An Informal Housewarming

I'm given to believe that we'll have family visiting on Sunday coming up!

C's sister and her family will be in our area on Sunday. They've not been to the Cottage yet. We kinda' suggested they stay away while we tore into it. Their three kids are younger than R, two of the three are younger than M. We had nightmarish visions of five active kids in an extensive construction zone.

Now, though, we're done. We're spending our time picking up our leftovers, arranging things for beauty (not workable space), and tuning stuff. We're ready to show off the results and feel safe about hosting the cousins!

It'll be great to see them on Sunday. It'll be great to show off the house and take a walk to the big park. It'll be great to talk in the past-tense about darned near everything that happened to this house.

I guess this is a housewarming of sorts. I wonder if we should consider an actual 'housewarming'? We've not discussed one before...wonder how that would go over.

Technical Difficulties

I've been getting server errors since the weekend... If you see this post it's because it's fixed.

Blog Post Updates

ON THE YARD LIGHTS:  after returning from the beach last night, C and I tweaked the lights. Turns out one whiole 'zone' of lights was not wired up to the power supply. That's why the lights only sorta' worked on Friday. Once I fixed that detail, we got virtually ALL the lights going. We then spent about an hour repositioning and tuning. It became clear right away that, with the lights positioned so as to line the sidewalk, the yard looked... well, contrived. When we started moving the lights back away from the path, into/under/behind plants that we wanted to showcase, the yard started to really *pop*. Suddenly, we could make out the garden's highlights as localized spots. And we still got enough ambient light to help C navigate the path safely.

So, lights are DONE DONE DONE. Really, finally done.

 

ON THE TILTED TWISTER PROJECT:  R and I started the build process for this particular Mindstorms over the weekend. Intriguing process, as we're following computerized build instructions generated by Lego Digital Designer software. It's cool, AND it takes some getting used to.

 

ON THE YARD:  the front yard grass is growing in nicely; big difference over the weekend. It actually looks like a lawn! I need to mow a portion of the front yard tonight! We also have all the yard debris picked up from the front of the house. Just in time, because yard debris pickup day is tomorrow. Once the current batch of juniper branches and cuttings are gone, we're caught up on the yard pile, too!

 

Practically one year to the day we snuck over to the Cottage and performed a sneak attack on the out-of-control yard debris, I can write the following:

All I have is a small list of quickie tweak-and-tune tasks left to complete. Honey, pick up the tools, vacuum the floors, put away the laundry, and hold that garage sale, because we're DONE!

Lights!

So, yesterday after work, I took the plunge and picked up where the landscape contractor had stalled out - wiring up the yard spots.

I cut the intended wire, hooked up a pigtail, and wired the pigtail to the power supply. Then, R got the honor of plugging the power supply into the AC Power. It worked. Sorta.

From the power supply, we now have two separate lines of lights. We got some lights working on both lines. Good. Power seems to be going to both wires properly. We just need to tune the individual wire hookups until all the lights fire up!

We can pretty much take yard lights off the list - just tuning left to be done.

 

R and C worked together yesterday to finish the french drain we've been building along the east side of the house. I helped with the finish-up; they did most of the heavy work. A gravel drainage bed takes the water away from the house and into a french drain that runs toward the street. Buried, so we can grow the lawn right over the drain. One more thing off the list. YES!

 

In the coming month, we'll have a garage sale to clear out the extra stuff. We'll have finished the final tuning work I still have on my list. We'll have grass growing across the entire front yard, and grass filling in throughout the back yard. We'll have the side yard finished. We'll have all the yard debris removed.

Shoot, this is the sort of work I've become accustomed to doing in a weekend. I have a whole month in which to do it. This is heaven.

Another Low-Cost, Temporary Shelter

Could make for an interesting Boy Scout project in some fashion.

Twelve 4'x8' panels of plywood, insulation boards, etc., are all that are required to make this shelter. The roof panels are derived from six of the sheets by cutting one corner-to-corner diagonal cut.  The developers of this design have put it into the public domain.  [link]

Seeing Green

Just last night, C  was asking 'will the grass EVER grow?' I assured her it would. This morning, I have clear evidence of germination!

I heard her say these very words last night: "Okay. The front yard's done for the summer. We finished."

Nice!

The back yard gets cleanup, sweep up and tool removal today. The yard lights are scheduled to be fully activated by tonight.

The side yard gets the french drain and the back-fill today. All that remains is my cutting in flagstones to make a pathway. That'll be done within days.

Gee, other than systematic removal of yard debris via the trash hauler, there's precious little left for construction-type projects. Just some fine-grained details in the house that don't have a material effect on our livability (nook bench endcap, front door window panes, pantry roller floor tweaks, trim piece in M's room, bolting down the basement sink, basement workshop cleanup)

Could it really be? Could we be ** DONE ** ?

Scientific American: How Making Decisions Tires Your Brain

"These experimental insights suggest that the brain works like a muscle: when depleted, it becomes less effective. Furthermore, we should take this knowledge into account when making decisions. If we've just spent lots of time focusing on a particular task, exercising self-control or even if we've just made lots of seemingly minor choices, then we probably shouldn't try to make a major decision. These deleterious carryover effects from a tired brain may have a strong shaping effect on our lives."

This is required reading for the adults related to my family. Brain fatigue isn't a negative if you're working your brain hard. Olympic athletes get to their world-leading status by continuing to reach (and push back) their fatigue levels. Same with the brain, and my family members push their brains HARD. Compassion and family-awareness demands that we pay attention to this type of research to better relate to each other.

Here's the whole article  [link]

Our Front Yard's Got Bark in the Beds!

C tackled the front yard beds on Monday. I'll have to update the AFTER photos for the front now, because not only do we have grass growing in, but we have bark dust and some key plants in place throughout the beds fronting the street. With the bench installed under the lilac tree in the front yard, we also have a visual focal point that balances the look of the house and yard. From the street and the sidewalk, you can't really see the grass, so the plants and barkdust make the yard look, well.... finished! Suddenly, the sense that our front yard is a dirt pit has vanished.

We still have some barkdusting and plant clear-out work along the foundation, but that'll resolve itself over the summer. It's just a series of quick jobs. Be that as it may, the improved condition of the house and the yard are now working together to send a powerful message that this house has been put back together!

C has started making neighborhood friends. A mom C met via R's boy scout troop is also a gardener. They hung out together yesterday afternoon, and even ended up taking a bike ride together for exercise. I think this is most excellent on so many levels. First, we have time to slow down and socialize now; second, we're weaving into the neighborhood; third, C's has energy not only to do gardening but also a bike ride, in the same day. I think we're more fit and, perhaps, a bit healthier overall after the year of remodeling. Perhaps.

Mindstorms Coolness!!

R! Check this out!

 

"Tilted Twister Solves Rubik's Cubes"

Building instructions and source code available here

Wrap Up Is Ahead of Schedule!

How did we do on Saturday, based on our weekend plans?

• Seed the front lawn. DONE FRIDAY NIGHT
  The whole family pitched in, especially R. We got this done on Friday night, a full day early.
  
• Cut in the flagstones for the bench. DONE SATURDAY
  Again, the family pitched in.
  
• Cut down side junipers. DONE FRIDAY
  I didn't have to do this! C arranged with the landscaper to do the work for a small fee. Saved my back. The drainage trench is cut, too, just waiting for the french drain tube and the gravel. Almost finished with this, too!
  
• Install UV film on the picture window. DONE SUNDAY MORNING
  We installed the big window Saturday morning, and opted to install film on the west-facing windows as well. I'm not so worried about heat from these windows as I am UV damage to furniture, etc. Either way, we win on both heat control AND UV.
  
• Swap out the back door hardware (doorknob, escutcheons, hinges). NOPE.

 

We got some bonus items done, as well:

• Initial planting for front yard
  With the grass seeded, and the bench in place as a focal point, we gave in to the temptation to put some of the planned shrubs into the terrace beds. The idea was to get erosion control started right away, and to give the impression of where our plans are headed. Done. Looking good.
  
• Final plantings for back yard
We also planted a bunch of ornamental mosses and corsican mint near the flagstone path, to encourage the creation of wonderful smells as the are tread upon.


• Garbage Can Setup
  Our official recycling and yard debris cans arrived on Saturday. These are the full-sized rolling cans that implement the new no-sort recycling and standardized yard debris recycling. The result is that we have THREE (!) full sized rolling cans to manage, but that's a minor con, compared to the huge pro of having more capacity and an easier trip to the curb for pickup.

• Final stage unpacking in Garage
  The kids were tasked with a challenging job. Most of the remaining boxes in the garage are full of kid stuff...more than will fit in our house. It's a given that a sizeable portion of the total can be culled down to a much smaller set. Too-young toys, uninteresting toys, partial sets, etc. can be tossed/donated/sold. The kids' task: exercise detachment from their toys and decide what they're keeping and what they're releasing. When factoring in their respective ages, they did quite a good job of sticking to the task and making hard choices. I have to say, though, that the going was slow. Many of the toys to released required a final few minutes of quality play, just to say 'goodbye.' I have to admit that I was somewhat impatient with the children about this aspect. I only figured out what was really happening this morning. I need to follow up with the kids to apologize and express my belated empathy.
  Nonetheless, C took over their good start and finished up the job yesterday. The garage is not yet cleared, but we have three action piles and EVERYTHING is in one of the three action piles. The thinking is now over; next we just process the piles and we're done!

 

All of this while having a LOT more 'play time' than has been typical. The family had a Game Night on Saturday night, and (see a later post) most of us played around all day on Sunday. We're coasting. After months of constant running at 100% or above, we're still attacking projects with the same intensity. Except the projects are smaller and quicker. That intensity is also carrying over into our play time. As the projects dwindle and we glide into an easier pace, concentrating on more creative things, and plugging back into the Baha'i community, we'll slow down. For the moment, we're carrying our momentum over the crest of the hill and down the other side - lots of progress with relatively little actual stress on the system.

I'm sleeping better.

Gizmodo Goes Inside the Lego Factory

Cool! An excerpt from the associated article:

"We started in the main warehouse, which is half a kilometer long. Here they house the silos holding the raw plastic granulate. Through them, 60 tons of this material is processed every 24 hours."

[link]

A Day For The Highlight Reels - follow up on Weekend Plans

Today was pretty darned good. The Johnsons had a good day, but our friends the Drauts had a GREAT day. I was commenting to J & C Draut that, "today's so good for you two that, when you die and your life flashes before your eyes, you're going to see today in its entirety!"

J's T-6 airplane flight. Last year I had the terrific opportunity to learn the basics of flying a T-6 Texan. [video 1, video 2, video 3]. Well, J flew yesterday! He had a great time too, though he gets a bit more motion sick than I do. Loops, barrel roll and aileron rolls. The kids and I met the Drauts at the Aurora airport (17 miles SOUTH of Portland) and hung out while John prepped, flew, and landed. The video of his hour in the air was really, really good.

Troop 240 Court of Honor. Then, the kids and I scurried from south Wilsonville to Hillsboro (22 miles WEST of Portland) to attend a triple Eagle Court of Honor. Now, I hadn't been in contact with Troop 240 until recently [previous post], but a triple Eagle ceremony is really rare and hard to pass up. So, R attended in full class A uniform, and M wore her Brownies vest. We represented for the history of Troop 240, and demonstrated a family commitment to the program for both children. I think they had a good time. They were both VERY attentive throughout. Later, at the reception, M was talking to one of the moms and said "I wish I could be an Eagle." The mom, who apparently had some Girl Scout experience remarked in response, "Well, Girl Scouts don't have an Eagle, but you can earn the Girl Scouts Gold Award. That's the Girl Scout equivalent."

From the Court of Honor, I met Grandma and Grandpa and transferred the kids. They're all going for a couple days back a the family compound. Me? I now had to drive from Hillsboro to Troutdale (18 miles EAST of Portland), to rejoin C & J Draut, and my lovely wife, C, at the Edgefield for an outdoor concert with RIngo Starr and the All Starr Band.

Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band
concert at Edgefield.

I got to the concert with plenty of time to get in the gate and find my group. Since C Draut has some mobility challenges, we were able to pre-arrange handicapped style arrangements for her. As a result, we had nice seating, with a good view, and some special handling to get in through the crowds.

Ringo's lineup included:

• Billy Squier
• Colin Hay [Men At Work]
• Gary Wright [Dreamweaver]
• Hamish Stuart [Average White Band]
• Edgar Winter
• Greg Bissonette [drums]

Man, what fun! Let's just say that, for two long-time married middle-aged couples, it was a classic double-date night....felt nineteen again for a few hours.

Busy, yeah. But Life's Looking More "Normal" Than Anything.

Weekend Plans:

• Seed the front lawn. I plan to enlist R's help picking out the rocks and smoothing out the soil on Saturday. The goal is to get the seeds down by the end of the day.
• Cut in the flagstones for the bench. At this point, I need to fill in the gravel and set the stones. That's it.
• Cut down side junipers. Making room for the french drain along the east side of the house.
• Install UV film on the picture window.
• Maybe. Just maybe, I'll finally get the back door hardware (doorknob, escutcheons, hinges) swapped out.

C is getting information from the city today about how we comply with the new "Downspout Disconnect" program [stormwater management manual]. Anyone in the Portland area knows about the combined stormwater/sewer system throughout the inner neighborhoods. Too much rain and the stormwater overflows into the sewer line, washing raw sewage into the Willamette river. Not good. That's why the city is spending $10B to build the big pipe under the river... so as to separate stormwater management from sewage management.

Well, one of the programs is to return as much rooftop rainwater as possible back to the ground, rather than channeling it directly into stormwater.  It makes sense to me. And, the city is paying residents to unhook their downspouts as an incentive.

What if, say, we could not only disconnect but also capture the runoff for use as irrigation water in the summer? Yep, a classic rain barrel approach. Why not? That's one idea we currently have on the table.

Outside of working on the house, we also plan to do ALL of the following on Sunday:

• Support our friend, John, as he flies a t-6 like I did last year.
• Attend at triple Eagle Scout Court of Honor in Hillsboro at my old troop.
• Transfer kids to grandma and grandpa for more beach time.
• See Ringo Starr in concert.

Conduit - data sync for Linux

 

Capturing this for use later.

http://lifehacker.com/398775/sync-and-back-up-your-data-with-conduit-for-linux

One Little Monkey, Sitting In a Tree....

I try to keep the news on this blog up-beat. This is our "feel-good" space, after all. We all have good news and bad news in our lives, I just concentrate on the good-ness here; bad-ness has its venue elsewhere. Way elsewhere.

Most of the time.

Sometimes, a bittersweet thing happens that deserves mention here. Today I have one of those items.

At my work, the Marketing team is comprised of three marketing managers: loyalty marketing; internet marketing; and me - CAD/EDA Marketing. This week, both of the other managers have tendered their resignations. Independent of each other, they're both moving on to self-employment opportunities. One still in the industry, one outside the industry. This turn of events leaves me the only manager-level member of the marketing team for the time being. We're now officially down four positions. One of the four positions has been open for 14 months. ugh.

While my boss tells me I won't be expected to dramatically shift my priorities, its inevitable that we won't just let three of our key sales channels sit unguarded while we look for new staff. Someone will have to fill the gaps day-to-day. Some of that may be me; some of that may be other people across functions in the company. This will probably end up being a good thing in a year or so. Right now, though, it's emotionally painful and despair-inducing.

And that's just about all I have can say without sliding into a rant or a complaint.

New Photos in the Slide Show

The Cottage Progress slide show has some added shots. Some BEFORE shots, and some updated AFTER shots. I have to admit, the more I document the changes, the more I am impacted by how much we've done.

M's Brownie Try-It Roundup

It dawns on me that I've not posted M's Brownies Try-Its work to the blog. So, lest I be accused of favoritism where there is none, here is M's Brownie Try-It roundup to date:

[mt st helens image missing]

• Cookies Count
• Working It Out
• Mount St Helens

Boy Scout Summer Camp Report

R's first summer camp experience was a resounding success. He came home with three merit badges completed (leatherwork, woodcarving, basketry) and one merit badge requiring only one more activity (orienteering).

                

That's a darned good show for any scout, let alone a first-year who isn't even officially eleven years old yet.

He also completed a number of tasks for his Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class ranks.

AND he had a bunch of fun.

The troop has a program called 'bead bucks'. Boys who do job/chores/tasks earn bead bucks for their extra contribution. Bead bucks can be redeemed at the troop store for supplies, snacks, knives, etc. R worked hard, gathered up 20 bead bucks, and bought a brand new Swiss Army pocket knife of his very own. I wasn't there, but I was told that he was immensely proud. Of course, one of his leatherwork projects was a knife sheath for his new blade!

C spent three nights at camp with R to start the week off in an organized way. Her original plan was to spend two nights, but she enjoyed herself so much that she chose to stay an extra day. That's always a good sign.

I showed up for the last two nights, and helped tie up all the loose ends that C so expertly got started. My job was darned easy, what with all the direction the boys had received in the early part of the week. I just stepped in to a well-running machine that others had built, greased, and gotten rolling.

I started a photo show for R's camp photos, and will include some of M's Brownie camp photos as well.

Follow-up on camp mail:  R got a package from me, and some cards from Grandma. I think he got a mail call on four separate occasions. That lifted his spirits!

The Mop Up Phase

Here's the update:

Backyard: landscaping made progress over the weekend. The outdoor lighting situation, however is turning silly. The yard guy's in over his head; his electrician buddy hasn't come through in almost a month. We're caught in the middle and it's frustrating.

Otherwise, things are going well. C's got some sun shades up to protect her newly planted trees. We really should have waited until fall to plant them, but she wanted them in now...that means extra measures to protect their well being.

Basement: We'd been having an ongoing behavioral problem with one of the cats in the basement .. seems the elder cat had a habit of peeing on the laundry room floor (indoor/outdoor carpet) and a couple strategic places in remote corners. We finally figured out that the smell of paint thinner was triggering his behavior. Once we started managing the open fumes better, the peeing stopped. We just had to reverse the damage. So, C pulled up the carpeting and replaced it with linoleum flooring tiles. Much more forgiving on the laundry platform than the carpet was. She also hunted down the obscure corners and cleaned them up. The result? We don't worry ourselves so much about the laundry area floor, and the basement has NEVER smelled better.

Front porch is complete, pending delivery of the front door glass panes. We have all the pieces in place, and can have those panes installed within an hour...once they arrive.

Front Yard: My objective this week is to get the front yard juniper root balls completely extracted, and the ground graded out. C has already brought home the flagstones to make the front yard park bench platform; I can probably get that cut in by the weekend, too. Then? Grade the yard, spread the seed, and water like heck.

With that, the front yard is essentially done. Bark dust can go onto the flowerbeds by the first rains. No rush.

I think I'd like to get the front-side sill plate trim pieces installed this week, too. It's a relatively quick job once I have the 1x3 at the house. Cheap materials, only minutes of work... get'er done!

There's more, but we're starting to run out of stuff to do that isn't more accurately called 'puttering'. In fact, the messy state of my work bench is really starting to bug me. When I'm down to that, I'm in good shape.

A test of our house was last night. R, M and I came home with M's week-worth of stuff from Grandma' house; R with a week-worth of stuff from Boy Scout camp. The process of emptying the car, delivering bags and items to their proper storage area, and even starting to unpack clothes, etc. really only took about 10-15 minutes of effort. Interrupted, of course, by hugs for Mom and stories to share. It was pretty smooth, all told. 

Mercedes Leaving Petrol Behind?

EcoGeek is running a well-sourced but unconfirmed article that Mercedes plans to remove petroleum-based vehicles from its lineup by 2015.

Wow.

link to the article

Mercedes is looking into electric vehicles, both battery-powered and fuel-cell powered. Not only are models in development, but we’ve also seen the company making steps towards its zero-petroleum goal right now, from better cabs in London to li-ion battery improvements. The company also has about 100 Smart electric cars undergoing testing in London, with that favorite 2010 year as the projected market release date.

Geez, They're Talking about MY Kids...

GearDiary blog has a post about the Eyedentity labels, temporary tattoos custom-made with information you specify. Contact information, say, or medial issues. The temporary tattoo mechanism means that the info will eventually come off, but not quickly OR easily. Pretty much guarantees that anything that MUST stay on your kid WILL. Because we know that, if it isn't irretrievably attached to their body, they'll lose it...am I right about this?

 

link to eyedentity labels

ALLLmost There!

The three-day Fourth of July weekend made time for some high-impact finish work on the house. Going into the weekend, I had the following list of thing I wanted to accomplish:

1. finish the trim paint on the eaves and gutters - DONE
2. barkdust the flowerbeds in the back yard - DONE
3. install the latch on the dining room stained glass window - DONE
4. Clean out the garage. - MOSTLY DONE
5. remove the five junipers in the front yard - IN PROCESS
6. Fix the awkward crooked gutter thing at the front door - IN PROCESS
7. put some trim pieces on the corners of the house where we replaced the siding
8. plant grass on the unseeded half of the front yard
   

I also did a couple other items not even on the list:

1. figured out how to make the pantry roll smoothly. Floor just needs a piece of masonite!
2. installed the ogee baseboard trim in C's office
3. installed C's fancy door knocker on the restored front door
4. fixed the crooked door trim around the front door
5. installed the original (freshly restored) house number tiles
6. fixed the open gap in the garage wall near the small garage door
7. Installed the new doorbell button at the back door
8. Cleaned house paint over-spray off some of the vinyl windows in the back

I'll update the slide show with some new AFTER shots.

The dining room window latch is a turn-latch with a strike plate. The strike plate gets installed IN the window casing, with some chisel work to make a void for the latch. Then, the latch goes on the window frame. Close the window, turn the latch into the strike plate, and it cinches closed. Easy enough...except for making it all fit well in the three-dimensional space. You only get one shot at this, afterall. Nonetheless, after three hours of careful drilling, chiseling and carving, I had succeeded in matching the latch to the strike plate.I ended up having to carve away about a quarter inch of the window frame underneath the latch piece, so as to countersink the latch. It turned out well, given that the top of the latch mounting plate now lies flush with the window frame itself...looks 'right' and intentional. That's the point, I guess. I was quite afraid that the window would fit poorly when I finished. Luckily, those fears were unfounded.

We pulled the original WPA-style house number tiles out, renewed the black paint on the numbers, sealed the paint with clearcoat, and put the tiles back into a brand-new reproduction frame from Rejuvenation. The result? Historic, original numbers that look 75 years younger.

Some of the back-side window frames got a dose of over-spray when the house was painted. I figured out that a bit of Painter's Pal solution, followed by a light scrub with steel wool is a relatively quick way to remove the paint. It takes a bit of effort, but not nearly as much as scraping with a razor blade or other such method. Good news, that. There are only three windows (and one screen door) needing this sort of aattention.

And then there was the garage. Ah, the garage! Saturday was garage day. We looked like a garage sale as we put all the stuff out into the alley and the parking strip. With some room to work, we cleaned up the dust and scrap that the contractors stuffed everywhere. Then we got the shelves arranged properly and pulled the 'sell/donate' items off the shelves and into the 'sell/donate' stack. Some logical ordering of shelving contents, and sorting/combining of the remaining boxes left us at the end of the day with:

• a car-load of donate/sell items all staged to go. There will be more in this category, once we've gone through the remaining boxes.
• about a dozen boxes for the living room, dining room, kitchen areas
• about 16 boxes of kid stuff including obsolete toys, science kits, etc.
• a clean garage floor
• bump-outs fully functional as storage alcoves for yard and automotive items
• organized and logical storage system for our other stuff
• a garbage can already full of stuff for disposal
• a big pile of scrap firewood for the Chiminea.

I'm realizing that, with the exception of: the porch stained glass (yet to install, 4 hours); the pantry floor (proven out, 1 hour); M's baseboard trim around her curved section (4 hours); and back door hinge replacement (overnight), my in-the-house list to-do is essentially complete.

Everything else is outdoors. And that's getting short too! Trim paint second coat (2 hours), siding trim corners (3 hours), juniper removal (a day) and grass seed (2 hours), front yard bark dust (4 hours).

I count about 30 man-hours of work here, and I'm done.

Folding Skills

Okay, I'm lifting shamelessly from the most excellent blog, Unclutterer. But it fits DIRECTLY with an ongoing conversation we've been having around our house. I won't recount the positions or the arguments being made here, but I will post constructively-oriented, skills-based discussion about how to improve space usage through folding techniques:

As I looked at the two sacks of sheets at the bottom of our closet, I realized it wasn’t the best use of space. I don’t fold well and to get around this I simply shove sheets into a pillowcase. The fitted sheet is always the one that makes the whole process aggravating. Real Simple has a how-to guide on efficient ways to fold just about anything. Here’s their step-by-step instructions on how to conquer the dreaded fitted sheet. The whole “How to Fold Anything” page can be found here.

Properly folding sheets, towels, or clothing can save you quite a bit of space. Whether you are packing for a trip or just putting things away in your dresser or closet. Take a little time to fold things well and the space you save will be worth the time.

My most favorite? How to fold a fitted sheet

I also posted about linen storage techniques way back when, here.

Breakfast in Bed? On a Wednesday?

I was awakened this morning by the lilting voices of my lovely wife and my darling son. They were talking; she was still in the bed with me. Slowly, I realized they were talking to me. So I started to listen to the meaning of their words. Seems they were trying to make me aware that R had made breakfast in bed for us both, and that I was to wake up and eat.

Wow.
Just....Wow.

Absolutely I resisted the urge to get suspicious. R's not the 'butter-you-up' type. If he made breakfast for us, it was because he wanted to demonstrate his love and appreciation. That's more like how he's wired. A lovely, lovely gift.

Thank you, son. Thank you.

Origami Fun

Here's how to fold a US currency bill into a finger ring

Hello muddah, Hello faddah!

 

R will be at Boy Scout camp July 5-12, at Camp Meriwether on the Oregon Coast.

C will be attending with him for a couple days at the beginning of the week; I'll close out the week with him.

At flag ceremony each day at camp, the troop staff does a mail call. Given that this is R's first full-fledged BOY SCOUT camp, I'm posting how people can surprise him with a piece of mail at camp. It's always a surprise and a sort of a badge of honor to get mail while at camp. Mostly because everyone knows the mail had to be sent almost before camp began in order to arrive on time.

So, if you're interested in dropping him a note of encouragement or connection, here's how you do it:

[MAILING ADDRESS REDACTED - TIME EXPIRED]

To arrive by Friday of camp week, you'll need to mail your last item by Monday's early post. In other words, if it doesn't go into the mail by July 7, you'll probably miss him. My suggestion is just a quick postal card or a short note/letter.

I'm sending a small care package, hopefully timed to arrive before I get there.