Attack Of The Ant Queens
So we're sitting in the sunroom, enjoying a post-prandial coffee and kahlua, when a large, flying art strafes us. We kleenex it midflight.... garbage it and move on.Then the luftwaffe of those things move in.
The living room seemed to be the source of tens and tens of them, insanely seeking light and escape. Kee & bobbed up and down for an hour, swatting and dumping in the toilet over a hundred downed winged ants.
Finding their entrance into the living, a hole in the corner of the pine-panelling, we agent oranged the opening and plugged it with toilet paper, then duct tape.
Leaving my father-in-law wondering about this deal.......
We decided the east side of the lot needs some delineation from the neighbours lot... They're good neighbours, erecting a barrier is definitely not the goal here, we'd just like to line the long driveway to the beach with pine trees. Vesey's (from Prince Edward Island, where I ordered the majority of the bulbs) has these Jurassic Pines, they're supposed to grow up to 70' in 15 years - sounds unbelievable, but that's the claim. They're 3 for about $80 and I'm tempted to chance them.... just 3, spaced out, with other pines in between. They'll grow up with their big sister pine that's close to the house and I'll monitor their grown, taking timed pictures to see how that 70 foot boast works out for them.
My sister Sandy has schooled me well in Auction 101. But I'm reaching the end of auctions.... I've raised my number on an authentic art deco bedroom suite, cabinets, buffets, lamps, paintings, chairs, tables, carpets.... I'm obviously not going to buy more than the cottage can use or hold and I think that's approaching fast. There's been exciting scores, besting outbidding beeyotches, losing to outbidding bastards, but I must say that everything I've wound up with has been good, really good. And I'll still auction, just a bit less, a lot more narrowly.
Repurposing has become a passion and Habitat for Humanity has really been a magnet for me. We gotten some amazing finds there - the oak french door with thick, bevelled glass panes that, after stripping and refinishing, now separates the kitchen from the mudrooom; the upper cupboards in the mudroom that needed just paint, hinges and handles; a mass of cut glass-handled door knobs (that went from $5 a d front/back pair to $20 in the space of a year); the door for the 2BBathroom (5 wide glass panels) that we "stain-glassed" with translucent film....
Another repurpose was the metal stairs that we'll be using to access the beach, from the lawn atop the breakwall. These are from Omsteads Plant 2, when the factory was being dismantled as different owners/rental took bites off the building itself. Kee asked if these stairs became available... they became, they came here. Very sturdy, industrial, can be welded onto the top of the steel breakwall, very safe.
When we first moved here, our stackable washer was hooked up, but there wasn't a dryer there previously, so for the spring and summer of 2010, I hung the laundry on the double line located between house and the driveway. Even when the dryer was hooked up, in the fall, I continued to use the line. I love the hanging up, the sequence of clothes, towels, sheets, placing the undies on the lakeside line with the towels and sheets roadside, protecting their privacy; then the smell - sharp, natural, oxygenated; and the feel - slightly rougher, realer than dryer-output. Airing out the duvets and cotton coverlets is a satisfying chore... burying my face in towels, shirts, blankets often. The savings in electricity is a nice icing on the cake, but the cake itself, of merely hanging laundry, is a very tasty cake.
Modem Manipulations: so Bell comes down, sets up the phone/internet - but - we only get internet reception at the new end of the cottage, where the modem is located - but it should be for the entire house. We endless and, it seems, pointlessly, complain to Bell, with vague threats of seeking comfort elsewhere. Bell coughs up a new, more powerful modem, which is sent through the mail.... no joy. More phone conversations, several with people whose accent I cannot decipher and who likely cannot understand me. Upshot - another, more powerful modem.
Kee has a stroke of genius that the Bell professionals couldn't come up with: let's locate the modem in the cente of the house, which turns out to be the small cupboard in the 2BBathroom. Contact!
Avion points - are a good thing
Silverware accumulation...
Photoshow of lighting...
Lavender, soap, lotion, shampoo, etc...
Faux finishing the cupboards...
The putput boat...
The bed, a reading light, underwear...
Jam.....
The GGs summer wine tour...
Storage, thinning out, empty nest prep....
BB goal and planning...
The light in the morning...
Refinishing brass on antique vanity...
