Journal: November 21

Another quiet day.

Thanksgiving thinking and planning.  Windy Brow Orchards only had a few gallons of cider left.  Concerned that they might not get more--I bought two to get us through the festivities.  And four quarts of fuji apples.

moon caught in walnut tree

Then a wandering through Weiss for spices and other random items.  The day started bright and sunny--but turned dark, chill and gray.  This appears to be normal November behavior.

Full moon tonight.  A blue moon.  Not the second moon of the month, but another variety.  Here's a definition: A blue moon can refer to the third full moon in a season with four full moons, or the second full moon of a calendar month.The November 21, 2010 Blue Moon is the third of four full moons between the September 2010 equinox and December 2010 solstice.

Journal: November 20th

Woke up with no voice.   George and Johnny working on siding.  The side of house is almost finished.

A  very quiet day.  Although I felt fine, the no-voice situation was permission to act a bit like a sick person.  I did go to the library and made a quick stop at Wal-mart (sometimes I just have to go --it does occasionally have a surprise or two).  The surprise today was a little package of chopped dates from Pakistan which I used to make a quite delicious dark date nut bread.


I have sunk into many levels of food nostalgia and was hoping to re-create the very dark very moist date nut bread I used to have at Schrafft's with cream cheese.  My bread was not quite as dark and moist as I'd wanted--but it is quite good.  Perhaps I'll photograph my breakfast slice tomorrow.

In anticipation of drive across, I'd taken out many cds from library--mostly of old half-forgotten albums and put them on my ipod.  Caught up on various things and , cleaned a bit, mostly sat at computer....oh last night watched double bill--of young people's movies i love you man, set in venice beach--streets around home--and nick and nora's infinite playlist new jersey high school kids in new york city--two geographically relevant films--very urban--perhaps I'm ready to take a break from winter rural life.

Journal: November 16

Going back to the city--after this long summer of never leaving the house, I'm trying to catch up on urban time before the long drive west.  But first a stop at Lowe's to buy new mouse traps.  I'm catching a mouse a night these days, and due to the new improved mouse trap model, can both easily set the traps (the actual old-fashioned trap is in a plastic box) and dispose of the victim.  Still, it's never a pleasant process---I'm hoping the mice can just learn to stay clear of the kitchen--I don't set traps elsewhere--but too bad for them, the kitchen is the only room in which they have any interest.

They did not have the mouse traps I wanted, so I left the death aisles where all sorts of devices of extinction are sold for the now almost empty garden area.  While looking for mulch,  I spotted a last call clearance sale of  hardy mums.  I'd already learned that many neighboring gardeners make two major plant purchases a year--in the beginning of summer they buy pots of pansies, lobelia and other pastel purple, pink and blue flowers which bloom through the warmest months.  As fall approaches they replace their summer plants with pots of yellow, orange and purple mums.

My summer plants had given me great pleasure--they're now all dead--but given the construction havoc around the house, there hadn't been much point to replace them with a fall purchase.

Now, on this chill and rainy day, when thoughts were far from gardening,  Lowes was selling enormous pots of mums for $1.00 each.  After questioning one of their garden experts, I decided I could buy enough to brighten the entire house for Thanksgiving.

Here they are in the parking lot--this entire field of flowers cost $6.00.  A fiscal flower miracle.

I lined them up in the front parlor--on the coffee table and on the floor before driving  to New York City.  It was so cold, muddy and foreboding, I couldn't bear to change into city clothes.  I couldn't even imagine there was a city on the other side of the river.  After successfully finding a parking place on Thompson Street, I knew I'd erred.  The rains had ceased (for the moment), the air was a bit warmer.  I couldn't do anything about changing my pants (oh, if it was truly serious, I could have managed to change pants), but I did leave my muddy rubber boots in the car before meeting Chiquita at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chelsea.   Next year I'll have to work a bit harder on my country/city transitions.

Journal: November 15

in case we forgot--june, 2010

front siding almost complete

Things are moving along.  Returning after Sarah's birthday and extended stay in the city, I found the house --at least the front--completely transformed with its new siding.  

So much had to be done before the siding could be put up, months of rebuilding the porch, the patching of many holes, building of windows, it was hard to imagine it would ever be done.  And of course, every step was such an improvement over the completely collapsed porch, the flapping white vinyl siding, the crumbling chimney, that it scarcely seemed necessary to get to the next step.  I was almost content with the green Lowe's foam insulation. 

In fact, when I returned home late last night, I circled the house and was thrilled to see the insulation installed on the north wall.  It wasn't until this morning that I noticed the siding on the front.
Praise be.                      

foam insulation, siding imminent

Journal: November 4. Turkeys Circling Camry in the Rain.

As forecast, it's been raining all night and day.  Cold, gray and muddy.

I heard the wild turkeys scratching around the side of the house as I was waking up.  They usually scurry at the slightest human noise, so I was surprised to see them a bit later loitering around my car.  In fact, they kept circling the car in what might have been a pre-Thanksgiving ritual.

It was pouring rain.  They were very absorbed in their circling--and barely noticed when I, in rain boots and jacket tried to record their activities from my muddy post on the front lawn. You have to look closely but there are three turkeys in each picture carrying on their turkey work.

However inadequate these pictures, the rest of the day fulfilled all promises.  Dentist

Espinosa patched up my tooth in about a half hour and John and Brian, working for about six hours installed a new motor for the boiler and a new switch for the pump.  The rain too continues as promised, but now I can watch it falling from a house with working heat and running water.  Praise be. 

Journal: November 3

Front of house insulated

Election news doesn't get much cheerier (except for California--when did that loony state  become a last outpost of sanity), but great strides on the house.  As we know, preparation takes forever, but once that is done, all moves relatively swiftly.  The entire front is now covered with hard foam insulation.  Neatly cut and tacked up, it does strike me as an almost acceptable wall-covering.  But they will not let me stop there.

While insulating, they've made new window frames which greatly improve things.  Needless to say, over the years the windows were never properly framed.  The insulation was the good news of the day.  The bad part of the day was continuing news analysis of the dread mid-term election. As I listened to the bad election news (against my better judgement), the bit of bonding on my front tooth chipped off--creating a fine witch-like appearance.  I luckily managed to snag a dentist appointment for 10am tomorrow, but a bit later, turning on the faucet to continue my baseboard labors--no water at all.  I assumed (hoped) that Johnny and George might have turned it off, but they had not.   George did discover that the switch for the pump circulator was completely corroded.  He was able to get it to work by poking around with a screw driver, but again, I am waiting for tomorrow when John will be coming to put in new motors for the four heating zones.

window with insulation

While waiting for tomorrow, I took to the country roads last night, despite my aversion to driving after dark, and met Margaret at the Byram town hall where they were showing King Corn, a quite excellent documentary about the total dominance of corn in our diets--and a good way to get through the potentially water-less night.

Journal: November 2. Heat Loss. Insulation. Baseboards

Journal: November 1. Feels like winter.

Monday.  I'd vowed I'd continue cleaning the baseboards, but they are so grimy, and the cleaning is so deep and secret, I let the whole day slip by without one squirt of cleanser and no vacuum inhalations.

Johnny and George spent a long day getting rid of the siding on the north side of the house and puzzling over and patching up all sorts of rotting patches.

The revelation of the brown clapboard, hidden for so many years, is quite splendid.  If it weren't so worn and battered, and if there was another way to insulate, I'd be tempted to leave it forever, but I will just post these pictures for the record of lamentations.