Monday, February 2nd, 2009
That’s two down and a bunch more to go.
I really don’t like painting. It’s not that bad once I get into it, but getting into it is the problem. I have found that doing short bursts throughout the day helps. If I put it off for a few days, I am in trouble. I won’t want to start again.
So everyone knows that pretty much the first thing to do when you move into a house is paint. In our last house, we had to paint over the smoke stained walls. That was nice. There were also many problems beyond that. It took me weeks just to prep one room. Everything came out nice in the end, but the whole project took longer than I would have liked it too. Just as I finished every last thing I could have done to that house, we moved.
This time, there really is no prepping. In this last room, I had to spackle 4 tack hole that I put there. It’s refreshing when people don’t smoke, have holes in the walls or wallpaper on the ceiling. Oh, the good ol’ days. I remember laying in bed a few years ago saying, “Pumpkin, we have wallpaper on the ceiling.”
Painting the red room didn’t take long at all. In just a few weeks, it was done. Most of that time was my procrastination. We closed out the era of the dark red and painted on a brighter blue/gray. Again, this is one of those paint colors that changes color throughout the day. I am sure all paint does that.
The dark red was okay, but we wanted to change up the wood grain trim and make it white. We also wanted to room to appear slightly larger. Brighter paint will do that.
I have said many times before, I love white trim. It’s bright and cheery and easily repaired when damaged. Just touch it up. My heart breaks when I paint over this nice wood, but it’s something that I have to do.
Here are some before and after pictures:
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Red room – before it was painted
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Red room – after it was painted
I think the toughest part was all the taping around the windows. I wanted to maintain the wood window frames, but paint all the trim around it. That way, they don’t get painted shut and they will look more natural. Also, taking the door off the hinges and closet doors down (and painting them) took a while. Other than that, everything went well.
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Monday, January 12th, 2009
Do you have any idea how difficult it is to purchase a humidifier? Well, it’s not hard to purchase one, the difficulty lies in going over all the different selections online. Oh, and the reviews…THE REVIEWS. If there were no online reviews, things would be a heck of a lot easier. Trying to decifer between the real ones, the fake ones, the ones placed by the company itself and the ones placed by its competitors…it’s simply exhausting.
Okay, here is what has been happening: Lately, I have been finding it more challenging to feel the heat the pellet stove has been producing. It’s like I have to keep cranking it up more and more, just to get what we used to get out of it. The unit is running fine and is blowing out hot air, but I am finding myself getting cold easier and faster.
I know it’s colder outside than it has been, but that isn’t causing my little, “can’t get warm inside” dilemma. The temperature indoors has been remaining virtually the same as it has been over the past few weeks. I had a feeling I knew what the problem was, so I acted.
I did a little reading online and found that dryer air is more difficult to heat (or to feel the heat in). If moisture is added, the air feels warmer. If you know anything about this and I am sound strange, please correct me. I am merely a novice consumer and am always looking for more information on this type of stuff.
As a matter of fact, dry winter air does more than make you feel cold, it causes chapped lips, itchy skin and frequent nose bleeds. I also read somewhere that it dries out the wood in your house. That’s good enough reason for me to get going with the moisture. Oh yeah, one more thing…that good ol’ static. Can’t forget about that.
After getting all sorts of discouraged from looking at humidifiers online, I decided to go to Home Depot, close my eyes and grab one off the shelf. Good thing I grabbed the best one there.
For the uninitiated, there are all sorts of humidifiers; warm mist, cool mist and everything in between. Some cool mist humidifiers have spinners on the inside and shoot water in the air, otherwise known as vaporizing the water (vaporizers). Other cool mist humidifiers use “wicks” or filters to absorb the water in the holding tank. The fan in the unit basically evaporates the water from the wick. I really don’t like either of these types of humidifiers because I have had them both. The vaporizers leave “white dust” from the minerals in the water all over the place and the wick humidifiers have to have their filters changed relatively frequently. They get cruddy quite fast. The last type of cool mist humidifier I know of is the ionic mist humidifier. I have no idea how these work, but I do know many people are happy with this type and they cost more. That’s about it.
I favor the warm mist humidifiers. Simply put, these humidifiers boil the water and steam it out of the top of the unit. Some people don’t like these types of units because they cost more to run by using more electricity and leave the mineral trace in the unit, which requires cleaning every so often. Personally, I think that these types of humidifiers are the less of four evils, so I got one. If someone has other suggestions for me, I welcome them, because we will most likely need another unit.
I picked up the Honeywell HWM-450 4 Gallon Humidifier. The box says it can put four gallons of moisture in the air per day, which I found satisfactory. I was tempted to get the 14 gallon per day humidifier, but then again, my bubble was burst by looking at the $20 box of filters (or wicks) I would have to buy every few weeks. Here are some photos and a video of the unit I purchased today:
Honeywell HWM-450 4 Gallon Humidifier
Honeywell HWM-450 4 Gallon Humidifier
Honeywell HWM-450 4 Gallon Humidifier
After I brought this unit back to the house and ran it for a while, I decided to search for what people were saying about it online. I found one website where they had five reviews. Some people loved it, some people hated it. So far, I really like it, but then I have only had it for about three hours.
It does push a lot of moisture out into the air. The only way I figured I could show you, is to take a video of it in action. I know that I would have watched this video before I made the purchase, so maybe there are a few folks out there who would appreciate this like I would have.
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Wednesday, January 7th, 2009
I played a little tennis this morning. I didn’t know if I was going to make it, because the weather was kind of rough out there. I gave the club a call about 45 minutes before the clinic started and they let me know it was “on.” If I tell you one thing today, let it be that I love all-wheel-drive. This is like the tenth time I spun all four wheels going up the driveway. I keep doing it because it’s so much fun. This X5 freakin’ rules. I drive around in the snow like it’s nobody’s business. It also has descent control, so when I want to get back down the driveway, all I do is push a button.
I showed up on time, but the others were late. That was fine with me, because it gave me a chance to become acquainted with the ball machine. Man, about 5 minutes with that thing and I was whooped. I really need to get out there more. The older I get, the worse it becomes.
Laura has been talking about a treadmill lately, so I have a feeling that is going to be making its way into the basement. There are days when we can’t walk because of the weather. I tell her that I have an allergy to the whole “exercise at home” thing. I have seen basements full of rarely used equipment all my life. I have to give her credit though, she is beating up that Bowflex. I have never met someone who actually does what she says like this. Amazing.
Tennis was fun. There were only three of us, plus the pro. Small groups are always a good time and we used our time wisely. I am still practicing my forehand, so things are a little weird, but I expect to get it one of these days. I remember back when I was on the swim team over at the town beach. I was the worst one in the whole group at freestyle. I was doing 22 second laps. I went to visit a family friend in Long Island with my father one weekend and practiced swimming in their pool. When I came back, I was doing 16 second laps. I remember the look on the coach’s face…”WHAT?” That ended up being my best stroke. I’m tellin’ ya Mike, I’m tellin’ ya.
In between other things for the past few days, I have been painting the purple room. If you forget what the purple room looks like, you can check it out here. It’s the one that’s purple. I decided to get off my duff and start painting upstairs of the house. It took a while, but I’m doing it. I cleaned out the room, painted it and then moved my office in it tonight. Here, you can take a look…
Office
Oh, you know I went down to the flooring place in town. I was going to go all out with the top floor, one room at a time. I was first going to put down new carpeting in each room, then I lost heart at during my visit. I brought back samples of pre-finished hardwood. It only took a few hours for me to completely change my mind and lose all motivation to turn this into a multi-week project. If we ever want to re-do the floors, we’ll do them. For now, we are only going to worry about paint.
By the way, can you believe I have that much stuff in the little office? Geez.
Now that the old office is cleaned out, we can start painting in there. After that, the bedroom and finally, Laura’s office. It will probably be spring by that point, so I’ll be outside for the rest of the season.
After I was finished moving all the furniture, I went downstairs to grab myself a glass of Brandy. I must tell you, after tasting that Scotch, I have admitted that I am a Brandy man. It’s the whole, “after dinner” thing, I think. It’s just the way I am. I don’t need any more hair on my chest.
I did a little looking around and decided that perhaps someone should buy me a nice bottle of Christian Brothers XO Rare Reserve Brandy. I would really like that. If you want to just drop it off, cool. If you want to meet me someplace, I can do that, just let me know when.
Finally, let’s talk about music. I am done organizing my albums into nice, neat folders on my computer (backed up, of course). I have a whole slew of them and they are mixed with most of Laura’s. She still has a while to go. As I was sitting here in the new office tonight, drinking my Brandy, I decided to cruise through some of the folders. I knew what all my albums were, but there are some of Laura’s that I really am not all too familiar with.
I first listened to one of my favorites, Christopher Cross. Then, after that was done, I opened one of hers. I listed to the first part of the first song and decided to give it a chance. I was in the middle of working, so I didn’t notice all that much after that, until the third song. It was “Days Of The New – Enemy.”
Now, I know you are chuckling under your breath, mumbling that I am not as “hip” as you are when it comes to music. You’re probably right, but I have already gotten over it. I really like the song and I would like to share it with you. Enjoy. (You’ll have to click here to see it. They disabled embedding.)
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Sunday, December 28th, 2008
Hey, do you remember that time I told you that we had about a foot of snow? You should, it was just last week. Well guess what…it’s all gone.
Never in my life have I seen snow melt so fast. Let me correct that; I didn’t actually see the snow melting, it was just gone. I went to sleep a few nights ago and we had about 12 inches and when I woke up, we had about an inch. I am not sure what happened overnight. I was told that it was warm. Warm? What, like 80 degrees? Even if it was 40 outside, I would have trouble believing that all that snow could melt so fast. I think something else was at play. Something like magic.
Every so often, in between real blog posts, I like to write some random thoughts. Stuff like what I have been up to and what’s been on my mind. Let’s see how that works today.
Okay, so the end of the year is coming. I think that’s great. I am sick of 2008. I think a lot of great stuff happened, but personally, I don’t like endings, I like beginnings. I would like New Years to be over so people can get motivated and back to work. I always love talking to people at the beginning of each year because they have good ideas of what they want to see happen for the upcoming year. People start projects, start new companies…do all sorts of things. They make new investments, hit the gym, stop spending, start spending, oh the list goes on and on. I like hearing all about it. I like to see the hope in people’s eyes.
For my part, I am tightening up what I have. For the past month, I have been examining all areas of everything. Finances, business, organization, assets, friends…everything. Out with the old and in with the new. I’m like a reptile; I’m shedding off some dead weight. It stinks because I am so full of new ideas and start so many things, but I think being boring and simple for a while won’t hurt. It’ll give me time to get to know myself again.
We went for a walk today. It was about 60 degrees outside, so it felt like spring. All I wore was my salmon shirt and a fleece. Oh yeah, I had pants on too. We did our usual two miles, which takes what seems like 15 minutes now. At times, we don’t even talk, we just walk. We are getting faster and faster. It feels good. I always like to walk during the cooler months because my face feels so fresh and I don’t sweat.
Now that the snow is gone, I took a little “coffee walk” outside to check out the yard this morning. I have all sorts of plans for what I want to do, come spring. I am going to order about 100 more pines from ArborDay.org in a month or so. They will deliver the trees in March. 100 trees might seem like a lot, but really it isn’t, once I start planting. I run out fast. I am going to make pine tree areas out of Blue Spruce, Norway Spruce and White Pine. The mix should look good.
I am also going to have about 30 more yards of mulch delivered in April. I do love mulch and with property of this size, I am going to need every last drop. It’s going to make the pine trees grow so much faster and it’s going to work wonders for the gardens. Man, I can’t wait to get back to it.
There are times when I sit at the computer and want to check out what everyone is up to. I wish you all had blogs and told me about them. I would like to have a list of about 20, but right now, I only have 4. It gets lonely in the blogosphere without you. Hey, maybe you can put that on your list of things to do. I think that’s a great idea. C’mon, think about the benefits…you will know that I will be reading all about your excellent adventures. By the way, this isn’t to say that my list of 4 isn’t the most awesome list ever.
I’m not sure what else I have.
We put all house improvement projects on hold. Nothing is really in dire need of improvement, besides the living room carpet. That needs to be torn up and discarded. We got a price for hardwood, but that’s going to have to wait. I am not falling into the trap of sinking tons of money into a house the first year. Slow and steady wins the race. I wouldn’t mind a pool though…hmmm. It would have to be indoor, so I can swim all year round. Perhaps I could just get one of those little plastic ones and put it in a tent.
Okay, now I am officially out of stuff to say. All the juicy gossip is kept quiet because I have to keep some sort of privacy. I mean, one would have to wonder, if what I write is all the stuff I have going on in life, I would certainly be a little weird.
Over and out. Peace.
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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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Monday, November 24th, 2008
As I mentioned earlier in the season, we had a St. Croix Prescott EXL pellet stove installed in the basement.
Before the Winter season really began, I had my doubts on whether or not the pellet stove would heat the entire house. I was worried that it’s location would hinder the airflow to all the rooms upstairs. Well, I am happy to inform you that the stove does heat the entire house. I mean, if we keep the master bedroom door shut, it does. The master bedroom is over the garage and the furthest room from the stove. It’s also the coldest room, which is why we keep the door shut. When the time hits 10:30PM, the new digital thermostat cranks the heat in that room up to 65 degrees. That’s good enough for me.
We have had some nights already where the temperature has been in the 20s. I think that’s Winter and enough to tell me that the heating situation is going to be okay. I did try burning a fire in the regular fireplace a few times while running the pellet stove. The fireplace actually made things worse. It sucked so much air out of the house, all the rooms dropped a few degrees. Fireplaces are remarkably inefficient and really shouldn’t be used, in my humble opinion. If you want to run something in your fireplace, run a free standing wood stove or a wood stove insert. Even burning a fireplace for aesthetics on a cold day will freeze out the rest of your house. Nuff said.
Okay, we are having a little issue with the pellet stove.
A few nights ago, I tried to start it up. The start up procedure really isn’t very difficult on the Prescott. It basically consists of pushing the “on” button. Once the “on” button is pushed, the room blower turns on for about 10 seconds and the auger turns until the burn pot is approximately half way full of pellets. As the auger is turning, the ignitor kicks on and the pellets light up. It’s fun to watch and I sit there almost every time I light the stove doing just that. I smile when I see that flame dancing around inside that pellet stove.
Back to a few nights ago…when I tried to light the stove this particular time, I pushed the button. The fan turned on for about 10 seconds and then the stove just shut off. I am not sure if the auger ever turned to drop pellets into the burn pot.
I tried to light the stove a few more times when I noticed the #2 light blinking on the control board. I thought this was a little strange, since I had never seen that light blink before. I pulled out the owner’s manual and looked up that error code. Apparently, a lack of negative pressure causes the stove not to light and the #2 light to blink.
What can cause a lack of negative pressure? Well, a really windy day can do it, an open pellet stove door, a fireplace burning upstairs perhaps, a clogged air feed pipe or a clogged exhaust vent pipe. I am sure there are others, but these are the ones I remember.
Since I had a fire already going upstairs in the fireplace, I chalked the whole thing up to that. I got the pellet stove going in this instance by pulling the rubber tube off the vacuum switch and lightly sucking on it. When I heard a little “click,” I pushed the on button again. From here, things were fine. I held the crimped hose for a few minutes and then I hooked it back up the proper way.
Well, I tried to light the stove again the next night. The same thing happened. Since we had no fire going in the fireplace, I thought perhaps there was a clogged area in the stove somewhere that is causing the lack of vacuum, or negative pressure.
Let’s make a really long and boring story a bit shorter and to the point.
I cleaned out the entire stove about 10 times and nothing has changed. Every night, I suck on that hose to get the stove up and running. I have been reading the owner’s manual as well as some websites that deal with this kind of situation, but nothing has helped. One website said that a clogged exhaust vent is the sure-fire problem. I got excited and took off the clean-out cap. A little pile of ashed dropped out, but nothing changed.
This afternoon, I called the pellet stove dealer. I told them that I had pretty much narrowed the problem down to a faulty pellet stove vacuum switch and that I would need the tech to come out and take a look. Before we swap out the switch, I want him to hook up a vacuum gauge to see if there is proper negative pressure. If there is, we can replace the switch…if not, we have to do a bit more digging.
I keep going downstairs to investigate this issue. It is in my blood that I try to diagnose this problem myself. The only things I don’t have are a vacuum gauge or a new vacuum switch. I guess I need those things to solve the problem.
If you have ever experienced something like this with your pellet stove, please let me know. I am racing against time here. I want to beat the repair guy and figure this out myself.
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Friday, November 7th, 2008
The desk portion of my new office furniture arrived this afternoon. I have to tell you, I am loving Pottery Barn furniture.
About a week and a half ago, I received the console table I ordered. I was very pleased with the quality. Today’s desk is going to make me go back for more. It’s the kind of furniture that you look at and say, “Wow.”
Pottery Barn Aris Desk
The desk is the Pottery Barn Aris large desk. It said something about being framed in some hardwood, but all I know is that it looks really cool.
This is a big change for me. I am used to sitting at a pretty high desk on a chair that is the height of a stool. This is the traditional 30 inches, so things are a bit lower, but actually more comfortable. I now have drawers too.
There are a few more things that I need. We are going to take a trip back to the store next week sometime to pick up two small tables, a garbage can and a floor lamp. I should be set for a while for this office. Now, for the other office, that’s another story.
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Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
We had a pretty fun night last night.
Initially, we planned to make a quick trip up to Bob’s Discount Furniture in Manchester. We need a whole lot of furniture. We need to furnish the entire bedroom, dining room, living room, my office and some odds and ends elsewhere. Needless to say, this is going to be tough.
If there is one thing in life I am cheap about, it’s furniture. I have no idea why. Perhaps because it’s not screaming “necessity” out at me. I mean, what’s wrong with sitting on an up side down bucket? Ahh, history. It’s not in my nature to go spend thousands of dollars on something that is just going to sit there. It’s not like a couch is going to help mow the lawn or a coffee table is going to clean the gutters. Geez, furniture is one of those things that looks good, but doesn’t do too much else. I need some sort of purpose with the stuff I buy.
Regardless, it needs to be done.
We drove up to Manchester to visit Bob’s. This is one of their larger stores with a whole “used” and “damaged” area in the back. There is furniture galore back there. It has dings, dents, cracks and anything else you can think of. The place is huge. The whole front area is reserved for the brand new furniture.
We walked in and were presented with a nice bedroom set. I liked it, Laura kind of liked it. As we walked on, we saw some things that she liked and some that I liked, and vice-versa. I am not sure we were in agreement, but we probably could have been if we stayed longer.
As we walked around, I noticed a candy station. I walked over to it and started eating the caramel chews. I don’t know what was wrong with me. I put some in my mouth and then shoved some in my pocket. I then took some other candy and stuck it in my pocket. I am not sure who was controlling me, because I certainly don’t eat candy like an idiot (which I was at the moment). Laura was looking at me in disgust. She had a look on her face like, “Give me the keys, you are being abandoned.”
Upon discussion, we decided that we would leave Bob’s. Nothing really jumped out at me. I mean, it’s a great place for couches and stuff, so we’ll go back for that. We’ll get a few couches and maybe a Bob-O-Pedic matress set.
We got back in the car and decided to head over to Raymour and Flanigan furniture. I have always heard good things about this store. We were nearby, so there wasn’t much deciding to do…the only factor was that we were now in the middle of rush hour and I hate cars. Whatever.
We walked in Raymour and Flanigan and were greeted by a nice sales lady. It kind of reminded me of a used car lot. I still had caramel chews in my mouth, so I couldn’t really talk. She started laughing at my grossness. When I was ready, I asked if their furniture was solid hardwood. She replied that it was, but there were a few pieces in the back that we should steer clear of. OK, fine. That’s fair.
We started walking around and I began noticing a strange trend…this furniture was obviously made by the same makers of Bob’s furniture. We saw many similarities, one not being the price. It seemed that they tacked on a few thousand dollars and upped the quality slightly, but it appeared that whoever made Bob’s furniture made this as well. I may be wrong, but that’s the way it looked.
You should have seen me, I was under the tables trying to see if they were made of real wood, pulling out drawers to see what kind of runners were used, wiggling things back and forth, checking the quality. Things were just OK. If I had to choose between the two, I would head back to Bob’s and save some money. I think both places offered similar furniture that would last about the same amount of time. This, of course, is my very uninformed opinion.
Laura and I looked at each other and decided to wash our hands of both places. We knew of one place that really makes us drool…Pottery Barn up at Evergreen Walk. Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ bout.
We walked in and picked out a bedroom set. Yup, it was that easy. It’s the Hudson Collection that can be seen here. We already knew the quality of furniture that Pottery Barn sells and really didn’t need to inspect it. Every time we go in this place, we look at the stuff, so it was really easy. The only problem is that the Pottery Barn furniture prices are in a whole different realm than the other two places.
OK, moving on. The end of the year is coming and I need office furniture. We walked to the back of the store and I picked out a nice little item called the “Rhys Console Table.” This is a perfect little place to put my fax machine and printer. Also, I can use the drawers for random things that are currently sitting on the floor.
Rhys Console Table
Then, we looked through the catalog and found a nice desk called the “Aris Large Desk.” I have had my eye on this for some time. We bought the console table and are having it delivered. I had to wait to order the desk online, because that’s an internet only item. I did that last night. They are going to deliver that in a few weeks.
Now, all I need is maybe some sort of shelving unit and a chair. That’s it for the office.
We were pooped from furniture shopping, so we left.
I have been meaning to stop by L.L.Bean to grab some more waffle shirts. I have two that everyone already makes fun of. One of them is salmon colored and has a picture of a salmon on it. Since I am a trendsetter, I ignore this fun poked in my direction.
As we were walking to the car, I asked Laura if she wanted to go to L.L.Bean for a few minutes. I mean, it was right in front of us. What the heck, we went to the store.
Hey, wouldn’t you know it, they didn’t have any waffle shirts. What they did have is some awesome “Corduroys”, some really cool “Two-Layer River Driver’s Shirts” and a really marvelous “Merino Wool Sherpa Sweater” that I have been looking to buy for about 10 years now. Oh yeah, I also picked up this amazing black “Fitness Fleece Jacket” that was calling my name too. Don’t you like my use of attributive adjectives?
Boy, what a night. At least I learned a lesson from all this…which is…I need an SUV. I am sick of paying for shipping.
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Monday, October 13th, 2008
I must say, it really is.
I was driving up to Manchester this afternoon when I noticed how brilliant the trees looked. It’s mostly the Maples, Birches and Hickorys. Their leaves are really getting bright. I see mostly orange, red and yellow. The Oaks are still green.
After I got back, I took a little stroll up the driveway. I even took a few pictures for you.
Looking up driveway
Colorful trees across the street
Colorful trees in the woods
Now, those are some pretty leaves, right?
Ok, I will admit the nice leaves aren’t the only reason I am writing this post. The new pile of fire wood is.
For the past few days, I have been working to build a new pile of fire wood. I took three piles out from under the porch and moved them next to my other pile, out in the sunshine. Having the wood stacked under the porch wasn’t doing it any favors in the way of drying out. I compared the older fire wood that was under the porch to the newer (greener) fire wood that was stacked outside and the outside wood was much dryer. I also took down an Oak tree to add to the pile.
Fire wood piles
I know, I know, I did a lousy job at stacking the right side, but it was a bit tricky. Part of the tree wasn’t available to go right up against because the other pile was there. I did my best.
I really like the wood when it’s split, no matter how small it is. It dries faster and burns better. The only problem is my ax. It is too big. It’s more like a maul than an ax. It is quite heavy and better for splitting larger pieces of wood with a full swing.
With this in mind, I went out and grabbed a thinner ax. Something that will slice right through the smaller pieces of Maple, Hickory, Birch and Oak. Here is my new ax…
Ax with fiberglass handle
You might notice that I have already used it a few times. These things get beat up pretty fast.
Well, there you have it…my morning events.
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Saturday, October 4th, 2008
This is one of the firewood piles I made so far. There are three others about this size. I am not sure how much wood that is, but it’s a pretty good amount.
I did a little wood splitting this afternoon. It was so nice outside. The temperature was cool, so I didn’t sweat like I did over the Summer. It’s great to work around the house during Autumn. The crisp air is very welcome.
Firewood pile
I got a little excited after splitting the larger logs, so I decided to go over and cut down a stump that has been bothering me. I split that too. Now, that’s on the pile.
Then, I went into the woods and cut down a nice Red Oak tree. I tossed the branches down on the pile and cut up the firewood. I need to split some of it, but I’ll save that for another day. After I was done with that, I turned around and noticed a really pretty scene.
Here, I’ll show it to you…
Early Autumn
Early Autumn
The Maples and Birches go first.
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