sometimes

[solarbird]

I haven't had a day off in weeks. I'm glad I mostly took one today. We woke up and it was misty and raining and foggy and autumnal, and the trees had shifted a couple of shades towards yellow virtually overnight and it was cool and cozy and wet outside and I was just pleased. Then I went downstairs and noticed a shower of water on the front stairs, so, before breakfast, I got out the step-ladder and put on shorts and shoes and this poncho-like overcoat someone left here (we think) once upon a time and cleaned out a bunch of the front gutters, which turned out really to be pretty fun. I think because it's not very difficult and there's a high and immediate reward for work. Plus, Zoe's right; moving water is cool.

Then after breakfast and feeding the birds and cleaning up a bit in the kitchen - in particular, the stovetop needed its weekly scrubdown - the rain lightened up and it turned partly cloudy, and I dragged out the furnace filter to hose it clean, and worked on getting moss off the roof and cleaning the rest of the gutters I could reach that I hadn't gotten before. I'll have to do it all again later, I suppose, once the leaves have fallen. And the furnace filter says to check it once every three to four weeks. What the hell is up with that, anyway? That just sounds like crazytalk to me.

Still, I found the energy efficiency sticker - and sadly, they didn't shell out the extra money for the higher-efficiency units, so that's going to be painful. I should do what I can to get the most I can out of it.

After that, I attacked some of the oncroaching blackberries. Those bastards are relentless. But tasty! So I ate a bunch of berries while cutting back the vines.

Then spazzkat put on Real Genius, which he'd gotten from Netflix, and he and annathepiper watched the movie while I fixed my moccasins again and futzed with paperwork and mail. And that's been about it for my day so far. Yay, easy day. ^_^

Here's today's flower; I saw it while waiting for the bus back from Murksouth, on 25th Avenue NE:


Pink Bells


I thought this leaf was really pretty, too. It was near the pink flowers, about, oh, a foot and a half long, base to tip? Huge, anyway:


Untitled

Comments

[banner.livejournal.com]

You know of you tack one of those metal strips on the crown of the roof, you'll never have to deal with the moss again. Pretty easy to do, pretty cheap too.

[solarbird]

I thought you had to put those in with the roof. You can add them in later? That would be really cool. Is there a trick to it?

[banner.livejournal.com]

Most people put it on with the roof, but you can put it on anytime. It's just zinc I believe (or maybe copper) and that kills moss, cause every time it rains, some goes washing down the roof. If you have a good roof, I'd see about sticking a strip up there. The local hardware store would probably know the details.

[solarbird]

I found some at the store! It's zinc. However, see my comment above - our roof is constructed like a pyramid instead of a single-fold piece of paper. I don't know where I'd put it for that to work, since it apparently depends upon water washing over it and down the roof.

[dpawtows.livejournal.com]

One can nail them onto an existing roof, although it it a bit twitchy. There's special nails made just for that task with a built-in rubberized grommit. I'm pondering the addition of one to my own roof.
Depending on roof type, it might be possible to just wedge a strip in amongst the shingles.

[solarbird]

So here's the thing (she added, much later); a lot of our roof is the kind that comes to a point rather than to a nice long line across the whole or the bulk of the structure. (Picture available upon request.) I think these are called "hip roofs." Does it even make sense to try that sort of thing with this kind of roof? Where would they go, along the corner rises?

(Does this make any sense at all? Our roof is shaped like a pyramid instead of a folded piece of paper.)

[mamishka.livejournal.com]

Just FYI, you should never cut back blackberry bushes. That will just make them grow more aggressively. Trust me, I know this from people who KNOW. The only way you can get rid of/control blackberries is to tear them out all the way to the root ball.

[solarbird]

Oh, I know this won't hurt them. But it will keep them out of the area that's already reasonably cleared. The actual rootballs aren't even on my land, so it's not like I have a lot of choice.

I've done this a few times this summer, it's not so bad. Also, if you're really aggressive about it, even at their highest growth rates you can keep ahead of them. And that way, you also get blackberries. Tasty! ^_^

But for eradication, you're absolutely right; there's nothing to do but rip out the roots.

Blackberries..Good!

[(Anonymous)]

About a third of my backyard is in blackberries-I leave them alone, for the most part-I like the berries..I've cut trails in them so I can get more berries, but that's it.I can get two or three gallon bucketfuls a year from them.
Technically, you are supposed to change/clean filters once a month-I usually do this at the change of seasons. When I did rental maintenance,it was every three months,despite what the furnace said.A partially cruddy filters filter out finer particles than a clean one does,but resticts airflow,reducing efficiency and may shorten the life of the blower motor. If your furnace has a motor with oil cups, give them a drop or three of 30 weight(or any motor oil/light machine oil,like 3-in-one) once a year..too much oil is way worse than not enough.
My furnace filter gets full of cat hair-I have two of 'em.
My furnace is old-25 years or so,and I dread winter, if gas prices go up like its claimed they will. I might install electric baseboards,since Kentucky has one of, if not the,cheapest electric rates in the US....Scott

Re: Blackberries..Good!

[solarbird]

It's more that they already had, before this latest disruption started. They were up to $9/MBTU before all this - up from $3 in 2003. They're up to $11/MBTUs now. Estimates range as high as $15.

So yeah. I'll be checking that filter once a month, I guess, just to do as much as I can to help its efficiency.

What's good for us is that our infrastructure is separate (again), so our rate hikes won't be anything like as bad as the central and eastern US. But even without that, there's a real issue of more expensive energy in general, particularly portable energy.