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The Big Dig

Thursday, December 7th, 2023

A couple of months ago we had a bit of water in our crawlspace downstairs which led to the discovery of roots growing into the pipe connecting the house to the main sewer line. Our options were to pay to have the pipe cleaned out every year or so, or get it replaced. Either way was an expensive proposition, so we chose the latter. Yesterday the work was done.

It was a fascinating procedure, since they only had a guess (within 3 feet) as to where the pipe exactly was under the ground, and the rise in our front yard meant they’d have to dig to a depth of at least five foot. The guy operating the excavator was a professional, and he was very careful and precise since he wanted to minimize damage to the front yard. almost immediately the scoop was breaking theough tangles of roots, and sometimes they were so thick his helper had to cut them with a chainsaw!

It took about 2.5 hours to reveal the pipe, and as you can see they had to shift the dig location a bit from their original guess. While this was happening there was another guy inside installing a new toilet and faucet in our downstairs bathroom, and he told me that on a previous dig they had unearthed (about 6 foot underground) a suitcase full of old style dolls, and that another employee had once found a box of cash (that the homeowner had let him keep)!

Here’s where the root had grown into the old pipe. It had created a dense root mass about 8 foot long and the guys were amazed we hadn’t had a serious blockage before!

The affected section was removed (the red circles show where it was cut out) and a new plastic one put in. They also added a clean-out access valve (apparently it’s required by code now) to make it easier to remove any future blockages.

The hole was then filled in and the work was almost complete. I say almost since the ground will settle so they’ll return after the thaw to add a load of dirt on top. Here’s what it looks like today, with the cleanout cap circled:

As I said this was very expensive, but we trust they did a good job and hopefully this will minimize problems in the future (plus we have a new loo and faucet downstairs). Stuff like this is just one of the many ‘joys’ of owning a home!

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The Magnet-Mages

Thursday, February 16th, 2023

It’s time for the second installment in my magnet series! Sure it’s been almost five years since the last, but there’s been a development.

For the first time ever, I sorted through our voluminous abundance of magnets, discarding and rearranging them, and clearing some space on our fridge for new additions. In doing this – which took much longer than expected – I thought it a good time to showcase a few.

Some of the oldest magnets we own are Pokémon and Digimon ones bought almost 30 years ago. I’m surprised they’ve lasted so long since they’re so cheaply made: just a sticker on a plastic base. Even though they’re a little low-rent, now we’ve had them for so long they’ve endeared themselves to us.

Back in 2019 when I was in Tokyo with Bernard I picked up the above magnet of ‘Someity’, one of the two Olympic mascots. She was supposed to evoke a cherry blossom, and merchandise of her (and her brother) was abundant. She looks a bit like a Pokémon doesn’t she? The Rey is a large static cling we’ve had for about a decade but I no longer remember where I got it.

A few years back I visited Forster with Sue and picked up this magnet. Thermometer magnets like this are trash of course, and questionably accurate, but there’s a lot of good in a bad magnet! Apparently it is possible to take whale cruises from Forster… maybe I should investigate that more one day?

A recent purchase! I got this striking metal embossed magnet (it’s about 10 cm wide) from the Ultra shop/exhibition in Nakano. This is a wonderful magnet, but it was a tad expensive. I wish I’d bought more though.

Not a magnet, but the above is our first ever ‘digital photo print’. This photo of Daisy was taken and printed on a dot-matrix printer when she was a little kitten. Its wonderfully low-tech and quaint, and since it is over 25 years old now I recently embossed so it lasts forever 🙂

Can you guess where we bought this? I’ve read that tourists can’t get very close to Stonehenge anymore, since they’ve moved the barrier back even farther than when we visited twelve years ago. I’ll always remember that as a special day.

A few years ago Florence texted me a photo of the above magnet, so naturally I had to buy it. I laughed aloud when it arrived and was about five times the size I thought from the pic. There were two to choose from, the other being Putin. I made the right choice.

I don’t recall exactly where I bought the above, but they feel like they’ve been on the fridge forever. The Luke is permanently attached to the base, but the other two can be replaced with any minifig. I recently had a look in the LEGO shop to see if you can still purchase these magnetic bases and they’re no longer made. A shame, since I think they’re great.

One of my all-time favourite magnets! This was purchased in Nara (Japan) back in 1997. Nara is the city with all the deer oft visited by school groups hence the design (the deer is wearing a school backpack). It’s only about an inch high, and its smile is infectious! I want to return to Nara one day…

Two ‘home made’ magnets. The bottom I made, and the top was bought on Etsy. It’s a 3D printed skull painted black with gold accents. I bought this as a gift for Bernard but liked it so much I kept it 🙂

I wonder if these sort of magnets – funny ones with jokes on them – are made in other countries? This is one of the better ones I’ve got, and for a long while lived on the whiteboard in my office at school.

The traditional ‘lake monster’ magnet, displayed alongside a couple of others also from Inverness. I bought all these the day we went to see the loch. That was another great day, since it was a place I had wanted to visit since childhood.

These are extremely high-quality mini Star Wars magnets. These were a series of blind-box items from over a decade ago, and I first bought them in Japan and then at Target when they were (surprisingly!) released here. I’ve got lots, and they’re now all together on the fridge. Can you name all these characters?

The above are our front doors, now covered in magnets from all over the world. There’s still space though, but I’ve probably got another twenty or so years before I need to sort them again…

Posted in Art, Blog, Collecting, Home | Comments Closed

Fireworks 2022

Tuesday, July 5th, 2022

We went to Rochester to visit the parents and once again we brought fireworks with us for a July 4 extravaganza…

As you can see that’s an impressive haul (and yes everyone was amused at me arranging them for a photo) ranging from tiny little things to monsters that go boom in the night!

The box designs continue to be creative, featuring multiple points from which the sparks/projectiles fire. Although not visible in the photo above the Pyro Engine is mounted on rotating base for a dramatic effect when lit! We also bought a lighthouse with windows that light up. You can see both in the video below.

The two fish were different prices and the most expensive one (about $25) was longer and much more spectacular than the other. The tiny Saturn Missile Battery shot all 25 of the little missiles into the air and only cost $2! Far more impressive was our 196-shot Roman candle (the big black tube in the top photo) which was only $13 and didn’t disappoint!

As with previous years much of our fireworks were fountains like the above. These are what are legal here, and sold in local shops in the month before July 4. It’s always a mystery what these fireworks will actually do when lit, but most of the ones we set off last night were very pretty 🙂

We had a lot of hand-held items this year, and they seem to be a little bigger and… dangerous… every year!

The weather was beautiful and the temperature just right. We had a delicious grilled dinner immediately before the fireworks, although I’d been setting off a lot of the smaller ones all afternoon!

That handheld one was like a portable lightsaber! The flames roared as they came out, and I could easily feel the heat holding it as I was. The theme of this item was the Statue of Liberty, and the flames changed between red white and blue.

Of course the more dramatic ones are better suited to video, so here’s a little montage movie I put together of some of the highlights:

Happy Independence Day 🙂

Posted in Family, Holiday, Home | 1 Comment »

Let’s Cook Tacos!

Wednesday, March 2nd, 2022

It’s been a while since I shared a recipe, and the pandemic has taught us all that tacos are easy and delicious. So here’s my preferred method of preparation!

Toss about 90 grams of 93% or higher reduced fat mince into a pan on medium to high heat. Cool until there’s no red.

Add water and taco seasoning. The exact quantity of each doesn’t matter; you want it looking like the above. Turn the heat to maximum.

The water will evaporate off leaving just delicious meat. If it looks like the above, you’re golden!

Heat up the shells in your air fryer. Ideally you’ll use stand-and-stuff types, but we were duped by fancy packaging into buying the above which don’t even stand up! The one at the front is slightly smaller as well, although once again the packaging lied and suggested they were even smaller still! Toss a little bit of shredded pizza cheese into the shells: as for how much, remember the mantra ‘less is best‘!

Add the meat, the heat from which should melt the cheese. Finesse is immaterial here; just stuff it in.

Add the pineapple. This is perhaps the most critical step, since tacos are nothing without pineapple. I used the fancy Dole stuff in the black-and-gold cans, but as you know any pineapple is better than no pineapple!

Add the shredded lettuce and you’re finished. All that’s left is the best step: eating!

Why not make these and let me know what you think?

Posted in Blog, Food, Home | Comments Closed

Snow Day

Friday, February 25th, 2022

We haven’t had much snow this year, and the few falls we had melted quickly. But we had a good one overnight, and it led to most local workplaces and schools closing today (or in my case, teaching online).

The forecast was 8-12 inches in total, and I think we’re on the low end of that. It’s light and fluffy and easy to move, but it’s also extremely cold out which made the job unpleasant.

Every time I use the snowthrower it seems heavier and more unwieldy. And it feels colder outside in every storm. Is this what getting old is like? 🙂

The driveway is white again as I type this – another inch or so has fallen I think – but I probably won’t need to clear it again. Although the roads will be clear by tomorrow it will remain cold for many days so I think we’ll be enjoying snowy surroundings for at least a week.

I wonder if this will be the last major snowfall of the year? I hope not; it feels like we’ve hardly had a winter with the infrequent snow we’ve had. While it may be inconvenient from a work perspective I hope we’ve got at least one more big blizzard coming this winter.

Posted in Blog, Home, Nature | Comments Closed

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