Seeing Green

Green!
Originally uploaded by jasonhunter.

With no football on the TV this weekend I decided it was time to paint one of our basement closets. This closet was repaired after the flood so a coat of paint was necessary to hid the new drywall. Green was chosen because 1) it contrasts nicely with the 70's brown wood paneling and 2) its leftover paint from the dining room. If you follow the Flickr link you'll see the wire rack that we moved in there. In addition to the wire rack we were able to move in everything we took out. Amazing!

Your Roof, Your Roof, Your Roof Is On Fire

I'm embarrassed to typed that we didn't get anything of note done since the last post. Our greatest accomplishment is that I vacuumed out the dryer vent. Not earth-shattering, but it apparently weighed on my mind. Upon finishing the task I said to Dawn, "The dryer vent is cleaned out like you wanted". Turns out I'd talked about doing this so much that I got it switched around. While the task was appreciated, it turns out that I was the one who kept talking about cleaning out the dryer vent.

This post must be the low point of this blog. Yes, cleaning out the dryer vent keeps potential house fires at bay, however a spotless dryer vent isn't going to rocket our house to the top of the real estate market. Of course a house on fire sells for even less than a non-fire house in our neighborhood.

A Game Of Cricket

It's a game that I've played for a number of years. It started in a duplex in Falls Church. The game was to place a plastic cup over a cricket in the kitchen. Then wait a few days until the cricket dies and throw both the cup and the cricket away. As I changed locations, the nature of the game changed. When we moved to Alexandria, new rules were invented. Rules like "Let the cat eat them" and "Let's drop cookbooks on them". Then, the crickets struck back. They threw their hordes at our Dustbuster in such numbers that they choked its delicate machine parts.

Then we called in the heavy artillery - an exterminator. Mr. Exterminator sprayed their chemicals and in about a month the crickets were nowhere to be scene. Our glue traps still catch a few guerrilla fighters in the electrical closets however we feel that we've got the crickets on the run.

Cat Sratch Fever

Give Up
Originally uploaded by jasonhunter.

Add this to the list of reason why last year was the Year of the Basement. Shortly after we had our replacement carpet installed, our Bean developed allergies from the new carpet. This isn't a new thing - around the time he turned one year old he developed allergies to plastics. Unfortunately, he kept scratching at the inflammation, never allowing it to heal. Thus, the vet recommended the collar. Bean absolutely hated it. The first night he had it on he pulled it off three times. Eventually he got used to it and in two weeks time his face healed up and we all celebrated when the collared came off.

Three Times a Basement

Looking back, 2006 was the Year of the Basement, for better of worse. As most of you know, it flooded earlier in the summer. In my mind, the basement is last year's focal point; we expended a lot of energy down there. I removed and/or relocated the contents of the basement three times: right after the flood, right before the carpet went in, and finally before the pest control people came to spray for crickets. What is most irksome is that a lot of this energy was wasted. There is little pride in saying, "Repositing the couch 2/3s of an inch from it's original position really sets up the room nicely." Especially since I thought the room looked fine in the first place.

We still have to prime the drywall the was replaced, at least that will be forward progress. To 2-0-0-7 and progress!