Take a Ride

Come take a ride with me as I share my stream of thoughts this Tuesday evening. 

Coming soon, I hope. This was our first crocus bloom last year on March 12.

I have high hopes for what Amazon delivered to our door this evening - an air purifier. Since construction began on the house, I have been miserable at home with sneezing, stuffiness, runny nose, and itchy eyes. The dust is driving me crazy. Theo and Ward aren't suffering the same way, although Theo is at work most of the time and has his own air purifier running in his room when he is home. And to think that we almost got rid of that purifier when we were cleaning out my parents' house. 

And speaking of my parents' things, we almost gave away a little fridge from them that is in our temporary kitchen in the living room. It works great but is very loud. We have tried everything to remedy the noise to no avail. So if you want to have a conversation, you have to go into another room. Lucky that we have other rooms to go to. 

But back to the air purifier. So far, so good. It's been plugged up for a couple of hours, and I haven't sneezed once. My nose is still stopped up, but that's okay. I can live with that. The real test will be tomorrow, when they will be doing a final sweep of the subfloor before the floor guy starts laying the tile. That's bound to stir up a lot of dust.

And speaking of the floor guy coming tomorrow, when I get up from here, I need to go clear the stuff off of the tile in the garage. We have been using the boxes of tile as a flat surface to put things on. I'm not sure where everything will go, but I'll start with putting the ice chest back in the car. And because the floors had to be cleared, the washer and dryer are in the garage, too. I did laundry over the weekend, so we should be good for a while, but there's nothing like not having a working washer to make one think they need to do laundry.

Theo made a delicious Japanese lima bean curry for supper. A few years ago, I would not have thought I would like anything like that. But somehow, he fixes lima beans in a way that takes away their bitterness, and I like them. A lot. He has various lima bean recipes, and they're always good. Well, except for the lima bean-baked bean recipe. While it was well done, I just couldn't wrap my head around sweet lima beans.

And speaking of food, I made a pot of vegetable soup yesterday using up several things in the fridge. The soup was made with two things in mind. One was to use up the chicken broth, old carrots, and onions, and the other was to have some lighter, healthier food around. We have been eating even more take-out than usual recently, and while it tasted good, it was not the best nutrition for the calories we were consuming. Cooking regularly is difficult for us in the best of times, and these are not the best of times. We'll see if our new bright and shiny kitchen inspires us to cook more when it's done.

I feel very lucky to have these first-world problems when much of the rest of the world is suffering in one way or another. One which is being thoroughly documented before our eyes. 

Time to go clean up in the garage.

Until next time...

Construction progress

 We're 2 1/2 weeks into the remodeling process, and things are moving along. The only problem is that the dust is driving my nose and eyes crazy. They have done a good job containing it, but dust is just part of the process. However, Ward and Theo don't seem to be bothered much by it. I guess I'm special that way. Also, the toilet that the workers were using developed a leak. Luckily, the water was cleaned up before it leaked onto the ceiling below. And fortunately, we were going to replace that toilet anyway. In addition, we made the final selection of tile for the backsplash yesterday, and I think it will work well with the rest of the kitchen. It's a relief that another decision has been made.

Here are a few pictures of the work. There's not much to look at, but people have been asking.

The entrance into the office (formally the dining room) from the foyer has been closed off. Ward is making a console table for this spot, so there will be a drop spot when you enter through the front door. There's a closet on the other side, and we just couldn't fit a table in the space before, which made it awkward when people visited.

Another opening into the office from the kitchen was also closed off. You can see that work partially through the doorway. The new entrance for the room you see here will be a set of French doors from the hallway.

Down the hallway a little from the office, you can see another door closed, and another one opened up right beside it into the kitchen. The single door into the kitchen from the family room was always a choke point, so this wider opening should help things flow better. We have closed off a total of three doors and opened up two to replace them.

The pantry is getting widened with a couple of shelves. These extend over the basement steps below, so we are limited with what we could do and still follow code. There will be a pocket door to get in, and the actual opening will be 1/2 as wide as what you see here. That's Enrique you see in the picture. He is always smiling.

And speaking of code, the entire kitchen has to be rewired to meet the current code. Every appliance has to be on a separate circuit including the garbage disposal and microwave. And the outlets above the countertops have to be on at least two independent circuits, with every other one on a different circuit.

And while the electrician is here, we've had some overhead lights installed in the family room and office because those rooms had very poor lighting. The new lights are working, and we love them. What a difference they make, especially this time of year when it gets dark early.

We continue to search for things even though I thought I was very organized when packing up. But overall, we're doing okay with the temporary arrangements we've set up for the job. That's about it. There's been a lot of work, but not much pretty to see yet, unlike on HGTV when you get perfect results in an hour. :)

Until next time...

Detours

 Yesterday was a warm day, with temperatures reaching into the 60s. I had the day off, and Ward took the afternoon off to enjoy the beautiful weather. I'm glad we got out when we did because today has been rainy, and snow is forecast for later in the week. Here are a few pictures from our afternoon.

First, we had lunch at a local park. This is on a hill overlooking a baseball field at the park. Next in the plan was to hike along a rail trail that connects the park to the older part of town and return the same way.

However, the trail looked crowded, so we decided to make our way through neighborhoods and return by the rail trail. We found a new-to-us neighborhood with lots of Victorian houses.

Looking at the old houses made for an interesting walk.

We entered town beside the old First National Bank building. Its plaque says that the bank was first established in 1905, and after two fires, they built this building in 1930, doing their best to make it fireproof.

Then we started back along the rail trail.

...and noticed this poison ivy sign. That was the first time I had seen a warning sign for the dreaded plant.

However, soon we came upon this truck that was blocking the trail. As it turns out, the trail was closed because work was being done on it. We guessed the other end must not go too far either, and maybe all of the people we saw had to turn around, also.

We walked on different streets on the way back and found this historic building. The original sign for the business is in the local history museum, which has been on my list to visit for some time. 

It was an interesting walk, and we got some good exercise as we climbed the neighborhood hills-just what we were looking for in our get-out-of-the-house afternoon.

Until next time...

President's Day

 Another Monday holiday, another revisit of a holiday post. I first put this quiz together in 2012 and have rerun it a couple of times since then. However, the last one was four years ago. See if you remember the answers or maybe you already knew them.

Have a good day. The weather is warming up, so we're hoping for a hike this afternoon.

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Presidents' Day

PRESIDENTS' DAY QUIZ
 

How much do you know about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln whom we honor on President's Day? See if you learn something after taking this quiz like I did when I put it together.

The statements below apply to either Washington or Lincoln.

1. _____ Stood 6'2” tall.

      2. _____ His mother was born in what is now the state of West Virginia.

3. _____ Used his hat to carry important papers.

4. _____ The first president to wear a beard.

5. _____ Had three hoe cakes and tea most mornings for breakfast.

6. _____ Introduced the mule to America.

7. _____ Had red hair when he was young.

8. _____ His formal education was only 18 months.

9. _____ He patented a system to alter buoyancy of steamboats.

   10.  _____ Had no biological children

Bonus: Both Washington and Lincoln were born in February. What days are their birthdays on?
Answers:

PRESIDENTS' DAY QUIZ

Answers

1. Washington-- Stood 6'2” tall.

     Washington and Lincoln were both tall for their time. Washington stood at 6'2” tall and Lincoln towered at 6'4” tall.

2. Lincoln-- His mother was born in what is now the state of West Virginia.

      Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, was born in what is now Mineral County, WV. She died when he was nine years old. You can visit a replica of the cabin she was born in as well as a memorial marker there. 

3. Lincoln-- Used his hat to carry important papers.

     Lincoln's hat was more than a fashion statement. He also used it to carry important papers. If you want to see one of his top hats, visit the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. 

4. Lincoln-- The first president to wear a beard. 

      The story goes that Lincoln received a letter from an 11-year-old New York girl, Grace Bedell, who suggested that his thin face would look better with a beard. He grew a beard soon after that. Who knows? It may have helped him win the election. Other presidents with beards were Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and Harrison. Truman supposedly grew a beard while he was on vacation. 

5. Washington-- Had three hoecakes and tea most mornings for breakfast.

      Hoecakes were made from cornmeal and were originally baked on a hoe.

6. Washington-- Introduced the mule to America.

     Washington was looking for something that might work better than a horse for work around the farm. The mule, which is a cross between a male donkey and a female horse, seemed to fit bill. 

7.  Washington-- Had red hair when he was young.

     Washington had red hair when he was young and contrary to popular belief, he never wore a wig. However, he did powder his hair which was fashionable at the time. 

8. Lincoln-- His formal education was only 18 months.

     Lincoln only went to school a few weeks here and there when he was not working. However, he always had a book in his hand including when he was plowing a field. 

9. Lincoln-- He patented a system to alter the buoyancy of steamboats.

     His device was never manufactured, but he is the only US president to hold a patent. 

10. Washington-- Had no biological children.

     However, he raised two step-children from his wife, Martha, and helped raise two of his step-grandchildren when their father, John, died. Lincoln was the father of four boys of which only one survived into adulthood.

Bonus: Both Washington and Lincoln were born in February. What days are their birthdays on?

Lincoln: February 12

Washington: February 22

Sources:

http://www.wvgenweb.org/mineral/nancyhanksmem.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Abe-Lincolns-Step-into-Reading/dp/0679849777

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Presidents_of_the_United_States_with_facial_hair

http://www.amazon.com/George-Washingtons-Breakfast-Jean-Fritz/dp/0698116119

http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Photobiography-Houghton-Mifflin-studies/dp/0395518482

http://www.mountvernon.org/content/meet-george-washington

http://www.mountvernon.org/content/facts-falsehoods-about-george-washington-0

http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/education/patent.htm

Happy Valentine's Day

 Hope everyone gets a chance to think about something or someone they love today. Among other things, I'm thinking about how much I love the Lindor dark chocolate truffles that showed up this morning--the breakfast of champions, she says, hoping that a sugar crash doesn't come while she's at work. :)

In honor of Valentine's Day, I rerunning a post from the past when I described one of Wally's Valentine parties at school. It was initially part of a series of posts about girls vs. boys.

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Boys vs. Girls--Wally's Valentine Party

Boys vs. Girls—You Choose 

 Before I had kids, I thought that each child was an individual and didn't believe much in gender stereotypes in children. Little boys ran and jumped a lot because that's the kind of games they were taught. Little girls played with dolls because that was the kind of toys they were given. I thought that if all kids, regardless of gender, were exposed to the same things, they would have the same tendencies. Then I spent some time in the real world of kids and figured out that I was wrong. Possibly there were some differences between boys and girls. From time to time, I'm going to share some of the experiences that led me to this conclusion. However, to not bias you, I'm going to let you guess who are the boys in the stories and who are the girls.

 Today's Story 

The Event: Wally's Third Grade Valentine Party

The Scene: The kids were seated around tables and had naturally grouped themselves into two groups, with all boys on one side and all girls on the other side.

The Action: One group read each Valentine carefully and talked about who liked whom. The other group saw how many Red Hot cinnamon candies they could stuff in their mouth before their mouth burned too much. 

You choose: Which group was the boys and which were the girls?