Comrehensive guide to full home improvement advisory, news and tips to solve any problem
Backgarage and The Vintage Bazaar co-founder Katherine Raz told me about the Internet Archive Wayback Machine over coffee last week, and I was surprised to see they had an entry for Strange Closets at two months old. Whatever happened to that adorable baby blog?
Summer’s official end was the impetus I needed to finally tackle the thankless job of stripping two coats of paint from an old metal tanker desk I found on Craig’s List last year. The industrial-grade stripper is a nasty, highly flammable, probably cancer causing gel that burns to the touch. I’m just getting started, but I’ve already spent hours scraping away the off-white top coat and the underlying army green powder coating, a task that’s meditative in the worst possible way. From time to time, the repetitive nature of the task lulls me into a hypnotic stupor, but inevitably something happens – my glasses slip off my perspiring face or I accidentally get the caustic gel on my skin, which burns until I take off the thick, rubber gloves and wipe it off with a wet towel. It doesn’t
Hummingbirds – the supercharged tiny flyers of the bird world – are preparing to head south to warmer climates as summer wanes. That means now is a good time to put a feeder outside your home for some cheap outdoor entertainment while helping the little guys get energized before migrating.
With wings beating from 70 to 200 times per second – depending on whether they are flying, diving or hovering in mid-air - all that turbo action needs to be fueled with a diet of sugar-rich nectar and the occasional insect, which is essential for protein. They also need a balanced diet for the occasional brawl since they are jealous defenders of what they believe to be their “territory.”
I learned this within days of putting a feeder outside my home with the hope of attracting the hummingbirds I had seen drinking from the morning glory blossoms trailing over my neighbor’s fence. It didn’t ta
Warm evening strolls are one of life’s great pleasures. It was almost hot and definitely humid last night, but there was a hint of a cool breeze that made it pretty bearable. The neighborhood looks so different at night. Rather than focusing on the architecture and landscaping, my eyes were drawn to the illuminated windows of the single family homes and apartment buildings lining the streets. (Note the word glimpsed – while walking through the neighborhood at a normal pace. Seeing and watching are two very different things). I saw a large faded, antique map hanging prominently over a sofa (I think), and I noticed a beautiful harp on my neighbor’s front porch. Who knew? But my favorite sight of the evening was what appeared to be a den in the second floor apartment of a brick 2-flat. Paneled
Just a few weeks ago I was sitting at home on a broiling summer day when the heat index was about 108 degrees. The air conditioner could hardly keep up and all I wanted was an ice cold pop; but when I went to the ice maker to plunk some nice chilly cubes into the cup I had in one hand, while the other held the can of Dr. Pepper I’m so keen on, nothing happened. I tried again – still nothing. I peeked into the freezer, but there was no ice to be found. I was so hot and disappointed I nearly cried (okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point).
I looked on the internet and found that if I had been maintaining my ice maker, this likely would not have happened, after all, our refrigerator was only a couple of years old! The U.S. Arm