jeebie chreesie it's hot

it's august in texas which means it's quite normal for it there to be entire weeks in the triple digits. upper triple digits. high of 105, heat index of 111. thankfully the humidity has only been in the 40% range or it would be truly miserable. everything looks like death warmed over. warmed well over.

im counting the days until fall. ive always been partial to fall - it's when my birthday is, when sulla's birthday is, when halloween is, when, at least growing up in the midwest, the weather gets crisp and it's sweater and jeans weather.

my love of fall has grown in the last 5 years of living in DFW simply because i can finally get to projects that have been utterly ignored for the last two+ months because i dont want to die from heat stroke - and folks who hire others to do their lawn care because they dont want to sweat are assholes. there i said it. plants and flowers get their second wind and it's almost like spring again. jeans and sweater weather usually comes in november, but i can wear colours darker than a deep blue without turning into a walking solar oven.

it is also back to school time which means i will have more time to do things. sad but true. this fall the plan to:

• continue to mulch the backyard. Mr. R from next door continues to give me cardboard and i also found out the local petsmart doesnt use a trash compacter and has an entire dumpster for cardboard. theyve got large thick boxes for their live fish deliveres and then the smaller flats for canned food that are perfect for laying against the fence or over gaps and along seams.
• build mini pergallas or archways for living awnings around the south and west windows come next spring.
• take out the walkway stones
• burn the piles of wood from the last storms
• weatherise and insulate the metal awning over the back of the house that makes the back porch a sweat box and not as usuable as it should be.

plumbing is for wusses

this weekend. our washing machine started backing up into the kitchen sink. and then the dish washer didnt drain. thankfully we have the front loading kind that doesnt use lots of water, or the kitchen would have been swamped.

so out came rescue roover. thank jebus for our home warranty. i think it has already "paid for itself" with these two repairs.

so now i can do laundry! yeay??

tuck may have asthma. it's still too early to get a real diagnosis but his snoring, the "forgetting to breath," frequent and pretty severe colds could be attributed to it. my mom said i needed breathing treatments when i was younger and outgrew it, so ive got my fingers crossed.

ming ming is being bizarre. he's been asking to take naps. i think the cold he had, that tuck got and is in it's current nasty form, has gotten a second wind. blah!!

and christmas is a week away. im getting really excited. we bought a real tree this year and it smells wonderfully. and it looks oh so pretty with the three ornaments we have! my folks have been having gifts sent here and ming ming keeps wanting to open them, but i have to say santa is dropping them off and if he sees them, he will come back and take them. tuck seems to understand whats going on, too. he's not very happy that ming ming gets to open his lego advent calendar every day, and he gets nothing. im a bad mama. but he's getting awesome presents so i hope i can make up for it.

heat is for wusses

day two of no furnace. last week i finally got around to calling someone to light the piloy light only to discover the furnace is old and the heat exchanger is cracked and unsafe to run. and because of the holiday weekend, we probably wont get the new one installed until next week. it's a whopping 38 degrees outside. but inside im sure it's no colder than what my parents house is usually set at. honestly i should have my midwestern's card taken from me for thinking a high of 50 is freezing. of all the days to really need to go shopping. we are currently borrowing a space heater from the in-laws.

so instead im making fruit leather. ive been waiting for it to be cold enough to run my stove for 5+ hours. and here it is. and the review actually suggests keep the stove door open!!

fred spent last night and this night with the grandparents so i have my first 24+ hours without him. in the three years he's been born, ive never had a full day without him. so atleast i only have to worry about george in this cold. i was going to spend the day keepng warm by doing some aerobic cleaning but i think id rather spend it in bundled under the blankets in bed reading, knitting or interwebbing.

and i was right. there are cats squatting in our crawlspace. there have been a couple times ive gone out to the back yard and seen them run away - theres a black and white one, a tabby with white markings and a long haired one i havent seen in a while. im pretty sure they are feral. and i would go outside and the board covering the crawl space would be knocked over. our bedroom window is right over it and last night there was one fighting or something. i went to check this afternoon and it appears the only "fight" was with the plywood and metal folding chair used to cover the opening to the crawlspace. they were both knocked over. considering the noise, that cat was PISSSED. it was yhoaling and doing that "MMMRRRGGG" noise cats do when they are really angry. ive freecycled for some live traps or i might just get some. there is a dallas-based feral cat group and one up in denton. i need to call to see if there is something out this way. i think this is going to be my pet (harhar) project. there are way too many animals running around and i dont have a problem with feral cats. i have a problem with feral cat colonies not being managed. and im all for natural birth but i dont want my crawlspace being used as a birth centre.

on this episode of this old house

*cries oh so many tears* my lovely washing machine is not working. i can only get super hot water. damnit. so maytag is coming friday, which means it's back to gramma and grandpa's to do laundry. and i have to get a whole bunch of odds and ends stuff - like a sponge holder for the kitchen, a step stool. so it's thrift store time.

and here is a list of stuff that i want to do to the house. some is just a pipe dream and may not get done any time soon but, in no particular order:

put in pocket doors between bedrooms
build a shelving unit around the fish take
make/knit curtains for the windows
replace the locks
replace the shower fixture, and redo the bathroom in general.
build my compost bin
have the orginal (1940s) cedar panelling in the living room refinished
replace weather stripping around front and back door
get rid of all the weed trees and trash in the back yard.

and i finally have enough kitchen items unpacked to make a proper dinner. i think moving every now and then is good. in the process of going through the community pantry, i found three bags of lentils, two boxes of orechetti pasta and more tea than we could drink in a year. i need to talk to chef deb at vegsource to see what she can mcguyver out of our current stock