natural flea treatment

Pablo got his monthly flea squeeze-on today.  It's made of clove oil, thyme oil, lemongrass oil, cinnamon oil, and peppermint oil.  He smells like he fell into a salad.

more flowering things

So, the prickly pear cacti have bloomed - I have the yellow variety, trying to find some red ones from which I can "borrow" a piece or two to add to my garden.

AND, the rosa rugosa has come up with some flowers, much to my surprise:

I had thought it was too busy taking over the yard to do much flowering, but I was mistaken.  The nice thing about rugosas is they have a lovely aroma, too.

Sign of the times

One of my Mom's neighbors sent this over:

They know Pablo, of course.  It even looks a lot like him.

My roses are blooming all over the place!

And you can see my new a/c condenser on its throne, in the third picture.  It's supposed to be more than 3 feet off the ground (not that 3 feet would have helped with Sandy's 5 feet of water), so it got a booster seat on top of the pre-existing platform.  I think it looks silly, but oh well, it's not like I'm made of money.  If some subsequent owner of the house doesn't like it, they can do something to change it.  I have enough issues to deal with as it is.


Peeling off old wallpaper in the kitchen today, my painters didn't come because someone's M-I-L passed away.  I bet he's out celebrating.  ;-)  Nice how the paper practically comes off the walls by itself....not a good feature, tho, if you WANT wallpaper.  I'll stick with paint, it tends to stay put better.  Wallpaper is not a good idea in this climate.

Roses are a good idea, tho!  I also have a small bush that makes bright red roses, but it did its thing while I was away, so I missed it this time.  Then there are the rugosas that are trying to take over half of the front yard.  Not blooming yet, but that's probably because they are spreading so much.  Seems they like Holly Tone...I fertilized the sort-of-blue-spruce a couple of weeks ago, and the rugosas under it are spreading like crazy.  The spruce is another story.  I'm hoping it will perk up.  Looks like a lot of the evergreen type plants don't care for salt water baths, tho. 

The prickly pear cacti seem to have loved the water, they're growing like mad, too.  You can see some of them on the bottom left of the a/c unit.  They're all over the place, some make red flowers and others make yellow.  The ones across the street, which get full sun all day, are already blooming.  Mine get shade in the afternoon, so they're slower to flower. I have yet to try eating them, tho - I'm a little nervous about their ability to bite back.

please don't mistake me...

...for someone who does domestic chores easily or happily.  And what brings this up, you might ask?  Me on a step-thingy trying to re-hang the valances in my living room, which is now for all intents and purposes done, I think.  Except for one short stretch of baseboard that somehow missed getting painted.  Details, details.

For related reasons, I'm very glad I am not the one who had the privilege of hanging the new blinds.  Also glad I decided not to spring for the expensive kind.  Turns out every window is slightly different, in spite of them all being the same size windows.  The framing is different in each, making blind-hanging a challenge, each window requiring a slightly different approach and solution.  PITA.

And the a/c finally got installed on Tuesday, a process which consumed 9 hours of two men's time.  It works, and it has a new-fangled thermostat that can be programmed for different times on and off every day of the week.  Nice, but I think I'll generally stick to my usual a/c setting - OFF.  It's simple, and inexpensive.  And it doesn't rile up my sinuses.

So the kitchen is next on the menu.  Yesterday we started in the eating part of the kitchen, and peeled off what was left of the old wallpaper, which is easy in this geographic area, it practically (and occasionally does) comes off the walls all by itself.  Then that part of the room got a first coat of paint - first time it's ever been painted, it always had wallpaper.  The harder half of the kitchen - where the fridge and such need to be moved to get at the walls - is up for next weekend.  And the second coat of paint on the easy part.  Then I get to go shopping for flooring.  It needs to be flexible, the floor is not the flattest surface on the planet.  We shall see what I can find that might work.

Since my new kitchen is presently living on the top of the house - I had to use the money I had set aside to redo the kitchen to replace the roof after Sandy, since my homeowners' insurance won't pay for anything - I'm not doing anything with cabinets and appliances, the old ones will have to suffice until I hit the lottery or something.  Or it can wait for the next owner to rip it all out and redo it.  At this point, I really don't care.

I'm dreadfully tired of giving a damn about this place.  But it looks better, with the new paint and all, and the outside isn't looking too bad, either, now that most (but not all) of the landscape stuff has sort of revived.  I need to take out a couple of smallish evergreen bushes, which apparently don't like swimming in salt water, and I'm concerned about my largish blue spruce, which is still not looking too sprightly, in spite of a good dose of fertilizer a couple of weeks ago.  But even the bamboo is coming back, finally, so there might not be so much planting that needs to be done.  Just the fence and the porches.  The expensive stuff. 

Can I please go live somewhere else now?  Please????

Villaraigosa for Governor???

Perhaps we can ship Christie to California instead?  Oh well, the singing is nice, anyhow.  Not often you get to hear Placido sans accompaniment.

a touch of Zarzuela

This was on the plaza in front of the Chandler Pavilion on Friday evening, before the LAO Zarzuela concert.  Love those impromptu moments!  The other performers are from the Mariachi Conservatory.  Here's a link to their website:  http://www.themariachiconservatory.com/ 

what's wrong with this picture?

This was the train station platform in Long Branch this morning.  I was waiting for the 7.34 am train to NYC.  I was the only person there.  Cue Twilight Zone music....

back home, briefly

Work tomorrow, assuming I can wake up.  Considering I presently can't fall asleep, I'm not betting on waking up at 6am.  We shall see.  A/C I hope being installed Monday.  Fingers crossed.

a sign of the times

These things seem to be proliferating on the left coast:

Considering this particular neighborhood is perched on the edge of the world between a major highway and the ocean, I'm not sure you stand much of a chance of getting to high ground in a hurry - you have to cross six lanes of traffic to do so.