There's been a lot going on here at Screaming Pines.
And a lot in general.
Had my second yearly mammogram done.
Results came back normal, thankfully.
One of my aunts and a friend of mine have both recently been diagnosed
with breast cancers, so it's been on my mind.
I have too much going on right now, the last thing I need is a health scare.
Fortunately, my eye exam and blood test also came back normal.
Well, mostly. My blood chemistry has a few off numbers, but
nothing overly serious.
I am getting to that age where I need to actually start visiting doctors more
regularly. More than every other year or five years, or when I have some spare money.
👹👺👻👽👾👿💀
Lots of playing this month and lots of house stuff.
Let's dig in.
country club gig with the trio.
Happy dancers make for an easy gig.
was then asked to join an impromptu band, Swing Shift,
for the Catfish Jazz Society President's birthday jam celebration.
Played a screamingly fun set to get the jam started.
I might try to get a clip posted onto my YouTube channel.
And tonight I will be on stage outside with the Josh Duffee Big Band
for a Frank Sinatra tribute night. Should be good.
Managed to get my AM swim in today, vacuum the car, and
get to the store for the weekly yogurt shop.
Have lots of veggies in the fridge to cook up for meal preps later.
And tomorrow is Memorial Day, so I plan to sleep and try to go outside a bit.
Made it to the farmers market for the opening weekend.
As is my habit, I get there just when it opens to avoid crowds
(and because I teach later in the morning and need to be home in time).
Got some asparagus, tomatoes, eggs, sourdough bread and jam,
a cinnamon bun, a coffee and some samosas (for breakfast. yum!).
Pretty good haul to start the season.
One of the carrots tried to run away.
how scandalous!
I gave it some little pants. 😆
Walk in the woods.
With a camera-shy friend.
Nice day to be outside.
Tested the new waterproof camera in the little creek.
This star design was something I'd seen on the ceilings of some tombs
and temples in sites in Egypt. And this is also my plan for a small patch
of crusty ceiling between the sets of stairs in the house.
But first, I need to scrape off as much of the old flaky stuff as I can.
eye goggles, face mask, hair cover.
Protect myself from the flying and falling dusk and chunks.
Start scraping away.
It sort of worked.
I couldn't scrape all of the stuff off, but the loose bits came off pretty easily.
Then I re-spackled with a fresh tub of vinyl spackle to smooth out the surface.
It seems to have held so far. But I decided to wait until the rest of the
big house stuff was done before I try painting it.
Will post results when it is done.
Caught a showing of The Devil Wears Prada 2 movie.
I love the first one, and am re-reading the book.
I'm always a bit suspicious of sequels, as they usually aren't very good,
but was happy with this one. Interest extension of the story,
I think I caught all of the Easter eggs from the first movie too,
which was fun.
Some simple meals at home.
Egg and cheese on sourdough with asparagus spears.
Faux chicken cutlets on tortillas with avocado Caesar salad.
enormous flowers are in, apparently.
Couldn't resist the wisteria garland.
I like how it drapes over the doorway.
First race of the year.
Distance Classic 5K.
Not a super great time, but okay for the first time out in a while.
The new Brooks shoes got an outing.
Pretty comfy. I still prefer the Asics though.
Hitting the road to Burlington to see the fam for Momster's Day.
Met for brunch, gave her some gifties, hung out a bit, then back to Dport.
To find my Sammi stretched out under the heat lamp,
living her best turtle life.
I have fresh suction cups, so need to reattach them to the
platform to secure it to the wall.
She likes to rearrange the furniture.
here is that patch of ceiling.
Now that the roof and siding is completed,
(more on that later) I think it is ready for some paint.
More cooking.
any veggies in the fridge, vodka marinara sauce on pasta shells.
Into the basement with the termite guy for the annual termite check.
I don't know if this is really necessary, but I treat it as insurance.
Under this agreement, if they find anything while I'm under warranty,
they will treat it at no extra charge.
Could it be a ruse? Sure. But it's one of the more benign ones,
so I'm not going to worry about it too much.
Came home one afternoon to find the asbestos siding pulled off.
Behold my house at its ugliest!
Wood siding under that brown stuff.
Also, I found the suspected secret window on the side of the house.
I knew there was something there!
It was boarded over.
and covered once again with the new siding.
But I know it's there.
also discovered the covered scales at the top of the house.
it will also be covered over with new siding, but it was neat to find.
Throughout the process, Zuri has held it together pretty well.
No freakouts or crash outs, at least not that I witnessed.
She's still eating and drinking as normal and seems to
have just gone along with the chaos.
Keeping a close eye on her though, to catch anything early if she starts
to develop a bad behavior or shows any distress.
Another day home from work to more chaos.
The roof day was like a warzone.
Generators in the yard, banging and crashing around all over the house.
Finally got the chimney taken off.
Glad to see it go.
Nothing is connected to it anymore (according to
three separate people who looked at it for me to double check
that it was okay to remove), and as the bricks were beginning to
crumble, it was going to become either a leaking hazard or a
safety hazard if it were to crumble off on its own time.
So, I was happy to pay the extra money to have it taken down.
This should finally close the insurance claim from a year ago about my
roof, with the repair done and the work finished. I can finally go on with my life.
Moved the running shoes into this fabric storage box, and the
collection of The Clarinet magazines that were stuffed into it were given a
new container.
The Clarinet is no longer available in printed format,
(I think if you pay extra for it, you can have a printed copy) but I've kept
all of the issues I've gotten over the years of membership.
Water resistant, sturdy. Keep them dust-free.
Will lug it up the stairs and store them there.
Before
(after the asbestos came off)
And after.
Very happy with the new look.
Lots left to do.
Porch isn't finished and the gutters and downspouts need to be installed,
but it's close.
Grateful for the DREAM Project for assisting to make this happen.
Grateful that my insurance company accepted the roof claim and did the work.
Grateful that I'm still healthy enough to clean up my own yard and make
my own decisions and live my life the way I want to live it.
I have plans for some more changes inside the house, but
there's time to work that out.
For now, I can return some focus back to travel plans
and what I plan to do this summer, and hacking away at
my finances.
If you have a safe home to live in, be grateful for it and
don't take it for granted.
And be sure to be nice to the hard-working folks who
are able to make big fixes to your house.
At least offer them some water.
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