Bogieblog

New Digs for Ziva

As promised, Ziva's new cage was delivedred Monday. Unfortunately it was after I had left for my night job so setting it up had to wait until Tuesday.. But, I got it set up and she is much happier. This cage is within 1/2" of the dimensions of Birdie's cage except 4" taller (I couldn't find the exact model of Birdie's) - it still look huge to my eyes. I kept getting the tape measure out to compare measurements :). The seed cups are the same size as Birdie's cage, which is one of the criteria I used when I was researching. I do like the hammered copper color versus gold.

 

New Family Member

Everyone, please welcome Ziva to her new home.

Ziva is a 3 year old cockatiel whom I got from my neighbor. Although my neighbor and I don't interact much, she had my phone number from when I thought I needed her to take care of the animals and pellet stoves while I was away at HOT training in April. She texted me Wednesday evening to see if I knew anyone who could take her. I replied that I could take her in, and Ziva was delivered shortly after 10 this morning.

Right now shwe is in a smaller cage; she came with 2 cages - 1 gigantic and the smaller one. The gigantic cage is just too big to place in the living room (where Birdie is, and is really for a mid-sized bird and could be dangerous for her with some of the bar spacings, so I've elected not to use it. She is fine, the small cage having been her home for a couple of years - the neighbor just got the big one not too long ago off of CL. Here is the large cage standing in front of the 36" wide front door :O

ear not, she is not stuck forever in a small cage; I have ordered a cage about the size of Birdie's, nice and spacious for one bird but not over-sized and it should be in on Monday.

Birdie only had a spaz-attack for a couple of minutes until he realized that:

• I wasn't putting her in his cage
• she was staying "over there"

She called for a bit, but is settling down. I will give her a while in her new cage (when it comes in) before seeing if she wants out; the neighbor says shed likes to be on people - unlike Birdie who is only happy in his cage.

The cats have been outside most of the day. Fuzzy came in once, briefly, and I'm not sure he even noticed the new addition. I'll have to watch more closely when Rita comes in as she chases birds if they have the temerity to come into the pen. Fuzzy has left the wildlife chasing days long ago - one he started getting regular meals, so I don't worry about him too much (although I will still be cautious).

Welcome to the fold Rita!

I'm Just a Bit Slow

It has been over a year since Cop Car and her HH came up to NH and helped me move the new vanity into the bathroom. I kept thinking I would call a plumber after I obtained linoleum for the bathroom floor so s/he could plumb in the sink and remove the toilet (for the linoleum installation), then reseal it. However, last week I realize I was going to be another year at the rate I was moving, so I took the first step and bought a lenght of pipe along with the fitting and P-trap.

Last night I started putting it all together. I got the drain in and tested both the drain plug (you can see residual water in the drain in the picture). Then installed the p-trap.

 

At which point I realized I was short a reducer for between the P-trap and the waste drain going to the sewer line. Today I went to Aubuchons and found the reducer but never got back to the project until this evening (I was painting the foundation block while it wasn't raining). After managing to hook up the water lines backwards, then correcting them, I tested out the final product and found there were no leaks.

This is strange to start with; I used the restroom then headed for the kitchen sink to wash my hands - half way there I realized what I was doing, turned around and use the bathroom sink. And I'm sure tomorrow morning I will be bewildered when I start looking for my contacts and they aren't next to the kitchen sink, nor  my toothbrush and paste :D

A Lot of Short Projects

Even though the pellet stoves have been off since late in May, last Sunday I finally got around to cleaning the pellet stoves and their exhausts. In my defense, I have never had a last burn in May, so I kept waiting for that really cold snap in June (I've seriously burned as late as June 28). Then I ended up with having a massive amount of planned, and unplanned outdoor projects that HAD to get done, so the stove cleaning was not at the top of my list. The downstairs stove was relatively clean as it was apparent that I had cleaned it shortly before its last burn in the spring. However, since I shut of the big stove several weeks before I shut down the main floor stove, the other stove was pretty dirty so I spent a lot of time on the P43.

And, the cleaning was none too soon as on 8/31 the house was at 66* when I got home from work (the high outside had been 65* - and low that night was supposed to be in the low 40's). The main floor stove was also on most of the day on Friday, and again yesterday as the days have yo-yo'ed between summer and fall temperatures.

 

While I was cleaning out the stove exhausts with both a lint eater, then the LBT (Leaf Blower Trick), I noticed that the exterior paint on that side of the house was suffering. Since I was planning on painting the new porch overhang a second time, I power washed the siding so it would be ready for this weekend.

Saturday I painted and caulked the lower side of the house (the brown portion is still fine, just painted the cream portion), as well as all the way to, and around the front door. I painted the overhang last, and somehow forgot the caulking that needed to be done, so that part is still waiting for me.

Friday I had gone to a different H*me Dep*t than what I normally patronize and found a couple of trees (I was only looking for one - LOL). So, Saturday I got one of the trees planted - an Autumn Blaze Maple that should have orangish red leaves in the fall. This second mapleis an Acer Freemanii as opposed to Acer Rubrum that the October Glory is.

Acer Rubrums are in the general family of Red Maples, also known as "swamp maples". Red maples love wet areas so the October Glory is really happy in the lower portion that I planted it in and there is noticeable growth since I planted it two weeks ago.

The Acer Freemanii is a cross between Red Maples and (get this as an irony) Silver Maples, with the best characteristics of both. They have really nice color from the red maple side and faster growth from the silver maple side). They are very adaptable to soil conditions but are not good for wet areas, so it is perfect for where I planted it - just in front of the Willow stump.I was fortunate that the general area I wanted to plant the Autumn Blaze in was free of any huge willow roots. Previously I had stomped around to see if it might be possible (you can hear where the roots are if you stomp hard with a booted foot). The first picture is from the pen, the second from the living room window, and the third is of the growth of the October Glory (you may not be able to see the lighter green leaves at the tips of 3 of the branches - those are the new growth).

 

 

On poison ivy patrol I pulled some young shoots that had grown in the shrubs by the fence over on the other side of the house. Oh, and while I was painting, I found a vining poison ivy that had hidden itself in plain sight - in a rose beside the front door (which I never use, which is why I hadn't noticed before).

 

And finally, the neighbor had gotten his truck moved so I mowed that area real quick since it was to rain on Sunday.

And that was my Saturday :)

Sunday was HOG meeting, reconcile checkbook (which hadn't been done since April), and some other indoor general projects. The remnants of Harvey were much kinder to us than to those in Texas, leaving 1.5" of badly needed rain.