things and stuff

[edenfalling]

1. Landlord Dude is taking advantage of Diagonal Neighbor P's departure to completely clear out her old apartment -- rip up the carpets, cart out a whole bunch of junk, probably repaint the walls, etc. -- and is also doing some general house work while he's at it. He has even found/hired assistance! They are about halfway through ripping out the old main staircase carpet (which has needed replacing for several years now), and nearly done repainting the front porch floor. I hope he'll attach a new gutter to the porch while he's at it, because the drips are very annoying and also an ice hazard in the winter.

...I should mention that to him tomorrow.

2. I did a bit of yardwork yesterday, by which I mean I chopped down a strange weedy shrub thing that has been growing between my lilac bush and the porch for a couple years, snapped a bunch of dead branches off the poor sour cherry tree in the front yard (which bloomed in December and suffered accordingly), and clipped and/or rooted out approximately a hundred scrub maples that were trying to grow up through the hedges that line our sidewalk. I have probably five hundred more scrub maples to go if I want to clear out the rest of the hedge, which I really do. I also want to haul my stepladder outside and go after the higher deadwood on the cherry. Then I will have to hollow out the back of the lilac (which I do every year, so I have space to install my AC) and gather my clippings into a bag, tag it, and stick it out on Sunday night for city yard waste collection. I might bag up a bunch of the waste pile in the back yard while I'm at it, since I only built that heap as a stopgap measure and the upper layers are nowhere near the 'usable soil' stage of decomposition.

3. I am working on my next prompt meme mini-ficlet, and it's basically sticking out its tongue and laughing at me. I want to write emotional hurt/comfort with an emphasis on the comfort, but it just keeps handing me more hurt. *headdesk* Maybe if I rework the opening so it starts with some landscape description and backstory for why my POV character is at that particular location...? Gnrgh.

4. An ICSD election is scheduled for next Tuesday. I got the election notice and proposed budget report in the mail on Monday, and must remember to grab this week's issue of the Ithaca Times which should (going by past precedent) have interviews with the school board candidates, since I only recognize one of the names off the top of my head.

Comments

[branchandroot]

Ugh, maples. They volunteer like /mad/, and if you don't get them young they're a massive pain to get out. Good luck!

[edenfalling]

Yeah, this year's sprouts are easily uprooted by hand with only a gentle tug, but anything from last year on back... eesh. I should probably buy a more heavy-duty set of clippers, to be honest. Mine are pretty dinky and consequently cause more hand strain than is ideal.

[heliopausa]

Hooray for local elections! Politics that can really work.

[edenfalling]

Ithaca is very much a one-party town (to my great and continual annoyance, even if the party in question is my party), but even so, school board elections tend to bring out more actual choice than most other elections. :)

[wistfulmemory.livejournal.com]

I saw this post a few days late, but I'm glad you were able to figure out the problem(s) you were having with the story.

Go you with all of that yard work. It's very inspiring and makes me think about what I should be doing in my own yard.

Yay for improvements happening to your building.

Have fun voting.

[edenfalling]

Thanks! I am happy about that too. :)

Yardwork is a never-ending beast. There are reasons I don't really do outdoor gardening, and the main one is oh god SO MUCH WORK.