Grump Central Archive: Week of 3 May 2020
Saturday, 9 May 2020
It's an anniversary today: one year ago I moved into the house. With the installation of the toilet two days earlier, I was at last ready to transfer my mattress from the cabin to the house, and spend my first night under my own roof.
Friday, 8 May 2020
I'm losing more hardwoods. When I bought the property in 2013, there was only one dead tree in my back yard, which I had removed. Now there are five more (two of which are off the left side of this image). The tree marked with the red arrow died a few years ago, and the yellow arrows indicate two more I just noticed are on their way out. I'm glad I won't be around much longer, because my view is becoming depressing; across my whole property, I've lost over a dozen trees since I moved here. What's killing the hardwoods? Global warming. Softwoods are more tolerant of climate change than hardwoods—for the time being. But eventually the softwoods will succumb as well. Right now, large swaths of woodlands all over the world are becoming "ghost forests." It's heartbreaking.
Thursday, 7 May 2020
Lately my back yard has become a favored spot for deer—I've seen them almost every day for a couple of weeks now, as they come nibble on the young trees and other growth there. Yesterday it was two young bucks; the day before, four doe. It may have been like this every year, but this is my first spring living full time in the house.
Wednesday, 6 May 2020
Panorama time! Click the above image for an enormous enlargement (3000 x 2000 px).
Tuesday, 5 May 2020
I simply cannot get enough of this time of year—notice how that delicious green saturates every view. Click any image for an enlargement.
Monday, 4 May 2020
It may not be finished, and I may not be working on it any longer, but I'm enjoying my house. Yesterday was glorious—sunny and 74°. I opened up all of my windows, and a lovely breeze wafted through. The kitties enjoyed all of the sights, sounds and especially the smells of spring all around them. Also, it was gratifying to see that one of the things I was a bit concerned about at the outset of the house project turned out just fine: I feared perhaps the long hallway might be just a bit dark. Not so! In fact, it's quite a lovely space, especially when the sun's out.
Sunday, 3 May 2020
Although this whole virus lockdown thing hasn't directly affected my life much at all, it has certainly affected the lives of the people I know and love, so it's having an indirect impact on me. I wonder: with so many radical changes taking place, how long will it be before things begin to settle down, and what will the "new normal" look like? The world will certainly be a different place on the other side of this mess—something no one could have anticipated.