Category: Family

Well, That Could’ve Been Messy If It Was A Bunch of Ninjas

TLDR; We replaced a hedge. First, for those of you who don’t understand the reference, please go here and read the comic. Important panel below.

Anywhoo, when Ward Manor was freshly constructed, the landscaper decided we needed a hedge out the back. Which is what they did for houses that backed up to other houses, but why they decided we needed it to block the view of our pond, I have no idea. We finally pulled the trigger and replaced the hedge with some low growing plants. It looks much better, and we can also get a good view of the pond from our dining room. Plus, it helps with lawn watering since a couple of the sprinklers were having a hard time arching their streams over the hedge.

Speaking of the sprinklers, this is another example of when someone says an item is “builders grade” I’m going to translate that into “the cheapest shit we could cram in that would pass inspection.” Let’s just say we had to add another head to make sure the back lawn didn’t die. And we’re looking at more replacement in the futured. Because builder grade.

Ward Manor Happenings

Kilt Fitting

The Wife’s nephew is getting married in a couple of months. After some discussion with the bride, it was agreed I could wear a kilt – as long as I did the whole formal kilt thing. So, after some emailing with the proprietor of Lothian Kilt Rentals, The Wife and I trekked up to Tarpon Springs for a fitting. Which was a good thing because the formal kilts are very different than my 5.11 kilts. Let’s just say it’s a good thing The Wife will be there to help me do up all the buckles. I do regret not getting a pic of me in the full gear, but I will make sure to post one from the wedding.

Nephew’s Birthday

We trekked over across the state for my nephew’s birthday shindig. One of the things he asked to do was a mini-tournament between Nephew, Rocket Engineer Brother, The Brother, and me. In L5R Empire Edition. With sealed deck boxes. I managed to put together a Unicorn deck, but damn am I out of practice. I went 1 and 1 with REB curbstomping me with his Lion deck, and me out-honoring my nephew against his Crab deck. My prize? A little trophy with a horse on it labeled “Not My First Rodeo.”

FPC Red Dot

When I bought my S&W FPC, I put a Sig Romeo red dot on it. I wasn’t really happy with how quick it drained the little battery, and it didn’t seem to hold very well. So, I swapped it out with a Vortex. I prefer the single bead red dots. Now I just need to get some BIUS, but those will have to wait until I get some more cash.

Good Night Dr. Watson

Almost eleven and a half years ago, The Brother and I adopted the two males out of a litter that were on Shootin’ Buddy’s back porch. The Brother named his long hair tan and white Dr. Watson. Because he was The Brother’s trusty companion. Watson was a very easy going cat, but clearly a single-person cat. I think it took months before Watson would let me pet him. This caused some frustration with The Wife who loves all cats and wants to show that.

The last six months have not been good for Watson. It finally caught up last weekend.

The family will miss Watson.

Introduced to a New Family Member

Last weekend we had a belated birthday party for The Brother, Shootin’ Buddy, and another family friend who share birthdays very close together. Since The Wife and I don’t get to catch up with Family Friend much, this was a good chance to share what was going on in our lives. There was a wide ranging discussion on the state of our lives, new jobs, the annoyance of HOAs, the state of our county governments.

This was also the day The Wife and I got to meet the newest member of the Ward Extended Universe family. Shootin’ Buddy and his partner welcomed their new daughter at the end of March. This was the first time we got to meet the little one. She was a sweet infant with very spiky hair. Until I come up with a better moniker, I think I will dub her “Eighties Baby”.

Dinner was cut semi-short because The Wife and I were informed we needed to take SIL to the Tampa airport at oh-dark-early because BIL was ill.

It was a nice way to spend a Saturday.

Scenes From Ward Manor

This one actually took place in St. Augustine when The Wife and I went up to celebrate our anniversary.

We’re in the hat shop, and I’m looking for a straw hat. My other hats are felt and they get hot in the wet season. The Wife pulls one down.

The Wife: What about this one?

Me: Hell no.

The Wife: What? Is it too white? To plastic looking?

Me: It looks too Madonna.

I heard the shop clerk give that snort laugh when someone says something funny, but you don’t want to laugh in case someone takes offense. To The Wife’s credit, she immediately understood what I meant.

The Wife and I have different dialects.

The Wife and I had very different upbringings. As a result, there are somethings that we say that the other has no clue.

The two examples recently were “polite fiction” and “tempest in a teapot”.

You know how you use a colloquialism so often, that you forget how best to define it? Yeah.

Ward Manor Happenings

Home gym set up.

The Wife and I have had a hard time with our exercise. Part of it is even though the gym is only a couple of blocks away, it’s hard getting over there. I know, it only takes about five minutes to drive and maybe ten to walk. Still, it seemed like there was always a lot of prep to get to the gym. Plus, with the way the gym was set up, my back was to the main entrance when using the treadmill. After some local incidents that precipitated making sure I had a sidearm when we went to the gym, that bothered me. Especially since watching something on my phone was the best way to take my mind off the exertion. I don’t like exercise.

So, we found an inexpensive treadmill that was recommended by the Wirecutter. At that price, we could afford two if they worked out. So we bought one. The only real space we could use for a home gym is the garage. Here’s the thing about the garage. With the garage door opener and the sprinkler control plugged in, adding any additional load outside of battery chargers flips the GFI. When we put in the freezer and MIL’s old fridge, we needed to have separate GFI outlets put in. So, when I plugged in the treadmill, the GFI flipped. Great. So, how do we run the treadmill until we can get the electrician out to put in another new outlet? Oh yeah, we have those big Ecoflow batteries for house back up.

So, after testing, we ordered a second treadmill. My only real gripe is the little bracket barely holds my phone, and I really want to use my iPad down there. Easier to watch my anime while working out. I’ll figure something out.

Home back up power

The electrician came out and suggested two new outlets – one for the treadmills and one for the Ecoflow batteries. His company is looking to become certified with Ecoflow, and he was really impressed with them. After chatting, he also recommended that instead of a generator to recharge the batteries, I should get one of their big solar panels. It would work just as well, is designed to provide power while the batteries are plugged in, and it would be cheaper. Plus, I’m not having to store gas or propane. So, yeah, that was convincing. I have one of their big ones coming in.

I still have the plan of once we get the new plugs in and we get our portable AC back, I’m going to run a hurricane test of the Ecoflows. That may require sponsoring The Wife and MIL to take a small break somewhere. But I really need to see how long those batteries should last using what I would consider an expected load for storm.

The electrician also gave me some good advice about adding solar panels to my roof. First, pay cash – do not rent. Second, make sure those panels are connected to a Powerwall or something similar for storage. Three, make sure you have a roofer come behind the installers to make sure the roof is tight. He also mentioned there were new solar tiles that took the place of roof shingles. Is this something I want to explore further? Yes. Am I going to do so in the near future? Not according to the list of home projects awaiting funding.

Back at the office

My employer recently decreed that anyone within a specified distance would now be required to come in to the office one day a month. The party line is that it is a chance for us to “reconnect” and “collaborate” in an in-person fashion. One of the senior executives said the quiet part out loud and said we were coming in because we needed to prove that we needed the space.

The funny part is that the new job took over the space that my old day job was located. In fact, the office they assigned me was about two doors down from my old office.

The Brother and I both work for the same executive, and we were both required to come in. He’s recovering from some rehab surgery. So, we carpooled in. Which required me to drive about fifty miles north to pick him up, and then drive ten miles south to the office. I’m not complaining, because The Brother did need the help, but it was a heck of a lot of driving.

Taking care of old weapons.

Or making up for long-term neglect at least. Many, many moons ago, I bought a Starfire scimitar. Shortly after, my roommate at the time sold me one of their boarding axes. Over the years and moves, let’s just say they both fell into neglect. And rust.

While The Wife was testing the treadmill, I went to work on at least remediating the active rust. Let’s just say both have strong patinas that no amount of scrubbing with WD-40 and steel wool were going to take out. I applied this museum wax I was told about to keep them preserved. Now, I just need to figure out where I’m going to mount them. The office is getting a little cramped.

Party at Ward Manor

Last weekend we had a family gathering in celebration of The Brother’s birthday. This was a little different in that it was completely my side of the family – including Rocket Engineer Brother, SIL, Niece, Nephew, and Nephew’s Girlfriend who came from the other side of the state.. I smoked a couple of pork loins, and we had a bunch of other food. This was the first time at Ward Manor for SIL and Nephew’s Girlfriend.

Niece and Nephew’s Girlfriend were enthralled by the clowder. The cats were petted, played, and photographed to a new extreme. It was kind of amusing and endearing to watch.

Much fun was had by all.

Clowder Happenings

The Wife and I have had some concerns about the state of the vet practice we take the clowder for some time. About a year ago, the vet tech we know very well departed under less than ideal circumstances. I was not willing to switch if it was a labor dispute and we were only getting one side at the time. The agreement was we would not switch unless the service was going down hill.

The service started going down hill. The techs were always good, but instead of our main vet that we liked, we were constantly seeing a parade of unfamiliar vets. Some good, some okay, but no consistency. Okay, it’s time to switch. It also helped there were two new vet practices about ten minutes away from Ward Manor, including one that had an emergency vet practice – who also employed the vet tech who was let go from our current vet. We decided to hold off until after our summer vacation, because we didn’t want to cause any issues with the pet sitter about where to take which cat if there was an emergency.

One of the cats is currently on insulin. The Wife was shopping around to get a price. One of the local pharmacies suggested a switch that would cut our cost to a quarter of the current prescription. The Wife calls the vet and asks if it can be switched. The vet tech said they would ask the doctor, but she sounded a little “cagey”. Um, is there an issue with the vet? Well, Friday was her last day, and the vet tech will have to talk with the vet currently managing the practice. But don’t worry, it’s the one you saw last week and liked.

After that conversation, The Wife and I decided we needed to move quickly because it sounded like original vet may not be a going concern or sold the practice. Neither of which we were willing to weather. When you have a large and complicated clowder, relationships are important. So, we call up the vet practice our friend is now working and explain the situation.

The good news? That practice is taking over our old vet, and the new vet is the “managing vet” that The Wife liked. Better news? They have access to all of our cats’ records so switching will be much easier. The only downside? We still need to get as many of the cats at the new place to get fully established before our summer vacation.

But, with vets, relationships are important.

Ward Manor Happenings

Last Friday was a bit hectic. The Brother’s cat has been having some issues. The Brother asked The Wife and I to come up to help him wrangle the cat over to the vet. Plus, The Brother trusts my wife to ask all of the good questions due to her long history of cat ownership – including cats with complicated medical issues. The cat is doing better, but it was a long day.

Sunday, The Wife and I with Brother In Law and Sister In Law traipsed down to North Port to go to their mineral spring. It was an interesting little soak, but we came home smelling of sulfur. What surprised me was the crowd. Generally, in this area, when you hear languages other than English, it tends to be some flavor of Spanish or possibly Haitian Creole. This was the first time I heard more Slavic-sounding languages than Spanish.

What’s Going On At Ward Manor

It’s been three years since The Wife and I established residence at Ward Manor. It’s kind of hard to believe that we’ve only been here for three years.

Last week, we took our Sphinx Boo to the kitty cardiologist for his eight month follow-up. We got good news. The issues with his ticker aren’t progressing. He’s such a submissive cat, that he didn’t even put much of a fight while getting the ultrasound.

One of my oldest friends and I have decided to start playing City of Heroes again on a recurring basis. When we’ve played before, he’s always been the brawler while I’ve always been the cannon. We started up a couple of fresh new characters and switched roles. It’s very unusual getting used to having to get up in the bad guys’ grills to hack them down.

Friday, The Wife and I set up our new digital calendar. It’s kind of like one of those picture frames where you can upload pics, but this one uploads your calendar events. Yes, we had a white board one, but with the new jobs, we were having a hard time getting that one updated regularly. Let’s just say, this had ended up causing some problems. So, we tried a technological solution. So far, so good.

Saturday was new furniture day. We bought our old sofa, couch, and ottoman from a local furniture chain. Let’s just say after multiple bad experiences, we’re no longer dealing with that chain. The old furniture’s upholstery started flaking off about a year after we moved into Wayne Manor. After a while of picking up black flecks, we put cloth covers. Those helped, but there were still problems. Finally, it built to a crescendo and The Wife and I were just done. We found an inexpensive living room set on Wayfair. Assembly actually went relatively smooth. Getting the old stuff out was much more of a problem.

Sunday was a couples’ day for The Wife and me. We scored a couple of relatively inexpensive seats to a matinee production of Hamilton at the Van Weezel in Sarasota. The Wife has been a big fan of the musical since we saw it on Disney+, and has wanted to see a live production of it. We had good seats and enjoyed ourselves immensely. This was followed up with dinner at The Melting Pot. We had a bit of frustrating in traversing the less than two miles to the restaurant. Because downtown Sarasota has been liberally seeded with roundabouts. I don not understand transportation planners’ fascination with roundabouts for busy intersections. Less busy? I can kind of see it. Anyways, we had a fun time at The Melting Pot and then enjoyed just falling into bed.