The drainage tile project

Note - this was a big goal for 2024, I had been trying to fix this for a couple years, very important to solve the ice problem. 

When the house was originally built, we had under ground tiles, hooked to all our downspouts, that ran out to the front of our house, back probably 20’ from the curb.

Eventually all of these failed, probably due to tree roots, and we went back to regular downspouts that run out to the yard. 

We only had one place that this above ground water was a problem. The downspout, on the way to our front door, caused a small patch of terrible ice on our front sidewalk. 

We needed a drainage tile under the sidewalk so the water from that specific downspout goes through the tile, under the sidewalk, out into the yard.

As I said, small area, Big Job, that require expertise in drainage tiles. And it required hand digging, not enough room to get a machine in the area. 

For the last two summers, 2022 and 2023, I have talked to 5-6 contractors about this tile. No one wanted to take the time to do it. 

 

One day one of the contractors, working on the white house across the street, stopped to visit with the dogs just as we were headed out for a walk. I mentioned the tile. Within the month he sent two of his guys over to take care of it for me. 

Crew from across the street started at 8:15am on Thursday August 15, 2024. They finished at 11:15am that same day.

The tile hooks directly on to the downspout behind the bushes by the house.

It runs under the sidewalk.

It terminates into underground gravel in the big front bed. 

The tile has slits in it, so no standing water will accumulate. 

The cap at the end has holes, so the water will disperse into the gravel. 

The rock (below) in the big front bed signifies where the tile ends. 

They replaced the grass. It looks like it will survive. 

The white lines are me, marking the work area to have the utilities marked. The yellow flags and paint mark the gas line. The tile goes over the gas line. The gas line is deep. The tile is shallow.

This (red dotted line) is approximately where the tile runs -

We can get to both ends of the tile in the future, if necessary. We can detach it from the downspout. We can dig up the buried end. It is accessible if needed. 

TV - Claim to Fame

Spring 2024, I watched Traitors. Really enjoyed several variations/seasons - US, British, NZ, Australia.

I found another game series that I really enjoyed - three seasons. 

The review (below) mentions that it does not translate for a younger viewer. This is true, middle at age 30 did not know most of the famous relatives. She watched the latest season (3) with me over Labor Day weekend. 

I must be in the perfect age demographic, because I knew almost all the famous relatives. 

We thought the games clever, the clues creative, the filming location beautiful. 

Things I Wish I Had Told My Mother by Patterson, DiLallo, Patterson

This was a book club assignment. 

My club members all enjoyed it, all described it as a “light, beach read”. 

We talked a lot about mother/daughter relationships. 

Most people thought the title should have been Things I Wish I had Asked My Mother. Maybe that was already taken.

I did not know one thing about the book when I started reading. And that might have been a problem. 

I was not at all sure where it was going or what it was doing. For some reason when I started, I thought it might be a who none it/mystery.  It was not. 

I might have been better off knowing, it was just a story about a daughter and her mother. There is a twist to the story.

My girls read James Patterson’s Maximum Ride series years ago. I know my mother read lots of Patterson’s early works. I do not think (previous to this book) I ever read anything by James Patterson.  I searched his name, he came up on book recommendations lists by the girls, but not under the books I have read. 

In recent years, he appears to collaborate on most books. I have heard from people who used to love him, that his collaborations are not a good thing. 

His book list is very long - 

https://www.jamespatterson.com/landing-page/james-patterson-books/

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch was a book group assignment for me. My group loved it. Most my group’s members had no previous experience with science fiction, and really devoured it. People seemed to have spent a lot of time discussing Dark Matter with  friends and family in addition to our group meeting. 

By pure coincidence, Dark Matter was also a book club assignment that youngest suggested for her group and then lead the discussion (2023). Her group liked it also. 

Note - youngest has read a lot of Blake Crouch. I have only read Dark Matter. We both have the same opinion. The beginning of his books need tighter editing. Youngest thinks an average of two chapters need reduced to a couple sentences. The last half of his books are most excellent. (I call this the Jane Eyer syndrome. The last 1/3 of Jane Eyer is perfect. The first 2/3’s needs edited/reduced.)

It is also a TV show -

Blake Crouch book list - 

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin is considered to be an “adult realistic fiction novel”.

This was a book club assignment. Everyone in my book group really loved it. I loved it too. Great characters, well written, engaging. It is a great story all round. 

Most people in my group said they were teary reading, in a good way, there were many really great moments. Me too.

I use Does The Dog Die? app to alert me to animal triggers. The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin was not listed on the app. There was one chapter that I instinctually skipped, when a dog was mentioned. When I asked the group about it, no one remembered that detail. 

I read every assigned book just before a group meets each week. If it is a harder book, I also review SuperSummery early in the wee hours, on the day of my meeting.  

If it is a book I have already read, I often reread it or read the whole SuperSummery listing. 

Most people in my group read the assigned book well in advance, sometimes they are not fresh on the story. I cannot do that and discuss accurately.

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot by Marianne Cronin reminded me of Queenie (below) which I read May 2024. Both books are set in terminal cancer units. Queenie takes place in England. 100 takes place in Scotland. 

A Happy Place by Emily Henry

Note - There are four posts previous to this one, I posted all week on “my refrigerator” topic. 

I am not sure that I have read a romance novel previously. And after reading this one, I am not sure it is a great category for me. This was a book group assignment. 

I think the book, A Happy Place by Emily Henry, was well written with good character development. I just don’t care for the genre. 

If you like the romance genre, I think this might be a good author. If you like YA, she has a nice list there too. 

Part 4 - recipe card concept

I only use Facebook for Marketplace/selling. 

I have -0- friends on it. So no one’s updates are in my scroll. 

I have dog, local history, house redo’s, and gardening sites I follow. That is what pops up in my feed. 

Also in my feed are recipes. They pop up randomly. 

Those recipes catch my attention. 

I realized the majority of what I liked about Green Chef was the recipe card/sheet. 

It was having someone else decide what to make, that was key for me.

As recipes caught my attention, on my Facebook feed, I realized I could make my own recipe card/sheet.

I use the note section of my phone. I copy/past/edit.

This (below) is an example of what that process looks like. 

I see a dish that looks good and has the type of foods we eat. I turn it into a recipe card.

Clicking on it, reveals the recipe.

I use the copy function.

I paste it into “Note” on my phone. I start every one with the word “Recipes” so they are very searchable.

I change ingredients and procedures to fit our needs and my cooking style/techniques. I condense, recipes tend to be too wordy for me.  I edit it to fit on one page. I include a small photo.  

Here is the key point that makes this work for me. 

I do not print these recipe sheets until I make sure I have all the ingredients and am planning to make the dish very soon. 

So I check my supplies, add ingredients to my grocery curbside order, and then print. 

I put the printed recipe in the stand on my island, just like I used to do with my Green Chef recipe cards. 

I put a checkmark ✔️ after the word “Recipe” in the document, in the notes section of my phone, to signify that I have printed it and the recipe sheet is on my stand.

I have 80+ of these one page recipe sheets saved in the notes in my phone.

I use a heart to signify recipes I have tried and we like. I use a thumbs down to mark the ones we do not like. 

Part 3 - Leftovers can create major clutter

For the year I cooked Green Chef, we had no leftovers.  I liked not having the refrigerator crowded with leftovers. I liked not having to keep track of leftovers. 

But I had the Green Chef paper bags crowding the refrigerator. I did not like the crowding. I did not like feeling pressured to cook, feeling pressured to use up the bags quickly.

Ceasing Green Chef, earlier this year, I changed my philosophy several times. 

First I tried to replicate the concept of cooking two servings for dinner with no leftovers. 

Frankly, I was OVER cooking every night. I really like to cook a larger quantity, every few days. 

So, even with just two of us, I now cook larger batches of things several times a week. But the refrigerator does not over flow. 

I put my grocery order in so I have my specific ingredients and cook. 

Then we bundle all the leftovers into individual sizes and put them in the freezer, not the refrigerator. It is like I am making my own frozen meals. 

My husband utilizes these leftovers for lunches. If I do not happen to cook dinner, he utilizes these leftovers in the evening too. 

So I can make batches of what I am hungry to eat, but I do not have to consume the same thing all week. I can eat it once for dinner, and be done. 

We use our glass anchor hocking/pyrex bowls for freezing. 

But we do not use the standard lids for freezing, the standard lids crack in the freezer. (We still use the standard lids for the refrigerator.)

Instead, we use a thicker, more pliable silicone lid (below) for the freezer. They work extremely well.

We hand wash all lids. 

Part 2 - Less cluttered inside

 I discovered I really dislike an over packed, cluttered refrigerator. I dislike items getting lost in the back. In fact, for the most part, I like the back to be empty.

The new refrigerator/freezer unit is slightly bigger than the old one. The insides are also configured just a little different. The door has lots of shelves with easy to slide dividers. 

I have added clear bins to the regular shelves to keep things organized. The very visible top shelf bins are for fresh fruit and vegetables. Hard boiled eggs are in a bin next to the egg cartons. Dairy items are in a bin next to the yogurt. 

I love the shallow drawer in the bottom for snack items like nuts, guacamole, hummus, cheese, applesauce, fruit cups, etc.

These factors all combine to help keep the new refrigerator tidy.

It might be that the pictures (below) look very full to other people. But this refrigerator looks much emptier than our old one ever did. These photos were taken on a Tuesday morning. I picked up a small grocery order the two days before, Sunday and Monday. 

Top shelf - fresh fruit and vegetables, very visible at eye level. 

2nd shelf - raw eggs on carton, hard boiled eggs in bin, dairy to the right.

3rd shelf - nut bin on left, drinks in back, package of chicken for tonight’s dinner/soup.

Left drawer - apples.

Right drawer - meds that need to be refrigerated.

Close up of snack drawer -

Door - 

Part 1 - Less cluttered outside

 We replaced our old refrigerator/freezer unit, in the kitchen, earlier this summer. 

The old unit was 22+ years old and having trouble staying cold. By some miracle I caught it the moment the freezer unit started to thaw. We were able to save everything.

We had to rip out a shelf above the old unit to allow a new one to fit.

But in the end, with this unexpected redo, I like the space better. It is cleaner and less cluttered. 

I have a plant stand to sit on top the refrigerator, I have not potted plants for it yet. I need to repot several things. It might have to wait until the next time youngest is home.

Ironically, the drywaller fixed the area in early June 2024, but the bill did not arrive until late August 2024. They had the house number slightly wrong on the envelope. I am not sure if it was lost at the post office for weeks, or if they are very delayed in billing. 

Ann Lamont

Have you read anything by Ann Lamont? Her name has not come up in any of my book groups. When I ask the librarians who run the various book groups, they know the name, but have not read her works. I am saving her name here, in case I am ever looking for a book list.

When Gretchen Rubin/Happiness Podcast announced upcoming book/author, Ann Lamont, maybe March/April 2024, I thought I would read something by Ann Lamont before the interview podcast aired. 

Nope, spring/summer/fall 2024, I never got to Ann Lamont. 

Lamont is an author with a long list, and I think that might be the problem, no single title has been mentioned to me or assigned for a book group. 

For Gretchen Rubin’s podcast interview, it was just suggested to read anything by Lamont. No specific title was the focus of the interview. 

https://gretchenrubin.com/podcast/487-book-club-we-talk-to-writer-anne-lamott-about-love-family-and-forgiveness/

Lamont Non fiction - 

Lamont Fiction -