Author: doug

Our house is clean!  Our cleaning service that we had in Southboro has followed us to Newton, which we are immensely glad about.  They came today for the first time in the new house, which desperately needed their attention.

Not least among the reasons we’re glad to keep Walter is that he knows Winnie, and she tolerates him.

I reglazed about half the windows in the Hooker House (college apartment on Hooker Ave in Somerville) as a college student to help pay the rent.  It looks like now I’ll get to do it again, but this time the homeowner I’ll be helping out will be myself.  You may think that 1 1/2″ putty knife you use to spackle holes in your walls is made for that — it’s not; it’s made for applying putty to seal the glass into the window.

I have been doing work on various projects in the basement since we moved in, but this weekend Lis and I attacked the basement and my workshop is much closer to fully set up now.

We went to a couple of BBQs today, as befits Memorial Day weekend — one at my brother’s, and one at Kat & Bob’s.  At the latter, Fred was unloading some alcohol that he doesn’t want to have to move twice (once to Rachel’s and once to wherever they wind up).  Most of the wine went home with various folks, though we did sample the excellent cognac.

Tonight for dinner we had yummy buffalo kebabs complete with mini pattypan squash.

There’s nothing like a good variety pack of beers from a good brewery to make Doug happy.

The old alarm system in our new house was dated — most security companies we contacted had never even heard of its manufacturer.  But the fatal flaw was that its motion sensors were not “pet-friendly” and would therefore go off if the cats were to move about in our absence.  Our insurance company gives us a significant discount for having an alarm system, so going without is not an option.  So I ordered a completely new, modern system, some of the components of which you see here.

The airport.  Not generally one of my favorite places.  But in a different guise, the Apple AirPort is our chosen solution to distributing music throughout the house.

Two little boxes now allow us to pipe music from the office to the living room on the 1st floor, and the loft on the 3rd floor, without having to fish cables through the walls.

Lis and I went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening.  It was a much more pleasant and sedate walk than we’ve been accustomed to in Southboro, not involving any stretches along busy roads like Rte. 85.  Still, I saw nothing photo-worthy.  But upon our return I saw the garage.  Someday, once boxes are cleared and organization is accomplished, I will park inside.

Tonight I cooked the first full meal in our new kitchen.  We’ve had good meals at the house already, but they’ve been of the quick, low effort variety, or from the grill.  I actually used all 4 burners.  Tonight’s selection is seared Coho salmon fillets with a lemon-lime glaze, served with couscous and a salad.

The good news is that the stove, while old, is in good working condition and puts out a good amount of heat with decent control.  I’m sure we will replace it soon enough, but for now it will serve just fine.