Reptiles in the bathroom

I'm still looking for something to trigger that "eureka" moment for the master bath re-design. Somehow I don't think this is it.



Monty from the Jungle range by Ceramica Cielo in python finish. Monty the Python. Get it?
Scared of snakes? There's a crocodile collection called - wait for it...
All together now: Dundee

Our environmental impact

Today is Blog Action Day, the day when bloggers worldwide blog on a single topic and this year it's the environment.
We're still trying to do our part to save the planet but I have to say that since we moved from Europe I feel that we've become a lot less environmentally conscious.
For example, in Belgium we sorted all our garbage. We had to as the law changed to mandate it. We were forced to buy separate garbage sacks for household rubbish, bottles, cans and cartons, paper and vegetable matter. Everyone grumbled because the sacks weren't cheap and the price varied from commune to commune but there were fines for non-compliance and eventually people got with the programme.
When we moved to the US in 2000 we attempted to keep up this regime but there was no separate collection and thus no incentive to sort. Then when we moved to this house in a different district we found that we could recycle our bottles and cans (but not cartons) one week and our paper the next. We can also put out bundles of twigs and grass clippings but not kitchen compost. So we sort of recycle. But the garden waste goes into the same truck as the ordinary household waste so I guess even if we sort, the garbage collection guys don't. Doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose?
We have replaced all the outdoor lights and most of the indoor bulbs with the compact fluorescents but once again in Europe we would have done all of them by now because they are more readily available and we know everyone else does it.
Further than that I can say that today I'm running neither the air conditioning system nor the heating, which has to be good news both for my wallet and the environment but that's a matter of climate and not a conscious decision on my part. When we do run these system I keep the airco at 78F and heat at 65F. We strip off in summer and wear layers in winter.
Outside we don't do too well either. We have a pool, although we don't heat it and a sprinkler system that uses a lot of water, although I do use a landscaping firm that has "Environmental" in its name and the tree spraying firm I employ only uses environmentally friendly products (hot oil). That's still a big environmental impact.
On the renovation front we try to be as green as possible - bamboo floors and silestone for example, and re-purposing the previous owners' furniture but I'd like to do a lot more, including solar panels. But we have a long way to go to renovate in a truly sustainable manner.
I also try to ensure that all the products and furnishings we use are made in factories that comply with International Labour Standards.
The sad truth is when we were forced by the government to do our part, we did it, and while I like to think we are environmentally aware we are not coming close to do all the things we could do to ensure that we are impacting the environment in a positive way.

Raccoon wrangling

A weekend saga in two parts.
Part One: Saturday 7 AM.
We were lying in bed and the dogs were going totally beserk. Woof, woof, bark, bark, bark. Calling them did no good. Commanding them to "come" just resulted in more urgent barking so Steven went down to see what was causing all the commotion. Then he yelled to me "There's a raccoon just outside the window".
I ran downstairs and there it was, lying on the path outside the dining room window. Raccoons shouldn't be out in daytime, and they shouldn't be stretched out on the doorstep at any time of day. I wasn't sure if it was alive or dead but I had to get dressed before I could rationally assess the situation. We've had reports of rabid raccoons in the county, so if we see any raccoons behaving out of character we're supposed to call someone. Only we couldn't remember who. So while I went off to shower and dress Steven called 411 and asked for animal control.
Turns out a raccoon is not an animal, it's wildlife and we needed to call the police. More interesting still is that the Village has a wildlife expert, who used to be the Police Commissioner. But she'd caught a raccoon the day before and had left her raccoon-snatching gear at the vet's so she couldn't be at our house for a couple of hours.
We had to be out in less than an hour to attend 6 hours of defensive driving tuition to get 10% off our auto insurance. (And with the number of fender-benders Steven had last year, we need it!). We were just going to have to trust the police would be able to find the raccoon without our help. They told us to get a garbage can and put it over the raccoon and they'd deal with it. But when Steven approached it the (we thought) dying animal with the bin it sprung to life and climbed 10' up the maple tree.



There was nothing else we could do at that point so we locked all our pets in the house and headed off to the course hoping that the wildlife expert would see the raccoon up the tree and capture it. When we got home there was no sign of it, just some scuff marks around the tree, so Steven took the trash can away and we thought the drama was over.

Part Two: Sunday 6 AM
The dogs started barking again but this time at something in the back yard. Even in the dawn light we could see that the raccoon had made his way to the barbecue and was standing there shaking.



This is where things took on a cartoonish quality. Steven went out to look at it, the dogs rushed past him to get to the raccoon and once again the raccoon came to life and shot up the linden tree.



After a while the poor thing fell off the tree and staggered around some more. At one point he fell into the pond, but he managed to climb out again. Every so often he'd fall over and shake. It was really horrible and the wildlife expert promised she'd come and get it but we needed to watch it in the meantime.
So I grabbed my camera and I watched it. I watched it coming towards me



I watched it walking away from me


And I watched it lying down.



Eventually the wildlife expert aka a neighbourhood volunteer turned up with her raccoon catching gear: a pink cat carrier, a garden shovel and a noose made of plastic line. That was it. No boots, no gloves, no protective gear or special equipment whatsoever. Nothing to prevent her from getting rabies should the animal bite. I felt like a complete wimp at this point.
The came the fun part. Herding a wild animal into the cage with limited equipment. Rocky proved very recalcitrant for a sick raccoon and our neighbour decided she needed to go to the police station to get a noose on a long pole so we could trap him. While she was gone, however, Steven decided to have a go and managed to get the line around the raccoon's neck.



Then he sent me off to find the expert and get her to help put him into the cage. But by the time we got back he had the raccoon in the carrier and the excitement was over. My hero.
The raccoon will be taken to vet and monitored for distemper and rabies. If it can be treated it will be and then it will be released.

There's no arguing with that

Driving into town yesterday evening to eat sushi I turned to Steven and remarked on the gorgeous sunset.
"Should we go and watch the sun set first?"
"I don't think so, hunger trumps beauty".

Funky, stylish and fun

I knew I should have left that wallpaper alone when we moved in. Even though it had fused to the wall where water had leaked through the windows, and there were damp patches from the water penetration from the roof it was typical 60s paper. And guess what? All of a sudden wallpaper is back and it's fabulous.
I really want to put one 60s inspired kick-ass wallpaper somewhere in the house and I think the foyer is crying out for this one, appropriately called Party Girl, in red. Or maybe this ferm Living Feather wallpaper in a rich teal colour.
Either way, I'm going to have to wait until the master bath is renovated and all its leaks fixed, it would be heartbreaking to put it up and then find dripping bath water had fused it to the wall.

Cold bath time

I decided to take a long, hot bubble bath this morning. Not something I'd normally do being an in and out refreshing wake-up shower sort of girl but you know, once in a while a relaxing soak can be good.
So I filled the tub with lots of bubbles and plenty of water and got in. And out again pretty quick. No hot water. That's funny because the oil burner guy came yesterday and gave both the heating and hot water boilers a thorough cleaning. Unless........
Yep, a quick trip to the boiler in the basement confirmed it. When he'd finished he FORGOT TO SWITCH IT BACK ON. I thought it was quiet last night.
So there was enough hot water in the tank for Steven's shower, a load of washing, several hand washes but not enough to fill the bath. Must remember for future, take bath before Steven gets in shower.

Dying rhododendron

This is so sad. The lovely pinky-purple rhododendron on the north drive has been infected by the Phytophthora fungus. It's the third one (all in different parts of the yard) that we've lost this year. Our neighbours have also lost them. I'm not sure if it's just this particular variety that has been affected, but these were all old, well-established specimens.
This is what it looked like back in May this year



If you look really closely you can see the start of the problem - a little brown section on one stem at the top of the plant. But really there was nothing to warn us that five months later we would be facing the sorry, dying plant we have now.
I'm off to dig it out and destroy the remains. Too sad.

Powered by the sun, even in the fog

It transpires that I'm not the only one whose sleep has been affected by the Huntington foghorn. After proudly announcing on Saturday that it was functioning again after three years of silence, the Coast Guard has had to admit that the foghorn on the lighthouse has been malfunctioning since it was turned back on and they've had numerous complaints from local residents.
Apparently it is now powered by solar energy (a very good thing) but is designed to stay on if it malfunctions, rather than shut down (a not so good thing for us). The last time it malfunctioned it sounded continuously for 41 days. Oh joy!

Controller floodlight?

controller floodlight?
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I think I may have solved the mystery lighting issues we have been having in the den. Solved them, but not begun to understand them.
This floodlight is situated on the front drive, and I actually didn't discover it until late last year when I did a lot of pruning on the north edge of the property. When we moved in three years ago there were huge raggedy old junipers on the edges of the driveways and buried in these were lights that had been hit (probably by the snow plough). They had once been crescent shaped modern post lights but by the time we dug them out they were busted and rusted and there was nothing left to salvage.
I had an electrician put in new lights at the end of the drive and the only thing that's slightly irritated me ever since is that they aren't automatic. Gradually as I took out overgrown plants, weeds and tons of ivy, I discovered other light sources scattered throughout the flower beds and I began to put uplighters and floodlights on these. They are all connected to the same switch that the drive lights are on.
On Thursday I was outside tidying up when I noticed that the lightbulb on one of the floodlights had been smashed. So I replaced it. Since then we have had no gremlins in the den lights.
I can only surmise that at one time this outdoor lighting system worked on a timer and motion sensor system that was also connected to the den lights. For some reason when the lightbulb was gone (and only shards of the bulb remained) the sensor kicked in. This doesn't make very much sense to me but why else would the lights in the den have given up their independent ways?
I wish the original owner had thought to post a cheat sheet in the control panel of all the x10 lights when he installed them. Or just a guide to which switches control which lights. Anything would have helped. Three years and three months in the house and we still have figured out the electrics. Heigh ho.

Season of mists... and foghorns

On Friday evening the temperatures were in the mid-eighties, even at 10 PM, and the humidity was a killer. That set us up for a big blanket of what passes for fog on the North Shore of Long Island. Where I come from it would be described as a little light mist, where Steven comes from it wouldn't even be worth noting. Everyone else seems to have their air conditioners back on but I am too fiscally prudent mean to run the airco in October. So I opened all the windows as wide as they would go. And then it started.
Sometime in the Friday night/Saturday morning hours the foghorn sounded and it's been going off every five seconds since then, even though the fog lifted at around 9 AM on Saturday. How do I know it's every five seconds? Because I spent the last two nights counting One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi... Steven, of course slept through it. In fact he only noticed it on Saturday morning when he walked the dogs on the beach!
It got so annoying on Friday night that I went to another bedroom to try and get some sleep. The other bedroom is over the garage. At the end of the driveway are two large oak trees. This year has been a bumper one for acorns. They make a delightful ping when they hit the ground, Approximately one a second. So my night went something like this: One ping Missi ping ssi ping ppi ping.

The foghorn, I guess, is on Huntington lighthouse. And either it's part of the Long Island Fall Festival or the thing is stuck. If it's the former it should end sometime after the meatball eating contest today. If it's the latter I suppose it will be sounding every five seconds until someone goes and fixes it.

Season of foghorns and falling acorns
Sleepless nights for me.......

Great driving weather

It was a sight that perfectly expressed the unusual weather we're having on Long Island - temperatures in the high 80s again today: A woman driving a white Rolls Royce convertible, wearing a cowboy hat. So weird, and yet so right.

blogger v2 + 3 columns=1 big headache

I spent all yesterday afternoon on a new template for this site using the blogger page upgrade and a three column css design. It looked horrible at first, then gradually better. But then I tried to put in my old add-ons that were mainly written in html and javascript and I could only get half of them to work. So I've shelved it for now and started back on xml, I code I gave up on four years ago as too much grief for a blog. Ha, shoulda kept on it.

If my headache goes away and I manage to solve my issues you might see an updated Cool House website. Or you may see a crappy half-assed version while I'm working on it. Either way, I apologise in advance.

Otherwise, you'll have to put up with the old-fashioned Blogger version 1 with its limiting two column layout until blogger gets round to doing the work for me.

Crickets

Crickets
Originally uploaded by modernemama

I found this laid neatly on the step outside the kitchen door. A large cricket - perhaps three inches long.
I don't know what killed it or how it got there but perhaps these two have something to do with it? They look much too innocent, though.

I was wrong - the magic continues

I have no problem admitting that I was mistaken about the cause of the scary light syndrome in the den. No one went near the garage, or the remote controlled door openers yesterday evening and still the lights came on.
First the built-in lights came on at 7 PM, then the chandelier came on at 9:56 PM. Then I went to bed, leaving them on. They could burn themselves out for all I cared at that point.
But magically at 12:20 AM when Steven turned the outside lights off, all the den lights went off, too.
Now that leads me to believe that there is some complicated light sensitive stuff going on here that is controlled by the outside light switch. But it must also be timer controlled because I've tried turning the outside lights off before, many, many, many times.
The outdoor lights aren't on a timer (at least we've never discovered one) nor are they on a light sensor (although I've often thought they should be). So WHY?
Why is this happening and what can we do to turn this into a plus? Lights that go on and off when we're not home - that's an anti-burglar system.
And if we can't do that, at least tell us how to make this stop. For good.

Nothing funny going on here

dooce isn't the only one whose dog is a photogenic power puppy.
This is Polly, otherwise known as itchydog, and I have no idea when it was taken as I was sent it in an email by Verity.



I couldn't ever get Polly to sit still long enough to take a decent photo, never mind dress her up with a shuttlecock.

Beach House in Fall (Autumn)

Beach House is featured on Houseblogs.net this week as part of an article on house blogs in autumn. They used the photo from my profile but somehow it looks much bigger and brighter on someone else's webpage. I'm very honoured.
I wonder though, if I'd just used the tag "fall" would I have made the cut?

La, la, la

den_chandelier
Originally uploaded by modernemama

That's my attempt at denial.
That's what I did last night when we were watching the 8 pm repeat of The Daily Show and this chandelier came on. On its own. With no human help. We have gremlins. I don't care. I am ignoring it. Steven will take care of it via the control panel in the basement.
I have decided (I, too, am the decider) that the problem is related to the remote controlled garage door opener. So I have decreed (I am also the decreer) that this evening Steven will park outside the garage and walk to the front door. we will then wait for the lights in the den to play their crazy game.
If they come on unaided, I was wrong (unlikely, but always a possibility) and we must seek another solution. If they don't, we have solved the mystery, which will give us a great deal of satisfaction but won't help us sleep any easy because WE STILL WON'T KNOW HOW TO FIX IT.

Cobwebs

Normally we'd have to pay real money to get this effect on the shrubs but this year we have great Hallowe'en cobwebs - all natural, too.

Light... and water

Steven thinks he has cleansed the den of its random lighting curse. Yesterday morning he managed to turn on all the lights in that room and turn them off again. Wanting to demonstrate his newfound electricity controlling skill, he turned them on again in the evening but, of course, nothing happened. He went off to bed mumbling about lighting and x10 and a few minutes later all the lights magically came on. But this time, I was able to turn them off at the switch. A delay, sure - but it beats running down to the basement to turn them off. Success.
The payback came around 3 AM. A loud CLUNK, followed by a whirring sound from the basement that woke both of us up. It was the sprinklers, which are programmed to come on at 10 AM because they make so much noise, but had obviously been seriously set off course by us having to turn off the electricity every other evening. I've switched them off for good now, we should be ok without them at this point in the year.
Hopefully that's an end to our lighting problems but I'm waiting to get through this evening with no lighting issues before I declare this chapter of "the house is trying to kill us" closed.

Way beyond funny

This happened again last night. 7:30 just before Steven came home.
For anyone counting, that's once every other evening this week. Twice with these lights, including one time with the chandelier doing a "now I'm on, now I'm off thing" as well, and once with these lights. Each time we have to turn off the electricity at the panel to switch these lights off.
Now, is it just coincidence that this has happened twice just as Steven was arriving home? And it happened once while I was out. Could it be connected in some way to the garage openers? But we use them continually during the day so why just in the evening? Could it be connected to some ancient x10 automatic security light on a timer? But why has it just started this week? And why every other night? And why won't the lights turn on and off at the switches?
Am I obsessing about this? Am I crazy yet? How much more can I take?