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Several (most?) of the trees in our yard have now been taped up. The majority got orange tape, meaning "cut it down." A few got pink tape - which means "ask us" (which usually itself means "trim it"). In the spring, we're having a guy take out all the rocks and walkways and mulch and […]

I made an off-hand remark at the end of a recent post about Al Gore stopping by with a "low-energy [dimming] bulb" which I claimed had not yet been invented. Someone quickly pointed out in the comments that compact fluorescent (CF) bulbs can now do dimming… if you find the proper ones. I've spent awhile […]

In (recently) replacing the 15-year-old refrigerator recently, Carey and I looked for a fridge ((Why is it "refrigerator" but "fridge"?)) on the upper-end of those available at Lowe's. No stainless or anything - just one ranked highly by Consumer Reports, in black, with a freezer on the top (CR says they're more reliable). Almost every […]

Trees sure do look nice, oh, five or six months out of the year. But they look like crap all winter, are dangerous in ice storms and high winds, and sure do drop a heck of a lot of leaves on the ground in the fall. Our 10:1 chipper/blower has already produced about 25 bags […]

A few days ago our "new" dishwasher was installed. Today we had the proper model installed. 🙂 It turns out Lowe's sent the wrong one. It didn't have the "fancy" silverware tray, the adjustable-height top rack, the pot scrubber, the fancier styling (a handlebar front), and a few other features and whatnots. When the refrigerator […]

The new dishwasher was installed today. It's snug - the opening is slightly undersized, so you've got to push a little to really seal the door. Honestly, it feels good and gets a better seal. Almost like high-end cars and the "snugness" their doors exhibit over, say, a Ford Escort. The installer told me a […]

Our search has come to an end. Today Carey and I purchased a new gas range, refrigerator, and dishwasher. We first went to Sears where the woman who was "helping" us did an incredibly poor job. Still, we found some items we liked and wrote them down. I took pictures with my iPhone so we […]

The timer in our dishwasher seems to have gone bad. A cycle that is supposed to take 98 minutes takes over four hours. Later, I checked and the timer said 40 minutes. I called someone and, after a three-minute conversation, still said 40. Heck, it's said 28 minutes for the past 10+ minutes (I switched […]

On Thursday we're scheduled to be without power from 9am to 3pm. WTF am I supposed to do during that time? If anything, it's a great excuse to go play golf, but I really do have a fair amount of work to do, too. The power outages that I wrote about before have really been […]

One quick tax thing that bugs me. Despite spending about $18k for an office in 2006, only $3k (the carpeting) can be deducted immediately. The other $15k is depreciated over 39 (yes, thirty nine) years. It's "structural," so it gets depreciated. The carpeting was not. WTF sense does that make? We paid cash, my self-employed […]

Garages are for storing cars, shielding them from the elements. Today I watched, off and on, my neighbors spend more than one hour shoveling around the cars they parked in their driveway. I cleared my entire driveway and the sidewalks around my house in one third the time. Not only that, but my cars - […]

I must admit: I feel a bit like Tim Allen. Perhaps 10.5 horsepower is overkill for a guy with a short driveway (but a lot of sidewalk), but is there really such a thing as "too much" when it comes to powering through two to three feet of wet snow without breaking a sweat? I […]

Carey and I spent most of today painting our living room. Prior, it was white with a "library" border around the top - a bunch of books on a "shelf." Ick. We decided to paint the walls a light tan with an "accent wall" in a darker brown near Carey's desk. The room is rather […]

I returned home this morning after running an errand. I walked upstairs and sat down at my computer desk when I heard a loud "CRACK!" I went downstairs to investigate, thinking perhaps a picture had fallen off the wall, but found no such damage. It wasn't until I wanted to go to Best Buy (to […]

These are the pendant lights Carey and I hung over Labor Day weekend. They replace some lame track lighting (the bulbs always burned out, they were 60 watt max, etc.). Though we didn't plan for it, the lights we chose ($20 for a set of three at Lowe's) really draws your eye up, adding height […]