sound

I wonder why it's so quiet here; not our house but the neigborhood itself - so much that I think if voices are raised indoors that someone outside could possibly hear them. Inside the house there are sounds of air vents, fans, electrical hums, creaks. It's not the cacophony of nocturnal noises that my grandparents, the Hardy's, house was but there is quite a symphony of sound in this old house.

In Rufus Hardy's house, there were constantly bangs and groans from things turning on or shutting down, compressors, motors, electrical hums, loud clocks, etc. The mechanics of older buildings are simple yet mysterious.

In Horace Crowe's house, the only sounds were TV or radio broadcasts. Even the old "baby-burner" furnace in the floor was silent because it relied on hot air rising to conduct the heat. Ceilings were high with open transoms above the doorways to help keep the building cooler at ground level in th summer. All of the noise in their dodgy, poor neighborhood came from outside the house, where there was always some sort of drama going on.

yard thoughts

Modern. Native. Edible. Functional. Social.


We live in an older, traditional neighborhood so I know the front yard needs to have to traditional green turf and neat landscape. We are trying to keep a clear view outside the windows with low-growing shrubs and plants like heather and dwarf conifers. We'd like to add a few more large rocks to those arrangements.

I cut out and pulled up a ton of English ivy off the trees, fence and house, where it once festooned every tall tree. We removed the tacky plastic non-functional shutters from all of the windows. A few of the windows need to be replaced due to cracked glass. We plan to build or install as large a shed as we can in back to become a mini-workshop and tool storage building. John wants to have a compact woodshop with a small outside deck that he can work at. We also need the space to store large things like ladders. We still desperately need house numbers either mounted on brick or posted in the front yard and on the mailbox.

We would like to use mostly native plants and edible landscaping for the back yard, which has a wood fence that we plan to replace. We also have a laid stone retaining wall on one side at the back of our lot that needs to be repaired, preferrably using all the original stones so that we don't have to purchase too many more. I think 2/3 of the wall could be original stone - maybe more. We had crepe myrtle trees that had been attacked by ambrosia beetles that have been cut down along the rock wall side of the house that now have stumps that need to finally be removed/ground down. My guess is that some sort of new plants and shrubs need to go along the rock wall to help with erosion control.

NO English Ivy! I am still removing it everywhere I can, mostly concentrating on taking it off the trees. My neighbor shares my hatred of overgrown English ivy. She's working at ridding her yard of it as well. I am also taking it upon myself to pull out poison ivy where I see it. Slowly, the old roots of the poison ivy are going away and I cut down any flowers/seeds from the poison ivy when I spot it trying to reproduce, whittling way at it as best I can. I am a one-woman ivy-killing warrior. I'm not agains all vines - just those troublesome invasive or poisonous plants. Grapes are cool. Muscadines are cool. Grapes would be great. I even turn an occasional blind eye to Virginia creeper if it's not in my way.

The inside of the back yard is mostly mud, mulch and shade. We have new plantings of edible and/or native plants like elderberry, chokeberry, blueberry, trillium, ferns, golden seal, jack-in-the-pulpit and I'd like to add more variety so that I could have year-round blooms for bees and birds (and humans). I have a dinky herb garden that I am still figuring out.  We are also planning to place a small fire pit/grill and seating area to the side of the future shed.

And the drive way needs to be repaved - preferably with some sort of simple roof added at the top for the cars. The car shelter is not a priority but it is something that would make life a lot nicer.

Sometimes you just have to call in a professional.

The pedestal sink in the main bathroom is up now and the faucet appears to be working with no leaks.

However, now we have a non-functioning kitchen sink. It started when we decided to replace the broken sprayer before we had guests from Connecticut here this coming weekend. I had the sprayer in my condo sink replaced a couple of times and it seemed like a very fast, simple, cheap thing to do. I wanted to ensure there were no crazy messes if either of our guests tried to use the malfunctioning sprayer. However, everything under the sink is so old, dilapidated, and cobbled together that I just ended up turning off the water supply to the sink until we can get a plumber in. We were able to schedule a visit on Thursday – one day before our guests arrive. Hopefully, this will go smooth and quick.

I have been feeling especially sad from having no work but perhaps, just this week while things are going on at the house, it is fortunate that I can be home to deal with any contractors who need to come in.

Happy F**king New Year

I bought flowers that I have arranged in a large Tiki mug on the living room table. Before the move, I had two nice glass vases that friends had gifted me at different times years ago but the box those should be packed in is MIA, probably gone forever like so many casualties of the relocation. Still, the Tiki vase looks rather festive IMHO. The battery charger for my camera is still missing as well. I suppose I am, temporarily, no longer a photographer. I have a non-working camera, no tripod, and no place to set up for a photo. It is the creeping entropy I live in.

At least, there are flowers on the table now.

Yesterday, MonsterMustDie killed an electrical outlet in the livingroom he was trying to replace with a better looking fixture. One more thing not working in the house. Fortunately, there are other outlets nearby and the livingroom is not an area we will spend any time in anyway. 

My mother is still in the hospital. She had surgery to have the port inserted for dialysis because her kidneys are functioning at only 7 percent. She also now has a bladder infection that they are treating with antibiotics. She has had a lot more visitors in the hospital and that has raised her spirits considerably. Yesterday, my youngest uncle and his wife & daughter came to visit. Then Charlotte, who she used to work with at the courthouse, came by for a visit so she has not been lonely.

post xmas update

We had a good holiday with family and friends on a very brief 2-day trip to Atlanta. At my brother's house for Christmas dinner, my mother looked well and happy. My nephew and his girlfriend were both there. My niece was there cracking jokes and making up odd holiday songs, while her fiancé is in New York visiting family.

We had a great dinner at Babette's Cafe with Sandy, Chaz, and friends to celebrate her birthday on Friday.

Saturday, we drove back home. The highlight of the trip was an unexpected trip to a mall where everything was on sale now and MonsterMustDie found a new black suit to wear at my niece's wedding and I found some fun clothes to wear for winter events, if any exist for me.

Sunday, MonsterMustDie's friend Mr. Smith came by for a visit and stayed overnight. That was a good opportunity to pick his brain for ideas on how to set up the living room. I had hoped we could have used him to help MonsterMustDie re-hang the bathroom door but that never happened. The guys were too busy drinking beer and talking about mid-century designers and the antiques market. However, we at least have the guest-bedroom furniture set up now.

Today,

I just got off the phone with my mother. She phoned to let me know she is going into the hospital for several days to deal with blood clots in her legs. Just when she looked so well at my brother's house on Christmas day because her blood sugar and anemia were under control, now this has come up. My uncle is taking her to kennel her two West Highland terriers and then on to Kennestone. She is too proud to let anyone close to her help with things like picking up odds and ends at her house to bring to her or taking care of the dogs. I really wish I could be there to clean her house while she is out of it. We have such a difficult relationship, I can't be helpful while she is there but without her there I could take care of some of the nastiness ... and the people nearby who she could trust the most to take care of things for her are the last people she wants to see her home so she won't let them do a thing *sigh*. 

Now it's ridiculous.

Gotta be home at 3:30 to meet the septic tank fixer-upper man again. This will be the third time Atlas has been out to fix this problem. They appear to lack the skills to make things work.

Septic tank alarm was on again this morning.

Actually, the toilets were not flushing properly in the house today. Drains were sluggish. So I checked the septic tank alarm system to see if it was operating. It was - the red alarm light was on but the horn was off. I turned on the alarm horn and it stayed on until I turned it off again. Apparently, the horn had been turned off since the last time Atlas had their men working at the house.

I believe they said the alarm was on and functioning when they left last time and I did not bother to check that the horn - the very thing that lets us know something is wrong - was switched on.

today

Once again, the alarm for the septic tank started this morning. The man from Atlas Free Flow came late this afternoon to see what was wrong. He listed a few things - switch having fallen into the tank, pump coming unplugged, float not working. All of this probably because they were in too much of a hurry last time. I really hope its fixed now and done the right way.

In good news, Monstermustdie finished his intended project in the back yard. We now have a lot more area cleared out for planting and entertaining. There is a new little fire pit up on the hill at the back of the yard and he intends now to make little benches for it from the scrap wood he collected. This should all be in place for the Taurus Potluck next week. We will also have the grill ready for anyone who wants to use it and we still have the outdoor fireplace we purchased at a yard sale in the neighborhood, so there will be opportunities for several tiny fires in the back yard. If we can have a few well-timed rain showers before the party to cut down on pollen and dust, it should be quite nice.

the week, so far

Thursday - Sunday: We had MonsterMustDie's best friend and fellow antique dealer, Mr. Smith, as a house guest this weekend while he attended the monthly Scott Antique Show.

Saturday evening was spent celebrating the 50th birthday of Our Lady Of The Lake with the Grateful Gluttons. That was a huge party at the Lake Claire Land Trust, complete with a live band, majorettes, and lots of good Cajun food.

Sunday - Yard work and house cleaning.
Dinner from Little Cuba: roasted chicken, beans & yellow rice, yucca cooked with onions in a white wine sauce, and hearts of palm salad.
Then the septic tank alarm came on in the afternoon and stayed on until we turned it off. Called the landlord. Panicked over the thought of a repeat of the situation when we first moved in here, right after I bought a new washer and dryer, when sewage backed up into the house and UP the drains. That was when we first learned that the house had a septic holding tank because the house sits below street level. Rental manager phoned back quickly and said their man would be at the house in the morning.

Monday - Couple of guys came to check out the tank around 9AM before I left the house for the day. Turns out the ancient pump was dead. They emptied the tank, then replaced the pump and a pipe connected to it. They had a few complications with the pipe coming apart several times but it was just because they were in too much of a hurry to get the job done and didn't give the adhesive time to set up properly. Reminds me of the old saying There's never time to do it right at first but always time to do it again. They ended up working until after 6PM.
Watched two good episodes of No Reservations after they left and I could finally shower without fear. I enjoyed watching Anthony Bourdain visit the country of Ecuador and the state of Main.

What I Learned Today

It's one thing after another. Woke up this morning to an especially cold house and found the heat not working. Checked the heater for anything obvious that someone who knows nothing about heaters might be able to correct. Wiggled a loose switch and heard the pilot come on and decided that the problem must be a simple but potentially dangerous electrical problem. Went upstairs and the heat was off again. Housemate grumbled and emailed landlord before going to work. I fiddled with thermostat a bit later and the heat finally came on. Then the theory changed to "must be a bad thermostat... and potentially dangerous electrical problem with switch as well.

Fortunately, our landlord reacted very quickly and got their Heating/AC man out to the house ASAP. Because the heater was now working, I was imagining them seeing the heat on and leaving without taking a look. Another TV-repairman type moment.

John Austin, the technician got to the house and let me tell you, it was a pleasure to meet him. Very patient and knowledgeable about his work - and he looks like David Tennant.

He went over the entire system. Found the missing pocket for the never-used air filter, which I immediately bought and installed today, and gave me a lesson on heating units and their maintenance, most of which I'll probably forget by tomorrow morning.

He also took apart the thermostat and pointed out the presence of batteries that needed replacing. We've always had the little hard-wired round thermostats so we never heard of thermostats that needed batteries.