This D*mn House

Here Wego

Authors: NV


It's been almost nine months since we lost Ozzie.

I still miss him terribly. (I have a horrible feeling that I always will.) And in the past several weeks, I think I have felt that emptiness just as much as I did during that first month or so where I was still expecting to see him in the morning and laying a certain way so as not to kick...

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The Year of Living Dangerously

Authors: NV


It was exactly one year ago tonight that my life began its most recent downward spiral. 

That's the night we took Ozzie to the vet and got the news that to this day is among the worst I've ever heard: lymphoma. (Three months later, he was gone.) A week after getting the devastating diagnosis, I was haggling with the car repair...

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Dreamin' … DIY Style

Authors: NV


When I woke up yesterday morning, I had an idea stuck in my head. I don't know if I dreamed it, saw it somewhere and my subconscious shook it loose overnight, or if I had a genuine original thought in my first waking moments.

In any case, I had an idea for a project before my eyes were even completely open. That just doesn’t happen. E...

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Flattened

Authors: NV

We’re riding yet another heat wave in St. Louis. (Well, it is July so I guess that comes with the territory.)
On Tuesday, I managed to get out of the office almost on time! It was blasted hot (set a record with 103 degrees) and all I wanted to do was get home. I hustled to the train – which also was on time – and scrambled aboard. Ah! Eve...

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Tuesday ToolTalk: Frogg Toggs' Chilly Pad Towel

Authors: NV


We just came off a 10-day streak of 100+ high temperatures. And it's only July. So, while it's not a tool per se, it's something that has already come in handy while I use a variety of tools at This D*mn House.

It's the Chilly Pad Cooling Towelfrom Frogg Toggs. And I can honestly say it's one of the best inventions of the 21st century....

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Empathy for the Vampire

Authors: NV

When I was a kid, I’d get up late at night when I couldn’t sleep and turn on the TV. A lot of times, it was a test pattern, because programming had long since ended for the day.
Occasionally though, I’d luck out and find some old movie if I was patient enough to flip through all of the 10 or so channels we had back then. More often than n...

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Breaking the Routine

Authors: NV

For some reason, one morning last week I decided to break with my morning ritual and jump off the Metro train at the Arch/Laclede’s Landing stop instead of riding through to the heart of downtown.
I’m glad I did. Glad because the walk in is SO much better aesthetically, if not from a cardiovascular perspective. (UP THE HILL from the L...

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The Work Around

Authors: NV

Because I am out the door ahead of the sun most weekdays, I love to sleep in on the weekends.
But to get something done this weekend, Mother Nature put the kibosh on that with our continuing heatwave. On Sunday, I was up before 5:30 a.m. and outside working before 6. I decided to repair my brick edging around the shed. It's been ailing...

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Heatwave!

Authors: NV

To say it’s hot is a terrible understatement. Try “Pits of Hell” and you might be getting close. And the end is nowhere close with triple-digit heat projected through at least Monday.

The good news is that the humidity was incredibly low yesterday (16 percent) or we would have been roasting like capons on a spit. As it was, it was hot...

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A Day Late

Authors: NV

Well, technically, I’m not a day late … yet.
But, I will be. At least for ToolTalk Tuesday I will ...

I have pictures taken and most of the information that I need to do two, count ‘em, TWO product reviews! But neither is ready to go. Yet.

Not wanting to lose momentum with the blog though I am still planning to get one posted this week – a...

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