First thing Saturday morning, I was on transport duty to get Finn to the dentist for the removal of some baby teeth that have been hanging on for too long. Her adult teeth were coming in underneath, and the root structure was all but gone, but they refused to let go. One side was hurting after eating some hard candy, so we were there to address that one, but Jen wisely suggested they pull both while she was under. The dentist numbed her gums, lit her up with laughing gas, shot her with some novocaine, and pulled them both out in no time.
I then hit the Home Depot for a new lawnmower and other supplies, selecting a Toro push model with a mulching bag and oversized rear wheels. It’s shiny and red and starts on the first pull and feels solid, unlike the ghetto mower I just retired. I guess I’m going to have to hose off the deck every time I’m done mowing, so that the moisture trapped by the grass doesn’t eat away at the steel of the deck like it did the old one.
I brought supplies home and got to work on chicken wire doors for the greenhouse, ripping some pressure-treated wood to build frames to fit in the doorways. They both went pretty quickly. I put a semi-permanent panel on the back and a removable panel on the front. Now, for plants.
By the time I was done with that and assembling the mower, it was time to stop and get ready for dinner: I made reservations at a fancy-looking place downtown based on a readers’ poll in Baltimore magazine for Jen and I to celebrate our anniversary. Upon entry we realized we were a little overdressed for the venue, but our extremely helpful waiter steered us toward some delicious cocktails and good food. Arepas are tasty but not exactly fine dining-friendly food, so we busted out our silverware and made the best of things (the entrees were not lighting our fire). After dinner we had some dessert and digestif cocktails, and our waiter had us sample Amari, an Italian digestif liqueur that was better than the cocktails. Overall, it was OK but not stellar; the service was the high point, but we made the best of it. Happy Anniversary, baby.
Sunday morning I got up early and headed over to Bennett’s house to return a favor. He’d been the catalyst for organizing my Scout brake workday, so I offered to help him clear out his Mom’s farm now that it’s been sold. I’ll leave the detailed version of that story for the Scout blog, but overall it was a great, productive day with one hiccup.
On Saturday, I dragged our lawnmower out of the garage, fired it up, and realized that it was Not Okay. The edges of the deck directly behind the rear wheels had finally rusted through so that the box surrounding the blade had lost its structural rigidity (think of a cardboard box where you’ve run a knife up two of the edges: it won’t stand up anymore). When I tried to turn it the box would warp and the blade would ping-PING-PING the side of the deck. Not exactly what I want happening 2 feet from my ankles. We’ve had the lawnmower for 15 years, so it doesn’t owe us anything, and considering I bought it for $150 I’d say we got our value out of it. The engine still runs fine, for fuck’s sake. Maybe I can make a go-kart out of it? Or a generator…
When I got through with that, I cleaned up the yard and then brought a socket set out to the back wall of the greenhouse. We haven’t used the greenhouse for years, and it’s really been bugging me lately. I’ve been trying to find a replacement door kit for it but just don’t know what I’m looking for, how it would install, or how much it might cost, so I finally figured the hell with it and unscrewed the panel edges to take the center section of polycarbonate twin wall down. That wasn’t so hard.
There. With an assist from a cheap Home Depot fan, that should get us enough airflow to keep the white mold from growing. I cleaned up the mess inside, threw a bunch of old crap out, leveled the tables and got them ready for some vegetables. My irrigation system still works but I need to get some larger mister heads for the near side and a new hose bib to replace the cracked one outside. I’ve got some plans drawn for two wood-frame chicken wire doors to cover the openings. They will get built this weekend. Then, I need five new rubbermaid bins, a pile of dirt, and some vegetables.
Saturday morning at 7, Finn and I got our clothes on quietly, pulled the Scout out of the garage, and went to get breakfast together. Then we hit the first yard sales of the season.
This is a tradition that dates back to Finn’s infancy, when I would get her dressed and fed by first morning’s light, then set her in the backpack and hike the neighborhood while Jen slept in. She and I scored all kinds of things together, from bikes to desks to toys and tools, and Saturday morning was always the highlight of my week.
We started on our side of Frederick Road and worked our way back through the leafy streets until we hit the edge of the park. Finn was on the hunt for charms for her bracelet, and the first score of the day was a huge green glass ring the size of a doorknob and a small coin in the shape of a paw.
Across Edmonson, there was a huge community yard sale happening, so we parked the Scout and walked, hand in hand. At first the pickings were pretty slim until we hit a house where a kid was unloading extra LEGOs, and Finn picked up a good-sized bag for $2. I found her a copper pin with a cursive F which a nice woman named Frances gave her for free. At some point, we began following a dude up the street who was asking after old cameras and adult bikes at each house. After a few stops, we caught up with him as he rummaged through a box of old photo gear and walked away with a light meter. I swooped in after him to grab an old Nikkormatic with a 50mm f/2 lens. The guy gave it to me for $10 because he couldn’t get the lens to unmount (after paying, I walked away and had it off in seconds).
Later we stopped at the house of one of Finn’s kindergarten friends, who were having a yard sale and a lemonade stand, and we refreshed ourselves. I struck up a conversation with his father, who had seen the Scout around town, and we found ourselves hanging out for another hour while the kids played in the driveway. At some point I noticed he had an old lens sitting on his table and found it was another Nikon mount, and demanded he let me pay him $5 for it. He threw in a nearly new Lowepro camera bag with it, which is just the thing I didn’t know I was looking for, but fits my camera and four lenses perfectly. His neighbor was selling a pile of window A/C units, so I picked out a nearly new unit for peanuts and threw it in the back of the Scout.
After tearing Finn away for lunch, I got busy in the garage sorting through all of the bins of stuff I brought back from my parents’ place. I cleaned out and moved the toolchest into place, organized the drawers and put everything away. He sent me home with a spare circular saw, belt sander, drill, rotary sander, and a router, all of which will be hugely helpful. The router I’m going to build a table around (or buy an inexpensive table for) so that I can mill wood faster.
I organized a pile of spare wood left over from the porch job, moved the engine to the back corner, and knocked down the last parts of a rickety old shelf to put new wood hangers up. Then I found a place for an 8′ section of beam from Grampy’s barn. Suddenly there was a whole lot of room in the garage.
Later in the day I futzed around with the new lenses and got them both to work in Manual mode; the Nikkor 50mm f/2 lens is nice, but will mainly be a backup for the AI 50mm f/1.8 lens I’ve already got. The other lens, however, has been fun to play with. It’s a Nikon-mount Vivitar 28mm f/2.5, so it’s wider and has a huge focus range. I spent most of the weekend learning where its sweet spots are so that I can get faster at shooting completely manually with it, which is fun. 28mm is a great distance to shoot from, too–not too close and not too far away.
Sunday was another good day of work and play; Finn had piano and swim lessons in the morning, and then we checked out an E-state sale (Finn’s pronunciation) behind the elementary school. It was pretty creepy–like walking into the Silence of the Lambs lotion-in-the-basement house, but interesting to check out. The owner had been an artist in NYC in the early 80’s and then moved to Catonsville sometime later, but his style was arrested firmly in the Reagan Decade, so it was a time capsule of quirk trapped in a little purple house.
Then we got to work in the garden in the afternoon moving bulbs and plants around to try and take advantage of the new sunlight available now that the cedar tree is gone.
We worked hard on this project until 5:30 or so, and broke for a quick dinner so that we could meet the neighbors across the street for some time in the playground. The weather was perfect, and the sun was warm. Our neighbors had to leave a little early to answer the call of nature, but Finn was playing with another girl, so we stayed. Her mother struck up a conversation with us and we talked until after the sun had set behind the school and the air cooled off. Saying our goodbyes, I carried a very tired, very barefoot girl back across the street and we put her into bed.
My neighbor has been perfecting a backyard auditorium for the last couple of weeks, and he’s got it working pretty well. He stretched a viewing screen across the back of his garage and ran power and sound through two ports in the wall (he’s an electrician), so all he has to do is drop his projector on a picnic table, hook up the cords, and it’s showtime! Friday night was a screening of Monsters University with friends, which was better the second time accompanied by a cold beer and some Junior Mints.
We have a lot of unfinished projects at the Lockardugan compound. On Friday I parked the catalytically-challenged CR-V next to the pile of brush I’d cleared two weeks ago, and resolved to make it disappear. I started stuffing it into the Scout on Saturday morning and cleared out about 2/3 of it in two trips, which helped make the driveway look a little less ghetto. That job was cut short in the early afternoon by social obligations: the local co-op was holding a beer tasting a few blocks over, and we had some friends meeting up with us to check it out. The event itself was fun; there were about 15 homebrews lined up around the backyard with some snacks and a live guitarist playing under a canopy. While Finn played with some neighborhood kids, I chatted up a number of the brewers and was invited to check out a couple of the local clubs, which sounds like it could be fun.
After the event we followed our friends to their place for drinks and dinner. We’ve not visited with them before but easily felt at home, and Finn fit right in with their kids. Several beers, Moscow Mules, and hours of conversation later we ordered some dinner and stayed out late on the back porch amongst the crickets and the stars, which was a lovely way to end the day.
I started Sunday by fixing a leaky water feed to the fridge, which had sprung a leak after being moved a few weeks ago. Repair meant replacement, so I picked up some new hose and ran it down to the basement. Then I moved outside, where the cherry laurels we bought months ago have been waiting patiently to be planted in the front bed. After a good rain on Saturday night, the ground was soft and pliable, so the first hole was easy to dig. I mixed some conditioner in with the soil and moved on to the second, which required the removal of a clay downspout and a stand of peonies. Hopefully a couple days of watering will help the cherry laurels settle in well, and we can keep a bunch of the plants we moved to make room for them.
Dinner was a feast of local produce and a thick grilled steak; we doubled up on our CSA to make up for being gone last week, so Jen spent the better part of the afternoon stuffing the fridge full of fruits and vegetables. We have a lot of food to get through before next weekend, but luckily Jen is a pro at making menus out of anything.
Our neighbors have the backyard we lust after. It’s covered in lush, level green grass, fenced in with tasteful wood picket, and features a large play area with an industrial-sized playset. A couple of weeks ago they decided to go bigger, bought a new playset twice the size, and offered their old one to us. Would we like it? Sure. Can we move it? Maybe.
I started out Saturday morning renting a tiller for the garden, figuring I could get the whole thing turned over in an hour or two. On my way back from the rental store I stopped at a yard sale along Edmonson Avenue and happened upon a box containing two industrial sized casters for $3. Amidst some other assorted tools was a leather toolbelt, which I grabbed and paid for, and headed home.
We had standing plans to hit another community yard sale nearby with the neighbors, so I parked the truck and we all headed over. The pickings were kind of slim for such an upscale neighborhood, sadly, but I did find an overhead projector for cheap as well as two Leapster pads for $1.50.
After mowing the grass around the garden, it took about an hour to weed out the center and all of 15 minutes to till the soil. At this point it started to drizzle a little, but I knew we needed to get the playset moved, so we forged ahead.
Over at the neighbors’, I started by unbolting the smaller sections. The climbing wall, ladder, slide, and swings came off relatively easily, and between the two of us we got the swingset arm and roof section unbolted and moved off. The remainder of the set started to get a little shaky so I grabbed some 1×3″ from our garage and we screwed them into the top for support. Then I busted out the casters I’d found and bolted them to the bottom two legs of the set.
By now the drizzle had turned to rain, so we had a beer and contemplated our next move. He had eight cubic yards of wood chips in his driveway partially blocking our path, so we shoveled it into wheelbarrows and wheeled it into the new play area. By the time we got done, the rain had tapered off, so we planned our journey.
Once we’d tipped it on its side onto the casters and dragged it up onto the walk it moved easily, so we squoze it through the gate and placed the front section on a metal dolly. Then we continued down his driveway, across the street (in front of two carloads of incredulous people), up the neighbors’ driveway, and across two sheets of plywood to sit drunkenly on our lawn. By then it was close to dinnertime so we packed up the rest of the tools, had a celebratory beer, and called it a day.
It’s going to need four sistered 4×4″ supports on each corner, some crossbracing, and a really good powerwashing to clean up, but it’s in remarkably good shape for its age. We put it outside the kitchen window so that we can see it from the sink, on a spot that also happens to be the only (mostly) level spot on the lawn. Luckily, Memorial Day is next weekend, so I’ve got plenty of time to level it, bolt some stronger feet into place, wash and stain it, and then let Finn have fun with it.
I was up until 2 last night working on drawings for the 9-5 gig, so I’m dragging ass today.
So apparently the child bike seat we got for free is still usable, but there seems to be a conspiracy among manufacturers to make their installation as difficult as possible. I’ve been up to Loch Raven twice in the last two weeks to measure out the rack that goes along with the seat, but I left without it because I was under the mistaken impression it would not fit. It turns out I was orienting the rack backwards and not fastening it to the seat the right way. So I have to go back (none of the shops near my office our our house carry the rack) at some point over the weekend to try one last time.
Sounds like the stock market took a scary dip yesterday, based on fears that Spain is heading the way of Greece and Portugal may not be far behind. NPR did a great piece on the problems Spain is facing, which was an eye-opener, as well as the issues Italy is dealing with in order to prop up its own crumbly finances. My question is this: Does anyone in Europe (besides Germany) pay their income taxes? Fuck’s sake, people.
Jen’s potatoes seem to be growing out-of-control crazy, which meant I needed to hit the Home Depot for more vegetable dirt. While I was in the garden section, a young couple was very earnestly asking one of the employees if bees are harmful to plants.
I’ll repeat that.
They were asking if bees were harmful to plants. Apparently there were a lot of bees flying around their flowers, and they were concerned that something might be wrong.
It’s enough to make me want to move to a survivalist compound out in the midwest somewhere so that we can teach Finn what to do when our society of ignorant morons collapses around itself.
We here at the Lockardugan compound like to pack a lot of stuff in on the weekends. It’s not unusual to have a couple of trips planned, some kind of home project involving gas-powerd or rented machinery, at least one dinner with friends, a grocery run, and visitors to the house—which then requires a housecleaning—all packed into two days’ time. This past weekend was no exception, and because we had Grandma and Aunt R. coming in from out of town, we decided to celebrate by spending Friday getting our taxes done!
For most people, this yearly routine simply requires an hour with a copy of TurboTax and a cold beer, but because at least one of us has always been self-employed, we (wisely) seek professional help. This year I was a little nervous based on my spreadsheets, but it turned out that we’re in pretty decent shape, which is a huge relief. Huge enough, in fact, that we can finally exhale and get a few things done around here, including some preliminary work on the side porch.
In the meantime, we had a fantastic visit with aforementioned family. Finn was a little unsure at first but warmed right up to Grandma, who has been twitching for some baby time since we left her driveway in December, and she showed off her talking, running, reading, and stairclimbing skills all weekend.
And while Aunt R. was here, I took the opportunity to shanghai her into helping us till the garden—lifting a rented tiller is a two-person job, but not for two people and a toddler—move compost, and pull a water pump from the Scout. She was good-natured about getting mud and antifreeze and crud from the floor of the garage on her jeans, and so we made sure to reward with a diner of shish kebab and homemade blueberry pie. Inside, Grandma got some long awaited hours of one-on-one Finley time, and at the end of the day I don’t know who went to sleep tireder.
Sunday we bid goodbye to the family and took the girl off to her swimming lesson, and to her credit she braved the cold water very well. So well, in fact, that she didn’t cry once! She enjoyed splashing, swimming, floating on her back, and even having her head dunked several times underwater. When we got home she was so whupped she slept for three and a half hours, allowing us to get some work done for a friend.
I always get bummed out when family leaves town. At one point Sunday afternoon, I asked Jen if it would be ok for me to go wake up Finn just to give her a hug, but we quickly agreed that might be a bad idea.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
So I have to back up to last Thursday and describe my birthday, which was very low-key and enjoyable. Mama woke me by bringing Finn in to lay on my chest, and she nestled up to my chin for a few minutes before we all got up for breakfast.
After work, Mr. Scout and I went to peek at a diesel Scout over in Lauraville, after being tipped off by the Toddfather. The truck was pretty beat, but the running gear was nice, and after I took it for a spin around the block (unintentionally winding up out on Harford Road in a balky diesel with sketchy brakes) we advised the seller on some pricing adjustments for parts he didn’t know he had.
Then, taking advantage of our proximity to The Big Bad Wolf, we ordered some tasty barbecue and brought it home to share with the family. After I helped put a sleepy girl to bed, we dug into dinner and discussed the developments on LOST before slicing into some delicious homemade blueberry pie. Mr. Scout surprised me with three boxes of Al’s Liner, an off-the-shelf bedliner product that’s hundreds of dollars cheaper than Herculiner or Line-X. Thanks guys!
Saturday morning we had Finn’s swimming lesson, which went a little less smoothly than weeks past. Mama was in the pool for the first time with us, and I think Finn saw that as an opportunity to complain and fuss for attention instead of focusing on having fun and relaxing. I felt awful for Jen because she wanted to be in the water with Finn, but I don’t think that’s going to happen next week.
After we got back, the girl went down for a nap and we got to work out in the yard, taking advantage of 70° and sunshine to clean up what four months of frozen inattention have left us. We cleaned up and pruned back the grape arbor, raked about a million leaves, and dumped 32 cubic yards of mulch on the front hedge. I chopped vine and hauled away dead growth around the stump in the rear of the yard while Jen cleaned out several flowerbeds and made a place for the daffodils to breathe. I also moved the final vestigal hedge from the backyard up to the front; here’s to hoping it will root as well as the two I put in last year did. In the evening, after having some grilled steak and potatoes and putting the girl to bed, we watched The Hurt Locker, which was as good, and as intense, as everyone said it was.
Sunday was full of sunshine, so we kept at the yard. More mulch, more raking, bagging leaves, and cleaning beds. I took a break at noon to go to a free class at Jen’s yoga studio, thinking that the stretching might help my shoulder problems (which have been getting slowly better). I was nervous, and as the class started it seemed to me like I was the only one who was unfamiliar with the poses, but I hung in there and made it through. The only thing I couldn’t do was one of the final sitting poses because my hamstrings were so tightly wound. I have to admit, I felt a little silly being one of only three men in the class, but I felt much better after one of the other guys fell asleep during the final relaxation period and began snoring loudly, prompting snorts of laughter from the rest of us.
(compare and contrast):
On my return, we continued cleaning the yard, getting the vegetable garden organized, and turning the mulch in each of the three piles. The humus in the end pile was ready to go, and after the three of us removed the roots, bark, and other large items, we wound up with a good-sized pile of rich, black soil to add to the garden. (Finn dove right into the pile, covering the front of her shirt and pants with dirt. I think we have a future gardener on our hands). Next we’ll pick up some manure and then till the whole thing up to get it ready for planting. After dinner and some books, Mama and I put Finn to bed and enjoyed a Berger’s cookie in front of The Order of the Phoenix. Then we laid down tired, happy, and content after a productive weekend together.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Saturday we treated Finn to her first IKEA visit, venturing down to College Park in search of picture frames and some other minor items. Even though she was disappointed at the lack of merchandise in the downstairs marketplace (they’re remodeling, so there’s about 1/20th of the usual stuff available) she bounced up and down excitedly in the cart and flirted with everyone she saw.
Sunday I took her shopping with me right after her morning nap, and we hit a grand total of five stores before it was time to head home. We shopped for gel repellent to combat the infestation of tiny ants we’ve had since the rain started, bought some small items at the Home Depot, hit two different auto parts stores to find a fuel hose for the Scout, and the grocery store. Everywhere we went, she got smiles and laughs and waves, and she was content to bounce in the backpack, sit on my shoulders (and eat my hair), or simply ride on my hip while I took care of business.
Our garden is coming along nicely. We’ve got three healthy broccoli plants bearing fruit, our cukes are all flowering and climbing, and we’ve got tomatoes coming in. The asparagus seems to be doing well, although the first trench we dug is flooded completely. We took some time last week to pinch the tomato plants back drastically in the hopes that they won’t get leggy and grow out of control as in years past, and it seems to be working. We also took some time last night to wrap the grape arbor in netting to prevent the birds from feasting; it looks like we’ll have another bumper crop of grapes this year.
In the afternoon, I replaced the aforementioned fuel filler hose on the Scout. After some wrangling with a balky hose clamp, I got the new one in place and took it for a test fill in the afternoon sunshine: success.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
As noted elsewhere, this weekend was another milestone in Finn’s development: She moved into her own big-girl room on Friday evening, after a whirlwind installation of cardboard blackouts over the windows and frenzied crib relocation. She sat on the floor and played happily with her toys as we hustled around, moving and hauling and organizing, and seemed keenly interested in examining our pizza and beer when we finally stopped for dinner. Her first night was uneventful and quiet, and she slept through until 6:30 without an hour of talking and fussing like she’s been doing for the last several weeks.
On Saturday, Mama and I began the long and arduous task of planting asparagus in our garden. Planting asparagus sounded, at first blush, like it would be cool. It’s a native plant in Maryland, we like it grilled, and it’s good for us. This was all before we realized what a pain in the ass it is to plant asparagus. The best way I can describe this to you is that it was like burying giant prehistoric spiders in a drainage ditch.
Most of the soil beneath our ratty lawn is pure Maryland clay, so I had to dig a 12″ trench and throw the dirt/clay onto a tarp spread on the lawn. After installing the asparagus, we covered them over and watered everything heavily while Finn kept an eye on us from the comfort of her blanket.
Sunday morning we took advantage of Finn’s early breakfast schedule and hustled out to a restaurant for Bloody Marys and an anniversary breakfast before the church crowd set in; she was in a wonderful mood for our whole visit and crashed out on the car ride home.
Most of the the weekend was consumed with yardwork, from mowing the lawn for the first time in two weeks, cutting saplings down on the property line, fixing gutters, and repotting a ton of seedlings in the greenhouse. Two of my tomatoes and two of my eggplant have aphids already, so they got moved outside and away from the other plants. Four cucumber seedlings got their own tub of dirt, pepper seedlings got moved to their own pots, and the radishes (which are remarkably leggy) got placed outside so that they’ll acclimate quickly. As the sunlight dimmed and turned to stormclouds, we moved inside and began cleaning out the front porch, which was relegated to a dumping ground last year during the remodel and hasn’t been touched in months. There are about three Scoutloads of debris to be hauled to the dump next weekend, which will free up a ton of space around here.
Finn was patient and understanding throughout the entire three-day weekend, spending time on her blanket, in the backpack carrier, in her car seat, in the bouncy chair, and on the floor while we planted and weeded and mowed and cleaned and vacuumed and moved. While we were outside hauling dirt from one side of the yard to the other, she watched as I piloted the wheelbarrow back and forth, and each time I passed she smiled and held her arms out: TAKE ME FOR A RIDE. So I scooped her up off the blanket, placed her on an empty bag (and my folded up T-shirt) and she got a wheelbarrow ride around the back lawn while Mama held her hand.