Chores done

We had nice enough weather for this time of the year so we finally got some yard work done. The pool has been folded up - not nicely but enough for this winter.

We also managed to rake the leaves from the front yard - 22 bags full. I can only use so many in my compost piles. I even have a leaf compost going from last year.

Yesterday Shan started the Christmas baking. She got a good bunch done and we helped with icing until late in the night. Tomorrow we put up the tree.

compost portability

So with the eventual renovations, we will lose our current side yard. I will miss the nice shaded area for the barbeque and the patch of green right out the door. In preparation for this, I moved the composter we had by our side door.
Inside the bottom third of the unit was a nice, dark earth – perfect compost. I used this to put around the base of most of our trees and tossed some in the garden when we turned it. The top third was still in progress so I used it to start the new location.

I’m quite impressed with the amount of composting that occurred. I’m not really on top of keeping it moist or turning it often. I do try to keep a decent mix of ‘green’ (nitrogen based items – fruits, vegetables, etc) and ‘browns’ (leaves, cardboard, ash). That’s one of the things that attracted us to composting – we could be as low-key about it as we wanted and it would still break down eventually.

The new location at the back of the yard will a bit more difficult to add to during the winter so we’ll probably switch to the other one at that time. With the kitchen bucket we got last time we only have to empty it once a week.

(pics to follow)

visual proof

These pictures show what the load looked like. This is the before picture showing the old picnic table in brown and the pool supports in white. You can also see the composter on the right. It's actually quite big. The wood under the table is the old composter we used to have. It was just 4 pieces of plywood nailed together at the corners.

The after shot gives a better shot of how much we took away. Our yard actually goes as far back as the wood fence - the chain link fence separates the side with the pool from the other side of the yard. The blue roll in the upper right corner is the old pool cover. The new pool is round so it doesn't quite reach that far back.

On Friday, I finally got the box of Heroclix that I had bought back in April on ebay. Over 20 figures, bringing my Icons and Indy sets to very close.

At BJ Supertoys, they have the Teen Titans CCG boosters on sale for $0.25 each. Naturally, we have picked up quite a few of them. Between the kids and I, we have a full set. Now we just have to find a starter set to see how it actually plays.

The other exciting thing that happened on the weekend was that the tie rod in the car broke on the way home. Luckily, it held together enough until we were just backing into our driveway. Dad was able to fix it yesterday. With the fix, the rattling sound from the front end is no longer there. We were looking at getting a newer car this summer but this puts a bit more of an incentive to get it done.

David

It always rains on composter day

Raining again today. We picked up another Earth Machine. Every year, around this time, the city cuts a deal with the company to sell them for $25 - supposedly they have an otherwise retail value of $85 - not that I've ever seen them on sale any other time. We had bought one about 5 years ago - after we had moved here from our old place. There we had two wooden boxes - one for leaves and one for compost. The one for leaves is holding up well but the other wooden composter is going to be replaced by the new plastic one. We also picked up an aerator and a kitchen pail. I was turning them sporadically before with an old pitchfork but, now that we have two, figured we splurge for the aerator.

Friday I had gotten a Reaper of Souls in the mail. I had bought one before from ebay - but the seller flaked. Now the only unique left from the first set that I am missing is the Avatar of Cthulhu.

I had taken the car in on Thursday to get the muffler fixed. It needed the tailpipe and the exhaust pipe as well. A little over $300 when all done but that's one less problem with it now. I had finished reading the Survivor book by Mark Burnett - we've followed each season since the beginning so it was kind of neat to hear some of the back story. It was a quick read but could have used a few labels on some of the pictures as it has been a while and not all the Survivors were familiar.

I also finished the Planet Simpson book as well. It was interesting but not nearly as quick a read. We took them back to the library. I had to drop them through the slot as our library had moved to summer hours - where they are no longer open on Saturdays as well as being closed on Sundays.

Yesterday I was able to put a good couple of hours work on the room. I didn't get nearly as deep as I had hoped for my break, but was able to sift a few things around and clear up significant portion of the working area. Today, I'm going to try and get into the closet (filled with model kits) and see if I can sort then down a bit better.

David