Wednesday Randoms and Vents

[mrs.jacinthe]

I'm so tired, I had to double check that today is Wednesday.

I'm currently at the airport waiting for a flight to Dallas. R was going to drop me off, but he got a work emergency call (boy, it sucks having on-call responsibility sometimes) at 2:30 and left shortly after that, so I drove myself to the airport at 4am. Good times.

Also, our yard is almost done! It looks so weird with all the mulch and little tiny plants. And we haven't planted our fruit trees yet because it's too hot for at least another month. Bleh.

[pumpkin]

mrs.jacinthe, I'm with you, I'm soooo tired. It's been tough getting up this week.

Otherwise work sucks and I'm starting to consider looking for a new job - something I thought I'd never say.

Home projects haven't been moving much but I really need to get my butt in gear and get a couple of things done.

[mrsukyankee]

We've had tons of rain this summer and two huge storms in two days. My poor plants/roses are getting battered. London always has some rain but it's normally just sprinkles or misty rain - these are downpours. Bah.

I also just got a new job that starts on Monday - instead of doing sessional work at a university, they've asked me to take on a maternity cover for 50 weeks. So, 3 days a week of salaried pay that includes 15 days holiday plus any bank holidays and university holidays that take place on Mon - Weds. Stoked! I was also asked if I'd consider upping my hours at the girl's school where I work (hourly). Less time for gardening but more cash in my pocket and for retirement! Wahoo!

[simpsongal]

I need to start setting reasonable H&G goals. With two little kids, I find myself just keeping up w/daily house stuff. But there are things that could be done (e.g., organize linen closet). I'm getting 'ancy to do a project.

We're officially saving for the master bath reno! I'm gathering pics and ideas (working off @juno 's floorplan she drew for me!).

I reeeaalllly want to redo our front door and walkway.

[TBM]

I should be doing something, but instead I am using lack of electricity as an excuse...even though we have a whole house generator. We should have power by Saturday @midnight, but there are lines (and trees on lines) down all over our neighborhood, (and everone else's), so we'll see.

I am still tired from all of the hurricane prep stress, and cleaning up outside, (no damage, just a lot of debris) that I am just being lazy now in hopes that I can avoid getting sick. That's how it always seems to start with me.

We pretty much cleared out the courtyard when we prepped, so now is probably a good time to work on finalizing a design for the space...before we clutter it up with stuff. If we have a plan, we could actually start implementing it bit by bit.

This is one of those 'If You Give A Mouse A Cookie...' things, where one expensive little home improvement power object leads to another. lol

We need to figure out our front yard too...the exact layout for the driveway and what permeable material to use, what/where to plant, etc.

Replacing windows is going to be a priority in the next 6 months too. I'm just afraid that they will be too expensive, so we will have to plan for phases. Finding windows that I think are appropriate for the house and the county let's us use is going to be a problem, since ours are not in any way compliant and I don't want to have to alter the look of the house too much.

We're thinking about hurricane shutters that are permanent (maybe Bahama shutters on the living room windows), because we have no place to store the plywood covers we made. Also because plywood is heavy and it is a pita to put up...especially on the clerestory window and the tall windows in the living room.

For now, I think I will continue binge watching Pushing Daisies, then maybe I will move on to Daria. ;p

[TBM]

Sept 13, 2017 11:00:59 GMT -5 @juno said:

TBM, i'm so happy to hear it sounds like you didn't have much damage. I thought about you several times in the past week.

Thanks for thinking of us. We seriously over prepared, and are glad that we did...better safe than sorry. On the flip side, our next door neighbors sat out on their screened porch and watched the whole storm.

[simpsongal]

TBM, hugs that sounds stressful but glad to hear everything is okay. My Uncle is near Jacksonville, I should find out how he's doing w/all the flooding

@juno I'm not sure if we'll do demo - we'll definitely ask the contractor to price things out to see where we can save. It might be fun to demo I anticipate finishing the closet they'll build (installing some sort of system), I'll definitely do the painting work too. And I might make a work space in the adjacent room (laundry/office), maybe some built ins too. I'm thinking of doing a big desk w/Ikea butcher block - not sure about the underneath portion, I need to think on it.

I need to work on DD's next room too....

[mrs.jacinthe]

Sept 13, 2017 10:44:12 GMT -5 @juno said:

Sept 13, 2017 9:24:38 GMT -5 simpsongal said:

I need to start setting reasonable H&G goals. With two little kids, I find myself just keeping up w/daily house stuff. But there are things that could be done (e.g., organize linen closet). I'm getting 'ancy to do a project.

We're officially saving for the master bath reno! I'm gathering pics and ideas (working off @juno 's floorplan she drew for me!).

I reeeaalllly want to redo our front door and walkway.

Neat! Second career, here i come. Can't wait to see finalized plans. Are you going to do demo?

mrs.jacinthe, tell me more about the yard please. Did you pick out some grasses? Have a plant list? Are you doing bare root trees? Can you even do those in the fall? Ours come in stock dec./jan.

We did a water-wise replacement and had a required square footage of coverage. We skipped grasses because where we'd put them, they wouldn't thrive - they'd be full sun now, but once the trees are in, they'd be full/partial shade. We did strawberry tree, pineapple guava, cape plumbago, Tuscan blue rosemary, white and orchid rock rose, and cotoneaster.

We were limited in our plant choices by both the plant list from the water agency and our need for the plants to be, even slightly, deer resistant.

As far as fruit trees go, beyond the strawberry and pineapple guava, we're planning on doing containerized trees because we want grafted multi-variety trees for sake of space and pollination. So we'll have a multi apple, a multi citrus, and a multi stone fruit.

[cmeon]

Yeah, hurricane prep, undoing the prep, cleaning up the mess, and surviving the lack of electricity are a total drain on everything. Our bones ache- it's living on adrenaline and finally coming down. Phew.

TBM, we got power back yesterday (they told us weeks, then Sunday- and then the lineman showed up, flipped a switch and we were back)- if you need ANYTHING, please let me know! We have big, slobbery, hairy dogs, wild kids (school is out until Monday!), and a lot of friends and family in and out, but, you're totally welcome to join the circus! We're in west Volusia, let me know! We need to meet one of these days, regardless! We have the corrugated aluminum shutters that just screw into the house and stack up neatly in the garage- they're great, easy enough to install and put away. But, I would LOVE to just get impact glass if I built again (or have to replace windows). Assuming I'm a bazillionaire at that point in life.

Well, my much loved Handroanthus may be a goner (and it was just starting it's second bloom this year, after a disappointing March bloom). We lost a huge branch off the leader, leaving a gaping wound- the winds split it like it was nothing. We're going to finish cutting it off and let it do what it wants to do, but, I'm worried for it (and should I even try to save it, if every hurricane that rolls in does so much damage??). We'll see if we can find an expert to consult when things die down.

We also lost a few shingles, my oldest banana is on the ground (we will try to prop it up, it will probably be okay), and have to pop a fence panel back together. Other people had it much, much worse, so we're trying to help where we can. I am currently just sitting down, with air conditioning, a ceiling fan, a working kitchen (void of most food, unfortunately- trucks are starting to make it in), letting DD watch all the youtube videos she wants while DH has DS at a crazy soccer practice (these kids are so wound up). More work to do tomorrow!

[TBM]

Sept 13, 2017 18:04:30 GMT -5 cmeon said:

Yeah, hurricane prep, undoing the prep, cleaning up the mess, and surviving the lack of electricity are a total drain on everything. Our bones ache- it's living on adrenaline and finally coming down. Phew.

TBM, we got power back yesterday (they told us weeks, then Sunday- and then the lineman showed up, flipped a switch and we were back)- if you need ANYTHING, please let me know! We have big, slobbery, hairy dogs, wild kids (school is out until Monday!), and a lot of friends and family in and out, but, you're totally welcome to join the circus! We're in west Volusia, let me know! We need to meet one of these days, regardless! We have the corrugated aluminum shutters that just screw into the house and stack up neatly in the garage- they're great, easy enough to install and put away. But, I would LOVE to just get impact glass if I built again (or have to replace windows). Assuming I'm a bazillionaire at that point in life.

Well, my much loved Handroanthus may be a goner (and it was just starting it's second bloom this year, after a disappointing March bloom). We lost a huge branch off the leader, leaving a gaping wound- the winds split it like it was nothing. We're going to finish cutting it off and let it do what it wants to do, but, I'm worried for it (and should I even try to save it, if every hurricane that rolls in does so much damage??). We'll see if we can find an expert to consult when things die down.

We also lost a few shingles, my oldest banana is on the ground (we will try to prop it up, it will probably be okay), and have to pop a fence panel back together. Other people had it much, much worse, so we're trying to help where we can. I am currently just sitting down, with air conditioning, a ceiling fan, a working kitchen (void of most food, unfortunately- trucks are starting to make it in), letting DD watch all the youtube videos she wants while DH has DS at a crazy soccer practice (these kids are so wound up). More work to do tomorrow!

I am so glad you posted! I have been wondering how you were doing.

We're doing fine, but thanks for the offer.

DH is having a hard time working with no internet. Since he works remotely, they do everything on the computer. Today he had to sit through a meeting where everyone but him had a visual. And using his phone as a hot spot only goes so far. He hasn't been able to get on the work vpn.

We actually have enough propane for a few weeks or so, and they tanks were filled fairly recently. We have an LP cook top in our kitchen, but that doesn't use much, so they were pretty full.

Our roof was covered in stuff, but nothing too big and no damage. We still have a lot of small debris in the backyard, but we keep doing a little here and there, hoping that it will eventually all make it out to the street gor pickup. We don't really spend time in that part of the yard, so it isn't a huge priority to get every stick.

Our bigger banana plants have shredded leaves and one is leaning, but it isn't too bad. DH may have already propped it up. Everything else came through just fine. Not that we have anything special...mostly a lot of oaks, a couple of palm trees, and then some shrubs that I don't really love. Our potted plants were pretty well protected in the dog run. We crammed all of the patio furniture, potted plants, and anything else we could find in there. It's a pita to do, but it gives us peace of mind, and so far everything has come through relatively unscathed.

Duke says that everyone will have power by midnight Saturday, but they haven't been able to give the neighbor with the tree that pulled down a line and a pole any estimate of when they will get to it, and there are several lines down in the neighborhood snd another pole or two.

[cmeon]

Sept 13, 2017 19:17:13 GMT -5 TBM said:

Sept 13, 2017 18:04:30 GMT -5 cmeon said:

Yeah, hurricane prep, undoing the prep, cleaning up the mess, and surviving the lack of electricity are a total drain on everything. Our bones ache- it's living on adrenaline and finally coming down. Phew.

TBM , we got power back yesterday (they told us weeks, then Sunday- and then the lineman showed up, flipped a switch and we were back)- if you need ANYTHING, please let me know! We have big, slobbery, hairy dogs, wild kids (school is out until Monday!), and a lot of friends and family in and out, but, you're totally welcome to join the circus! We're in west Volusia, let me know! We need to meet one of these days, regardless! We have the corrugated aluminum shutters that just screw into the house and stack up neatly in the garage- they're great, easy enough to install and put away. But, I would LOVE to just get impact glass if I built again (or have to replace windows). Assuming I'm a bazillionaire at that point in life.

Well, my much loved Handroanthus may be a goner (and it was just starting it's second bloom this year, after a disappointing March bloom). We lost a huge branch off the leader, leaving a gaping wound- the winds split it like it was nothing. We're going to finish cutting it off and let it do what it wants to do, but, I'm worried for it (and should I even try to save it, if every hurricane that rolls in does so much damage??). We'll see if we can find an expert to consult when things die down.

We also lost a few shingles, my oldest banana is on the ground (we will try to prop it up, it will probably be okay), and have to pop a fence panel back together. Other people had it much, much worse, so we're trying to help where we can. I am currently just sitting down, with air conditioning, a ceiling fan, a working kitchen (void of most food, unfortunately- trucks are starting to make it in), letting DD watch all the youtube videos she wants while DH has DS at a crazy soccer practice (these kids are so wound up). More work to do tomorrow!

I am so glad you posted! I have been wondering how you were doing.

We're doing fine, but thanks for the offer.

DH is having a hard time working with no internet. Since he works remotely, they do everything on the computer. Today he had to sit through a meeting where everyone but him had a visual. And using his phone as a hot spot only goes so far. He hasn't been able to get on the work vpn.

We actually have enough propane for a few weeks or so, and they tanks were filled fairly recently. We have an LP cook top in our kitchen, but that doesn't use much, so they were pretty full.

Our roof was covered in stuff, but nothing too big and no damage. We still have a lot of small debris in the backyard, but we keep doing a little here and there, hoping that it will eventually all make it out to the street gor pickup. We don't really spend time in that part of the yard, so it isn't a huge priority to get every stick.

Our bigger banana plants have shredded leaves and one is leaning, but it isn't too bad. DH may have already propped it up. Everything else came through just fine. Not that we have anything special...mostly a lot of oaks, a couple of palm trees, and then some shrubs that I don't really love. Our potted plants were pretty well protected in the dog run. We crammed all of the patio furniture, potted plants, and anything else we could find in there. It's a pita to do, but it gives us peace of mind, and so far everything has come through relatively unscathed.

Duke says that everyone will have power by midnight Saturday, but they haven't been able to give the neighbor with the tree that pulled down a line and a pole any estimate of when they will get to it, and there are several lines down in the neighborhood snd another pole or two.

I don't want to like this because there are so many unhappy things in it, but, I like the good parts!

DH works from home, too, his company is based in Michigan, he's the ONLY remote employee (it's a long, weird story), and is super necessary- so, that was fun. Cell/data were spotty. We have a back-up on our modem, but, nothing was coming in or going out. His company was super awesome about it, though, thankfully! He was back to work like 15 minutes after the power came back on (thankfully, our internet service was restored by then, too). If your husband wants to come hang out, the welcome doormat will be out again!

Our nextdoor neighbor lost the top of their mailbox- it was totally gone, nowhere to be found. The funny thing is that we HATE our mailbox and make up stupid scenarios that will destroy it for us (it's been hit a dozen times, but, keeps remaining functional- if leaning and sort of smooshed on one side). We woke up to find it still (leaning-ly) standing, and theirs decapitated. We could not stop laughing, at least we kept it in until we were alone.

I really hope things get back to normal for you, soon, it feels almost like you're left behind in time while the rest of the world moves on. Such a weird feeling. I'm glad you have a generator, though, that is something we will be purchasing as soon as it's not selfish to do!

[TBM]

Sept 13, 2017 19:45:11 GMT -5 cmeon said:

I don't want to like this because there are so many unhappy things in it, but, I like the good parts!

DH works from home, too, his company is based in Michigan, he's the ONLY remote employee (it's a long, weird story), and is super necessary- so, that was fun. Cell/data were spotty. We have a back-up on our modem, but, nothing was coming in or going out. His company was super awesome about it, though, thankfully! He was back to work like 15 minutes after the power came back on (thankfully, our internet service was restored by then, too). If your husband wants to come hang out, the welcome doormat will be out again!

Our nextdoor neighbor lost the top of their mailbox- it was totally gone, nowhere to be found. The funny thing is that we HATE our mailbox and make up stupid scenarios that will destroy it for us (it's been hit a dozen times, but, keeps remaining functional- if leaning and sort of smooshed on one side). We woke up to find it still (leaning-ly) standing, and theirs decapitated. We could not stop laughing, at least we kept it in until we were alone.

I really hope things get back to normal for you, soon, it feels almost like you're left behind in time while the rest of the world moves on. Such a weird feeling. I'm glad you have a generator, though, that is something we will be purchasing as soon as it's not selfish to do!

You are so right about the left behind feeling. I was just thinking about the weirdness of that today, and mentioned it to my daughter. Today is our son in laws birthday, and I seriously had no idea what the day or date was today.

Too funny about the mailbox. I probably would not have been able to contain my laughter.

I was taking photos of our neighbor's tree that uprooted because it still had the 'protected by' sign from their alarm company standing in front of it (or maybe laying is more accurate with a fallen tree). I thought it was hilarious.

DH says that a whole house generator with an automatic switch is the only way to go. It sure has made all of this much nicer for us.

[cmeon]

Sept 13, 2017 20:09:42 GMT -5 TBM said:

You are so right about the left behind feeling. I was just thinking about the weirdness of that today, and mentioned it to my daughter. Today is our son in laws birthday, and I seriously had no idea what the day or date was today.

Too funny about the mailbox. I probably would not have been able to contain my laughter.

I was taking photos of our neighbor's tree that uprooted because it still had the 'protected by' sign from their alarm company standing in front of it (or maybe laying is more accurate with a fallen tree). I thought it was hilarious.

DH says that a whole house generator with an automatic switch is the only way to go. It sure has made all of this much nicer for us.

I agree! Portables scare me with kids (maybe irrationally) and having to do all that prep to use one guarantees it would only get pulled out for these once-in-twelve-years events! Hardly an excuse for the garage space!

[TBM]

We have internet!!!!!!

Still no power to the neighborhood, (and the sound of all of the generators is kind of getting to me), but the power company finally had someone out here this morning, checking on the damage, so that's something.

[TBM]

The internet is out again.

I told my daughter that I feel that my extensive dvd collection is now justified. I am one of those people who needs tv in the background, and without it, I think (know) that the alternating silence and abundant generator noise would make me crazy.

ETA:  It is back on again, but cable is screwed up, so I see many more dvds in my future.   In other good news, the power company came by and replaced the downed lines.  At least we are a step closer to having power restored.

UPDATE:  We have power!!  It came on just before DH got off work.
  
Now we have power and internet.  We probably won't have cable and phone until Wednesday, but at least we know, so we won't be wondering and checking all the time.

I love how the rep is always 'so sorry' that you won't have service for at least x number of days and btw, you will still be charged for it, and then chipperly ask if there is anything else that they can help you with.  So annoying.