Author Archives: bilborg

About bilborg

I am who I am, there's plenty of data on this site to tell you more. Briefly, I'm a husband, computer geek, avid reader, gardener, and builder of furniture.

Spring Chores

By | |
Comments Off on Spring Chores

Spring cleaning extends to the outside of the house, too. I had a pile of stuff from the dismantling and rebuilding of the front fence last fall.

Front Fence Demo Pile

Front Fence Demo Pile

Y’see, by the time the fence had been rebuilt and the stain on the front-facing portions of the fence … well, ice and rain were falling out of the sky. So I left the pile for Spring. Now, it’s the time, so I took that pile, and amended my mulching/composting box. Now it looks like this:

 

Mulching/Composting box

Mulching/Composting box

I constructed that atop the old, low (10″) box I’d previously used for the purpose. Now it looks like it has been here all along, since the fencing material used … has been. I’m pleased with the re-use of the material. However, all that was left has to go. So I broke it down and bagged it, leaving the space empty:

Concrete pad much cleaner

Concrete pad much cleaner

At which point, broken but still dragging myself around, I remembered that I’d had a thousand or so pounds of bagged goods delivered into the driveway, and that needed moving in and stacking until I get around to working the garden beds and dressing the front beds. So I got out the wheelbarrow, and moved all the stuff in. Um, yay?

Bagged red mulch, leaf compost, manure compost.

Bagged red mulch, leaf compost, manure compost.

I’m rather tired now. I think I’ll take the evening off … except for remote work: system patching tonight at 10. Ciao!

Sprung

By | | , ,
Comments Off on Sprung

At least I think Spring has sprung. Of course, there was frost on the grass and rooftops this morning, and we have two more of those mornings in the forecast. But I did do some significant yardwork yesterday, clearing the winter debris and die-off from the front yard. I also did the early Spring fertilizing on the lawns.

Also accomplished: not too damn much. I finished playing Bioshock Infinite, which was fun, even though I saw the ending coming from about a million miles away. Fun game, good story. Nice drive by on Rapture, right near the end, too.

In celebration of TableTop Day yesterday, we played Scrabble ™ in the evening. Herself came very close to beating me both times. Lexi helped, too:

Lexi helps with Scrabble

Lexi helps with Scrabble

*      *      *

After  a wonderful month and a day without a casualty, DoD reported on April 4 that Capt. James E. Chaffin III, 27, of West Columbia, S.C., died April 1, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of a non-combat related incident. Our condolences to his family and friends.

Spring #WTF

By | |
Comments Off on Spring #WTF

Yesterday: chores and such. Today: shopping, chores and such. And along with those and exercise, a startlement. I was just getting into the groove on the elliptical, when I looked up and out to see … snow. Sigh. Really? Yup. Wasn’t much, didn’t stick to roads or sidewalks, but seriously I’m officially tired of snow. I want a couple of months of high 50’s to low 70’s. What I’m a’feared of is a direct transition to summer mode. That’ll have me wishing for more snow in less than a couple of days. Here’s what it looked like out the back window:

30 March 2014: Snow

30 March 2014: Snow

*      *      *

Another week with no casualties announced. I’m glad. Ciao!

Whoops…

By | | ,
1 Comment

Frankly, I don’t know what happened on Sunday. It wasn’t a particularly stressful day, I got some stuff done, but not much. Not much at all since I managed also to forget to post, and continue forgetting until Marcia reminded me just now. What’s been going on? Today:

Yeah, more snow

Yeah, more snow

You wouldn’t guess it was Spring already, eh? In other news, I’ve been a much better boy when it comes to sticking to the exercise routine this year. I picked up in earnest in early February and have been improving as I went along. Today, along with sit-ups and a few push-ups, I managed this on the elliptical:

Today's elliptical workout - 845 calories & 5000 "strides"

Today’s elliptical workout

So I’ve got that going for me.

*      *      *

Good news, no new casualties reported by DoD (none announced since March 3). Ciao!

Dreaming of a White St. Paddy’s Day

By | | ,
Comments Off on Dreaming of a White St. Paddy’s Day

Echoes of Bing Crosby chasing around my head as I look outside:

House in gray and white

House in gray and white

Very pretty, though

Very pretty, though

A downside is that there’s a couple more inches of the stuff headed our way, so I’ll be waiting to clear the driveway and sidewalks until mid-afternoon. And I’ll just have to assume that the snow peas are happy as clams in a snow-covered planting bed.

*      *      *

Here’s the laptop pedestal I built and finished over the weekend. It’s designed to sit on top of a regular desk, to be a stylish standing desktop for laptop and mouse. It can also move down to floor level, and be a foot-rest or stool. But mostly it’s a standing desk. Someone I know needs this (not me!)…

Standing desk

Standing desk

 

Mo’ Snow

By | |
Comments Off on Mo’ Snow

It has started snowing again, and is supposed to throughout St. Patrick’s Day. Weird, eh? Lexi is gonna be cranky when all of her spots are covered up with snow, again!

No real other news, I’ve had a busy weekend and gotten lots accomplished, from shopping and haircut to coffee roasting and building a small woodshop project for a coworker. Oh, yeah, and patched some Solaris boxen, and … well, you get the idea. Sleep is for the weak.

*      *      *

No casualties were announced by DoD in the last week.

 

Time Bandits

By | | ,
Comments Off on Time Bandits

They’ve been, and gone, and an hour of my life has been stolen from me. Worse yet, I had patching duties this morning early, and the vague worry about over-sleeping meant I actually slept very little. Sigh.

However, it was seasonably warm here this weekend: mid-50’s yesterday, high 40’s today, so I wore shorts all weekend, yay! Walking the dog past shrinking piles of snow while wearing shorts made me unreasonably happy. I also made an early start in the garden: I turned over one bed, and planted snow peas. Just in time for possibly more snow, Wednesday night into Thursday. Sigh.

Speaking of that, the Tuesday morning following last Monday’s Snow Day it got down to a brisk 0°F by the time I was driving into work, at about 0630. Wowser! New low records set all over the place in MD. Saves shaving though, I just wander around outside for a bit, then break the whiskers off flush with the skin. Sigh.

*      *      *

Our condolences to the families, friends, and units of these fallen warriors:

  • Lance Cpl. Caleb L. Erickson, 20, of Waseca, Minnesota, died Feb. 28, while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
  • Master Sgt. David L. Poirier, 52, of North Smithfield, Rhode Island, died Feb. 28, from a non-combat related incident.

Pictures or It Didn’t Happen

By | | ,
Comments Off on Pictures or It Didn’t Happen

Some of you may not have heard Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra singing Pictures (or It Didn’t Happen), off of the most excellent and awesome album, Theatre is Evil. I will say that, although I love this song, it isn’t my favorite song off the album. But the song is appropriate for this post…

Bowie Snow Day, 3 March 2014

Bowie Snow Day, 3 March 2014

So I got the first coat of spar urethane onto the birdhouse this morning:

Birdhouse in progress

Birdhouse in progress

And Lexi continues to relax in one of her accustomed spots. I think that she’s waiting for sun that isn’t going to appear today:

Lexi relaxing

Lexi relaxing

The snow continues to fall, we’re up to about two inches so far, atop a layer of sleet and ice. So, overall I think a good call to make it a snow day. It’s supposed to drop to the single digits tonight, yay?