Doug's Project 365

With the approach of dark in the evenings, it was time to do something about lighting automation in the new house.  The paddle on the left controls the outside porch light, and is controllable by the computer for use on a timer.  The keypad in the middle consolidates a lot of controls into one place, but is primarily of use to control 3 floors’ stairway lights from here (and from 2 other similar keypads on the other two floors).

Running for mayor in Quincy is a man …

… who may or may not win, but would get my vote for “most likely to be a corrupt politician on an animated sitcom.”

It may not look like much now, but tomorrow these ingredients will be yummy flatbread dough.  Thanks, bread machine!

Our guest room now looks like someplace someone could sleep in peace.  As opposed to the mustard-colored monstrosity it was before, sure to provoke dreams of hot dogs.  Lis really needed to get this done, though I was not convinced how bad is was until after we were done.

Marc & Michaela, we promise the bed will be made by the time you arrive.

This morning, there was a small tree in this space.  This tree, though small by tree standards, was much too big for the space it was in, crowding the house & porch leading to moisture problems.

Now, the tree is in those barrels (well, plus the pile of branches) ready to be hauled off.  And we have a space for our trash cans.

The Stairs of Doom are no more!  Michael’s friend Jeff (a carpenter) came and strengthened & leveled them for 3 nights this week.

Here I have primed the top few steps.  The rest still have the measles wood filler marks.  I think the fisheye gives an interesting perspective here.

It’s here!  My new stove, being installed. 

It’s 3 weeks later than expected, but still in plenty of time for me to get used to it by Thanksgiving.

We went out to dinner at a local deli tonight with Lis’s mom & uncle (in from rural North Carolina, thus the deli).  They had Sarsaparilla soda!

The taste is much like root beer, but with more of a wintergreen flavor.

The season is getting colder — time to replace the old thermostats (one of which is mercury-based) with spiffy new programmable ones.

Lis had a surprise waiting for me when I got home from work today… she had made a good start painting our guest bedroom.

This is a fairly decent reproduction of the old color; the new one is not this electric.  Even the big camera had trouble with the white balance here.  And yes, the contrast between the new & old colors really was this hideous in person!