Monday, March 31, 2008

this is spring?


yeah. this is spring.

apparently, so is this:

the birds are way confudido:

and, frankly, so am i.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

free nuts

i'm holding off on the mutant zombie squirrel for a bit, as i actually have trouble stomaching the pictures. in lieu of that, some cleansing shots of birds from the backyard. all of these were taken in the last two weeks.


white breasted nuthatch:





red breasted nuthatch:




extremely scruffy downy woodpecker:


infamous chickadee:

red bellied woodpecker:



cockatiel:










Monday, March 17, 2008

blame being midwestern

so....yeah. i wasn't done with the bathroom yet. i didn't realize the ceiling was such a fugly color, and i kinda forgot about the messed up area around the toilet. so, i painted the ceiling with three coats of white, and patched holes and re-painted everything else in the room.

before:


and before:



and after:



and after:

in birding news, the mourning doves and robins came back on saturday. robins, meh. mourning doves? WOO!



coming up, a post on mutant squirrels and mangy rabbits. and woodpeckers.



sound track for this renovation:

the honey dewdrops, the handsome family, and epitonic radio

Friday, March 14, 2008

blame the finns

see? i told you more things would get done around here with the pressure of the camera. we knew moving in that we'd re-paint the bathroom. and, even though you're not supposed to design a room around a shower curtain, i did anyway.

well, here's before:

yes. enjoy the soothing darkness. dark darkness.


here's during (two layers of primer in):

and, after:






the reason we just decided to design around the shower curtain is because we're both big fans of marimekko. the guy i live with studied abroad in finland and bought a bag by this company. since then, we've been keeping the minnesota contingents in good wealth.

as you can see, i did receive some help with this project:


"guh....me helper?"



while the others pansied up when i opened the doors for air:


"more heat, idiot. we live inside for a reason."




soundtrack for this renovation:


francoiz breut, thao nguyen, and bon iver

Thursday, March 13, 2008

insert cheesy light/lamp/80's song reference here

even small changes are changes. i know you're all thinking "hey, whoa! where are the action shots of this amazing transformation?". we didn't have the digital camera yet. and, in fact, i blame the lack of a digital camera for a relative lack of improvements going on around here. which means, be prepared for lots more amazing city cabin changes. or at least, bird pictures.

before:
(of course, taking a picture of this atrocious thing on the basement floor just adds to its Saw-like mystique. oddly enough, my mom likes this thing, so she gets to keep it. i think it's just a momentary lapse in her what is ordinarily good taste.)

after:


we saw that our favorite lighting store (not that we have a full roster of lighting stores we visit) was having a big sale. having zeroed in on this piece on a previous visit, it was more than gratifying to see that it was discounted $90.00. it's now hanging above our dining room table.


soundtrack for this renovation:

Dosh, Jose Gonzalez, and the American Routes program on NPR

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

the enemy mine


not cute. see all that seed on the ground? not from chickadees or cardinals. they are neat and tidy diners. i am joining the army of Squirrel Hate. they eat all the seed:



they even drink the water:

you want them? come and get 'em. we even have a live trap for you to use.

when we lived in mpls, i think we trapped and released about 12 squirrels. that was unethical, and now we are paying the price with highly evolved critters who excel in leaping through the air past any baffles we may use. sigh.

yeah, i guess we could stop feeding birds. but then we wouldn't be able to enjoy sights like this gorgeous chickadee ass:


Monday, March 10, 2008

the first post of the 1,673,995th blog in the world


first things first. it is very likely that i, cp, will be updating this blog most of the time. this is because my better half is more often found doing useful and important things, like car repair or hanging things up. he's really good at that. so, don't assume we're both lazy. that's just me.

secondly, the only reason i got hooked on the idea of a house blog is because of our old neighbors. so, berate them here: http://www.oldminneapolishouse.com/

oddly enough, the lovely woman who bought our old place has a blog, too. hers is of another popular sort--people who can and like to cook: http://riceandspice.wordpress.com/

you will find that our old 'hood is much more hoppin' with excitement than this one. i won't lie. you are going to find mostly a lot of bird pictures. i blame my birding nerdness on sharon stiteler, who can be found here: http://www.birdchick.com/blog.html

we sold our cool townhome last june, and bought this house the same day it was taken off the market. panic much? yes, i did. anyway, this is a little house in st. paul.

the place was built in the mid-forties. it used to have a trapdoor in the kitchen floor that led the basement. the people who lived here before us had really bad taste in color and few abilities in home repair. we aim to improve on what they left us.


so, in the spirit of being relatively unexciting and borderline nerdy, here is the coolest thing to happen today (other than it being my birthday and the first day of spring break)--a new bird sighting! i'm pretty sure it's a juvenile red bellied woodpecker. that, or an eagle.