Night Stand Reading List

First of all... Wow...  It has been a while since either Talla or I has successfully posted anything on this blog. Back in June, our summer roommate, Tim, was supposed to post something but never did.  @Tim - We are still waiting on that post, man!  Better late than never.  There are 3 posts that I have drafted over the past 4 months that I just need to upload pictures for.  Those will be up before long.

Pictured above are the three books currently sitting on my nightstand.  Two of which I am halfway through, and the third has yet to be started.  As a back story, I have discovered that on the whole it is really nice to live with your significant other.  While all the quality time together has brought Talla and me closer together, it has not been all rainbows and sprinkles.  There are times (like right before she gets her period) when we are each a bit more irritable.  Sometimes Talla and I just don't get through to each other.  I realized, that it might be because women and men are different in many ways, and a common response that might make sense from a man to man doesn't make sense from man to a woman (& Vice Versa).

As such, Talla has recommended that I read this book called Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.  Now any time I enter a crucial conversation, I start with the phrase: "When you do _____, it makes me feel _____."  I think it has helped in some cases.  There is other stuff that I've learned from this book too...

On the bottom of the stack, you see a book with a title called "Assholes finish first" - the other half of the saying: "Nice guys finish last."  It is by Tucker Max, a Duke Law graduate who first got famous from blogging about his ridiculous sexual exploits and drunken tyraids while he was in college.  He compiled his posts into a book, and it was fairly successful.  I never read it.  This is his second book, and it has got to be more ridiculous than the last.  While I do not condone or wish to emulate his behavior in anyway, his memoirs are very entertaining.

I found it in the closet of a house I bought down the street back in September.  After ten pages of 'Mars' one night, I decided I was done with it for the night and picked up 'Assholes'.  It has been my routine the past few nights: 10 pages of 'Mars'; 10 pages of 'Assholes'.

I'm lucky to have someone like Talla who can appreciate the humor in how I complement my bedtime literature.

I Love Flowers

Homeownership has changed me.  I never thought I would say this: but I.  LOVE.  FLOWERS.

First we had the Daffodils - emerging in mid-February, then the pink and white azaleas exploded in the front and back garden, followed by these cool purple flowers, then red ones on the back.  (Check out my early post about flowers in March, 2013: http://sharingsheridan.blogspot.com/2013/03/february-flowers.html) When I thought it was through, a flower blossomed giant white snowball like flowers in the front, red Gerber Daisies shot up on the side of the house, and meanwhile, the peach colored irises crept up in the back.  As they began to wilt the roses bloomed, and as they began to wilt, white and pink flowers shot up from what we thought to be an empty flowerbed.  In late may a 10 foot probe began to shoot out of the yucca plant, and it bloomed right as Talla and I returned from our California vacation (we saw many Yucca plants out there.  In the low lying regions they were past bloom, and in the higher altitudes they were just blossoming).  Before the last flower dropped from the yucca, the first orange day lillies started to bloom on the side of the house.  No sooner did I think they had all finished, but sure enough the Hastas blossomed, followed by lots the Crepe Myrtle Tree blossoming red bunches of berry like flower clusters.  At the same time some black-eyed susans popped up and the border shrubs have blossomed purple flowers.  It is amazing! I never realized just how magical the transformation of a garden could be.

Late summer Day-lillies

Spring azaleas in full bloom in back yard

Azeleas, monkey grass, border lillies, and irises emerging.

Hostas popping up

Flowers emerging in front

Front of house in mid-spring

Azelea next to driveway

Front of house in spring

Irises in full bloom

Flowers popping up in late summer

Daisies on side of house

Gerber Daisey

Next year, what I might do is set up one of those cameras that takes a picture every 10 minutes, and at the end turns it into a movie.  I think that would reveal the magic of my garden. (Since I am posting this on 3/1/2014, I think I am going to have to get rolling on this ASAP)

Talla laughed at me in April, when I started picking some of the Daisies for her.  Now she can't help herself.  She loves going out in the garden and clipping some of the latest blossoms.

This garden has been masterfully archictected.  As it turns out, Talla and I discovered from our neighbors that Barbara (the woman who lived here before us) would spend just about every day out in the garden.  We don't nearly have the time for that, but I think that she set it up in a way that it needs minimal maintenance.  Just weeding and the occasional watering.  I just hope that I don't mess anything up!

It rains! It Pours! It Never STOPSSS!!!

On NPR today, local ecologists spoke about the massive amounts of rain that Charlotte has experienced this summer.  Charlotte typically has fical weather during the summers, and if you are smart, you bring your umbrella with you wherever you go, but this summer has been a completely different animal.

A few years ago, the city engaged in a civil engineering project to repair the cities flood plain areas - calling for improved storm drainage, tearing down homes in certain locations, and turning floodplains into "greenways"  (public parks/bike paths). Thankfully, they did this last year and the year before, otherwise this summer could have been much worse for certain Charlotte residents.  Remarkably, reports of flooding have not increased from years prior, due to the improved City drainage systems.  Rain reports have indicated that this summer, Charlotte has experienced 3 times the amount of rainfall compared to the average over the past 5 years!  The worst reported downpour was in Cawtaba County on July 27th, where the received over 12 inched of rainfall in just 12 hours!  They thought the downpour would cease, but it just kept coming.

Here at 3808 Sheridan, we have had some notable experiences with the rain this summer.  Our house is located on a caldisac at the bottom of a hill, and we are kind of on the side of that hill and another one.  Anyways, when the rain comes, it rushes down the bank of the street, in front of our house, and into the storm drain in front of our Neighbors - 2 doors down.  They are at an elevation that is a solid 15-20 feet below us.

During a heavy rain, the water pours out of the downspout above the top floor of our house, and it creates a solid stream that shoots over the gutter in front of the kitchen - landing right in front of the crawlspace.   In order to minimize the amount of water seeping into the crawlspace, I placed one of our trashcans below the kitchen window.  It will fill up with about 100 gallons of water after 2 rainstorms.  This was a challenge to empty at first, so I rigged up a siphoning system using the two hoses that the previous owners left with the house.  First I will connect the two hoses at the low point in the yard.  The beginning of the hose connecting to the spicket, and the end reaching the bottom of the water can.  I will turn the water on, shooting some water into the water can, and then I will quickly disconnect the two hoses, enabling the flow of water to reverse, and effectively empty the can.

It is on my list, but I intend to nail in a few pieces of flashing on the roof that will deflect the flow of water and enable it to effectively drain. (I did this in December 2013. So far it has been functional)  Additionally, Groupon offered me a deal for gutter cleaning for only $59.  They will be coming out on Saturday the 17th while Talla and I are in Charleston.  (They never came)

Another problem with the way the backyard is sloped, is that we get a large flow of water that settles in the vegetable garden.  The image shows this problem during a recent storm.  The water slips out of the cracks in between the railroad ties, but it does it slowly, and it doesn't dump where I want it to.  I discovered I can redirect the flow of water with a drainage ditch cutting across the back yard.  Additionally, I will drill a hole in some of the railroad ties to let the water drain where I want it to.  (Next to the grill).

When I purchased the house, the inspector noted high levels of moisture in the crawl space.  I had them put in a vapor barrier before moving in.  Just a few days after we moved in, I also installed a plastic garden barrier next to the house to redirect the water coming out of the downspout that happened to be flowing back into the foundation.  Without these slight repairs, I would suspect a dangerous amount of mold and moisture below the house! 

Frisbee Golf

If you say "Frisbee Golf" loud enough in a large group of people, someone might identify him/herself as a frolfer by correcting you: "Umm... don't you mean 'DISC' Golf??'"  Then you will inevitably get into a conversation about its validity as a sport.

I have grown quite fond and intrigued by the sport.  Just in my back yard, we have a world class Disc Golf course.  It is a full 18 holes of fun.  Disc Golf has all of the frustration of normal golf - with shots inexplicably hooking to the left or right, seemingly perfect puts dropping in and then inexplicably bouncing out the basket, and challenges of finding the right disc for the right shot.  It is oh-so-sweet when you knock down a long range put, or when your drive does the elusive but much desireable "S-Curve" and lands close to the basket.  The main difference between disc golf and 'club' golf, is that disc golf is free.  The "drivers" cost $10 versus $200-$300 that you would pay for a decent 3-wood.

Here is the Kilborne Park Disc Golf map:

Talla knocking down a 15 foot put on the practice green:

At first, I just bought two discs.  Since then I have bought an additional 10, and I have enough discs for 3 people to play with some variety.

Just about everyone that has visited the house now has played a full 18 rounds of frolf. Including my cousin Tom and my friend Joe.  Joe picked it up really quickly, and I began to get a bit competitive when his drives started landing closer to the basket than mine.  Ultimately, our games came down to who puts best, and I was able to oust him.

So far my best score has been a +10.  My friend Nate has tought me a new technique called the Tomahawk, that I might implement to get it closer to par.

Electrifying

The Whirlpool set that came with the house:

Pretty nice right?  Well they are from 1989, and the dryer didn't work that great.  Talla had a set in her basement, so I went ahead on sold these on craigslist (for $175!  Booyah!)

After we got the new washer and dryer lugged into the house, I realized that there was one small problem....

Crap.... 

Back at Home Depot, they had no Dryer cords that would fit in this outlet.  I did manage to find what I was looking for, but it was a cord for a range.  The staff at HD "strongly" recommended that I not try to put the range cord on the back of the dryer.  Since they couldn't explain to me WHY this was a bad idea, I went ahead and bought the cord.

Then I did one of the dumbest things that I had done in a while.... 

In my defense, I didn't want to go through the work of installing the new cord just to find out that the plug didn't fit again.

I plugged in the new cord to test it (not attached to anything on the other end).  As soon as it went in, 220 volts sparked violently at my feet.  Woops!... didn't think that one through.  In the pictures below, you will see some charred areas on the copper from the "test".

February Flowers

The previous owners of this house were active gardeners.  I moved in to a house with the yard neatly raked and the garden freshly weeded.  Spring has revealed the early stages of my new garden with pereniells blossoming all across the property.

I took these pictures on an unusually warm February day.

Daffodils in the back yard:

 Tulip?  I wish there was an app that could help me identify plants.

This is in the back yard garden

I think these are pansies.

 ....And then the next day.   In just five minutes, there was a substantial accumulation of snow.  The Vietnamese kids across the street made a snow man.

Nice Rack!

A pot rack is one of the most important things a kitchen can have.  Pots are otherwise stacked in a lower cabinet.  To get a pot you have to bend over, pull out a few pots, get the one you need, and then put the other pots back.  Horribly inefficient...

Our new pot rack serves a triple purpose as storage, a drying rack, and showcase for quality cookware.

Before:

During:

Glorious.  Isn't it?: