Blog Filler

There isn't much to blog about garden-wise when the temperatures have dipped into the single digits. I don't want to think about the wind chill factor. It's just cold people.


The house was built in the 80's and is well insulated, has double-glazed windows and a brand new furnace. This is all good stuff, but it also has these aluminum framed sliding glass doors which transmit the cold very efficiently. If it gets cold enough, the moisture in the air will condense on the frames and you get frost and ice. Yes, the doors are going to be replaced at some point, just not this week.

There was a bit of a problem with the plumbing last week, the WC in the basement wasn't flushing properly and I had a plumber out. apparently there was some sort of blockage down the line just before the vent stack and hydrogen sulfide gas was collecting in the pipes and bubbling up. What a great day, bitterly cold outside and the house reeking of rotten eggs. Fun for everyone! It gets better. The previous owner of the house covered the clean-out with the front deck. I was out in the snow with my circular saw making an access in the deck.

Late January, early February are eagerly awaited around here. Forget football, it's DOG SHOW SEASON! The AKC/Eukanuba, The Westminister AND The Puppy Bowl all happen within two weeks of each other. Roughly twelve hours of dogs, dogs and more dogs on the teevee.


Which means twelve hours of Piglet jumping around and barking at the dogs on the teevee. One of these days she's going to knock it right off the stand and I'll be forced to buy a wall-mounted plasma flat screen .

Coverage of the AKC/Eukanuba was great, the Puppy Bowl on Super Bowl Sunday is always a winner (Sadly there's been an outbreak of parvo and at least four of the puppies have died), so it was a huge disappointment when The Westminster's live telecast sucked. Too much talking, not enough dogs and just when the Terrier Group was starting, the program ended and coverage was shifted to another channel that isn't part of the eighty billion in my cable package.