Computer Cable Chaos Conquered

This afternoon I took some time to tame the computer cable clutter under the table we use as a desk in the office. I got the idea from the Unclutterer blog. The whole project took a couple hours and less than $20. [Marc]

Before:



After:

Marc's Family in Seattle

OK, so once again, behind on the posts - Marc's brother Joel came to visit us in August - Marc and Joel went to the Space Needle, and the three of us went to Little Mount Si - it was raining, so we couldn't take a longer hike. Marc's parents (Dennis and RuthAnn) came to see us in October, and the four of us went on the Seattle Underground Tour. It was great that family could come and see us out here! [Mike]

The Nieflings

I think that I heard this on "A Way With Words" - nieflings is a combination of nieces and nephews. So, instead of writing a post on "my niece and nephew," I can write about my nieflings. I haven't been able to find a link to that show, but a Google search for "niefling" or "niephling" identifies other blogs. Anyway, Emilie is now 5 and Jack is 2 and a 1/2. This is a recent photo that was taken of them at school.

The Clapper

Does anyone remember the 1970s or 1980s commercial for The Clapper? Click on this link (The Clapper) to see the YouTube rebroadcast of this quirky gadget. Anyway, this morning I was hauling stuff out of the garage to take it to the King County Hazardous Waste Site. Up high on a shelf, I found a Clapper (I suppose I could have sold it on E-bay, but I thought that I would keep this one)! I remember that Anne had gotten one of these as a gift, and for a short time, we put it in the family room hooked up to the fire engine lamp. Unfortunately, it would make the light blink on and off when the stereo was on. Well, we don't have a ceiling light in our living room, and the wall switch does not control an outlet. Thus, when we walk in the house, we have to cross the room to turn on the lamp. Well, thanks to the Clapper, we can now just clap our hands as we come in/out the door! We'll see how it works, I guess! It does seem to be a bit more responsive than the one in the old house, mainly because the wood floors reflect sound better than carpet. Clap on, clap off!

Jukebox Saturday Night

We have a habit of having folks over for dinner, drinking wine, enjoying the new pellet stove, grilling something to eat (last night it was grilled pork tenderloin), and listening to LP records. Anyway, Erin and Chuck represent the first couples dinner party we've had in our house. Erin just adopted a greyhound named Rhea (a potential new pet to pet-sit), so Rhea came along to be with us. We had a great time together, and Rhea was one of the most well-behaved/low-key dogs I've met in quite awhile! Rhea is pictured with the squeaky crab chew toy that she chose herself at the pet store.

Mike y Molly

Hi All - well, it's November, but I'm still posting events from October. This is a snapshot of former classmates, Mike and Molly. We were in school together from 1998-2000 at the University of Minnesota Medical School until I started my PhD years. Molly and I had many adventures then, including helping to teach medical Spanish to other health professionals. To this day, we still make Podcasts and videos for each other in Spanish to keep up with the language, although I will admit that Molly is much more disciplined about it than I am. Anyway, Molly and her husband Aaron came out to Seattle to eventually take a trip around Port Angeles and the Olympic Peninsula. Luckily they were able to spend a night with us before they took their big excursion - the weather was perfect - in the 50s and sunny - and we were able to walk all around the neighborhood. We snapped a photo of Molly and me at the base of the Ravenna Park Ravine, which is just south of our house.

Lounge Lizard

Mike rightly pointed out that, with the exception of our jack-o-lantern exhibit, I haven't been contributing much to the discussion here lately. Trust there is lots going on, including evening classes at UW, and I will probably have more news to report in the next few weeks. But for now, just a small news brief: Tonight we made a trip up to Lynnwood to get a deal on a new chair. A recliner, to be more specific. It is a little more contemporary, not the traditional cheesy rec-room plush-pillow kind. We chose pattern somewhere in between the red and tan pieces that Mike got when he moved to Seattle last year. (We took cover and pillow to make sure it will look okay.) Even though the won't be ready til probably after Christmas, I was able to assemble a computer simulation on the manufacturer's website as a preview in the meantime. [Marc]

Happy Veterans Day (observed)

Well, I had the day off today, so I booked some chores and got stuff done at home. We were supposed to have the chimney folks out to work on some flashing, but the winds were too gusty. We did have 4000 lbs of wood pellets delivered. They dropped them off at the curbside (the forklift was too wide to go down the driveway), and then I carried them bag by bag down to the garage. Simultaneously, I cleaned out the garage, putting some stuff away, setting some stuff aside to sell on E-bay/craigslist, and throwing out garbage left by the old tenants. I'll probably be a bit sore tomorrow! It will be worth it though, to have all those pellets so close by to keep us warm this winter! Next year I will have the delivery done on a Saturday when Marc and I are both home...

Dawg crazy...

Well, Junior came for a visit today. Junior belongs to Maria and Peter (Maria is a pathology resident with Mike, and she's originally from Ripon, WI). Anyway, Maria knows that Marc and I love dogs, so she brought Junior over to visit. He is a 9 lb 10 year old miniature dachshund. We took him for a walk around the neighborhood, and he seemed right at home with Marc. I suppose that we'll have to get on petfinder.org to find our own pet sooner or later! In the short term, we'll just keep petsitting - I think that we will take care of Junior over New Year's!

My High School Car

There is a special feeling in an Oldsmobile... more than the luxury ride it's the feeling of pride when you get in side...

OK, I have to admit, I troll craigslist a little too much. I found this beauty for sale in Ballard - it's only $700 - a 1984 Oldsmobile Delta 88.

My mother bought a car just like this in 1984. I drove it from 1992 - 1998 - we sold it when I got the Accord. To this day Joanne says "That was a really good car for you."

Anyway, because it was so cheap, I did think about it, but what would I do with it? It would collect dust/rust on the street.

Even though it wasn't a neat car, just a big old 80's boat, it is the feature of one of my recurring dreams - maybe once a month of so I have a dream that I am driving the Olds... now's my chance to actually do it!!!

I can admit that I did go on craigslist to look for 80's cars for my friends - I thought that I would get a blue Datsun B210 for Erin, and a green Chevy Beretta for Kelly. Maybe I could find a LeCar for Jane and an RX-7 for Katie!

Pellet Heat

Well, we have been accused by some of being "country folk," but the pellet stove insert is in, and we love it! For those of you who have never heard of a pellet stove, basically it is a small freestanding stove (or fireplace insert in this case) that burns wood pellets. The wood pellets are made from scrap sawdust, and are basically a way of using waste material from the lumbering process. For those of you who'd like to read about the technology, see an overview at Wikipedia (pellet stove). Anyway, I first got hooked on the idea when I visited Kelly and Marty's house in Nevada. They have an all electric home, so they are using a pellet stove for their primary source of heat. I vowed that when I moved from Minnesota to Seattle that I would seriously consider a stove as an option.

Anyway, Seattle is a bit quirky in that natural gas isn't as popular as the Midwest. In 1926, our home was built with a coal furnace. In the 1950s or so, many of the city homes changed to heating oil - that is our main source of heat now (another blog to come on the EnerRoyal, our funky little oil furnace). Our house has always had a masonry fireplace, although by the time that we got here, the firebox was shot (the chinking had fallen out). So it was repair the firebox or put in an insert.

To get a gas insert, we'd have to pay for hook-up. A wood insert was an option, but that meant splitting wood. So, the pellet insert was ideal for us - the warmth of a wood or gas fireplace, without having to pay for gas hook-up, and without stacking/splitting wood. We just pour the pellets in and go. It is self-igniting, and we have a remote control programmable thermostat.

I did this big pellet survey, and I found that actually the best deal for us are the Blazer pellets from the Home Cheapo. They're made in Oregon. I bought a few bags to try them out, and will have 2 tons delivered next week. That should get us through the entire year!

The greatest thing about this stove is that you can choose it's heat output - anywhere between 8,000 and 28,000 BTU per hour. So, in comparison to the furnace that can either be fully on or off (blasting out 68,000 BTU per hour) we can run the stove continuously at a low level. It heats the whole main floor, and it makes the living and dining rooms ever so toasty. Jane is just going to love it!

Drawbacks? Well, it is more work than gas - you have to clean out the fly-ash every few weeks (takes 10 minutes or less), once a year you have to clean the chimney out, and you have to haul around pellets. It is much easier than wood, however! Besides, I like to tinker, so it makes me happy.

Some people do claim that pellets are "carbon neutral," although I don't think that this is quite the case. There is some energy expended in the manufacturing process as well as transportation. It probably is better than using the oil furnace, I guess. Also, while it is very clean burning, there is a small amount of ash that makes it up the chimney, so that is a factor as well.

All in all, the pellet stove has been a great addition - I'm looking forward to winter - it will be a welcome addition!

Would love to hear your comments, so please post away! Mike (and Marc)

PS I found a cool pic of the cross-section of a stove so that you can see its innards. Click on this LINK.