North Korea...not on my Bucket List.

Boring, boring, boring...North Korean says this, North Korea says that.  Remember North Korea? No?  Well you should...it's been the bane of the UN, South Korea, China and the United States since the 50's.  Remember the Korean War?  Well...it's not over 'til it's over.  They tore up the Armistice papers last week.  The North did.  Oh well.  Like a spoiled 2 year old in a grocery store, whining "I want Pebbles, I want a chocolate bar, can I have this car Mommie?"  Over and over again.  Boring, boring, boring.  Meantime it builds and sells weapons of war to our oh so friendly Middle Eastern relatives behind everyone's back.  Yawn...so predictable.  We've TRIED to ignore the poor thing, stopped listening while it wriggled and flailed itself on the floor of world condemnation.  Basically they just kept on and on, whining away into the night of our lost sleep.  Stick a bottle in it's mouth for crissakes!  So we all got up and stuck whatever passes for a bottle into the petulant face of the leader of North Korea until that bottle was empty, then, yes...you guessed it...the crying and whimpering began again a couple of weeks ago and hasn't let up.  Time for corporal punishment?  Maybe...but we want one more incident before we and our South Korean and Japanese buddies bring out the belt.
----
I repaired (rebuilt is more like it) the east picket fence yesterday using Simpson Strong tie straps to retain the 2 X4 joists that insert into the 4X4 posts.  4 screws each after pulling them together with ratcheting straps post to post.  Worked like a champ!  Then fabricated a magnetic "latch" for the picket gate too, no more sagging gate and no mechanical catch to misalign either.  2 small but very powerful magnets strapped and cemented to the post and gate does it!  Not bad at all.  Audrey approved!
---
Baked two round loaves of "3 cup 9 grain bread".  One for the wonderful neighbors who sweep the catalpa's (our big old tree)   www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQHsAvhwCz8      leaves from the street in front of our house when they do theirs.  Nice simple neighborly barter.
---
Ah, it's SUNDAY!  Big Newspaper day!  We take 2 on weekends, The SF Chronicle and the Daily Repulsive...er ah...Republic, our local one.  Takes most of the morning to accomplish the feat.  So many sections, so little interest!  Fillers and paper ads complete the mix...about 1/2 of the load is junk, pure and simple and is largely discarded when it is come upon between sections.  I generally read the Chron first while Kelly gives the DR a go over.  Each of us form a pile for the other to rotate through with suggested readings spoken of and coffee spilled on the most funny or upsetting sections.
Breakfast happens sometime in the middle of the "Sunday Read", omelets, over easy eggs or a hash or waffles, pancakes or a portion of last nights dinner.  Then a mid-morning stretch, a look-see outdoors to observe the cat bowl area for small furry invaders "at the bowl".  Turn on the silly laser machine for Fur-Rr-Eee to jump about and pounce on like the 19 year old Kat she is.  Then back to the paper.  I like the Opinion pages best.

Love to you all! 



 

Spring has Sprung...BO-INGGGG!

Well, rain yesterday and a bit the day before...thunderstorms!  We have damned few thunderstorms off our friendly, mostly benevolent Pacific Ocean but upon occasion...yes, a few...and Tuesday evening was one of those times.  Mostly cloud to cloud strikes but ONE "got" a nearby house and blew chunks of plaster off the ceiling and cracked the brick wall outside, no fire, no injuries but the electricity was out there for about a day while repairs were made.  A very wet night and the next day similar.  Cold too.

Kats? A few...but mostly they are staying away.  I wonder why?  The general level of cat cries and mating kat rituals are down and I haven't seen any out and out mating on the porch either.  Cat porno is definitely down.

The porch pillar repair is done for now, new beam and joists and landing pad plus the porch flooring replaced in that area.  It's good.  Then I patched in a small section of the flooring right in front of the door.  The next projects are to paint the whole porch including the stairs, then paint the house after 20 years of sun, wind and rain it looks pretty shabby.

We hired a gardener, 120 bucks and he cleared all the winter debris, fallen leaves, weeds, and oxalis from the north and east side gardens as planted by Marsha last summer while we were in France.  Bless her!  We came back to a fine looking garden with many new plants and a relocated kitchen garden plot, a bit smaller but now fully in the sun in the morning, a real plus for tomato growing.
I spent Tuesday morning planting Sweet 100's and some other heirloom tomato varieties, 6 in total.  Then some peppers, red and a pimento variety too.  A squash (zucco) and it's in need of a few others but it's a good start...then it rained.  I seeded in some parsley, basil, corriander, zinnas, marigolds and a few other herbs in open spaces and planted Kelly's bulbs in others, there WILL be pictures eventually.

Then a precipitous phone call from our lovely renters...they want out of the lease a couple of months early so they can move into their new purchse (a house) and get married, not necessarily in that order.
Shit, shit, double-shit.  Soooo, sure, no problem...taking it in the shorts again I fear.  At least we have abandoned our normal schedule this year and won't be going to France.  So off to write and assemble an ad on Craig's List.  That was Tuesday as well.  This morning got a call...fingers are crossed.  The Swamphouse IS beautiful! A BIG GIRL of a house! 

Here's our humble abode...