Whitehall Lakehouse, Day 2
After a late breakfast, several of us went to go spend some time helping Kirt work on the new boat he acquired (and is restoring).
Blog
Whitehall Lakehouse, Day 1
With our travel done yesterday afternoon/evening, Liz and I spent the day today working remotely. Which… when you’re already working remotely, where that happens seems like a moot point.
Travel Day, Michigan
By all accounts, this was our first vacation in a long while. And our first, true travel since the pandemic began.
In Perpetual Spring
“Gardens are also good places
to sulk.”
On Being: Jill Tarter
“And it’s amazing to me, there’s bacteria living in the cooling waters of nuclear reactors, in that huge radiation environment. There’s life that’s living in boiling battery acid around volcanos. There’s life living in ice. There’s life living at the bottom of the ocean around hydrothermal vents, and not just microbial life — great, huge tube worms, and a whole ecosystem.
So I think that part of the lesson there is, we need to stop projecting what we think onto what we don’t yet know.”
Basement Cleanup
Spent time tonight after work cleaning up the basement. We’ve let things go for a while down here, and it was time to do some sweeping and reorganization. It always feels like a tradeoff, doing just cleaning/organization. But with a little over two hours, we had some really nice results and a saner, more open basement area. Which we will…
A Day Off, A Day Out: Plein Air Cafe and City Escape Garden Center
With the crazy long work day we had yesterday, Liz and I were both pretty wiped out today.
Garden Arbor Construction, Part 6, and Espalier Posts
Our goals for the arbor today were pretty modest: get in the bottom 2×4 cross braces (with pocket screws) and also get in the top 4×4 cross beams.
Garden Arbor Construction, Part 5
Despite it being a Friday, Liz and I opted to suit up after work to put in a bit more time getting the arbor in order. We wanted to get some concrete in for the posts (and to also figure out how much more concrete we needed to purchase, in the event we needed more).
Two Fascinating Articles About Insects
“A fungus laced with the same chemical as psychedelic mushrooms will invade their bodies and eat away their insides until their abdomens crack, fall off and get replaced with a ball of white spores. Because they’re either bombed on psilocybin or under the control of the fungus in some other way, the cicadas won’t even notice. With missing butts and full hearts, they’ll forge ahead with their only reason for existing: finding a mate and reproducing.”
I Need Coffee
I’ve gotten a pretty good system down for our morning coffee. I use a scale to weigh our beans (current default is 65g for 6 cups of water).
Garden Arbor Construction, Part 4
At the end of the work day today, Liz and I headed out to do a bit more work on the arbor. The weather turned on us, and we ended up working a bit in the rain.
Mr. Squirrel Gets a Cashew
Ever since we put up our fence, we’ve referred to the top of it as “the fence highway.” All manner of animals (squirrels and cats primarily) seem to use it as a causeway to get from yard to yard.
Garden Arbor Construction, Part 3
With our post holes dug, today we focused on getting the arbor posts situated and fixed in place (mostly). We spent a good portion of the morning talking at the kitchen table, going over our approach and how to best figure out the placement of things.
Garden Arbor Construction, Part 2
Liz, clearing out some roots and rocks. We learned that whenever the augur would bind and jerk, that was our cue to stop it and remove whatever obstruction was down there with a post hole digger.
This was a lesson I didn’t quite learn when I was going solo – I’d hit a snag, and just keep trying to power through. When what I should have done was stop and clear.