Raincharm’s Weblog

We had to run an errand and walked through the neighborhood. Lots of cherry trees.

As the walk progressed some turns were dictated by trees on the block.

We started wondering how far we could go if we just followed blooming trees. There would need to be rules, like you could see them but they might be a block away.

It was nearing lunchtime and Carl is still recovering from a buttercup pulling project a few days ago. I would like to say buttercup eradication, but that would be lying. So we headed home.

The day started off with an early dentist appointment, scheduled. The plan for the rest of the day was to prepare the house for guests arriving for the Mariners’ opening day.

It was pouring. We drove, so not too big a deal.

The prep for guests included clearing one of the bedrooms of detritus from the initial response to the December flood. Most of that was cardboard boxes brought upstairs to keep them dry and out of the way. They were largely piled in the crib that was still set up from July family visiting with grandsons.

I went into the garage to do a little clean-up from the giveaway. AND THERE WAS WATER ON PART OF THE FLOOR NEAR THE WEST WALL. This was a repeat of the little flooding in December that started the work, ending with the giveaway.

Most of what was in the garage was off of the floor, or waterproof. But this distracted from the prime objective. There was no water in the basement, only the garage this time.

I consolidated the remaining items in the garage and put most things onto shelving units that will stay in the garage. The amount of water was limited compared to December, but I still had to dry the bottom of a few bins. Only one cardboard box was destroyed, and the large glass hanging lamp was relocated to a new box, and put up on a shelf.

Since I was there I moved one shelving unit back into the basement. It had been in the garage for the giveaway. Likewise the card table was taken down.

Finally back to the task at hand. The cardboard boxes were taken downstairs and put into the big storage cabinet. We still have way too many, but that’s a chore for another day.

Then the crib was disassembled and moved to the garage. It is in the garage because it is leaving. It was handy last summer but our youngest grandkids are turning 4.

The beds are all made (not the crib) and the house is pretty well stocked with groceries. Tomorrow we’ll do some cleaning and thinking about what we need for the game. (Layers, layers, layers – night games in March and April in Seattle are not usually warm.)

And hope the torrential rains abate.

Today was a recovery day for me. Carl, on the other hand, ran errands, made meals, and mowed the backyard.

Before all that got done, we walked to the UW Quad. It was cold when we started, but sunny.

There were a fair number of people, but I’m sure it pales to the number that were there over the weekend.

There are two main areas on campus with cherry trees. They are different varieties and bloom a few weeks apart.

My original plan was to work on raspberries today. Best laid plans…

Tomorrow will be prepping for guests coming for the Mariner’s opening day game. The raspberries will get fit in somewhere.

So it went OK. We did get rid of a fair number of things, but there is still stuff left.

Now to figure out how to continue the move it out of the house, without resorting to the garbage can.

For the kid-centric things I am considering going to one of the nearby daycares and offering to have them come to see what we still have that they could use. A private showing.

Sports equipment maybe to a used sports place. And there’s always Goodwill.

Some of the things that did leave.

• Bicycle
• Bin of Polly Pockets
• Charcoal Briquets and Lighter Fluid
• Sockets wrenches and sockets
• Hammers
• Potty chair
• Alphabet Blocks, peg toy, and colorful wooden rings
• Lacrosse stick and ball
• A few puzzles (not jigsaw)
• Paints and brushes
• Some of the stuffed animals (really quite a few)
• Dinosaur and animals, individually chosen
• And assorted odds and ends.

The weather cooperated, sun not rain. Although as the giveaway nears its conclusion, it’s getting cold.

During lulls in the action I was able to complete a task for Carl, transforming 21 grey hats into Kingdome hats. Originally these were to be made for the 20th anniversary of the Kingdome implosion, that coincided with Ms Opening Day 2020.

And then Covid happened. No opening day.

Six years later we’re going to try again.

I decided to make some treats for the Garage Giveaway tomorrow. Apple-Carrot mini muffins and Nutty-chocolate phyllo tartlets. The first were a hit at a prior party and, while they do have sugar as an ingredient, they’re pretty good for you. The phyllo tartlets are actually a Weight Watchers recipe, pistachios, walnuts, honey, mini-chocolate chips, cinnamon,  and orange zest. Pretty darn easy.

Chopping, dicing, and grating is easier than gardening, but I still feel like I put in a day’s work. 

We walked today. A good long walk. East-west which means steeper hills, up and down the ridges. North-south walks tend to be the long slopes. Miles of slopes, but not as steep. And the sun came out!

After a bit of recovery Carl decided the lawn had to be mowed. He did our and our neighbors front yards. A few times.

I went out and cast the micro-clover seed using a handheld seeder. I think I put it on too thickly,  but had no way to reasonably correct that issue. They suggested following the seeding with topsoil. I opened the heavy bag and trowelled it into a smaller bucket, and distributed it by hand. Dirty work, but it was too wet to sprinke. The final act was cleaning everything, including the lawn mower, and watering the newly seeded area.

I think it’s supposed to be not as rainy over the next few days so I will continue to water a bit, but not too much. I don’t want to drown the seeds.

All for now.

It was back to the nursery today. Raspberries to augment our dwindling patch, compost for said raspberry planting, and some topsoil to sprinkle over the micro clover once it is spread.

What I learned is that 1 cf of topsoil is heavier than 1.5 cf of compost. This makes sense when you consider the composition of each.

I had wrangled 1 cf bags of compost without too much difficulty a few days ago. So I was surprised the same size bag of soil was at the edge of my ability. It was also wet and slippery, adding to the silly walks carrying each bag. I was very apprehensive looking at the larger compost bag, but thankfully my dignity was restored. Carl managed moving the raspberry plants as they were within his weight restrictions. The bags were all a bit dirty, and now so are my pants and sweatshirt.

All of said garden supplies are staged. I trust they will survive outside on their own until the rain subsidies long enough to tempt me outside again.

The garage is ready for the giveaway

What’s going well so far: I invited 2 neighbors who happened by and a friend who stopped in for a preview. Several items have left the garage already! A globe, dating to the 1950s – think USSR, some 1/4″ hardware cloth, an under-bed storage container, assorted hardware, a partially full 5-gallon bucket of pea gravel, a lamp, and a box of 42-gallon contractor bags. No toys, but these were all adults.

I found a BOGO deal that I wanted to take advantage of, and it would be a good walk too?

Have I mentioned how much trouble I have keeping track of the day of the week? After we started on our way to the deal I suddenly thought to check the dates for the deal, and of course it’s not for today.

The walk route was modified and it was still good, aka dry.

Other tasks for the day for me focused on getting the garage ready for the garage giveaway. Trying to make things visible in a relatively small space. I moved one set of basement shelves into the garage to help make it easier to show what we have. I may expand a few things into the carport on the day of, since the garage door will need to be open anyway.

Try to get to 95% tomorrow.

The high point of the day was going out to dinner at Ivars Salmon House. To celebrate Ivar’s 121st birthday, if he was still with us, they had a menu where you could order an entree at the regular price  and the second entree was $1.21.

Very tasty. We walked to dinner in the dry, and home in a light rain.

I’m glad it rained because I had raked and added compost to the parking strip, and was supposed to “water it in.” With our current forecast I shouldn’t need to add water until at least this weekend. That’s when I plan to spread micro-clover and a bit of topsoil. And then we’ll see what happens. I may also put up a wee fence to discourage dogs from using that area while it’s starting to grow.

The parking strip is less than 300 square feet, but it took all I had to do this chore, especially the raking because I was trying to rough up the area. I want to do the same to the rest of the front yard, but it really needs to be mowed first, and there are no dry days until the weekend. Hopefully my strength will have returned by then.

These are only valuable to those who value their companionship. 1. They are used. 2. Most don’t have their name tags. 3. BBs as an investment was never a long term reality. We have so many largely due to their price point oh so many years ago. Around $5 was usually manageable.

I sent these pictures to our kids to see whether they wanted any sent to them, for themselves or kids. You never know.

Ashlan’s son asked for two of the larger stuffies, and Ashlan asked for 20 or so Beanie Babies to use as party favors when E turns 4. Four?! How can he be almost 4?  An awesome idea, a box is being packed.

Some progress was also made today outside, although utilizing hired help. Our backyard rhody had died and been pruned back to a stump. Carl made an effort to dig out the stump but strained a muscle. And then surgery restrictions. Our worker finished the job in less than 1/2 hour, and cut the stump into pieces as well.

Then he moved to the  crow destroyed front yard parking strip.

The plan is to plant micro clover and grass and see what happens. When I stepped out to take this photo there was a crow in the middle of the cleared area.

And finally, the snowman report. After 3 days it was clear the rain diet was working.

About 10 minutes after this picture was taken, the head fell off. The torso followed an hour later.

Spring is in the offing.