Sunday, March 17, 2024

Day 17.067: Exile #2’s Sunday Column #472

Exile #2 writes...

E5N1’s busy weekend continued with a game of D and D this afternoon with a few of his friends. Meanwhile, Exile #3 arrived home, having had a lovely week in Florida. Exile #1 and I had slightly less fun things to do this weekend, following some water encroachment in our basement from last weekend’s heavy rain - we currently have a garage full of furniture and boxes - while we clean and dry things out. But we made the process of as entertaining as we could and have hopefully made some progress.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Day 17.066: Luck of the Irish

E5N1 managed to fit in another Jazz festival and a St Patrick’s Day party today. He left for the day party in some green pants and jacket but came back like this:


…having gained the headwear as well as a green shirt and socks.

The party house was decorated outside with more green lights and themed decorations than I’d ever seen. No-one is as Irish at this time of year as Americans with some Irish heritage. 

Friday, March 15, 2024

Day 17.065: Movie night

With Exile #3 still away and E5N1 out a school music event, Exile #2 and I went to see Dune Part Two. 

2️⃣ 
No spoilers, but it was fantastic and well worth seeing on the big screen with the big sound system.

Thursday, March 14, 2024

Day 17.064: Pi; pie

We were expecting company for dinner tonight but sadly our guests had to cancel. Fortunately, Exile #2 managed to arrange to send some of the food their way and we still had some date-appropriate dessert for 3/14. 


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Day 17.063: Storm damage

The waters have finally receded and we had no further ill-effects. It remains to be seen whether any of the damage will need more than airing-out. 

On the other hand, the day before the storms that brought us rain and a damp basement, we saw this vehicle presumably preparing a beach-front property for a potentially worse fate than a soggy carpet. Coastal homeowners have now had three damaging storms this winter - none of them wintry in nature - I’m sure we’re all wondering to what extent this is the new-normal. 


Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Day 17.062: Birds at the beach

Our walk on the beach on Saturday wasn't particularly good for birding, but we did see a few:

White-winged scoters - showing their eponymous white wings

Black scoters hiding in the choppy waves

Long-tailed duck likely transitioning to summer plumage

Monday, March 11, 2024

Day 17.061: Impromptu water feature

While Exile #2 was taking Exile #4 back to college yesterday I kept hearing an odd sound - like a bath or washing machine emptying. It took me rather too long to realize it wasn't coming from any of our indoor plumbing but from the sump pump discharge.

To be fair, the sump pump in this house rarely runs and as far as I know I've never heard it before.

When I went to investigate, I saw that it was producing a lot of water with a great deal of force and - as a result of the non-issue nature of its past operation - straight down into the ground by the foundation.

This was the second revision of my construction to move the water further away from the house. I'm quite satisfied with it. The whole neighborhood seems to be having the same issue with various pipes steering water into driveways and storm drains.



Meanwhile, the basement carpet is a little damp but there is little apparent damage at this point. The shop-vac and dehumidifier are being called upon to dry the carpet, but I suspect it will be a losing battle until the ground water returns to normal levels.