Lucas Blackwood Contemplations » Shopping

Black fly season

Lucas — Tue, 08 May 2012 22:01:24 +0000

May is black fly season. The first two weeks of May only the male flies are out, and they are annoying enough but they don’t bite. The last half of the month, though, watch out! That is a dangerous time to be driving on the rural roads, as the black flies drive the moose absolutely crazy and they come running out of the deep woods into the highway in a vain attempt to escape the biting flies. As one drives through the countryside one can see the lucky horses that have owners that care enough about them to put fly sheets on their backs and over their faces. It may look odd to the casual tourist that doesn’t know much about horses, but I’m sure that the horses are grateful to have them!

Broken zipper

Lucas — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:54:26 +0000

A few weeks ago I saw a zipper repair kit for sale online at one of those “bargain” websites. I had been looking for something to give my wife to use to repair the zipper on the hooded sweatshirt that she had hand painted several years ago. The zipper had broken and she had stopped wearing the sweatshirt, but she did not want to throw it away because she had spent so much time and energy hand painting the thing.

So when the zipper repair kit arrived, we hunted for a while to find the sweat shirt. It had been put away in the back of a closet and was being elusive. Finally we put the zipper repair kit in her sewing basket and had given up looking for the sweat shirt. Well, surprisingly enough, when my wife was looking for a gray skirt to lend to her sister to wear at a funeral, she found that sweat shirt and pulled it out of the closet.

We tried to use the zipper repair kit, but we were unsuccessful with our attempt. We broke two of the replacement zipper heads in the attempt. Very discouraging!

I’m A Stubborn Old Cuss Sometimes

Lucas — Thu, 03 May 2012 23:12:22 +0000

I really don’t know what all the fuss is about, my current address plaque suites me just fine, but I guess I’m the only one since I keep getting harassed by folks about looking at new address plaques and finding a new one to put up. You see the one that is presently installed on the front of my house is the one that I made in Shop Class back in high school and I’ve gotten pretty darned used to having it there. I know that it has faded out a bit during all of this time, I mean it’s been outside in the weather for all of these years, but I can still read it just fine, thank you very much!

This morning when I checked my email, my sister had sent me a link to a company that has a ton of house address plaques that is wanting me to check out and pick one to order to put up to replace my home made one. I have to admit that there are some might fine looking address signs there to offer, but I’m a stubborn old cuss and I’m standing firm on this issue.

Waterproof pet bed

Lucas — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 03:53:01 +0000

One of the best investments I ever made in pet supplies was the waterproof pet bed that we bought about a year ago. At the time that I bought it I had hoped to keep it in the house for the dogs to sleep in, but the cat kept marking it so I put it outside on the back deck for the dogs to lounge on when they went outside. They love it there, and one of the dogs likes to sleep on it all night long if the weather is good. So I’m really glad that I bought it, and if I could find another one in a local store that was smaller than that one I’d like to buy that one too.

Solar is made easy

Lucas — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 02:11:42 +0000

With all of the technological advance made in recent years, more than ever before solar is made easy to learn about and to purchase. From what I understand, solar panels that are installed on rooftops are used to generate electricity, and that the panels are expected to last for twenty years. Research has shown that after twenty years the solar panels still generate 80% of the amount of energy that they generated when brand new. Roof top solar panels can also be used to heat water, which can in turn be used to heat a house, but in northern climates such as New England or the United Kingdom that is not recommended as the sole source of heat.

Using solar power to heat swimming pools, by using special floating mats that are placed on the surface of the water in the pool is a very effective and popular way to bring a swimming pool up to a comfortable temperature, especially in cooler climates where summer time is very short. Recently my sister-in-law has been talking about wanting to install an in-ground swimming pool at her house, and I’ve grown interested in learning how she plans to maintain the pool. So far she has not mentioned heating it, or putting a fence around it.

Metal daybeds

Lucas — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:54:00 +0000

My wife and I have been talking about buying a couple of metal daybeds to put in the guest room so that we could make the guest room multi-functional. My wife has been talking about using that room as a den/office, and having the daybeds would make it look more like an office than a bedroom. I’d like to see if we could just buy one daybed, though, and maybe it could also be a trundle. I think that would be awesome!

Renewing my vows

Lucas — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:49:20 +0000

Contribution by Saul Martin

One of my very best friends is getting married this October. I am really excited for her! Before she went to buy her dress, I started watching some “Say Yes to the Dress” on Bronx Dish Network to get myself in the wedding mood! I love that show and it reminded me of when I went wedding dress shopping. There are so many emotions that come with looking for the perfect gown for your wedding day! Some are happy moments and some are angry moments. I was terrified when I went to look for a wedding gown. I just feel like every time that I go to a store to try and find some thing to wear that I usually end up leaving the store with my hands empty, and feeling depressed because I didn’t find what I was looking for! Wedding dress shopping was actually a lot less stressful than I thought that it was going to be. Wedding dresses actually fit much better than I thought that they would. Maybe one of these days, if my husband and I renew our vows that I will get to go back to Klienfeld’s and find a beautiful gown!

Wish List

Lucas — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 01:47:53 +0000

Well it seems that the wife has all ready made her wish list up in anticipation of our tax return check this year. She is wanting to find some cream comforter sets to use in our guest room, as well as a daisy bedspread for our daughter’s room. The only thing on her list that I really think she needs is the decorative wall mounted coat racks that we found online a few months back that we just haven’t ordered yet, so when we do get the money in the bank I guess we will go ahead and place the order.

I guess I really need to buckle down and get all the paperwork done and get our taxes filed since we only have a few days left to do it in. I really hate doing our taxes and each year I seem to procrastinate right up to the deadline which really drives the wife crazy. I guess it all stems back to the day when I knew I had to send a check in and didn’t want to part with my money until the very last moment.

Mother’s Day

Lucas — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 12:06:31 +0000

Mother’s Day is coming, and I have been racking my brain trying to remember where I put the pretty beryl ring that I bought a few months ago to give to my mother. Her name being Beryl, I thought it would be appropriate to give her some jewelry made with it for a gift giving occasion and when I saw it on Ebay a couple of months ago I bid on it and won it. When it arrived I put it in one of those “safe places” that act like black holes. I might have to buy her something else for Mother’s Day this year and give her that ring for her birthday in September if I don’t find it soon!

Teen rated video game

Lucas — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 21:50:15 +0000

Sandra was telling me that her ten year old son has asked her if he could use his allowance money to buy a video game called Uncharted 3. She asked me if I had ever heard of the game, or played it myself. I told her that I have not played that game before, but heard that it is a Teen rated game, so I would encourage her to steer him in a different direction at this point in time. I know that there are a lot of parents that let their pre-teens play Teen rated games, but I think that it is a mistake.