Raincharm’s Weblog

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

We are empty nesters again.
And spending the day in recovery mode.
My thought was to energetically spend the day taking down the tree and starting to re-box and better organize and label all of the items the kids sorted through during their short stay.

The kids both got out of town in states of severe drowsiness. Their goals were both to sleep on the plane.
Ashlan is now back at work and life in NYC.
Rey is now back in Michigan for a day or two, before returning to Tennessee to start his 4th year as a member of the Smokies organization.
We have only found a list of bowl game picks that Rey left, and some books that we were planning to send his way instead of carrying them on the plane.

The kids, however, each managed to leave town with an ORCA bus pass. (The Seattle use it anywhere pass for getting around.)

Our day started with Rey’s departure, early.
I wasn’t sure I would be able to go back to sleep after a trip to the airport and back, but in the end it happened rather quickly. We did not rise until almost 11 AM (unheard of). Just in time for the bowl games of the day to start. We are using Rey’s list of bowl game picks to determine who we want to win.

Our last planned act of 2011 will be to finish the ham.
The pea soup went at lunch/dinner time. (Getting up late really messes up mealtimes.)

Happy and safe New Year’s Eve to all.
See you in the new year.

2011 is almost in the books.
I went to work today, for almost an entire 8 hours.
I escaped early so I could spend a few more hours with Rey.

We did go through Rey’s clothes last night.
As compared with Ashlan – 2 boxes for Selling, a few items thrown away, and 1 box to Keep.
And the boxes were easily closed.
Not worthy of a picture.

This afternoon we went through the non-clothes stuff and got about two boxes of things (books mostly) that can go to new homes.

He will be off early in the AM, and then it is our turn to start paring down.
Also to go back through their boxes so they make sense for moving to their next destination.

Rey is out with friends for the evening.
Hope he has fun, and can get up in the AM.

I took a vacation day today. Mostly.
One small moment on-line to work to get an e-mail out the door.

Other than that it was pretty much a day at home.
Unfortunately, Rey & Carl are both a bit under the weather, so there was not much drive to get out and about. Ashlan was feeling fit, and since she is leaving (as I write I imagine she it getting onto the plane) my plans for the day focused on her.

That meant doing the crosswords without her (she was still in bed).
But then it meant filling out some paperwork, while she was in town.

And then …. the big room pack.
Now, we did not really pack up the room, but we did do a lot of sorting.
There is still a lot to go through, but we made major progress.

Ashlan's Room

Mostly we went through things that arrived back from school.
And clothes gathered over many years. And shoes. And shoes. And shoes.

The sort choices were 1) Keep, 2) Sell, 3) Throw away.
If you look at the picture you will not see the Throw away bags, which were dragged downstairs.
The boxes on the bed are Sell.
The pile to the left of the bed is Keep. (about 1/3 the size of sell)
There is more out of camera range, but this gives an idea of what we did accomplish.

The not gone through stuff includes a lot of course work from college.
There are also books (will not sell), and magazines (destined for throw away).

And there are the notebooks in the bottom drawer that I have been instructed to keep, and not read.

Heck, I just went through a personnel issue at work, where I had access to all sorts of paperwork, and I did not read any of it. ETHICs.

So – now it is Rey’s turn at the sorting Mom.
And he is ready, but his room is much less daunting.

At least for me – and only part time this week.
For a slow week, it was pretty busy. Perhaps aiming at a 1/2 day made it so.
Although I did end up staying a bit beyond my self-appointed departure time.
This was set so I would have more time with the family while they are in town.

So, where is the family?
The kids are off at a movie, with one of Ashlan’s Vancouver friends. (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.)
Carl is off grocery shopping. On the list – split pea soup makings to go with our ham bone.
I am here, and as long as I am here, I may finish some unfinished work that is due tomorrow.

But before I did that I put together one of this year’s Some Assembly Required gifts.
It is fun for what it is.
Soccer in the off-season.
And yes, the players at midfield have their backs to the ball when the kickoff is taken.
But, like many tables, the ball doesn’t usually stay stock still in the middle.

Carl won the opening game, and scored the first goal.

Foosball Mini

In which we venture out into the crowds.

We actually ventured on foot.
The day started a bit slowly, and then picked up steam.
There were two specific locations that were on our list today, and they were only about 1 block apart.
So we headed downtown. Probably 4.5 miles to reach the first location.

Potbelly Sandwich Shop.
[Ashlan misses her work, or rather her daily food ration. She did note the one difference between the Seattle store and the New York stores is the addition of a “Compost” selection to the “Trash” and “Recycle” choices.]
Then it was off to Aldos. I have never heard of this store, but apparently many have.
Unfortunately, the boots Ashlan was intent on buying were not in stock in Seattle.
The closest pair was in Salt Lake City.
So she will wait until returning to NYC to claim a pair. (Black or Brown – the tension mounts.)

Ashlan & Jay chose to bus home, while Carl and Rey decided they would walk some more.
However, after an additional 3-3/4 miles, they called for a ride.
It could have been either Carl’s knees or the rain that convinced them of this move.
I will admit that their additional mileage included some rather steep hills (Queen Anne),
so I picked them up at the Fremont Troll, which was bustling with people.

All home for now, and figuring out what to do with the ham for this evening.

Tonight will also include working on the Christmas Card (for those that are wondering where they are).
We had to wait for the kids to get home together to get a picture.
And for the few that got cabin plates – here are the before and after shots.

Christmas day is well near the end.
It has been a good day all-in-all.

We started by sleeping in. At least by Christmas morning standards.
I am sure everyone has an extremely early rising story associated with young children.
I remember Pooh & I getting up, dressed, and then waking up Mom and Dad, at about 4:30 AM.
We were sent back to bed. For the years after that I think we were given a 7 AM time for getting up.
I believe we had a similar occurrence in our house, although I have a hard time remembering the details.

Breakfast included the cream cheese twist Ashlan & I retrieved from Larson Bakery yesterday.
And coffee.

Then it was to the tree and presents.
I believe everyone was well satisfied. A short fashion show for a few of the items.

Next up was making the pumpkin pie.
It all started out so innocently. Mixing the pumpkin filling, rolling out the dough, and laying the crust in the pie plate. Pouring the filling into the crust. Looking at it closely and thinking, “Something is not right.”
Checking out the recipe, I realized the milk had not been added.
We attempted to put the filling back into the bowl, but this meant sacrificing the crust.
And finding a store that was open to get the milk. (Yeah – found one.)
But then there was not time to finish the pie before we went out to see a movie.

Movie = Tin Tin.
It was a worthy movie. I’ll give it 4 stars.
The kids read the Tin Tin books when they were young, and felt the movie stayed pretty true to the book.

Home again, and this time finished the pie adventure.
This was quickly followed by dinner preparations.

Christmas pales by comparison to Thanksgiving preparations at our house.
Ham instead of Turkey, and many fewer side dishes. But food is not the main point.

So we are into the evening. And the pie.
Time is winding down, and we are happily discussing the days events.

tomorrow? Probably heading downtown for boxing day.
If we are successful we will post a picture or two.

For Christmas of course.
But that does not mean we did not have things to do, and easily find ways to fill our time.

Carl & Rey delivered some packages, and did most of the final food shopping.
Ashlan & Jay walked over to Larson Brothers Bakery to get some rolls and goodies for breakfast. About 8-9 miles on a beautiful day.

We then all saw parts of the Seahawks losing to some other team. (They could have won, but …) Laundry, showers, and now we are off to visit with some friends.

So I will leave you with this. Totally non-Christmas. See any resemblance?

Ball Boys

Some things have not changed.
They “fight” for the place in front of the heater vent, and call me the Keeper of the Ice Cave.
[What is funny, is that I think my mother keeps their house really cold.]

They also complain about having their picture taken.

But they don’t have the focus to keep paying attention to me.

I think the shopping has been completed, so we can all relax and spend some time together now. Weather permitting we may try and walk for some Christmas treats (Larson Bros. Bakery)

Christmas Tree 2011

Carl worked Monday-Wednesday, with a smidgen on Thursday.
Jay worked all week, but short days for the last few.

Today’s highlight was buying the Christmas ham.
Honeybaked Ham that is.

In our fair metropolitan area that means going to the Bellevue store, figuring out how to get into a parking spot while surrounded by many other cars and people intent on the same task. The store is in a small storefront surrounded by very expensive car dealers, a ski tune-up store, and something else. There is a US Bank close by, with a tow truck at the ready.

The line was not too long today, probably 40 minutes in all.
But it will be worth it. Met a nice woman from New York City (originally – been here for 25 years). The line is always a good place to make at least one acquaintance. I should have been keeping track over all these years. It might make a good story if they were all pieced together.

Taste of India for dinner.
Only 9 o’clock and both kids are out.
I think this has more to do with Eastern time zone than our running them ragged.