Tick Tubes
Let’s kill these little @$#%@#% buggers.
I enjoyed 7 years of tick-free frolicking while living in Seattle with dogs. This is one drawback of moving to New England, where ticks and anaplasmosis and lyme disease are real threats. The first summer I lived in New Hampshire, I would find 10-15 ticks on each dog every time we walked in the woods.
C'mon science... let's kill these little assholes.
It's simple: baby ticks feed on little critters, like mice. If you provide mice nesting materials treated with tick poison, ticks die before they can grow up and feast on big critters like me & my dogs.
Since I put out lots of them, I assembled my own rather than purchasing them online. It's neither complicated, nor expensive. Do this in April and July, to coincide with the nesting and mating patterns of mice.
- Collect the supplies:
- Save up your toilet paper tubes.
- Big fluffy cotton balls.
- I paid $22 for a 32 oz bottle of 36.8% Permethrin SFR solution from Amazon.
- Trash bag/drop cloth, or some container in which to spray
- Dilute the permethrin in a household spray bottle. The concentration of permethrin in tick tubes is 7.4%, so my dilution is about one part permethrin to 4 parts water.
- Spread the cotton balls out on a drop cloth. (Alternately, Organic Daily Post suggests using a closed container which can be shaken.) Spray cotton with the permethrin dilution and allow to dry.
- Stuff a few cotton balls in each tube, and place every 10 or 15 feet where mice are active. I put mine at the base of trees all along the hiking trails behind my house.
You can buy 6 Thermacell tick tubes for $25.
- Sawyer makes a fabric spray (makes your clothes insect-repellant for up to 6 washes), and their website has lots of good information about use and safety of permethrin.
- Organic Daily Post includes more detailed instructions and safety information.
After a few cycles of treating the woods with tick tubes, I now find one or two ticks a month. It's not none, so I still have to stay vigilant... but it's not nearly as disturbing.
Curtains
The hexagonal blinds gave me privacy of the last year, but I was ready to actually dress the windows.
The honeycomb blinds gave me privacy of the last year, but I was ready to actually dress the windows. Since this bedroom has five windows and a door, I packed up a giant wad of coupons and headed to Bed Bath and Beyond.
Gear Closet
Under-the-stairs closet is now put to use storing outdoor gear.
Under-the-stairs (a.k.a., "Harry Potter") closet is now put to use storing outdoor gear.
Holy Switchplates Batman
I like my light switches boring to look at, and nerdy awesome.
I like my light switches boring to look at, and nerdy awesome. These are getting replaced with Lutron's plain white, screwless plates... most of which can be controlled by Siri.
Dog Door #2
The first is so indispensable that we want a second dog door at the bottom level, too.
After seeing how easy and fun it is to cut holes in my house, I managed the second dog door on my own. This one was higher off the ground, and has the stump of a bush underneath it. (The stump grinder guy couldn't get in between the house and the rocks.) So, no problem... I built a small temporary step. Eventually I'd like a nice slab of granite... but this does the trick for now.
Christmas Lights
Lots of lights for my looooong house.
I bought icicle lights on clearance last February, since I need 10 sets of them to run the long span of my house.
Thanksgiving Snow and Fallen Trees
New England weather packs a festive wallop.
This ice and heavy snow took out power from early in the morning until late evening... so many turkeys got grilled outside today.
The tree leaning over my fence snapped like a toothpick, and then crunched my fence.
Wallpaper Begone
Painful, and worth it.
Before
These photos are from the real estate listing when I bought the house.
In-the-Middle
So, these aren't really 'After' photos, but at least they show the wall paper gone. Look at that awesome 70s mustard color!
Dining Room Blinds and Ceiling Repair
Damage behind the blinds needed to be repaired before painting.
I took down the vertical blinds in preparation for getting rid of the wallpaper. This is when I realized that the ceiling had been popcorn-coated. And apparently when they scraped it off, they didn't bother to remove the blinds so they could scrape all the way to the edges. What a pain in the ass, since now I have to paint the entire ceiling over again. #JobDoneWrong
Fall at 70B
Getting to see foliage at my house for the first time.
I moved to New Hampshire at the end of October 2013, and even if the leaves hadn't already fallen, I'd have been too overwhelmed with house-buying logistics to notice them. This year I can use leisurely day tours to appreciate the beauty of the Granite State.
Workout Space
Fitness corner in my naturally cool basement.
I love having a space in my basement that stays naturally cool in the summer where I can work up a sweat without dying.
70B Dog Park
A small corner of the world to focus on my puppies.
The corner of the yard by the shed was mostly dirt, with roots from nearby trees creating a lumpy surface. My neighbor - a tree removal professional - generated a bunch of wood chips while clearing trees from his yard, so I used them to turn this corner of my yard into a dog playground.
Sadie is a champ at the weave poles, and Maddox loves to dig in the sandbox.
Deck Paint
Painting the Trex to eliminate the faded striped look.
Before
Faded, striped, and pinkish... not the look I'm going for. Time for an update.
After
Pressure-washed and painted.... now clean, uniform, and neutral-colored.
The paint color is “TRX-10: Sahara”, but I can’t seem to find that exact color on Behr’s website. Hopefully the paint numbers from the can are sufficient to replicate the color when the time comes to re-coat.
Fire Table
Custom painted tile now adorns my fire table.
I found a fire table that can be used as a sort of coffee table when it's not being used to burn stuff. The color isn't my favorite, so I'm spray painting the tiles.
Fire Patio
I used a concrete mold to make a 10-foot non-combustible surface for my fire table.
In the City of Manchester, a residential fire permit allows a small, contained fire so long as it is located 25' from any combustible structure and sits above a 8-foot-across non-combustible surface. I had the fire chief visit my house to pre-approve my location. My neighbors (most of whom have fire pits) seemed perplexed... "You got a permit?" #LifeFreeOrDie
Sadie likes to be in the middle of the action.
Kids from the neighborhood are happy to help.
Materials:
Concrete mold: Quikrete Walk Maker
Quikrete Sand Topping Mix, since the regular concrete mix is too coarse
Behr Concrete Stain in Loden
Kitchen & Dining Ceiling Lights
Two ceiling lights - one pendant, one semi-flush mount - took the place of the oversized ceiling fans.
Two ceiling lights - one pendant, one semi-flush mount - took the place of the oversized ceiling fans.
First Fourth
Celebrating with a bang.
When I moved to New Hampshire, I was aware of the legality of fireworks. I didn’t expect a spectacular show visible from my bedroom. I worried that Maddox would react with the typical panicked panting, drooling, and vomiting.
As it turns out, the pops and fizzles that occur most weekends throughout the summer months have prepared her for handling the Independence Day show. I was armed with calming pheromone sprays and her ThunderShirt, but all she really wanted was to hunker down and sleep in the dark quiet of my walk-in closet. She handled this Fourth with enough grace and calm that I felt comfortable leaving her side… Sadie and I sat out on the curb to watch. Maybe one of these years I’ll wander down to the lake for a front-row seat.
