June started on a Saturday and is whizzing by. The first weekend in June was incredible. On Saturday I went to the XCSSA computer club meeting for the first time in years and demonstrated my Kurzweil K2661 synthesizer. That evening I saw the last performance of the San Antonio Symphony for season 2012-2013, Mahler's 4th Symphony. I took a walk on the Riverwalk to be disappointed by the new Landing venue but finding a different and very nice place to eat. On Sunday I took the neighbor to Home Depot and purchased a replacement garage door for him. Then, I mowed the entire front yard, with the exception of the north side around the A/C compressor. All the while, however, it was very disappointing that my friend couldn't go to the Symphony with me or call because of her new weekend job. She promised to call each night but didn't actually manage to call until Wednesday the following week. I was feeling slightly heartbroken, but carrying on pretty well anyway.
The second weekend in June I started on the back yard. I basically hadn't touched the back yard since before my vacation in early May, and it was out of control, with weeds up to 7 feet high and grass and weeds typically 3 feet high. With 3 hours of work, which would have been more than enough to do the front yard as on the previous weekend, I only got about half the job done. I also mowed the area to the north of the house around the A/C compressor, and noticed wearily that the front grass was already getting long enough to be mowed again. We've been getting lots of rain recently. Worried about the stability of my Pomegranate tree, which was nearly falling over again (after having been staked a few months ago by the sprinkler company) because of heavy but small fruits. I removed many of the fruits and also cut back several branches that would never grow usefully upward but only hang down in front. I thought the tree was looking much better afterwards, starting to stand up straight for the first time since being staked. I did get scolded by my friend the next day about not letting the fruits ripen to maturity. I figured they wouldn't be good from such a young plant anyway.
On Sunday I had another date, then it started raining, then I worked on re-installing the one main CAT-5 link inside my home. I had taken that down just before the hallway remodel. Without it, my kitchen Mac Mini was working fine on wifi, but apparently pounding the wifi so hard that my Sonos system couldn't handle sending any signal to the master bedroom much of the time. I was beginning to miss whole house FM through Sonos. So I re-installed the wire, doing some of the best interior telecom wire installation I've ever done. Which was no small feat, for me, and for the fact that CAT5 is fairly stiff wire, and can't be bent sharply, not at all like the POTS wire that phone installers used in the 1960's which was almost like putty. I still remember how neatly telephone installers wired inside our 1960's house. They ran the wire so neatly along the top of baseboards and through doorways would hardly know it was there. Well I did almost that good with stiff CAT5, which is pretty incredible, I think. There is one somewhat less perfect stretch of the new wiring--by the side of the Queen's Room door and just inside the Soundproof Wall. What I did there seemed to be the best I could do. But I was feeling much better as I had a date on all three weekend nights, picking my friend up from work on two of them.
Then on the third weekend in June, I finished the job of mowing the back yard, especially around Lyndhurst, but avoiding the area where the power company has a temporary above ground line. I even re-mowed some of the bits I had mowed the week before. Then, on Sunday, after my 3rd date this weekend (exactly like last weekend) I did the edging around the front. It needed edging badly, I can't remember if I had even done that since November (you can check back through the blog as to how long ago it was). It needed mowing also, but I decided to concentrate on the edging, even sweeping up the debris all around afterwards (sometimes I skip that, letting the rain do my work).
After the edging was done, I was again enjoying how nice my front yard is these days, with a postcard friendly lawn, and the back is great also. I can't remember living in a house where the front yard was actually socially acceptable before. I also cleaned the patio table and chairs, changed the bedsheets (first time since first weekend in June). On Monday I fixed the video connection in the master bedroom that had gotten a bad ground loop after the new dedicated A/V powerline was installed. And I paid the fine I had gotten on the Southbay Expressway in California during my vacation. I hadn't even realized I was traveling on a toll road, but the cameras caught me.
The second weekend in June I started on the back yard. I basically hadn't touched the back yard since before my vacation in early May, and it was out of control, with weeds up to 7 feet high and grass and weeds typically 3 feet high. With 3 hours of work, which would have been more than enough to do the front yard as on the previous weekend, I only got about half the job done. I also mowed the area to the north of the house around the A/C compressor, and noticed wearily that the front grass was already getting long enough to be mowed again. We've been getting lots of rain recently. Worried about the stability of my Pomegranate tree, which was nearly falling over again (after having been staked a few months ago by the sprinkler company) because of heavy but small fruits. I removed many of the fruits and also cut back several branches that would never grow usefully upward but only hang down in front. I thought the tree was looking much better afterwards, starting to stand up straight for the first time since being staked. I did get scolded by my friend the next day about not letting the fruits ripen to maturity. I figured they wouldn't be good from such a young plant anyway.
On Sunday I had another date, then it started raining, then I worked on re-installing the one main CAT-5 link inside my home. I had taken that down just before the hallway remodel. Without it, my kitchen Mac Mini was working fine on wifi, but apparently pounding the wifi so hard that my Sonos system couldn't handle sending any signal to the master bedroom much of the time. I was beginning to miss whole house FM through Sonos. So I re-installed the wire, doing some of the best interior telecom wire installation I've ever done. Which was no small feat, for me, and for the fact that CAT5 is fairly stiff wire, and can't be bent sharply, not at all like the POTS wire that phone installers used in the 1960's which was almost like putty. I still remember how neatly telephone installers wired inside our 1960's house. They ran the wire so neatly along the top of baseboards and through doorways would hardly know it was there. Well I did almost that good with stiff CAT5, which is pretty incredible, I think. There is one somewhat less perfect stretch of the new wiring--by the side of the Queen's Room door and just inside the Soundproof Wall. What I did there seemed to be the best I could do. But I was feeling much better as I had a date on all three weekend nights, picking my friend up from work on two of them.
Then on the third weekend in June, I finished the job of mowing the back yard, especially around Lyndhurst, but avoiding the area where the power company has a temporary above ground line. I even re-mowed some of the bits I had mowed the week before. Then, on Sunday, after my 3rd date this weekend (exactly like last weekend) I did the edging around the front. It needed edging badly, I can't remember if I had even done that since November (you can check back through the blog as to how long ago it was). It needed mowing also, but I decided to concentrate on the edging, even sweeping up the debris all around afterwards (sometimes I skip that, letting the rain do my work).
After the edging was done, I was again enjoying how nice my front yard is these days, with a postcard friendly lawn, and the back is great also. I can't remember living in a house where the front yard was actually socially acceptable before. I also cleaned the patio table and chairs, changed the bedsheets (first time since first weekend in June). On Monday I fixed the video connection in the master bedroom that had gotten a bad ground loop after the new dedicated A/V powerline was installed. And I paid the fine I had gotten on the Southbay Expressway in California during my vacation. I hadn't even realized I was traveling on a toll road, but the cameras caught me.
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