Got some porch lights up this afternoon. I've always liked multi-colors best for Christmas, like a kid. . All the lights are strung from the inside, otherwise I'd need a tall extension ladder, so it looks better from inside. . Tried a picture that way. The porch is roughly 11' x 34', and the front entrance is a sliding door---the dark rectangle. No easy way to string lights on it. Btw, the sun will start setting later here on Tuesday (11th). It will keep rising later, until the 22nd, but that doesn't count.
The vacuum cleaner came last week. It's a corded Electrolux EL4335B. The label says made in Hungary ? The first bagless vacuum I've ever tried. It has your simple typical hard floor attachment, plus the fancy carpet attachment pictured above, which I assumed I'd never use, because it wouldn't have enough suction. I was wrong! So far the only thing I don't like about it is a lot of plastic parts, which I think won't last very long, but probably they are all like that now, idk. Good things: 1. I've never had a regular vacuum with such good suction. Has a 12 amp motor. 2. The fancy carpet attachment does really well, especially on braided rugs with deep seams. 3. Picks up cat hair without tangling in the brushes!!! 4. So quiet. The cat may even get used to it eventually. 5. It has headlights! Not important, just bulbs to burn out, but it's so cute. Maybe I lucked out, because I'm really happy with this thing so far. We'll see how long it lasts. Ran across this video. Makes me feel sad for the corded vacuum. I've got to get a grip!
The rental house across the street had a few lights that stayed up and lit for 2 years. Those tenants must have moved out this fall, because the lights are gone now. I don't remember anyone ever putting up Christmas decorations as early as they do now, when I was a kid. We would always decorate a tree a day or two before Christmas eve, and take everything down on New Years day. It made Christmas day, and Christmas vacation, more special, to me. The students will all be gone by Monday, and it will be a ghost town, so I thought I'd start early. I think I'll turn them off next week and take a break for a week. I wonder if the stores starting so early has anything to do with it.
Looking back in this diary, it was August (maybe even July ?) since I last checked the cabin. It's not so much laziness, although there is some of that, as it is not wanting to find something else that has to be taken care of. Not logical behavior. Had mice taken over the cabin? Squirrels found another way to get into the ceiling? Maybe a tree has fallen on it. Maybe one of the neighbors set fire to it. It's been raining heavily for days. Maybe the drain in the dam had stopped up and the pond was overflowing. Decided on the spur of the moment today, it was time to find out. Late this afternoon. Took the truck. No guarantee I could even get there if a tree had fallen across the road. I left the saw in town. I got a pass this time. Everything was fine. Thank you! The weather was perfect too. Some pictures. Things have grown up around the cabin, but not so much anywhere else. I've got to get rid of those two maple trees out front, hopefully this winter. . . PS. Pretty sure I just felt an earthquake. All the sudden the computer monitor started shaking. . .
Yep. The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 4.4 earthquake occurred just north of the town of Decatur, in Eastern Tennessee at 4:14 this morning. No damage anywhere. This is the second time I happened to be up at 4 am when there was an earthquake. The one back a few years ago made the house sway to one side and back, just once. I would have thought I was imagining it but the oil in the oil lamp on the bookshelf started sloshing around. This one was more like a hiccup.
A small puzzle. This is a leaf from a sweet shrub bush, on the porch out in the country, covered with drops of water. There were dozens of these on the porch when I drove up yesterday. In the sunlight, they looked like round metal discs all over the porch. It startled me at first. I thought some animal, or person, had been up to mischief.
Decided to take a walk through the neighborhood tonight and check out the Christmas lights, mainly to see if mine were the best .. There are no other lights on the block. (But there is still time) Went up to the next block where the rich folks live---just white lights tossed haphazardly in a few trees---until right at the end of the block. Hmph!
Nancy, Don't waste your time on the rich folks they usually just put a wreath on the door and a candle in the window.
Bea, a flashing Christmas car (actually pickup) is just so awesome. My porch lights don't hold a candle. My pickup has to be mobile because of the goat. The speed limit on the bypass is 65 mph. Strings of lights wouldn't stay on. But if I did, I'd at least add some green. lol
Beautiful day today---sunny, high of 65. A little volunteer Nandina bush (Nandina domestica) growing at the edge of the woods. They are native to the Far East, and grow well in shade or sun and are drought tolerant. They pop up everywhere. The bad news. They are poisonous to goats, but the goats do not to touch them. The berries can be toxic to most birds. They have almost become an invasive species in the South.