Bonding Over Bows

Justin was home last weekend and brought a surprise with him - a new bow. When I decided I wanted to try archery he loaned me his recurve bow and six arrows. I bought new 35-pound limbs for it (since I couldn't pull it back with his 55-pound limbs) and it's kind of become "my bow" by default. He decided that he needed a new recurve, so bought himself a new, fancier bow. Since we both have recurves now, I was thrilled when he asked me if I wanted to go shoot with him.

We hopped in his truck and went over to my mother-in-law's house where there is plenty of room. I told him I haven't really shot much since last fall, but he promised to observe and help me.

And I did. I needed to be reminded about drawing all the way back, but not overdrawing.

And then there is my issue of keeping a consistent anchor.

My groups were much better when he showed me how to shoot three-fingered (three fingers under the arrow and nock) instead of my sloppier split-fingered shooting. My arrow no longer fell off the rest, it just felt better, and that bullseye is proof!

This is one of Justin's targets showing what it looks like when you're really a good shot.

See that second arrow from the left, stuck into the end of another arrow? That's called a Robin Hood. They're rare, and only happen when you have practiced for hundreds of hours and can shoot consistently and accurately. I haven't managed this yet, but maybe someday because I am very lucky to have a great archery teacher who is patient, kind, and willing to pass along all of his knowledge. Thanks, Justin!

Three on Thursday

Joining Kat and Carole for Three on Thursday, and today it's with three things that I saw around Elkton this week. We went to MD last Sunday night, and are just beginning to find our way with this living in both NJ and MD thing. We decided to drive only one car down, which meant that John drove it to work, and I didn't have a car during the day. That's okay because Elkton is a fairly walkable town, so I set off on my errands and took a few photos along the way.

My first stop was the Elkton Municipal Building to submit an application for a building permit. We're not really building anything; John just wants a garden shed because the garden is going to be in MD next year, and we need a permit. I dropped off the application, and they called to say it was ready only an hour later. That does not happen in NJ!

This elk insignia is everywhere, but there are definitely no elk around. I'm going to have to do some research and find out how and why Elkton got its name.

Right across from the Municipal Building I was surprised to see this castle.

It's really the Elkton Armory for the Maryland National Guard and was recently declared "surplus property" by the state. That means it will soon be for sale. I wonder if I could convince John that a castle would be much cooler than the little house we just bought?!

And then there is this:

Fatti Maschii, Parole Femine is the state motto of Maryland. I wondered what it meant, but we didn't yet have internet, so I stopped at the library to look it up. It's Italian from 1776 and the accepted legal translation is "Manly deeds, womanly words". In 1975, the government of Maryland decided to tone down the sexism and cite the official translation as "Strong deeds, gentle words". One of the librarians asked if I needed help and we had an interesting conversation. She told me that her Italian grandmother always said that the real translation from Italian is “men do things, and women just talk about things". None of these translations make a decent state motto! We looked up other state mottoes and decided that maybe Maryland should take a lesson from Wyoming or Oregon. Their mottoes are "Equal Rights" and "She Flies With Her Own Wings". Way to go Wyoming and Oregon!

Head on over here to read more (and less sexist) Three on Thursday posts.

Small Start

Growing up, I was the good kid, the one who listened to her parents and followed the rules. My sister was not bad by any means; she just knew which rules to ignore, wasn't overly concerned if she got caught, and knew how to have fun.

I'm still primarily a rule-follower, but over the last decade or so I've come to realize how silly and stupid some rules really are. Our town has one that strikes me as completely ridiculous. Thursday is trash and recycling day and we are not supposed to put these curbside before 5:00 pm on Wednesday, and cans have to be retrieved by 5:00 pm on Thursday. This is supposed to keep the town looking nicer, prevent trash cans from blowing around in the street, and generally restore calm and order in the world or some such nonsense.

The town council tried to solve a problem that didn't exist, the rule is impractical and unenforceable, so it's clearly my duty to rise up and rebel against it. I've begun to make a point of putting out my trash before 5:00 pm and it makes me happy to do it.

I know this is petty and silly on my part, and we laugh about how much of a badass I am with my big act of rebellion, but it might also be a small start on being comfortable disregarding rules and having a little fun.

Who knows, I might even start pumping my own gas (it's against the law in NJ) or using profanity on Main Street (another local ordinance). Stay tuned ... :-)

Three on Thursday

Joining Kat and Carole for Three on Thursday, and today it's with three things that are blooming. These aren't the usual flowers, but they are interesting blossoms I've seen on my damp morning walkabouts in the yard.

I think everyone on the east coast has mushrooms blooming in their yard this week. 

We've had about 8.5" of rain over the last week, another 1.5" tonight and tomorrow, and even more rain predicted every day next week. There seems to be no end in sight, and I do wish I could send rain to those of you who need it. 

Blooming thing #2 isn't typically considered a bloom, but it is the blossoming of fruit, and I'm so excited about them that I have to share.

There are limes (lots of them) on my lime tree! These are the largest (about 3/4" long), and there are probably about 50 of them scattered throughout the branches. I'm seriously considering taking the plant with me to MD next week because I don't want to leave it here, defenseless against the squirrels' evil ways. I can't imagine that squirrels like limes, but I'm sure they won't hesitate to gnaw and destroy them just to upset me. 

Blooming thing #3 is popcorn!

I vaguely remembered something from college botany that the tassels and silk really were blossoms on the corn plant, and it turns out my hazy memories had some merit. Corn is monoecious, which means that it grows male and female flowers on the same plant. 

The tassels on top are the male flowers that produce pollen,

and the ear with the corn silk is the female flower. Wind carries the pollen from the tassels to the silk, where fertilization occurs and a kernel starts to grow. I've simplified quite a bit (and probably still told you more than you wanted to know), but the tassels and ear are indeed blooms. 

I won't be arranging any bouquets with these blossoms, but I'm really excited about all of the lovely blooms!

Head on over here to read more Three on Thursday posts.

Unraveled Wednesday

Joining Kat and friends for Unraveled Wednesday.

I've only knit a few rows on my Match & Move in the last few weeks, but I've declared today a mental health day for myself. A day to re-ravel before things get too frayed. My plan is to knit, do just a few chores, maybe get a much-needed manicure, and possibly some Thai food. I'm tempted to stay in my pajamas, but that's not a good look when you are picking up your pad thai.

The announcement of the Man Booker Longlist yesterday is also helping with the re-raveling. There are several books that sound quite interesting to me, but Snap is where I started. I listened to it while I mowed and shredded 16 cups of zucchini for the freezer yesterday and I didn't want to stop listening to sleep last night. I don't usually think of mysteries when I think of the Man Booker prize, but this one deserves its place on the list. 

What are you making and reading this week?

Bits & Pieces

Today I'm going to tell you about a few bits and pieces that I couldn't fit in yesterday's post. Since we're keeping the house in NJ and not moving everything to MD, we've had to buy extras and replacements for lots of things. I got frustrated at not being able to find what I wanted and needed during daily trips to Lowes, Home Depot, Walmart, and Target, so I ended up doing much of my shopping on Amazon. It's been incredibly helpful, and Amazon is still helping this week even though I'm not in MD. Today John should be receiving an iron, Pyrex mixing bowls and storage containers, and good cookie sheets. Best of all, there will be an Ottlite waiting for me when I'm in MD next week. Thanks, Patty!

One of the things that Amazon has already helped with are these suction cup toothbrush holders. The house was built in 1952, and has a tiled bathroom typical of that decade. I found out that current big-handled toothbrushes don't fit in 50s era ceramic tile toothbrush holders.

I can't be the only person in this situation, so while I thought that some sort of suction cup thing must be available for toothbrushes, there were none to be found locally. Amazon came through for me.

There is another issue in the bathroom; the only towel rack is inside the shower, and there isn't a good place to mount one on the wall. I found this clever curved shower curtain rod with a built-in towel rack on Amazon, and it works perfectly.

This last item definitely didn't come from Amazon. Of course, the seller took all her personal paintings and photos she had hung on the walls, but did leave us one special piece - an oil painting of the house.

I'm not sure who painted it, or when, and the front landscaping looks different, but it was a sweet gesture to leave it with the house. It makes me want to plant a little pink dogwood tree in the front yard!

Before & After

We closed on the MD house on July 12th, had a beer to celebrate, and then got to work bright and early the next morning. Some of the things we did aren't pretty or obvious, but since they were expensive and necessary, I'm going to include them.

Like the new hot water heater.

The termite treatment was also fairly pricey, but I do feel some peace of mind knowing that those awful little insects are no longer chewing the house out from under us.

Some things weren't expensive, but did involve a lot of work and sweat, like tearing up the grubby white sculptural carpeting and rotting padding. This took us a day and a half, including pulling out thousands of staples and tack strips, but the hardwood floors that were underneath were well worth it. They are one of my favorite things about the house.

Living room before

Living room after

We shopped for new furniture, and made multiple daily trips to Walmart, Lowes, and Home Depot. We had an appointment to have new carpeting installed in the bedrooms and that went well. We hit our first big glitch with the team that was supposed to install luxury vinyl plank flooring in the bathroom and kitchen. After some slapstick maneuvers and conversations with supervisors, they ended up leaving with the flooring materials but nothing installed. After six phone calls and no resolution, we decided to do the flooring ourselves - later. John cut a piece of leftover carpeting to fit the bathroom for now, and I currently have only underlayment on the kitchen floor.

Kitchen before

Kitchen after - not an improvement

You can see the lack of flooring a bit better here, with John lying on the underlayment, after we fixed the
 frozen refrigerator drain tube. At least the refrigerator didn't leak all over a real floor.

No improvement whatsoever

The biggest changes happened when furniture was delivered. 

These guys were fast, efficient, friendly, and real pros. 

Living room before

Living room after

Dining room before

Dining room after - that leftover piece of carpet was so my beloved
hardwood floor didn't get scratched during the new furniture delivery. 

My photos are dark because it was incredibly hot and we had all the blinds down to keep the house a little cooler, but most of the "afters" are really improvements even if they don't exactly look like it. Some day when the house is really done, I'll go around and take good after photos from the same viewpoint as the before listing photos. Our goals last week were to get all the big things taken care of, enough to make the house liveable, and I think it is. 

This is kind of a staged photo as I haven't actually sat and knitted here yet, but it's a big part of making the house liveable for me - my knitting chair! I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for for less than $1500, but I think this one will do. I'll need a floor lamp, but all things in good time.

We came home to NJ last Friday because we ran out of big things to do and, to be honest, the motivation and energy to do any more. I cracked a molar on Wednesday evening and couldn't find a dentist in MD or DE, so I had to come home to see my dentist today. My father's apartment has also sold, so I have a lot to do here to begin the final audit of his estate. John left at 5:00 am this morning to drive down for a week of meetings, so he'll be staying at the house for the first time. He took a load of stuff from here (including the post hole digger), so there is a possibility I'll have a clothesline when I go down next week. It's not a bad house now, and it might even be a great house when I have internet, a kitchen floor, and a clothesline!