We're a bit behind the power curve here at Casa Juvat. Mrs J's normal Pre-Christmas OPlan has always been scheduled to start the execution phase the day after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, there was a bit of a snag this year which delayed start until this week.
'Twas the day before Thanksgiving and we've begun the planning for Phase 2 of the Rancho Juvat restructuring. For those of you who don't want to re-read that very long (but well planned) OPlan, Phase 2 is the refurbishing of our old house in preparation for moving my Sister in to it. The first step there is to rip out the old carpet and tiles, fix any sub-flooring issues and then put down new flooring.
So, that Wednesday, the flooring guy came out and took measurements to put together a quote. Most, but not all, of the stuff has been moved out of the house, so after explaining to the guy what we were looking for, I started loading up the truck with stuff we'd need for Thanksgiving dinner. The two extra leaves to the dining room table being the most important thereof.
I'm carrying one out to the truck and I smell something that vaguely reminds me of something burning. I look at both vehicles and see nothing wrong. Head back in to the house and get the second leaf and carry it out to the truck. Smell it again, but now recognize the smell from a past adventure.
SKUNK! Quick look around and I don't see anything, but it's definitely skunk and fresh. I head back into the house and ask the guy if he might have hit a skunk on the way up. He didn't think so and a whiff of both vehicles ruled out that possibility.
Opened the door to the storage area of our carport and thought I was going to throw up. Reeked is not a strong enough word.
As I looked around the storage area, (from outside, Beans, well outside) I didn't see anything, but it was obvious that everything inside was affected. This included all our Christmas Decorations. Took two days before the smell had dissipated enough that I could enter the room and open a window. Took until last Friday to be able to enter (without gagging) and remove the critical decorations. The tree was a total write off. Fortunately, most of the important decorations were in Tupperware storage boxes. The boxes were still mildly stinky, but the stuff inside was not.
So, Mrs J directed the engine room to engage all engines and begin decorating. The outdoor decorations were first priority. Managed to get the fence and gate pretty well done, but threw out several hundred feet of non-functioning lights. Got the back porch decorated with garland which involve several dozen trips up and down a 9' ladder, only to reach that Clark Griswold moment when he plugs it in and (in my case) only one strand lights up. Back and Knees screamed in protest when the discussion to take it all down right away was had. Remove and replace is scheduled for today.
However, we did have a few successes. The front doorway looks pretty nice.
As does the Family room.
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| The replacement tree will be where the wine bar (the bottles) was |
It's probably no coincidence that both areas were mostly done by Mrs J. But, Little J and his Bride will be arriving home from the Sandbox on Wednesday for a few weeks, so we'll need to push ahead to be ready (ish). Additionally, since this year we get MBD and SIL for Christmas, we're really looking forward to the season.
On a wholly different topic, and as a followup to last weeks post, it looks like common sense prevailed. The regularly scheduled city council meeting this week attracted a large crowd, none of whom seemed to favor the Covid-19 concern reporting application. After reading the report in the newspaper, I visited the City's website. The app may still be there, however, I couldn't find a link to it.
So, small victories.
Never Give Up, Never Surrender!
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| I loved how the paper (owned and operated by members of a particular party) spun the story, putting the city's response first then putting the comments on a back page. Typical! But, they did publish them. |
"customers of businesses to voice their concerns about a business not following the city's supplemental order requiring the wearing of face coverings in businesses".....an example of NewSpeak eh? Just lovely the way that article was written, somebody needs an arse-kicking. The lighted decorations....visualize the scene where the hand throws the switch on auxiliary nuclear in Christmas Vacation movie.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Nylon, I recognized the NewSpeak also. Guess we'll just have to figure out a way to say "Screw You, I ain't doin' it" in that language for a while.
DeleteAs for going all Griswold, maybe next year. The metal roof is a bit too steep for me and hiring somebody to hang the lights didn't make it on the schedule. There is a guy who advertised in the paper for that capability. I'll probably buy the lights in the post holiday sales and have him hang them Octoberish.
Ah the trials and tribulations of putting up the lights.
ReplyDeleteFront door and family room look awesome, kudos to Mrs. J!
As to the skunk, I recall "Skunk Week" some years ago. Looks like a skunk counteroffensive, was this the first strike? A random skunk terrorist? Or something far more sinister. Perhaps it was a skunk from Austin? Oh wait, those are the two-legged variety...
Yeah, had to advise the guests not to automatically let the dogs out into the yard and that we had the mixings of the real anti-skunk smell potion (Dawn, Hydrogen Peroxide and Baking Soda tested several times on Dogs as well as myself. I must say I'm pretty good lookins as a blond).
DeleteThere are a few skunks in Austin,but to quote someone famous "I like Ken Paxton...He fights"
Juvat, the annual "Casting Away of The Non-Functioning Lights". Something of a tradition here.
ReplyDeleteWe have not had the privilege of a skunk visit but even in our urban area, they are around. A friend's dogs got sprayed and occasionally you smell a bit of something out walking.
We were pretty overdue on "Casting away". The odiferous-ness of the storage area demanded grabbing any boxes marked Xmas and dragging them un-opened out into the fresh air. This led to the discovery of several ancient strands. Which, of course, didn't work. So, I guess there's some good that came of the incident.
DeleteThat particular ode du mercaptan is a favourite. (English spelling when I'm talking about luxury). I love it. I relish that smell on the highway. When you squeeze every last molecule out of the skunk's armory, the odor gets a bit yucky, but still well within the bounds of skunk-ish. Other folks may not appreciate the smell that attaches to your sinus cavity and wafts by when you exhale.
ReplyDeleteNext time, give a holler. I don't mind the parfum at all. Per wiki: These compounds are detectable by the human nose at concentrations of only 10 parts per billion. Looks like wine can produce mercaptans as well as "skunky" beer. If I understood this right, you might be able to wash off the smell with iodine!! Hello Oompa Lumpa ville... Don't use peroxide, that makes sulfuric acid's first cousin. Makes me miss my old organic chemistry class.
So, we were made to smell this. Might as well enjoy it! Happy Skunking Christmas Juvata! (is that the correct latin plural?)
I don't know, STxAR. My eyes were burning pretty badly on the second pass. I think it just took a few minutes to ferment.
DeleteAs I mentioned earlier, Mrs J's anti-skunk potion (which uses peroxide0 has been tested several times over the years and is pretty effective. Much more so that the tomato juice concoction, which just makes me look pink and still stink.
Your porch and mantle looks great, juvat. The door itself it really nice - good choice for a hill country abode. Best of luck with the follow up on the rest of the decor.
ReplyDeleteAhh, the chemistry of mercaptans - I had a terrific organic chemistry professor at SMU back in the early 70's. He was a real character, and one of the better lectures was on mercaptans - 'alcohols' with sulfur instead of oxygen. Besides being in skunk odor, they are also what makes your urine stink after eating asparagus and what is added to natural gas to make it smell. Anyway, here is a link for those that want more chemical education on these lovely compounds and how to counteract skunk smell-
https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/pressroom/reactions/videos/2019/how-to-get-rid-of-skunk-smell.html
My best skunk story is that one night while living in the NE, my wife and I were going to go for a flight around NYC - this was back in the early 80's when such flights were routinely allowed (one on a 4th of July was awesome). Our German Shepherd liked flying , so she was with us. As we did the preflight on our rental Cessna, she wandered off, and we shortly heard her barking loudly along the nearby fence, then heard her go "Yipe!", then smelled skunk. She had gotten fully sprayed - we then had to decide what to do with her ... we still wanted to fly but weren't going to take her with us! We also didn't want her sitting in the car while we were gone. Well, it was late, no one else was around the FBO, so we put her in one of the other rental planes and went one our merry way and had a nice flight. We came back, retrieved her from the plane, went home and deordorized her as much as we could. I am sure the next person to open the door to that 172 got a pretty good noseful of said mercaptans, especially since it took her about a week to be truly odor free.
I paid for college working at an FBO in Lubbock. I can only imagine what that airplane must have smelled like, having had to clean up several that had endured other "Odiferous" events, if you know what I mean and I know that you do.
DeleteInteresting video, thanks.
I got that job after you left for the very same FBO. Scrubbing bugs off the leading edge of those Cessnas was a treat.
DeleteWas Mike still there at that point? Old guy (about 35), dark hair, smoked. He managed the line and I believe also was a sales person for AvTech. Bug Scrubbing was always fun, especially in the summer when they were baked on.
DeleteTB said it very well, "the annual "Casting Away of The Non-Functioning Lights". Something of a tradition here."
ReplyDeleteThe SCOLSOP, Standard Christmas Outdoor Lighting Standard Operating Procedure now mandates a pre-installation test procedure.
And speaking of ladders, when we had the addition built, the much higher ceiling allowed a truly grand artificial tree.
But assembling the nine foot tree requires that two diminutive people who are their late sixties to work from ladders.
Next year we will have a new artificial tree that is around seven feet tall.
We've steadily reduced the scope of our outside Christmas lights over the years.
We now hang wreaths that are wrapped with LED lights, and we can do that for most of the foreseeable future.
Your home looks very nice, and the first Christmas in a new home is special.
And if anybody is heading from out way to your way, we have a perfectly good nine foot tree that needs a new home!
Mrs J Has purchased one already. It is sitting in it's box in the Christmas Decoration Storage, Preparation, and assembly area (AKA The Garage), with probable ETA in the living room of Today or Tomorrow.
DeleteIf you had a halfway decent moat, 90% of your problems would never have been problems, and 9% of the rest you could plink at your leisure. Sigh.....airforce...
ReplyDeleteA Moat???Now that's an interesting idea. We do have a dry stream that crosses our drive. When it floods (3 times in the 20+ years we've lived here), it's fairly effective at preventing crossing in or out. For about 3 hours. Other than that...
DeleteSo what you want is a Foss. Which is a waterless moat. With sharpened stakes on the bottom.
DeleteI should have consulted someone I know who's a Medieval Warfare Expert when I laid out the plans for the house.
DeleteYou can put in a ha-ha even now, landscape your yard to include a sharp drop-off...
DeleteOr just ring your home yard in silverthorn. Go all artistic boma-like. Yes. Silver-thorn. Leaves are silvery, and the branches have thorns lots of really sharp thorns, really really sharp thorns... And they can be hedged...
Be sure you add plant to silver thorn. Neat images elsewise.
DeleteAh, after Christmas holiday sales... It's how I scored a $200.00 tree slashed down to $25 at Homey-Despot. Still have that tree, a really good 6.5 footer. Top front half gets assembled as 'The Tree' and the remaining branches get stuck amongst the baskets and pots on top of the bookshelves that line the room, which will be festively strung with LED lights (that I bought on sale from Sams, 200 lights per strand, one for the tree and one for the 'garland') for which to hang all of our ornaments from (the tree and the branch-garland, that is.)
ReplyDeleteThis year I'm adding a 100 light section around the window after adding more 'garland' branches above the curtain (as the actual garland-garland has a tendency to roll and threaten to toss pretty baubles all over, which is a no-no.)
Meant to get it all up right after Thanksgiving, but first must dust excessively and clean then put up Christmas stuff but wife's allergies were bad (and mine were teed off, too) so excessive stirring of dust had to wait till we were better and could open up for fresh air exchange. There's something about opening up a place when it's below 40 outside that makes it ever so much more comfortable to clean.
Sorry you got skunked in your decorating plans. And your lights. But at least you're getting Little Juvat back.
Yep, and we're really looking forward to that.
DeleteDust? In Christmas trees? Never heard of that before! Which reminds me. Need to add Kleenex to the shopping list. :-)
Well (looks shameful, coughs nervously) before the BIG MOVE, life was so poopy that we didn't decorate much or at all and even when the tree was up, we didn't see it much, so.. well, one year I left the apartment decorations up till summer because I just liked looking at all the neat and pretty ornaments... Until Mrs. Andrew said enough was enough.
DeleteDust. Yes, dust in the tree. Lots.
Actually, live or zombie(recently cut) Christmas trees do an excellent job of cleaning particles out of the air.
Not so much actual dusting of the artificial tree, more of taking the tiers outside and blasting them with the leaf blower.
DeleteLeft up until Summer might be a little over the top, Beans. I'd probably be on Mrs Andrew's side on that one. Through the Epiphany has always been the rule in my family (or at least the 3 generations I'm familiar with).
DeleteI've always liked the smell of real trees, but managing that sweet spot of still smelling nice vs dropping needles faster than Colin Kaepernick drops a football is always a decisive part of the real/fake decision.
Leaf blowers, John? Isn't that called "The Wind"?
DeleteOld-School Beans family the tree was purchased and hung, upside down to shake all the loose stuff out, on the 22nd or 23rd then decorated on the 24th and taken down on the Epiphany.
DeleteImagine a 6-7' tall tree, outside, hanging upside down from a convenient location with three small annoying children shaking it and chanting "Out out out out out out."
Then there's the year Dad bought live ducks for which to make Christmas dinner with and he hung them off the back fence so to dehead them on defense and we three kids had fun chasing headless ducks that were running around with blood squirting out the necks.
The tree ceremony went away when the Ancient Bean family acquired an artificial tree in '70, on sale cheap because the 'Macy's' (the Base exchange at Kwaj) bought 6'6" trees and they were deemed too tall for the trailer homes on half the island. Whereupon they suddenly sold out and a group of mechanics went around to all the homes to cut the bottoms off the trees to make them fit.
And after the great Christmas Headless Duck Challenge, I think my mother put her foot down on bringing home any more live animals in order to dispatch them into live-less form.
Though we used to, in California, go to a live turkey farm (I think that's where Cali now gets all of it's politicians...) and select a suitable beast for our table. They'd whack it (unfortunately, not where we could see it) pluck it, gut it and then we'd go home with a fresh turkey.
Second attempt at a comment:
DeleteWe have an artificial tree that sheds needles, and I hope this year is its last.
Frank
Beans,
DeleteYou've lived an exciting life, my friend. I think beheading ducks is probably a mortal sin in the pagan world we're now entering.
Frank,
DeleteNever give up, never surrender...especially where blogger is cnocerned.
juvat.
DeleteI thought The Wind was called Mariah, but I digress.
Unlike the great open spaces of the American West, we city folk sometimes need to generate our own wind and thus the leaf blower was born.
Good. Those people have every right to stand up to the tyrants. I'd bet not a single politician or cop has missed so much as a nickel of income since this life destroying scam was started. Fuck our politicians.
ReplyDeleteI'm certain you're right about politicians (a pox be upon them). Not so much about police. I think we can agree that the people who are actually needed in situation like this one are usually the ones that get screwed, and the ones that are just consuming oxygen are the ones that come out smelling like roses.
DeletePoliticians, and Big Tech, and the Chinese communists,and the Education system (but I repeat myself), and the Federal Bureaucracy, and Bureaucracy in general and....Lots of blame to go round in this fiasco.
Hoo boy, skunks are just 'so' much fun... Don't ever hit one with your car window open... Just sayin... And re the paper, are you really surprised?
ReplyDeleteDid that one time, somewhere between San Angelo and Del Rio. Middle of the night, AC inop, window down. Pulling on the Laughlin way past the witching hour, the AP at the gate decided he needed to check me out. I stopped, he immediately changed his mind and waved me through. It was a LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGG Shower that evening.
DeleteNo...Not really...but still a bit disappointed.