The journey continues...

Brian Bilbrey July 28, 2019

28 July 2019

As far as I can tell, June and July weren't as wet as last year, but we've had at least a bit of rain each week. Additionally, for most of the last week, we had mornings that were a lot more like mid-September than late July - temps in the morning in the low 60's instead of the mid 70's, and highs in the 80's instead of high 90's. I will note that, botanically, we got nearly four weeks out of our tiger lily bloom this year, instead of the usual two-ish weeks. The picture below is from about the…

Brian Bilbrey July 21, 2019

21 July 2019

There really isn't much to report since a couple of days ago when I got around to posting (late). I got a bit of cleanup done in the garage, and put up all the tools in the woodshop. After all the assorted work, I'm only missing my socket wrench and one socket! They're here, somewhere... It's been properly hot around here, but this is supposed to be another summer where it doesn't actually reach 100F on the thermometer. Is it supposed to be scary and sell more advertising that they've been reporting on "feels like" rather than "is" for a…

Brian Bilbrey July 18, 2019

18 July 2019

Well, I came to my senses, realizing that leaving y'all with the impression that I was going to be doing something seen as dangerous (fixing garage door springs), then going dark-ish. Thanks for the kind thoughts, y'all! First the good news - I'm fine, the garage door is working fine, and I had few issues with the DIY repair. Therein lies a tale. I previously wrote, "I’ve ordered a pair that individually match the spec for balancing out my door. I’ll install both, and wind them with about half the turns that the single spring had, then adjust to the…

Brian Bilbrey July 7, 2019

7 July 2019

As holidays go, this one was less than stellar. We started by trying to get out fishing early. Sadly, our local favorite hole had a "Gate is not operating" sign up. Perhaps they just didn't want to deal with holiday crowds while on holiday staffing (it's a pond on a local preserve, requires special permits, etc). Meantime, right after breakfast, we'd found out that the flush mechanism on the main floor toilet was busticated, so a new flush handle was on our list. So we left the failed fishing hole, and dropped by the poor second choice hole. Once there,…

Brian Bilbrey June 30, 2019

30 June 2019

That's half a year gone already. But, thankfully, it's been a relatively quiet time for us. Not much upheaval in life, which is a good thing. It was also a quiet week at work, and with a major holiday, I expect much the same for the next few days. Yesterday was catch-up-on-yardwork day for me, so I did. Tiring, but effective. Tonight we had first fruits of the garden - a zucchini and a jalapeño. Marcia sautéed the sliced zucchini in olive oil and herbs, and I topped a grilled burger with the sliced jalapeño and some sharp cheddar. Yum.