gym

Precor Elliptical, 45' @ 100% incline and 60% resistance, 20' with two 2-lb. handweights, 5865 strides and 626 calories.

Leg Presses, 3x12 @80 and 1x12 @90; chest press, 3x12 @25 and 1x12 @30; fly, 3x12 @20 and 1x8 @25; lat pulldown, 3x12 @70 and 1x12 @80; upright row, 3x12 @45. Abdominal leg lift, 2x5.

garden, ready for winter

When next I bring RDC to the airport, I'll stop by Tri-R on the way home with cardboard, junkmail, and phone books. I haven't found a place for plastic bags, though. Today I emptied the house of the latest crates of cardboard and paper, preparing for snowbound claustrophobia tomorrow.

I sieved more soil into the east vegetable frame and covered it well with groundcloth, and covered the garage frame as well. The several feet of yard next to the east frame where I laid the lasagne mulch I covered as well, because now that I've removed all the lovely loam, all that naked dirt will either fly away or be infested with weeds unless I protect it.

All this week I've left tools out: with 13% humidity, no dew, and daily work, I shrugged off that little chore. But today I put everything back, neatly, so tomorrow I can look out at snow, I hope, not made lumpy by neglected utensils. And the snow shovel is on the porch along with several hours' worth of firewood.

I cleared grass from around the ornamental sage against the porch. I don't remember which sort it is, and stupidly, I do not have my garden catalogued digitally. Artemisia tridentata? Something. RDC thought grass was choking it, but it's not: it is a slow grower, and it's tended horizontal to reach the sun faster than the porch's shadow would otherwise allow. Also I cut down a nasty, prickly succulent that was probably not on my easement but on the neighbors'. But it's a hideously prickly plant and probably had a pint of water in its tuberous root. So thlpbt to them if they minded.

Besides shoving all last year's growth from the shrubs and the peony not into but between the compost bins, and carefully filling the birdfeeder again, I didn't do much. The sieving took some time, but I don't feel like I got much done. I didn't dig the heavy-duty, recycled plastic bordering along the north side, and I didn't fetch faux brick bordering and start placing that. I didn't clip out cherry sprouts.

And I won't get anything done tomorrow either, other than, I hope, shoveling, and beating the shit out of my trees again. But at least I spent all the hours the sun was out, outside. And I found lots of worms and tossed them into the gardens to join their friends.

long-term plans for formigny

That thing with the electricity to partition the circuit breaker better. Or whatever. I just nodded a lot. That happens Thursday.

Install roof-top evaporative cooler.

Remove window evaporative cooler.

Make screen for that window, since it's absent.

Remove nasty torn outdoor carpeting from porch floor.

Paint and seal porch floor.

Pull out and redo bathroom.

Build breakfast nook.

Make over the back landing. Once it's pretty, or at least less gnarly, consider removing (half of the?) wall between sunroom and landing to enlarge kitchen. Except that the fridge is in the only spot one possibly can be, and that stops the eye as well as directs the traffic.

Redo basement: support main level, repour floor, possibly change floor layout, definitely remove swirly carpet, replace ugly and not particularly serviceable tub with shower stall.

Rebuild bedroom windows, which will be more complicated than the others were, because absent trim means the walls will have to be involved.

Replace brick patio and walkway, possibly with the textured poured concrete that is alleged not to look like concrete but like brick, but that won't let weeds through and that will support an eventual hottub.

Hottub in northwest corner of patio.

Doors for built-in bookcases flanking fireplace.

Do something about the fireplace facade.

Replace aluminum awning over third of porch that, nonsensically, the original porch roof does not cover, with something more integral to the house style.

20:08