House

Today, I got rid of an old reclining sofa that my wife and I purchased 24 years ago. At the time, it was an elegant black-blue leather sofa that reclined in a special way that it could be placed safely next to the wall. I say the color of the sofa is black-blue because I always assumed the color of the furniture was black, while my wife insists that it is blue. This debate on color was never settled, but I can assure you that family history rules will dictate that I was wrong and my wife is correct.

I haven't been writing too much lately as I've been busy on a number of personal projects. One of those projects has been redoing my office at home. My previous office space was put together haphazardly a few years ago as a response to the pandemic and finding I needed my own space for both work and play. Fast forward a few years and I now find I want the office space to be better designed, more functional, and include better furniture.

My new standing desk is requiring a new location for my cup of coffee. I will adapt...

Despite our above normal temperatures this December, I finally accepted the undeniable truth that the temperatures now are just too cold to enjoy our patio. The patio furniture has been covered and moved into position to face the South Dakota winter with its fury of wind and snow.

Since 2008, I've been collecting weather observations in my backyard with a Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Wireless Weather Station. Beyond routine maintenance and an occasional replacement or addition of parts, the weather station has been rock solid.

With today's winter storm bringing 6 to 10 inches of snow across the area, I decided to start snow blowing before the snow even ended. I'll do cleanup Saturday morning.

Below is just a quick video from the security camera of snow blowing with my EGO Single-Stage Snowblower.

I finally got my Made in America American flag up just in time for the close of Labor Day weekend. I have a University of Kansas Jayhawks flag waiting in the wings too. In the garage is my 2017 Can-Am Spyder RT.

I hope everyone living here in the United States had a good Labor Day weekend!

Spring brought to South Dakota plenty of rain. The lawns are green, the flowers are in full bloom, and it seems we can't go beyond a couple days without a rain shower or thunderstorm. While water is usually plenty for my city, we do things smart around here and restrict water usage for our lawns year round. It's not uncommon in my part of the country to see the weather pattern quickly change from wet to dry. What once was green can turn brown in a hurry.

My Blossom Sprinkler Controller has arrived! For home owners with a water sprinkler system, you no longer have to be stuck with the expensive but dumb irrigation controllers that was originally installed at your house. There is a new generation of "smart" sprinkler systems arriving on the scene, including those created by Rachio and Blossom. The Blossom controller self-programs based on real-time weather data and gives you control of your schedule right from your phone. Once the controller understands the vegetation, layout of your yard, and the weather it should do the thinking for you when deciding how much to water should be used. The company claims that because their controller is "smarter" than conventional controllers (and hopefully smarter than me), I can expect to save up to 30% on my water bill.