Raincharm’s Weblog

Carl has taken the lead on sorting of the house today.

He is going through innumerable piles of stuff from around the places he keeps stuff.
I am given occasional tasks to sort through sub-piles.
I also put about five bags of recycle into our bin. Unfortunately this is an off-week for recycle pick-up, and we are very close to filling the bin already. But I don’t want to stop the cleaning. (It seems to be picking up steam.)

We did get out a bit today – if only to play in the snow.
In the front yard more or less.

I did find that pulling the recycle and yard waste bins through the snow is much more difficult than I imagined. The snow and ice sticks to and cakes on the wheels, which only have a modest amount of clearance.

The living room is now covered in Carl’s piles of papers, the clothes that were out have all been boxed and moved to the study. I did realize after I finished that task, that there is still a boxful of clothes (at least) in Ashlan’s wardrobe. Maybe the last thing I will do tonight. Before that I do need to do a bit of work before my day-long meeting tomorrow.

And please, weather gods, make the driving slow and easy tomorrow AM.

The past week has blown past.
Where did it go, where was I, what did I do?

Well, I know I went to work.
I was at work until 5:30 on Friday.
With a car-pooler, sort-of patiently cooling his heels.
And an out of town duo in a meeting with me, rushing to get through everything.
And everybody else from my end had, well, left.

Moody? Yes – and that was about the size of my work week.
I was definitely in a mood the last two days.
I feel a bit like it has carried into the weekend, but am trying to keep it at bay.
But – of course, there is some work I need to do this weekend ….

And we are working on Monday. At least all of the managers – we have an all day retreat, to be sprinkled in with timesheets and payroll. The first of our bi-weekly payrolls after always being paid bi-monthly. (The use of the two bi-s meaning the opposite is interesting, but I think it is correct.) On the other hand, perhaps what I really mean is semi-monthly.
In the end – changing from 24 paychecks to 26. But since getting a paycheck is important, I am really trying to not complain about the change. We will all adapt.

Carl has worked a few days this week, but his days off were due to him getting strep throat. I have no signs yet. Fingers crossed.
I know he is on the mend now that he has drugs on board, because he is much more verbal and complaining about referees. (Hockey in the current moment.)

OK – back to the negativity index. I just uttered a triple negative to my husband. His comment, “You are usually such a positive person.”

On to the house report.
I looked at the last post to see where we were.
I had folded and boxed the stay clothes for both kids, and the go clothes for one.
The go clothes for Ashlan had been staged to the living room for folding.

And the Ashlan go clothes are still there. Waiting.
But in the meantime, we somehow got diverted to books.
One box has been sent abroad. But that was before we really got into the bookcases.
I really don’t know how many bookcases we have, and I don’t think I want to count.
Truth be told not all books were in bookcases.

As with clothes, we are identifying stay and go books.
We have a wide variety of books.
Many, many, many, many kids books. These are in varying states of still togetherness.
After all they have been through a large number of kids use.
Some we are sure we will keep. Suess, Dahl, the Eyewitness series (probably), and certain favorites. And then there are the nature guides – keep. Lots of science fiction/fantasy, mysteries, and on and on. And we have not even approached the baseball collection. Rey had gone through his room’s books before departing east. Not so much with Ashlan.

Not counting the kids rooms I have listed about 8-9 pages (landscape) of book titles and authors, and sent them off to the kids so they can give me any titles to keep. And others keep showing up. And we are running out of boxes the size I can carry loaded with books. (Copier paper size boxes. I have told our maintenance guy I am on the look-out for any we empty at work.)

I have found a few that were provided to the kids with notes explaining the significance of the book. One was translated by their great-great-great-great-grandfather Wippern.

Lately I have found myself identifying a few I think would be good “Cabin” books.Another standout was The Glorious Pool, by Thorne Smith. Written in 1934, it was his last book as he died before it was quite finished. His wife provided the finishing touches and it was considered quite a good read, a story about the fountain of youth discovered by an older couple. The front cover proclaims, “The gay and buoyant talk of three people who found their lost youth again.” This might be a good cabin book just because it is fun, readable, and dates to when the cabin was very young.

The beds have been changed, and the Sudoku and 1 crossword completed. So after a bit of work today it will be time to fold those clothes. I don’t think we are going to try going anywhere. Carl is still recuperating (and doing laundry), and it is morphing from rain to snow as we speak. I don’t mind that we are having this bit of snow (yet), as long as it is managed by the Monday morning commute.

Side note for those familiar with the Seattle commute conditions. I have now driven the 520 bridge with my Go-To-Go Pass in place. I have not checked to see whether it was correctly noted on my account. Fun and games to make that $3.50 decision every time we drive to and from work. So far we are at an occassional crossing – always in the evening when the traffic is heavier. Less than 20% so far.

From a blog perspective the new year has started slowly.

But at least part of that is because it actually has been quite busy.
Work has been busy, and lots of things to do at home.

Today the clearing of the house has continued a bit.
Mostly taking things out that have been moved around inside.
(Recycle day tomorrow.)

When I was outside with the recycling, I realized that it was a nice winter day, and if I didn’t finish the raspberry patch pruning started last weekend, I would regret it. This means that it would most likely be done on a drizzly day, rather than a dry one. So – finished the current round of patch maintenance. There is still a starter tree to dig out, and refurbishing the patch boundary.

The Ashlan stay clothes have been moved downstairs for refolding and packing.
(Rey’s clothes were done during the week. Started with Rey’s because 1) they were already downstairs, and 2) there were fewer.) After the stay clothes are done, the real task of folding the leave clothes will take place. Not sure whether I will get that far today.

Cleaning out is liberating, and I keep seeing other things I am mentally throwing out.
We did get to a fair part of the bathroom. The sorting there was garbage, keep or take to the drug disposal location. We have a few good drugs (street value), and more that are just old. The oldest expiration date we found was 1999. Lots of garbage. We even got down far enough to clean the cupboard shelves. Next up is the lower bathroom cabinets.

Perhaps it is not really a war, more like a skirmish.
But it is not the first.

First there was the new lawn.

Now we are into compost.
We have two green cones in the back yard.
They are for our vegetable matter not eaten.
We also compost meat and milk products, but those go to the city yard waste collection.

The theory is we use one green cone for as long as it takes to make it about 1/2 full.
Then we switch to the other, and let the first one sit, to prepare itself for future harvest.
This is my type of composting. Passive.

Except that now it appears there may be some action required.

A few weeks ago it looked as though something had been digging around the based of the active cone. But it could be that dirt was just sloughing in to the bottom of the cone. It looks quite a bit like a plastic laundry basket. Holes let the moisture out and the decomposers in. I put a few bricks over the hole. The digging reappeared, so I put more dirt in the hole and replaced the bricks.

Yesterday I was out pruning the raspberries, and noted that our sitting compost cone was open.
The kids have been around, and IF they had taken the compost out, it is clearly possible that they could have chosen the wrong cone. And they could have neglected to close the top. But I doubted that was the case. So I closed the lid.

This morning I put out the compost in the correct cone, and noted footprints on the side and lid of the active cone, and a brick askew at the base.
The lids were both closed, but I doubt this is the last attempt.

raccoon attempts