Snakes 'n' Scammers

This "attractive" fellow was lying in the grass near one of our compost piles, but I didn't have my contact lens in so I thought it was a heap of horse poop. Hahaha! Good thing I had the presence of mind to go in the house and insert my contact lens before attempting to heave him onto the compost! I did grab the camera and document him (or her) and go back into the house and onto the computer to identify the particular variety of snake (especially not wanting to disturb this individual if it proved to be potentially poisonous.) I am confident in reporting that- although ugly- it is a harmless snake, most likely a water snake. (There were many of these snakes at a garden I took care of one summer. Nasty things! They were sufficiently long and intimidating so that if one was "sunning" itself on the stone steps behind the house, I was forced to circle the entire house to gain access to the upper garden.)
But alas, there are human "snakes" a few of which feature in the next discussion...
Bob and I told friends that we were making (another) trip to the New York Botanic Garden to deliver an order of Bob's metal work. We always look forward to these trips as Bob's contact there provides us with free passes and we get to see whatever special exhibit is featured. The friends in question asked what route we took. They expressed horror when we outlined the highways we have (successfully) traveled many times now, telling us that these roads were off-limits to trucks and commercial vehicles and that hefty fines were levied on the drivers that violated these statutes. They said that we had been lucky to have evaded the law for so long.
Chastened, we took the advice offered and plotted another course, which looked direct enough. I was feeling perturbed, as we'd managed to get this route down and were sanguine about reaching our destination- not always the easiest thing when navigating our way into New York. Anyway, we gamely made our way, finding the first two connections easily... until we got lost. There was simply no sign  that announced the particular road we were looking for (even though it had shown up on our computer at home). We went too far, almost winding up in Manhattan. We back tracked and took the only exit that made mention of the botanic garden and The Bronx Zoo, which is close by. Suffice it to say that once off the highway, we got even more lost as there was a single sign pointing us vaguely easterly and then abandoning us. I tried pulling up maps on my phone but seemed to get nothing but gibberish and Pokeman. Here comes the fun part.
We were stopped at a busy intersection when a man called out, "Hey! Your hood is open!" We were already moving but Bob and I looked at each other and agreed we'd better pull over and check it out. This being NYC, we had hit several heroic pot holes and certainly the hood could have come unlatched. As Bob pulled the truck into a conveniently broad sweep of street shoulder, a man approached (a bit too well timed?) and said, "Hey! there's smoke pouring out of your engine!" Yes, in retrospect, it seems pretty obvious what was happening, but at the time- after being lost and turned around and anticipating engine disaster- we got out and cracked the hood while the "helpful" good Samaritan said, "Oh hey, you're really lucky this didn't happen on the highway. You cold have blown your whole engine!" as he helpfully offered to add anti-freeze. Then he made a big deal of rolling under the truck and exclaiming as how our "engine pin" had loosened and he'd tighten it...* this is where Bob and I simultaneously realized that there had been no smoke, or over heating or smell and the truck had been running just fine. I said, "Thanks; we'll just call AAA", but our patron saint persisted and said as how we should give him $60 for "fixing" our truck. Bob and I (feeling pretty stupid and just wanting to get the fuck out of there) exchanged glances and gave the guy $20 and drove off, being lucky that that was all it cost. (In fairness, it was a very busy major road, not some back alley so we were reasonably safe. But good heavens! This snake extorted $20 from a couple of artists! Go pick on someone else!!!) Then we figured out that the guy in the car at the intersection was in cahoots with our "impromptu mechanic": a setup!

Anyway, we finally made it to the Botanic Garden and had a lovely time strolling the amazing tropical plants and exotic installation that replicated a Brazilian garden as envisioned by Roberto Burle Marx. It was spectacular enough that we had a splendid time and enjoyed the rest of our visit. Needless to say, upon leaving, we reverted to the former route that we had safely traversed many times. And except for getting stuck in a major traffic jam and crawling slowly home once over the Connecticut line, nothing else happened.

* Bob reminds me that this guy had his schtick down pat! He asked if we had a rag and proceeded to offer the wetness of it as evidence that our engine was leaking (this was after he wet it with anti-freeze.) I actually think that if he hadn't gotten so carried away with his own multitudinous details, he would have been more convincing. I mean, if you suspect something is truly wrong with your vehicle, you often don't know where to begin diagnosing it. But there was smoke and leaking and an "engine pin" (when I realized he was a scammer!) and a few other problems!

Happy Birthday to Me

Here's a picture of my delicious birthday pie! Blueberry... my favorite (well maybe tied with peach!) and made with fresh blueberries plucked from our own berry bushes early yesterday morning. Maybe it turned out a bit on the tart side (Bob maintaining that it needed a pinch more sugar) but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
And I received lovely gifts from Bob and a million and ten birthday greetings on Facebook (everybody's favorite!)  and a number of thoughtful actual physical birthday cards- I'm very happy. Except that the weather sucked and we spent the day huddled in the air conditioned bed room, emerging only for refills of cold drinks and the occasional ill-advised trip outside to experience what life on Mars or Venus is like.
My birthday is typically hot 'n' humid but this heatwave is exceptional. We actually cancelled my family's celebration at our house because it was either sit in the driveway in Beatrice and John's new car with the air conditioning blasting (worrying about getting frosting on the immaculate interior) or hunkering together in the bed room (the only air conditioned room in the house) which would be awkward. Outside really was not a possibility and we had originally considered grilling: unimaginable!
So at last the hideous weather has broken and it's expected to rain late today into tomorrow. That's a good thing as plants and grasses were stressing in the garden and we were stressing in the house. I felt badly for poor Maggie the Mexican Pony (yes, she's still with us) who stood stamping flies in her stall. She was downright giddy the cool of this morning, breaking into a wonky trot when I fed her her breakfast grain.
Let's trust teh improved weather will last!

Sink or Swim!

I thought I'd let you suffer through the stress and anxiety of wondering what happened to the sink project... Did the new sink leak? Did the gaskets burst, spewing water sky high? Did the worst things that could happen happen?!?!?
NO! It all went swimmingly and we've been enjoying our new cabinets and sink for almost a week now. I've just been remiss (and busy!!) and haven't gotten around to finishing this epic.
So to pick up where we left off, Joe and Bob installed the freshly painted cabinets- ones repurposed from a couple of friend's kitchen re-do.And as you can see, with the exception of a couple of places that needed repainting after the cabinets were fitted, it already looks cleaner and brighter.
This part of the process looks simple enough but my hats off to Bob and Joe for figuring out how to fit all the jigsaw puzzle like pieces back together and then still have to do the actual plumbing.

For a few days, we washed dishes in the downstairs bathroom sink. It was a tad inconvenient but thank goodness for that downstairs sink. It felt almost awkward to think of using the kitchen sink again. The dish drain board had to sit on the washing machine and necessitated many trips back and forth from the bathroom to the kitchen. I don't miss that procession!
But finally, the sink was dropped in and the side pieces were glued on and braced. That's what the random looking piece of wood is all about: causing pressure to hold the side panels in place until set. But look at that glowing red sink! Fabulous! Around the edge, you can see silicone caulking oozing out of the friction between the sink and the counter surface. Bob carefully sliced that away and then he was ready to hook up the pipes and connections underneath. That's the nerve wracking part, because if it isn't sealed correctly, we're back to Leak Ville!
But it worked and brilliantly when Bob turned on the water.

So the sink is now in use and every time I approach it to get a glass of water or place a dish in the sink to wash it, I admire the amazing red sink... with no leaks. The doors still remain to be reattached but we're waiting a couple of days until the underneath dries out completely. But it looks and works great and I don't cringe when ever I get a glass of water.

That Sink-ing Feeling

Get ready for some truly gross before pictures! I mean, our sink was BAD. Last year, pre-tornado, we were aware that the faucet on the kitchen sink leaked. Water was seeping out from under the (badly chipped!) metal housing and oozing down around the sink and between the wall and the countertop. I even (cringe) removed a few mushrooms that sprouted in that crevice between the wall and the faucet. Hey! They were small...

Here's the underneath- unpleasantly soggy and one of those places in your house you don't want to even think about, let alone dwell on. And this is the cleaned out picture! There were boxes of things like steel wool pads that had disintegrated so completely that when I reached in to remove them, they dissolved into a nasty smeary, rusty rotten pile of slime. It was awful cleaning everything out from under the sink.
And the sink itself! Holy cow! It was never a paragon of sink perfection but as it was made of plastic, it just became entirely stained and no amount of Bartender's Helper's Friend helped. Take a look:

Wow... even I'm impressed by how hideous that was!
So I was attempting to say that we meant to do the sink/ counter/cabinet replacement last year but never got to it as we had so much exterior clean up to do. But Bob and our intrepid friend Joe (thanks Joe!) set to work on Tuesday and tore all this nastiness out.

 Here's Joe's arm being featured alongside the old cabinet (and dishwasher) that are a-comin' out. Notice the lovely neon lime green wall detailing: I think the entire kitchen was once that refreshing color! (Yeeeesh!! My eyes!) Anyway, here's what it looked like after circuit breaker had been tripped, water had been shut off and cabinets had made their way to the backyard:

Bob and Joe cleaned that disaster up and I painted the interior white. (I also did my (small) part by painting all the doors, trim boards, floor boards and various other connection pieces white... the least I could do!) Enough eye sore! I'll post the happier photos of successful rebuilding the cabinet and installing the sink in a few days!