what did you do today? (2008-2015) (closed)

[Nords]

Today we weedwhacked the rental property grass and dug out some more raphis roots. Of course I cracked a sprinkler head (or the raphis pre-cracked it for me) so I had to fix that too.

The last cubic foot of raphis roots is wrapped around a gutter downspout, an underground drainage line, a sprinkler (of course), and the cable TV connection. The roots go six inches deep against the house's foundation. It's going to take me an hour with a reciprocating saw, hammer & chisel, and a mattock. When I pulled out the other blocks of roots, they looked like a leftover from a Borg Cube.

Once the roots are out then we have to install molding or trim boards over the chewed-up lower edge of the house's siding. The raphis shoots were going up behind the siding into the stud cavities and slowly pushing the siding off the studs. Some of them were 2-3 feet long, and I swear they weren't there six weeks ago.

Whaddya do all day indeed.

Costco pizza for dinner tonight!

Dang, you made me look at some of her posts. I wonder if she's still a millionnaire.

She doesn't appear to be a "coach" any more, either. Best disappearing act ever...

 

[DangerMouse]

The search for MMND made me curious so add me to the list of those who want to know what happened to her. Couldn't find any clues myself so if anyone finds a trail please share.

 

[ksr]

The search for MMND made me curious so add me to the list of those who want to know what happened to her. Couldn't find any clues myself so if anyone finds a trail please share.

I found her on LinkedIn here: Jen Smith | LinkedIn

I used to periodically read her blog, and am mildly curious as well.

 

[bruce1]

This has been a way busy summer so far. Doing ceiling and floors in about half the house and some in my cousins house. Thought retirement was supposed to be restful. LOL Also have a new puppy that is requiring much training. Black Lab St Bernard cross. Energy of the lab and the strength of the Saint but without the Saints tendency to be lazy. What have I got into. This is my cousins fault with the "but look how cute he is". LOL Neither her or her daughter have the heart to discipline the pup. Oh well.

 

[Nords]

I found her on LinkedIn here: Jen Smith | LinkedIn

I didn't realize until recently that you can go years without updating a Linkedin profile. I guess it's probably that way for Facebook and Twitter, too, but Linkedin probably prefers having millions of inactive accounts.

 

[bbbamI]

She is so fortunate to have you as a cousin.

This has been a way busy summer so far. Doing ceiling and floors in about half the house and some in my cousins house. Thought retirement was supposed to be restful. LOL Also have a new puppy that is requiring much training. Black Lab St Bernard cross. Energy of the lab and the strength of the Saint but without the Saints tendency to be lazy. What have I got into. This is my cousins fault with the "but look how cute he is". LOL Neither her or her daughter have the heart to discipline the pup. Oh well.

Oh...now you MUST post a pic!

 

[Dawg52]

It was one hot sob today. Played golf early and got through around 10:30am. Spent the rest of the day replenishing my fluids. Burp....

 

[REWahoo]

I went to an event today for a buddy of mine who told his girlfriend a few weeks ago all he wanted for his birthday was to go skydiving. She signed him up and this morning a group of us went out to witness the event. All went well until...you guessed it...the landing. Charlie injured his right ankle on impact.

After checking him out, the skydive staff insisted he go to the emergency room to have it looked at. We helped him to his truck but he insisted we all join him in a glass of champagne before he would agree to go to the ER. The picture below is Charlie as we toasted to the eventful start of his 86th year.

The ankle is broken in two places...

 

[pb4uski]

It was one hot sob today. Played golf early and got through around 10:30am. Spent the rest of the day replenishing my fluids. Burp....

Same here. Played with BIL and two friends of his. BIL and I walked the front nine. Since our tee time was 7:40 am I though it would be cool enough to walk the front since it was early. Wrong!! I was sweating like a stuffed porky by the third hole, but toughed it out and then we rode the back nine. If you got done at 10:30am what time did you start? We got done about 11:45 am.

 

[Nords]

Dawn patrol. It gets pretty busy on a Saturday morning, though, with the beachmasters setting up their awnings & BBQs and the fleet of stand-up paddlers heading out to the outside break. I counted over a hundred people in the surf but everybody got along fine.

Pizza for lunch, a lovely nap, some computer work, and 30 minutes of assembling the new Toro weedwhacker. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the back slope (inside the fence) and on another day I'm going to go after the California grass outside the fence.

I went to an event today for a buddy of mine who told his girlfriend a few weeks ago all he wanted for his birthday was to go skydiving. She signed him up and this morning a group of us went out to witness the event. All went well until...you guessed it...the landing. Charlie injured his right ankle on impact.
After checking him out, the skydive staff insisted he go to the emergency room to have it looked at. We helped him to his truck but he insisted we all join him in a glass of champagne before he would agree to go to the ER. The picture below is Charlie as we toasted to the eventful start of his 86th year.
The ankle is broken in two places...

All I can say is that on my 86th birthday, I hope I can tell my girlfriend that I went skydiving and broke my ankle in two places.

Of course I probably should let my spouse know, too...

 

[Walt34]

The thunderstorms that ripped through the DC area Friday night also hit us pretty good although we got off lightly compared to some. We still have electricity (and A/C!) while thousands don't. Cable for TV is out although that didn't quit until last night so probably due to in-progress repairs.

The wind blew out four screens on the back porch and tore off a bit of covering off the fascia on the front of the house. Again, we got off lightly.

Changed the oil on the motorcycle and cleaned up the back porch some and will see about replacement screens on Monday since I figure Lowes will be swamped over the weekend.

 

[Dawg52]

Same here. Played with BIL and two friends of his. BIL and I walked the front nine. Since our tee time was 7:40 am I though it would be cool enough to walk the front since it was early. Wrong!! I was sweating like a stuffed porky by the third hole, but toughed it out and then we rode the back nine. If you got done at 10:30am what time did you start? We got done about 11:45 am.

We started at 8:00am. Normally we play in foursomes but the club pro only allowed twosomes as a mini-tour event was teeing off at 9am. We play fast anyway and used carts the whole way. I played in the pro-am the day before BTW and that was a lot of fun. The pro I played with was 60 years old and he finished 16th in the Senior British Open in 2008. Needless to say I was nervous the first hole or two, but settled down and played pretty good overall. He could hit it a mile.

 

[Dawg52]

The thunderstorms that ripped through the DC area Friday night also hit us pretty good although we got off lightly compared to some. We still have electricity (and A/C!) while thousands don't. Cable for TV is out although that didn't quit until last night so probably due to in-progress repairs.

The wind blew out four screens on the back porch and tore off a bit of covering off the fascia on the front of the house. Again, we got off lightly.

Changed the oil on the motorcycle and cleaned up the back porch some and will see about replacement screens on Monday since I figure Lowes will be swamped over the weekend.

That was a hell of a storm. I saw some of the damage on the news and golf tournament on tv yesterday. At least you have AC, that is the biggie this time of year.

 

[W2R]

The thunderstorms that ripped through the DC area Friday night also hit us pretty good although we got off lightly compared to some. We still have electricity (and A/C!) while thousands don't. Cable for TV is out although that didn't quit until last night so probably due to in-progress repairs.

The wind blew out four screens on the back porch and tore off a bit of covering off the fascia on the front of the house. Again, we got off lightly.

Changed the oil on the motorcycle and cleaned up the back porch some and will see about replacement screens on Monday since I figure Lowes will be swamped over the weekend.

Walt, I was thinking about you when watching the news reports about the thunderstorms in your area! It must have been hair-raising. Glad your damage was relatively minor and that you still have AC and electricity, though. Sounds like Lowes is going to be jammed, especially after the insurance adjusters are done so that people can start repairs.

 

[NW-Bound]

Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the back slope (inside the fence) and on another day I'm going to go after the California grass outside the fence...

Though I have been where I live for nearly 40 years, only when I got to middle-age that I learned to appreciate the fact that if I do not want something to grow around the house, I simply do not water it.

Oh, freeing up the time causes other problems, such as it often leads to the perennial question of "What I do all day", but I am thinking that that will slowly fade away.

As much as I often think about relocating to a more moderate place on the West coast, I am not sure if I want to spend time and labor for vegetation control, and I am not the type who would be happy without a bit of land around me. I am just going to stay and die here.

 

[pb4uski]

We started at 8:00am. Normally we play in foursomes but the club pro only allowed twosomes as a mini-tour event was teeing off at 9am. We play fast anyway and used carts the whole way. I played in the pro-am the day before BTW and that was a lot of fun. The pro I played with was 60 years old and he finished 16th in the Senior British Open in 2008. Needless to say I was nervous the first hole or two, but settled down and played pretty good overall. He could hit it a mile.

You guys play quick - though twosomes with carts does make for quick play if no one is holding you up.

It is fun to watch the pros. There is a young kid from our club in his early twenties who is on the Nationwide Tour (now the Web.com tour) and had qualified for the US Open a year or two ago and actually did well enough for the first couple rounds that he got on the coverage a couple times. His group teed off ahead of us on Men's night a few weeks ago on a dogleg right par five. If I hit a good drive on that hole I am at the elbow of the dogleg, then a fairway wood and iron to the green. He cut the corner over the trees and I'm guessing was lying in one where I would be in two good shots. Amazing.

 

[Nords]

Though I have been where I live for nearly 40 years, only when I got to middle-age that I learned to appreciate the fact that if I do not want something to grow around the house, I simply do not water it.

I wish.

Our back slope is probably 7% over a distance of 50 feet. We have three bands of sprinklers on that stretch of yard ("upper", "middle", and "lower"). I've capped off the "lower" band (which killed off the banana trees!) and I only run the other two every five days. Our sprinkler system is nearly 25 years old and was built without vacuum breakers. Getting into the two control valves for the back slope is a bougainvillea-thorn-filled nightmare, but I'm getting close to the point where I'll need to replace both of them. Reducing the watering has cut way back on the growth, but it still grows. Especially the bougainvillea.

I think that the fruit trees stabilize the soil and reduce erosion. However they shade out most of the grass on the slope and the bird poop dropping from the fruit trees also has lots of weed & vine seeds. So the part of the yard under the mango trees is mostly weeds & dead mango leaves. I'm working on turning that around with bermuda, zoysia, and St. Augustine grass.

Outside of our property line (a chain-link fence) the gulch drops off even more steeply with California grass and haole koa. (It's an impressive fire hazard in August/September.) Over the last five years I've planted yellow oleander, which have slowly propagated themselves about 20 feet down the hill. (As well as a little uphill.) They're shading out the California grass, so after I hack back the latest crop of grass it probably won't come back for 18-24 months.

As for the haole koa, they're cute when they're under a foot tall. After that I have to cut them down and paint the stumps with concentrated RoundUp a couple times a year for several years. But the yellow oleander are shading them out, too, and should keep them from coming back.

I'm going to win this game, and hopefully before I turn age 60...

 

[MichaelB]

Took the grandchildren to an open air concert yesterday. We picnicked and enjoyed the show. Pretty hot, over 95, but the kids were great and everyone enjoyed themselves.

 

[FIYes]

I
We are in a heat wave here...fourth day of over 100 degrees. I am spending the day in the air conditioning surfing the net.

 

[antmary]

Went to the book swap today. Anyone who wants to brings books they want to get rid of, and take any books that catch the eye...movies too, and no money is exchanged. I took in a big shopping bag full of books, and returned home with a big shopping bag full of books. We are set-up for the coming inevitable heat wave....I hope it cools down soon for those of you in the Midwest and Southeast

 

[MichaelB]

Mom and my brother spent a couple of days with us as their power was out. Got in a couple of afternoons of good cribbage games with Mom. We've been playing for years, but I can't remember ever having such good cards. Skunked her twice It was a pleasant visit.

 

[bbbamI]

Slept in late today...like most days.

Much of my time has been spent on my patio gazing at my back yard and watching the clouds float by. I have some plants in pots that are growing nicely. It won't be long before I'll have beautiful flowers from those plants. Someone very close to me gave me the seeds. It touches my heart each day to think just how fortunate I am to know someone so dear and dedicated to my happiness.

Life is good.

 

[FIYes]

Went downtown to see the 4th of July parade. It was extremely hot. Usually we hang around after the parade, but it was just too hot. Feel great to be home in the AC. Just heard on the radio that it was record breaking heat forth 4th of July. That makes me feel like a little less of wimp who can't take the heat!

 

[RitaR551]

After a crazy busy weekend, we stayed home in the air-conditioning. With temps at 100+ it seemed like a mighty good idea.

As part of our busy weekend, DD and I drove in the 4th of July Parade. It was my first time in a convertible much less driving one ;-)

 

[donheff]

Just got back from a back yard bar-b-q in Catonsville, MD home of a quintessential 4th of July parade. In an hour and a half I will hop on the bike down to the National Mall for the fireworks.