Okay — so now the weather is getting ridiculous. With highs in the 90’s, we have broken the previous dew point record from the 1940’s. It’s a sauna out there. We are hotter than Florida according to my sister who lives there. She’s invited us over to “cool off.” (For a quick definition of the dew point, click here.)
Since we’ve moved to Minnesota, we have had the 5th worst winter and now we’re breaking summer records. I won’t judge Minnesota on one summer — I’ll give it three years. Then — well, if the summers are this bad I may have to go back to Seattle. The winters I don’t mind — even if we do get below zero.
We have had so much rain that my potted outdoor plants have drowned.
I decided to fill the picture holes in the walls with the paint that the previous owner of the house left behind. The paint container for the kitchen walls looked very old and rusty all around the lid. I expected the paint not to be useful but when I stirred it up, the paint came back to life. The touch-ups came out really well.
Next — the olive color in the living and dining rooms. This paint can also looked old and the label showed it was from 2004. Still — the touch-ups came out great.
The last touch-up was in the family room. The paint can looked fine although when I mixed the paint it didn’t “feel” right. I had expected the result to be the same as the previous two cans of paint. I was wrong.
I touched-up the walls but it was blotchy and showed an entirely different tint of color. My only option was to paint the whole wall. Normally that’s not a problem but the family room has 2 walls and a hallway that’s also painted with the same color.
Blotchy Touch-up Paint
The ceiling in the family room must be about 12 feet high so the long ladder had to be used. I enjoy painting but the height of the ceiling seemed daunting. I have visual and balance problems. In spite of that, I decided to challenge myself.
Everything was going well until the 2nd day. I made it almost all the way up the ladder – one step left — and then I froze. I couldn’t go up and I couldn’t go down. I must’ve stood there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, I went up, continued my ceiling “edging” and went back down.
I’m using a Benjamin Moore paint — pricey but it rolls on nice and smooth.
The ceiling wasn’t as hard as I expected. I didn’t tape the ceiling but rather used a small brush and painted downwards with the tip of the paint brush. Then I painted side to side with the edge of the same brush. This requires more time but the effect is usually better. Patience is key.
My hardest challenge was taping the corner as I couldn’t lean the tall ladder on the “orange” wall since the window was in the way. So, I had to tape while I was standing sideways on the ladder.
I’m almost all finished with this one wall except for the two cubby holes. Since the new paint is much lighter than the one on the wall, I had to use 2 coats of paint.
Next — the hallway that also has the same blotchy touch-up this wall had.
Finally! I hung three pictures in our new house. It’s amazing because I have never hung a picture before. Well — I’ve put a nail in the wall and plopped a picture on it. But, that doesn’t count.
Hand painted pictures from MexicoCaribbean Picture
This time, I bought picture hooks.
Picture Hanger hooks
Then I measured the wall to the center, from the top down and I measured the length of the string in the back of one picture so I could account for those inches also.
Hard to believe I’m middle aged and I just hung my first real picture. I wonder what’s next. Ahhh … the simple things in life.
No-see-ums – a cute name for a pesky bug. Indeed — these tiny flies are called that because you can hardly see them “no-see-um.” Â The females bite, suck your blood and make you itch. I feel itchy all over at night and now during the day.
They like to enter our house through the bedroom windows. Not sure why they pick that time of day except that they are attracted to light. Normally they don’t “roam” away from their home unless they are bothered. They like living in dead leaves — well, our property certainly has lots of that. In reading about them, they can travel up to 350 feet. Â That’s a long way and obviously they like our house.
Before bedtime, I have sprayed the bedroom mesh screen with Mosquito Repellant. No-see-ums are pretty tiny and can enter through the holes of the mesh screen. The other solution would be to replace our screens with one that has smaller mesh holes so they can’t enter. Or — if worse comes to worse — just use the air conditioner at night.
Oh bother! One of the things I don’t like about Minnesota are the bugs. Although, we really don’t have too many. They just seem to like my fresh blood. And I like raking leaves — one of the tasks I was hoping to work on this next week.
Maybe the no-see-ums and I will become friends. Â Yeah, right!
Click here to see pictures of what they look like.
The property at our house looks so different now than when we first bought it in April. And the screened-in porch we have lends itself to viewing the property untouched by insects. We now have furniture – time to relax, breathe in fresh air and enjoy the natural surroundings.
Before - Porch in the month of AprilAfter - Porch in mid-June
Sitting on the porch at midnight, the night is pitch black. I can hear the frogs croaking in the distance. A nice place to meditate and listen to one’s heart.
I’ve been informed that bats eat mosquitoes. I don’t know if there are any bats in our neighborhood. And if there were, would it be a megabat or a microbat?
The megabat eats insects. Perhaps it would be good to have bats in areas where mosquitoes live. But I don’t know if the bat and the dragonfly would then be in competition for the mosquitoes – would the bats eat the dragonfly? It has been “said” that one bat can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour. Hmmm …
I learned in a Wikipedia article that bats don’t like to fly in rain as it upsets their sense of location since they use “echos” to find where they should go.
I could go out at twilight when bats are active to see if there are any flying around. However …
When I was about 5 years old, we lived in a 3rd floor apartment building. There were cots in the living room and I was sleeping in one of the cots with a couple of other kids. All of a sudden someone screamed. There was something flying around in our living room.
As I recall, my mother turned on the light and asked everyone to put the bed sheet over their heads. We did so. The bat was flopping around trying to find its way and landed on someone’s head. I can’t recall if it was mine or not. My mother somehow killed it (a broom?) and put the bat in a plastic zippered sleeve with alcohol in it.
My mother was superstitious and believed that someone had sent the bat out to harm us. I don’t know if she still has the bat. About 15 years ago I recall seeing it in her possession.
Perhaps instead of building bird houses I should build bat houses to help the Minnesota mosquito population.
On a drive this morning, I saw a dark lump in the road. Hmmm … a dead bird I thought. But the lump started moving very slowly. As I got closer, I noticed that it was a turtle – a large turtle crossing from one side of the street to the other.
Turtle On the Loose
This is the second time I’ve seen a turtle crossing the road — possibly the same one.
I take this as a sign to slow down which I had planned on doing today anyway. My painting days are over for a couple of weeks.
I have unpacked 7 boxes today, finished 5 loads of laundry, ironed and paid bills. Not bad for one day of work. Tomorrow — paperwork. Boxes of paperwork that need to be put away.
Almost every evening, if we keep our sliding door or window open, we can hear the hum of many frogs in the pond and/or lake near our house. The song of the frogs is very calming to me — although if I were to cross paths with a frog, a not-so-little whimper might crack the little frog’s ears.
In Puerto Rico, they also have frogs but the sounds they make are quite different. The frog is called a Coqui, meaning little frog. And little they are.
The Coqui - A Little Frog
Most Puerto Ricans love the sound of the co-qui as it sings at night. But when there are quite a few of them together, the sound can be very loud.
Back in 2003, the islands of Hawaii, Kauai and Oahu tried to rid itself of these frogs using citric acid because “scientists are concerned that the quarter-size frogs were eating at least some bugs that exist nowhere else on Earth, are stealing insect food from the mouths of endangered birds and could provide a ready food supply for non-native snakes.” Â (Click here to read the article)
What’s a blessing to some people can be a curse to others … life.
The weather reached 102 degrees in Minneapolis yesterday. Fortunately, we have air conditioning at home although our house is cool enough that we don’t really have to use it.
Dead Turtle
In hot weather, I move slow — but not as slow as this dead turtle. I found him on a dock in Lake Jane. I’m glad we’re back to “normal” Minnesota weather today.
My new enemy in the state of Minnesota is the mosquito. Apparently they like the type of perspiration that I exude – although, quite frankly, I didn’t think I had much perspiration. But, the mosquitoes love me. I’ve had only a few bites but they have been firm about it.
I don’t remember mosquitoes being dark colored. My mind remembers them being brown growing up in Chicago.
Today, in my effort to find out more about  my enemy, I found out that the Dragonfly will eat the mosquito in all stages of its life. We have had a lot of dragonflies flitting this way and that. I never understood why. Now, I do. And I don’t feel so threatened by the mosquito anymore.
Unfortunately, this particular dragonfly got hooked on my porch screen and it took a long time for him to get off. Maybe he was just saying “hey, we’re here to help.” Awwww ….
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