Ink Slinger Chronicles

2009-04-03T15:53:00.001-04:00

A friend told me about this service - ping.fm - that allows you to post remotely to your blog, twitter, accout, Facebook, FriendFeed, etc. I thought I should try it out. Of course, I don't believe in reading directions - just bang on the keyboard - so it will be interesting to see what if anything arrives...

The Last Renovation Post?

2008-08-18T10:43:00.005-04:00

I sure hope that it is. We are still waiting on the final inspection – have been waiting for a couple of weeks – but other than that the contractor’s work is done. With the addition of some salvaged furniture, we now have a comfortable outdoor room on the front porch. You can read more about the furniture at Stitching Times.

We also finally have a functional patio. After a lot of trial and error, the final solution was to add concrete between the pavers and push the pea gravel down into the concrete to give it texture. It’s pretty lumpy and bumpy, but some of that will wear over time. The whole thing still has some other issue issues – most notably the feeling that you are listing to port when you sit on it. Apparently the original patio was sloped toward a drain at the corner of the carport. Since the new patio was designed to follow that outline, you can see the problem. It’s fairly subtle, but we have a couple of chairs swivel chairs that make it more noticeable. I guess that as long as the drinks don’t slop over, it’s not a problem. With the railing installed and the bones of the landscaping done, it is shaping up. Now we will have to wait for a flash flood to see if the patio solved the water in the basement issue.
We ended up with a couple of piles of leftover gravel. One will form the base of a dry creek bed that we are going to run along the east side of the yard to divert water and the other will be used along with some concrete to make more pavers to create a transition from the patio to the grass.
We also still need to paint the back porch now that the pressure treated lumber has cured. I had a go with hammer and drill this weekend, and countersunk all of the nails and screws that needed it, and the railing seams have been caulked and are curing. In a couple of days we will give it a good wash, then prime and paint. The plan is to paint the railings white and the stain the deck a medium gray color.

I probably shouldn’t even mention the gutters. We do still have one gutter corner that leaks, and one of these days Mark or I will climb up there and seal it up. Ditto with the gutter covers, some of which aren’t seated properly.

Now it is on to the projects we are committed to finish ourselves. We have decided that growing grass if the front yard is a loosing proposition. There is just too much shade, and between the maple tree and the crepe myrtle, too much competition for resources. Instead we are building paths through the yard, and turning the whole thing into a cross between a woodland and a cottage garden. You can read about the garden plans at my Native in the City blog post.

By the way, here are a few thoughts for what to do with left over bricks and pavers. Turn bricks on their side and use them to make rustic stepping stones. Use the pavers to make a narrow driveway wider. We have one side completed, and a stack of pavers to do the same on the other side. Once those are in place we will repair the cracked concrete in the drive.

Gutter Gripes and Patio Peeves

2008-07-02T16:21:00.003-04:00

It’s been a month since my last post and we still aren’t finished. When will this end?

The gutters have been a big part of the story this month. The guys who installed them have been called back about a dozen times – first because the gutter on the back of the house was so bowed in the middle that it didn’t drain at all, and the drain in the front dumped out exactly where they were told not to put it. Also, water was running behind the gutters in a few spots, and all of the corners were leaking. And they forgot to install the screens. Gradually the problems were rectified but after several visits, the general contractor finally gave up and sealed the corners of the gutters himself. “But what about the water running behind the gutters”, you ask? One more stop at Home Depot and we now have cute little corner guards that keep the water where it is supposed to go.

These are the same guys who inspected the roof when the project first began and claimed we didn’t need a new roof – just new boots on all of the vents. “Are you sure?” we said. “It leaks an awful lot,” we said. “Another roofer told us we had hail damage,” we said. Well of course, after replacing all the boots, we still had the same leaks, so they climbed up there again and said, “Oh. You have a couple of small holes in the roof. We can fill those with tar and it will last for another couple of years.” Right. Still leaking. Well the general contractor climbed into the attic and found the real holes in the roof in about 5 minutes. He sent a couple of his guys up on the roof with a pack of shingles and we now are leak free. We still need a new roof, but now really can get by for a couple more years.

To be fair, a good bit of work has been completed. Both the electrical and plumbing inspectors have signed off. But not before we discovered the solution to both our hot water heater vent and water leaking from “somewhere” in the basement, was a new hot water heater. We decided to bite the bullet and go tankless, so we are now the proud owners of a Rinnai tankless gas water heater. Unfortunately, it has a bit of an issue.

The whole point of a tankless water heater (aside from certain energy and financial benefits) is that you are never supposed to run out of hot water. Well we do, but not in any sort of pattern that is easy to analyze. Rinnai has suggested to the plumber that, when this happens, we should go read the codes off the system and call him with the numbers. Then he can call them and they can diagnose the problem.

Now picture this. You are on the 2nd floor taking a shower and trying to keep shampoo out of your eyes. All of a sudden, the water goes cold. You jump out of the shower, throw on a robe (hopefully), run down two flights of stairs to the basement, see what code is flashing on the water heater, and write it down on a piece of paper you forgot to grab as you screamed past the kitchen. You are supposed to do this before the thing stops malfunctioning and goes back to placidly informing you it is maintaining a temperature of 125 degrees. Right, that’s going to happen.

The most maddening part is that this doesn’t happen every time you take a shower, and you have no way of knowing how often it happens with the dishwasher or washing machine. The only good news is that the plumber is a good guy and is committed to finding a solution.

Also on the plus side, the front porch is finished and even sporting a few news plants in addition to the roof! Everyone who has seen it thinks it “looks great”.
Part of that is because of the great framing guys we had. Without them, we might still be at risk of the whole porch roof landing on someone’s head.
The other credit goes to the concrete team. That subcontractor has a group of guys that really work hard and they do an impressive job of finishing concrete.

Unfortunately, they aren’t inclined to push back when someone presents them with a dumb idea. They just did what they were asked to do resulting in our patio problem.

If you recall, the idea of the patio was to create a raised area around the basement stairs to prevent water from getting in during our periodic floods. This area was also going to replace the old deck, so needed to accommodate a table and chairs, gas grill, etc. We also asked for a patio design that would be pervious to allow rainwater to seep down through the ground, and to try and reuse any concrete that was demoed from other parts of the project.

What we ended up with was a concrete retaining wall filled with about ten inches of drainage rock covered by four inches of pea gravel into which broken pieces of the old front porch slab had been placed as flagstones. It was very pretty and completely impractical. As soon as you set a chair on pea gravel (especially that much pea gravel), it sinks.

After lots of discussion, research on the internet, teeth gnashing and debate, the stone and concrete guy may have come up with a brilliant solution. He has suggested that we add portland cement to the pea gravel and add some water. In theory, the portland will cause the whole thing to set up like concrete. It won’t be pervious, but it will be stable and it should be really pretty. He is going to do a trial on one small corner next week and if it works, his team will redo the entire patio this way making sure that everything is level and shipshape.

At long last, we may be ready to wrap this baby up. Despite the heat, we are really anxious to try out that patio with a few friends and steaks on the grill. I’ll keep you posted.

What's Happening at the House?

2008-05-29T15:52:00.008-04:00

Well I can no longer pretend that updates on our home renovation project serve as writing exercises, but it doesn’t seem right to leave the saga without a conclusion.
My last post was in mid April, a full six weeks ago, so you would think that everything is done right? Well we are getting there. Dick Weaver tells me that he expects to be wrapped up by the end of next week. I just laugh at that since the guys installing the gutters have been AWOL for days and days.
Our fantastic framing crew installed new bead board on the porch ceiling, replaced all the soffits and fascia boards, and rebuilt the roof returns.

They gave me a day with a new definition of al fresco dining. But it didn’t last. By day’s end, the door had been replaced.

They also worked some magic on the back wall of the house. Apparently, it was a bit bowed. I had noticed the huge gap between the countertop and the wall before, but always assumed someone cut the counter wrong and had to patch. Nope. When the wall was pushed back into place, that counter cozied right up beside it.

The painters also showed up. Given my lack of imagination on colors the house now looks just like it did before we started, (aside from the fact that the siding looks like wood, but is concrete). With the addition of plywood and house wrap under the siding, we can have some confidence that the house will remain standing during our wild spring storms.

The inside trim and patching is done, but we are still waiting for a bit of paint.

We also have a new beam in the basement to hold up the Northeast corner of the house, and the mason stopped by to seal up some cracks and brick up a window.

The plumbers had real fun repairing the waste line leak in the basement. As compensation, we let them install this whomping big pump so that the washing machine could be properly drained into the waste line instead of the yard. They also re-routed the drain on the sump pump. Haven’t got a definitive answer on how to legally vent the hot water heater yet, but hope to have that wrapped up next week too.

While I was in Hartford Mark and Lady supervised and the same company that did the siding built the new deck. As it turned out the guy they had available is a finish carpenter, so this is one precisely built deck!

While we were off in Illinois, fishing and relaxing with family lots of activity went on. The front porch pad was demoed, and both the porch and the patio were framed up for the concrete pour.
One small problem was uncovered when the front porch pad was demoed. It appears that nothing was holding up the front door either. The sill was almost completely rotted. Today the crew cut out the bad wood and replaced it with pressure treated wood and metal flashing to keep water out in the future. Also the porch is now sloped away from the house. What a concept.

Today the concrete was poured and it is looking great.

And lo and behold, the gutter guys did show up.
We still have lots to do in the next week, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Writers Can Be Teachers Too

2008-05-06T13:52:00.001-04:00

Yesterday afternoon I spent about thirty minutes talking with a group of teachers from Talcott Mountain Academy in Avon, Connecticut. That has me fired up a bit, and thinking about my work as education. I have been invited by the Student Council of visit the students and talk with them about Lou's War: The Stephensons in World War II. The day is being organized for language arts and social studies students who will conduct interviews with World War II veterans later this month.

Though I haven’t been in a classroom in years – either as a student or as a teacher – I often think of my work as educational. In writing non-fiction, my goal is to provide information that is useful to the reader. Here are a few rules I try to follow:

Write with an audience in mind. I can’t know where my writing will end up. A plant profile written for amateur gardeners may also be read by landscape architects. But, I have to decide which audience is my primary target. Will the reader know what is meant by the phrase “cold stratification” or must I explain?

Research the topic before starting to write. Even when writing about a topic I know well, some research is necessary. Reading what others have written on a topic often points to something new I can add. A rehash of what others have already written has little value for the reader.

Position the most important points up front in a news article. Begin with a brief who, what, when, where and why. As the story unfolds, peel off another layer of the onion and reveal more information. This allows the reader to decide whether to read only the first paragraph or the whole story. Either way the reader learns the central facts.

Stories need a beginning, middle, and an end. Stories that are read all the way to the end begin with an introduction that engages the reader quickly. The middle holds the meat of the story. To hold the reader’s interest, it must be presented in a logical manner. The material could be presented in chronological order, or for example, an article about a plant might first cover the positive characteristics of the plant, and then growing tips. The ending should wrap up and unanswered questions introduced earlier in the piece, and may offer conclusions and suggestions for further thought and study.

Leave the reader wanting to know more. And, provide some clues on where to look. Internet links to sites with supplemental information are a good place to start, along with books to read, movies to see and places to visit.

Next week I will have the opportunity to share my ideas about writing with a group of exceptional students. We also will be covering tips research and conducting interviews, and what I have learned about World War II, not from a book but from my father’s own experiences. I’m sure I will come away having learned more than I taught. I’m hoping to encourage a couple of students to try their hand as guest bloggers, so watch this space for that.

So Many Surprises, So little Time to Write

2008-04-17T15:38:00.016-04:00

Is it possible that it has only been six days since my last update on our home improvements? So much has happened. We’ve jacked up walls, found gas leaks, and so much more.

You can’t get there from here.

On Sunday, Mark climbed into one of the attic spaces to see about running a new TV cable up to the master bedroom. After a lot of rooting around under the insulation, he about concluded it couldn’t be done.

Who would guess that the cable runs from the front wall up over the peak of the roof down the back wall to the basement and again across to the front of the house where the cable feed actually comes in from the street. Believe it or not, he couldn’t find an easier way to run it without opening up walls. Problem deferred for another day.

Round one to the house.

Going, going, gone.

On Monday, the guys demolished the old deck in preparation for residing the back of the house and building the new patio. No surprise to find a section of really messed up wall and foundation. In fact, at a spot just to the left of the back doors the whole wall was sagging about 1 ½ inches.

Seriously, that expanding foam stuff is not sufficient to hold a wall together. Our friend Kim has concluded that this house has some magical force field that allows it to float in space with no visible means of support.

Our framing crew is amazing. These guys are nothing if not determined. They just jacked the wall back up into place, removed the loose brick, and added some whomping big tree parts to make it all work. They didn’t jack it up enough to get the house plumb – That would be expecting too much from this sad old girl of a house – but it is much better.

Of course moving walls is not an exercise without consequences. Doors that have been installed to accommodate the existing slope of the floor tend not to close when you change the grade. Sheetrock and cabinetry also have a few issues. But all of that can be fixed.

We win round two.

There must be some good news.

The old natural gas line that someone installed to fuel an outdoor grill, then disconnected and forgot under the deck, isn’t leaking anymore. We have no idea how long it had been leaking. Yes, we are thankful that that no one was blown to bits. Yes, we are hopeful that we will see a reduction in our gas bill going forward.
Our trusty ally at SawHorse, Dick Weaver was half way home when I called him about this one. He drove all the way back to approve Mark’s short term duct tape solution and add one of his own – bend the copper back on itself and then give it the “sniff test”.

We aren’t the only ones that think Dick is great. Lady is a huge fan!

I think I found a paint sample that is exactly the color of the old siding. Yes, we realize this is our opportunity to do something new and daring, like change the color of the house. If this were a true craftsman bungalow, we might go wild. However, we have what they call a colonial revival bungalow and subtle and conservative seems to suit her. We are keeping the red door!

One final note and I do hope this is the last surprise for this week. The electricians showed up this morning to replace the knob and tube wiring on the front porch. When they went to check the apparently new wire running up to the porch, they not only scared a squirrel out of his bed. They also discovered what he had been eating when nuts were not plentiful.

Since I was blissfully walking Lady while all of this was being discovered, it is a good thing that Dick was on the job. By the time I arrived home, they had already replaced the squirrel food.

Round three and we are inching ahead. Stay tuned though. I will be astounded if we have found all the surprises this house has in store for us.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

2008-04-11T13:56:00.006-04:00

The good

Apologies all around for this highly overused title, but it is apt. There really is some good news. The framers are making great progress with three sides of the house covered in new siding and all four of these eave returns rebuilt. Hard to believe these two pictures are from the same view. The dormer work is coming along. And today they hauled away the old dumpster and brought in a new smaller one. Red this time. Somehow that all feels like progress.

The bad

is something you may have seen on Mark’s (my husband) flickr site. As long as there was a dumpster in front of the house, we decided to see what was behind the cheap old wallboard in the basement. Among other things, we found a very cute critter, which we released into the garden.

We also found one very scary vent job for the hot water heater. Never mind that the vent comes out under the deck. We knew about this little code violation. What we didn’t know was that the vent we could see on the outside wasn’t actually attached to anything on the inside! Thank heaven for the idiots who insulated the basement. They didn’t do much to change the temperature in an underground basement, but they may have kept a good bit of carbon monoxide from circulating through the house and killing us as we slept.

Now for the ugly.

It involves the south wall of the house and the fact that a good portion of it appears to be resting on a stack of bricks. That’s right. Sans mortar. As soon as the framers noticed this, they called the contractor to come have a look, and to put in an order for some substantial timber products. The first thing the contractor said was, “well that deck isn’t even attached to the wall is it?” To which I replied, “Well it isn’t exactly a wall.”

The framers are going to pull the deck off the back of the house next week and have a go at shoring things up. Hopefully by the time that is done we will have a permit for the patio work. The original contract called for completion in about five weeks, which would be around the first full week of May. We may still make it, but I’m not going to hold my breath.

Knobs, Tubes, and Holes in the Roof

2008-04-02T13:34:00.006-04:00

The holes aren’t exactly in the roof. We had a feeling that something bad was hiding behind the aluminum on the fascia and soffits. The contractor suggested we leave it in place, but the gutters were all askew, we were doubtful. Our perseverance resulted in a $5,800 work order. Read addition to the original “fixed price” contract to replace all the existing fascia boards, and wrap the vented soffits with plywood.

The demo on the porch revealed something else we suspected. The porch roof isn’t connected to the house…at all. Whoever built it, just toe nailed the side roof supports to the house. As the workers were pulling off siding around those connections, they discovered that one side is now hanging by one nail and the other is just floating in space. Help. I need 2 x 4s right now! These are holding it up for now and they are going to build a couple of half columns up against the house to carry the load. Don’t even think about the nightmare if that roof had fallen on the head of anyone using our front door over the last ten years. Can you say lawsuit?

Ever seen knob and tube wiring? If you aren’t familiar with it, let me just say a few words. Ungrounded, aluminum, 15 amp, fire hazard. This stuff has got to go. While directly connecting aluminum knob and tube to modern copper wire is a really bad idea – special insulated wire nuts are used to make the connection safely – we are lucky that there is modern wire running to a junction box right at the front porch wall. All we need to replace is a few feet.

Still think there might be some good news? Well there is. Replacing the porch ceiling with new bead board was already planned. It’s a good thing considering what the old ceiling looked like after the workers removed the vinyl that was installed over it. And, this project is allowing us to take an interesting walk through the many colors of the house’s history. Right now, the house is a conventional gray with white trim. However at one time it was apparently robin’s egg blue with dark brown trim. Was this the result of a conscious choice or a paint sale? Guess we will never know.

Renovation Page 2

2008-03-26T13:48:00.006-04:00

I’m sure you aren’t as interested in my home improvements as I am, but it is sucking up most of my time. Since I’m neither working on the book nor thinking up great topics for the other blogs, I thought I would share.

After many weeks of crossing and dotting, the City of Atlanta graciously granted us a permit for the repairs we have planned. Why we even need a permit to replace siding and put up new gutters is beyond me. I thought I was a master wordsmith back in my marketing days, but the linguistic maneuvers required to get basic repairs approved is a real art. Contractors actually hire expediters – people who are experienced at running the maze – to help them get building permits in less than a month.

Today the workers started ripping the old vinyl siding off the house. The good news is that we found R11 insulation behind the foam board. That means we have a credit coming from the contractor. We didn’t think there was any insulation in the walls, and were planning to install R13 before adding a plywood sheath, moister barrier, and Hardie Plank siding.

What’s the bad news? If we thought the squirrels had access to the attic space before, they sure do now. Apparently the only thing between the great outdoors and the inside of our attic space was an inch and a half of foam board and some vinyl siding with about half the nails and none of the caulk that should have been there.

And, we are going to have a chance to spend the credit from the insulation on rebuilding spots like this. The contractor originally planned to demo the old siding and put up the new as he went along focusing on completing one side of the house before moving on to the next. Now he has decided he had better demo all of the siding quickly to see what other surprises are in store.

My next challenge is to get a survey of the property. We already have a survey, done ten years ago when we bought the house. However, our expediter tells us that the Bureau of Buildings won’t issue the permit to rebuild our deck and patio without seeing a survey that includes topographical markings.

So I’m headed back to the phones. Maybe I’ll work on the book tomorrow.

Cool Tool

2008-02-08T18:26:00.000-05:00

Lately I’ve been looking for a way to host hardcopy documents online. Several or my articles about native plants and gardening have been published in magazines, and I wanted to give the public access to the good information available there – with the publisher’s permission of course.

My first thought was that I would just reformat the word document I had submitted to the publisher, and make a new post on the blog. However, after a couple of posts, I decided that the effort was way too time consuming, and the end result was a sad facsimile of the actual glossy magazine spread. At least for the time being, professional layout in a magazine trumps what can be done by amateurs (me) with free tools on the internet.

Next, I decided to scan the actual magazine into a multiple page .pdf file and upload it. The scanning takes just a few minutes, but finding a way to upload the file to my blog was a bit more challenging. I decided I would need to find another location to host these documents, and provide a link from the blog to the host site.

Enter Scribd. A startup from Silicon Valley, Scribd aspires to be a massive library of online documents published by individuals and organizations. Already over a quarter million people are using of this cool tool. Unlike other document sharing tools like Google Docs or the upcoming Microsoft Office Live Workspace, Scribd is not focused on collaboration so much as information distribution.

I have already uploaded several and I can either provide a link to the document Native in the City - Georgia Gardening Nov 2005

or embed code here that will display the document. Like this…

Documents can be available for download or not, public or private (viewed only by those you invite) and may be designated as common domain, creative commons license (requires attribution and may have other restrictions such as no commercial reuse), or protected by traditional copyright.

Four ways writers can use this tool

Create an online portfolio for agents and publishers to review
Share a draft with your illustrator, copy editor, readers, etc.
Keep an offsite archive of published documents and works-in-progress in case the house burns down or floods.
Provide your mother with an easy way to show all of her friends how successful you are

Why We Write in Coffee Shops

2008-01-17T11:51:00.000-05:00

I don’t even drink coffee. Well, perhaps I drink the occasional decaf latte, but that doesn’t count. Without lots of milk and sugar, I don’t even like the taste. However, I am seriously thinking about moving my “office” up the street and around the corner to our neighborhood WiFi hotspot with hot beverages and peach muffins. In other words, this place. “Why”, you ask. Let me tell you.

This week was supposed to be the great restart of work on the book. After close to two months of holiday excuses, I was ready to devote a minimum of six hours a day to writing. But then I had to do some laundry, and the house was a mess, and the dog needed walking, the contractor needed calling, and then this… the basement needed demolition.

We live in a seventy something year old house with issues. We love the location since we can walk to shops, restaurants and even a movie theater. And mostly we love the house. It has character. However, it also has a leaky basement, and we need the space. So, the contractor is coming tomorrow to look at the foundation, and we have learned from experience that they aren’t satisfied with seeing the problem from the outside. They need to see it from the inside.

Unfortunately many moons ago a previous owner did a poor handyman’s job of “finishing” the basement. In an effort to make it a bit less gloomy, without spending any real money, we then painted the dark paneling and buffed it up a bit. Finally, mother nature had her way with us and dumped about four feet of water down there.

So, like I said, the contractor is coming tomorrow and he needs to see the problem from the inside. Well aright then. Guess we have another excuse not to write and the need for a trip to the hardware store for one of these.

After donning the respirator, eye protection and my spiffy never used before work apron, I picked up a pry bar and had at it. I’m sorry to say I didn’t burn many calories. The cheap paneling came away from the walls like dried out french toast (or maybe melba toast).

And what did I find? Fortunately, there wasn’t any slime involved, just lots of nasty matted insulation. And what’s this? Is that daylight I see? Yes, those spots that looked like small cracks from the outside are actually gaps in the brick large enough for well fattened squirrels to climb through. Kind of makes me want to nail boards over the cellar door before we go to bed tonight.

But the good news is that it only took a couple of hours. Now I can spend the afternoon writing. And what’s the other good news? The contractor is coming tomorrow and I have another excuse.

A Great Start to the New Year

2008-01-09T14:49:00.000-05:00

What makes for a perfect start to the New Year? I used to think it was a hot date, a reservation at a fun party spot, a fancy dress and lots of champagne. Now I’m less interested in being on the roads with other people of poor judgment.

Since I left the high-tech corporate world to focus on writing and fiber art, I am aware of a more natural eddy and flow to life. I still have hard charging weeks when I am struggling to make a deadline or complete a project, but I no longer suffer withdrawal pains if I don’t get on an airplane for three weeks.

Anyway, I have decided that the only thing about my old New Years equation that is right is the champagne. New Years for me has become a few days to get away, relax, and recharge. And, I have found the perfect place to do it.

For the past three years, our good friends have invited us to their mountain house in North Georgia. Yes, I know these are just foothills and not real mountains, but indulge me. There is enough hill and dale to let you know you’ve had some exercise when you go for a walk, and there are wild things in the woods. The only sound at night is the water tumbling down the hill, the occasional hunting owl, and the crackle of the fires (one in the great room, one out on the screened porch, and one down below in the outdoor fire pit).

That’s the setting. Next comes a good mix of people. This year we had four couples ranging in age from twenty something to fifty something, plus one delightful five-year-old, and four dogs. Our backgrounds ranged from aspiring animated movie maker to banker, with all sharing a broad appreciation for the good things in life – movies, music, food, beer, wine, whiskey, and good conversation. Oh, yes. And college football.

Add in a little entertainment including a marathon game of Phase Ten, a few rounds of dominos and quiddler, and you have the start of a truly relaxing weekend. Along with a bloody mary or mimosas every morning, we were treated to some great food. We opened our eyes to an amazing sausage frittata and fresh pears, as well as Amaretto French toast to make you moan. We warmed ourselves with great bowls of Southwestern Soup, and ate traditional black-eyed peas, collards, and pulled pork for the New Years Day feast.

In between, we noshed on an amazing array of appetizers. Caviar and sour cream on boiled new potatoes, steak and lobster on a stick, gooey brie in hot pastry and pancetta and cheese pinwheels hot from the oven. My own contributions were simple, but a couple of recipes were requested and so I’ve reproduced them for you here.

I hope they will inspire you to gather your best and most interesting friends around you to enjoy a weekend or a meal. In my opinion, nothing beats it for a great way to spend your time away from the desk.

Chocolate Stout Cake (serves at least 12)

Ingredients for cake
2 cups stout -- such as Guinness
2 cups butter, unsalted
1 ½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
4 cups all-purpose flour
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 ⅓ cups sour cream

Ingredients for icing
2 cups whipping cream
1 pound bittersweet chocolate -- chopped

Directions for cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Line pans with parchment paper and butter the paper (or just line the pans with waxed paper as my mother used to do).
Bring 2 cups stout and 2 cups butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in large bowl to blend. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream to blend. Add stout chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat to combine. Slowly add flour mixture and beat briefly, then use spatula, folding batter to combine completely.
Divide batter equally among the prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean (about 35 minutes). Transfer cakes to rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans and cool completely on racks.

Directions for icing:
Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Refrigerate icing until it cools enough to be spreadable, stirring occasionally (about 2 hours).
Place one cake layer on plate. Spread 2/3 cup icing over the top. Top with second layer of cake. Spread with 2/3 cup icing. Top with third layer and spread remaining icing over top and sides.

Cover and keep at room temperature. Slice and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Chopped Salad (serves 8-10 as side salad)

Ingredients for Salad
4 cups romaine lettuce -- chopped
1 large tomato -- chopped
1 tablespoon capers
¼ cup feta cheese -- crumbled
¼ cup Olives, Kalamata -- pitted and chopped
1 medium cucumber -- peeled, chopped (remove seeds before chopping)
4 ounces chickpeas, canned

Ingredients for Vinaigrette
2 tablespoons onion -- minced
1 teaspoon garlic -- minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
½ medium lemon -- juiced
splash white wine vinegar
salt and pepper -- to taste

Directions: Assemble salad. Dress with vinaigrette and serve immediately.

Gingerbread Pancakes (serves 4-6)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar -- packed
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon -- ground
1 teaspoon ginger -- ground
¼ teaspoon nutmeg -- ground
⅛ teaspoon cloves -- ground
½ cup water
½ cup coffee -- room temperature
4 large eggs
½ cup butter, unsalted -- melted and cooled
¼ cup lemon juice -- freshly squeezed

Heat griddle and spray with cooking oil. Warm oven to lowest temperature.

Whisk together dry ingredients. Whisk together wet ingredients. Combine and let stand 15 minutes (batter will thicken).

Pour 1/4 cup batter onto griddle and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are lightly browned (1 to 2 minutes). Flip pancakes and cook until cooked through and edges are lightly browned (1 to 2 minutes more). Transfer to platter and keep warm in oven.

Serve with butter, maple syrup and whipped cream.

Note: just in case you were wondering, a little whipped cream never hurt the dog.

Toward a Better Blog

2007-11-02T18:50:00.000-04:00

Let’s keep it real. We all dream of saving the world while knowing that we have trouble managing one tiny corner of the blogosphere. (Hmmm… corner? sphere? That can’t be right). At any rate, I’ve been thinking about the blog that I started in September and looking for ways to improve it (in addition to more content, better writing, and more promotion, of course).

The good news is that I’ve shown up pretty late for the party, so there are lots of good bloggers out there, and being who they are, they have written about it on the internet. The collective wisdom seems to be that, unless you are already a celebrity of one breed or another and the masses hang on every word you utter, a blog needs to target a specific audience.

As you might have noticed from my initial posts, I’m all over the place. Professionally I’m a non-fiction writer, so the writer’s life is of interest to me. However, the topics I write about range from native plants to dogs to all sorts of needlecrafts – not because these topics are randomly assigned, but because these are the things that interest me.

Naturally, I don’t write these articles for one publication. They each have a different target audience. Thinking that through was a bit of a light bulb moment for me. Ok maybe it was a slap the forehead, duh moment, but the result is this. Over the next few weeks, I will be launching and posting new content to several new blogs each focused on one of my areas of interest.

Native in the City will provide information about the value and use of native plants in gardening. I have already written many articles on this topic for regional publications targeting gardeners and landscape professionals.

Dog Dialogue will include articles and stories about dogs – their care and training, reviews of products and books and the biased opinions of Lady’s mom (me).

Stitching Times will offer stories and examples of a wide variety of needle oriented crafts using fabric, yarn, threads, beads and found things. These will be from my own catalog and from friends (actual and virtual). It will also provide a venue to gather input for my upcoming series of books called The Home Sewer’s Reference.

Contrarian Chronicles will provide information and opinions on topics local and global – some politics, some social commentary, and all targeted at a fairly broad front page audience. Hopefully this blog will generate some meaningful discussion without starting flame wars.

And finally, Ink Slinger Chronicles will become a place to write about writing and hear from others how they are living the writer’s life.

I may not post as often to any one blog, but readers will be better able to pick and choose which spot to watch. Hopefully we share some interests and you will let me hear from you.

What would we do without George Will?

2007-10-16T11:26:00.000-04:00

As a former Lit major and sometime writer, I read a lot. I read books mostly, but also newspapers and magazine articles – especially those that I can read online, or that others send to me via e-mail. My husband is a great clipping service sending me links to articles he thinks might interest me. This is how I started reading George Will’s columns.
I knew of George Will before that. I was devoted to “This Week with David Brinkley”. This was a show I considered one of the last truly civil news programs on television. I use civil in the sense of “adhering to the norms of polite social intercourse; not deficient in common courtesy”. Brinkley was always in charge of the discussion and made sure that all voices were heard. This is so unlike the current style of such programs, which seems to encourage one pundit to out-shout the other guests on the program. Apparently, the current thinking is that the loudest and rudest pundit wins. The “This Week” program went downhill in this regard under the helm of Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts and is only now approaching something I can stand to watch under the guidance of George Stephanopoulos. But I digress.
George Will restores my faith in the thinking man (or woman). He is smart and well read, articulate, and fearless. Reading his articles, or listening to him on television I often think, “I wish I could convince everyone I know to listen to this guy.” He just makes sense. It often seems to me that he is pointing out the obvious, but listening to the rest of the media – even those who sit next to him at the roundtable – it is clear that the facts and conclusions he offers up are not obvious to everyone.
Here is yet another article that I read this morning. An Inconvenient Price begs the question of what we should be doing about global warming, if anything. My poor husband has been listening to me rant in a far less articulate manner along similar lines.
It is clear to me that it is foolhardy to put too much faith in man’s ability to control the environment. Can we make a problem marginally worse? Sure. At least we can do so on a local level as happens when someone dumps enough bad chemicals into a river that provides the drinking water for a large city downstream.
Can this kind of environmental impact be stopped? Again, sure. But if you really believe that man can control the environment, take a look at Bill Bryson’s book “A Short History of Nearly Everything”. Read Chapter 15 about Yellowstone National Park.
It seems that Yellowstone is a super volcano. Not some geological relic only of interest to professors at small western universities, but an active volcano with the potential to exert a force thousands of times more powerful than the eruption at Mount St. Helens. And we are about 30,000 years overdue for the next eruption.
When it happens, the ash alone could be enough to halt the production of food in all states west of the Mississippi. The rate of species extinction caused by such an event just makes the current climate change debate sound silly. The last super volcano eruption happened seventy four thousand years ago and brought our race to the brink of extinction. Never mind the polar bear.
So what would we do without a voice of reason like George F. Will? I guess that for most folks we know the answer. We would have devoted yesterday’s writing time to “Blog Action Day” and written many possibly silly articles about the environment and our efforts to control it.

Tit for Tat

2007-09-24T13:45:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned, I had an opportunity to hear the Yarn Harlot speak last week. And, since I knew that there would be a room full of knitters sitting there doing something with their hands that involved yarn and needles, and since, though I have knit in the past, it isn’t one of my current occupations, I determined to take some tatting with me. I’ve been learning how to tat with a needle – that shuttle thing is beyond me – and had an idea for Christmas ornaments. Every year my husband and I throw a big Christmas party. Last year I made ornaments, which leveraged the crazy quilt techniques and fabric I had been using to create a full size quilt, as party favors. I thought I would try to tat some to give away this year. Here is the result.

I actually only completed a couple at the event, and those didn’t have the beads. The plain ones are pretty but as a representation for a wreath, they just seemed to scream for berries. Anyway, these are a great beginner project, and once you are comfortable with the technique and the pattern, you can crank out several in an hour – a good project for time in from of the TV. However, unlike knitting, tatting does require you to look at your work a bit more often. I learned from this book by Barbara Foster of Handy Hands Tatting. Jane Eborall also has a great website with lots of free patterns and links to a whole long list of tatting blogs. Finally, you have to check out Yarnplayer's shop on Etsy. I just bought some gorgeous hand dyed thread there.

Now if anyone out there has an easy beginner’s pattern for a needle tatted snowflake, let me know…

How to Build a Dog Park

2007-09-21T10:52:00.000-04:00

*Assemble a bunch of dog owners
Plan a fund raiser*
Repeat * * until you have enough money to

Buy the land (or to buy off the politicians so the parks department will provide the land, and for the court battle with the neighbors who have a dog but don’t want a dog park in their neighborhood)
To install a fence with double gated entry around the perimeter and to section off an area for the small dogs
Install a water fountain with a big concrete pad and sufficient drainage to ensure it doesn’t become a mud pit (it will anyway)
Include a spigot for washing off muddy dogs who have lain in the mud pit to cool off
Install trash receptacles and waste bag stations (stocked with more little biodegradable baggies than you knew existed in the universe)
Print signage with rules (that everyone in the dog park will fail to read and then ask why there isn’t a rule about X. There is. Read the sign)
Build a bulletin board that can be used to post useful information about dogs (and ads seeking volunteers for freaky medical experiments)
Built a rain shelter (for those days when despite the rain, “this dog is going to get some exercise dammit!”)

You now have a dog park that will be ready to operate for one week. Next, you must

*Assemble a bunch of dog owners, Plan a fund raiser*
Repeat * * until you have enough money to pay for

Grass mowing (soon to be replaced by mulching once the dogs manage to kill all of the grass inside the perimeter)
Trash pickup and additional waste bags (more than you knew existed in the universe), and someone to clean up the poop (for those special dog owners who apparently aren’t required to do this for themselves)
Demolition of the rain shelter (because the urban outdoorsmen thought you built it to provide very low income housing)
Someone to monitor the bulletin board and remove inappropriate posts, (and to pick up the 4,000 business cards flying around and being ground into the mud advertising dog portraiture)
Air horns to be used when a fight breaks out between dogs (but which are totally ineffective except for their ability to annoy the neighbors)
Spraying of weeds and weed whacking to keep the vines from pulling down the fence
Fence repair (there is no logical reason that people tear down the fencing in an unlocked gated area – they just do)
Security Guards to enforce the rules and break up fights (mostly between idiot dog owners)

And finally, you must find someone to take your job as leader of this pack of dog lovers, because your dog now refuses to go inside the dog park – absolutely parks her butt on the ground and will not be moved in that direction for love or treats.

I'm a Writer. Really I am a Writer. I Write.

2007-09-20T14:30:00.000-04:00

A few years ago, I left the world of high tech marketing, dotcoms, and software, and ventured out on my own. I started a marketing consulting business part time. I volunteered with a native plant society and park improvement groups and considered a career change back to the not-for-profit world. I learned how to train a dog by doing it, took up quilting, and learned a few new creative skills like tatting. I wrote several articles in regional and national publications, and developed a line of project bags and accessories for knitters.
Sound a little scattered? Well after lots of false starts, I finally have an answer when new acquaintances turn to me and say, “What do you do, Kay?”
I say, “I am a writer”. When they say, “what do you write?” I reply, “I recently published a book about my father’s experiences during World War II” (buy it here Publisher Link or Amazon Link)
“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,” you say, “but what have you written that anyone beyond your first cousin would care about”. Well let me tell you…
In the October issue of Georgia Gardening magazine will be an article about Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta; A place of beauty and history that you shouldn’t miss if you come here. Get the Magazine or visit the Oakland Cemetery website. This week I’m working on an article about Trees Atlanta and the Neighborhood Arboretum project – that will be published sometime during the winter.
That’s the nature of writing for magazines. I finished the Oakland article in June but it doesn’t appear until October. Makes writing anything with a time component (they will do [scratch that insert did] such and such in fall 2007) somewhat akin to water torture.
And, I have started a new book. No details except to say it will be the first in a series, and useful. The goal is to have it out before the end of the year, but I’ll have to keep you posted on progress.
Anyway, the import thing (to me) is that I can finally say, “I’m a writer.” I get up every morning, take Lady (the dog) for some exercise, eat breakfast, shower, dress, and walk into my office just like a normal grownup. Then I sit down and write. My next goal is to be able to say, “I write for a living”. Not there yet.
Finally, the question of the day is, "why am I blogging", and the answer has to be Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, aka the Yarn Harlot. Last night I had the chance to hear her speak – not about her new book Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off, but about living the life of a Knitter (with a capital K). The woman is one of the funniest human beings on the planet. Seriously whether you knit or not, go to one of her book signings and hear her speak Book Tour Schedule. Anyway, she was talking about writing and technology and blogging and it made me feel guilty. Here I am a “software person” and “writer” and I wasn’t blogging. A sad commentary. So here it is. Let me know what you think – even if you think it stinks.