Beware of Leopard ⁽²⁵⁵⁾

Brian Bilbrey November 30, 2014

Catching Up

The calendar is catching up to the weather, in fact. On Tuesday into Wednesday, we're due for "wintery mix," which sounds much nicer than it really is. But 30's and 40's for December are just fine. It's the teens and 20's that make us cranky, here in Chez Bilbrez. * * * I've got the week "off" - burning some unused hours before I lose them to policy, come the end of the calendar year. Primary focus: finish building Marcia's rolling cabinet, which is do-able, methinks. Here's the carcass, much progress: In the last two days, I've got finish on…

Brian Bilbrey November 23, 2014

Winter is ... What? Over 70 degrees tomorrow?

Yeah. This week we spent a significant amount of time at or below freezing, including a couple of mornings around 20°F. But according to the various forecasts, tomorrow it's supposed to get up to 73°F. But two days later we're back down to the deep freeze, with potential snow/sleet on Wednesday. Very weird. I spent most of this weekend working in the woodshop on drawers and carcass for a rolling storage cabinet for Marcia, to use in her quilting space: Most of today was spent laying out and pre-drilling holes for the drawer mounting hardware. Then I'll finish the drawer…

Brian Bilbrey November 2, 2014

Space, Patch, Read

A number of folks who lack a sense of wonder, a sense of adventure, a ... spine, perhaps, are whinging in articles here and there online about how awful it is that Michael Tyner Alsbury died testing a near-space tourist plane. How very risk-averse we've become, as a culture. I'd do his job tomorrow, in a heartbeat, if they'd let me. The wonder and joy of experimentation, research at the edges of what's possible make life worth living, either personally or vicariously (for those of us too old to but dream). Again, risk vs. reward. * * * Today I…

Brian Bilbrey October 19, 2014

End::Garden

2014 Garden is done Yesterday, along with a bunch of lawn work front and back, I put the garden to bed for the year. I'll probably break out the tiller in a week or two and turn the soil, for good measure. I did get one last batch of assorted (and unexpected) peppers from the maze of weeds, though: All told, about 7 hours of yard work yesterday, in utterly lovely weather. Today, I worked inside. More basement floor prep, a bit of cleaning here and there, and I made a pot of spicy turkey chili. Yum. Recent Reading I…

Brian Bilbrey October 5, 2014

First Frost

We were supposed to make it down into the mid- to low-40's this weekend ... first frost wasn't on the horizon, far as I knew. But I came downstairs in shorts and a t-shirt, ready to make coffee and walk the dog (which is fine, in the mid-40's). But the thermometer said 38, and there was frost on the grass and the rooftops. Um, yay? Back upstairs for long pants and a sweat jacket. Yesterday it was mild, and we took the dog out for a walk around the Eastern Market. Fun. Lots of neat stuff that we didn't buy,…