Summer comes to Durham

Although it seems like only a few weeks ago it was 40F and we were feeling chilly, we've had high temperatures above 90F for the past few days and it doesn't exactly feel like spring. Instead, it feels like we've been catapulted into full-on summer. I know that some of you will say that I'm weak after living in San Francisco for four years, and while that is in general a fair criticism, it has already been  up to 97F this week, and that is hot by pretty much any standard. To make the most of this new warmth (or, to survive in this burning hellscape, as Lynn has been calling it), I've been doing a few things.

Bicycling: Riding in Durham is the full experience of road biking. There are busy urban streets with lots of people and cars, protected multi-use paths for pedestrians and cyclists, and long stretches of rural roads with varying degrees of shoulder for safety. I've enjoyed exploring since we moved, although definitely overestimated my capacity to bike in the heat...

Essentials any bike ride... I highly recommend the goddess garden which has a lovely lavender sent and is extremely gentle. The others are great for the body, but leave my face feeling chemically burned...

I'm too far out from my kindergarten days of encylopedic dinosaur knowledge to determine whether this is a brontosaurus, diplodocus, or apatosaurus. Apparently we've all agreed that all three of these actually exist now, in case you missed the dust-up over whether being a brontosaurus was really a thing...

I've biked portions of the American Tobacco Trail, a rails-to-trails conversion that boasts many miles of beautiful (and relatively flat) cycling, the South Ellerbe Creek Trail, which is most notable for having a large dinosaur statue nestled into the trees next to the trail, and the Stadium Drive Trail, which is actually a glorified sidewalk that is great for safe walking and cycling away from cars for beginning cyclists or children, but is not really ideal for a road bike over about 8 mph.

Enjoying our backyard: "Yard" should really be in quotation marks there, as we don't have much grass at all. That said, "enjoying our backyard morass of sand and gravel" doesn't have the same ring to it. Since getting our fence installed, we've loved letting Cyril run around unencumbered by the stresses of other animals, cars, and similar distractions that are profoundly distressing to our tiny, sweet dog. The things we have taken out of the backyard in order to improve it's function and appearance include:

• One third of a phone pole
• An old fence post which was sunk into concrete but not attached to anything else
• Several dump-runs worth of cement chunks, broken bricks, and large rocks
• Five garbage bags filled with poison ivy

That's right, the ground cover that was flourishing that I may have mentioned to some of you was actually just poison ivy. We suspected that there was some after Lynn got a rash, and it was confirmed when our amazing neighbor who installed the fence informed us that our entire yard consisted of poison plants and that he would recommend treating the entire area with herbicide. We may yet use chemicals to kill the remaining plants, but opted for mechanical removal of most of them. 

The before... You can see the green patch in the back near the fence, and you'll have to trust me that it's ALL poison ivy...

 The offending plant itself. You can appreciate how lush and three-leaved it is. 

Rainboots - check, Tyvek suit - check, garden gloves - check, innate immunity to poison ivy - check. That's right, despite walking around in it unawares in my sandals, I have remained unaffected. I also accidentally brushed some of it onto my face during removal, and emerged unscathed.

Cy enjoying the one small patch of non-poison ivy (notably, it's clover, not grass) in the yard. 

The evolution of the blog

May is the month when "Blogiversary" pops up on my calendar alerts and this year brings us to lucky thirteen. I'm a few days late, but I like to pause for at least one post in May in which I reflect on what brings me back to the blog, and maybe what draws you all. I wish I had access to some of the content trackers and analytic software that the media researchers use to follow trends, because I would love to use data to watch the evolution of the blog, but I don't. Back in 2011, I used a web applet called Wordle to make some cool word clouds from my blog feed. Unfortunately, that website no longer accepts RSS feeds, but I've found a less sophisticated one, TagCrowd, that I think will nonetheless give some interesting insights into the focus of the blog over the years (2005-2018).

Some things to remember as you scroll through:

1. The words are alphabetical, which is not as aesthetic as the Wordle clouds. 
2. The app doesn't recognize words like "San Francisco" or "shave ice" as one word, so you'll see those words pop up separately, which seems out of place. 
3. There isn't one for 2014. There were no posts that years as it was the second half of my intern year and the first half of my second year of residency. This was a low time.
4. Some of the words that show up in the formatting of the posts, like "pm" for the time of day, are among the most common. I tried to exclude some of the most obvious (like "comments"), but got a little lazy as I went on with this. I've selected a threshold of seven appearances, and included a maximum of 100 words in for each year, so take them with a grain of salt. 
5. The filter on this applet for "regularly used words" is not as good. For example, it highlights "really" in many of these clouds. I suppose I should broaden the range of adjectives I use, but it should also use a better filter, really. 
6. Some years there just aren't a lot of posts. The first year (2005) is one of these, which is why it looks like buying eggs was in fact the most significant thing that happened all year. 

Here they are, from stratus, to cumulus, to cirrus, the word clouds of Someday I'll be Dr. Dre...

Return to Step 1: There was/is more stuff on the floors than you could possibly have imagined

Work on the house is, as you might expect, somehow both fast and slow at the same time. Although things are accomplished every day, and we are making plans for some of the huge changes (hello, new roof!), it often feels like parts of it will take forever. Like the floors.

You'll recall that I posted about removing the horrifying flooring early. We pulled up carpet in the whole downstairs, and removed some random paneling and plywood that were on the floors also. This revealed some incredible peel-and-stick tile in the living room, dining room, guest bedroom, and the entire upstairs. Lynn is basically an adhesive removing machine with the heat gun as her bionic hand, but it is slow work! Let this be a lesson to everyone - If you have nice hardwood flooring and don't want to refinish it, put a layer of something that is easily removed, like weird wood paneling or plywood down on the floor before you semi-permanently adhere linoleum to it. You will be happy you did if you later recant your objection to refinishing, and I would argue that if you could refer people to this blog that it would actually increase the resale value of the home. What are a few small nail holes between friends?

NB: If you use giant nails that leave 1/4" holes in the wood, no one will like you. You have to use something small that doesn't require a hammer, a pry bar, and a miracle to get out without leaving a huge chunk missing from the floor. 

This is early days in this project...

The heat gun in action!

After the heat gun, the industrial vat of coconut oil makes an appearance. It does a remarkably good job of un-sticking the last little bits of adhesive and the dog loves it! 

Ultimately the floors are lovely. Unclear whether they are stained different colors in different rooms, but we can work with that. 

Progress in the living room...

Massive progress in the study!

In loving memory

As some of you already know, and most of the rest of you have guessed after reading the title of this post, Walter died on March 25, 2018. He fought valiantly in the hospital, surprising all the staff with his impressive recovery after all of his surgery and his ridiculous demeanor in the most challenging of circumstances. Despite their amazing care, on Sunday morning he suffered a catastrophic neurological event that left him not himself and working hard to breath. We waited through the day, and it became clear that he would not get better. We said goodbye in the evening. He was the best dog we could ever have hoped to have, and we will love him forever.

 

 

 

 

These are just a few of the photos of Walter that have graced the posts of this blog. You can find more here. 

One of the worst things ever...

As some of you know, earlier this week Walter was viciously attacked by two much larger dogs while he and Cyril were out for a walk. I'm not going to describe that horror here, as I wasn't there and it was traumatizing for all involved. Suffice it to say that Walter suffered major injuries to his back half in particular, and was immediately taken to the closest veterinary hospital to us with critical care services. Everyone else is okay physically, but will require some time before dog walking is a relaxing activity again.

Once Walter got to the hospital, he had an x-ray to confirm his spine wasn't fractured (it wasn't) and an ultrasound to confirm there was no bleeding or fluid in his belly (there wasn't). He was admitted to the ICU and then under anesthesia they shaved most of the hair on his back half and washed and dressed his wounds. Over the last four days, he has undergone the following:

• Four surgeries with general anesthesia for wound debridement, closure, and drain placement
• Placement of seven drains into his wounds
• Placement of a central line (a special IV for fluid management)
• Placement of a feeding tube
• Transfusion of one unit of blood and one unit of FFP (plasma)

Despite all of these interventions, we are uncertain whether he will regain complete use of both of his back legs, and the threat of infection is ever present. The staff at the Veterinary Specialty Hospital of the Carolinas in Cary, NC have been incredible, and have cared for Walter as they would their own animals. They would never let us know if they tired of our frequent visits and calls, and have been honest and reassuring when possible about his clinical status. 

We were able to connect with the heroic mail carrier that used pepper spray to stop the attacking dogs and save Walter's life, and we feel forever in his debt. He said that this was the first time in his entire career that he had ever had to intervene in a a situation like this, and his presence of mind and quick action were the difference between losing Walter and where we are now. We are preparing a thank-you gift, and if you'd like us to include a message from you, please send me a note, leave it in the comments here, or otherwise let me know. We are also so appreciative of the neighbor who provided a ride to our injured baby.

Walter looking so much perkier after a few days in the hospital!

Introducing Cyril

For years, we have been discussing and debating getting another dog. We considered adding a mutt to the family in order to avoid the myriad health problems associated with a purebred dog. We thought about getting a big dog, maybe a pit mix, since we have the space and both enjoy walking with the dogs. We perused the options endlessly on PetFinder before and after it was referred to as "something that resembles Tinder for dogs" on This is Us.

As an aside, in attempting to find a link to that clip I googled "Tinder for dogs" and came up with the following:

• BarkBuddy: An app designed to help you "find fluffy singles near you," BarkBuddy connects people "with cute pups that need a home."
• Tindog: This may or may not be defunct, but looks like it was an app to help people with dogs meet dogs (and their owners). It may or may not match both the dogs and the owners.
• Dog Date Afternoon: More explicitly connects single people who want to date but want to make sure that their dogs are compatible before they invest any more energy into a potential relationship. 
• Allpaws: Another app to facilitate pet adoptions.
• Twindog: Looks suspiciously similar to Tindog, and I wonder whether there wasn't some sort of lawsuit that resulted in a name change here... 

After so much going back and forth and listing the pros and cons of getting another dog, we decided to move forward and applied to adopt another Boston Terrier. We wanted Walter to have a buddy in the autumn and winter of his years, and after we saw this little guy and realized that he had been returned multiple times due to behavior issues, we couldn't say no. We found him through the East Tennessee Boston Terrier Rescue. Having adopted Walter through the Midwest Boston Terrier Rescue, we were committed to a rescue dog. 

And here he is:

Cyril is a 2.5 year old brown/brindle Boston Terrier.

From the moment he arrived, he and Walter bonded over their shared love of blankets. They are shown here in the heated throw they both adore.

 In the morning sunshine, there's no need to burrow...

 And sometimes when Cyril gets too hot under the blankets, he hops out and sprawls out on the floor to cool down.

Of the cats, only Aleks has condescended to snuggle NEAR Cyril. I know he'll eventually learn that they can snuggle just like he does with Walter, but for now he's a bit standoffish. Eli has barely condescended to come downstairs since Cyril arrived... 

Knits of 2017

At the beginning of the year, I like to reflect on the prior year's crafting. Not only does this tend to inspire me for the year to come, but it greatly appeals to the data analyst in me. You can find all of my knitting-related posts by clicking the "knitting" tag in the sidebar, or peruse the 2010, 2011, 2012, and 2016 lists here. Ravelry, which allows me to easily track my progress and record my projects, reveals the following yearly yardage totals that are 100% predictable when you consider how residency went:

• 2014: 851 yards
• 2015: 1,988 yards
• 2016: 5,159 yards
• 2017: 5,909 yards

The second half of 2017 was particularly productive, as residency was over and I had a bunch of cross-country drives during which to knit. The tally for 2017 is as follows:

• 2 pair of mittens/gloves
• 3 scarves
• 4 hats
• 9 baby sweaters 

The baby sweaters continue to dominate the knitting focus, and I anticipate that this will continue into 2018!

Step 0: Address some small plumbing issues

One of the ongoing challenges of the house is the plumbing. Similar to other systems, (e.g. the electrical system and the decorating system) some corners had been cut over the past 85 years of rentals and repairs. Notably, before we moved in, the line between the house and the sewer was not working. This resulted in a rather unsavory situation under the porch and at another point in the crawlspace that has since been remedied.  This required digging up the front yard!

The digging was delayed by freezing weather, but fortunately was complete before Snowpocalypse (pictured here) came to Durham. 

Although that was the largest thing, we've had a few other plumbing issues come up.

1. It was clear after our home inspection that one of our bathrooms had enough water damage/rotting wood in the floor that filling the tub might result in a sort of cable-less elevator situation riding downward into the crawl space. We weren't sure whether the tub/toilet/sink in that bathroom had an ongoing leak, or whether it was old damage. We've subsequently had the toilet and sink cleared, and are deferring use of the tub until we can replace the subfloor and flooring and make sure that the walls are made of something other than mold.

2. The upstairs bathroom is just the sort of endearing space that I love and that normal height people cannot comfortably navigate. We've been somewhat uncertain as to whether water leaks from the fixtures here also, and so have limited usage in that bathroom.

Good luck peeing standing up, gentlemen over 5' tall...

3. The other downstairs bathroom, which we referred to as "the functional bathroom" prior to confirming it was safe to use the toilet and sink in the other downstairs bathroom, is also a work in progress. All of the fixtures seemed to work, which we considered a win, but there was only a tub and no shower. Eli, who likes to drink from the tub preferentially, did not mind, but it was not working well for Lynn and I. 

Although Lynn has done the lion's share of the house work, I did participate in the conversion of the tub to a shower! I learned more about plumber's putty and pipe joint sealant than I ever really wanted to know, and can now recognize "the plumbing guy" at Home Depot. Prior to completing this, I was drawing a "quick" bath each morning before work, which is not really a thing that people do... Now I've installed the shower and Lynn has hung the shower curtain, which was really the much more significant task. We removed a hideous cabinet from the wall and have learned a great deal about mounting things to plaster. 

 The faucet removed from the tub. You'll notice that part of the metal is spontaneously disintegrating because it's so old and corroded. That curved water spout piece was the closest we had to a functional "shower" for a few weeks...

Eli looks disparagingly at the disassembled faucet. 

Removing the cabinet revealed several interesting prior paint choices in the bathroom. You can also see where there was a different shape of window previously. 

The upside-down bathroom cabinet is a temporary stand-in for pantry shelves!

And the shower works!

Step 3: Remove the ugly/dangerous/dirty things from the ceilings.

It had not previously occurred to me that there were so many ugly/dangerous/dirty things that could be on ceilings. I think I'd imagined that anything dirty would fall down from the top of the room, rendering the floor filthy, but somehow leaving the ceiling pristine. Not so. The original ceilings in our place are bead board - planks of wood with rounded edges and a groove in the middle such that it looks like twice as many smaller boards. On top of the [undoubtedly lead based] paint on these gems was a layer of wallpaper (likely with asbestos), and then eight inches of cobwebs and random wires and extension cords, and then a drop ceiling. As those things have come down, we've only found one hole in the ceiling, and it's small. 

Work-life has been busy, so this step has been almost entirely conducted without me present, but still consulting on the phone and demanding constant photos of the progress. Here's how things are looking:

The bedroom with the drop ceiling tiles removed, but with the frame still up and the wallpaper underneath. It almost looks like a geometric pattern, but it's really just water damage...

The ceiling revealed, including a small hole...

The bedroom in its current glory. This time it's the air scrubber sitting jauntily by the fireplace. You can particularly appreciate in this photo that the white paint on the walls stops where the drop ceiling was placed. It now gives this wild edging effect wherein there is white paint, and then about six inches of unpainted faux-wood paneling, then a gap with crazy looking wallpaper, then the picture molding, then the ceiling. Somehow beyond shabby chic...

The living room ceiling is the same material, but a slightly different color of blue-gray. Also, there is still peel-and-stick linoleum in there. I think the previous residents kept the linoleum company in business. There are miles of it...

Overall the bead board is in good shape, and it's beautiful. Once it's scraped and repainted (with lead-safe masks, mom, really) it will be restored to it's former glory. 

I'll leave you with a funny list of how this move has altered my search history in my phone seemingly irrevocably. When I type the word "Durham" into Google, it prompts me for the following items:

• Durham Toilet Rebate Program
• Durham dispose of bulky items
• Durham bike groups

In fairness, I did once Google the toilet rebate program after seeing an ad for it on a television in a lunch place. Only in recent weeks have I heard "Do you need a more water efficient toilet?" on a television and thought, "Why yes, I do!"

Step 2: Connect the top and the bottom floors

When the house was built, it was used as a rooming house. Judging from the holes and patches in the walls, it seems that at some point it may have been configured as a duplex. Most recently it was set up as two separate apartments, a larger one on the first floor and a smaller on the second floor. In order to achieve this, the stairwell in the middle of the house was boarded up. There were a series of two-by-fours, two-by-eights, and two-by-unclear-slightly-larger-amounts which were nailed to a frame of two-by-fours, and then plywood was nailed over the whole thing. The general approach to building this separation seems to have been that more and larger nails were better - no need for screws or other building materials that are easily removed. 

The first of the plywood comes up. As an aside, we don't have any lights upstairs right now, so this stunning photo shoot lighting is from a phone and the crack in the "floorboards". 

Lynn uses the sledgehammer to remove another board. She's kneeling on a weird long step/platform that was also built in, presumably for some security purpose I cannot fathom. 

The stairwell revealed!

Completely connected!

I'll have to make a point tomorrow of taking a picture of the sawed-off banister that is hot glued into the wall.