Waiting for the snow

9 a.m., sky was blue, sun was shining, beautiful. 11 a.m., beautiful sunshine, dazzling the water. The swans (after an early-morning trip up the creek and back) were at the beach and Fury wanted to chase them (not a good idea when she's attached to me by her lead, I was emphatically not going into the water). 2 p.m. still sunny, breeze coming up.

4 p.m. I saw seven--yes, seven--adult deer running and jumping and leaping across the creek into the wetlands and away. Also heard gunshots. Hopefully the hunting was going on over on Smith Point and not 'our' wetlands. But seven adults is a good sign. Can't wait to see the babies in spring. Still haven't seen the "Ten Pointer" that's supposed to be around.

5 p.m. The sky is grey, heavy, sinking, and the wind has risen. It's getting in around the windows and doors. I turned the heating up. The trees are sillouettes against the brooding sky. No sunset tonight: just anticipation of the snowstorm that is expected to deliver overnight.

I found some sprouting hyacinths and tulips still in bags in the bulb box, forgotten after the rest had been planted in November. What was I thinking???? Dashed to HomeDepot for compost and pots. Hyacinths will come indoors. Tulips outside. Some are white, some are white-with-green-stripes (what?) and I call those, believe-it-when-I-see-it. Planted some mini-tulips lazy style in the bed behind the mail box: set them on the soil, covered them with lots of compost and then a layer of mulch. The bed was sunken anyway and needed building up. Again, we'll see.

One snowdrop has sent up leaves. Snowdrop for the snow?

Nearly 6 p.m. The wind is gusting, out of the east. Wind chimes going mad... no rain or snow. Yet.

9 p.m. Really windy but still no rain, no snow--and still relatively warm. Latest forecast was for rain to begin about now, turning to snow by midnight, with up to three inches out here by morning, up to eight inches in the city BUT as always, just the educated guess of the weatherman.

My bet is that the sun will be shining and the daffodils flowering in the morning.

Tree house?

... there were also several books about tree houses. Now that's an idea...

Flashing lights

Went to ReStore--Habitat for Humanity's shop--in Ronkonkoma. This is like a big warehouse, where they sell donated building and home decor materials. Rather like a thrift shop for do-it-yourselfers. And the proceeds go to funding projects such as restoriing homes in New Orleans, building homes for low-income families, and restoring run-down homes to make affordable housing. See http://habitatforhumanity.org

I found a chrome wash-stand for the bathroom. It came with a sink: I'm going to first try to convert it to take a flat countertop, which I can tile (or find a granite remnant for), (because I'd really like to use the white "vessel" sink in the non-master bathroom), or, if that doesn't work, I'll use the whole thing in the downstairs/apartment bathroom. Good opportunity to learn more plumbing than replacing taps (faucets).

I need to measure the front door and the windows that have to be replaced. Most of ReStore was stocked with brand new windows and doors, still in original packaging. People mis-measure their homes, order windows/doors made for them, and then can't use them. So it may be possible to find replacements at a lower cost. If, of course, any of the sizes fit. Now I think I know where the mis-matched windows in this house came from...

After driving from Ronkonkomo to Lake Grove (Trader Joe's shopping-and-flowers trip), back home, then to Patchogue hospital to deliver Karli some lunch and say hi to Kevin-minus-his-appendix, intended to go to the thrift and furniture shops to look for replacement dining table (the old one just doesn't fit this house)... but was distracted by the "all 60% or more off" bookstore. Darn. Miles of home improvement and gardening books. Only went ten feet into the shop and spent 50$. One of them "Moroccan Interiors". Now I know exactly where the Egyptian chandelier is going and how the apartment living room is going to look....

Did get to the huge furniture shop on 112 (who the heck calls a road, "112"???). Really nice, huge furniture showroom. It's a warren of little bedrooms/living rooms/dining rooms. They have done a really good job of showcasing the furniture in the type of room size that is typical of New York housing. It's also really really easy to get lost in there. But don't worry, there's a salesperson following you like a shadow...

All this driving around and I was noticing a problem with my right eye. A flashing light. Not a migraine. I hope it is just a contact lens problem (they have been driving me insane lately, won't stay in place)... but I need to have this checked.

Today's new discovery: opticians in New York state are like those in France. They will measure your eyes for contacts and for glasses, but they don't examine your eyes for problems (in California they do everything, from putting those horrid drops in so they can see your retinas to selling lenses to make your eyes look like cats'). So Monday I have to find an opthamologist (sp?) and make an appointment ASAP...

Friday Friday

Woke up several times to strange lights (lightning) and noises (thunder and the plastic box AKA Stray Cat Condo, which by-the-way no cat has ever used, blowing around on the deck. Now it's light, the sky is grey, no sunrise today--rain coming in short, sharp bursts like stones against the roof.

I hope to go for a walk on the beach later (the ocean beach). The waves will be impressive. I can hear them from hear, like a distant express train, across about two miles of wetland, water, and dunes.

Swans

The couple of resident mute swans are becoming more friendly and throwing fewer hissy-fits. Either they are more used to us, or the cold weather slows their reactions down, or it's the wrong time of the year for them to be bossy. They mate for life... hopefully there will be a set of cygnets for them to be hissy about in the spring!

They seem to spend most of their time on the bay, with an occasional trip up the creek further inland.

Fang has gone home!

Fang (whose real name we now know to be "Pumpkin") has gone back to his home! He has been hanging out around here for the past few months, and I started feeding him when the weather became colder... and then brought him inside after he sat at the door, wet-through and snow-covered, crying for shelter... since then he has not wanted to leave, despite Muffin being very unimpressed about having another cat on her territory. He is a sleek, gentle black cat, very stretchy (pick him up in the middle and his legs stick to the floor and stretch forever, like a cartoon cat.) He really needed a home without a Muffin spitting and hissing at him, and I needed to be able to work without a cats' chorus singing in the background--so I posted him on Craigslist.

And amazing luck--his owner just happened to see the ad. Pumpkin aka Fang had been missing from home, about a mile from here, since August--and was feared gone forever. Not so! He was sitting on my chaise-longue, sleeping a lot, eating more than a lot, and generally chilling out. And trying to ignore Muffin.

So he has gone back to his own home and apparently ran straight to his own bed as if he'd never been away. And Muffin can stick to aggressing the toy iguana, not another cat.

Glad he's back where he belongs! Happy story!

How to get a black eye all by yourself

1) Decide it's time to take the Christmas Tree down.

2) Remove and store all of the ornaments, tinsel, lights and dispose of uneaten sugar canes.

3) Start wondering how to take one large, very dry Christmas tree downstairs and out of the house.

4) Consider dragging tree down main stairs but discard this idea due to amount of damage that may be caused.

5) Consider dragging tree through office, out onto deck and dropping it over the railing but discard this idea too due to risky position of HD TV and the amount of damage that may be caused.

6) Decide to dismember tree in situ.

7) Cut off all branches with secateurs and put them into town-sanctioned-for-green-materials paper bags

8) Wonder what to do with bare Christmas Tree trunk as it is over six feet tall and town rules say that it must be cut into two.

9) Retrieve reciprocating saw and pruner blade from garage. Cut tree trunk into two and place in another town-OK paper bag.

10) With reciprocating saw in hand, look out of window and see the oak saplings that are going to block the view of the water. Decide to do something about them immediately. Don't consider how many people you need: you have the saw!

11) Put on wellies and go out behind the raised garden and start cutting down the saplings.

12) Have a moment of panic after fourth sapling is cut because of using a vicious powered saw in an inaccessible area with no-one else home and what will happen if you cut off your leg because the saw slips?

13) Be really, really careful how you angle the saw blade and make sure that any slip will not cause saw blade to embed itself in your leg.

14) Decide to only cut two more because the battery will need recharging after that...

15)... and forget to pay attention to the sapling you are cutting which falls onto a patch of springy brambles and bounces back just like a snooker cue to hit you with the cut end right below your right eye...

(It's the cluster of trees behind the fence in this picture, to the left, the ones with dead leaves still attached. In summer the leaves will block the view of the water. They have obviously been cut down in the past, there are stumps everywhere, but there wasn't much woodlands husbandry done in the past couple of years. Best time to do this is now, before the sap starts rising again.)

Ice on the beach

The wetlands beach is a little chilly this morning. Brilliant sunshine reflecting on ice. The waves are frozen.

This is not ocean, but brackish: a mix of fresh and salt water. The fresh water runs onto this beach from the stream that runs parallel with Park Drive. The salt water comes into the bay through the various inlets, the closest being Moriches.

Everything is frozen. Away from the beach, where the water movement slowed the freezing process, everything is freeze-dried, crisp, fragile. I remember frosts in England where the freeze was slow and the water in the air crystallized everywhere, coating trees, plants, windows, with frost patterns: everything so still that you could almost hear it forming. Not here, not this frost. The wind blew it all away and froze the remains to the bone.

But the sun is shining. I like that.

Captain's log, Stardate January 3rd 2007

Sunny. Temperature 13 degrees farenheit, wind chill -2 degrees farenheit.
That's -10 centigrade and it feels like minus eighteen with the wind chill.

In any language, it's bl***y freezing.

The backsplash

The first picture is work-in-progress, showing one of the seahorse mosaic tiles (bought them from eBay a while ago). The other tiles are "tumbled" stone from Home Depot, either individual 4" tiles, or pieces from 12" by 12" or 12" by 4" mosaic tiles that I cut into pieces. The small thin tiles along the top of the backsplash were all part of 12" x 4" mosaic strips. Had to go back to Home Depot three times before I had enough. Just can't count ;-)

I used ready-mixed stone/marble/tile thinset to mount the tiles. You just buy a bucketful of the stuff, no need to mix it. Worked really well as this was a relatively small area which took a long time (fiddly).

The other pictures show the completed backsplash--grouted and sealed, apart from the join between the tile and the countertop. I can do that this evening as the grout will be dry enough by then.

It is snowing

First day back at work, and snow is falling gently from a heavy grey sky.

I am happy that I do not have to commute!

New Year, new day

It's the first of January, 2008. The beginning of the first full year in this home. This morning the wind is howling straight at us across the bay, from the ocean in the south. It makes a sound in the reeds like someone wobbling a large sheet of steel. A little rain is starting to hurl itself against the windows--there will be more later. The sun rose pink and purple, but has now hidden in grey.

The windchimes are ringing in the new year. I have my beady eye on a juvenile oak tree that is going to be disappeared before its sap starts rising, along with a lot of surrounding brush. Now that all the leaves are gone, the view of the water is clearer, and its indicating what needs to be done.

I am impatient to be started on some new projects: the upstairs/master bathroom, and some bits-and-pieces downstairs that will allow it to become liveable (for example, side doors that don't leak when the wind is blowing the rain at them... which reminds me, I must make some preparations for later today because this wind is going to slide round from the west, and blow water at the laundry door).

I have spent several days working on the kitchen backsplash: my first tiling work. Today, it's time for the grout. Was going to make the backsplash from black pebbles--I bought the tiles which are basically black, flat and smooth pebbles glued to a mesh backing, like any mosaic tile. But after putting the job off for a while, I realised that it needed to be a lighter colour. Several trips to Home Depot later, (even if you buy the boxes of stone tiles which have the right colour label, the tiles inside may be a different colour, have huge holes or bits missing--and I my guess of the number of small mosaic tiles I needed was a little out), the backsplash is in place and the stone is sealed ready for grouting. Will post pictures once that's done.

Benazir Bhutto assassinated

We just heard the news. This is horrendous.

I have so much respect for this woman. I had the fortune of seeing and hearing her speak at a small conference in Boston a couple of years ago. While the other speakers were (with the exception of one) successful and interesting women, Benazir for me stole the show. She was honest, approachable, human--and real.

When asked about Islam and terrorism, she said that Islam is a peaceful religion.

"These people have hijacked my religion."

NOTHING justifies this assassination. NOTHING.

Christmas bear?

Here is my first contribution to Long Island's Christmas Light Spectacular. I think I will call him Billy.

I can see that I rapidly have to collect inflatable santas/snowmen riding aeroplanes/motorbikes/cars or sitting in snow globes, and surround them with lit-up sugar canes, Christmas trees, decorated trees (deciduous and evergreen, just put lights all over them), flashing lights, floodlit nativity scenes, flourescent deer, window lights, roof lights, garage lights: white, green, blue, red, yellow--any type, any colour.

Some of the displays are amazingly graceful and are wonderful to see in these dark winter nights.

Some of the displays are just plain tacky...

Another winter sunrise

The sun has moved further and further to the south. Soon it willl start to bounce back... the longest night of the year is with us, after that, the future just gets brighter.

It's so cold even my thoughts are frozen

Arrived back from San Francisco, after a couple days in Sacramento, via Los Angeles, on the red-eye. Concerned because we were flying into a storm, the second to hit New York in the past week. But the flight was uneventful, the landing no more bumpy than others... and the snow was being washed away by pelting, torrential rain.

It rained and blew and blew and rained all day yesterday. And then the temperature dropped.

This morning, the wind is still blowing. But all of the water on the streets is frozen.

The bay is still liquid, I can see waves tossed up by the wind.

Ever-changing

The view, the weather, the sunrises and the sunsets, the bird population, the animal sightings, the things on peoples' houses and lawns (this week it is Christmas lights and decorations, including a huge cut-out crib scene just up the street... I wonder what the raccoons think to that).

The other evening I was walking by number one beach as the sun was setting. Walking the stray dog, trying to find his home, instead finding the most beautiful sunset, gold and pink on the flat steel water.

Every day is different.

I wonder if I will get used to the differences? I hope not.

Dog visitor

This is the dog who came to visit this week. We don't know his name, but he was a real gentleman (if a little down on his luck--nothing that a nice hot bath wouldn't have solved). I was taking Fury for a walk when he came trotting out from the wetlands beach. I did an about-turn with Fury, but she'd noticed him and, of course, wanted to show who was boss. I spent the next ten minutes dragging her eighty-plus pounds all the way back home. Each time we turned a corner, I thought we were safe, but each time, he followed. He followed us right into the front garden and sat there on the grass.

And... once she was inside the house, Fury decided that he was a Nice Guy. And let him in, where he drank a large bowl of water, ate a big bowl of her food, and snoozed. He would not climb the stairs though--either couldn't, wouldn't, or didn't think it was allowed.

We posted him as Found Dog on craigslist and on fidofinder.com, called the local vets, called the Animal Shelter (where they took all the details), put up a sign and walked him through the neighbourhood, looking for his home... but no-one called. A couple came to see him, who had lost a labrador a while ago, but it wasn't their dog.

Poor guy... we were sure his family were looking for him. So Friday we took him to the animal shelter where they told us that the family had been calling all morning (but they hadn't passed on the information that we'd given them and which was pinned to their "found dogs" noticeboard in the lobby. Anyway... happily, he was reunited with his family.

The animal shelter takes in strays and dogs and cats that are given up for adoption. It is a sad place full of barking, hopeful dogs looking for someone to love them, feed them or even just tolerate them. Most of the dogs were pit bulls or pit-cross-somethings. Some old and grey-whiskered, some young pups, and some without ages. All were sad and I cried to see them. Not enough to take another one home: but because they needed homes of their own.

If you want a dog, go to the shelters and find him there. He's waiting, your dog. You'll know him when you meet him.

Muffin's First Snow!

It is snowing!!! Muffin has never seen snow before. She went out and tested it. For five minutes she wandered around the deck, her back twitching each time a snowflake landed. She sat and waited for birds. She came in again, washed herself, then went out the front door, did a tour of the house, came back up onto the deck, and is now comfortably warm on the chaise longue where she has a good view of snowflakes.

Fury went for a run on the wetlands beach. There is something weird, and yet beautiful, about snow on soft sand.

The flakes are getting larger, but it is forecast to turn to sleet, and then rain, later today. I forgot to empty the hosepipe to the pond, and it is frozen solid. I bet it will leak when the temperature goes above freezing again.

Winter sunset

The skies are pink, orange and purple now, and it gets dark very early. It's like the day is over at 5 p.m. I have to remind myself that there are many hours to fill between dark and bedtime, and plenty that can be done without daylight.