h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nice!!!!

We're all sunny again but it promises to rain on and off for the next few days to keep things in check..

Our weather folks are stating categorically that we should have atleast 4 or 5 days of milder temperatures. So for today atleast, we are eased. I really should train into meteorology, you know. It's the only field that I know of in which any measure of accuracy is considered quite acceptable.

*giggles* all you need to know is how to flip a coin..

we still have contractors in all week.. one of the kitchen walls was bowed too much for the granite to sit properly so we have a tile guy coming tomorrow to see how he can disguise that fact then will send a team back Saturday to tile, after which the granite people will be back to finish up by completing the granite backsplash.. oh and the gardeners are coming back to lay cedar mulch over all the new beds to keep the bugs away and keep moisture in.. q

How old is the house? Bowed walls aren't common, but I suppose enough age and moisture can do nearly anything... Our house has very few right-angles anymore. Part of it having been built in 1930, the remained added in about 1972. Many winters, deep frosts, wet springs, ... All take a toll.

It's not old, just shoddy workmanship, as seems to abound in many houses built these days. That is why we are discussing designing our own next home..

Indeed it's something that I find odd. I had a hand, as a labourer, in the erecting of well over two dozen homes as a teen. From the first stirring of the dirt until "move-in" date was seldom longer than 2, 2.5 months. Locally, I see simpler homes taking 5 and 6 months, and so much less care or quality workmanship (workpersonship ?) going in to the,.

yes.. so many of these homes are pre-fabricated and delivered in modules, so the contractors can use fairly unskilled laborers to erect them.. then what happens is they take shortcuts.. if something doesn't fit correctly they don't fix it, they force it to fit - hence bowed walls.. or they take a shortcut on something like using drywall instead of backerboard behind tilings so you don't know you have severe water damage and such until you're installing new tile, etc. and the wall falls down around you.

On the whole though, you are mostly satisfied with the structure aound you? I actually find it rather novel and unique, the character that ours now exudes ...

I prefer older homes, with mature trees around them... this house I can only decribe as suburban hell.. not far enough in the country to be quaint and charming, not close enough to the action to be interesting.. just rows and rows of houses that all look alike..

You'd like our front yard and neighborhood then. Many full and mature trees of many breeds. Our front has a nearly-twin pair of maples ... wonderful evening times under them.

My mom's house is like that.. there's pictures of her gardens in my albums.. this house, though, is nothing exciting.. it's big but that's it..

of course the stone on my counters looks gorgeous!!! It distracts from the basic uselessness of the kitchen's layout.

There's that silver lining to every cloud, eh?

I never did ask, ... how'd the pre-marinated pork loin work out?

too salty... which I kind of expected..

Then maybe your partner will know better, against another day. You have to try new stuff sometimes, and occassionally be disappointed, eh?

This is true... it could be worse... he could not be able to tell the difference between my cooking and store bought stuff..

Oy, that would be a horrid state to be in, ... unable to differentiate between "store-bought" and home-made. Mind you, I actually have a brother who prefers frozen or tinned veggies over the fresh stuff from the garden.

We're pretty sure he was left by a wandering band of gypsies.

tinned... I'll use frozen when fresh isn't available but never in tins.. during the season all my fruits and veggies come from farmers stands and such.. I'm also debating doing CSA at some point.

Yep, fresh is the way to go. And this part of Ontario, or any part really, has nearly unlimited stock and variety at this time of the year.

Ummm, ... CSA?

Community Supported Agriculture... you sort of buy a "membership" in a local farm (usually only the organic farms do this) and you share in the produce of the season... the down side is that what you get and how much depends on what's going on with the crops.. the good news is it's fresh off the farm and seasonal..

Are you expected to contribute any labour to the farms? Or simply help to finance it? New ideas and concepts are great to learn about.