June, 2009

Today’s entry is your classic New England daylily, the kind that grow like weeds throughout the area.  They are certainly taking over a couple of our flower beds.

Here we have another picture from the big conference room at work.  I liked how Boston is just barely visible through the haze.

Between the BBQ yesterday and our neighborhood block party today, I didn’t get a lot done this weekend.  But I did rip up the carpet on the first few steps to try to figure out what to do with them.

The good news is there is real wood under there, and it has a lot of potential.  The bad news is it’s gonna take considerable work to get it right.  I put some linseed oil on the treads to protect & clean them, and will paint the risers relatively soon.

We had people over today for our housewarming BBQ. 

We actually managed to be outside between showers.

I was very excited today to see something I have not seen in a long time:

The sky.  There seemed to be a free-running thermonuclear fusion reaction in a portion of it, though I’d estimate it’s about 8 light-minutes distant, and was last seen receding toward the horizon, so I don’t suppose it poses an immediate threat.

Our Boston Organics order came today.  The most unusual item this week is mixed alfalfa & radish sprouts.  Guess we’re having salad!

My trusty old Swift binoculars broke near the end of last season… one objective lens sheared right off at the threads, probably as a result of being dropped, or banged against a rock, or something.  I tried a few different approaches to repair them, but ultimately I think they’d need a new barrel.

I spent the remainder of my REI rebate this year on a new pair of binoculars.  These are of a different optical design (roof prism rather than porro prism) that allows them to be smaller, more damage-resistant, and waterproof.  But other than that, their specs and performance are remarkably similar.

I made sausages today.  What you see here is the starting point: 8 pounds of pork.

In addition to the window rebuilding project, I am also undertaking a refurbishing project at the other end of the scale — stripping the years of paint off our door hardware and refinishing it to something like what it would have looked like new.

I’m using a mild chemical stripper to remove years of paint, just soaking the parts (except the porcelain knobs) in it overnight.  Underneath it all is iron castings.  Rather than using the glossy jet black that was the original paint color, I am using a “hammered bronze” spray paint that is both forgiving and attractive.  And yes, I’m painting the screw heads.

Happy summer!

Lis’s camera chose today to take a header onto the floor, landing on its lens.  I (naturally) took it apart to see if it was salvageable.

Sadly, one of the little plastic nubbins on the lens housing (to control extending/retracting the lens for zoom) broke off.  Here you see the little camera without its skins.