I applied one coat this morning, and did other stuff while it was drying.

Got Cliffie’s tank stand painted.

Didn’t take a photo, but the bottom shelf for it is done, too.

The finished product. I took off the tape after I took this picture, but meh. Anyway, it’s nice; I like The Wall  lot now.

I was going to buy a litre of the paint used in the living room to repaint where I’d smoothed out their shitty drywall job, but managed to thin the leftover paint enough to do that small area. That meant “done” versus “not done”, so it was worth the effort. When I do need to get more, it’s Sherwin Williams “Biltmore Buff”, #7691, acrylic latex.

Sprang be sprangin’, even if this week will be chilly. The weekend was beautiful, if windy today, and at the arse end of my second least favourite month, I’ll take what I can get.

Hyacinths, working on flowers.

The only good kind of Asian bush honeysuckle…dead. I cut it and painted the cabin with Bonide 274 last fall. Much as I hate to use herbicide, this shit has been allowed to go wild (bet the old lady thought it was pretty) for so long that digging it would be impossible without tearing up half the woods. Anyway, it takes only a little of the brush killer, and it can’t be getting into the soil much because it doesn’t kill trees or shrubs so close that the trunks are almost touching. Anyway, dead Asian bush honeysuckle. Yay!

I should have put these in cold stratification sooner, but I forgot. A lot of trumpet creeper seeds. All of these came from one pod. If Charlotte and her damned friends would stop eating it, I’d have had more pods, but at least I have lots of seeds.

I hate Asian bush honeysuckle, but it does give me a heads up that leaf out should start in a couple of weeks for natives.

Someone bought the piece of driftwood I wanted on ebay while I was waiting for the seller to answer my request about the combined shipping I was denied, after she said, “Yes, I combine shipping!” I picked out another piece, but when I went out to look for rocks by the creek, I happened upon a piece of long-dead osage-orange. It was covered with moss I wish I hadn’t pressure washed off because it turned out to be too big for the way I want the tank. Cool-looking, though, and the moss would’ve died anyway, since it ended up by the pond.

The piece that will be in the tank is one I had over by the pond, that I replaced with the too-large piece. I pressure washed it, and like it even better because it’s less orange, plus this one fits nicely in the tank, with room for plants.

After I test-fitted it, I put it in a tub of water to soak, weighted down with a rock. There’s also a small piece for Cliffie’s Walstad tank in there.

I didn’t get to paint my wall today because I had to do more work on my corners, and that meant leaving the drywall compound to dry. I went outside, messing around with wood, mostly, but I also replaced the screen in Miffy’s bedroom window, and put screens in the other bedroom window, and Miffy’s window in my closet. Happy Window Tiger.

Since I had the pressure washer out, I cleaned the metal stand for Cliffie’s tank, but wanted to let it dry overnight. I’ll repaint it flat black tomorrow. I painted the back side of Cliffie’s tank, too. One cat hair and one small flying insect embedded. Meh.

Last thing I did was cut a piece of FO trailer wallboard to make a bottom shelf for Cliffie’s tank. My spray can went a bit nuts, so I’ll give it a quick scuff sanding before the final coat, but it’s green stone texture, and I think the metal stand will look nicer than the particleboard fake oak thing his tank sits on now, which may end up painted as a printer stand.

EDIT: I finished the sanding, and while not perfect, it’s a damned sight smoother than it was. How rough was it? Rough enough to leave patches like this after I sanded it.

ANOTHER EDIT: Primed and ready to paint tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll get both coats on, and it’ll be done! Well, this part…still two walls in my office with tacky peach flowers. Anyway, Drywallers Monthly will never call me for an interview, but I did okay.

ANOTHER EDIT, BUSY DAY: I also moved the 55 to its position against the wall. I wanted it in the middle, but the cord in the outlet would’ve been visible, so I moved it a bit to the left. It’s still empty, though the soil and wood are soaking, and the sand is in the living room, but even empty, the LED moonlights are cool. They don’t keep the fish awake, so they stay on when the main lights are off, as long as the cord is plugged in.

This makes me fucking crazy. This is a screenshot from an actual book, published by a reputable company…that employs at least one incompetent editor.

I guess ol’ Mom is a big fan of large bears. For Christ’s sake, why can nobody get this right?!

Drywall compound skim coat number two. I think three might (!) do it.

EDIT: P.S. I’d ordered two bags of Organic Choice potting soil for the tanks, but Amazon sent me three by mistake. I called to tell them, and Customer Service said that because it was only $9.99, I could just keep it. I know it’s because it would cost them more than that to ship a 32 pound box to their return centre in KY, but it’s still cool. I’ll take a big bag of free dirt any time!

Given how rough and uneven this section is, it’s the first of probably at least three, but it’s on there. I think I found wallpaper (painted over) on the edges, so I guess I’d better get a litre of the yellow paint to touch up whatever gets damaged by the time I finish with the wall. Anyway, my skim coat isn’t pretty, but it exists. Besides, it’s only the first, and I’d rather have it thin and not smooth enough than too thick!

I put the curtains back over the window…and don’t like them. I never loved them, but I was blinded by the awful peach flowers, and now I’m not, and they just look very…”busy”. I don’t want to replace them because I’ll also have to replace the curtains on the 9′ wide window on the south side, and that won’t be cheap. Maybe if I take out one of the top sections so they’re less bulky. I dunno.

EDIT: I took out the centre section of the valence. Still not what I want, but better. Less “fluffy”.

Well, it’s not much, and they’re very small sprouts, but at least two of the crocosmia on the south side of the house have survived so far.

Having to get the TV remote every time I wanted to turn down the volume or mute the god-awful theme music of Bones on Netflix was a pain in the arse, and the Roku remote is so small that I kept losing it, so I invested  $7 in a universal remote. My cheap (but very nice) TV uses Sony codes (hmmm…), and once I actually paid attention to the instructions, setup was simple. The remote is actually more responsive than the original TV remote, and fits my hand better than the tiny Roku remote. Seven bucks well spent. Also, when I forget what I did with the instructions, they’re in the neon green-trimmed bag that my rain gear came in, along with the original remotes, on the 2nd shelf of my project closet in my office.

I don’t think the original plant survived, but I’ll guess the seeds C gave me were viable…

My beadboard wall is finally done! I had to be careful taking the tape off because the paint was barely touch-dry, but it’s done!

The brackets for the lights were a nightmare, and I don’t really like how high it sits (though that may be necessary for the filter to fit), but the canopy tops and the lights are in place.

I took this last night while I was cutting P’s hair. Onje refused to move, even when I put the cape over him.