Goals and Accomplishments

Did you see the Google Doodle for today? I love it - all of the letters using social distancing and each one of them wearing a mask. They had a "share" link too, so I put it here so that you could see and enjoy. 

I got a kick from the Google Doodle today. All of the
masked characters using appropriate social distancing.
Want a copy for yourself? Here's a link for you. 

It's my "day off" and even though I don't have any appointments (shocking, I know), I'm still going to be plenty busy today. I started the day out with my barre exercises. It's been ten times now since I started using this workout routine on the barre and there is definitely improvement. I'm going to stick with this routine for at least 30 times, then assess whether I'm ready to move to Intermediate level or not. I'm also going to start fast-walking on the treadmill at least two times a week - I need a bit more aerobic exercise and that'll give it to me. I think my broken ankle/toes will have healed enough to allow me to do this. I'll find out when I try to put on my running shoes (which might still be impossible on my broken foot). 

DH ended up doing something similar to this (not quite as high-end). A
4" corrugated black plastic pipe and a drain screen cover at surface level.
The pipe is now buried and lets out at our upper bank of the creek. I like
the look of it, and think it resolves our problems. Now if it can just handle
a serious heavy rain. 

DH redid that rocky drainage yesterday. He was going to work on the second part of the woodshed, but said he was too dizzy to get up and down that much. So he dug up the backyard drainage once again, buried a 4-inch pipe and redid the rocks to end in a nice drain cover. It works really well with the hose, but if it rains today, my job is to stand outside with the umbrella and see how well it does in a good, hard rain. Lucky me! 

I'm supposed to stand in the rain and watch how the new drain
handles it, if it rains this afternoon. I think it's supposed to
between 3 and 5 pm, so I might end up talking with Aearwen
while standing in the rain. 

Since I'm going to try to get back to an exercise schedule, I'm also going to try to get back to reason with my daily posts. That means shortening them a bit, and not being quite as photo heavy unless needed. So, I'm going to grab photos for all of you and I'll call this done. Have an excellent day and I'll be back tomorrow. 

With A Crash and Bolt of Lightning, The Rain Came

With a crash, followed by driving rain and lots of lightning, I was pulled from sleep in the wee hours of the morning. We knew we were going to have serious rain with high winds, but the times kept getting switched from 1:00 am onward. In reality, it hit sometime shortly after 3:00 am and lasted for 30-45 minutes before moving onward. DH awakened and moved through the house, checking to make sure we weren't flooding (we've had flooding issues with hard rains in the past). Everything seemed fine, so he went back to bed. I didn't even bother getting up. 

We had been having overflow problems in high
rains, so we picked out larger rocks to frame the
channel with and increased the depth and height of
the banks with more river gravel to
control the water flow. Of course, a hard
rain so soon after he reseeded the
grass probably toasted the new sprouts, 
but we'll know more after the sun
rises and we can take a closer look. 

He's been working on the drainage along our eastern side, between the house and the creek. Last Sunday we pulled the rocks from the bed of our drainage passage and deepened and raised the bank where we had overflow problems. We got about half-way on Sunday and he finished the job as far as he could yesterday. His back is killing him now - it's a lot of work. But he really did a beautiful job. 

I love attending the MN Renaissance Festival. It's
grounds and layout are almost like a second home
at the end of summer, early fall. We start out with
temps in the 80's and 90's and end up with
temps in the 60's and 70's. We always have a
good time. 

I emailed the folks at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival and they moved our season tickets from 2020 to 2021. The new tickets were emailed to me yesterday and I've printed them out. I'll grab a file folder for them from the shop today so I don't lose them, and we'll be set. We'll probably attend this year's Fest at least once, but now we won't be "obligated" to attend every week. I'm hesitant to commit to the event with COVID still very much a presence. 

So, that's about it for what's happening in my life right now. Hopefully the new waterflow channel did the trick and we'll be set on our Eastern side. It would be one less thing on the to-do list and one less thing to worry about. Have a wonderful weekend, be safe, be kind, and please, wear a mask! 

Flooding - Words and Water

Yesterday I was the girl with her thumb in the dike. I didn't get as much other stuff done as I wanted, but I kept the house from flooding and did a really good job. When DH finally got home he worked on the backdoor issues a bit longer and now it's much better. I think we might have dodged a bullet. 

The most effective way to move water quickly is with a broom. I spent
quite a lot of time yesterday sweeping away the water from the
basement door. It worked quite well, and I got a few extra
calories worked off - LOL.

Social Security sent me yet another letter, acknowledging that they now have all of the documents they need and enclosing a form for me to fill out and return. I did that yesterday and mailed it back to them. I really hope they get their act in gear quickly, it's already March and I have to have everything lined up by May. That clock is ticking! 

I'm having a blast participating in B2MeM. What I'm writing
isn't earthshaking, but it's nice to write more than just my
morning blog. 

I'm loving B2MeM. I haven't missed writing a story for each day's prompt yet, and I'm keeping to my goal of short, sweet, and on-point. For those that could easily be massaged into drabble format (100 words exactly), I've managed to pull that off. Others are ficlets, which is also OK by me. I don't have the time for major writing within the fandom right now, so short and sweet (or not so sweet) is my rule for the month. I am trying to make sure I read and comment on the other works presented. I may have missed a few, but not by intention. 

There is no such thing as too many books, at
least not in the reading part. There is such as
thing as too many actual, physical books in
the house. Thus my love of digital books. 

Aearwen and I had a great chat yesterday. She had sent me some files to read and comment on, unfortunately they weren't able to be opened on my end, so she's changing the format and we'll try once more. The goal is some feedback and perhaps a direction to head for the next phase of IDD. It would be really nice to help her get this one wrapped up. All of us have too many WIPs and they do weigh on the mind after a while. 

Flooding rivers are so frightening. The power of water is
strong and pushes through anything and everything. I'm
really hoping we don't get flooding this spring. 

So far our melt-off up here in the Frozen Northlands has been gentle, at least in my general area. Gentle would be great, if it can keep up, because a serious rain or something else leading to a massive melt will mean flooding for so many people downstream or in the flatlands. I'm crossing my fingers for them - those people down the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, and those on the Red River (and other smaller rivers affected too). Flooding in the spring can be a serious problem up and down the rivers in spring and we've had some serious snowfalls to contribute to the high water levels. 

Have a wonderful Thursday and I'll be back tomorrow. I'm going to try and use my Spotify on my phone in the gym, so I can do the virtual reality screens while listening to some serious music. It's worth a shot. 

Water Water Everywhere

Water flows downhill. It's one of those "laws of nature" that we've been taught and that we've all seen in action throughout our lives. Although there might be some strange place on earth where this law of physics doesn't work; in general, unless pumps and other artificial force is put to work, water will always move down a slope. That's the problem and science behind our landscaping and building a new patio. Water control in our back yard is crucial.

I remember spending hours when I was a kid, floating leaves down the
sidewalk curb after a strong rainfall. I lived at the top of a hill
and we got some serious speed on those leaves by the end of the block. 

DH is meeting our landscaping contractor again this morning after meeting with the guy from the utility company. It's going to be a full day of talking about the new patio, grading, and how things need to work to make all of this happen, on time and correctly. The big concern we have is water drainage and making sure that the water continues from west to east down to the creek on our eastern side, instead of pooling on the new patio or (shudder) even entering the house through the back door.

We're trying to make sure that the water flows properly from
rainstorms as well as snow melt. Because we need it to
flow in two directions, the landscaping is crucial and
a bit tricky.  

We've been working with lines, levels and shovels to determine outflow, but it's a pain. We're working two different slopes here - one from west to east away from the castle walls, and the second from north to south to keep the water flow away from the house and the foundation, shunting it out into the larger yard and patio center, then down to the creek. We also have to miss the plateau where we will be getting the shed erected later this fall, and the back area where we'll be putting the new rack for our firewood.

September and October are going to be super busy. We'll get the
landscaping down, pull down at least one more tree, and hopefully
have the shed erected, all before Halloween. 

It's a lot to do, and so much hinges on today's meetings. If Derick decides that the utility cable can't actually be moved, we're sunk. If Anthony decides that he can't put down a deeper foundation for the patio or handle the two different water drainage slopes and the rest of the landscaping, we're also sunk. Today's meetings are crucial. DH isn't sleeping very well because he's super tensed up about today, but we'll know a lot more tonight. I'm just hoping that things will actually go smoothly and that we can go ahead and order the six palettes of paver stones we will need for the patio, have them delivered when we actually need them, and transport them down to the patio area where they will be used in the construction. A lot of things have to fall into place in the next 2-1/2 months. It's a bit frightening to watch those dominoes getting set up, ready to fall on command.

Have a great Tuesday and enjoy your day. I think I may post about waterfalls tomorrow. There has to be something pretty about water, instead of just nerve wracking.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

It's raining cats and dogs out there, DH has already been up three times to check and make sure that we aren't flooding or leaking anywhere (long history of issues with water in this house) and I'm running late because of it. A couple of things before I dive into a quick photo blog of storms (it seemed appropriate).

We all seek shelter in a storm, but holding an umbrella in
a lightning storm is rather foolish (makes for a good pic, though). 

First - I signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo for July. If you've ever been interesting in trying NaNoWriMo without the pressure of committing to 50,000 words in a month, Camp may be just the thing for you. You can set your own word count, choose your own format, etc. I chose a very low word count of only 10,000 words and a topic of Thoughts and Prayers because I want to try out some plot ideas without the pressure of putting 50,000+ words into it.

This isn't like the summer camp where you hid behind the dining
hall because you didn't want to run into that mean girl from
the next cabin. This is a chance to write on a shorter basis and
share with other friends who are also playing in the canoes and with
the horses. Come and join me in a month of easy-going writing. 

Camp NaNoWriMo has cabins available where you can bunk with eleven other people and cheer each other on (meet you at the archery field in 20 minutes?). I'm going to link up with a friend from Germany to form a cabin, but if you decide to join Camp, please let me know and join our cabin. It's always fun to share NaNo with friends and fellow writers, and Camp is much more laid-back and kicky than the big deal of November. Think about joining us.

I think it's the "tent" part that really got me to sign up for
Camp this time. It's summer - we should be camping...

So, on to photos of storms. Storms are so destructive and frightening, but there is such a beauty in them also, that I do love them. I thought I'd share some scenes with all of you for this Thursday.

I'm quite sure this was photoshopped, but it's really quite stunning,
nonetheless. I like the juxtaposition of the tornado and the lightning. 

This photo is real and was from National Geographic. The storm
developed over South Dakota in 2010. So beautiful, so potentially deadly. 

This is a wonderful example of what's called a "shelf cloud". It appeared
over Enschede, Netherlands in 2004. Really stunning photo. 

This photo of a super cell in Montana is by Sean Harvey. Follow the
link to see more of his fabulous work. 

Not all storms are lightning and rain. Here's a dust storm about to take
over this settlement. Dust storms can be huge and deadly and very
frighting. Follow the link for more information on dust storms. 

So, it's time for me to gather my things and get ready to go out into the thunder and lightning we are currently experiencing. Here's a final picture of hope for you.

Storms can leave us with gifts of profound beauty. May your day
be as wonderful as seeing a double-rainbow in the darkened sky. 

Happy Thursday everyone!

Success on Two Fronts

First ... we have water! The water dude called me at 7:15 am Thursday asking if someone could be at the house in an hour. "Absolutely!" I replied, and promptly awakened DH to get dressed and over there. Of course that meant I had to go to work, even though I was sick and felt totally horrid. But we needed the water and I could tough it out.

This magic faucet fountain is in Spain, but there are several of them
throughout the world.

So DH left to meet the water guys and I snuggled back to sleep until 8:00 am when I got motivated, left the house, did the banking and arrived at the shop. I ended up working, somewhat, until 11:30 am when DH walked through the door, his arms raised in triumph. He worked for me, I went home and I slept.

VICTORY OVER WATER! I'm pretty chuffed about it - LOL.

I finally allowed myself to eat some soup and crackers for dinner and managed to survive that, so I guess I'm over this bug. But it was pretty miserable for a while there. I lost eight pounds in a day - crazy, yes? I don't recommend the method, but I don't mind the loss. I'll continue to be really careful about what I eat for a while now. I really don't want a repeat performance.

I don't have a mug this snazzy, but isn't it cute? I love the whole idea
of having your crackers right next to your soup. 

The water department told DH to leave the faucet in the laundry tub open to a flow of 3-4 gallons an hour. That's a lot of water flow. I always knew about trickling water to help stave off freezing, but this larger flow has to remain until the water department tells us to turn it down or off, or until April 1st, whichever comes first. The water guys worked on our pipes for several hours on Monday, almost twelve hours on Tuesday and another three hours on Thursday and we didn't have to pay a thing! I'm very impressed and grateful. It was inconvenient, but it could have been so much worse.

Today's Google Doodle is in honor of the Olympics and
features text below quoted from the Olympic Charter.

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing
sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual
understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." - Olympic Charter

So today I'm going to try to get back to normal. It's cold, but not unexpected. There's no snow which is totally delightful, and it's a Friday. The opening ceremonies for the Sochi Olympics will be broadcast tonight and last night's two events were very fun to watch. All good. Now if I can just get some work done on my B2MeM story... Have a Fabulous Friday!

Water is Still Not My Friend - The Frozen Pipes Saga

Don't get me wrong - I love water. I love the ocean, I love looking at lakes, and I love looking at the moving water of rivers and streams. It's personal water that I have a problem with - plumbing water; the water that enters pipes into homes. Of course I have a long history of plumbing issues, but what we're going through right now may well take the cake (so to speak).

The ceiling leaks were actually resolved by Sunday...but that's just one problem. 

A small bit of background. We are currently responsible for three houses and my business. We are also experiencing what may well turn out to be the coldest winter in 30 years. And we've had a bunch of snow. So far (knock on wood and hope that a check-in this morning will prove me right), my father-by-marriage's house pipes seem to be holding up in this cold. I've been turning the faucets on and off and flushing the toilet whenever I've dropped by after a real estate agent has been through with a potential buyer. I'm hoping that proves to remain true when DH drops by this morning.

The goal of plumbing is to have water come from faucets and have toilets
flush appropriately. Frozen pipes tend to get in the way of this goal.

And, for a change, my own house is not experiencing a leaking roof, a backed-up water system or frozen pipes - at least so far.

And the leaks in the ceiling of my shop seem to finally have been stopped after several more days of dripping into the five-gallon buckets that I think I'll just keep in their current locations for a few more months (no long-term faith about my roof, added to a long history of leaks, both small and seriously large).

Which leave my grandmother-in-law's house. We've been renovating this house in our 'spare' time to put it on the market later this year. It needs a hell of a lot of work. We hadn't been over for a while, but usually are there every few days. It had been mid-week last week when DH had last been there and he always opens the taps and lets them flow. He dropped by on Saturday, three days later, and ... no water. None. Of course we tried heating the pipes (for several hours) and only got the system to drain out, but no new water flow. It was beyond our abilities. So....

Love this glass water faucet. So innovative. 

On Monday morning I contacted St Paul Regional Water Services and was pushed through to dispatch who added us to a long list of frozen pipe people. Around 11:30 am or so on Monday they called and I sent DH over there. He was there for the rest of the day and I had to hold down the shop solo - not easy and not comfortable, but I can usually manage if things don't get too busy.

The Water Department worked on it for most of Monday afternoon and determined that the frozen pipe was at least 15 feet from the house toward the street. OK...fine. But then they had to leave because a local community center was also experiencing frozen pipes and they had children who needed water. They would be back with us on Tuesday after they got the Community Center resolved.

I had three St Paul Regional Water Services trucks in front of my little
house when I drove by last night on my way home. I can't fault the guys -
they're really trying. They're just not succeeding! *sigh*

Tuesday - they called me around 11:00 and I called DH (Tuesday is a day off for him) who rushed over to let them in. It was three trucks and several guys and they worked on our pipes all day. They got a 50-foot hose and determined that the pipe was frozen past that point. They left and returned with a 100 foot hose which also didn't work. They put in for a call for some sort of electrical vehicle (beats me...I don't understand how this is working) but it can't arrive until today some time. So...at 8:30 pm they wrapped it up and they'll be back today. DH finally got home just before 9:00 pm.

So, yesterday I had three St Paul Regional Water Department trucks in the street in front of my house, and today I'll likely have four. I'm giving up my day off because I have to work so that DH can be there with the guys. So far they've broken one window and two light bulbs. DH is stressing out, I'm stressing out, and it's like a comedy of errors or the Keystone Cops in action. Oy!

None of these instructions would have helped us. Our block is much closer to
the main and way past the house. We were doing everything right inside, but
it still didn't help. 

The water department guys said they're seeing the frost line down 6-1/2 feet. Since most house plumbing lines are about five feet under the soil, I foresee a very busy remainder of the winter for these guys. And I just hope we can get crossed off their list by the end of today so that I can take my day off on Thursday instead of today. Anyone know of a warm condo in a nice, safe, southern state that I can move to? LOL *headdesk*.