Raincharm’s Weblog

We hope to net some critters tonight. Really, we don’t. We want no critters in the net. We want the net to discourage critters and have them go quietly elsewhere.

We put down sod this late fall. Critters, some suspect squirrels, I am currently suspecting raccoons, have been carefully lifting the corners of the sod pieces to dine on grubs and worms. But they are not putting the corners, and in some cases large pieces, of the sod back down. I just don’t see how the sod is ever going to extend roots into the soil if it is constantly being disturbed.

I tried landscape pins at the corners of the sod.
They were pulled out of the ground. (This is when I changed from squirrels to raccoons.)

Frosty nights discourages activity, but this is not the great WHITE north, just the great northWET.

Last night  they went on a feast. The sod was turned up in 16 to 20 places.
I went shopping. This time for “bird” netting. I had considered deer fencing, but the openings in the deer fence are pretty large.  I found some bird netting at a local nursery, and bought two packages that said they covered 28 feet by 28 feet. This works out to around 300 square feet. Our yard is a bit under 800 square feet.

Ashlan and I set about unrolling the first net. We found that it was actually a “double” net in that one side was sewn together, the other not. I assume this is to ease draping over trees and bushes. Since we were going to be short on square footage and didn’t need to drape, we set about ripping the seam out. My, what seemed like a good idea ended up adding at least an hour to unrolling the first net. Ashlan left me to my net. The sun went down. I got out my headlamp. FINALLY finished unseaming the first net, and 1/2 of this split net covered all but 4 feet of 1/2 of the lawn. Since the second 1/2 of the first net would easily cover the last four feet, I decided there was no need to unseam the second net. I retrieved Ashlan to help with this easier task and we got it unrolled and pinned.

The last four feet did not get netted because; 1) Trying to make sense of a 28′ x 28′ net in the dark is not easy, and 2) we were out of landscape pins.

But I did not want ot just leave the extra netting out blowing around the backyard, so we brought it inside to fold. Added Carl to the mix for an extra set of hands. The only bird that our bird netting caught was a Jay. Several times it tried to trip me. I understand why the birds try to keep their feet away from the netting. I only hope the raccoons/squirrels feel the same way.

I almost want the uncovered 4 feet to be disturbed tonight to indicate that they stayed away from the netting. But not really. If they go around pulling up the pins or biting through the netting I am not sure what my next step will be.

After 4 or 5 years (2 years too long) it is time to get new spectacles.
I don’t really mind my existing frames, but they have been beat to a pulp and pulled back into shape, so I figure it is time to get new frames.

That always gets me into the truest catch 22 situation in which I have had the pleasure to participate.
You want to try on frames to see how they look on your face.
When you take off your existing glasses you can’t really see how things look.
If you try to hold your existing glasses in front of your face to catch a glimpse in the mirror, you are now looking at your old glasses in front of the new frames. [Note: This may not apply to the young, or those that just barely need glasses.]

So I took an advocate, Ashlan, my fashion consultant.
We/I tried on lots of frames.
I at least knew a few points to have her check, other than the general look.
We spent a long time, but eventually were ready to be moved to the front of the line.
[Our turn had long since come and gone, so they put us at the front for whenever the next spot opened.]

We ended up taking four frames to the table, and inviting opinions from the glasses technician as well.
Finally chose THE PAIR. Added a prescription insert pair for safety glasses as well.
What I had forgotten to bring was my sunglasses. I was going to get the prescription updated, but keep the same frames. I think I will wait for a few months now since glasses are SO EXPENSIVE. At least mine are, expensive that is.

Coming home the next step is to try to recover some of said cash, and have the rest covered by our wonderful 125 plan. Got on-line. Got scolded for using an “out of program provider.” Filled out forms. Printed said forms. Put said forms into an envelope. Now will need to wait however long the Vision program to determine how much of my millions they will cover. Ah, paperwork. But I will be happy when I actually have the new specs and can once again read the fine print.

I had expectations for today, and only a very few actually came to pass.

• Going to get up and into work early. – Got up almost late, to work at normal start time.
• Going to get some hanging projects done – First thing into work am told that phones are not working, about a 1-hour diversion. They were out for 1-1/2 days. Totally unacceptable. The service provider is being slightly helpful in trying to find a solution.
• Going to leave work early to spend time with the kids. – Left right on time, which really means early.
• Going to drive home on I-90, as usual – Checked traffic and chanced travelling on 520, shorter, but usually much more congested. Went OK.
• Going to finish up the paperwork Carl needs to work on a 401(k) – This one was done, as planned more or less.
• Going to go to bed early, so we can try getting up early tomorrow – It’s 11:11 now, not sure this is “early”

I honestly cannot remember where I read the above quote, and I don’t know if I’m prodigal. Also we had ham, so nothing above is really accurate. I am home from Tennessee however.

For those who don’t know I spent last summer as a Concessions Intern with the Tennessee Smokies Baseball Club, and after spending a month in St. Louis with my gracious hosts of Regenaxe fame, I was hired by the Smokies full-time as a Group Sales Representative.

Smokies Park, where I work is located east of Knoxville in the Great Smoky Mountains. I’m having a great time in Tennessee, but I’m very glad to be back here in Seattle, even if it’s just for a short time. Time is flying here with family and friends, and soon I’ll be back in the mountains. I’ll enjoy Seattle while I can and hopefully get some visitors in TN this summer.

Go Smokies!

-Rey

Christmas dinner is done, as well as most of the dishes.
We had ham, Pooh’s pomegranate salad, mashed potatoes and rolls, wine and egg nog. Not too fancy, but easy to make so the focus is not on the cooking. What is missing is pumpkin pie, because I totally forgot to make it.

The day started around 9ish, with Kringle and coffee. Stockings and presents followed, and then a game of Quirkle. It is a cross between Scrabble and Set, and was pretty fun. Rey prevailed – but only by one point. A round of vegetables and humus and off we went to a movie. Sherlock Holmes, although we ended up at a show 3 hours later than thought. Which allowed Rey & me to take a walk.

The movie was good, but it is a Guy Richie film, so expect a bit of fighting.

I think we’re ready!

The Bluebeak of Solstice and his buddy, plus Waterman with a hat Santa

And this is before the Christmas Eve party/dinner.

Jay spent about 45 minutes waiting in line to get the Honey-Baked Ham. Luckily it was sunny out. And the woman in line in front of Jay told her that the Whole Foods store had lots of pomegranates (unlike to two main grocery chain stores).  We managed to get out of the stores a whole hour before they close for the holiday. (Forgot the egg-nog (horrors) and also found soy-egg-nog this year.) I think the kids still have ALL of their wrapping to do, but Carl & Jay are pretty well done.

Sleep tight, and leave the cookies for Santa.

Everybody is home safely! YEAH. Now the real holidays begin.
Only one small glitch yesterday, about a one hour delay at the border.
Really, the true border crossing only took about 15 minutes. It was the almost at the border, turn around to retrieve a forgotten passport. Well not really forgotten, just a sleep deprived – stress released – distracted moment of looking at the passport, but not actually putting it into any purse or bag that would be travelling south.

Everybody remembers the early morning wake-up on Christmas, running to the tree to see what Santa left. And then trying to convince the parents that it is time to get up. (My earliest memory is a 4:30 AM wake-up.) With all of the time changes, wierd sleep patterns and general holiday nuttiness this year, it should be interesting to see what time our family actually runs meanders to the tree this year.

The winter solstice is definitely noteworthy in the Pacific Northwest. It marks the beginning of days getting longer. This doesn’t always translate into more light due to the often heavy cloud cover, but you know it is happening. So almost a day late. But around the winter solstice if you work your normal day you will not see the sun (maybe at lunch). This morning – Sunrise at 7:55 AM, Sunset at 4:22 PM.

Celebrate, celebrate, dance and twirl, sing out your songs and rejoice.

Even though the calendar still says short days, today is going to be one of my longest. Up at 4 AM so I could drop off a co-worker (the carpooler) at the airport this early AM. And then Rey arrives at same said airport sometime around midnight tonight.

We were shopping today in our favorite free-trade store (no hints) today. Carl looked up and a woman was staring at him. He said, “Hello.” And she said, “Are you famous?” He answered if you had seen his face on a big screen it was most likely at Safeco Field. (clip #1) (clip #2 – oops, haven’t been able to locate) I helped out by adding it was more likely he was infamous.

It turns out she thought he was Norm Dicks, a state politician. I suppose it is good for politicians to be seen at fair trade stores. He mentioned this event while we were checking out, without telling them who the woman had thought he was. The checker said, “Oh, yeah – you look just like Philip Seymour Hoffman.” What do you think?

Representative Norm Dicks, D-WA

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Carl 2009