2011 MAR 23 : WEDNESDAY
Yet more house projects.

We hired a couple of people from the Millionair Club to clear the terraced eastern side of our property. They are a non-profit organization that places the homeless and working poor in day/temporary jobs (and perhaps permanent ones as well). Employers have to provide any necessary equipment, of course.

Tom and Paul (actual name “Si”… his full name seemed Korean to me but he did not look very Korean) worked hard and cleared practically the entire area except for the really stubborn blackberries roots. They were very happy we gave them lunch (one had brought a salmon sandwich just in case). I gave Paul some naproxen later, too. Apparently their job rate was only $9 an hour (is that even minimum wage?) but we gave them $80 each for maybe six hours of work. They protested that we were paying them too much, which was nice of them, but they definitely earned it.
Amanda finished clearing the steep slope above the large retaining wall in front of the house. She obtained various native plants and planted them. Sweet!

I started building the chicken run which will basically be a big rectangular frame with a door on one end and the doghouse/coop on the other. It is kinda slow going as I never have the exact tools to do anything nor is there a good space to make it, but I did get the big parts of the frame put together.

We and the two workers generated a lot of yard waste, but we had already filled our yard waste container up a few days ago. Since it will cost $4.15 for each extra bag we put out, we decided to slowly get rid of it over the coming weeks as we have 18 large compostable paper bags ($70+!!!!), and we are still generating more.

Grades came in for the winter quarter and I still have a 4.0! Crazy.

We went out to eat because we were tired and to celebrate a successful academic quarter. Although, since the Kai was with us, we ended up just going to Red Robin rather than, say, eating a lot of decadent sushi and sake. I ate a lot of fry instead and ignored Amanda’s disapproval. Hey, I was supposed to be celebrating.

I was taking a break, but now back to chicken coop-ing.

It’s been another couple of weeks since the last entry; I am trying to write in the weblog more again, but success is proving elusive.

It is spring break for me this week, and Amanda took the week off so that we could work on house projects. Stuff we wanted to get down or get significant progress on are:

• new stone planter in the back
• set up vegetable garden
• remove ivy and other crap in the front trees
• plant stuff on the steep slope in front so the house doesn’t slide off the hill
• weed and clear the terraces on the eastern side of the property and plant new stuff
• set up chicken coop

Stone planter: The original thing in the back was roted and decrepit, so we tore it out earlier. We got a bunch of cement blocks, adhesive, and basically put a new planter in. It was not entirely straightforward as it is on a hill, but still not really complicated. Today we pretty much finished it up. Amanda actually did most of the work.

Garden: I had been thinking about what to do with the vegetable garden for a while. There is one area in our backyard where is pretty much has to go as there is only one area that gets enough light. Unfortunately, it is right beside our deck and on a slope. My original idea was to set up raised beds as I find them easier to deal with (as they are “higher” up from the ground) and it is less likely the plants will be affected by runoff from the driveway and deck which are uphill from the area. Making the beds wouldn’t be all that hard, but I was unsure it we could get a truck with enough dirt into alley/shared driveway behind the house. And that quantity of dirt/compost would be expensive.
Another option would be to terrace the area and plant a traditional bed. That would be less ideal, probably the same amount of work, and would require less imported dirt. I was worried about drainage and whatever, but surely I couldn’t cause that much damage (the eastern side of our property is steep and terraced with rocks; the neighboring house is perhaps 16 feet below us.

So I decided to go ahead and till the area and think about it so more. Today I rented a tiller from Home Depot in SODO and spent a couple of hours breaking up the soil. It was pretty packed and there was a lot of junk(stones, trash, etc.) in it. I did success in leveling the area out, though. Afterwards, I decided to just do a traditional bed and shore up the eastern edge with something soon (blocks, landscape timber, whatever). At the moment I am using the sides of another old planter fight erosion on that side.

Remove Ivy: Amanda tore a bunch of ivy down last weekend. I had cut a lot of the lower vines last fall to kill the orphaned ends and make them easier to pull down, but whatever type of ivy it is refused to meekly die. She did get a lot more down, though. I think we still need to get a professional arborist in to check out the trees in front, though.

Plant Stuff on the Slope/Retaining Wall/Cliff out front. Amanda investigated the front and has been looking for native plants. We are going to put native plants out there because we want something there that will go wild and not have to be maintained by us.
Weed and Clear Eastern Terraces: Amanda took a stab at this over the weekend. This will be a lot of work. We may hire a couple of people to do this for us, but perhaps we will also do it ourselves. I’d like to put grapes here, but that may be too ambitious for this year.

Set up the chicken coop: We had been doing a lot of research on the chicken coop idea, but I was leaning to just buying one because making one is not necessarily cheaper and definitely takes more time. In the end, we decided to repurpose a large dog house as a small coop and make a run to go with it. I looked on craiglist for suitable candidates, and we bought a never-used wooden one from Elena in Lynnwood (we made the exchange in a WalMart parking lot of all places). We still have to make an enclosed run and setup the inside. And get the chickens, but Amanda says we can get them from Dan the Chicken Man in Auburn. I’ll take her word for it.

Other things that have happened:

• Amanda went to the dentist today.
• We went xcounty skiing with the Kai a couple of weeks ago to try out his new skiis. He went maybe 10m and declared he didn’t like them. He spent the time playing in the snow and throwing snowballs around while Amanda and I alternated turns skiing around. I also made a snow horse and an snow alpaca with him.
• Amanda and I had a date at IKEA. A date in the sense that the Kai was old enough to go to kids area while we strolled about sans progeny and perhaps had a meal in the cafeteria. It was fun while it lasted, but the Kai did not last for all that long, so we got buzzed to pick him back up. So we had a date with him in the cafeteria.
• The scooter battery died, but I found my old charger and it is as good as new now.
• My allergies are killing me.
• I bicycled for the first time this year to the fruit stand. It wasn’t that far, but I am clearly not in bicycling shape. Although I am pleased I got up the hill (actually the whole way is uphill) without stopping. Hard to believe one year I rode around 160+ miles a week. Or that I still have and ride that bicycle which is now 16 years old (link is obviously to the current model). Of course, only the frame/fork/headset, break calipers, hubs, crank arms, some of the rear cassette, and chainrings are from the original bike, but parts do wear out.

Tomorrow there will probably we more house projects.

2001 MAR 04 : FRIDAY
Kai had his three year checkup at Group Health. They actually tried to take his blood pressure with an automatic cuff which he did not like at all and probably thought was a torture device. Since he kept moving around, it never could get his pressure readings, and it kept squeezing and releasing to the distress of the Kai.

Otherwise, the checkup was fine. We had been away from Group Health for a year due to changing insurance, but it was good to see our old providers again. The Kai had to get two shots which was not so fine, though.

2011 MAR 05 : SATURDAY
It was my old friend MAS’s 39th birthday today (though her initials are more like MASJ now). Hope she had a good one.
We went downtown via light rail in the morning to look for a pair of winter gloves for the Kai so we could go xcountry skiiing this weekend. He had a pair, but lost one. Unfortunately, the more outdoor-type stores were sold out of kiddie gloves (while still having plenty of adult ones), and other more general clothing stores have gotten rid of their winter stock and have spring clothes in.

We ended up getting a cheap pair at Walgreens just so that he would have something.

We wandered through the market where we got a snack for the Kai and then headed down to the waterfront so that the Kai could ride the carousel at the arcade next to the aquarium.
We then headed back to the Westlake Center to catch the train back, but stopped for lunch beforehand up in their food court. I got a tasty falafel, as usual; I don’t think I have ever gotten anything else up there.

During the Kai’s nap, we got a lot of cleaning done. The big thing was completely cleaning out the car as it was pretty disgusting. I also cleaned a lot of disgustingness in the basement.

Amanda also went to REI to look for gloves. She came home with a pair that is definitely too big for him. She also returned a wallet I got there a while ago that failed, but had to pay an “upcharge” of $8 to get a replacement since we had gotten it on sale before. When I first heard that I thought it was completely lame (can’t return something bought on sale???), but they would have credited our account instead if we wished. I hope that the whole purchase is dividend-eligible now, though, but somehow I doubt that.

AC and MC came over with kiddies for a pizza dinner.

Amanda is asleep on the couch now, and I am trying to get some projects done. I am also fiddling about with my notebook computer as I got another power adapter in the mail today (the second replacement). Apparently thinkpad adapters suck nowadays… they typically die when the cables fray and/or break inside. Eh. Fortunately, they can be easily replaced.

No time no weblog, in spite of my intent to write more this year.
LK turned three last weekend.

2011 FEB 25 : FRIDAY
Amanda and I had an appointment in the morning. Afterwards I dropped her off at UW. After a brief stop back at home for some quick cleaning and mopping the floors, I picked up my mom at the airport. We stopped at southcenter for lunch at Ivar’s and then went to Home Depot for a closet auger. I have been trying to fix our easily clogged downstairs toilet for a while and decided to just get an auger to clear it out. $40 is cheap compared to what a plumber charges, and I had just been reading how fixing toilets is a plumber’s cash cow.

Back at home, two uses of the auger fixed the toilet. Magical!
I eventually retrieved the Kai and Amanda, and we had a quiet dinner (as quiet as a dinner with the Kai can be).

2011 FEB 26 : SATURDAY
Amanda and her mom went grocery shopping at Trader Joe’s for us, for some FMIG function the following week, and for the Kai and Connor’s birthday party on Sunday. They also bought party accouterments like a stegosaurus piñata and an inflatable T. Rex. The inflatable object is traditional now, as we get one every year. They then spent a lot of time baking and decorating cupcakes for the kiddie’s birthday. The cupcakes were arranged in the shapes of various dinosaurs.

My mom and I took the Kai to the science center. He ran around and presumably had fun. We saw one of his schoolmates August there.

On the way back home I saw a lot of people “saving” parking spaces by standing in them. Curious… I had never seen that here in Seattle before.

That evening, we went all the way to Federal Way for dinner. Due to the influence of television, he wanted to go to Red Lobster; I believe they show their commercials during one of Rachel Ray’s shows (apparently LK’s favorite). I had never been to Federal Way before, but the Red Lobster was smack in the middle of commerical-land.

We had a long wait at the restaurant even though we were there early. The wait made Amanda into a grumposaurus. Once seated, though, the dinner was fine, even though I have no desire to return again. They did have these tasty cheese biscuit things though, that were really bad for you. I got some parmesan fish thing which was actually pretty tasty. I also thought it was horrendously bad for you, but the nutritional information revealed that the dish, while not precisely good for you, wasn’t all that bad… I had thought it would be like 2000 calories, but it was “only” 800.

The place was lacking in explicit vegetarian options, so Amanda had a baked potato, mozzarella sticks, and asparagus.

The Kai had a sundae with a candle, and the waitstaff sang “Happy Birthday” to him. He was pleased.

All in all, I did not see the allure of the place, but it was packed and very busy. I did note that the average BMI of the patrons in the place was definitely way above 30. Maybe that is more representative of the area, though, and not the restaurant.

2011 FEB 27 : SUNDAY
We went to Geraldine’s Counter for bfast. It was good. Amanda is making a knit hat for one of the waiter’s there and had to find him to measure his head.

That afternoon was Connor and LK’s combined birthday party. We had it at the Seattle Gymnastic’s Academy in Columbia City. It was a perfect place for a three-year old party; all the kids ran around and jumped all over the equipment and had a grand time. They also lead some group activities with the kids. Most of the kiddies were Connor’s friends; we only invited a couple of people from LK’s school and a few others. CY and EY came with little AY, but they unfortunately missed the running about the gym part due to her nap, but made it in time for some cake and snacks. None of our former PEPS group could made it.

We went over to AC-MC’s place for dinner. Amanda and I stopped at the PCC for dinner supplies for kale and field roast pasta. Apparently, Netflix put up Season 2 of the Wonderpets, another Kai favorite, so we watched a couple of episodes.

2011 FEB 28 : MONDAY
Amanda went off to work, but I kept the Kai home from school to have some time with his Lola. I thought about going somewhere with him, but I thought it would be better to stay at home if the point was for him to spend time with my Mom. I had schoolwork to do, but then I don’t see my mom every day either.

Theoretically, we were going to have another party for the Kai in the evening for adults (i.e. adults with no kids), but it was unclear if anyone was going to come (Amanda only invited a few people and it was a weekday and many people had already said they could not make it). She had ordered a guava cake, but it was unclear if we could actually pick it up from the bakery in time, and, as it turned out, the place was closed when I dropped by.

On the way to REI I got trapped on I5 due to a big truck fire that closed down all the lanes, but I eventually made it. I had lunch at the World Wrap place in the store before picking up ski poles for the Kai and a new set of bicycle fenders for me.

I went out again for party supplies in the afternoon and made preparations to made pizza for dinner. As it turned out, only JH came, but it was good to see her. She had brought a concentration-type game for the Kai and said that kids are far better than adults at it (even adults who are trying), and the Kai proved crazy good at it although he got distracted by various things (like anything) during the game.

I later took my mom back to the airport for her red-eye flight back to the east coast.