Can I get a clean sweep?

Allow me a wee rant. I know I don't deserve such self indulgence because really, when was the last time I published a post? A month ago, two months? But I am verily pissed off, pushed to the edge and if I don't express the rage here I may let go in less appropriate quarters, and like blowing on a dandelion clock, you never know where the stuff ends up. No one wants to see that go down In Real Life.

Soooo, what, I hear you wonder, has got me so annoyed?

Not the wild flowers, certainly but the state of the roads. My road in particular. It is June, the second week in June to be precise, and our roads, that we pay a whole bunch of freaking money in property taxes to maintain, have yet to be swept.

And here's the excuse I heard at the Village Trustees meeting in May when I queried why the sweeper hadn't swept the sand and detritus from the winter: 

"I know it's late this year but we need to be sure the last snowstorm has passed and we've had two lots of heavy rains before we can sweep." 

Seriously, this was May 13th. The last snowstorm was early March and we've had weeks and weeks of rain since then. Also, no one had a definite date for road cleaning. According to the Village budget we have more money on hand than last year yet the budget for this fiscal year sets aside $2000 less for road seeping. Why?  I'm quoting from memory here because the minutes haven't appeared online (SIGH) but the response was

 "It was cheaper than we thought last year (a mild winter when it wasn't necessary to sweep the roads as much because little sand had been spread) and I didn't think we would need that amount of money this year."

So why aren't the roads being cleaned? The Incorporated Village could spend funds right now sweeping the sand, grit and other crap that I'm still treading through the house. More importantly it's a public safety issue. Cars and cyclists are skidding on the mess, a large portion of which has formed an island at the bottom of a steep hill. Every time it rains heavily that muck in the photo turns into sticky mud. When it's dry, it's like riding on marbles. 

It's almost a month since the last Village meeting. Memorial Day has come and gone; we are officially into the summer season and still our roads are a disgusting, dangerous mess. The Town of Huntington, which maintains the southern end of the road had the sweepers out in April. It's ironic that our Village, incorporated to preserve its unique character, has worse roads than the town.

My Life with Cats

With two dogs and four cats it's a constant battle here to keep the animal fur at lower than ankle level. But occasionally, after the surfaces have been dusted, the floors swept or vacuumed and the beds changed, just for a little while it looks like a normal clean house. Yesterday was one of those days, fresh duvet on the bed, flowers in a vase, it looked pretty good. That lasted a few hours until I noticed that a cat (difficult to pin down just which one, but it wasn't Mr Cassis) had thrown up on the bedcover. I sighed, stripped off the cover, threw it in the machine and climbed into bed.
It wasn't until I got up this morning that I realised that the cat had also thrown up on the sheet. The one I'd been wrapped in all night. Luckily, it seemed pretty much contained on The Guy's side and he was away. But still. Yuk, yuk , bloody cats, yuk!

What's that funky smell?

For a little while now, well more than a little while - more like weeks in fact, I've noticed this weird smell when I've come into the house. Now smells, I've discovered, are like the annoying pinging noise your car makes that ONLY YOU can hear. You take the car to the garage, you drive your beloved around in it. Can they hear it? No way, it's a figment of your imagination. You are a crazy person right up until the moment when the wheel comes off or a cable snaps and then they're all "Didn't you notice it before? Weren't there any warning signs? Hmm, like that whirring, pinging, humming noise I kept mentioning, you mean?
Anyway, there was a definite smell. I thought at first it was rot. But we treated the rot back in, oh October, and I couldn't see any more elsewhere. That didn't stop me from obsessing about it, though. I started in the basement with a flashlight and poked and prodded every beam, joist and random piece of wood I could find. Then I moved onto the house proper. I touched every piece of siding I could, every door and window (even though most were replaced with new units in 2005) and then I got crazy: I started sniffing all the wood. ALL. THE. WOOD. Even if it meant, and it did, crawling along the floor inhaling the aroma of baseboards. Crazy. And fruitless.
But just as I was going to call in a professional with a moisture meter I made a discovery. The small was worse just outside the door to the garage. And it was much worse when the heating was blowing hard. I bent down to look at the air vent and woah! I had discovered the origin of the pong.


Several months ago I was taking the cat litter tray to the garage when I tripped and spilt tons of kitty gritty. Obviously I vacuumed it up, I'm not that much of a slob, but I'd failed to see that quite a bit had landed in the air vent. Eeeuw and phew. We unscrewed the grill, cleaned it, took all the dirt that had accumulated with the cat litter and voila! No more odd odor. I may be the worst housekeeper ever but at least I'm not crazy and we don't have rot.

Method Eco-friendly Cleaning

Tips on keeping the house clean in an eco-friendly manner.
I used to have to go to Target especially to buy Method cleaning supplies but I can get them at Ricky's drugstore in town now. I love their wipes, especially the grapefruit fragrance ones.
My favorite tip is in the bedroom: Not making the bed is more green than making in it. I've been right all these years......

Spring clean up

Do you see what that is? No, not the cute dog with the dopey expression on his face. Up a bit. In the glass? That bright circle in the middle? It's my flash bouncing off the window because it is so freakin' clean. It's taken three years but we The Guy has perfected a system that leaves the windows cleaner than before he washed them. Hurrah. Who knew it was more difficult than rocket science?
Not to be outdone, I rearranged the laundry room (again) and I will reveal the new, great plan to make this room a fully functioning space again at some point in the very near future.
And the landscaper/font of all house knowledge guy came out and cleaned up the yard, including hauling away the dead azaleas (yes, it turns out we lost a couple this winter) but unfortunately he also took the branch that was holding up the fence, so I suspect that will be falling down again soon.
But the yard looks good, and what's better I can see it now through my sparkling windows.

Post Holiday Clean Up

This is the only thing that didn't get vacuumed, dusted or polished today... that's because it's totally perfect as is.

A little moment of madness

The newspaper phoned this afternoon to ask if they can send a someone to photograph our house for the article on Andrew Geller's work tomorrow at 9 am. As I had so much spare time I decided to wash the windows, at least on the inside.
I really don't know what possessed me. I can't wash windows. I've tried, believe me. Many, many times.
I've used Windex and Glassex and white vinegar. I've used soft cloths and paper towels and newspaper. I even bought one of those microfiber magic window cleaning cloths. It didn't get my windows clean but at least 10% of the price is donated to help stop domestic violence.
I would think the problem was me, my technique is lousy, except that last year Steven washed the windows outside and he did an even worse job. So bad, in fact, that I wouldn't let him clean them this Spring. I said I'd do it myself. And I have done, in the last hurrah of Summer. And they are horrible.
Other people have clean windows. How do they do it?
All window cleaning tips gratefully received.

Today's little chore

Power-washing
Originally uploaded by modernemama

He's been at it all day poor baby, 1000+ sq' of Bluestone that was black and green with mold and algae. Accompanied at all times by his faithful companion. Neither of them wants to come in until the job is completed. I'm just off to put the exterior lights on. I think they could be there all night, too.

Cleaning and waiting

White Rhododendron
Originally uploaded by modernemama

We now have a moss-free brick path and patio at the rear of the house.The magic algae removing formula was: a bucket of extremely hot water, Palmolive dishwashing soap and baking soda mixed with a healthy dose of Clorox Garden bleach. Pour it on, let it sit, scrub it in, then keep adding more hot water and scrubbing until the red brick emerges. Finish off by hosing it down with cold. It would be easier to cut back all the greenery but not half as pretty so we'll be going through this performance again when it gets humid.
If you look out from the downstairs bath window towards the newly clean brick path this is what you see, a 6' rhododendron that starts to blossom with the palest pink buds and opens to this bright white. Gorgeous.
If only the bathroom were that pretty. It's past Memorial Day and we still have no floating vanity, no sink, no faucet and no tiles. I did get the maple toilet seat for the new Toto but obviously we don't have the Toto yet either. Hey ho.

My Dyson sucks

and this is a good thing.
For the last month or so, it's been blowing more stuff out of its bottom than it's been sucking up. The only way to get anything vacuumed recently has been to go over lots of animal hair (not a difficult thing in this house) so that a nice dam formed inside the hose that stopped the dust, pollen and small debris from shooting right out again. One day I got so frustrated I checked under the machine and found a huge tear in the short hose which I repaired with duct tape. That lasted a little while but eventually I had to cave and order a new part. I just wished I'd noticed it last year when I had to order a long hose. C'est la vie.
Yesterday I received a new short hose and decided to clean the filters and brushes before I fitted it. I can truly say that the six months of bathroom and laundry construction was reflected in the gunge that I took out of it. I felt bad about the number of times we had used the Dyson instead of a shopvac to clean up after ourselves.
This morning I vacuumed all the carpets and removed acres of dog hair and other detritus and while housework is about my least favourite activity, it felt really good to have a clean house once again.

Getting ready for the summer

Spring 2007 pool opening
Originally uploaded by modernemama.

We tried to get as many chores done as possible on Saturday. These included: cleaning out the pond, power washing the patios, checking the filters on the pool, killing the carpenter bees that are eating the redwood above verity's bedroom window, putting out the garden furniture and planting annuals in the tubs.
We got off to a flying start when Jerry the pool guy turned up unexpectedly to check on the work his guys had done opening the pool earlier in the week. I mentioned the problem we have had filling the pool (it was pumping out faster than we could fill it) and he was able to tighten things around the pump so that it filled in an hour. That was one job off the list.
Then we decided to divide the workload. I went to procure provisions and plants while Steven power washed the brick patio. I came back a couple of hours later with a baguette, prosciutto, mozzarella and peppers. I'd also identified the plants I wanted but I couldn't lift them into Steven's car, which was now full of shopping and dry cleaning.
Steven had productively spent the time cleaning out the pond rather than washing the green stuff off the bricks, so that we could have lunch outside with the water flowing under the bridge. And it was very relaxing sitting outside with a bottle of wine and the NY Times. So relaxing in fact that we didn't get anymore chores done that day. Oh well, there's always next weekend. Sometimes you just have to stop and drink it all in.

Labor Day is for........

working. Of course. It is if it happens to be the only free day of the summer when you're at home, it isn't too hot to move, it isn't lashing down with rain from the latest tropical storm and you don't have visitors.
So it was that we spent all day yesterday washing windows, inside and out, including the screens. I hate washing windows because they usually look worse after I've done them than before but we still had some wood stain on the window panes from last November so we had to so something before the bad weather sets in again and the stain becomes permanent.
I've tried every method of window washing from newspaper and vinegar to Windex and paper towels. The current method involves a sheepskin mop dipped in a light solution of dishwashing liquid and really hot water and a squeegee to wipe off outside and Windex inside. I throw the upstairs screens in the shower and wash them there and put the hosepipe on the downstairs ones.
The first couple of hours flew by and then we made the mistake of taking a lunch break. That's when the sun came out and revealed that what had looked like sparkling clean upstairs windows were in fact streaked with grey. There was some heated debate about whether the marks were on the inside or the outside and who was therefore responsible but a redo was in order. We finally finished at 5 pm with the kitchen window. It is so badly washed it looks as if it is fogged. We didn't care, we didn't have the strength to go over it again.
Steven has promised to clean it next weekend but I think he will have forgotten all about it by then. It only looks bad when the sun shines on it so if I avoid the kitchen between 4 and 6 pm I won't notice it either.
The plan was to jump in the pool when we finished to cool off but as the water temperature was only 70 F I settled for cleaning the pool and Steve for a hot bath. We were in too much pain to light the bbq so we settled for chips and beer. And we didn't make it to the informal gathering down at the beach to celebrate the end of summer either.