Category: The Non-Writing Life

Smoke on the Water

Fire in the sky…

Anyone remember that Deep Purple song?

It’s not as much fun when you’re living it.

We’ve had forest fires in the area. This was the sky outside my house on the worst day last week:

smoky_sky

Note: It’s about 10:30 a.m. NONE of that is cloud cover. It’s all smoke! Behind it sat blue sky, mocking me.

My flowers weren’t impressed. I call this one Ashy Petunia, and it doesn’t look that bad, actually:

ashy_petunia

There was a big fire in the town next to us, but this smoke and the ash on the petunias was from a fire near a huge lake in our town. People were evacuated, and my parents couldn’t get to their lake cottage for a couple of days. Now, forest fires aren’t uncommon in my neck of the woods, but usually they don’t hit close enough that we need to evacuate. They’re always in the next town, or a nearby community, or another town. So far we’ve been lucky. Considering we live within walking distance of a huge provincial park…I shudder to think what would happen if someone dropped a match or a cigarette butt in that park, or if lightning strikes went crazy. Okay, let’s NOT think about that.

A couple of days after this smoke-filled-sky day, we experienced what I fondly call a Torrential Downpour. You know, the type of rain Oregonians might consider normal. We get about 4 Torrential Downpours a year, and it doesn’t seem to matter how often you clean the gutters, the TDs only happen when the gutters are leaf-clogged! So the gutters can’t handle all the rain, which feels like a see-through shower curtain falling from the sky. Hey, I don’t live in the rain forest. I live in semi-arid country. I’m always surprised by the intensity of these rains.

I’m pleased to report that the blue skies are back. The Torrential Downpour flattened my lobelia, but it seems to be making a comeback.

Ain’t nature grand?

#ApplianceFail

Grrr, I’m noticing a decided lack of performance in major appliances around the 15-year mark! Two years ago, we had to buy a new dryer. This winter it was a new washer. Now we need a new stove. The problem? We haven’t decided yet if this is our Until The End of Time house. So when we bought the dryer, we went for the cheapest unit we could find, the reasoning being that we have finished our major laundry years with one son away at university most of the time and the second heading that way in another year. Sure, it would have been nice to buy the new, fandangled washer and dryers out there, but until we know how long we’ll be in this house (and I can’t imagine we’ll decide that for another 5-10 years at the minimum), it doesn’t make sense to me to buy fancy-smanchy stuff.

So…the stove. It’ll cost so much to rebuild that we might as well buy new. Today, while shopping for computer items, I realized the store also sold appliances, so I had a gander at the stoves. I need a self-cleaning model. It’s like air conditioning. Once you’ve had it, you can’t imagine living without it. I’m completely undecided about coil elements vs. a ceramic cooktop. Well, I’m not completely undecided. I’m leaning toward coil, which is what we already have. Why?

  1. It’s cheaper.
  2. Cats tend not to walk on coils they can easily see are burning bright red.
  3. I need a white stove to match the kitchen, and every ceramic top I’ve seen so far in my extensive search (all two models of stove) have black tops, which I think would look major yuck against my counter tops.
  4. It’s cheaper.
  5. My mother has a ceramic cook top on her cottage stove, and it seems to me that they’re very finicky to clean, although the salesman assured me that boiling over (which occurs quite often in our house) doesn’t create anywhere near the mess as it does with coil elements.
  6. It’s cheaper.

I do believe it’s time for one of my infamous surveys (not so infamous, I guess, considering this is the second one I’ve conducted). Have you ever had a ceramic cooktop, and how do you think it compares to coil elements? Would you ever get one again?

Don’t talk to me about gas stovetops. I might have to clout you. My Liege and I had a propane stove when we lived together before marriage, and I totally loved it. I know I would love a gas stove. But it’s not feasible for our circa-1960 house. The cost to get the gas to the stove faaaaaaarrrrrrr outweighs my desire to play with that cute little dancing flame. As it is, you don’t want to know how the electricity gets to the stove. It’s different, I’ll give you that.

So…coil elements or ceramic cooktop? Which would you recommend?

P.S. In case the title of this post escapes you, it’s a little nod to Twitter.

Les Fleurs

I’m finding it really hard to get used to My Liege taking nearly every Monday off work. It shortens my week!

I’m brainstorming a new story for Penny. Pretty much have a title, maybe a setting, and maybe some character names. Oh, and a theme. Or plot. Whatever you choose to call it. Let’s just say it has something to do with the number 3.

Seeing as my mind is otherwise occupied, I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some of my flower pics. These are from my mother’s garden, taken 3 (there’s that number again) or so weeks ago. Enjoy!

Dying Tulips

“Dying Tulips”

Don’t you love the feathery edges? (They were feathery before the tulips began their descent into oblivion).

Tiger, Tiger

“Tiger, Tiger”

That bud thing looks like it’s pushing the tiger.  If I were the tiger, I’d snap its head off. This is why I’m not a flower. Too violent.

Bee-Have

“Bee-Have!”

I believe this is called an Onion Flower. All I care is that it’s purple and spiky, and that my monster zoom lens allowed me to capture the bee.

Lazing About

If you can call running around like a chicken with my head cut off “lazing.” Alas, this is what happens when you postpone all your errands and procrastinate on anything on the To-Do list that isn’t associated with Finishing the Damn Book until you finish the damn book. Now, the To-Do list is getting payback. The list is an entire 8 x 11 page long, 10 pt. Times New Roman. That’s some humongoid list. And that was where I stopped. I wasn’t making a two-page list. The other stuff is in my head, however. It’s weekend stuff. It doesn’t merit a list.

However, I am taking the time to refill the well, too. Yesterday was my father’s birthday, and I enjoyed a leisurely two hours visiting with the oldster, my mom, and the Little Pisser. Today, I’m having lunch with a couple of old writing buddies (as in I’ve known them forever) that I used to meet with once a month, but now we’re lucky if we manage once a year. And this weekend I’ll enjoy an outing with both sisters and my niece.

I’ve also had a lot of fun experimenting with my new camera. Although I’m not much of a gardener, I’ve discovered I love strapping on the extra-super-duper zoom lens and taking pictures of flowers. I’ll post a few over the next couple of weeks. Here’s a taste, a blossom from my mom’s pink peony tree:

f_pink_peony

Sunday Walks

My Liege and I love to take long walks with Allie McBeagle on the weekends. We’re blessed with amazing views a very short distance from our house. It doesn’t get much better than this!

lake

lake_dog

She stepped in cactus a moment later… Yelp!

Happy Mother’s Day!

bestmothersdaycard-772312

How are you celebrating? I’m taking my mother to brunch with Little Pisser and hopefully a niece. After, I hope to get some writing done. Then tonight I’m confiscating the monster TV! I have season finales to watch for The Amazing Race, Celebrity Apprentice, Brothers & Sisters, and then I must see Desperate Housewives, too. Sunday night is my new Must See TV. Thank God for the PVR, or I’d never manage it all.