We were cleaning our wine equipment this evening and it was time to rinse the carboy. When Brian turned the spigot on, the handle came off and water started shooting from that hole all the way to the ceiling. He turned off the main water supply as fast as he could, but it still made a big mess. I pulled out the shopvac and he headed to Lowe’s. Hopefully they’re still open. If not, WalMart probably has what we need. Anyway, my part is done, so I thought I’d share my tale of woe as I await his return. I hope he can switch out the faucet quickly so that we can rack the wine tonight as planned. I mean, everything is already clean, so might as well finish the job. I really hate plumbing problems, but at least this one doesn’t involve a propane torch and solder–those are the worst!
memorial day
Brian’s parents invited us over for a cookout today, so we headed there for lunch. The weather was nice for a change (it normally rains on Memorial Day around these parts). Erika was there, too, so Jake had someone to play with all afternoon. After dinner, the kids went swimming even though the water in the pool was only 68 degrees. Brrr!
After we left there, we headed to Home Depot to pick up a few things. OK, a bunch of things. Home Depot was having one of their 12 month no payments/no finance charge deals–I can’t pass those up. I wasn’t able to find everything on my list. But we did pick up some plywood for the bar Brian’s going to build this summer and also for the ongoing library bookcase project. And, we picked up two ceiling fans for the upstairs. It gets so hot up there in the summer. Lastly, we got a power washer. It seems like we’re forever borrowing one from someone, so I thought we should pick one up. Plus, I’m sure I’ll use it a lot now that I’ll have one accessible. I got a few things for the grill, too. It’s officially time to do the annual tune-up.
We were going to cook out for supper today, but decided to eat leftovers from yesterday instead. So, tomorrow, we’ll be having a delayed Memorial Day celebration.
grizzly man
This was quite the interesting documentary. I don’t think it would’ve been half as good had the main guy been the manly type (the dude was pretty flamboyant for a supposed heterosexual if you ask me). This led to some unintentionally amusing moments. Anyway, if you haven’t heard about this story, it was about a man who developed a love for grizzly bears and spent 13 summers in Alaska documenting their activities. In the end, to paraphrase Dean Koontz, a bear ate him.
birthday dinner
We went to my parent’s today for the annual birthday dinner for my brother and me (my brother’s birthday is in May and mine is in June and we normally celebrate both birthdays the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend). The dinner was kind of like a Thanksgiving dinner–turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and the like. Everything was delicious, of course–especially the cheesecake we had for dessert. I got some cool gifts, too. My brother got me the latest Type O and NIN albums. My parents got me a subscription to Organic Gardening magazine and some recipe books among other things. We had dinner on the deck and it was the perfect day for that. I guess the weather should be no surprise as it is the “official” first weekend of the summer.
dirty work
I took advantage of the beautiful weather this evening and planted some veggies and herbs. I also put my pepper plants outside to harden off. Unlike my tomato plants, I’m starting them off in the shade. So hopefully they will survive their stint in the cold frames. As it turns out, a few of my tomato plants lived. They’re pretty small, so I hope they bear fruit. I still had to buy most of my tomatoes, though. And, I still need to get a few herbs. I went to two places yesterday, but could not find what I was looking for. I have another place or two to check before I give up and plant something else.
There’s still plenty of work to do outside. There always is. The weather looks good this week, so I should be able to get a lot done. I really love working in the yard this time of year.