The new shed

The last of Gordon's big outdoor projects for this year is the new shed. When we moved in, the house had a shed. But, oh my god, what a mess!!! There was so much ivy in it. I think the ivy was holding it up. Not to mention all the nasty things left behind by critters that had been in there. Yuck! Anyhow, we have a two-car garage, but there is so much stuff in there, mostly tools and motorbikes, that I can't park my car in there. So I went through this summer parking my car in the driveway, and I really don't want to do that again. Honestly, some afternoons I'd get into my car after it had been sitting in the sun for a few hours, and I would get third degree burns on my fingers from touching the steering wheel. Not good! So the shed had to get built so that Gordon could put his stuff in it so that I could park my car in the garage.

The first major task was killing the ivy. That took a long time, because it was some large ivy. It was frustrating because he was working so hard but it didn't look like much was changing! Except for the big pile of roots that had to go out in the green bin that is. Once it was pretty much dead, and cleared from the concrete, then he could go to work on that. We used the concrete that had been poured for the old shed, but it need some serious patching and chipping. Then it was time to begin building the actual shed. Gordon actually bought a book "shed-building for dummies" I think it was, and just picked out a nice design and went from there. A picture is worth a thousand words, they say, so click here to see pictures of the shed in progress.

I think the most most stressful time was the day before our first big storms of the season. We knew there would be some serious rain and wind, so Gordon had to get the roof on that weekend, and then get something called housewrap around the shed. That was important because the windows and doors weren't in yet, and the housewrap covered that. Since we were storing all of his tools in the new shed, it was important to keep as much rain as possible out of there. The storm tore up some trees, even dumping some into the pool, and almost destroyed the sunshade, but the shed and the tools stood up well.

Keep checking the photos - it should be finished soon and I'll keep posting photos.

Summer in Sacramento

This week, there was a really good article about living in Sacramento in the Sac Bee. Click here to read it. The article, by a San Francisco native now living in Sacramento, talks about how the hot summers really define the lifestyle here. Now I've been really lucky - since I moved to Sacramento we've experienced one of the most delightful summers imaginable. But there have been a couple of hot weeks and I totally see what he means about how the weather defines life here. The cool active mornings, the slow midday and the lively evenings. I also think he's right on when he says we can look at day with a high of 92 (for my European readers, that's about 33 centigrade) and marvel at how cool it will be. It sort of reminds me, in an opposite type way of course, of how when I was growing up in Ireland, we would head to the beach if it got remotely close to 70. That was some hot beach weather then! On a personal level, it's pretty amazing how quickly I've gotten into the if-it's-not-100-it's-almost-chilly mentality. Also, how quickly I've grown to love the shade. It's way different in the shade! And the air conditioning. I believe in A/C!!

There are a couple of things I would also note about how Sacramentans deal with the heat. First is the use of water. When it's hot, I come home from work and get into the pool. I've gotten into the pool at 9 or 10 o'clock. Then you don't even have to worry about the sun. Pools are a big deal. And of course, there's the river. When I drive over the American River, I always glance to see how many people are out on the river. On the weekend, there are hundreds of people, either just hanging out or floating down the river in rafts. I've done it myself. It is so much cooler on the water. And even though you're in the river with crowds of people, it's cool, because, really, everyone is just so nice. I don't know if the heat contributes to it, but people are so friendly here, it rivals Ireland! The first day we went out on the river, we forgot to bring paddles for the raft (well, we were rookies) and someone just gave us one. I am not making this up! He had a spare, and he noticed that we needed it, so he just gave it to us. That would *never* happen in the bay area.

The other thing that the heat brings out is a totally different sense of style. It sort of makes sense, I suppose, it's hot so we dress skimpier. All of us. I'm a 48-year-old grandmother and it's completely acceptable for me to leave the house in short-shorts and a tank top. Admittedly, I'm in decent shape, but hey, other places in the world have rules about that sort of thing. Not here! And the skimpier clothing leads to more display of body art. There probably aren't actually more tattoos per capita here or anything, it just looks like it because they're all on display.

The article also talks about how we lean toward evening activities because of the heat. That's so true. I go listen to live music in the village near my house every Thursday night. I walk down by the river and it is simply full of people biking and walking their dogs, or kids. Restaurants in midtown serve food until the wee hours of the morning. If only we could get a siesta in mid-afternoon, life would be perfect! Maybe that's the way we should be furloughing - a two-hour nap each day.

I don't know how it's going to be in the winter. There may not be sun, there might even be rain! I might even get an early night. But I guess I'll just wait and see.

More progress on the house and yard

We've been in our house in Fair Oaks for almost a month now, and Gordon continues to make progress especially outside in the yard. Last week, he finished painting the pool. This week, after it sat for 7 days, we were able to fill it and then use it. It took 36 hours to fill it. We got it filled in time for a visit from Dara, Zach, Aidan and Zach's sisters, the twins Ciara and Cheyenne. So, along with Aisling, they spent two days in the pool having a great time. When Dara was pregnant, I bought a child's wetsuit with built in floatation device at a second hand shop. They all made fun of me at the time, questioning when a toddler might use it. But I guess I was right! Aidan wore it into the pool on Friday and Saturday and it worked beautifully. He came down the slide once, and just bounced up to the surface, so it feels very safe to have him in the pool with that on.

I got in the pool with Aisling on Sunday. I must say, it's very relaxing to float around on one of those air mattress loungers. Dara thought it had cupholders, but I didn't find anything that fit a wineglass. Oh well! It also seemed that Aisling enjoys shooting me with the watergun, both when I'm on the air mattress and on the side of the pool. Hmm.

The other major development is the shed. There was an old shed in the back yard. It really needs some serious work. Basically, I think the walls have to come down and be rebuilt. The foundation seems to be okay. Also, it was pretty overgrown with ivy and other trees and vines. So Gordon has been cutting back the growth over the last few days. As he cut back the ivy, he found that there was actually another shed buried under there, connected to the original shed. I would guess it has been buried under the ivy for years. That shed (on the right in the picture) probably needs new walls and a new roof. There were also things in there that had obviously been there for years, including an old crib and bike. However, there is also an old 55-gallon drum full of something, we're not sure what. We're contacting someone with the county's hazmat department before we do anything with it, just in case. But it'll be interesting to see what's in there!