Hall Work
Spent today working in the main hall – sanding down spots that Liz patched, identifying newer spots that need more patching, then cleaning and wiping everything down with a damp sponge.
Blog
Pottery Search
When I was working on winterizing the kitchen a bit more, I ended up breaking a small flower pot that was on the windowsill.
Interactive Map of Capitol Hill Videos
This Github page displays an interactive map of videos uploaded to Parler, using geolocation data.
Walking Through a Spider Web
“I believed only air
stretched between the dogwood
and the barberry: another
thoughtless human assumption”
Cleaning the Heat Registers, Continued
I kept thinking the water (which was super gross) would impact the cleaning. But Liz tells me it’s really more about the rebar rods (gradually collecting rust over time).
Longleaf: The Heart of Pine
One really amazing thing I’ve learned about: sinker pines. These are old logs, some over 100 years old, that fell into rivers while in transit to a mill. You’d think that these would be a rarity, but I’ve learned there are many, many rivers where many, many logs have fallen. Some spots, I heard, contain hundreds of logs.
Flowers
“They are fleeting.
They are fragile.”
Doomscrolling and Dread
To me, it feels like I’m waiting for something to happen. Or for something worse to happen. Invocation of the 25th Amendment, impeachment hearings, the anouncement of arrests. I’m waiting for some vague, “worse” thing ot happen – another act of violence, an act of foreign aggression while we are preoccupied with ourselves, some kind of terrorist event (domestic or otherwise).
I have a mind that’s prone to worry, and in this current space and time, it seems to flourish.
The Ten Best Days of 2020
I’ve picked my best ten days each year, since the blog started. If you’re interested… you can see all the days I picked, going all the way back to 2003.
Fixing the Fixture
When she’s not in the basement working on trim, or cleaning the heating registers out on the grill or with wire brushes… she’s been taking apart an small, old chandelier and bringing it back to life.
Hive
Our first night, Liz and I played maybe 6 or 7 games. Each game was maybe 15 minutes or so in length, and incredibly enjoyable.
As far as board games go, this one hits a lot of the major checkboxes: rules are easy to pick up quickly, games are fun to play, and the strategy/complexity grows the more you play it.
Protestors Storm Capitol Building
I’ve been unable to pull myself away from news reports and the Internet, as more information becomes available about the day’s events. I am incredibly shaken, and incredibly disturbed by all that I’ve seen.
Searching for Southern Yellow Pine
It’s more expensively, obviously. But it’s been an interesting journey, over a ridiculous number of phone calls, to find places that actually have this kind of wood available. I’ve had a headset on for the better part of 4 days, making a lot of calls. Learning a lot, but with a lot left to learn.
Cleaning the Heat Registers
With a lot of WD-40 and some elbow grease, we were able to loosen the two screws holding the damper in place. Thankfully (amazingly), didn’t end up stripping the screws.
Took a few photos, mostly as reference, for when we need to re-assemble these pieces together again.
Late Night Backgammon
Tonight, we ended up starting a game late: around 10:30 PM. We ended up playing a mini-tournament of sorts, employing the doubling cube for the first time, with the winner being the first to 10 points.