New York Renovator

If you are like me, you probably have tons of little bits and pieces of assorted junk at the bottom of your toolbox: screws, nuts, drill bits, buttons, washers, etc. I have let that stuff collect in my toolbox, under all my tools. It is absolutely frustrating to try to dig out a drill bit or a screw when needed.

I have an old embroidery floss container. I used to cross-stitch like a maniac, but hardly ever have time for it anymore (wonder why, lol). But the plastic container that one help my floss is perfect for storing all those bits and pieces. Plus, the squares are large enough so I can dig in and pull the bits out easily.

Such compartmentalized plastic containers are very inexpensive. They’ll also save a lot of frustration when it comes time to load the drill or sew the button.

I ordered my seeds, almost all my seeds, from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. I’m very excited about some new things I’m trying this year.

The kids love melons, so I got cantaloupe and sweet baby watermelon. I had to sign a “watermelon waiver” before ordering the watermelon, which was weird, lol. It said that I wouldn’t plant the seeds in South Carolina and Florida because of the fungus problem with this watermelon.

I’m also trying grapes this year. I just got one vine ($11 for one vine! yowsa!). It’s Reliance, and I think we’re going to enjoy them. Here’s hoping I can get them to grow!

I’m trying corn, although I promised myself I’d never get it again. I’ve tried corn for three years straight, and never had much success. The first year was a poor crop (little rain), the second year was crows gobbled up the seeds before they could sprout, and the third year we had some weird fungus on the stalks.

I also got– and I am flipping over this– blue potatoes! Adirondack Blue, to be precise. They are supposedly quite hardy, and fruit early. We eat a lot of potatoes around here. In the past, I’ve just chopped up grocery store potatoes and plugged them in the ground. Some were successful, some not. This time I’m trying real seed potatoes.

Potatoes do very well, overall, in the garden. I’ve been very careful to amend the soil with compost. We also have tilled it regularly, so the soil is loamy and soft. the backyard used to be some kind of dump, however, in days gone by. I’ve mentioned before all the “buried treasure” we discovered just digging a 2′ by 20′ trench. The garden area is filled with all sorts of old bottles, broken dishes, old parts of something or other, and plastic toys. We’ve only found a few very old coins (see here). I’m hoping we’ll find a valuable gold bangle or golden dubloon or something. Here’s hoping!

I’m excited about gardening now. Can’t WAIT til spring!

I’ve been reading other home and garden blogs and see that they are reporting receiving their seed catalogs. I got mine this week, too. I haven’t had much time to pour over them, but I plan to be setting aside some time this week. I got my Johnny’s Selected Seeds (my favorite seed supply company, but they are very pricey), Burpee, and Michigan Bulbs. I am not too fond of Michigan Bulbs. I’d bought flowers and herbs from them before, and everything I’ve ever ordered has died, except for my beloved Stargazer lilies. I’ve had great success with Johnny’s. I have bought Burpee seeds from local stores, and their seeds have been touch and go. My Burpee corn and squash did miserably.

This year, the kids are old enough to take over the garden work for themselves. Learning to cultivate the property has been a big lesson for them. They know how to bust sod, prune perennials, plant seeds, and irrigate the beds. I haven’t allowed them to weed without my presence, since the younger ones had trouble last year discerning between a weed and a plant, lol. This year they are ready. I am looking forward to watching them do all the gardening work! I admit I will miss it, though. I do love gardening, even weeding. I will apply my energies to the shrubs, trees, and flowers this year. As well as try and finish wiring electricity in the house.

I think I’m going to try growing grapes this year!!!

It happens about every two or three years. I’ve been noticing the pattern, anyway. It strikes for no reason, but it usually comes during the gloomiest month of the winter season. I suppose it may hit me because I am now cold to the bone, this far into the season. Or perhaps it’s because I am more sedentary, and long for the cuddly companionship on my lap.I want another kitten.

I know, I know, I’m crazy!! We already have two cats, a bird, and a dog. When I confessed my longing for another cute, cuddly, cozy little cat, my husband’s response was, “You do remember that they shred curtains and wallpaper and jump on your counters?”

Oh yeah. Call it temporary insanity. Although, I don’t think I’m fully recovered. Hey, how about our current pets, the ones who dig up the grass and my flowerbeds and p**p all over the yard? I’m not expecting my lawn to be looking like a Branson golf course, but our lawn has gone beyond ridiculous. It also doesn’t help that all our neighbors let their dogs roam around our yard, and contribute to the collection (well, except one neighbor, who picks it up. what a nice neighbor). Pets are just as destructive outside as they are inside!

My sons want fish, now, too. Fish are pretty safe, except their life span is so brief (which breaks the kids’ hearts) and if that tank should every break…. I’ve got enough water flowing around here.

Anyway, I still want a kitten. Maybe I can train it to not jump on the counters? We’ll see.

When I gutted the living room and restored it, I made the leap and installed Category-5 wiring (also known as CAT5e cabling). It’s been working great, but I’ve discovered something strange about it. I installed four jacks in the room, since my DSL modem has four ports for four ethernet cables. I was very, very, very careful with the installation, to make sure I didn’t mix up the wiring. I even labeled the cables, jacks, and face plates with numbers to keep them all straight.

When we first moved back into the living room (in September), I only needed to use Ethernet ports 1 and 2. With the addition of kids’ computers, I now need to use all four ports. Weird thing is, is that jack 3 works with port 4 and jack four works with port 3. Now, I know I didn’t mess these cables up! I have checked them about a dozen times! So all i can do is surmise that maybe my DSL router/modem is screwy?

Anyone have any guesses? :S

Here’s a video of an AMAZING product I discovered today! The Jedi Ginsu Knife! Woooo! I want one! I want one! Remember those old Ginsu knives commercials on TV? Some creative person did a great job with this spoof.

Now that winter is on its way out… well, sort of… I’m looking at heaters. This might sound funny, but just as the best time to look for tank tops is in September, the best time to look for heaters is after the rush. We have a behemoth, 200,000 BTU furnace in our basement, and it’s a direct vent, but I don’t think it is terribly efficient. For one, we do not have enough cold air return vents in the house. Installing them would mean breaking walls open on the first and second storeys, and building and inserting the ducting system. I’ve been thinking about doing it, but to be honest, I’m having second thoughts now.My attentions are going toward gas room heaters. Because they come in direct-vent models, they do not require the intensive ducting that a regular forced-air furnace does. One gas heater upstairs, one or two downstairs, and that’s it!

You know, when I really stop to think about furnace systems, I can get very frustrated. Most homes are still forced-air furnaces, which has been the most common system for the last 100+ years. I really think it’s time to reconsider the way we heat our homes. Forced-air is so inefficient and space-consuming that it’s ridiculous. It is almost IMPOSSIBLE to install all that ductwork in an existing home– and especially in an old, existing home. Gas heaters just seem so much more efficient, and since prices have gone down a lot, they are comparable to today’s forced-air furnace units. They also don’t suck the electricity to turn on (gas heaters require no electricity) and that means that if the power goes out, we will still have heat. I’ve had the power go out for days in the winter… and it wasn’t fun.

I’m looking around, checking my options. I’ve always wanted a gas room heater, especially a vent-free heater, and I am more open to them now that I’ve decided that I don’t want to rip out walls and make my walls thicker to install ducts. I’m really leaning that way. I’ll be posting about this development, so stay tuned if you are interested.

I must be on a pest binge. I’ve blogged about bees, wasps, and now bats in one week. I came across a news story — it was front page news! I wasn’t digging for it, really!– that asks, Why Are Thousands of Bats Dying in NY?

ROSENDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Bats in New York and Vermont are mysteriously dying off by the thousands, often with a white ring of fungus around their noses, and scientists in hazmat suits are crawling into dank caves to find out why.

“White nose syndrome,” as the killer has been dubbed, is spreading at an alarming rate, with researchers calling it the gravest threat in memory to bats in the U.S.

“This is definitely unprecedented,” said Lori Pruitt, an endangered- species biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Bloomington, Ind. “The hugest concern at this point is that we do not know what it is.”

My first thought was “wow, great!” See, we have had a bat problem in this house since we moved here. I know, I know! Don’t tell me how great bats are and how they eat all the bugs… I hate them in my house, is all.

The house had been vacant for a while before we bought the place. Vacant of people, I should clarify. It was an absolute haven for every rodent and insect in the county. We didn’t know about the pernicious bat problem. We bought the house in March and the smell of bats wasn’t as… pungent… as it is now. Man, I hate the smell of bats. The house is a one-and-a-half storey house, which means the attic consists of a small area of slanted roof. We don’t go up there very often. I did, once, and discovered century-old bat dung all over the floor area.

A pest guy advised us to throw mothballs into the attic. Didn’t work. The bats came back, later, but now we had the additional blessing of the scent of mothballs.

Anyway, the house is so full of holes and cracks that no amount of sealing will work. What we really have to do is insulate and re-side the house, and get new windows; and that should keep them out. I’ve read quite a bit about “friendly” bat removal– those gable vents that swing out but don’t allow the critters back in. This wouldn’t work for us until we can replace the holey walls and eaves. Oh, we’ve got bats, squirrels, birds, and wasps coming in. Dry rot has rotted the eaves and left them wide open.

I’m surprised to read about the mysterious bat deaths in New York, though. Me thinks they are spending their final hours here, in my attic.

My musician husband sent me this video of a boy playing the guitar. This little kid is amazing! This is a fabulous piece called Destiny. His fretwork is a marvel. Watch those little fingers go!

Here he is doing Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. He looks younger here. Still amazing.

Wowee! A lady took her laptop to Best Buy for repairs, and they lost her laptop. Thing is, the Geeks hemmed and hawed and gave her excuse after excuse before finally admitting they’d lost it. The news story says:

Raelyn Campbell of Washington, D.C., is suing Richfield-based Best Buy for that amount after it lost her laptop computer while it was in for repairs.

Campbell, who could not be reached Tuesday, filed a negligence lawsuit suit against the company in Washington Superior Court on Nov. 16, seeking fair compensation for replacement of the $1,100 computer and extended warranty, plus expenses related to identity theft protection.

Best Buy spokeswoman Nissa French said in an e-mail that Campbell “was offered and collected $1,110.35″ as well as “a $500 gift card for her inconvenience.”

According to Campbell’s blog at bestbuybadbuyboycott.blogspot.com, Geek Squad employees spent three months telling her different stories about where her laptop might be before finally acknowledging that it had been lost.

She fired back in her ire: a suit for $54 million and an angry blog full of ranting. Which is worse, the suit or the blog? I’m betting on the blog. I know I’ll never go to Best Buy. I’ve read too many horror stories about the company. Bye bye, Best Buy. If the money doesn’t kill you, the blog will.

All hail, the democratization of media!