I had not anticipated an update to my last post so soon. Sparky was evidently not fried in his attempt to interfere with the electrical grid. Instead, he has teamed up with the NOOT (Natural Orneriness of Things) to sabotage my lights and my blog. As soon as I hit "publish" on my post saying... Continue Reading →
After having our patio lights destroyed by a particularly misguided squirrel on two different occasions, I was left with no option but to apply the scientific method to the problem. Step 1: Observation/Question - The squirrels (possibly one particular individual, "Sparky") are chewing the lightbulbs off my string of patio lights/how do I make the... Continue Reading →
Pippin is a very gentle dog, though you might not guess it to look at him. He actively smiles, and only people who have had a smiler of their own recognize this look as one of love and excitement as it is admittedly similar to a snarl. Sometimes we meet people who tell us that... Continue Reading →
Even though our trip to France is over and we don't have another on the books, I'm still practicing my French with Duolingo so that when we do go back I'm closer to being fluent (and also because I just like learning languages). This past week, a new phrase I learned was pire en pire... Continue Reading →
When we bought our house, one of the little things we were excited about was that the yard seemingly had the capability of growing strawberries, which are Kalen's favorite. In the middle of the concrete patio by the garage, the small garden bed was full of strawberry plants. We had rented various places up until... Continue Reading →
I've been in this battle with the oven for a while now. Well, I guess I'm not in a battle with the oven, but I'm battling over the oven, which I really liked until the nonstick coating inside decided it was so nonstick that it wasn't going to stick to the oven and started flaking... Continue Reading →
It's after Thanksgiving now, which means it's officially acceptable for me to upgrade autumn things for winter things, but it also means that I'm in that post-holiday turkey-induced slump where I don't have much energy or motivation to trudge up to the attic and dig out the Christmas decorations, so I'm just going to write... Continue Reading →
I've been writing a little less than usual because I've been doing a little less than usual. The weather has turned positively wintery (we even had the tiniest dusting of snow this week!) and most of my activities have been boring, routine maintenance things like making sure that the hoses got disconnected from the outside... Continue Reading →
Our house is prone to weird air currents. We are getting used to them, but the hows and whys are mysteries we may never solve. In summer, when it's hot outside, the upstairs also gets very warm. This is neither a surprise nor a mystery: heat rises, the second floor has no air conditioning, and... Continue Reading →
We've officially had the first frost of the year which means I had to put on my big girl pants and accept that summer is really and truly over. I woke up this morning checked the weather to find that it was 20 degrees Fahrenheit (that's -6 Celsius to the rest of the world). I'm... Continue Reading →
