Home Office

 
So I joined an Internet "startup" company. Working morning, noon and night. From home. The spare room has become my office. This is my view. Kind of different working from home. Sometimes I forget to do the normal things like shave and brush my teeth. But it is kind of fun to be able to work all the time because — I love working!

Would the real Mulholland please stand up!

 
What is not clear from this picture is that there are three parallel roads, in the space of 80 meters, all named "Mulholland Drive." Another naming anomaly is one "Canoga Avenue" runs to the top of the hill and proceeds down the other side as "Canoga Drive" with mirrored street numbers. No wonder people get lost trying to visit us!

Fall Birthdays

 
The greater Rietman family converged on our humble home in the hills to celebrate birthdays in the Fall. They came from the north, the south and the east – by car and by plane but none by train. The home was not perfect, the home was not spotless – there were not enough chairs to sit on. So we tossed a futon on the living room floor and a trash can seated one person at the dinner table. It was grand! It was fun! So good to see the family again.
picasaweb.google.com/untiedt/2007FallBirthdays

Bamboo Stalk

  And here we can see the new "bamboo stalk" colour on the living room walls! Busy ripping out the carpet right now. Then comes the skirting boards. The parquet floor beneath is a little worse for wear and bodes a project unto itself in restoration. Considering that it took me weeks of smoothing and sanding the walls before we ever got to the paint I had better get a move on so everything is perfect for the imminent family gathering.

Good Morning!

  Here is Jane, shortly after I have roused her with a cup of french press coffee, preparing gormet breakfast and lunch sandwiches. Yes, I am so lucky!

Lucky

I am so lucky.

Walking the dog in the cool evening under beautiful trees on a quaint suburban street, I ask someone if they are both Weimeraners? They are. One is a silver and the other a blue. They got them from the rescue and she gives me the web site. Pretty leaves crunch underfoot. I realize I am lucky.
Here I live. Beautiful home. Plenty to eat and flowing water on tap. No gunshots, no drugs. No soldiers. No wondering what lurks around the corner. The sunset is beautiful. We see a coyote disappearing around the bend.

So lucky.

Breakfast of Champions

 
This is what I have to put up with on Sunday mornings! The omlete is gourmet in the extreme complete with fresh herbs from the garden. What is missing is the freshly brewed Pete's coffee with cream. And if this looks good let me assure you that it tastes even better! Problem is, Jane's breakfasts are so good that everything else pales by comparison. Yum! Am I spoiled, or what?

First Tulip

  This is my very first success, ever, of growing tulips! And there have been several attempts. Previously the plants would come up and then die, or just not bother to break ground at all.

So imagine my delight when the first buds appeared! Happiness is!

The Ceiling Fan Adventure

 
As you can see the ceiling fan is whirling away (with its blades on), mixing the warm and cold so that the upstairs is not a sauna while the downstairs a refrigerator. (The blades had been removed by construction workers before we moved in.)

So how do you get to a ceiling fan 2 stories up? My brilliance came up with this solution after only nine months of consideration. Problem is if you lean the ladder up against the wall it is too far away from the fan. So here it is leaning against a 4 meter plank across the middle which is in turn supported by the upstairs banister (bottom right - you can't see it) and a saw-horse on the other end. (Note the clamp which stops the plank from sliding.) Tied the bottom of the ladder to the stairs, which you can just see in the bottom right of the picture, to prevent it from sliding out from under me. Just in case you were wondering, yes, it's pretty darn far up when you look down!

BTW, it is remarkable how effective the fan is. So much more comfortable, plus I look forward to lower utility bills.

 

Miss P.P.

Meet Zutia, a.k.a. Miss P.P. "P.P." stands for Perfect Princess and has has nothing to do with the little yellow wet spots that appear around the house from time to time. Blame for these lies clearly in the paws of the "sausage" dog, a.k.a. Freeway the Dachshund. I mean, Zutia is perfect after all, right?