GRASS!

If you have read many posts you might remember that I hate fences and that we took two trees out of our backyard.

So now we have removed the remaining grass and weeds – with much help from friends and neighbors.
Had 10 yards of topsoil delivered that we spread around the backyard- again with much help from friends.
Rolled the soil – with help of a lawn roller.
Tried to till the new earth – with the help of a friends roto-tiller that turned out to be the bain of one afternoon, after which I returned it to said friend, who had one of their neighbors check it out – and it worked like a charm for them…..
Waited three weeks for a “dry” weekend.

Today was the dry weekend. At least one day of a dry weekend.
So we borrowed a spreader, and re-borrowed the dreaded roto-tiller.
Spread 80 lbs of lime and 4-5 lbs of fertilizer.
Tilled said lawn.

Sidebar: I got the rototiller out, and started it all by myself, playing with the choke, throttle and pulling on the thingie that makes it go. It took a few trys, but I did it. And this is only special because this is the first small gas motor tool that I have ever used. Really.

Raked tilled dirt.
Laid down 81 5-foot x 2-foot pieces of sod.
Rented a roller and rolled said lawn.
Bought a sprinkler and watered said lawn. (We haven’t used a sprinkler in years, so we really did have to go buy a new one.)

So now, because of all of the fences and visual impediments in our backyard, and since we have a lawn that we can now sunbath topless without worrying about anybody seeing.

Topless Sunbathing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For me – it was just too cold out.

Too cold and tired to move

floating

As I was crossing the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, I glanced away from the drill rig to the north. I had suspected it was getting soil samples from the floor for piers for the new proposed bridge. I was wrong, at least partly. They are testing different techniques for drilling for the new piers to see what their noise effects on the surrounding neighborhoods will be. But as I said at the beginning, I glanced away to focus on a seagull. The gull was just floating over the southern rail of the bridge, about 30 feet in the air. Just floating. It looked very serene. Two thoughts came to mind.

1. Standing over the heating grate in our upstairs floor, feeling the warm air rush upwards. (Picture Marilyn Monroe without the voluptuous figure or platinum blond hair, and substitute an oversized T-shirt for the dress.)
2. Floating in Lake Superior. After one of the kids had been born I was still wearing a maternity suit, and could fill the extra material with air and lay on my back in the water. It would support me for several minutes. Weightlessness in the cool water is a wonderful feeling.

Soccer!

Two soccer games today. One professional, one very un-professional.
One loss, one win.
Nice fall weather – chilly if you are not moving – SO MOVE.

The Seattle Sounders lost to the Houston Dynamo today in the first round of the Major Soccer League Playoffs. It was a great first season for the team, and they should be proud of what they accomplished. But since they are professionals it is probably not that easy. We watched the game with our friends and some of their neighbors. Fun, good noshing, and close to where my soccer game was.

So 20 minutes after the Sounders’ game ended we were on a local pitch. I played OK, but can do better. For the first time in a long time Carl came to the game. He played with a players young son, listened to a bit of the Lions v. Seahawks game on the radio (Seattle tried to let the Lions win, but in the end it just didn’t happen that way), and chased some balls from our game that were kicked over the fence and into the woods. Oh, and he watched a little bit of our less than professional play.

Not a bad weekend all in all. Got some homework done, but not the big backyard project. [It did rain all day yesterday.] That will hopefully happen next Saturday.

weather reflecting

You know that moods often reflect the weather, or maybe it is the other way around sometimes. It has been a very rainy few days (see previous post (and yes I did walk at lunch)).  I saw a number of roostertails on the drive home. Roostertails belong behind boats, or water skiers, on lakes. These were behind cars. But then again I was on a lake at the time, on a floating bridge, but still.

The rain has reflected the mood around town, grieving for a fallen police officer, Timothy Brenton. He was killed while sitting in his patrol car. This is not about that incident, but about the followup. The funeral/memorial was today. It started at 9 AM or so, with a procession from the University of Washington, through Capital Hill, and downtown to the Seattle Center. As if on cue, as the procession was to start, the sun came out and shown on the procession – which was several miles long. It was very solemn, and yet somewhat spectacular. They expected 1000 – 1500 vehicles. Many people lined the route at different points as well. I watched part of the service, playing in the background on the computer as I wrote a letter about sewer service.

Following the service, which was inside – it is Seattle in November - the rains returned. As I made my exit from the freeway the sky lit up with lightning once again. And a man who is a “person of interest” in the cop killing was wheeled into surgery after having been shot by police as they tried to arrest him this afternoon.

Just plain RAIN

Last night we had a thunderstorm. A real live, booming, lighting up the sky thunderstorm.
We do have lots of storms, sometimes with a bit of lightning, and a bit of thunder.
But this was make me jump thunder, and it repeated itself several times.
Driving Riding to work today was a small adventure. One time when the tires were grabbed by the deeper than normal puddles. One total dousing with no visibility for that less than a second period that seems really long. A bit of thick rain, and just plain wet.

Will I walk at lunch today??? I am hazarding a “No” vote at this time, but will wait for the actual moment to arrive.

I don’t mind walking in the rain, but did not bring an extra pair of shoes and socks, or real rain jacket.
Oh – wait – I have extra shoes and socks here.
Still, no jacket.

And the internal arguments continue.

Raining Leaves

At least I am at work while I watch this, and not at home.
Our stockpile of trees with leaves to drop has significantly diminished this year. A few weeks ago I did a fairly good pickup of the to-be-yard area. I probably need to repeat the process again, before the to-be-yard is installed. That project has stalled. My ambition to work in a muddy area, in the rain, is limited. I keep hoping to get a good weather report for a Saturday. If I don’t get one this weekend we will have to just move forward regardless.

The leaves I am watching are all yellow maple and big-leaf maple. The parking lot had been pretty much cleaned yesterday, and today it was all yellow when we arrived. The rain today is probably helping to knock them down, and it might even be more than breezy outside.

Our local inhabitants made an appearance yesterday as well. (3 does and 1 buck)

young buck on his way to work

Doe, Jane - taking a break

Oh – and those d**n Yankees. Congratulations Dad – bragging rights for the next year. At least it went to six games. Maybe the weather will make them push it back into October, where it belongs. Regardless of the outcome, the Series gives us opportunities to get together and hang out with our friends.

Day of the …

so many things.

Dead – we have been to a celebration for Dios de la Muerta. It was very festive. We added our bit to our friends altar, and checked out several others there. I wanted to make a sugar skull, but the kids in line looked like they wanted it more.

Soccer game – we played. I forgot to tape my foot/ankle before hand, and it was OK. But I think it would hurt a bit less if it had been taped. We are a team of walking wounded. One of our most skilled young guys has a stress fracture and played goalie. Our other stressed player, who played goalie last game, played on the field for a few minutes here and there – moving gingerly. I have my rather disguised injury (the guys just run by me and don’t notice the change in speed), and our knee braced player blew a shoe. We picked up a few brazilian players from the game before, and one of them twisted a knee in the game. It was helped by the opposing team taking him down, but I am wondering if we are contagious. We won, I think, 3-2.

Baseball game – yet to be. Getting ready to head over to friends house for dinner and viewing on their big screen (with TiVo – choose your own replays).

Time change – we got up relatively early, and have changed all the interior clocks, and one of the car clocks. The biggest issue has been figuring out when to eat.

Arrival back in Knoxville – for those following the travels of Rey – he is back in town and looking for lodging.

Happy Halloween

Pirate 2

Some people say the kids look the same, others quite different. What do you think?

Pirate1

Friday fried

Spent a good part of the day trying to understand exactly what is wanted of me with respect to budgeting. I know how to figure out estimates of what my responsibilities will be for the next year, including labor and consultants and materials, … The estimates may not be right in the end, but I try. What I have a dickens of a time with is what is operating and what is capital budget. Seems like an easy concept, but there is a certain point at which my brain freezes. I think it started when they told me I had a great breakdown, but the labor costs were included in salaries, so they didn’t really count. Of course, a good portion of most of my projects is labor. But, then, it was added that labor on capital budgets do get counted and taken out of salaries. OK ….. Now just need to be clear on which parts are capitalizable and which are not ….

It was not the most exciting afternoon.

Sometimes I am reminded of when Rey was young and learning early math. The decimal point was like a wall. Moving to numbers less than 1 was a real challenge. I am pretty sure he did finally get it figured out, but that is what I remember when I get stumped. It is so clear to most, and a tremendously high wall to me.

Game 2, game 1 and a first

Game 2 – World Series goes to the Yankees.
That’s OK because if you are going to get to 7 games (as was one of Carl’s wishes), you have to lose a few – 3 to be exact.

Game 1 – Major League Soccer – Seattle Sounders FC vs. Houston Dynamo
Tie – 0-0. This means that game 2 of this playoff series is for all of the marbles. Well since this is only the first round it is  a very small bag of marbles at this stage. Game 2 is in a little more than a week and in Houston.

A First – Carl went grocery shopping today. But that is not a first, he does 95% or more of our grocery shopping. But at the checkout stand, with one of the kids in tow – they gave him a Senior Citizen Discount.  I find this to be really funny, and a discount is a discount. He didn’t ask for it – they assumed it. I don’t even know what the age for a senior discount is at this store. His hair is no longer blonde, and maybe he had a few bags under his eyes.