theparkerfamily.org

Tag: Home Improvement

  • hurricane irene

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    fortunately, no damage to speak of.

    we got about 10 hours of sustained winds but we kept power the whole time, and it looks like we are the only part of my side of the family (virginia, new hampshire, maine, vermont) who are going to be able to say that.

    for our part, we were cautiously optimistic — not only did the hurricane stay farther east than we had thought, but our neighbor told us that this part of mount pleasant hasn’t lost power in the last decade or two.

    turns out most of our electrical infrastructure (plant, substations, wires) are all buried, meaning something pretty spectacular has to happen for us to lose power.

    feeling pretty blessed right now.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    hurricane irene, washington, dc

  • earthquake damage assessment

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    one letter off the wall, one photo slightly askew — not exactly something to write home about, but certainly a good deal more severe than the last one.

    i was actually in new york for work, so missed most of the excitement. what i got was a strange surge of vertigo (i was on the 18th floor) and didn’t realize it was an earthquake until my knees started bouncing half a beat later.

    the lady sparkler had it the worst, being forced to walk the mile and a half home because the District (as expected) lost it’s collective minds.

    most buildings downtown were evacuated, traffic was at a standstill which put a kaibosh on the bus, and the metro ground to a halt under unprecedented ridership and speed restrictions through the whole system.

    unfortunately, none of this is terribly surprising. given how badly we handle snowstorms, i expected the District would see roving packs of bureaucrats in ripped suites — with bandanas made from yesterday’s ties — ransacking local stores for water, plastic sheeting and duct tape.

    sparklet, for her part, was walking down the street and didn’t seem to have a problem with the quake itself, but more the fact that each and every front door within view immediately popped open and all at once people started flooding the/her street.

    so, what’s next — a hurricane?

  • nesting, pt 2

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    it’s not a pregnancy with out a really long list of things i have to do around the house.

    with my new found salary, we’d already started ticking off a couple of items on our long term wish list — installed a water filter next to the kitchen sink, some cosmetic stuff in our bathrooms, and patched up some outstanding items from our home inspection (including some reinforcing some joists under the porch, and blowing more insulation into the attic).

    the big update, however, has been installing a murphy bed in the basement, which instead of being a rental unit we now expect will now play host to a steady stream of family over the next couple of years decades.

    the bed is just fantastic — it’s built like a tank, and takes an honest-to-God real, queen-sized, 12″ thick pillow-top mattress, which i’m seriously considering putting on the bed upstairs and dumping our old mattress on our guests downstairs (i kid, i kid).

    i’m not exactly sure what else is going to be added to the list, but not to worry — the lady sparkler has only been pregnant for six weeks, so she hasn’t really had time to get creative.

  • gardening

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    the gardening we did at the beginning of june is starting to bear fruit — and quite literally.

    sparklet picked her first tomatoes (and ate them immediately) and we’ve been using fresh basil in our cooking for the last month or so.

    agriculture thrives in the heart of the District.

    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    gardening

  • out: mattress testing

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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    mattress testing, ikea, college park, md

  • found: chipmunks in the backyard

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  • basement

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    photo of the week // twenty months
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    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    basement

  • found: housewarming

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  • firsts: gardening

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    sparklet and i planted the first veggies of our newly reclaimed veggie patch — two basil, two tomatoes, and two cucumbers — but we saved the photo-op/watering until mommy could share the love.
    See Slideshow of the Photos on Flickr:
    firsts: gardening

  • journey’s end

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    well, i’m not doing that ever again.

    my wife is calling the new place our “twenty year” house, because she says that is the minimum we’re going to be here. i call it our “you’re going to have to take my cold, dead corpse out of here” house, because … well, you get the picture. (i told sparklet earlier this week that the next time i move is when *her* kids move me into a home for the mentally addled.)

    all told, the move actually didn’t go too badly.

    my wife and baby made it to Tejas, had a great time, and returned on time, alive, with all eight limbs. (they took lots of pictures which, given my track record, it’ll take a month for me to sort though.)

    for the move itself, our POD was delivered right in front of our door step with everything present and accounted for. we had movers who came in underbudget and early, and didn’t break or lose a single thing. even our cable company hit their installation window (tho i’ll politely ignore the fact that their window turned out to be 24 hours later than what they told me it was going to be).

    by day three, all boxes were unpacked on the top two floors, with the exception of the lady sparkler’s clothes. by day nine, there were no boxes left in the entire house.

    i’ve had a string of little projects to keep me busy, but nothing major — took down a tree in the backyard, filled in the coy pond of death, put up a railing in the basement, hung temporary shades in sparklets room, wrapped sparklet’s porch in wire fencing, and hung a Texas flag for Memorial Day (above).

    we’ve already met (and love) our two closest neighbors on the west side, and our three closest neighbors on the east side. oh, and one of them has a 15 year old that is on the lookout for baby sitting gigs in the neighborhood.

    and all happened while i wasn’t blogging for six days consecutive days — and the stoppage didn’t blink me into nothingness. (who knew?)

    but, even though it went well, it’s just not worth risking doing it again. now, if you’ll excuse me i’m going to sit down in my beautiful, ninety seven year-old backyard and do nothing for the next decade or two.