I was thinking about all the things I was going to include in my weekly wrap up while I was driving home from work, but there was a brief interruption in our evening when we started to smell a smell coming from the basement.
The last time an odor emanated from down there we ended up having to call a plumber, so a feeling of doom started to settle in. It smelled a little gassy and then we glanced outside and saw some lights flashing at the end of the block. Kyle went down to see what was up and if they knew anything about the stank—which was growing stronger.
Turns out we were one of the lucky ones tonight. Apparently there was a sewage clog (some rags and grease backed up the public pipes) and all four houses to the north of us had sewage coming up into their basements. Our house was spared the solid matter! So, for the first time in my life I’m grateful for the smell. Also really grateful for the City of Portland crew that was out there tonight.
With a full week of work and evenings with my little girl, I haven’t had time to do projects, but I’ve definitely been scheming. Ever since I took the intro carpentry class I’ve been feeling a boost of confidence, but I’ve also wanted to try to do projects as cheaply as possibly. While that’s obviously always a goal, I mean really cheap. We’ve been discussing our basement and trying to remodel it, so we could use it as a short term rental and a space for family to stay when they visit, but the entrance right now is through our kitchen. So, I’ve been starting to explore how we could build an egress door—I’ve been pinning to try to come up with a plan that would work best with our layout. Doing this really cheap would mean digging it all ourselves. Eep. Or maybe we’ll hire someone, like this guy did.
It’s finally starting to feel like spring here, so we were plotting how we could get wood chips and dirt for cheap. In this house, as in our last house, we’re planning to cover the front yard with wood chips and get rid of the grass. You can get free wood chips from Chip Drop (beware, because you don’t get to choose what you get and you get a lot of chips). Portlanders don’t really water their grass because it rains most of the year and stays pretty green through July or so, but I see more and more people putting in lawns and watering them and it makes me so sad. Grass is the worst scam we all buy into, so I reread an Earther article from last year and one of my friends shared this on Facebook today. You shouldn’t feel bad if you have grass, it’s totally been ingrained in us since childhood that grass is good and the smell of freshly mowed lawn will give anyone a nice jolt of nostalgia. This is just food for thought about how you might be able to make a small difference by planting a few more shrubs and trees and putting in a bit more mulch.
I listened to this great Radiolab that was a huge relief to hear. Not because it allayed any of my fears or worries, but because it was just a good story and it made me happy. I’m also listening to Michelle Obama’s audiobook, which has been more enthralling than I expected it to be. The point of me sharing that, as it’s probably not news since everyone is reading it, is that I checked it out from the library for free. So, shoutout to the public library for being awesome! The library also offers free access to Lynda.com which has tons of classes.
Finally, I’m going to start listening to the podcast 10 Things That Scare Me because now I’m afraid to go into our stinky basement.