Snow?

Supposedly there's snow lurking in the area. I haven't seen it. Regardless, it's cold and drizzly. My heat had been off for a week - but when I got home tonight, the house was a pitiful 54 degrees! Collette whined until I turned the heat on and made a beeline for her favorite floor vent in the dining room.

I felt guilty for not playing storm window-screen swap over the weekend, since May begins in just a couple days, but now it seems perfectly prudent.

I just hope the frost doesn't kill my growing herd of tulips.

Weed'n and Feed'n with the Whirlybird

The front of my house is awash with color! The red tulips and yellow daffodils are starting to bloom, and the purple and pink petunias from last weekend are taking hold. The grass is greening with all the rain, and the brown, dead leaves have been raked away.

There's a bit of unwanted color, though, too. Dandelions.

Two years ago, when I moved in, half the front yard (the section between front walk and driveway) was a mess of crabgrass, dandelions and these strange purple vines that choked everything else. Mid-way through the summer, I took the nuclear option, liberally applying herbicide that killed everything in just a few days. Following the scorched earth, I put down about 200 lbs of new soil and reseeded the whole thing. The rest of the lawn got a liberal dose of weed and feed.

So in an effort to nip things in the bud, I pulled out the Whirlybird spreader and methodically meandered through the front yard. It's a tad windy, but hopefully enough of it will stay put to have an effect.

While in the backyard, I found a giant ant colony - heck, nearly an ant continent - that wasn't there last weekend. It was huge, and had a satellite colony about 15 feet away. Don drowned it, and we were both shocked at how much water it took before the thing collapsed, revealing a deep, deep network of tunnels. Nearby, there were several relatively large stones, each 3-4 inches in size. We conjecture that while building the tunnels, the ants moved these rocks! So I've got another thing to monitor over the next couple weeks. If it comes back, we'll try the chemical route.

The Outdoors Beckons

Wednesday, it got nice out. I was working from home, and by the time I went out to retrieve the garbage cans just before noon, the sun was shining and it was nearly 70 degrees. I stripped the removeable caulk from the porch windows and opened them wide. The stale winter air started to seep out and though cool, it felt great. I opened all the windows I could (bedroom, kitchen), and Collette went to town investigating the fresh air and singing birds.

The rest of the week, I cracked those same windows and watched the green tulip leaves grow taller and taller. I even slept with the windows cracked and was shocked awake by the birds at 4 AM. We went to a Cubs game one night, and grilled another night. It's really spring!

I was hosting Bunco Friday night, so all week I was in full spring cleaning mode. Airing everything out helped a bunch, though Friday evening wasn't warm enough to use the porch as I had optimistically hoped when I offered to host months ago. So things were a bit cozy, but went off without a h itch.

Saturday loomed rainy and the day alternated between sun and showers. I went to Kohl's and bought a springy new welcome mat and kitchen towels. Then, during a sunny period, I took advantage of hooking the hose up for the season to scrub the cat's box (note to self: must install utility sink before winter!), then vacuumed out the car and found 93 cents. I even opened up the basement windows to air that out and vacuumed up cobwebs and dust. In full spring mode, I stripped my bed and switched out the fuzzy winter blanket for the lighter summer blanket. Then we invited friends over and grilled again.

I spend most of today outside, potting dianthus (red flowers) for my hanging baskets on the porch, cleaning up more leaves and detritus around the yard, and planting snapdragons and petunias in the front flower beds. The latter may come back to bite me, as it's still a bit early in the season - a last frost could be looming. But it was good to be outside in the sunshine, and the beds look great - still no tulip flowers, but they're getting close.

This evening, I decided to de-caulk the rest of the windows and play the great screen-window matching game while putting away the storm windows.

Most of the windows went pretty quickly. At first, I used a flat-head screwdriver to pull up the removeable caulk I couldn't get with my fingers, but quickly realized I was nicking up the windows. So I switched to a putty knife (genius!) and knocked out the rest of the porch, the office and the back hallway.

The living room window proved far, far more difficult though. It's very old and leaky, and doesn't even stay in place when it's not locked - the top window slips an inch when the bottom is open. But since it's a nice wood window - with beautiful finish that matches all the downstairs woodwork - I know it will be a more expensive replacement. Since it's so craptastic, I used a ton of caulk that has proved a bit excessive, as I can't get it up. The gap was sizable, so I really slathered on the goop which has now taken up permanent residence. I was getting closer after a solid two hours of careful, gentle scraping, but my hand is numb, so I'm taking a break. This is further motivation to replace that window - and if I do it at the same time as ripping out the air conditioner and replacing it with a window, they'll match.

Overall, it was a very productive weekend.

Happy Housiversary!

It's my second housiversary today! After last week's vacation, I had lots to do around the house today. I did some spackling and framed and hung some pictures. Then I moved out the couch and cleaned behind it. Still in full-cleaning mode, I lifted up the heavy (iron?) heat intake grate in the dining room and vacuumed out the gross cobwebs. I found cat toys and crayons in the vent, so it's obviously been quite awhile since it was cleaned out! I had to fend off Collette, who was circling curiously. I was afraid she would dart down into the vent, which would have been bad news. I dusted, I vacuumed, I laundered.

I also finally did my first outdoor work of the season! I went out with my rake and yard waste bag and started picking up all the leaves and sticks that have accumulated over the long, long winter. It proved too windy to rake, and after all the rain, yesterday's snow and this morning's hail, the flower beds were too soft to spend any real time in. But I filled half a bag with detritus and preened over my growing tulips - no buds yet, but soon enough!

This evening, I ran to Menard's to price out some of my upcoming projects. I am definitely replacing the back door and screen door in the very near future. I priced out fencing, since mine is looking sorrier and sadder now that I'm home before dark. I have a lot of decisions to make on the fence. I want the same basic structure - a 6 foot tall privacy fence - especially since my back yard abuts the neighboring apartment building's parking lot. I could replaced the rotting, faded, cracked, splintered wood with new wood - involving painting or staining and periodic maintenance. The new composite fencing looks intriguing, though, especially with the lack of maintenance. But I'm not sure how a white fence would look against my white house. Plus, if I stay in this house another five years, how much maintenance would I really need to do?

I also wandered through the bathroom section to look at the looming big project that I'll tackle just as soon as I get the cash.

But for now, it's been a happy housiversary.

Where ladybugs go to die

Last night, in a fit of spring energy mixed with winter disgust, I mopped the floors and pulled down some of the window plastic. Everything seems much brighter. The tile is a much cheerier sandy orange. Though I've gotten pretty good at shrinkwrapping my windows so you can't really tell, the film is indeed a film. Now that it's gone, the whole room seems brighter.

I was as careful as I could be removing the plastic. Even, so, I accidentally peeled up a couple chunks of windowsill paint in my bedroom. Fortunately, they're windowsills I painted when I moved in (and removed the baseball wallpaper), so I have plenty of spare paint. It should be a relatively quick touchup some dreary day.

However, I was amazed - shocked, nearly - at the volume of dead ladybugs trapped between the window glass and the film! Most windows had at least three or four beetle bodies, but some - namely the upstairs hallway and bathroom - had a dozen, easy. In the fall, when they start coming in to the house, Collette has a field day chasing them, trapping them under her paws, and crunching them as they try to fly away. She didn't seem too interested in the long-dead carcases, though.

I wonder how they got there, though. My seals were pretty tight, so they must have wriggled in through both the storm window and the glass. The storm windows wouldn't surprise me, since they're old and don't really fit snugly. The glass itself is a bit concerning, though. Both those windows are on my list to replace sooner rather than later, and they're exactly the same size and age - big and old.

I can just imagine a whole line of them seeking shelter from the cold October nights, crawling towards the house, hurtling the storm window, and glass before getting trapped by the film.

Unless, of course, I've disproved Redi and Pasteur. Maybe there really is spontaneous generation and my house should be a research site!

Is cleaning women's work?

No matter the size of my home, I've always been the cleaner. Living alone, if I don't do it, it doesn't get done. I try to keep things pretty tidy and straighten up periodically, trying to actually clean weekly. I've found with the bigger house, though, comes a lot more cleaning! Back in my apartment days, 10 minutes on a Saturday morning was enough to clean the bathroom, and another 10 allowed for a quick Swiffering of the entire apartment. But now, I have to choose - upstairs bathroom or downstairs? Do I really need to do both every weekend? And vacuuming - really, how often do I have to do it? Can I forgo pulling out the couch? After all, I'll just have to start over again in a week or two, anyway.

As a result, I've fallen into laziness. No bones about it, there's been some sheer, unadulterated sloth lately. Part of it is the futility of winter. I can't remember the last time I mopped the tile in the back hallway, since the nearly-constant snow, slush and muck have kept it nice and filthy, with gray splotches and splatters galore. Since the windows have been closed since early October, there have been no cleansing breezes to dislodge the ceiling cobwebs, and the air in general is stale with a hint of Febreeze.

But really, whose problem is it? Growing up, my mom spent much of her free time cleaning the house, delegating some of the chores to my sister and me. When company was coming, though, Dad would take the reins and do a good chunk of the vacuuming and dusting.

I wonder, if I were to live with a guy who was willing to clean, would I let him? How committed am I to my role as cleaner? And is it because I'm a girl or because I'm the de facto housekeeper?

Sprouts

On my way home this evening, the air was brisk for the first of April, but warm compared to lately. As I came up the driveway, I slowed to glance at the flower beds, as I have for the last several days. To my surprise, there was not one, not two, but at least half a dozen tulip sprouts! They're not green, but rather a deep burgundy, so they don't really stand out against the reddish mulch. I can't recall what I planted. Last year, I had only red tulips, so I'm assuming (hoping?) they'll come back, but I think I bought a bag of mixed bulbs in October.

I was so excited, I came inside and stripped down the plastic over the glass of the front door and in the bathroom. I'll wait for the living room and bedroom until the overnight temperatures are above freezing.

Pictures tomorrow...