  Contact me at theyoungfamily (at) earthlink (dot) net |
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08 October 2009
New Lamps for Old
 Well, there's the last of the "big changes" I had on the Master To-Do List.The installers turned out to be a married couple; she put the pendant lamp together while he was the one that got up on the ladder and did the actual installation. While she was on the stairs putting the light together, she saw James' "rocket garden" and they talked about having taken their grandchildren to the Kennedy Spaceflight Center and having seen the Rocket Garden and taken the tour. "Endeavour" was on the pad when they went, but they did not see the actual launch. She even cleaned up the floor afterwards, although I planned to re-sweep it and wash it before putting everything back. Yeah, yeah, I'll cut to the chase. UGLY AND DUSTY OLD LAMP IS GONE! "Ding-dong, the light is dead! Which old light? The ugly light!"  REPLACED BY BEAUTIFUL NEW LIGHT (the light is on here, and this was taken with the flash):  The flash version without the light being lit shows the colors off a little better, although the professional shot in the previous post probably does the best job.  Now that it's there, it looks like it's always been there, like it belonged there all along. If you look above the purple petals, and below the purple petals, you can see the light amber and light orange, respectively, tints that I added to the glass. It's very subtle, which is what I wanted. Labels: decorating, house  04 October 2009
There's Always One More Trip
After we got home from grocery shopping this morning, James decided to install the programmable thermostat we bought yesterday (a Hunter, just in case you were curious). According to the directions, it was simple: take the old one off, label the wires, take the mount for the old one off and install the new one, match the wall wires to the wires on the new unit and fasten them, then put the new one on the wall.And the screw holes on each mount actually matched, so no messy drilling had to be done. Except for one thing: our present thermostat is powered by the house current, with battery as backup. But nowhere on the box of the programmable unit we purchased did it mention that the entire unit is powered by the battery. Neither of us want to play that way. We like the concept of double and triple redundancy. So it was back out to Lowes. Turned out that Hunter did not have—or perhaps Lowes doesn't carry—a type of thermostat that was electrically powered with a battery backup. We ended up with a Honeywell. And after that, it was simple. By the time I got done folding the towels and my own clothes, James had it up. It took me longer to program it because it's a 7-day timer and you have to do one day at the time (well, okay, I found out later you can actually do multiple days at one time; that's what I get for reading the manual after I program the timer!). I'm so short I had to stand on a stool to look the thing "in the eye" to program it. I felt like Phronsie Pepper helping Polly with the dishes in the Little Brown House! 27 September 2009
A New Fixture in Our Future
I am finally ridding us of that nasty pendant light fixture in the foyer.We didn't plan for the awkward thing. When they asked us to choose between the black-mounted fixtures and the silver-mounted fixtures, we thought the only difference was the color. The old house was so dark we wanted something brighter, so we chose the silver. The black pendant fixture we thought we were getting in silver was a relatively tidy piece. It consisted of an upturned frosted glass "cup" supported and surrounded by curving black metal supports. I didn't know how on earth you changed the light bulb when it burnt out, since it was about 14 feet up in the air, but that was the only problem with it. What we got was a silver monstrosity which I could take a photo of and post here, but I won't gag you with it. It consists of a tapered glass "box" with edges of antiqued silvered metal, smaller at the bottom that at the top. Three decreasing-size scrolls of metal piping are at each corner at the top. In the center is hung two sets of four "candles" which hold candle-shaped light bulbs. Not only is it impossible to reach to change bulbs if they burn out, but the bottom opening is so narrow that you can't dust inside it. I know, because I tried with a lambswool duster on an extension pole; it got stuck inside and I was afraid it would be hanging there in perpetuity until I managed to dislodge it. So it sits there getting dustier by the day and looking ugly while doing it. We had a $10 off a $50 or more purchase for Lowes that expired today, so we went there to buy some paving blocks for the dip in the side yard where the water collects when it rains and it gets muddy. (We only bought a dozen and see, after putting them out in the muddiest spot this afternoon, that we need a lot more. <g> Later...when it's cooler—although there was a delightful breeze this afternoon despite it going up to 78°F.) After buying those and more wild bird seed, we still didn't have $50 worth of stuff. I figured it was now or never. I looked at the fixtures one more time, then picked out this:  It goes with the Tiffany-style pendant in the dining room and, although it's a little more spring-colored than I wanted, it was more autumn-colored than the other Tiffany pendant they had there. And note that the fixtures point downward: I can use the bulb-changing head that goes with the extension pole to change bulbs when they burn out. (Don't think that will happen often, as we will be putting CFLs in the fixture.) So next thing is to await the installer to come out to put it up. (Even if we had a ladder that long, damned if I'm sending James up there to do that! Let a professional do it.) 12 July 2009
New Restaurant Seating for the Birdies
After watching that slug of a squirrel sunbathing on our deck rails after prying out suet from the suet feeder, I got disgusted. Spent much too much yesterday on a new pole support for the bird feeder, and also bought a new, small squirrel-proof feeder.James installed the new pole and hooks today, and we also put the old assembly back up, making it more stable. It's possible the latter may tip, however, if the squirrel tries to climb it, while the new assembly is quite sturdy. Here the new pole is on the left, the old one on the right. The old one used to be mounted where the new one is now. The two suets have hot pepper in them, as birds are not affected by pepper. They have no taste buds for it.  A close-up of the squirrel-proof feeder. It is all metal on the outside and if anything heavier than a cardinal steps on the perch or if something pulls on the perch from below, the gap closes up.  When I have a little more money I will buy another feeder. Toying with buying a thistle feeder to see if we could lure some goldfinches here. Labels: birds 04 July 2009
Happy Independence Day from Autumn Hollow!
Haven't posted here for a while, but haven't done any more major improvements on the house (still want to get that light in the foyer changed, though).Here on the table, on either side of the "pick-a-nick basket," as Yogi Bear used to say, are two of the prims I bought last weekend in The Maple's Tree in Gatlinburg, TN. (The "tablecloth" in the basket is a napkin folded up to look like a tablecloth tucked in for the picnic.)  China cabinet:  The little "Anne of Green Gables" type Liberty Angel with the Pilgrim salt-and-pepper pots from Publix, and the fall blessing:  The foyer table:  And the complete foyer:  Porch, from left-  -to right:  Now that it's actually the 4th, the patriotic banner has been traded out for the flag. Porch detail: sheep and birdhouse:  Porch detail: Uncle Sam and "bell tree":  These two have nothing to do with the Fourth, but I wanted to show off these cuties. This "fall display" is actually four parts, as the two pumpkins and the leaf scarecrow at right (with the orange leaf predominant) as three separate parts:  And I bought "Kiss the Cook" for James and set it in front of our cow chef:  I bought two other of these little block items, one that says "I [heart] Dogs" with a little flop-eared mutt sitting on the DOGS blocks, and an I [heart] Cows" with a cow in a similar position. Labels: decorating |
