The Periphery of the Mind

It was a mixed bag this weekend, again.

I managed to get the exterior parts that needed repairs and painting done, including the shed door, the sunroom door frame, and the pillar on the front porch. It all looks much, much better now. I also got the gate on the fence tightened, and placed stones underneath it so Stormy couldn't dig out (Caden isn't a digger). I also filled five of Stormy's holes in the back yard, and lined the walkways with bricks. It looks so much better right now. Mowed, laid grass seed, finished trimming out the 4th bedroom door. Got almost all of the door trim caulked out, and I think I'm almost done plastering. Maryanne got the closet painted, and it looks great!

Still need to paint a few damaged and dirty spots in the living room. We had some water issues, which have been fixed but left some cosmetic problems. I'm thinking it'll take about as much time picking out paint as it will actually painting. Upstairs is a different story. Maryanne's studio needs a fresh coat of paint, the upstairs hall needs some touch up, the new door and trim needs some touching up, and the guest bedroom needs some detailing that only she can do. That said, maybe I can putty the holes in the meantime?

That said, the stress of it all is getting to Maryanne, and she's having second thoughts. We need to do the repairs regardless, and everything is too disorganized right now for us to stop anyway, but we won't be making a May 1st listing.

Labels: weekend recap

End of the month, so a double feature.

"The Funeral" by Band of Horses. The video also has some great stunt bike work.



"Aicha" by Cheb Khaled.

Labels: Funky Friday

A mixed weekend. The six canary eggs were tossed out; none of the chicks ever hatched, and a few weren't even fertilized. A shame, but I kind of figure we shouldn't be trying to breed them right now. Juliet and Romeo are separated, and Maryanne's giving Juliet a break at least until we move the birds upstairs.

The trim boards for the upstairs bedroom are almost done. I managed to get some good cuts, but hammering was a pain. I really should invest in a good nail gun some time I think. Still need to cut two more pieces, but I'll need a trip to home depot for materials before I can finish it. Then just need to caulk, and paint the nail heads. The upstairs closet now has shelves and a hanging rod, so it's finished. Maryanne's wanting to touch up the paint, but we may just leave it alone.

I'm taking off Friday and Monday, hopefully to finish fixing up the exterior. That'll leave this weekend for interior painting. Currently I need to dig up the dirt from the drainage ditch next to the house and driveway, use that fill the holes the dogs dig in the back yard, throw down grass seed and straw in places (maybe), and finally sand/fill/paint the bad parts on the exterior. Hopefully we won't get any rain, making it the first weekend where that's the case this month.

Labels: weekend recap

"Black Betty" by Tom Jones.

Labels: Funky Friday

"Lose You" by Pete Yorn.

Labels: Funky Friday

The other day the IRS sent us a nastygram saying we owed them $900 or $4000 for unpaid back taxes from 2007. It wasn't very clear. While I spent 20 truly awful minutes waiting for someone to pick up the phone, Maryanne was able to tear the entire house apart and find our 2007 tax returns (she has a skill at saving and finding important things, whereas I'd probably just throw them away). After talking with the woman and looking at the return it became clear: her previous employer had sent the IRS paperwork for the month or so she worked and then sent in a second W-2 for all the money she made in 2006. So now she's trying to get that sorted out. According to the IRS we need him to give us a signed document on company letterhead and a corrected W-2. Hopefully he's not trying to use us as some sort of temporary tax shelter, but who knows.

Better news on the canary front. Juliet is sitting on a total of six eggs now! Seems the first three she laid were followed by another three later, including two in one day. And she's very intent on her nesting. Esmerelda seems to be doing fine, and we're hoping to move her and Casanova soon and let them start breeding.

Labels: birds, Financial

Okay, I screwed up last week and only posted one video. So here's two! And in honor of April Fools, we're going to get a little... out there.

"The Badger Song".



"Banana Phone" by Raffi.

Labels: Funky Friday

So....

Tuesday afternoon I came home and checked on the canaries. They all looked fine, except Esmerelda. She was puffed up, breathing heavy, and looking stressed. And one of her eyes were swollen shut and she had some reddish gunk on her beak. It was really rather scary. Looking back though it's rather amusing that it took two adults to force medicine down a little bird's beak, but it did. She's doing better now, and her eye seems to be almost back to normal; I'm certain she can see out of it at least. Every time we pulled her from her cage, Casanova (who's in the cage next to her) got very upset and vocal about it. And every time we returned her, he would sing and sing. If nothing else, she seems to be warming up to him, and he seems to have stopped fixating on Juliet.

Speaking of which, Juliet laid another egg. Possibly a late fourth for her last clutch. The Professor's trying to return the first three eggs back to the nest, and Juliet seems to be accepting the one added today. Assuming they hatch, and we can get some other clutches this year, we could be making a nice profit by spring of '10 and pure profit from then on. So hopefully that will pan out.

A big stumbling block to all this though is that the Professor and I are hoping to list our house for sale by the first of June, or maybe even sooner. And we hope it'll move quick. Which could be good for us, but bad for breeding little birds. If nothing else, paint fumes and the like will be a major consideration. Tonight we're meeting with the realtors for dinner and then they're going to tell us all the things we need to fix, and all the things we can let slide. You actually want to leave some things alone, so that the potential buyers can dicker with you and feel like they've gotten a deal when they ask for repairs (or more accurately repair money). Major stuff will be fixed of course, but there's not too much of that on the house left. We've already replaced the furnace and the water line, and the gutter will be replaced by this weekend.

On a related note, I'm selling my old crap. I'm not making a profit (the stuff I could sell at a profit I'm keeping), but I'm still doing better than if I tried to sell it in a yard sale. To a large extent I look at it as reducing clutter and stuff to move as being worth something too, so I don't mind so much.

Labels: birds, moving