(no subject)

[boxofdelights]

So cold here. So so cold. We have no snow, but school was canceled today and yesterday because it was too cold for kids to wait for buses. My thermostat is set at 61 and the furnace doesn't stop. From time to time it sounds like it is about to take a breather, but it always gets right back to work.

The dogs race out because they are stir-crazy, and then they race back in because it is so cold it hurts. I have to make them stay out long enough to pee. We'll just pee inside like you do, they suggest helpfully.

The city has expressed its displeasure with my pile of sticks again (not the same pile; that one got stomped down and covered with compost acceptably; but then I got a bunch more sticks) but I cannot fix it: it is too cold. And! it is totally the city's fault that I have all these sticks in the first place! They're the ones who demanded that I prune all the branches that were sticking out into the alley!

Well, the inspector gave me until a week from tomorrow to fix the problem. (It is funny how much I think I'd like her -- I think we'd like each other! -- if she were not working for the forces of "This is a neat street.") I still have mounds of compost at my husband's house which, if they are not frozen solid, I can haul down here and pile on the pile of sticks. There! I fixed it!

Comments

[wordweaverlynn]

Stay warm! (uploading hot chocolate)

[jesse_the_k]

A big white tarp? (uploading chicken broth)

Our city gets very picky about brush: no more than 12 inches long, no more than 3 inches in diameter, and I think they have a reference plastic log to test noncomforming piles.

[boxofdelights]

Now that is a good idea.

I am giggling over the reference plastic log. Do you know what problem the brush pile rules are supposed to prevent?

[jesse_the_k]

I think it's an unruly mixture of three things:

1. Ensuring that the brush team workers don't injure themselves lifting
2. Making sure that the team can fit all the brush into the throat of the wood-chipping machine
3. Gratifying the idiosyncrasies of a supervisor who retired 15 years ago.

...but that's really just speculation.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

We keep the temperature higher here, sybarites that we are. Chun Woo's enjoyed having a couple of days home, and is now prepared to enjoy going back to school, bearing red pocket.

[boxofdelights]

I'd like it higher, at least during the day, but my poor old furnace can't cope. I replaced all the windows before the cold spell but everything else still leaks!

What is red pocket?

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Red pocket is the traditional Chinese New Year gift, mostly for children. Chun Woo and I made origami cups and put a shell bead and a little tiny animal toy in each. Last year I put a quarter in each as well: this year I hadn't the coins and hadn't time to round them up, what with wrangling t'Chun all day Tuesday and Wednesday. Which is a pity, since money is The Traditional Red Pocket Gift. (Sometimes "good luck" pretend money with lots of red ink. :D )

[ljgeoff.livejournal.com]

It is odd that it's okay for you to have a compost pile, but not to have sticks. Your compost pile must be tidy? If your sticks are cut into smaller pieces, are they acceptable? Are you allowed to grow a vegetable garden? Can you grow corn, or must you grow only tidy veggies, like lettuces?

Also, have you missed the message I sent, or are you still thinking on it?

[boxofdelights]

Augh, sorry! Your name is on the reservation. We have a two-queen bed room. Either or both of your friends is welcome to share it.

And yes, the rules for city living are weird!

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

Obviously you need to invite her over for a long talk and some lemonade.

[boxofdelights]

Hot chocolate, maybe. It really is 61 degrees in here!