Among the more routine things at home has been gardening, but even that has not been all that routine this year. The garden production is way behind what I had at this time last year because of lots of intermittent cold weather. The last freeze in 2017 was January 8, the earliest last freeze on record by almost a month and well before the average last freeze of March 12.
This year we were worried about cold weather several different times in April. Of course that ignores the fact that these cold snaps were interspersed with periods of hot weather. Neither the cold weather or the hot weather plants were happy.
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| Evening of 4-6-18: preparing for a possible freeze/frost the following morning although the temperature was in the high 80's at the time of this picture. The small palm tree in the front of the garden is a kale plant left over from last spring...a continuing source of kale leaves for Bun |
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| Garden is beginning to come along, 5-4-18 |
Another reason for so much focus on home has been the need to fix or replace multiple things around the house. It has seemed as if this spring there has been an appliance of the month which needed replacement.
Printer. First was my printer. The old one was many years old so we had gotten our money's worth from it. I have to admit that it is very nice to now have a color printer.
Icemaker. Next was the ice maker in the freezer. The little sensing arm was obviously broken (in the down position). It was a little expensive to replace, but not a big deal for the experienced repairman. We cleaned out the refrigerator and put the items from the freezer into a cooler. However, much to our surprise, he did not even have to pull the fridge away from the wall. All he needed to do was take the door off of the freezer. I am not sure of the normal lifetime for icemakers, but this one lasted about ten years.
Washing machine. Next the washing machine died or at least stopped spinning. This left the clothes sopping wet since it could no longer spin them dry. Needless to say, washers have changed a lot in the 15 or so years since we had last looked at them. This one is more water efficient, since it uses only the minimum amount of water needed for any particular load.
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| Yes, that is a window in the top. The towel in between the washer and the dryer is my low-tech solution to keep them from clanging together since the washer seems to move around a lot when it spins |
Best of all, it displays the time remaining and plays a little song when it is finished. This makes it audible throughout the house and distinguishable from the many different sounds from other electronics. The Frog refers to it as our singing washing machine. It can also interact with an app on my phone, but I don't have that working yet.
Microwave. We had the replacement washing machine operational within about 24 hours of the old one failing. However, the next appliance to fail was not so quick to replace, the microwave. We were without a working microwave for almost six weeks, which seemed like forever. We had to order one which would fit into the built-in enclosure in the kitchen, then schedule the installer.
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| Here is where it will go. |
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| Installing part of the trim kit |
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| All finished |
The long wait was primarily to get the correct unit shipped to our local store. The actual installation was easy and took a very short time, even with a bit of remodeling of the box around the edges to accommodate the screws for the trim kit.
I did not realize how much I depended on the microwave until it was not here. It is amazing how integral it has become to our cooking since I can still remember getting my first microwave for Christmas when I was in grad school...probably 1977. They were very novel at the time, but we were early adopters. I remember how impressed my fellow grad students were that I had gotten one. I don't have any idea of what the cost was back then, but I know it was not cheap. That original microwave is obviously long since gone, but the stand we got for it (there was certainly not enough counter space for it in our kitchen at the time!) is in my office functioning as a stand for the printer.
Roof repairs completed. While we were fixing or replacing these various appliances the construction company finally finished the last of the house repairs and associated improvements which were required after the hail storm in March, 2017 (shingles, roof vents, skylight, attic insulation, patio roof, gutters, etc.) Most of the work was done last fall, but some things drug on. If I have the dates correct, I think the final repairs were finished a couple of days shy of one year after the storm.
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| The new shingles go on, 10-16-17 |
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| New shingles and the new venting system above the loft |
Garage. We thought we were finally finished with home repair and appliance replacement for awhile, but then it became apparent that the sheet rock on the ceiling in the garage needed attention. We walked out one morning and discovered one of the panels looked as if it was going to fall.
We made some emergency repairs, but the long term fix will not start until May 16 (date may be tentative). All the sheet rock on the ceiling and the walls will be replaced and painted. While doing that, we will replace some shelves and install new pegboard for the tools.
Of course, to do that work everything must come out of the garage first. That is not trivial. A lot of stuff has accumulated since moving in nearly 37 years ago. We have made at least one pass to remove disposable items, some of which (like old paint) had to go to the city's once a month toxic recycling. We have boxed up most of the smaller loose items. We are hopeful we can put a temporary storage unit (pod or similar) in the driveway to hold everything during the 4 or 5 days that the garage needs to be empty. Unfortunately the overhanging limbs from the trees may be a problem bringing in the pod. That is yet to be worked out. We will see.
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