GimletBlog

The Gimlet and Thing One are going to WashJam this weekend, while the Team Gimlet: At Home Unit will hopefully spend a quiet few days recovering from the souvenir cold or flu brought back from the last scout camp.

But before we got sick, we harvested chives from Thing Two’s garden to use in our Sunday dinner.  Thing Two was very excited that his garden had a role to play in the meal, and carefully supervised the cutting (“My chives are getting a haircut!”) and preparation of his precious crop.

The tomatoes are getting redder and redder, but aren’t quite ready to be picked yet.  As for the mint, we’re thinking about making some mint jelly; any other ideas for putting our mint to good use?

Thing Two is delighted to report:  his tomatoes are ripening, and turning his favorite color!

This week’s theme at preschool was the rainforest, so he made a python (which is sometimes a rattlesnake, when he remembers Camp School) and story pictures, which involved lots of monkeys.

Meanwhile, Thing One is spending the week at Camp Parsons on Hood Canal.  When it looked like Thing One would be missing scout camp this year due to our Philmont trip, Troop 125 invited him to join them for their traditional week at Camp Parsons.   Later, our troop’s calendar was rearranged and Thing One will be attending Camp Pigott with his own troop later this month after all.

This week promises to be a lot of fun.  Camp Parsons provides the scouts with the unique opportunity to camp on a salt water beach, and is one of the oldest scout camps in the USA (established in 1919), so there’s a lot of history and tradition to enjoy participating in.  The Gimlet took a few photos when he helped drive the scouts to camp, and if Thing One has time to take any pictures, we’ll add them to the Gimlet Gallery.  Watch for Thing One’s report when he returns!

Here’s a last visit to Thing Two’s garden before we leave on vacation.  The mint and herbs smell wonderful, and look at all the little tomatoes!

Grandma and our neighbor have been entrusted with watering the plants while we’re away, and we look forward to seeing how much everything has grown when we return.

While Thing One was away at NYLT last week, The Gimlet was reminiscing with his box of scout patches and other memorabilia.  He decided it would be more fun to have his favorites out where they could be seen, and spent an evening assembling this display case.  Looking at the different badges and awards brings back lots of memories, especially now that Thing One is having similar experiences.

Much to Thing Two’s delight, the little herb plants are getting larger.  The spearmint, peppermint, and lemon balm cuttings took root and are flourishing too, so we look forward to sharing our own cuttings with family and friends some day.

Our kind neighbor donated an additional pair of extra tomato plants, one with a tomato already growing on it.  Between our herbs and tomato plants, we may be able to make one Thing Two-sized piece of bruchetta from our harvest.

Our recent extended family visits included a picnic with the Things’ great-uncle, great-aunt and cousin, and great-grandmother.   No doubt inspired by their magnificent garden, Thing Two decided he’d like to have a garden, too.  It is a little tricky finding enough sunlight in our yard; the best spot is a cracked concrete patio on the south side of the house.

The following Monday, we set up a few containers and planted tomatoes and herbs.  Thing Two wanted to watch seeds grow, so that’s what we chose instead of small plants.  Our neighbor donated an extra tomato plant for a little immediate gratification (and a backup if our tomato seeds don’t work out), and Thing Two’s great-aunt sent us some peppermint, spearmint, and lemon mint from her garden.

After carefully watering each container, Thing Two was ready for his seeds to start growing.  Clearly it was time for some Frog and Toad.  Most of life’s issues are covered in these little stories, and “The Garden” from Frog and Toad Together was a must-read at this point.  Thing Two clearly empathized with Toad’s need to see his seeds start growing, NOW.  So, like Toad, we waited … and waited … and waited … until Sunday morning, when we went out to water the pots, and saw:

Plants!  (Highlighted in case you can’t see them.)

We will, of course, keep you posted on what sprouts up.

Cross-posted from Sinister Craftiness, because it counts as a remodeling project.

There is an unexpected benefit to having newlyweds in the family who live nearby:  they need stuff, and we just happened to have a spare room full of furniture and other items that we just don’t need any more.  When they got back from their honeymoon, they pretty much cleared out the spare room, leaving me with … (more…)

After the windows and front door were replaced, the Gimlet wasn’t kidding about moving a long-procrastinated project to the top of the list:  painting the house.  The weather forecast for the next several days was good, so armed with a paint sprayer he’d bought a few years back, he set to work.

The total job from prep to cleanup took three full days plus two extra hours a few days later to touch up spots and finish the trim.  We’d been advised that for the spray method of house painting, it would take longer to prepare the house than to paint it, which was pretty much the case.   The first day was spent masking and covering windows in protective plastic, followed by three hours to apply the primer coat.  Painting the eaves and walls took up the second day, and the trim and accents were painted on the third day.

Thing One was on hand to help with the primer coat, but school started the next day and he was excused from paint duty. Thing Two was eager to help; armed with his own brush and bowl of water, he “painted” the driveway and back patio.  Half the fun for him was pouring out his bowl, then using the hose to refill.

In a rare and misguided fit of domesticity, I thought it would be a great surprise to bake a cake.  Unfortunately my homemaking had not included cleaning the refrigerator recently, and the first egg broken into the batter exploded with green goo and hydrogen sulfide.  Surprise!  So that’s what a rotten egg is like.  Of course all the windows were sealed up with plastic, so airing out the kitchen, while absolutely necessary, proved to be a challenge.  The patio door was left uncovered so between that one opening left in the house, a large fan, and several hours, the indoors became habitable again.  Later in the week (after buying fresh eggs) I made brownies but a very worried Thing Two retreated to the other side of the kitchen while the eggs were added to the batter.

The paint chips didn’t clue us in, but once the accent trim was in place, we realized that the color scheme looked rather familiar.  All aboard!

That aside, we’re surprised (and pleased) by how much the new color scheme improves and updates the look of the house.   We also saved a lot of money by doing the work ourselves; the job would have been very difficult using just rollers or brushes but the paint sprayer (plus rollers and brushes to smooth out the spray) made it manageable.  As one project leads to another, we’re looking towards renovating the landscape so it will be as nice as the house.

Before the windows were replaced and before our summer vacation, the Gimlet spent about an hour making some changes to the laundry room door and the basement door.  What could those changes be?  Can it be possible?  Yes!  Team Gimlet is preparing (some more enthusiastically than others) to welcome two Ragdoll kittens to our family!

After deciding that the Ragdoll breed’s handsome appearance and mellow temperament would be a good fit for us, we found Cashmere Rags, a small cattery near Snohomish.  When we visited, we were won over by the incredibly clean facilities, owner Lorna’s friendly and professional approach, and (of course) the cats and kittens we met.  As one litter had just been born and another was due soon after our visit, we made plans to return six weeks later and choose our kittens:

This male kitten is a seal mitt, which means that his markings are similar to a Siamese Seal Point, plus he has a white front, chin, and paws.  He was a little shy at first, but was curious about us and began to play with the Things in no time.  He comes from the older litter and his parents are Gus and Truffles.

The Gimlet was the first to notice this kitten’s stunning deep blue eyes.  (Like Siamese, Ragdoll eyes stay blue.)  Although he’s younger than the seal mitt, this seal point already has beautiful markings.  His parents are Stetson and Emma Rose.  Emma bestowed her maternal endorsement upon The Gimlet, first by sticking her face in his shoes, then enthusiastically rubbing his feet.  Apparently his toes are catnip-scented.

The kittens will be grown up enough to join our home in mid to late September.  Meanwhile, we get our kitty fix by looking at the photos on Cashmere Rags’ kitten page, and if that’s not enough, Cashmere Rags’ photographer Chris has his own gallery.  To learn more about the Ragdoll breed, visit Ragdoll Fanciers Club International, Ragdoll International, or Ragdoll Fanciers Worldwide.

It wasn’t a small project (or an inexpensive one) to replace the front door and all the original aluminum frame windows, but since we hired a highly recommended company to do the work for us, and the crew finished the job and hauled away the debris in two days, it feels easy.  DIY has its advantages, but these windows had some tricky problems which we weren’t sure we’d be able to manage, and we knew we wouldn’t have the time to finish the job before winter.

We’ve been thinking about replacing the windows ever since we moved into the house, but it didn’t become a high priority until two of the more brittle windows cracked this spring.  The project is proving its value already. We chose a new door with a row of windows across the top to let light into the once-dark entry.  The new windows look great, and with wider openings and screens, we’ll be able to cool down the house in warm weather and keep out insects.  Outside noises are more muted than before and our furnace hasn’t been turning on as much as it used to (it may be August, but there haven’t been many hot days this summer).  The frames have only been primered, so we hope September’s weather will cooperate and allow us to paint the house.