March, 2009

Today I washed my car.  I don’t mean I took it to a carwash; I mean I got out a bucket and laid sponge to paint.

It’s amazing how much cleaner the car gets this way than in the touchless carwash.

This morning, as I attempted to leave our neighborhood, my progress was impeded by a roadblock…

… made up of 15-20 turkeys in the road.  By the time I got my camera out the way had cleared, leaving only this straggler.

OK, you may ask, why is Doug posting a picture of a toaster oven?

This toaster oven has spent the last 9 months in our basement.  Now that our house is no longer being shown, it — and other items of “clutter” — can be restored to their rightful places of usefulness.

This past Sunday we went through the freezer, throwing out anything over 2 years old.  We made the mistake of putting this old food in the garbage can outside, where last night some raccoons discovered it.  How do I know it was raccoons?

By their dewy footprints, of course.

Parker has found a new favorite place to be.

Inexplicably, it is on top of the cushions on the back of our couch.  Cats.  They’re funny people.

The advantage to our house being built on bedrock is that, if we ever get water in the basement, it is time to call Noah.  The disadvantage is the possibility of radon gas.  When we moved in 12 years ago, the readings were well below a problem level.  But over the years I think we’ve made the house tighter against air infiltration, and we’ve had to install a radon pump in order to sell.

This pipe goes through the basement floor, and is connected to a fan outside that draws air (and the radon it contains) out from under the slab, instead of building up in our basement.

Lis and I went for a walk today in the warm weather.  We came across a yard with these sticks in it.  I have no idea why the owner (or whoever) piled them up like this.  But it’s cool looking.

This time of year, you never know what to expect weather-wise.  I suspect we will see at least one more significant snowstorm, but the snowdrops have been up for a week, and it’s warm enough today that I saw my first crocus of the season.

This is our grill.  You have seen it before in these pictures, covered in snow.  But in those pictures, it was dormant… hibernating… awaiting the day when it would spring to life, belching flame and smoke, pleasantly charring hunks of animal flesh for our consumption.

That day was today.

I am drawn to the view from our big conference room at work.  This is the second or third shot I’ve posted of roughly this view — though with the seasons changing I don’t feel too bad about it.  That’s Georges Island left of center.