My oh My! Its been a while since I updated this blog. I’ve been busy to say the least. Since my last post the iPhone 4 is on preorder, iOS 4 is out with over 100 new features even for us 3G and 3GS users, oh and the Mac Mini has a bit of refresh with its new Unibody self. Bummer its no longer available for $599 entry price it seems to have gone up by $100 (what’s up with that?) Apparently BP repositioned a containment cap on the underwater gulf gusher that’s been causing all kinds of health problems and other issues for those folks living in the affected areas. Hope that the cap holds this time. We’re worried about oil around these parts ourselves mainly gas drilling and hydrofracking.

So what have I been doing these past months. I’ve been diving into the ESRI Flex World a bit mainly for work and also just getting some away time from my computer. Its been fun but I’m seriously wiped out. I’m off to get some shut-eye long day tomorrow. One more thing… there are now 4 groundhogs that have taken up residence on my property we have a bit of an understanding so they stick to the un-mowed areas of the grass. At some point there will be too many of these creatures to manage so I’m looking into a way to deal with their case…

I had to go to the store yesterday to pick-up another quart of paint since we didn’t get enough the first time. It was a batch that was color matched so I took a picture of the label that was on the can with my iPhone the evening before and presented this at the counter after entering the store.

I just handed the guy my iPhone and he was looking at it and tried to scan it because he could not make out the numbers in the lighting. The first time he tried to scan the photo it didn’t work so he gave it back and I zoomed in on the picture and handed it back to him. He scanned again and this time it worked beautifully and after adding the colors and mixing he handed me my paint and I went on my merry way. I was glad that the iPhone came in handy coz peeling that label off the can or having to take it back to the store would have been annoying. I suppose I could have looked for the color sample… not happening when things are all displaced in the house…

Since I was stuck at home today with some sort of stomach bug that’s been going around, I did what I normally do when I’m stuck at home… take the opportunity to clean. My first order of business was to vacuum so I got out the vacuum cleaner and went to work. I noticed that my carpets had a medicinal smell that I did not like and no I don’t smoke so don’t even go there. I felt strongly that some sort of deodorizer was needed and I was not about to go out to get any. Other than my stomach issue other deodorizers tend to make me stuffy, and I have issues with particular strong scents, so I was looking for something a bit more natural than carpet fresh. I fired up the ole computer and did a search on natural deodorizers and the next thing I knew I was in the kitchen mixing up a batch. My particular mix consisted of :

• 1/2 cup of baking soda (I used the aluminum free kind)
• 1/2 cup of borax (yes the same stuff you use to clean your laundry)
• 5 or 6 drops of Now 100 % Natural Tea Tree Oil (happen to have some of this in my medicine cabinet)
• Couple drops of vanilla extract (I was looking for almond but thought the vanilla would be interesting)
• A few shakes of cinnamon (before I remembered the cinnamon sticks on the lower shelf- use the sticks next time)
• A few pieces (3 or 4) of cinnamon sticks
• A few shakes of dried rosemary leaves (straight off my spice rack)
• A few shakes of dried mint leaves (also off my spice rack)

Combine ingredients above and make sure that the liquid stuff (oil, extracts) don’t get your mix all beady, the idea is to keep the consistent powder form… The oils and other goodies made the otherwise bland baking soda and borax smell really nice. Ooooh the fragrant offering of natural goodness… I found a container for mine (a rounded tin can that once held tea), threw a thick piece of printing paper on top of it, wrapped a make shift rubber band of sorts around said piece of paper to hold it to the container, and poked some holes in it with a fork real quick. Obviously when I make it out of the house next few days I’ll try to find a more appropriate container for my fragrant concoction.  Anyway, I sprinkled my fragrant offerings on the carpets and left it for an hour (you can leave it for 20 minutes or so) then vacuumed with delight. The whole house is smelling really nice and fresh! I can’t wait to mix up another batch using some other essential oils that I like (yes I enjoyed doing this).  If you are not into mixing up concoctions in your kitchen and prefer to purchase a natural deodorizer, I found two in my brief search: Citrus Magic- Carpet and Room Freshener (particularly for those with pets) and Matt Carpet Deodorizer by Eco-Me. Can’t speak for any of those but I noticed that Matt had baking soda, cornstarch, and essential oils (Roman Chamomile, Grapefruit, Clary Sage) as its ingredients.

A few weeks ago I came home to a swarm of cluster flies buzzing around my kitchen light. I had no clue why there was a convention of flies in my kitchen since I don’t keep food out and I’m quite anal about keeping things clean. The house is also new so where did they come from? They were most annoying because they buzz around with fury. Anyway after some research I decide to call in the Pros. They showed up and sprayed my windows and doors for a nice chunk of $$$. My Mini Vac has been busy ever since picking up the victims of the spay fest ever since. I’ve got a few confined spaces left to Vac, hopefully I’ll be able to do the job in the next few days assuming that my ankle is all healed up. Below is what I found from Dr. Bug’s Urban Pest Control about these buzzing bundle of annoyance.

cluster flies do not:

• breed inside homes
• feed inside homes
• lay eggs inside homes
• present a health hazard in the same way that house flies and other filth flies do.
• enter through the windows ( in most cases)

They simply enter structures in the fall in order to try and over winter. Once inside, while it is cold they remain dormant. Unfortunately on sunny days, even in winter, they will become active and end up coming out inside the house. They are often found at windows because the light from outside is attracting them. Late fall and early spring are when the flies tend to be most numerous in homes.

Hope that I can help someone out there who might be having this problem. According to the good Doc the age of your house don’t matter. In my particular situation I should have had the house sprayed in Spring and early Fall. It has been unusually warm this Fall so they were trying to get out of the house I suppose…

So I have a thing for poppies. No I don’t do anything strange with them its pure eye candy for me.  Early Spring, after the big snow melt, I was all excited that there was plenty of space out back to try out my green thumb and so I headed to Lowe’s one day and brought a few packets of poppy seeds. I bought two packets of 25 each to be precise. I came home one evening, raked out a spot and scattered the seeds. Good ole fashion planting and waiting for the sun and water and soil to do its thing. I waited all summer just to get a glimpse of one and I was delighted when I saw some other wild flowers sprouting up back there but my beloved poppies were nowhere to be seen.

After a few more weeks, I was a bit sad and wondered what went wrong but I kept looking, and hoping, and waiting to see just one bit of orange. I was rewarded last week when I went back there to look and saw one poppy plant shooting out of the ground. I was so excited I could not contain myself and when I looked down at my feet there was another so I went and call my friend to have a look to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing. The other day I decided to grab my iPhone and snap some pictures and I noticed that the two had become four which brought more joy to my already joyful self. Yes! Four poppies had come to visit me for the summer. The other day I noticed a disturbing thing… My lovely poppies seemed to have gone off. The other flowers are still gleaming back there but the poppies were no where to be seen. I noticed some petals on the ground. I also noticed a groundhog was bouncing across the grass. That same groundhog that I thought was so cute. Don’t know if I should blame the groundhog or the deer family that have taken up residence back there lately but that groundhog looked like it was just doing some mean business so its been stuck with the blame for this one. The poppies are quite low to the ground and its been back there a lot lately. No wonder its its been bobbing and bouncing sideways a lot lately. I don’t mind providing some food for the wild ones among us but my beloved poppies were not quite what I had in mind.

Perhaps that would explain the fire cracker sound and loud booms around here of late. I think the little rascal (s) has been doing some dirty business throughout  the neighborhood.  Why my poppies? Why Why Why?

I have this friend who decided on a whim to buy a brand spanking newly built house. I was feeling for him having just finished building a house six months ago and remembering what it was like when I first moved in. Aside from having to get acquainted with living in a new Neighborhood (City vs. Country), it was a bit of a shocker after the snow melted.  He has two boys and he was commenting on the mud that he will have to keep them out of sans driveway and grass.  I didn’t have two boys to worry about thank goodness but yeah the mud was a challenge. When you build a house they show you all the pretty pictures of the nice driveways and manicured lawns and flowers and all that and you’re like nice, nice, nice where do I sign. However, they throw in a disclaimer at the last minute in fine prints that they don’t do landscaping (at least around here). At this point you’re thinking that they don’t install flowers and such so no big deal in your mind you just want to get the building over with so that you can move in. If you built in winter and all the pretty snow was everywhere no big deal. That’s until the snow melts and you notice that all you have is a house and a mudway.

Where is the driveway? Where is all that grass that used to be here? Somehow you remembered seeing that a driveway was in your contract somewhere but what they don’t tell you is that all you’re getting is the left over gravel they use during construction. If you have a short driveway no problem but if you’re one of those folks that have to have your setbacks forget it they stretch that little bit of gravel out and while its a nice base to start a driveway it is by no means a driveway. So you find yourself forking over more money to have someone else put in a driveway as well as the grass that you have to put in coz whatever grass you had before you started building after the construction equipment leaves you don’t have much of that left either just big swats of mud that seems to get over everything. Around these parts they seed the grass I was envisioning laying down swats of grass but oh no. Here they rock-hound, spread hay, and throw seeds and fertilizer down there and hope and pray for a balance of rain and sunshine. Some companies hydroseed but that cost quite a bit around here. I can see hydro-seeding as a means of repair but not sure I would do it out-right.

Anyway, it has been an eye-opening experience and I’ve met some really neat trade-persons from the various companies in town that does this type of work…but building is not for the impatient.  I suppose it builds character and I won’t look at lawns and trees and driveways the way I used to. Its hard work and it will cost you. If you are thinking of building a home vs. buying one off the market esp. in the Upstate, NY area please ignore those pretty pictures and insist on a driveway and landscaping (at least the seeding of your lawn to replace the areas where they left all the mud) in your building project upfront otherwise you will have to deal with this in addition to moving, unpacking, setting things up the way you want, and painting (they don’t do that either by the way).