It's Not Easy Being Green... Ok Maybe It Is

Last Weekend's Project: Add additional insulation to the attic.

Goals: Reduce our gas bill, prevent another ice dam and save the planet.

Duration of Project: Approximately 10 hours.

Cost: $400 plus ancillary costs (AttiCat rental, insulation, staple gun, goggles, face masks)

Maybe I can bump the thermostat up from 67 to 68 and still save money this winter!!!

Fungus Amoungus

I know I sound like a weird-o saying this, but I like fungus. I've noticed some pretty crazy things cropping up in our yard this year and wish I would have taken pictures of all of them. Maybe I'll be one of those mushroomer-people when I retire. Here are some photos of our current fungal-situation:

What's that smell?

Oh that's right- it's our basement. In case anyone's been wondering what we have been up to this last week here is a quick update:

Last Wednesday night and Thursday day we had a huge storm. I am pretty sure we had at least a few inches of rain. Thursday Adam called to tell me the roof was leaking. Later he sent me a text that the basement carpet was soaked. Great....

The roof ended up not being a huge issue (yet) but the carpet was saturated. No matter how many times we ran the shop-vac, it was not drying up.

And the smell was getting worse by the day....

I tried putting down some baking soda. That failed.

I looked online and read that a cut up onion will eliminate basement odor. Nope.

I even tried using my trusty Sham-Wow to soak up the water under the carpet just like they show on the infomercial. Sham-Lame.

So Sunday night we finally gave in and tore up the carpet. The padding was completely drenched and had to be ripped up. We are trying to salvage the carpet and save a few bucks.

Anytime I do something stupid Adam likes to be a smart-ass and ask me: "Did you learn anything?"

Well, I suppose I did learn a few things from this experience:

1. Long leaders off your gutters are important.

2. Wet carpet smells horrible.

3. It is also ridiculously heavy.

4. We have some awesome friends and roommates.

 

5. A cut up onion is not as powerful at eliminating basement odor as you might expect.

An Addendum to Jussi's Adventures

Unfortunately Jussi's little prank she decided to pull a couple weeks ago just cost us over $400. She's officially grounded. 

Initially when she came home she had a small scab on her side. On Friday Adam noticed she was bleeding from the spot so he took her into the vet. Turns out she had an abscess (personally I didn't notice any fluctuant masses.... but who am I to question. I don't do cat surgery). They had her come back the next morning so it could be drained. 

Looks to me like they cut a huge chunk out because she's got a pretty good sized incision. I guess her bikini modeling days are over.

This makes me glad we're having a boy: no more cat-fights in the Merrill household.

2nd Anniversary

Monday September 13th was our 2nd anniversary. 

It also happened to be the day we went for our 20 week ultrasound. 

Here are some pictures of our baby....

BOY!!!!

Happy anniversary to my husband and best friend.

Rematch

What do you do to get geared up for the NFL season-opener-grudge-match? This is how we roll in the Merrill/Sherk household:

Get some Rotelle dip going in the mini-crock

Enjoy a meat and cheese tray

Cook a 'zza from Big Steer Meats

Crack an ice cold NA Labatt's

Get your gear on!

SKOL VIKINGS!!!

Jussi's Adventures

As many of you know, Jussi is our beloved cat that we have had for over 4 years. Adam was a cat-hater until the moment he spotted her and she has converted many a feline-phobe since then.

Now that you have met our new roommates, you know Marley. Despite his appetite for cat poop, Marley is a pretty smart dog and really well behaved. He is only two and knows a ton of tricks. After he moved in we didn't really introduce him and our precious Jussi in a "textbook" fashion. We pretty much just let him in the house and figured out they'd do their "sniff-sniff" thing and be best friends.... Wrong. 

On their second day as new friends I was playing with Marley in the yard, pulling some weeds and Jussi also happened to be outside roaming her turf. Marley spotted her and chased her right up a tree. Luckily she was only about 10 feet up and able to climb back down. You might figure a couple of educated people like Adam and I would think "hmmmmm... maybe we shouldn't let both animals outside at the same time"... Wrong. Guess what? about 45 minutes later Marley chased her up another tree. By this time Jussi had perfected her climbing skills and was about 20 feet up. And she wasn't coming down.

Adam got the ladder out and tried to coax her down. Damn cat! She was not budging. After about 20 minutes she decided she would just climb higher into the branches. Adam was not pleased.

Eventually we got out a laundry basket and put her bed into it. Adam teetered on the second rung of the ladder holding this stupid, idiotic, contraption over his head until she eventually jumped in. (I don't have any pictures of this stage of the rescue as I didn't think Adam would appreciate me documenting it while he stood on the ladder.)

Adventure #2

A few days later Jussi decided she'd had enough of Marley and bolted out the back door around 10pm while Adam was coming inside. She didn't come back that night which is unusual for her since she normally returns in a few hours. It rained the entire night and was pretty chilly. By the morning we were a little concerned. When she still didn't come home after work we were flat out worried. Adam made fliers and I went house to house passing them out and stapling them to every telephone pole. We were panic stricken that night when we went to bed so I said a little prayer that she was alive somewhere. Yep- we really love this cat. 

Around 4am Adam woke up to her scratching the screen on the back door and she had finally come home! We were relieved. She was hungry. Damn cat! Adam is taking her to the vet tomorrow and I'm hoping they can stick a micro-chip in her.