Boxing Day Chillout

For some odd reason, the 24th and 25th just felt busy. They were busier than a typical day, but not enough to warrant how it felt.

The calendar today was clear. We kept it that way. Today, we do nothing. I'm not leaving this house. There's (finally) snow on the frozen ground outside, a hard chill in the air, and enough leftovers that nobody has to cook if they don't want to. I'm wearing my new hoodie and eating the various snacks my kids got me and plan to accomplish nothing.

I suppose I'm lucky enough to get to do that.

Infestation

Anyone who knows me well enough (or not at all and happened to be in the same room when I was on the subject) knows how much I hate

Hate

HATE

...infestations. I have absolutely no tolerance for anything non human living in my house, except spiders. Spiders and I have an understanding: I hate bugs, they eat bugs. We work together, but that's it. (Don't tell my wife, she doesn't like spiders at all)

But it's especially grating when it's the kind of bug that likes people. Many a year ago, in Buffalo, our apartment had a problem with bed bugs. My neighbor took in some guests that had been bouncing from one seedy hotel to another, and soon after brought the infestation. It wasn't long before they crawled through the walls (yea, they do that) right into my kids bedroom.

I knew I didn't like any sort of infestation, but that's when I learned just how much I hated it when they preferred to eat people. I won't go into any detail, but it was a rage inducing nightmare that lasted six months (that my landlord had to pay for). 

I suppose head lice is tame in comparison. We only needed to treat bedding (threw in the couches for good measure), do a lot of laundry, and soak some heads in a funny smelling shampoo. My wife knew what to look for, and I got a crash course during so that I'd know what to look for on her. Our daughter (whose hair is so rich and so fine) had some visitors, and one son had a tourist. All else were clean, but I'm willing to burn half my house to make sure of it.

My kids had a varied response to the required treatment, but that was inevitable.

The real issue is... where on Earth did they come from? My family, who also sees only other family (we're seriously a bubble), or the one neighbor girl with exceedingly thick, long hair that you could lose a shoe in (not gonna lie, I'm a bit envious) and had previously mentioned that she'd had head lice once or twice in the distant past and oh can I borrow a winter hat while I play outside in the snow with your kids great thanks.

I guess we'll never know.

No Novemburr?

Normally we see at least one snowstorm before Thanksgiving. So far it's snowed twice, and not enough to bother changing your footwear over. Oh it's been cold enough that there's been frost on my car some mornings, but just... no snow. We're in the middle of December now and still no snow.

I'm not complaining, it's just really weird.

The unfit stocking

My sister, many years ago, made custom stockings for everyone in my family. At the time Dear Wife and I only had our three boys, and as such only the five were made. After daughter child was born, another (final) one was commissioned. They're the same size, however the loop they hang on was slightly smaller on hers. It didn't matter until...

Recently, as Dear Wife was redecorating she made up a new place for them to hang (yea, we don't have a fireplace). Some fancy looking wooden knobs were brought in for them to hang on, and it was all assembled and set up. Once finished, she hung the stockings.

But daughter child's was too narrow to fit over the knob. "It's alright" we said, "we'll fix it tomorrow, seeing as it's already pretty late right now"

The next morning, the boys bouncing around the house, I woke to find my daughter desperately trying to hang her stocking. She saw it sitting on the end table nearby, and thought it was overlooked. Her inability to hang the stocking was rather distressing. Fortunately, she's at least old enough to understand why once we explained it to her. 

Still, imagine being five years old and thinking your stocking is being left out.

A very small Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving always used to be a crowded affair. I always enjoyed seeing everyone, catching up, and of course eating until I hated myself. Leftovers always had me thinking... why are there always leftovers? We've been doing this for decades, do we not know how to cook enough for the number of people attending? We manage every other meal, why is this one so different?

Turkeys are huge, and we generally only cook one once a year. That's probably why.

Well this year, sadly, I didn't see everyone. What I'm saying is that I have so many leftovers that I'll be finishing this off as Christmas breakfast. I won't want to touch the stuff until... ok next Thanksgiving.

Aggrivated mulching

There was one final day of nice, warmer weather. Only one, and immediately after it got cold and wet. Fortunately, that was a day where I actually had time. Seeing as I hate yard work, I took the easiest path to removing the leaves.

A giant riding mower. I ran over them again and again until there was nothing left of them but a fine mulch covering half my lawn. Not one half or the other, no, but an odd stripe pattern I cared not to disperse. I just kept riding back and forth, over and over, until there wasn't a leaf left. That I could reach, anyway.

And since it was still warm, I pulled the mower deck and installed the snowblower. It felt so odd installing a snowblower attachment when it was warm enough that I worked in short sleeves wishing I had a breeze in the garage, but there I was. My problem was that I, in years past, always forgot about it until it had already snowed. Of course when that happens, it's also cold. Very cold.

This only means that it won't snow much this winter.

The very windy day

So this massive tree sits in my backyard. Its canopy covers half the length of the yard, while totally eclipsing the width (it hangs over the fence on each side. My yard is much longer than it is wide). It's not like the other trees in the neighborhood: they drop their leaves much earlier. My tree is a stubborn one, refusing to let them go when it's light enough out for me to deal with them. When it's warm enough.

Early last week it gave up. Within three days it went from a tree full of dead leaves, to naked. The yard was covered in a thick blanket of ecological refuse. There it sat all week as my limited motivation was further hampered by my children wanting to play in it.

Spoiler alert: they didn't.

Then came the wind. The furious howling wind. I watched in awe as no massive branches dropped from the tree (happens any time it's even slightly gusty, so this was really strange), and then the leaves were entirely shoved across the lawn.

This is where having a chain link fence kinda sucks. Those leaves would have been entirely gone. Instead, I have an entire tree's worth of leaves crammed into one corner, piled almost as high as the fence.

...I hate yard work. Now it's as ugly as it was annoying.