Hard as Hell Being Green Anymore

Remember how excited I was about having closer options for more recycling? Well, that's dead now.

Obviously I can take it to their facility in Hamilton, but I so rarely have any reason to go that way - it would be wasteful to make a special trip. So, I'll probably mostly be taking it into Missoula, but I have to verify where that place takes, because I'm not sure it's the exact same selection.

You might also remember that a couple other recycling options were killed earlier this year, too. Damn it, what a drag. 

What a Difference a "Year" Makes: Fourteen* Months of DIY

My Spring/Summer To-do List still has some things on it. Things that I probably won't even get to this autumn. So, I've been feeling a bit like I failed. But THEN I looked around the place and saw all that we have accomplished in year (and two months)... it's A LOT. So you know that I'm going to list them here to make myself feel good.

1. September 2015. We installed a kitchen island. MOST of this work was done by carpenter extraordinaire, Renaissance Handyman Nick. I just finished it.

2. September 2015. I built that gorgeous wood shed. Well, most if it.

3. Sept 2015 & June 2016. Painted and restrung the clothes line. Also made one end of it into a snow gauge.

4. October 2015. Repainted and replaced the name sign at the bottom of the private road.

5. February through July 2016. Did a major surface remodel of our kitchen. There are many posts about it through those months. In fact most of the posts in those months are of that. And September 2016, refinished the stovepipe.

6. April 2015. Made a few funsies or accessories projects for the kitchen remodel, including this magnetic cap catcher bottle opener, a bag drying rack (that's right, I wash and reuse freezer storage bags), and a paper towel holder.

7. June and August 2016: Painted all the exterior window trim and the balcony door and its trim.

8. July 2016. Rebuilt and refinished the picnic table.

9. July and August 2016. Picked up where I left off with remodeling and redecorating the downstairs bathroom. Still plenty of work left to do, but it is getting there.

10. July 2016. Replaced a few truly rotten deck boards.

11. July and August 2016. Hauled the non-recyclable and non-reusable rubbish left by the last owners to the transfer station. Two trips down, probably at least two more to go. Sigh.

12. August and October* 2016. Finally installed a handrail on our staircase.

13. September and October 2016. Painted front door and new stop & brick moulding for it. Finished new interior door moulding. Renaissance Handyman Nick reset the front and back doors so that it would have enough clearance for us to finally have a door mat inside like civilized folk.

All this while taking care of life's general and typical requirements and events, various creative projects, cancer treatment and end-of-life care for Betty, and Eric getting his publishing deal and all that goes with that. In conclusion: we really kicked some butt!

No wonder I'm tired and feel like I need a break from house projects.

*Well, more like fourteen-and-a-half months. I had expected to get the handrail done by the end of October, but it took until the end of the second week of November.

Hold On! Just Two More House Projects

I have been trying hard to wrap up the house projects for the season while also focusing on preparing for winter* and also some more crafty-type DIY projects.

Renaissance Handyman Nick has finished our exterior doors! We can now have a doormat inside the front AND the back/mudroom door! And someday I'll find some really great looking, super functional, cost-effective door mats. For now I have super-functional and cost-effective, at least.

He reset the whole door and frame up about 3/4" so while he was at it we got new brick- and stop moulding which I pre-painted. It'll be next spring before I can fill and paint the jamb, though. On the inside we got new weather stripping and new moulding!

Look! Even the view through the window is better! Note that you can see light both above and below the door in the before shot? Sheesh!

I don't know that they insulated AT ALL when they enclosed the back porch to create what we call the mudroom. So dealing with this door was less about weather-proofing and more about varmint-proofing, being able to open the door all way, annnnnnd have a doormat. Time to clean the doors!

Nick also taught me how to figure out the angle of the stair rail so I could build it the way I want it and finally get the rail installed.

After all that and it just looks like... just that. At least the next time one of us has an injured leg we'll be more stable on the stairs.

I wanted a "return" and I wanted the bottom, flat part of the handrail moulding to remain roughly parallel to the floor. My carpenter friends in Oregon enlightened me to the fact that I'd have to level out first, so I knew I'd need Nick to teach me how to figure out that angle. And then as I was playing with some scrap pieces I realized a couple of things: I didn't like the way that looked at the bottom of the stairs and It was really challenging (i.e. scary and probably leaning towards dangerous) for me to cut small pieces with my beloved, beautiful compound miter saw. Then I watched a YouTube video on the This Old House channel to see about how to assemble all these parts and saw that they just did a simple 90-degree return, flat part of the moulding being parallel with the floor be damned. Well, screw it, if it's good enough for Tom Silva, it's good enough for Tara Fields. **Eric Fischl won't even notice, you can count on that.

Look at all that spackle! Filling all those holes and divots! Yeah, yeah... I'll get to it.

Months and months ago I searched and searched for handrail brackets that I liked. It's probably usually not such a big deal that they have a certain look, but since we can look right at them from the sofa, I wanted them to be an appropriate finish and style for the rest of the updates we've made. Also months and months ago, I discussed this project with my dear friend, Dale, who had been a finish carpenter for years and years and he suggested that I match the angle of the handrail to the angle of the stair wall/moulding on the living room side, rather than the stairs. BRILLIANT. I mean, it's really close to the same, but maybe not exactly. Walking up or down the stairs with your hand on the rail you wouldn't notice a slight difference in angle, but you sure would see it from the sofa!

Here's a close-up shot of the last owners' pink paint and not-great DIY texturing of the wall.

A LOT of time, effort, and planning went into this project and I must say that the finished project is underwhelming. After months of on and off work, sourcing, research, phone calls, emails, IMs, psyching myself up and down it just looks like it should've looked the whole time... like a normal, up-to-code, handrail. At least I got those cool, pewter finish, cast iron rail brackets. Sigh.

*Preparing for winter includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Ordering firewood for delivery, then stacking it in the woodshed.
Getting the canopy back on Bert, the pickup truck, loading the sandbags & tire chains.
Putting away all the patio furniture, hoses, etc., like people everywhere.

**Until/If he reads this. Or I tell him. Which I did.

UPDATE: Long Winter's Nap

Delia mostly kicked the blanket off herself in a fit of nest-making, so I finished off the job and now the fancy new store-bought dog bed in the "new" kitchen is nekkid.

ONE MORE THING:

I added a new page called Glossary and Cast List. I started putting it together ages ago and had a heckuva time "publishing" it, but suddenly last week I spotted a button I hadn't noticed before in a place I didn't expect one to be and it finally is out there. It's up there in that bar under the title if you've been dying to know what some common abbreviation is or are otherwise interested.

A Little Bit of Halloween Fun

Even though we're mostly skipping Halloween this year, because it just reminds us too much of Betty, her fantastic costumes, and integral part of the holiday, I finally got around to starting the Halloween Apothecary I've been collecting and hoarding for over the last couple-few years. It's stashed in the niche above our pantry doors for now, but might just stay there all year.

I had so much fun coming up with the various "ingredients," making the labels, and decorating the bottles that I took two pictures of each. And you lucky so-and-sos get the opportunity to see all of them! If you choose to continue, that is.

Bat Brains, Flying Gunard Dorsal Scales, Scales of Arctic Sea Lion

Dollar store rubbery brains, cheat grass seed heads, pine cone scales.

Mystery Lady and Authentic Bearded Whale Whiskers

Some part of pine cones, seed pods from something in the yard

Patagonian Su Tail Fur and Mummified Lamprey, Whole & Complete

Samara-type seeds and a poppy seed pod.

Cone from Pine of Siam (in a font called "Symbols"), Flutterbi Wings, Scales of This Guy or These Guys

A mutant, double-tipped pine cone that I jarred too soon, so it moldered, pine white butterfly wings found on the ground, pine cones stripped of their scales by the local squirrel gang.

Authentic Lung of Unicorn

The spent seed stalk from the hen & chicks growing in the yard.

Scales of Old Salak, Authentic Mermaid Underarm Hair

Pine bark found on the ground, moss/lichen also found on the ground

The labels were put together in Photoshop using Dover Publishing clip art and downloaded fonts. They're printed on paper with some little bits in it, then tea stained, and decoupaged onto the jars. Various kinds of cloth, mostly also tea stained for the tops, except those that are painted tissue paper. Some are applied with wax, others tied or decoupaged. Watered down acrylic paints are used to further distress the tops, labels, and jars. All the natural things were collected on our property. In fact,I didn't have to buy anything for this project so far, which was pretty satisfying. All the fabric was from scraps, jars from foods we'd finished, wax was from making fire starters, paper has been in my stash for at least a decade! I even already had the clip art and fonts! I think I'm even going to consider this true upcycling, because I think these things are better than were as just jars and just stuff on the ground - maybe all the plants that didn't get to grow would think differently, but they can get their own blog or leave negative comments if they want to.

I have a few more that are alllllmost done to add this season, but these are only about half of the total specimens in jars I have. The rest will have to wait until next year, at least.

Dr. Potter's Medicine Show

HOLY CATS, YOU GUYS! Eric's book is just that much closer to being a real-live book that you can all hold in your hot little hands!

Artist Steven Meyer-Rassow really did an amazing job! Eric is really pleased with this representation of the story and themes.

On October 27, Angry Robot and Barnes & Noble revealed the cover through B&N's Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog! You can read a synopsis as well as some book recommendations from *The Author.

We got to see the cover on the 26th, so I printed it up and taped it to an appropriately sized book from our shelves. Then I put it in the fresh library stack for him to find.

Dr. Potter's Medicine Show will be released in the UK on February 2, 2017 in Trade Paperback & digital formats and in the US on February 7, 2017 in Mass Market Paperback and digital formats. But you don't HAVE to wait, because both Barnes and Noble and Amazon are taking pre-orders! Or, you can give yourself a February Doldrums Pick-me-up and buy from your local bookshop in February. Don't worry, I'll remind you.

Speaking of reminders: If you want to keep up with Eric's books (that's right, plural), events he'll be attending, his various posts to various literary blogs and such, please sign up for his infrequent and brief newsletter. Just scroll down, enter your email, then click the Sign Up button.

*And by "The Author," I mean, Eric: Eric Scott Fischl, Author.

A Little Autumn Decoration

I've already painted the moulding and trim that will be replaced, so hopefully in the next week or so the front door update will be done! 

As mentioned previously, we're working on the exterior trim and doors. Mostly that's just painting, but in the case of the front door that means hiring Renaissance Handyman Nick to raise it up so its swing will leave enough clearance over the floor to finally put down a door mat. I was able to get the door itself primed and painted, but am waiting until after all the ruckus before doing the trim and moulding for the most part.

I also added this little wreath hanger! It is actually a small cabinet knob* from a big box store that matches the finish on our lock sets. There was already a hole in the wood door from some other thing at some other time by some other people and it took me awhile to get around to liking the idea of a wreath or other decoration hanging over the diamond-shaped windows, but once the dark, warm grey paint was on there all I could think about was getting something colorful up there to help it all make sense. I must've been inspired by the recent deluge of orange-y pine needles on the ground and the colorful leaves on the deciduous plants and trees around.

I had picked up these wood and foil leaves awhile back, so grabbed a few other supplies on sale and with coupons and whipped up this little autumn wreath last week for a total of $13.47! It gives me a little bit of cheer every time I walk in the front door or spot it from the yard.


* to make the cabinet knob work on our door without having to drill all the way through the door just to have a screw head visible on the inside, I picked up the appropriate sized hanger bolts at the same big box store. Of course, I had to buy package of 8, so now I'm keeping my eyes peeled for other nifty cabinet knobs and pulls to use on other things.

COMING SOON: Long Winter's Naps

Lately, I've been trying to finish up a few projects and "winterize" our house and lifestyle. These things are all boring tasks like cleaning the curtains in the living and dining rooms while I can still hang them on the line, putting away the deck rug and chairs, finishing up just a few home-improvement projects on my own or with Renaissance Handyman Nick who is keeping quite busy aside from our projects, and getting our firewood deliveries lined up.

Delia is sporting her leafy, orange-y Collar Cozy for that autumn vibe. She gets her ability to be flattered by orange from her papa.

Wood stove season is upon us and Delia is digging it! I have always made the dogs' beds, but she likes propping her chin up and burrowing in whether she's on the sofa, in her kennel, or by the stove, so I have been keeping my eye out for a color-coordinated and budget-friendly dog bed, the kind with a... uh... bumper?, for her. Costco finally came through!

Look how cozy! And so plush and soft! No thank you.

The thing is, she wasn't interested AT ALL. She even chose the sofa in the living room over her usual next-to-the-stove spot when I replaced the other cushion with her luxurious new bed! So I grabbed her favorite blanket to help make the new bed smell familiar. The LAST thing I want is this dingy* and hole-y blankie in my still-new-feeling kitchen, but... she's our sweet, baby girl and we'll do this to help her adjust... to luxury. 

I think it's working!

* Her blankie has been recently laundered, but it's a dog blanket and will just never again look like it's not a dog blanket. Dog people will know what this means.