HFM

These two things also happened this past weekend: Robin helped us get this monster treadmill up the back stairs. It was a very hairy operation, and I brained myself on one of the metal handle things: Shayle was very worried when he saw what we were doing, & advised Amanda to look away. Hey, it all worked out fine, so no problem! We're just never moving it again. Ever. Also, this mostly dead and definitely overgrown rosemary bush had to go, to make way for a step down into the room-that-is-yet-to-be: The gnarled branches are very beautiful, though, so I saved them for a future garden project. My God, there's still so much to do. Our engineer needs to come back out to the house for some additional measurements and photos, though, which puts an unfortunate delay of about a week on our start date, but which also gets me another week to finish prep work. I'd rather we were starting on time, but it's also going to be raining all week, so I guess it's just as well.

In December 2011, I introduced the world to our garage & basement: What's In The Basement? I also mentioned in that post that the first big project we will be doing is modernizing the foundation under the kitchen & porch, & making those storage spaces into some kind of usable living space like a guest room. We are finally just a week or so from officially beginning that project! In addition to updating the foundation, AJ had the brilliant idea to make that living space a master bedroom suite instead of a guest room. There's lots of preparation to do ahead of the start date. The biggest one is removing all the sheet rock on a little room that was built in the garage decades ago, & the false flooring next to it. Here are the photos of all that stuff that I posted in 2011: Interior of the room, facing the street. Interior of the room, facing the garden. Exterior of the room, with the street at right. Facing the same direction,  showing the false floors to the left ...

Waaaay back in May 2013, I started making a batch of rose wine from the roses in the yard. Please click here if you need to refresh your memory. This week it was finally time to bottle it! First I unwrapped the mummy: Wrapped up to avoid light damage. It was a lovely golden color: A whole gallon of yum! Then the bottling: Oops, I might have "accidentally" sampled some when I started the siphon! I did pour a little into a glass to taste & to share with AJ: Sweet! Delicious! Might be too sweet for a normal evening at home, but I think it will end up being a nice dessert wine. We'll find out in about three months, after this has aged just a bit more. Posts have been few & far between over the past few months, because we just haven't been doing that many projects. This weekend is going to change that, however: we're beginning The Big Project. Stay tuned for excitement!

I don't think I've mentioned it here, but I often call Mars "The Boo Radley House." If you haven't read "To Kill a Mockingbird" in a while, Boo Radley is the neighborhood recluse, who all the kids are afraid of, and he lives in a broken down old house: The Radley Place jutted into a sharp curve beyond our house. Walking south, one faced its porch; the sidewalk turned and ran beside the lot. The house was low, was once white with a deep front porch and green shutters, but had long ago darkened to the color of the slate-gray yard around it. Rain-rotted shingles drooped over the eaves of the veranda; oak trees kept the sun away. The remains of a picket drunkenly guarded the front yard — a “swept” yard that was never swept — where johnson grass and rabbit-tobacco grew in abundance. Mars is, of course, in much better shape than that, but compared to the million-dollar renovated homes around here, it's a little bit of a Boo Radley house, with its faded vin...

The fundraiser I participate in each year for Lyon-Martin Health Services, 30 Days of Health , is beginning February 1! This year, I will be training Zoey to pick things up off the ground on cue. If you would like to read more about why I've chosen that and follow our progress (which will, of course, include plenty of photos), the blog for the project -- SmartyPants.woof -- is here:  http://smartypantsdotwoof.blogspot.com/ If you can afford to donate this year, I hope you will consider making a (fully tax-deductible) contribution. And if you are only interested in lending moral support & looking at cute pictures, that is also very much appreciated! Thank you!

Merry Christmas from Mars! 2013 was a warm & bright holiday here. We had a festive display of homemade decorations, and gifts sent from far away family members, guarded by a fierce hound: We had a lovely arrangement of holiday cards, also guarded by said hound (when she wasn't distracted by these new toys from Mama & Papa O'Brien): Or this new toy from my coworkers in London: Even Sergeant Pickles got into the act, decorating the Mars Animal Control office: On Christmas Day, our festivities began at 9am, with Brian bringing over his famous Christmas cherry rugelach: And his famous Christmas strata (basically a casserole of eggs, cheese, bread, & spinach) & bacon: It was horrible, as usual: Over breakfast, we started the day's movie marathon. This year, we chose a Christmas classic: After the first movie was over, we got to work in the kitchen making dinner. I made my infamous Atomic Ginger Beer, & put it in these heavy duty (& gorgeous) growlers Mama...