Tim Conway: Rest in peace

We just heard the sad news that Tim Conway passed away.

For those of us who grew up watching the Carol Burnett Show, Tim Conway was one of the funniest members of the cast, regularly busting up the also-funny Harvey Korman. This was a guy who was absolutely amazingly hilarious without profanity, vulgarity, or any other concession to modern humor.



Mr. Conway's passing, of course, comes hard on the heels of losing Doris Day.

We're losing the last generation of clean, family-friendly entertainers.

Rest in peace, Mr. Conway. You too, Miss Day.

Americans are bored half the year

There's an old saying: "The devil finds work for idle hands." Translation: Those who don't have enough to do often get into trouble by doing things they shouldn't.

This came to mind when I saw a recent Drudge headline: "Americans Mired In Boredom 131 Days A Year, Survey Finds."

For the survey, the researchers defined a boring day as one that involved simply no fun at all. The solution suggested by the article was for people to get out and have more "fun."

"Full-time, 'adult' responsibilities, particularly work and parenting, appear to be sucking the fun out of American adults’ lives," it said. "The results showed that 60% of participants believe their life is just too 'grown-up.' In fact, 73% miss aspects of what they remember from childhood, such as spending time with friends (50%), fewer responsibilities (52%), and attending birthday parties (25%)."

(Hmmmm, methinks the article was written by an extrovert whose concept of "fun" does NOT involve curling up with a good book and a cup of tea. By the way, it was C.S. Lewis who said, "You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me." Amen.)

The funny thing is, this article appeared at a time when Don and I have been nearly frantic with work. Writing projects, article deadlines, home renovations, property improvements, packing ... in short, all the tasks involved in preparing to sell a home have occupied our time. Our fun has consisted of walking Mr. Darcy to the mailboxes and back (a three-mile round trip) to relax and get some exercise, followed by time spent with a good book and a glass of wine. (Well, the wine's for me. Don's not a wine drinker. But you catch my drift.)

The article continues, "As for what exactly is keeping us from having any fun, 36% agree the cost of a day or night of entertainment alone was enough to keep them home. Many others — 35% of respondents — are just too pooped out to enjoy some extracurriculars. Nearly a third (32%) have too much work to do."

Don and I also have too much work to do -- but we enjoy it. However for many people, work is associated with stress. "Many surveyed cited stress as a major role in their fun drought," noted the article.

We have tons of work, but little to no stress. This is no accident; we simply avoid stressful work as much as we can.

"Despite so much boredom," concluded the article, "the survey showed that Americans still spend an average of $303 each month on fun activities, or about $3,500 annually. For parents, that number balloons to about $5,000 on the year."

Sputter sputter. $303 each month on FUN activities? Who has the money for that? How much more would you have to work to earn that money to blow on "fun" things?

I think my world view differs greatly from that of the article's author.

Hitting 21

This is Younger Daughter's 21st birthday! Our baby is now a legal adult!

She didn't have any special plans for this event, dismissing it as "no big deal" (it's probably a bigger deal to us than to her). At her current duty station in the Navy, she was already of a legal age to drink; and despite the reputation of sailors to paint the town red, she's usually the one who is told, "Hey Lewis, you're the only sober one here, would you please walk so-and-so-home?"

My hope is she'll celebrate her birthday by hitting the nearest town with friends, getting some good food, having those friends spring a cake on her, and continuing to behave in a sober and responsible way. I don't expect I'll be disappointed.

But we did send her a care package containing English Breakfast Tea and Mongolian fire oil (a family favorite).

Happy birthday to our beloved youngest child!

Spring garden work

With the quickening of spring comes quickening in the garden. Now the race is on -- not necessarily to get things planted (since we always risk a late frost) but to get the beds prepped for planting.

I was late in trimming the raspberry canes.

Usually I try to trim the canes before the plants leaf, but a few of the leaves had already budded out. Oh well, it's not too late.

Tools of the trade.

Things always look better when they're trimmed. I even made sure to gather the dead canes and chuck 'em in the burn pile this year (I have a bad habit of just leaving the canes underfoot).

Next step, the potato and pea beds. These are vegetables that can be planted early.

For the peas, it was a simple matter to tear off the fragile tangle of last year's pea plants, and weed the beds themselves.

While I worked, I kept hearing a muffled buzzing sound. This turned out to be some sort of waspish insect hollowing out a space in the gravel, presumably to lay her eggs.

I watched over and over as she crawled headfirst into the hole...

...then backed out carrying bits of dirt, which she discarded.

Any entomology types out there know the species?

I finished up weeding the pea beds...

...and got the peas planted. One task done.

Next task, the potato beds. They weren't in bad shape, and just needed to be weeded and raked.

The rake I use is this wicked-looking thingamabob I picked up at an antique store years ago. It's a wonderful tool.

The seed potatoes were more than ready to be planted.

I planted one potato at each hole on the drip irrigation hose.

Meanwhile the pear trees are getting ready to blossom.

Just yesterday I started weeding and prepping the corn beds. I won't plant the corn until about mid-May or later. This year, instead of popcorn, I'll plant Yukon Chief sweet corn.

It's perfect weeding weather -- not too hot, not too cold -- so I'll spend a few days working my way through these tires.

We planned to expand the garden and had about 25 tractor tires outside the fence, waiting for us to put them in the garden. Now, with our upcoming move, we won't have time to install them. We're in cleanup mode, not expansion mode.

Some new neighbors very much wanted the tires to create their own tire garden, so we borrowed a flatbed truck and trailer from another neighbor...

...Don loaded the tires...

...and the neighbor drove them to their new home. It took two loads to move them, but these neighbors will have the beginning infrastructure of a wonderful garden.

Meanwhile I plan to plant the garden with "generic" vegetables and fruits that might appeal to a buyer. In addition to the perennial plants already in place (herbs, horseradish, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, strawberries), and in addition to the garlic, peas, and potatoes I already have in place, I plan to plant tomatoes, watermelons, cantaloupe, carrots, pinto beans, onions, and seed poppies. Am I missing anything critical? Is there anything else I should plant?

Do they know what "green" is?

This was sent by reader Ken with the caption, "Do they know what 'green' is?"

Don't move to Idaho

Here's a humorous song a reader sent, succinctly titled "Idaho sucks (tell all your friends)."

Progress on the house

As most of you know, we're remodeling the house prior to selling and downsizing. Here are some photos of our progress. (This post is as much for the benefit of our daughters, so they can see the changes, as it is for my dear readers.)

For years -- 16, to be exact -- we lived with the world's ugliest blue indoor/outdoor carpeting. Blech.

Additionally, the walls were stark white, with remnants of other colors left over from previous owners -- notably one section of dark blue on the stairs. Again, blech.

Working on the precept of "ceiling down," we started with putting up sheet rock to cover the ugly walls. We used a thin 1/4-inch sheet rock as "skin."

This is our living room during some of the remodeling chaos. We laid the sheet rock in the center of the floor.

We also had to shove furniture all over the place. We disassembled the hoosier and jammed it into the kitchen.

The birdcage also got rolled into the kitchen (which the bird actually enjoyed; she was far more in the center of things).

Chairs and bookshelves got crunched into the front room.

This chaotic state of affairs lasted weeks. Typical remodeling scene: ladders and measurements.

Lots of pre-prep work was needed for the walls. In this photo, Don was prepping the west wall (on the right) for painting. We used the carpet as a drop cloth since we were getting rid of it.

Here I've removed the rest of the books and shelves, as well as all the pictures from the walls.

The books, shelving units, and pictures got piled in Older Daughter's bedroom.

View from up the stairs. What a mess.

Ready to start painting. We covered the piano with sheets to protect it.

Putting on primer.

Don disassembled the ceiling fan, then put a plastic garbage bag over the workings while painting the ceiling.

(The fan parts desperately needed cleaning anyway.)

It's hard to tell in the photos, but the walls are going from stark white to a lovely buttercream that reflects the sunlight beautifully.

After the walls were dry, Don started putting up oak trim. Wow, all the difference in the world in "finishing" the room.

The next step was the floor. At long last, we could get rid of that ugly blue carpeting!

Underneath is bare concrete.

Look at all the dust that accumulated underneath!

Here's what the room looked like without the carpet.

Then came the exciting part -- the flooring. We used the vinyl peel-n-stick from Home Depot.

We temporarily put the carpet and furniture back -- for one reason, we needed a place to sit; and for another reason, we wanted to see how things looked with the room set up.

It looked great -- a whole lot better than before we started -- with the exception of this accent wall. We had painted it a shade of green that (we thought) complemented the green accent walls in the kitchen.

The results were underwhelming. We sat with the paint color for a couple of days, and just didn't like it. So we repainted it the exact same shade of pickle-green as the kitchen.

It made a world of difference. Perfect.

Don still had compressor hoses and tall ladders everywhere as he worked on finishing touches.

Next step, the entryway platform.

We decided on a contrasting color.

Darcy fully approved of the results.

Don continues to add trim and accent wood. He's framed in doors, boxed and framed windows, and trimmed the walls at top and bottom. Talented guy, no?

When the entryway platform was complete, we were able to move the hoosier out of the kitchen to where it belonged (backed up against the entryway platform). This gave us breathing room in the kitchen.

But there was one insurmountable problem: the concrete stem walls around the perimeter. They're ugly. How to fix them?

Don's solution? Handcrafted wainscoting. He made it in advance to the correct size, then took it outside to stain.

Here he's installing one section.

The room is taking on the beauty and warmth of a Craftsman-style home.

That's what he's done so far in the living room. There is still more bits of trim to add, but at least the room is now livable. Next, it's on to the front room -- which, fortunately, has a lower ceiling and isn't in nearly as bad a shape.

We've also done some outdoor work, as the weather improves. Don removed the ugly tangle of wire field fence that separated the yard from the pasture...

...and is gradually replacing it with sturdy handsome railroad ties and 2x6 railings.

Oh, and we have a new cat that adopted us. She's a stray and found food and attention with us. She's a sweet and friendly soul.

The challenge is to keep Darcy from attacking her, for he would certainly kill her if given the chance. (He's a hunting dog, after all, and didn't grow up with this cat.)

This means the cat will stay with the house when we sell. She's making a superb shop cat. You might remember Don lost his shop cat a few years ago, and he's been without a mouser since then.

So that's what we've been up to ... not to mention trying to ramp up the garden, cleaning up debris and unneeded things outside, and all the other flotsam and jetsam of preparing a house to sell. Busy spring!