out there. I have been watering certain areas with my sprinkler because I have no illusions that a huge thunderstorm isn’t going to come and wash all the seed off the front hillside. I want to get that grass sort of anchored in there before that happens. Otherwise, I will have to let nature take its course and wait for the grass to grow on it’s own. I also have some seed left over to spread out if need be.
Here are some pictures for you.
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Bare spot in lawn with hole from tow behind plug aerator
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Bare spot in lawn with Kentucky Bluegrass and Perennial Ryegrass grass seed
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Bag of Scotts starter fertilizer
Oh yeah, I also bought two bags of Scotts starter fertilizer. Each bag is supposed to cover 5,000 square feet. I haven’t applied this yet because the directions say to water in immediately after application. Since I can’t water the entire lawn, I am going to wait for right before the next rainfall to spread this stuff around.
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Friday, August 21st, 2009
I guess it really doesn’t matter if it’s Friday or not, we work seven days a week ’round these parts. Yeah, we should really stop that.
Well, it’s kind of hard to stop working when it’s like 100 degrees and absolutely disgusting outside. I have been intermittently venturing out daily for some small landscaping projects. Every time I come inside, I am sopping wet with sweat. I mowed the lawn this morning, which wasn’t bad. Things changed when I had to start transplanting some shrubs. The minute I put any amount of effort into anything, there it comes. When that happens, I can hardly get my shirt off. It’s so nasty.
Okay, enough about that. Where have I been? Well, last week I had a few projects going on with the websites. I am trying to get some of the larger things done while it’s still Summer. Internet traffic generally picks up come Autumn, so I want to be in a good position. There are so many factors…oh so many factors. Changes generally take a few weeks to complete because as time goes on, you start realizing and remembering all the ramifications of what you are doing. I won’t continue to bore you.
I have been considering hiring a developer to assist with some programming on my sites. I did the math and figured that it was doable. Then, I started thinking about all the BS you have to deal with when getting someone else involved and I decided that outsourcing was the best route. So now, I am actually outsourcing to the company that created the software. It’s great…these guys are awesome and they know every corner of the software that they created. It has been a pleasure. So far, they completed two projects for me and are working on the third. I probably have about two more after this.
Outside…I have been transplanting some shrubs from the hill up front to various places around the property. It’s a miserable chore in this heat, but that doesn’t stop me. I just like to get out there. I am moving them so I have more room to mow. I am also going to be reseeding the entire lawn this Autumn, so I want to get that hill done. I want to plant a few more pines and some smaller fruit trees up there too. That should look pretty good.
I keep saying that I am never going to order any more of those little pine trees from Arbor Day again. I have varying luck with what I get. Then, I go ahead and order more. If you are going to order any pine trees from Arbor Day, I will tell you to stay away from the Blue Spruces. All (or almost) of ours died. All (or almost) of the Norway Spruces lived. Hmmm…if I do ever order any more of those trees, I am going to get the Norway Spruces. If I could just find some baby pine trees locally, I would be happy. That challenge is more difficult than it sounds.
We have been trying to go for our daily walks, but it’s getting hard to do that in this heat. We have been going about every other day. We tried to walk in the morning and then the evening to see which one was better. They are about the same. Either way, you still have to take a shower afterward.
It’s supposed to thunder storm this afternoon. It’s a little breezy outside right now and I am looking forward to the rain. It’s funny, all that rain we got in the beginning of the Summer is a distant memory. Now, the grass is crusty and the dirt is like concrete.
So anyway, happy Friday and I’ll leave you with this. Do you agree with me when I tell you some people just deserve to be smacked?
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Saturday, June 27th, 2009
Yesterday, I was humming away, working outside and minding my own business when the sky started getting dark. I kept on working until the sky was a little too dark for my liking. I grabbed my tools and walked into the garage.
About five minutes later, the sky fell. It was crazy. The wind picked up and there was like a sheet of rain falling from above. Then, the hail started. I am so glad the cars were in the garage because I am almost sure they would have been all dented up from the hail. Some pieces were really big. They were actually bouncing off the grass and rolling down the front yard.
The storm lasted for about 15 minutes and then slowed down. I looked outside and there was a complete mess. Leaves everywhere. There are now holes in many of our plant leaves because of the hail.
Everything was cool for a while and then the power went out. It just came back on this morning. Ugh. That really stunk.
Here are some pictures. I didn’t get any of the big hail, but my brother’s verbal abuse will make me remember for next time.
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Hartford, CT hail storm – hail on ground
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Hail falling on back porch – some serious hailing
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Saturday, January 10th, 2009
When I went and bought this car, I knew I wanted the “xDrive, intelligent all-wheel-drive,” but never really thought I would use it. At this point in the season, I am beginning to see how it can be handy to have around.
I got a great idea around 7PM this evening. I was getting hungry and it was snowing outside. I would say about an inch already fell. What better way to celebrate our current snowstorm than to go out and get some pizza?
The pizza place is a few miles away. There are no serious mountains to climb or drive down, so I didn’t really see anything wrong with hopping in the car to go for a ride. Actually, I was looking forward to it, because from what I have already experienced, driving in this car is like riding a train. BMW is awesome.
As I was cruising up the driveway, I gave it a little something extra, like I usually do. I didn’t get that normal 4-wheel spin, but I did get some pull. I credit the snow with not being all that slippery for that. As I drove down the road, I did a little zig-zag to see what the roads felt like. Nothin’. It didn’t budge. As I went around the first tight corner, I did feel a little slip, but the car corrected by itself. I think I was getting a little too comfortable.
I was about half-way to the pizza place when I realized that I could be taking pictures of this whole experience. I mean, how often do you get to see pics and vids of someone driving in the snow? Not often. Oh, you are going to love this…
2008 BMW X5 driving in snow storm
2008 BMW X5 driving in snow storm
I couldn’t decide which of those two photos was better, so I posted both of them.
Snow coming down at gas station
Gas prices - central Connecticut
The photo above is for my father. He is always asking about the gas prices here. It’s what fathers do.
2008 BMW X5 tire and rim
That’s just a random shot of the car tire. I was standing there pumping gas with a camera in my hand. What did you want me to do?
2008 BMW X5 dashboard at night
Oh yeah, I got some video for you too. Check ‘em out. And to think, I wrote all this, the same day I wrote about blogger’s block. By the way, that’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and “Thistle & Shamrock” on the radio in the background.
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Friday, January 9th, 2009
When we moved here, I asked a few people who have been here for a while, what type of winters we were in store for. I wasn’t expecting huge changes from what we were used to, since we are only about two hours away from where we used to live. The responses I got ranged from, “same thing as your hometown,” “about 6-8 good snows per year,” and “a lot of ice.”
We have already experienced the snow storms. They feel about the same as where we just came from. Now, we are experiencing the ice.
See, describing winter in New York to someone is a tricky endeavor. There are many micro-climates. I think the temperatures vary to some degree, but what varies even more is the snowfall amounts. Rochester is a far cry from Long Island. Even the Catskills are much different from Westchester.
When Laura and I were out walking one day back at the old house, we stopped to chat with one of the neighbors. We started talking about snow, when she laughed and said, “Oh, you have never experienced a winter around here?” I was like, “C’mon lady, gimme a break. We are an hour away from where we used to live.” She was sort of right, there was a little more snow than we were used to.
Way, way, way back in the day, like 12 years ago, when I was attending Westchester Community College, we had an ice storm. This storm left the roads completely covered for an entire week. It didn’t help that it was about 12 degrees outside for all that time, keeping the roads frozen. I remember that I couldn’t get to the first week’s worth of classes because of all the ice. I would drive about 3 miles in the car down through town and turn around. It was maddening.
When I finally made it to class, I expected everyone else to talk about all their terrifying experiences trying to get to school. The funny thing is that no one even knew what I was talking about. They all lived in Westchester and got no ice. Either that, or it just melted faster.
Pieces of ice on driveway
Connecticut is a bit different from New York. The way it was explained to me from the sales guy at the John Deere dealership was like this: There are basically three zones in Connecticut. The first one is from Interstate 84 and north. They get snow. From Interstate 84 down to Interstate 95, we get icy, slushy mix. From 95 south, they get rain. Of course, that’s not always true, but most likely would occur in the early season and the late season. That’s fine with me.
We got some freezing rain a few days ago. It coated the ground and pavement and has been hanging around ever since. Yesterday, the sun melted most of the driveway, but not all of it. I was walking around on it today and nearly killed myself. For some reason, it’s like a magnet to me. It calls out my name…”Jay, come over and do the moonwalk on me. Act like you are walking on a treadmill. Do the robot and the running man, like Rob.” It just happens, I can’t help it.
Icy sidewalk
Icy driveway
Today, while we were at Home Depot getting some paint for the next bedroom, I went over and grabbed some calcium chloride snow melt stuff. It’s like little white beads. I think it was calcium chloride or the other stuff. The one I got said it wasn’t as bad for the environment than the calcium chloride. It could have been magnesium chloride or potassium chloride. It probably would have been a good idea to read the bag before I started writing. Either way, I got the snow melt stuff.
As you could have guessed, I was excited to throw some of it around on the ice to see how it worked.
When we got back to the house, I unloaded the bag, dropped it on the floor, raced over to get a small bucket and went to work. When I got everything situated, I started tossing the little white pellets all over the place. It was pretty fun. After I unloaded my first batch, I stood back and listened. I always like to hear the soft, “crack, crack, crack” of the ice being melted by the whatever chloride.
I did this a few times and some of the ice was melted. I think I need to add more because I now have a sheet of ice with about a million little holes in it. I always try to be conservative with this type of material, so I don’t think I get the best results. Plus, I don’t want to throw the whole ten bucks away at one sitting.
I’ll let you know how it looks in the morning.
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Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008
I can officially call it winter now that it’s the 22nd. It feels like just a few weeks ago that I had sweat dripping off my face from working outside. Now, sweat is just a distant memory.
When I woke up this morning, I noticed a blue sky peeking through the little half circle window above the closed shades in the bedroom. I was pretty happy because every time it’s sunny during these “dark” months, you pretty much have to take advantage of it. Being trapped inside a house during a very snowy weekend can get on your nerves. Not that it isn’t beautiful outside, it’s just that seeing the same walls over and over again can take its toll.
I decided that today would be a great day to take Holly down into the woods to go for a walk. Since Holly is a Nordic dog, I figured that she would jump at the chance to bounce around in the deep snow. The plan was to hike down the hill behind the house, cross the walking trail, climb over the rock wall and continue down to the river. Maybe Holly could get a quick drink while we were there and then we would figure out a way to get back up that steep, snowy hill. That was the plan.
I went downstairs to get Holly, who was asleep on the warm basement floor. I said, “C’mon Holly…c’mon,” while slapping my hand against my leg. She kind of just lifted her head to look at me. Then, I started jumping around so she would get the message. Holly isn’t the best listener, so it takes a bit of theatrics to get her to do anything. Finally, she got up and followed me up the basement stairs and out the garage door, where I clipped her to her leash. I think she was starting to wake up, because she had a little pep in her step once we hit the driveway pavement.
To get Holly warmed up for the snow hike, I walked her up the driveway to the mailbox and back down to the edge of the woods. Once we were all set to enter the woods, I gave her a tug and jumped in myself. She followed me, but once her paws hit the snow and her body sank about a foot into it, she looked a bit discouraged. She glanced up at me with those, “No way, man” eyes. I wasn’t having that, so I started to tug on her leash a little more. We got about 50 feet into the woods and she stopped. She just stopped. Her head kept on leading back to the driveway. I stood there in utter disappointment. What had this dog turned into? Oh well, today is her birthday and she did just turn 14. I’ll give her a break.
We started heading back up the driveway and she began hopping in the snow. “Oh, so there’s all that energy,” I said. She was saving it to make sure she would make it back to that warm basement floor. She might need it to fall asleep again. Oh well. I brought her back inside and headed down into the woods myself.
Good thing I had my big boots and snow pants on. If I tried to hike around in anything else, I would have been totally covered in snow. We must have over a foot, because the white stuff was well past my shins and right below my kneecaps. It’s not fun when it hits the skin and starts to melt. Winter is all about dressing the right way. I figured that out a long time ago. Believe it or not, the second time I went skiing, I attempted to go down Mt. Snow in jeans. What an idiot. I’ll chalk that up to being an inexperienced youth.
I had my camera in my pocket and was ready to take some really beautiful shots of the New England woods after a snowstorm. I made it a bit down the hill to the treehouse. I figured I would take a few pictures of it to show you. I mentioned to Laura this morning that we should make a point of fixing it up this summer, just in case we ever wanted to sit up there and watch the woods. It’s situated in a nice little cluster of Hemlocks.
Treehouse in Hemlock trees
Treehouse in Hemlock trees
The treehouse is built very well and quite sturdy, so I don’t think we’ll have any problems maintaining it. Laura already climbed up there over the summer to peek out the window. I got about half way up and turned around. I few years ago, I would have been jumping up and down on top of the roof. What the heck happened to me?
I continued down the hill, across the hiking trail, all the way to the river. It’s really not that far, but when you are lifting your knees to your chest, trying to walk, it seems a lot further than it really is.
I made it to the river and took a few photos. This one was the best.
River leading into wetlands
The water wasn’t as active as it was a few days ago, after that huge rainfall we had. It was pretty calm today, but I’m sure we’ll see a change after the rain and warm weather that’s predicted for the next few days.
From there, I stopped to smell the figurative roses. It’s not every day I am able to stand, once again, in silence. It was really nice. There were no footprints anywhere, so I knew I was alone. I took a look around to see what I could take pictures of. It was kind of challenging, because there wasn’t a lot of substance. It’s hard to explain, but in the summer months, there are leaves, trees, flowers, animals, etc…to take pictures of. During winter, there is snow and wood. I did find a few things though…
Branch with buds
Looking into the sun
Small branch with ice on it
Tree branches in winter
Dried leaf with snow on it
Small tree in winter woods
At that point, I figured that I had enough pictures. Trust me, there were many more than what I am showing you, but so many didn’t come out the way I wanted them to. With many of them, I was experimenting with the various settings on the camera.
When my fingers started getting cold, I turned around to head up the hill.
If you have never seen this hill, I’ll tell you that it’s somewhat difficult walking up when there is no snow on the ground. When there is snow, it’s all the more fun. I made it about half way back up when I stopped at the treehouse again. I saw a few low hanging Hemlock branches, so I pulled the camera back to see what I could do with them.
Close up Hemlock branches
That was fun because the Hemlock is my all-time favorite tree.
As I rounded the crest of the hill and got closer to civilization, I felt the cold air against my face. I was using a lot of energy, but not sweating in the least. I continued to walk and thought to myself how beautiful winter and snow can really be. I spend so much of my time complaining about how I can’t go outside and plant things, that I overlook much of what this time of year has to offer. Today was a great day to get outside and remind me of that.
The last picture I took was of one of the Rhodedenrums out in front. It looked to good against the blue sky, I just couldn’t help myself.
Rhodedenrum against blue sky in winter
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Thursday, December 18th, 2008
I really didn’t want to make the call this morning, but the predicted snow for tomorrow is steadily creeping up on me.
If you remember back a few months, I told you that I had only one more thing to buy…a snowblower. I planned for it and expected to get it in October. Then, I started thinking about how I might be able to get away with using a shovel on the very long driveway. Laura and I even talked about it; she would use one shovel and I would use the other. This, of course, was a conversation that was had when it was 60 degrees outside.
The day before the snow storm (today), the conversation changed. It went something like this:
ME: I bought a snowblower.
HER: Oh really?
That was about it.
Why did I get it? I’ll tell you why. It’s because of that dreaded end of the driveway snow. Last night while lying in bed, I had terrible flashbacks of that deep pile of snow the road plows leave at the end of the driveway. That snow is the absolute worst to shovel. There is no way I want to go through that again. I did it all last year and it really stunk.
One time, at the old house, my neighbor graciously came over and used his snowblower on the end part of our driveway. Man, that thing kicked some serious a$$. I stood there like a fool watching him. That proved there was a better way to get rid of the snow than using that green plastic shovel I was clutching in my hand.
So what did I do? This morning, I got on the horn and called my good friend Matt down at D.H. Marvin & Son, Inc. in Colchester. This is the equipment dealer I bought the John Deere tractor from. I told him that I wasn’t pleased to be speaking to him, because I was about to give him my debit card numbers again. He gave me a chuckle.
About 2 hours later, Matt showed up in the driveway with this…
Ariens snow thrower
Ariens snow thrower
Ariens snow thrower
Home Depot sells the same model, for the same price. I don’t know why I would buy it from Home Depot if I could get the additional support from a local dealer at no extra cost.
This is a nice snowblower. It is 24 inches wide and even has electric start. I am going to use the pull start, but if I needed the electric, it’s there.
I started it up and drove it around a little bit. It’s fairly simple to use. I am now hoping that it snows tomorrow, because if it doesn’t, I am going to be kind of mad that I just spent all this money on another garage ornament.
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Saturday, August 16th, 2008
Whenever it starts to even think about thundering outside, our beloved dog, Holly, starts pacing around frantically. She pants and walks, pants and walks. She really doesn’t know where she is going, but she know she wants to get there fast. Poor dog.
Laura seems to think this whole issue is caused from an event a long time ago. She brought the dog to a kennel for a short retreat. The kennel person thought it would be nice to give the dog a bath and then put her outside…during a thunderstorm. Well, that’s one theory. My theory is that Holly is just scared of the thunder and that’s that.
Holly dog in bathtub
One thing we can always count on about half way through the storm is that light “tat tat” of Holly pulling herself into the bathtub to hide. It’s actually a relief when we hear that because it means that Holly will be away for a while and not under our feet. She eventually falls asleep and lets herself out after a while, when the thunderstorm is over.
We asked the vet if she had any advice on what to do about this. She said to give the dog two benadryl when we first hear thunder. That will bring her “to another place.” We did that a few times and it seemed to calm her down, but it’s kind of easy to forget to do.
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Monday, December 17th, 2007
There was supposed to be a big wind/snow storm over the weekend here in New York. We heard sleet hitting the windows Saturday night and woke up Sunday to see a nice layer of hard sleet/freezing rain on the already existing snow. This is the kind of snow you can walk on top of. It pretty much sleeted all Sunday. There was supposed to be heavy winds all Sunday into Monday.
Well, it was very quiet all Sunday. I was hoping that the wind missed us. I really hate wind. Of all things, I hate the wind.
About 7PM or 8PM last night, I felt a gust hit the house. I wasn’t happy about this. I looked out the window and noticed everything flying around. Good thing I brought the recycling cans inside the night before. I felt a few more strong gusts, so I looked out the back door onto the porch. I noticed that the tent (set up in the summer and never taken down) was upside down on the table. I thought the tent legs were going to put holes in the screening from tumbling around all night, so I went outside to take it down.
When I went outside, I felt like I was in a vacuum. There was strong wind coming from all directions. It had to be over 50MPH. I thought for sure that the huge oak tree in the back yard was going to take me out. I started taking the tent down. Someone call the “Guinness Book of World Records” for the least amount of time anyone has used to disassemble a tent. I was like Laurel and Hardy in fast motion. You should have seen me scurrying around pulling the tent poles out and folding them up. I got everything apart and threw it in the dining room. There was no time to drink wine, so that wasn’t even on my mind. Well, I guess I thought of it, but there were more pressing issues.
Laura got out of the shower and looked very relaxed. I was sitting there with my clothes all messed up and my hair standing on end. The tent was thrown on the floor. It was like one of those moments…when one person has no idea what the other person was just doing.
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