I installed a window air conditioner.
Okay, it wasn’t that difficult, but I managed to get it from my driveway to the bedroom, smack the ancient window frame up so it would fit in the opening, add the side vents, screw in the supports and plug it in. I’m very proud.
What did you work on this week?
I’m impressed! All I’ve done round the house is a little bit of cleaning and I potted up a few house plants. Half a dozen to go, including 2 that’re 8 feet tall so they’ll take a bit of doing. But at the day job, my team got to the end of 4 big projects all in the the same week. Being past that burst of work is a great relief.
It’s Tuesday today! I just saw this and nearly had a panic attack thinking it was Wednesday already and that I had missed an important meeting. This worked better than a double espresso at getting my system up and running, Jenny! I have mostly been in a funk this last week and have managed very little, but did get a post up with my newest knitting project here: https://knitigatingcircumstances.com/2020/07/19/hatcher/.
me, too! The panic attack, I mean.
other than that trying to get a rewrite expansion done for my agent, and it’s hard. but I’m getting there.
I am reminded of a Pogo cartoon – “Friday the thirteenth done snuck up on a Monday!” (Working Wednesday done snuck up on a Tuesday!)
I didn’t notice that it wasn’t Wednesday until you mentioned it, and I have done some specifically Tuesday things! Glad someone knows what day it is.
Yay for the far antipodes, it’s Wednesday here (well, it will be in twenty minutes).
Which means my approaching first assignment deadline is approaching and seriously, HELP!!!
I need to write a personal essay on a significant event that has happened to me where science has touched my life and affected me in a significant way. And I have NO IDEA. (I mean, my partner is a scientist, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the ‘touched by science’ we’re taking about here. I didn’t die in childbirth, yay medicine. What even counts as science. At this stage, I’m reduced to the last time I drank too much, swore never to drink again, and the science of hangovers. Think that’ll cut it?
Didn’t die in child birth could do it. I had to have two c sections—I might well be dead without science.
If you think about key moments in your life I bet tbey had a scientific component. I knew my dad was dying due to phones and made it to his deathbed due to planes. That kind of thing.
I didn’t die in childbirth, either, thanks to a very emergency C-section. I remember thinking, very groggily, that it was a good thing it wasn’t the 18th century.
I’m always grateful I live in a time where glasses are available (especially fancy ones for people with very wonky eyes).
I can remember going to the corner store as a child in another century with my brother, sister and cousin for a nickel’s worth of penny candy and the clerk was cross eyed. I don’t know what the medical term is called (maybe lazy eye). She was to me an older woman and I wondered at the time how that could have been fixed. Every once in a while she pops in my head, like now.
You could do something about the scientists who developed air conditioning components that weren’t available before point X.
Or the development of a vaccine that affected/saved/terrified a member of your family?
How about the scientists who figured out how to use a sextant or a compass or some such thing to navigate across long featureless oceans in order to “discover” a hitherto “unknown” antipodean continent/continent remnant that was “uninhabited” and therefore could become a fine place to: settle with Europeans/dump unwanted local pickpockets & flimflam boys/raise sheep/raise rabbits/kill Dodos — the sky’s the limit, really.
I kind of like the touched-by-a-scientist one.
sounds like the first book in a series.
(I liked that, one, too.)
First think of an important event you’d want to write about, then figure out how it would have been different 100 (or however many) years ago. That will most likely be due, at least in part, to science.
How about Antibiotics? in olden times, you could die from just from cutting your finger in the garden
How did you meet your partner? If technology was involved in any way, that’s science. Even if it was just that one of you drove a decent distance, or had moved a long way away from the place where you were born.
There was a pool table, and a bar, and a con about working for a chocolate company. TL; DR. I fell.
I had my wisdom teeth pulled, they were coming in sideways. That could have meant a lifetime of impactions and infections, affecting my health . I have fillings, where I would have had rotting teeth, infections, and then no teeth.
Please tell us what you ended up writing about!
In the non-life-and-death category for how science has affected my life in beneficial ways (that I never suffered through) I would submit: washing machines. Pedro Almodovar’s lovely scene of women singing and washing clothes at the river in Pain and Glory notwithstanding, I think the chore was hard, hard on the body, took a lot of time and probably stressful if the clothes didn’t turn out as clean as one hoped.
And if it involved cleaning clothes for family members who didn’t appreciate the work and results, resentfulness-building.
I think I might have figured out an ending for my fanfic or at least I have enough of an ending sketched out to have something to steer towards. Other than that, almost nothing. I’ve been trying very hard to stay away from the news and yesterday I slipped and that made my day even less productive with this low buzz of anxiety invading my day.
So today, I’m trying really hard to sit and read a book in as close to one sitting as possible. I’d like to get my reading mojo back.
I crocheted like the wind and made two throws – one in orage /white because I liked it (and thought the child would too) and one in pink/white as requested. That’s one week – two things!! I was up at 5 am Sunday morning and done by 9 am so my DH could deliver them. Of course the rest of the day was pretty much done because I was very much done.
Here they are:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC03I8Dh944/
Still contemplating what I should be doing this week. Probably not crochet!
Thought I had missed my cousin’s birthday. That would be bad. I set the alarm which somehow was set on 6pm not am. It’s been a scramble this morning. Will go back out and try to finish or almost finish the shade garden. I will need to get a few heuchera plants i had a brilliant lime green one a few years ago. I want another one. Or the Berry Smoothie a more rose pink to purplish. I could just transplant a couple from the front to the shady back garden. Want a punch of colour in-between the hostas. All under the shade of an ornamental maple tree, a burgundy/purple leaf. The best tree for the space, getting a great canopy over the other plants. Of course, now I am thinking of the sunny parts and what will look best there. And, selling the house…just when the garden is going to be fabulous.
Wow!
I remember having my own house and garden. Other than the house, I loved the 30’x4′ raspberry patch.
I have a shade garden I started 36 years ago that is under a 100 year old Port Orford cedar so it has patches that are really dry. Directly in front is a 35 foot tall star magnolia so it is shaded from all directions. Plus I decided when I created it I would use only white or yellow flowered plants (foliage can be any color). It is basically a woodland. Heuchera’s will not grow in it because there is not enough light. And I have some plants that will not bloom because there is not enough light. The plants that are most successful have been celandine poppy, anemone sylvestnis, white and yellow columbine, trillium and yellow trout lily. The next shrub I am going to try is a white kalmia latifolia which probably requires more sunlight to bloom then I have in that location. I have a pink one that does spectacularly well in a dappled shade but that is more light then I have here. Some cranesbill geraniums also do really well in shade as does Bishop’s weed.
And in the front shaded areas which has other colors, I have impatiens balfouri (pink and white) which is an annual but seeds in prolifically and is gorgeous. It is incredibly easy to weed out and keep under control. A really invasive plant with flashy foliage and the most delicate ethereal red wand flower is persicaria virginiana “painter’s palette”. I weeded it out 10 years ago when I was tired of trying to keep it out of my Christmas rose. Three years ago it re-introduced itself to the garden. It really is spectacular so I am trying to keep it in two or three small patches. Another “naturalizer” (read plant thug) that I have in that area is geranium oxonianum A. T. Johnson. It really keeps the weeds down and while I am not all that fond of medium pink, it does bloom all summer starting about May. And while it prefers some sun to be really floriferous Geranium “Rozanne” is a wonderful long-blooming blue which interweaves its way through all the flowers.
I changed my smoke detector batteries in the new apartment. It was harder than it sounds. The ceilings are high so i had to stand on a windowsill and brace myself with one hand on the corner of the wall just to get to it. Then I had to put the batteries back in, plug it in, and hit buttons in a specific sequence. I couldn’t do it on tiptoes one handed, so I ended up calling in the cavelry, aka my dad who is taller than me and has a ladder. So technically did not do it by myself, but I still project managed the whole thing.
I’m trying to write a cat novella and I made good progress in the last few days. Now I’m off to get some laundry folding and ironing done which for me is not as dire as it may sound to others. At least I get to watch old Project Runway episodes while I’m doing it which is always inspiring to me.
I was supposed to haul ass out to the suburbs today, but my sister cancelled so I have a chance to join in much earlier than I usually do. It almost feels like you moved the post just for me. How considerate of you!
The biggest thing I got accomplished this week was a progress review with my therapist. The political situation makes me feel so helpless that I began to wonder if I was making any progress at anything this year. After my Mother died last year, my oldest brother pointed out some stuff I had been doing that was really hurting both myself and the people around me. In the past I have told myself that I was making progress just by showing up without doing any work and I didn’t want to fall into that trap this time. I considered asking my brother, but then decided that we were not in contact regularly enough for him to know. I then asked both my therapist and my local sister to tell me how it looked from their perspective. They were both able to give me the outside perspective that I so badly needed and as a result I feel encouraged about the possibility of further progress.
I was also able to talk to my sister about the changes in her husband that have made it very difficult to be with him. He says that it is all the fault of my previously hurtful behavior and refuses to see (or even discuss) how a lot of the choices he has been making are contributing to his current problems and leading him away from his core values. This is the first time Kitty and I have been able to discuss changes in her husband and what, realistically, either of us can do to encourage him to reclaim the person he used to be (or at least start taking care of his health). I feel better about some things, but I am worried that my sister and her daughter and son in law are at risk if my BIL doesn’t take advantage of the opportunity for a fresh start that is in front of them. And I worry about what will happen to their grandson if my BIL doesn’t wake up soon.
You installed a window AC *without dropping it out the window.* That’s my standard, which we memorably missed. Once.
I phoned our spineless senator and demand he stand against federal troops attacking U.S. citizens.
I also have lots of real work and am making progress, although I’d have more done if it were really Wednesday.
As the mother of a divorced, overweight 53 year old US Navy veteran I was appalled by the video of the beating by so-called military police of someone in the same circumstances as my son in Portland, OR. And he still could give them a two fingered salute with one of his hands broken.
That’s a good idea. Since my senator is the minority whip, I imagine he’s already up in arms about Trump’s Putinesque behavior, but the more of us that go on record, the more likely the pols are to take action.
I did. The good news is that if it had fallen through, it would just have plummeted to the steps below where nobody ever goes, so I wouldn’t have killed anybody. But I got it in there, having smacked the ancient window frame enough to get in it. I love old houses but they’re definitely a pain in the ass if you’re trying to do anything modern–heat, air, plumbing, electricity–to them.
Hell yes, says the woman whose house is 130 years old (give or take ten years, not counting that most of the bits were added on at some point). Every project brings a new surprise.
I hear you, sister!
Relieved to discover I’m not the only person in the Tuesday universe. I’m trying to juggle the new editing job, updating my website and marketing myself to potential new clients, sorting out my characters in my fiction project, keeping my two gardens productive, plus several other things that are important. I decided this evening to stick to four days’ editing a week, to give myself a day for my creative stuff, and hopefully some time for the marketing as well.
I’m always juggling like this. Still, at least I’m earning; it would be pretty disastrous if I didn’t have the day job to juggle.
Gee, Jane, what do you do in your spare time? Juggling does seem to be the operative word.
I try to install my air conditioners where there’s only a short drop to a roof or the ground. So far so good.
I’ve just been doing my scheduled things day by day: Monday dog groomed Tuesday grocery shopping Wednesday Board of Election meeting Thursday doctor appointment and League of Women Voters meeting. Then I’m done for the week.
I did pick up a couple of plants for hanging baskets. Looking forward to potting them up after all the scheduled stuff is done.
It’s just been too hot!
This cottage has this crumbling but cool set of steps that go down to the bak yard under part of the house (a part that’s impossible to heat because of that, buy hey). So I wasn’t going to kill anybody if I dropped it. That was key.
When I lived in Philadelphia, I had to reinstall an AC unit in one of my two enormous windows. Thirteen floors up. Over a very busy sidewalk…
It was terrifying, but successful.
Beautiful colors! When you said orange, I flashed on Howard Johnsons – glad you didn’t go there.
It was more of a creamsicle orange.
Peach
Well, let’s see. My grandfather died in 1925 of an infection that wouldn’t have killed him if sulfa drugs had been available then, let alone antibiotics. My mother had polio as a child — not that it kept her from joining the Navy in WWII — but you can bet I was given a first-round Salk vaccine and, of course, the later Sabin vaccine (and every other available vaccine, too). When the TB drugs came along in the 1950’s, sanitaria emptied within weeks. I remember reading a safety information sheet about plague, because rodents in Northern California [see list of counties, including mine] can carry it. The drugs we use are Streptomycin, Vibramycin, Tetracycline — no doubt more and possibly different suitable drugs available now. So there’s science.
You might be able to find something similar in your own family if you look for it.
Earlier in the month we had a lovely drive through Jasper and then Banff National Parks to get to Canmore. We got on the road early and for the most part there was very little traffic until we got near Banff. We had a really nice visit with friends, ate some good food, and just generally enjoyed being outside of our respective homes.
I got most of my deep clean of the house done and did some serious weeding in the garden.
We got a quote to get our work truck painted and rust proofed so it will last a while longer.
We also got a few quotes for having the roof reshingled and made plans to have that done.
I’m having a hard time getting myself back into work. I’ve had a few really bad headaches, mostly from massage rebound I think. Those are finally gone but I’m still distracted.
I got the results of my MRI today and my knee is pretty badly damaged. My GP is putting in a referral to an orthopaedic surgeon to see if I need arthroscopic surgery to remove some of the loose cartilage. While I’m not happy that my knee is so damaged, the meniscus is torn on either side and there’s the loose cartilage like I said, I am glad to know that there is a reason I still have pain. I was afraid they wouldn’t find anything and I’d be told it was all in my head.
Knees are tricky! (She says from experience.)
Science. Yeah, for me that’s easy. Paul nearly lost an arm in a riding accident as a kid and had it basically reattached, he’s had 2 open heart surgeries and 2 joint replacements. I literally would not have him without science.
In my physical personal life, outside of my glasses which make it possible for me to function on the most basic level (seriously, I’m sitting with my feet out in front of me and I can’t tell you the colour of my black and red slippers with my glasses off), the antidepressant I take has changed my life. The depression in my family is hereditary. My maternal grandfather suffered from it and my grandmother was so afraid of them that she wouldn’t let him take them. Now there are commercials on TV.
I also put in a window air conditioner. Or at least, I helped my strong neighbor put it in for me. But we didn’t do it right the first time (man no read instructions), so we had to do it twice. So it is almost the same, right? I don’t know how you did it by yourself, Jenny. Those things are heavy.
putting in an air conditioner is WORK. I’m glad this post was up early because I’m going to be offline tomorrow; our power company has scheduled an outage.
my big accomplishment in the past week was finishing the beta draft of a new novel and sending it to my reader.
lesser accomplishment, publishing another new novella.
You installed an AC Unit. I am so impressed. I tried that once. it didn’t go well. I babysat two kids, and reported to Warner Brothers for COVID testing today and Yesterday. Tomorrow I go back to work on Joel Coen’s Macbeth and I am over the moon. I also worked on gathering all the links and information for a website for my children’s books. I have one for acting and one for romance and one for my Earthquake book. I need a website for Susan J Berger. I bought the domain susanjberger.org and I have a link to someone interested in making it for me.
And I watched a movie I was in called. Looks That Kill on Amazon Prime. I didn’t know it had come out. They had announced it was coming and had big plans. When Quarantine happened I guess the plans were dropped and it went straight to Prime. Its a very offbeat bittersweet YA Rom-Com. I thought the writer/director Kellan Moore did a great job. It you want to take a look here is the link. https://www.amazon.com/Looks-That-Kill-Brandon-Flynn/dp/B089N21KNV
Glad you can get back to the work you love. I’ve added the film to my list for when I have access to Amazon.
Thank you!
I mentioned on Sunday (or possibly Monday) that the Man Cave was in the eighties. I bought a room-size air conditioner years back, and the SIL installed it through the wall because there was only the one window and my confuser desk sat in front of it.
I should have bought a bigger unit to cool the room. I would buy a bigger unit, but when he wired his built-in 1200 Watt microwave to the same breaker…
Living in half a garage involves many trade-offs and compromises.
Not much today, but tomorrow, we get a new A/C system! I’m so excited! The old one died 11 days ago, and last week was record highs – 100+F. NOT a good time for no A/C! We’re so fortunate we have a RV, so we slept there. We’d have been so miserable without it!
We finally installed the AC in the dining room, the central part of our house. With a unit in the bedroom and all the inside doors open the cool air flows through the rooms pretty comfortably.
This morning I spent a few moments looking out the window at the bay and watched an instructor teaching children in mini sailboats how to sail. They were kept a safe distance apart and able to maneuver on their own. The bay was so calm the instructor at one point had to create a little wave action by powering up his motor boat and stopping in front of or beside the sailboats so they could get a little bounce.
Took a small road trip and visited the Maine Coastal Botanical Gardens (https://www.mainegardens.org/ if you need a little vacation). Beautiful in many ways, and now carefully designed to be as safe as possible. Also quite warm, so spent the evening sitting still and drinking water. And other fluids.
Thanks for the link. Those picture were just what this apartment dweller needed on a sticky day like today!
I can’t think of a single way science hasn’t impacted my life. Public health, clean water, air conditioning., Vaccines. As awful as Covid is, picture it with chamber pots, next to someone with smallpox. On the other hand maybe we would have a different president.
For the working part I am contacting relatives for my sister-in-law’s memorial. She was having problems breathing memorial day weekend. Pancreatic cancer. A brutal reminder Covid is not the only game in town.
I’m so sorry. I hope the memorial goes well.
Posting before reading.
This is the week where there are lots of pics. But since you’re Arghers I will link you to the doggo picture first.
I dewormed him last week and now have started the process of fattening him up. He’s still cute tho’.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CC85paygMM3/?igshid=g4pw7b1j54sp
He has amazing legs!
Thank you!
I’m grateful that I now have central ac because A) I no longer have a storage locker to keep my window unit in during the winter and B) the guys who used to help me drag it up from the basement storage locker to my third floor window have all moved out of state. I wonder if the semi-annual air conditioner wrangle was the last straw that drove then away…..
Wow! You are brave and smart, Jenny.
Me, I just made A pasta dish. In the heat I love to cook early in the day. Also, seem to run out of energy come 6 pm.
It has onion, mushrooms, zucchini, yellow pepper and spinach in an olive oil and blue cheese sauce, and topped with large slivers of Parmesan. Must have a bazillion calories but the place smells awesome.
When we remodeled 3 years ago I held my breath and turned blue until we agreed to add central air to house. We only need it for about 4 weeks a year but it is essential if you want to sleep comfortably during those 4 weeks.
On the work front I have spread bark in my shade garden (about 1 and 1/2 yards of it) and am starting on the bed next to the laurel hedge next. I finished the front beds weeks ago. I will not have enough to do the back flower bed which is about 75 feet long and 6 to 8 feet wide. I thought 4 yards would be enough to do all my flower beds. I miscalculated.
I had a wisdom tooth extracted 6 weeks ago. About 3 weeks ago my mouth started hurting and it kept getting worse so after two weeks of misery, I went back to the oral surgeon and discovered there was a bone sliver that was working it’s way out the gum. It is out now and I am once again fit to live around.
I mentioned it as part of my happiness, I finished the last customer quilt that I had in my possession this past weekend. It is a small wall hanging. Most of you probably saw it already, but here’s the link: https://www.instagram.com/p/CC2Kg8mJ_17/?igshid=1ollr4l8xwfgf
I also successfully took a day off. I had my first colonoscopy. 😳 All is well and I don’t have to do it again for another decade! So after a long nap, I ended up binge watching the show Frankie Drake mysteries. Amazon prime is streaming the first season for free. It’s a fun cozy series. The costumes are amazing!