Xiaoniu 小妞

Today goes down as a success. Let’s hope that tomorrow goes as well.

Out with the old.

In with the new.

I kept the fluorescent bulbs. I believe in using them wherever I can. It saves us money, but in the long run it could be something that ends up helping the environment. Too bad we all don’t use them. (BTW I use them all over the house with two exceptions: dining room where large fluorescent bulbs don’t fit and in Emelia’s room where I need a dimmer.)

Now you you see it.

Now you don’t.

It’ll take some getting used to, but I’m really pleased with the results. I still need to take care of some things like sealing up holes and dealing with the electric line (coming out just over the window on the right). That’s on the agenda for tomorrow. I picked up a nice security light, but I’m having second thoughts. I’ll sleep on it and decide tomorrow if I’ll install it or simply remove the line.

The beginnings of a dump run pile.

This is the metal pile. I still have some in the garage and plenty of crap wood in the basement to get rid of. We’re planning on a dump run Friday morning. I’m very happy that I had time to take down that thing on the side of the garage. It was an eye sore and the timing was perfect. I can get rid of it all at the same time. This should be the last dump run for a while.

This gutter probably hasn’t been cleaned in 30 years. Not a problem anymore. It is going bye-bye.

I almost forgot to mention these buggers.

Believe it or not, but that started out as a small hive attached to a big hive attached to yet another hive. Luckily for me it was around 60 today so the bees were not that lively. A quick shot of the good stuff and they were done for. The only problem was that there were over a dozen little hives throughout the thing.

Here is Emelia’s tree.

Sue planted it last week. It’s small right now, but in a few years it’ll be nice and big.It’s the only red leaf tree on the property.

Amy stopped by for a visit with James after work. I decided to take advantage of the situation and have Sue come help hold the ladder while I zip up to the roof to take down the TV antenna. Well, I learned a lesson today. I’m brave enough to climb the ladder to the roof and even clean the gutters, however, I am too chicken-shit to actually get off the ladder and onto the roof.

So, I made my way down the ladder and moved it closer to the chimney. Climbed up again and still couldn’t figure out how to remove the antenna while still on the ladder. I was pretty sure I could get off the ladder onto the roof without falling, but getting back onto the ladder after finishing was another story.

Sue thought it was kind of funny and said she would give it a shot. I said, “No problem. You’re more then welcome to try yourself. Just don’t get off the ladder.” She didn’t make it climb passed the middle section of the ladder before coming back down.

So, needless to say we have a great ladder for cleaning gutters, which is exactly what we expected. Although, I was hoping to use the ladder to get the antenna down. I guess we’ll just have to wait for it to rot or blow off in a storm. Either that or we find a sucker friend or family member to help us with it. Dad? Jason? Any takers?

Finally, once it got dark we were able to try out the lights. I almost forgot about them until I was leaving the house and they came on as I closed the door. Both lights in front came on at the same time. The two garage lights come on when pulling into the driveway. Yeah! They work and they don’t turn on in the daylight. I can’t ask for anything more.

One last thing. Emelia was really fussy tonight. I was starting to think that she was teething. I rubbed her gums and she made happy noises. Well, I was wrong. We kept trying different things without any luck. I figured the only thing left was gas pain. Sure enough. A dose of Mylicon (or the CVS equivalent that I bought) and she was happy as hell. I never heard of the stuff before the daycare people told me about it, but I think we may swear by it now. It worked within minutes and Emelia was happy and content.