Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the renowned playwright, Lorraine Hansberry, who we have interrupted in her study as she reviews the new edition of her most acclaimed work, A Raisin in the Sun.

Merry Christmas!

This is our tenth Christmas on Mars!

It’s been a busy year, and it’s been cold and rainy for weeks, so this year, cozy and quiet seemed like the way to go.

As always, we had many greetings from family and friends:

AJ exhibited much bravery by tackling the monster rosemary bush to make a wreath:

We put up our tree with all its finery, as usual:

Our stockings were stuffed:

We also hung our memorial stockings to Pickles, and the two mice who attempted to live with us years ago (we did not kill them; I just assume they’ve moved on to the Great Cheese Wheel in the sky by now):

On Christmas morning, we enjoyed our friend Brian’s delicious cherry-chocolate rugelach and some Irish raisin bread, and opened our presents.

Mother O’Brien sent Lorraine a lovely Christmas shirt and fuzzy blanket. She immediately fell asleep:

And stayed asleep:

Then moved to the couch and went back to sleep:

Then got up, amused herself with tearing up some cardboard boxes, and went back to sleep:

Thanks to Mother O’Brien, Lorraine officially wins the cozy award for the day.

While Lorraine slept, we watched movies, had a lovely picnic lunch of cheeses, meats, and olives, and AJ made delicious Indian food for dinner. It was a wonderful day.

We also were privileged to receive a visit from the most elusive of all magical Christmas animals, The Lorreindeer:

Merry Christmas from all of us here on Mars! And a very Happy New Year!

Todos Santos

Today we are observing Todos Santos, or All Saints Day -- the day we pause to remember and honor our dear, departed loved ones.

As we do every year, we set out pictures and mementos that represent the family and friends who have passed:

This year, we also decided to make a nice dinner on Halloween, and, echoing Celtic traditions, start our remembrance the night before.

I started off by making barmbrack, an Irish quick bread chock full of raisins, for us to nibble on throughout the day:

This is a traditional thing to make at this time of year in Ireland. Absolutely delicious buttered, with coffee.

For dinner, I made muffin tin veggie pot pies, roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes with chard, and these Remembrance Cookies:

They're shortbread with rosemary (rosemary for remembrance), and shaped like people, to call to mind the people who have passed on, and the things you love about them.

We also decided to have a little fun with decorating for the occasion -- pumpkins, jack o'lanterns, and a huge pile of fake leaves scattered throughout the house, on the floors and the counter:

Our appetizer course:

Even Lorraine got into the autumnal spirit:

Our friend Susie was on her way over to join us, when her uber was hit by someone running a stop sign. We are very grateful that everyone is ok! And we are planning to take her a care package of leftovers, barmbrack, and cookies later today.

Also, on the topic of gratitude, we had an incredible storm last week, with torrential rain and winds above 30 miles per hour. It blew down this 40-foot tree in the yard next door:

Incredibly, there is no damage, either to the retaining wall on our side of the fence, or to their property. Another huge thing to be grateful for!

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween from Chief Science Officer, Lieutenant Lorraine, of the Starship Woofer Schmoofer, getting ready for a pajama party in space!

Week 5.5: Done (nearly)!

We are done! Well, except that we're waiting for windows to finally arrive in a few weeks. But for now, at least, we are done!

Last week (and one day this week) was all about the foundation, and wrapping up the odds and ends.

For the foundation, they added concrete to that soft spot in the back corner (doesn't need to be replaced outright because it's right next to the brand new foundation from 2014), put in some more bolts, and then covered the entire interior face in a plastic mesh, and put a kind of stucco over the top to stop the surface deterioration. 

Here's a section that shows the finished stucco coat, the in-progress stucco, and the mesh:

They also added a coating of stucco to the exposed exterior face of the south side of the foundation, just for good measure (all the other exterior faces are covered or are not accessible).

They patched up the big critter holes:

And they also attached long boards to the studs, to help with structural stability in an earthquake:

Then it was a couple other odds and ends, cleanup, and then good bye!

Looking forward to putting everything back together in the garage this weekend, and life getting back to normal.

Then onward to the garage door and new house numbers! 

Week 4

Slow (excruciatingly slow) but steady progress in Week 4!

Bolts are being epoxied in all around the foundation:

Uhhh:

Well, I guess we can say the foundation is sound right there, if it won't let go of that drill bit!

Meanwhile, the side is done:

And one poor guy in a little knit cap with a pom-pom toiled away on the front all week:

Finally, Friday came. The front porch still hadn't been done, but we decided we liked it like that, with just the lighter blue of the tinted primer:

Here's a picture of it in the morning, with the light on it. A little easier to see the difference:

Thanks to all who voted!

We are putting in a new garage door soon. We had been talking about a wood grain type finish to match the front door, but it might also look good to have it be the same color as the porch. Or maybe keep it the same navy as the rest of the house. Decisions, decisions!

Should be finishing up next week!

Week 3

Progress is feeling painfully slow, but, really, we're in the last mile with all this.

We think.

Siding on the front got done:

All the trim details got done. Here's a close up of how nicely they did this little step area:

Repairs were made to a small area that was missing shingles for some reason:

And then on Saturday and Sunday, the painters came. They (nearly) finished the wall between the houses. They painted this front area a dark brown, to blend with the original shingles below:

They painted the back part of the wall -- the part that abuts the neighbor's deck -- an off-white, to match up with their outdoor space:

And they finished prepping and priming the front:

The final color will be a navy blue, similar to the garage. Six passersby told the painters they liked this color -- sort of a Wedgwood blue. Sorry to disappoint, neighbors! 

And while all that work moved along (more or less) steadily, Mr. Bunkport was poking around the foundation. He thinks that, yes, the soft spot with the crack will need to be replaced (about a four foot span), but the rest is sound. He drilled some test holes for the earthquake bolts, and will be doing The Big Test next week to verify that the bolts will hold in The Big One.

Here's the first hole -- goes through the mud sill (the piece of wood sitting on the foundation that the rest of the house is attached to) straight into the concrete:

Fingers crossed!