(a post inspired by the movie Kraven, The Hunter1 i.e. spoiler alert – if you want an unbiased view of the movie, don’t read this until after you see it.) This isn’t really a movie review, but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the story in Kraven. I’d seen ratings before watching, so wasn’t expecting awesomeness. With Russel Crowe… Read More »Animals Hunt, Should Humans?
Not that I’m keeping score, but I am curious about the value of the vegetables I grow in my backyard garden1. For bragging rights, I’d like to be able to say I’ve produced some lofty number of dollars worth of produce by throwing some seeds in the ground. It’s not that simple, logistically, financially or socially. Let me start with… Read More »The Economic Return of my Garden.
Happily geeking-out about being able to put cat poo in the municipal compost. This could be enviro-, cat-lady-, or just-plain- weird. Whatever. My impact on the environment is lessened. Awesome. Although questions about costs and whether it’s really the best thing for the environment come to mind. The background: Household organic waste collection is about 15 years old where I… Read More »The Joy of Cat Poo. Really.
I long for the simple days of medical care, when the doctor smiled and said “don’t worry, you’ll be fine in a few days”. Or, at the other end of the spectrum “put your affairs in order”. While this second option would be unwelcome, it is a definitive message. I’d prefer no dithering about, ordering endless tests and unpleasant invasions… Read More »Medical Progress
My mother’s voice rings in my head, explaining why it’s time to go to bed, turn off the TV, or stop eating Hallowe’en candy. As a child, I took this as adultly wisdom, an incontestable law of life. My catholic upbringing, tinging everything with guilt, suggested to me that expecting good things to continue indefinitely was greedy, or one of… Read More »“All Good Things Must Come to an End”
Time for another drunk-on-summer rant about how much I enjoy the season. No cocktails are involved in achieving this state. I’m so fond of the heat and sun and going barefoot and fresh vegetables that I naturally trend to euphoria in July and August. Admittedly, an icy cold beer is extra delicious at this time of year. In 2024, I’m… Read More »The Joy of Cycling
Part 4, the final step, in the reno-storation of the front hall of my 1927 Arts & Craft bungalow is to add trim, including: The Baseboards. This likely looks like amateur hour but then, I’ve never pretended to be a pro. There are three slightly different floor heights in the hall, which makes baseboards tricky. It seems to me the pro… Read More »Part 4: Front hall reno.
Part 3 of reno-storing the front hallway of my 1927 Arts&Craft bungalow is about refinishing the floor. Part 1 covered the walls and ceiling, and part 2 was planning what to do with the floor. The relatively large entry hall, for a 1400 sq ft house, is 23 ft long and mostly 8 ft wide except where it’s 3ft wide.… Read More »Part 3: Front Hall Reno.
The saga continues of renovating the front entryway of my 1927 Arts & Craft bungalow, aiming for the best reproduction of the original era possible. Following Part 1 – walls and ceiling, Part 2 is the floor plan, err, the plan for the floor. The existing floor (layers visible at the top of the stairs from the basement) consisted of, from… Read More »Entry Hall Reno. Part 2
I got tired of looking at the hole in the closet ceiling. The next reno/restoration project is the entry hall on the main floor. The winter blahs also played a role, as there’s a good sized, south-facing window in this area that gets fabulous morning sun. This lead to wanting to arrange the furniture to make a sitting area, which… Read More »Entry Hall Reno. Part 1