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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jun 10, 2022 14:51:57 GMT
I've loved landscaping ever since I was a little kid. I redid the landscaping at the house I grew up in and will be doing all of it at my new house with some help from my girlfriend. There actually weren't many plants left, but there are literally hundreds of vines. After working on it for a couple days, we have maybe a quarter of it done. They were even growing up the house, which has painted brick, so we'll need to repaint it at some point as well. It's amazing to me how many little things the previous owner didn't do or take care of.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 10, 2022 15:29:14 GMT
It's amazing to me how many little things the previous owner didn't do or take care of. That was my experience when I bought my house. The backyard apparently had been envisioned as some kind of "back to nature" garden, with just a flagstone path and a swing amidst what I assume was once at least kind-of planned. By the time I moved in, it was insanity. Obviously some perennial flowers and an array of hostas had been planted, but there were weeds and little trees and just freely sprouting everything all over the place. We had to tear it all up, scrape the soil clear, then do all the work.
Point being it was astounding someone would have had it that way in the middle of a city. I'm guessing it was a bright idea that got out of hand.
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Post by kds on Jun 10, 2022 16:06:35 GMT
Speaking of yardwork.
As was the theme last month, I'm set to cut the grass this weekend. But, the daytime forecast for both Saturday and Sunday show a good chance of rain.
That happened last month, and by the time I finally got a good day to mow, some of the grass had gotten pretty high.
But, we've also not had a lot of rain in the last two weeks since my last mow, so, it shouldn't be too bad by the time I'm able to address it again.
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Post by kds on Jun 11, 2022 1:25:55 GMT
One of the things I love about early summer is the lightning bugs.
For whatever reason, I tend to not see them outside as much once we get to about mid July.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 21, 2022 11:40:48 GMT
Happy (official) start of summer. It certainly feels like summer here. August, specifically.
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Post by kds on Jun 21, 2022 12:26:29 GMT
After a weekend which saw a record high for June 17 (we hit 97), followed by a cooler Saturday and Sunday (I actually put on a pullover when I was outside on Sunday night after sundown), we've settled into average temps for this time of year in the mid 80s.
But, I'm happy to say that it's officially summer now.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 21, 2022 12:43:15 GMT
It was a miserable, humid 101 yesterday. It was the kind of day that's just generally miserable, where I didn't want to cook anything, didn't really want to eat anything, just wanted to lie down. The overnight low was only going to be 80, but we got a welcome surprise: a little shower overnight, and the temp dropped to a more reasonable 73 (albeit 96 percent humidity). So when I realized today was the first official day of summer, I definitely thought it was fitting.
Having a little chill in the evenings, needing a pullover, sounds pretty good right about now to me! Daytime highs are one thing, but I like a little cooler evening, night, and morning.
With summer really, officially upon us, it occurred to me I haven't yet planned or scheduled any vacation. I don't need much, but I do usually have something booked for late July, around my birthday. This year, with the open position at work, I just have been too busy to think about it, and frankly too busy to take it off. But with that position at least theoretically filled--until she starts, I'm holding my breath--I think I can try for something in late July or August.
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Post by kds on Jun 21, 2022 12:49:52 GMT
It was a miserable, humid 101 yesterday. It was the kind of day that's just generally miserable, where I didn't want to cook anything, didn't really want to eat anything, just wanted to lie down. The overnight low was only going to be 80, but we got a welcome surprise: a little shower overnight, and the temp dropped to a more reasonable 73 (albeit 96 percent humidity). So when I realized today was the first official day of summer, I definitely thought it was fitting.
Having a little chill in the evenings, needing a pullover, sounds pretty good right about now to me! Daytime highs are one thing, but I like a little cooler evening, night, and morning.
With summer really, officially upon us, it occurred to me I haven't yet planned or scheduled any vacation. I don't need much, but I do usually have something booked for late July, around my birthday. This year, with the open position at work, I just have been too busy to think about it, and frankly too busy to take it off. But with that position at least theoretically filled--until she starts, I'm holding my breath--I think I can try for something in late July or August.
If I'm near the water, and there's a cool breeze coming off the ocean, which makes a windbreaker necessary, I'm fine with it. But, in general, I'd prefer to leave the pullovers and windbreakers in the closet until at least mid September. When I'm on the deck, listening to my summer music with a cool drink, I really enjoy that humid warm air. I realize it's an acquired taste, but I'll take a couple days with triple digits. The only downside to days like that is that I really can't play outside too much with my son, since we don't want him to get overheated. And, it really taxes my old HVAC system. I had some insulation put in the attic at the tail end of winter, and I think that's helped a little, but once we get in the 90s, the AC really struggles to get down to the set temperature, especially when the sun is beating down on the house. I know I'll eventually have to have the system replaced at some point in the near future.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 21, 2022 13:07:12 GMT
My AC does a nice job, thank goodness, because the placement of my house (front is west-facing) means I get a lot of afternoon and evening sun. This old house--about a century old--had no AC when I moved in, and the first year or so I had window units and fans to try to keep it tolerable. Because of that afternoon sun, even just a daytime high of 80 or so would often leave the house in the high 70s by evening, and then it was slow to cool overnight even in cooler temps. It was impossible to keep up, just a slowly accumulating heat day after day.
But I put in new HVAC (also replacing the century-old furnace) within that first year or so, and it's been great since. Though I still prefer overnights cooling on their own, open windows, just for the combination of fresh air and using less power.
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Post by kds on Jun 30, 2022 15:44:00 GMT
I just stopped at a local Walgreens, and saw that they had school supplies in their seasonal aisle.
I've seen stores put that stuff out after the Fourth of July, but never before.
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Post by kds on Jul 5, 2022 12:53:42 GMT
Another Fourth of July in the books.
In my experience, especially in the last five years or so, I feel like the Fourth of July Weekend is kind of like the peak of a roller coaster, and the rest of the summer tend to fly by. That's partly because our Julys and Augusts are typically a little more busy than our Mays and Junes. But, also seeing Back to School stuff in stores now, and fall stuff in the stores by the end of the month, doesn't really help that feeling of summer slipping away.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 5, 2022 14:40:08 GMT
For me, this is the time of summer when the newness and excitement wears off a bit, and of course things really start heating up, too. While we've already had a hot summer, there is no real respite in the coming weeks: the high 80s are our daily highs, which isn't bad, but we won't get below 70 overnights, either, which is the rough part for my taste. (I hate going out for an early morning walk and having warm air stale, humid, heavy.) Dog days of summer, I suppose.
It's strange to be a solid 1/3 through the practical summer season already (calendar boundaries of the season notwithstanding). I've been so slow to figure out any vacation plans that I think now I'm going to try to shoot for late September rather than true summer.
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Post by kds on Jul 5, 2022 14:57:05 GMT
For me, the newness does wear off this time of year, but the excitement really doesn't wear off for me until we get to that point where the sun starts going down before 8pm again. Right now, I can still go outside at 8pm and have a good hour of natural light.
Our annual Ocean City vacation starts this Friday. Although, I just looked at the extended forecast, and the highs are mostly in the low 70s and high 80s. Sounds good, but that's not very good swimming weather, especially for a four year old who doesn't grasp the concept of "getting used to" the water. But, we'll see how it goes. In recent years, our July trip has featured very hot weather, which is great for the pool or the beach. But, if the rain stays away, the pool water at least could still be nice. The ocean water will probably still be cold, but it usually is in mid July, regardless of the weather.
Mid September is actually my favorite time to take a vacation. From 2009-2013, I did that with one of my best friends. The weather is great (usually), and it provides a really nice climax to summertime. Now, married to a teacher with a kid, taking a vacation in mid September is no longer a possibility. And, even though we've been doing our mid July vacation since 2016, there's still something that feels different about coming home from vacation, and still having around two months of summer left. Even when I was a kid, our vacations would usually occur in early to mid August, so summer was waning when we got back.
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Post by kds on Jul 15, 2022 13:34:46 GMT
A couple days ago, the Baltimore based Heavy Seas brewery announced they were rolling out their Greater Pumpkin beer on Saturday, July 23rd, almost a full two months before fall officially begins.
Man, I used to think it was crazy to start seeing the fall beers in mid August.
I guess they figure there's enough "basics" out there who start jonesing for fall earlier each year to warrant the earlier releases, but I just don't get it. My favorite seasonal beer is probably a marzen, but I really feel like I can't enjoy one until there's at least a crispness in the air.
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Post by kds on Jul 25, 2022 13:27:56 GMT
Everyone on July 25
Breweries and retail shops on July 25
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