I HAVE COMPANY

by 4:13 pm. It has 74 Comments.

I got home from running errands a little while ago and Tammy was standing on the front porch sort of bouncing up and down like an excited kid ready to burst and said “I have something to show you.” I immediately thought to myself “oh fuck me how much is this going to fucking cost” and outwardly groan/sighed and said “ok”, and Tammy pointed at the ceiling of the porch and asked “This wasn’t here yesterday, was it?”

And I said “no, it wasn’t even here this morning,” and it wasn’t, because I put out all the house plants on the front porch and watered them so they could get some warmth and sunshine, and I’m pretty sure it was not there before. Do they really build a nest that damned fast or did I miss it this morning?

At any rate, this is on the opposite side of the porch from the birds last year, and it looks like a different kind of nest, SO I MAY BE HOSTING TWO BIRD FAMILIES THIS YEAR. I had Tammy use her go-go gadget arms and get a picture inside the nest:

Looks like I am going to have to research webcams for the house. I am very excited and am going to go buy a fern immediately for the other side of the house. I also put out two birdhouses yesterday along with the materials for hummingbird nests, so maybe the house will be a hive of activity.

This is the first time there has been a nest like that before, and I wonder if it is because I had feeders hanging from the porch over the winter. It was kind of annoying having the shells fall on the porch, but they doubled as traction for the snow, so it wasn’t that irritating. At any rate, we may have babies soon!

Also, here is a sweet picture of Thurston that Tammy took while he was lying on her this morning:

I am very excited about the birds!!!!





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I Had a Dream

by 12:25 pm. It has 189 Comments.

I don’t give a shit about what they say he’s still a fucking crook and guilty.

Back to the reason for this post- last night I woke up twice from a dream that had me so angry it… well, woke me up. I was having an argument with random people that yes, there was a song that had the lyrics “It’s not in the way you look or the things that you say that you’ll do” and yes it was a big hit when I was a kid. I remember being forced to sing it to prove there was such a song. I had to sing it for multiple people and they all just argued with me.

Then I woke up. I eventually went back to sleep, and then I proceeded to argue with people that no, god damnit, Hold the Line was not sung by Foreigner, it was Toto. Yes, the same god damned Toto that sang Rosanna. It pissed me off so much I woke up again.

At any rate, here is the god damned song:

EVERYTHING IS FINE IN MY HEAD THERE ARE NO PROBLEMS OR PSYCHOSIS. This always happens when I eat too many jalapenos.





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Road Trip

by 1:16 pm. It has 40 Comments.

Cleaners were coming today to clean the house we are staying in, so mom and dad went to brunch with some friends, and Tammy and I loaded up the dogs and went to see the Angel Oak on Johns Island:

Johns Island looks like a real life Darnassus (a zone in warcraft)

Got to the Angel Oak, and it was closed and fenced in, so we did not get to get up close, but it is pretty impressive:

Having fun.





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Greetings from Isle of Palms

by 10:01 am. It has 58 Comments.

Some pictures from the ride down:

And of course a bonus shot of Sam:

The house we are staying in is my cousin Jody’s, and she has spectacular taste in furniture- lots of antiques everywhere. It’s weird- even though we are a block from the beach, we are surrounded by live oaks and foliage, but get a surprising amount of sun.

And the master bedroom is up internal stairs and you look down into the kitchen, dining room, and living room:

Also, Gerald is watching Thurston and Rosie and Steve, and I received this report:

Welcome to my world, Gerald.





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Cheap-O Design: Mirrored Door Conundrum

by 9:14 am. It has 94 Comments.

Y’all were so helpful last time I mentioned I was looking for budget design tips as I redecorate this ramshackle money pit. So, I thought I’d go to the well again, only this time for your advice on a specific design challenge.

Our master bedroom closet has these horrible mirrored sliding doors — two doors that are collectively 6 feet wide and 6 and 1/2 feet tall and trimmed in a hideous gold-like color. It’s not a particularly large room, and these awful mirrors dominate the space.

I can’t afford to replace the doors, but I’ve got to do something to cover the damned mirrors. I would have hated such a feature in the 80s, back when the doors were first installed by the previous occupants, because it’s fundamentally tacky, IMO. But 30-some years later, not only is it still tacky, such reflective capacity is positively bracing for the middle-aged. The mirrored doors must go!

And yet I can’t afford to replace them, so covering the mirrored surfaces is the only option. I’ve looked at opaque window film online, and there are patterns that mimic the look of glass tile and so forth. But since they’re made for windows, they’re designed to make the most of the light that will stream through. Barring a ceiling collapse, no light will be emanating from our closet.

Also, I’m not sure I want a patterned element to cover that much space in a small room. But a solid color seems a bit drab. I like the look of sliding screen doors, sorta like this:

That photo is from an HGTV episode about this very problem, but they have more of a budget to solve their design conundrums than I do. Honestly, I’m not sure I could pull off that look with, say, textured wall paper and fake wood strips. Thoughts, ideas or advice?

Otherwise, open thread!





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