Well, another Christmas is mostly in the books. We’ve still got the second half to go, but the heavy lifting is done—presents are bought, tree is up, Santa has come and gone. I had a week off from work between the two holidays, and I swear to god I have no idea where the time went.
Christmas itself was lots of fun; we gathered at the Lockard compound to wait out the fat man and eat lots of food, and he was very generous to us all. I got some boots that needed to be returned—Dr. Martens in a size too big—and some pants that don’t double as catamaran sails, as well as a new beer kit. Finn made out really well, with musical instruments, a digital camera, and a toy piano among other things. Jen’s composter is on super-backorder but should arrive sometime in the next week or so.
We bought Jen’s dad a dishwasher to replace his ancient model, and I spent the better part of Monday pulling the old unit and installing the new one. After some confusion about hoses and connections, I got everything sorted out, leaks tightened up, and a test load running before we left.
The roof and gutters on the Estate are finally done, and I wrote a Very Big Check to pay for the whole thing on Tuesday. My apprehension at seeing my bank account dwindle was mitigated when it started raining 1/2 hour after the roofers left, and we could see actual water emptying out of the downspouts, as opposed to pouring out of the middle of the gutter on the back of the house. I added some extensions to the downspouts and adjusted a few things, and hopefully that will move more water away from the house quicker. Tuesday was also PJ day for the three of us, and we took great relish in sitting around and doing absolutely nothing for the whole day. Mama and I finally caught up with the final Harry Potter movie after Finn went to bed, and we enjoyed it, but we’re sad to see the series come to a close.
Wednesday I crawled back into the coal cellar and finished installing studs, then insulated the entire outside wall. It feels warmer at the edges of the room upstairs to a pair of stockinged feet (and Tuesday evening’s sub-artic temperature was the real test). I’m glad to have that done—and my back is, too.
Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning the house in preparation for the Unbirthday Party, which was a qualified success. Jen specified Afghan food for the meal, and everyone stepped up to the plate to provide very tasty food. After dinner, we sat in the living room around the fire, drank, laughed, and had a great time with everyone. Saturday was another day of rest after the party, and we stayed in our PJs as long as we could.
Sunday I went back to Chestertown to continue working on the Scout bumper, which is documented in detail here. I also tacked our flat-panel mount together and dropped it off for final welding while I was out there. It’s a 1.5″ length of box steel that stretches from floor to ceiling, and two feet at the top and bottom will provide mounting points. I’m going to cut a hole in the back and at the bottom to feed cabling inside so that it will be out of view.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Well, I haven’t made as much of a dent in the huge to-do list written for myself as I’d like, but I’ve gotten some small things accomplished. Finn and I hit the steelyard to pick up supplies for my TV mount project on Saturday. Going to that place is like stepping back into the 1960’s—it’s a low-slung industrial building in the middle of the Rt. 1 corridor (the Interstate That Time Forgot) where nice old Baltimore Hons write out your order on a sheet of paper, tabulate it from a well-worn mimeograph price sheet, then add it all with a calculator. We got 9′ of 1.5 x 1.5 box steel for the pole and a foot of 2″ plate for the mounts. I’m going to cut it to fit, drill the holes and bring it back over to Chestertown for our welder to complete when he does the bumper work. I also bought a foot of 4×4″ box steel, hoping it will be the right size for the hinge as a backup solution.
Saturday also marked the first time I’ve dealt with leaves in the backyard since about 2006 or so; one circuit with the lawnmower made some finely-chopped mulch for next spring. The front yard still looks pretty good, although our hedges continue to collect and retain leaves from most of the surrounding counties.
Finn and I were on our own for dinner, so I took her over to the local Toys ‘R’ Us to scout out the Leapfrog lineup and judge whether or not it’s worth spending money on. Most of the merchandise I saw was 1-purpose stuff, made to do one or two things but not expand further which turns me off. Taking a chance on a $40 toy that might not help Finn read or learn numbers seems like a waste to me, especially as most of them spend more time highlighting other things—useless games, singing songs, etc. We fooled around in the store for almost an hour, and then went next door to the Panera for some dinner. Finn polished off a bowl of mac and cheese and then all of her yogurt, so I treated her to a cookie when we got home. After a shower, we read a few books together and then hit the sack clean and happy.
Sunday started with service across the street, and then a visit to the Gooch (our local thrift store in Irvington) for Mama to pick up some accessories for her christmas card design. Then, while my girls napped, I boiled water and got a batch of Dead Ringer IPA in the fermenter. While that was happening, I started pulling my keg apart to familiarize myself with the parts. I have new valves and O-rings ready but I probably need to buy some industrial cleaner to get the inside as spotless as I can. And, the pumpkin ale has had two weeks to condition in bottles, and tastes much better.
On the geek front, I spent a little time getting my old Powerbook 1400 online so that I could download and play a copy of ZPC, a freaky game from the middle 90’s that bent my head a little crooked. Describing it to my co-workers, I found a download of the CD image, and decided I needed to play it again. Getting the 1400 online meant I needed to bust out an older Airport Base Station that used 802.11b with no encryption, then find a way to get the files off the interwebs and decompressed correctly. (it took a modern version of Stuffit on my server and a burned CD, after I remembered I had a CD drive for it) but I have to rename the CD correctly to play the game. This got me thinking about playing some of my older games locally, and revisiting the issue of emulation on an Intel Mac. Looks like they’ve got it working in Lion with a few caveats, which is cool; it also reminds me just how much of my history is on discs that my current machine can’t read.
Much to discuss, much to review. This week has been a rough one for Finn, who started out with a virus before the holiday which worked its way into a viral bronchial infection on our way back from the grandparents’ house. Early Friday morning, Finn woke me up after a bad dream, and I laid down beside her to help get her back to sleep. She tossed and turned and fussed for hours, and complained of a headache while I grumpily pleaded with her to go to sleep. The next day, she was diagnosed with blisters on her eardrums, as a continuing symptom of the infection. Finding this out, and remembering her sleepy complaints of a headache in the early morning made me feel awful. She’s powered through something that would probably have laid most other kids on their backs, and continues to amaze me with her strength.
We’ve started our Christmas earlier than ever this year; the Boy Scouts at the stand across the street sold us a beautiful Frazier Fir which looks perfect in the hallway, and I put our candles up in the office and around the corner in the den. Usually we wait until the last week or so before Christmas, but we decided we needed some Christmas cheer up in this bitch as soon as we could get it. Sunday night we hung lights and ornaments, and this evening’s craft project will be to make some paper chains and other decorations with Finn to further brighten things up.
The pile of holly branches clogging the edges of our driveway is now gone; I made two trips to the dump in the Scout and then stopped off at the Home Depot to pick up lumber for the coal cellar insulation project. There’s been no progress on that front since I shot the Tigerfoam, but with temperatures dipping below freezing these days, the need to get it done is greater than ever.
Sunday afternoon we walked across the street for church, and Finn and I walked downstairs after the Childrens’ mass to play with the other kids. There was a little separation anxiety, but after Mrs. Kirsten and I reassured her we’d be back, she wandered off with the other kids to see what they could play with.
After church was the Big Dance Recital, which went off as well as could be expected. A total of four different groups of girls came out and each did a routine while trying to simultaneously avoid bumping into each other, follow the teacher, and ignore 200 people crowded around the stage holding blinky cameras and cellphones. Finn stared out into the crowd like a deer caught in headlights until she saw Mama and I, and her face brightened like the glow of a thousand suns as she waved. She then mostly ignored the instructor, sticking mostly to interpretive dance and standing still. We couldn’t have been prouder.
Our holiday in New York was wonderful but brief. We enjoyed visiting with my family, and Finn is now at the age where we spend less time trying to physically stop her from getting into things she shouldn’t and more time telling her. But overall, she was really well-behaved and polite. Unfortunately, she also started out with a viral infection that worked its way down into her lungs, becoming bacterial bronchitis (or something like that). She spent a good portion of the ride home mercifully passed out in the carseat.
The weather was very mild and sunny up there, which was a real pleasure; usually there’s a howling frosty wind sweeping down from Canada to chill the bones. We took a couple of walks to work off our Thanksgiving dinner and enjoy the sun while it lasted.
Returning home, we scrapped a lot of our plans for Sunday to get Finn to the doctor, pick up medicine, and relax before the week caught up to us. I got the pumpkin ale bottled while the girls napped, and sorted out some early Christmas planning while watching football in bed. Finn was up and down a few times before going to sleep, and woke us at 1 with a bad dream. I slept in the guest bedroom after we installed her in the big bed to sleep next to Mama.
