Bogieblog

Start of the Stairway Renewal Project

I haven't done any work on the house for a while. Last weekend I started a project, although "small" is going to take several weeks to complete. Last Saturday, I bought a couple of treads at H*me Dep*t to see if I would be able to refurbish the basement stairs. These would be tricky as nothing in this house is square or plumb. I also found a tread tool that I hoped would help.

The stairs are literally the worst looking thing in the house at this point (I even go so far as to say worse than the hole in the living room/stair wall). These first two pictures will look the same, but they aren't

Heck they look better already and all I did was spend time removing the trim (and the bazillion screws in each piece) on the right side. The left side trim had been removed way back when I had to replace that left side sheetrock and I never replaced it.

After custom cutting the two treads, and deciding it was a DIY job, Sunday I went back for 3 more treads, cut them to size and sanded them out on the back porch railing.

Stained on the front (next day stained the backs)

It takes forever to finish the treads. Stain has to dry before polyurethane, then poly has to dry 8-10 hours between coats (I only did two coats on bottoms - 4 on tops). Here they are completely finished. They need to cure for 7 days before they can be put in use.

Yesterday I went and got another 5 treads (the rest needed for the project). Again, those were sanded out on the back porch and the tops are stained. The bottoms will be stained later today - then the whole polyurethane cycle and curing cycle will take at least 10 more days.

I still need to take the stair coverings off, paint the walls and risers (don't want any green showing thru gaps!), custom cut the riser coverings and paint those. Oh, speaking of risers, now that the basement stove has been moved from directly behind the stairs, I no longer need the grates to let heat thru on the top 4 steps. Those will come out and I'll need to replace the backer wood before installing the riser coverings.

Really, a small project, but I can see this going for another month - and it has already been 7 days.

Brightening a Gloomy April

We didn't have much of a winter with no major low temps (I think our lowest was -6 or -8), no extended cold temps and not many good snow falls. Most snow that did fall was very heavy and wet. I March we were all thinking early spring/summer.

But, Mother Nature laughed and laughed as April has been cold, dark, gloomy and wet. The few days it has been sunny (or even partly so), have mostly been very windy with 25-40 mph winds. We did get two nice days to tease us, Saturday of last week and yesterday where it was sunny, around 60* and calm winds. In between the two warm days it snowed twice. I have not been able to do any yard work because it is so wet out. To indicate the amount of yucky weather we have had, the only time I have gotten anything done for yard work was on March 29. And the daffodils that were showing greens on March 22 haven't yet produced flowers. And hey more rain today and unless the storm track moves, we will have measurable snow tomorrow (the amount keeps moving for my area from a dusting" to 4"-8").

On 4/22, I took some picture of thing that are starting to emerge. The first two pictures are of daffodil greens - yes even in the roadside garden that I thought the squirrels had ravaged

Burgundy Bell maple is flowering - it starts earlier than the other maples

One lonely English Primrose

Nicky tall Phlox

Autumn Joy Sedum

Lily greens are shooting up around the yard

Purple Hyacinth flower buds

And yesterday, 4/25, three days after the previous picture, the purple Hyacinths were beginning their bloom

And the dappled Willow, Sauce Hakuro Nishiki is starting its leaf buds

I got to rake some more leaves and spread them out in the yard to dry for future mowing/mulching yesterday afternoon. And added bonus, I sat out in the back yard sitting area to read in the sun and warm weather.

Snow on 4-18-20

It snowed for about 8 hours yesterday - first picture about 5 am

3 hours later was about the apex of the accumulation. After this the snow was melting faster than it was falling. Love how the snow is starting to droop off the fence from meltage.

Roof was just starting to dump for the first time - only because it was so wet.

Second Type of Face Mask from Bandana

Friday I had to take the truck in for inspection and changing the tires back to summer tires (right before the snow storm on Saturday - oi vay). I was also going to the dump, grocery store and making the treck to Wally World, so I needed a better mask than the first one I made. The first one was fine wearing a very short time (15 minutes or so), but it would keep sliding down my nose, so adjustments were needed. Here is a mask I made with a pair of scissors, bandana, and two hair ties (the ties do not go around the ears).

Make cuts at two corners that are diagonal from each other. Make each cut about 1/3 the distance to the center. The cuts themselves are just offset from the actual corners - I made sure to offset to the same side.

First 2 folds

Third fold

Fourth fold - I was going to crop this at the top, then noticed Rita was in the picture

Hair ties wrapped on each end - about where the splits in the fabric are

Picture I took while sitting in the waiting room. You can't see the ties, but there is one at the top of my head (like a real mask has), then one that goes around the lower part, close to the neck. The top tie keeps the mask from sliding down my nose. This was very comfortable and easy to wear.

I didn't notice until I looked at the picture that I failed to pay attention to placing the pattern right side up :)

Folding a Kerchief for a Mask

With the CDC and NH's governor asking people to use face masks while in public, I dug out an old kerchief to make one for grocery shopping yesterday. I've seen the tutorials showing how to use a kerchief and hair ties to make masks, but my ears are so floppy that the hair ties would just fold my ears forward and slide off (and BTW, that hurt!). After looking at the problem for a while, I figured out an alternative that doesn't depend on my ears.

Here is the entire 22" x 22" kerchief

I turned it over and folded over two opposite corners to meet in the middle

Fold the resulting flat edge over to the middle

The second flat edge folded over - if my math is correct that makes 8 layers of fabric

Turned over, this shows the front that would show to the public

I used the two remaining corners to tie the mask around my head. I had to pile all my hair on top of my head so that I didn't tie it into the kerchief, but once it was tied I let it down.

Who Knew Daffodils Are Tasty?

When it hasn't been snowing/sleeting/raining (most days for the last several weeks), the wind has been blowing at 30-40mph. I haven't gotten to do any yard work since March, when I was able to clean up some of the gardens. I was going thru plant labels last night, in preparation of making more permanent markers, and realized something that had puzzled me as I was cleaning up the roadside garden I put in last summer.

As I was cleaning up old stalks, raking leaves etc, I saw a bunch of perfectly round holes in that garden. They weren't tunnels and I thought maybe squirrels were burying seeds/nuts. I didn't think too much about it and just smoothed the mulch back over it.

So, back to last night, going thru labels there were a bunch for daffodils. I thought they were all to side gardens, from previous years until I saw several with "roadside garden" written on them. As I sat there pondering if I truly wanted to make markers for daffodils, which I would have to match up as they were blooming it hit me - those holes were of squirrels stealing my bulbs this spring.

AARRGGHH - I planted daffodils,  because rodents don't care for them and I've never had them taken for eating or transplanting. Heck, some websites claim those bulbs are poisonous to rodents. I know they love tulip bulbs, and I learned years ago not to bother planting them. Crocus are hit or miss, at times they will transplant them.

I am so bummed I won't get a spring show in that area - and the first spring too. Still waiting for the hyacinths in the backyard and shrub garden to do anything but send some green out.  Course those areas have been flooded most days so I'm sure that has something to do with it.

COVID-19 Memes

UPDATE 4/8/20: This was on FB today

I love one of Scary Yankee Chicks's posts that features memes that have been going around on FB. I will make you go to her page for the ones she has posted. Under the fold are a couple of different ones that I posted on my FB page

 

Spotty Planting

As I mentioned last week in the Cleaning Up post, last weekend I picked up a couple of plants while I was getting birdseed. Sunday I potted up Rosemary, Lavender and a start off my older Angel Wind Begonia (left to right). Spot was a HUGE help - LOL

It was too cold to pot everything outside, in the 30's and raining, so I used an extra cat food mat to help contain any errant soil.

I did pot up this Nanking Cherry outside, then promptly put it in the garage since it was so cold, and there were several evern colder mornings coming up.

Spot has been helpful in other ways than just during potting. One day she was a speed bump, ya know, to slow me down as I went running around the house :)  (following pictures taken 3/26/20)

As you can tell, it was sunny out. However, NH has not enjoyed much sun since then. If you recall, last Sunday I mentioned that it was heavily overcast on Saturday. Sunday it rained, and that lasted thru Wednesday morning. Oh, that got broken up by the light snow we received early Monday and Tuesday mornings. Wednesday there were 2-3 hours of sun in the morning, and then the clouds took over and it rained / drizzled until early yesterday morning. Once again we were treated to some sun that morning, then it became heavily overcast again - but no rain. Even after at least 24 hours of no rain, the pond that had developed in the backyard hasn't completely drained yet (picture taken this morning).

Hopefully we'll get some sun this coming week.