Another weekend, another winter storm

Sleet, pouring rain, snow...we had it all. Though we managed to escape the freezing rain that other areas had, a small mercy. Even so, on Saturday there were lots of accidents in the city and on the highway, including a transit bus that slid off into the ditch (with people aboard) out in the west end. As far as I know, everyone was fine.

The view Saturday afternoon from one of my upstairs back windows is the first pic, below.

For those who haven't seen my tiny back space, you might notice something odd attached to my fence. (Click to enlarge the pic.) I had an addition built in 2010 designed to prevent Nicki from escaping. Tricky Nicki was my "Houdini" and he had gotten out of the back space a few times prior, in spite of the home-made fence additions my dad and I had done years ago. You can see the frame of the addition, and that's greenhouse roofing attached to it at an angle. It has worked very well through the years at allowing the cats to go out into the garden, yet keep them safely contained.

Below, the "exciting" view from the master bedroom window, also Saturday afternoon.

I did go out for 2 - 3 hours both Saturday and Sunday mornings, but most of the weekend was spent indoors, puttering around, or in Derry's case, curled up napping.  :-)

So there's nothing exciting here (that's probably a good thing) to relate.

Oh, did I post an update on my roof situation? The president of the property management company finally updated me last week (it was a challenge trying to reach him, he'd been out of town and then, legitimately, in day-long meetings). The roof, and I quote, "...is in need of a substantial repair or replacement...." and it will be done first thing in early spring, or sooner if we get a stretch of good weather.

I was struck by the word "substantial," and only hope they'll do it properly this time. (It was done, badly, 12+ years ago, I think.) I will have my bathroom fan vented to the outside as well, as the fan just goes up into the attic insulation and doesn't vent anywhere, which is why I don't bother to use it. (There is no window in the bathroom, either.) Gotta love these cheap, crappy 1980s builds....(Or crappy builds of any year/decade, it all seems to be the same lack of quality, unless you strike it lucky with a particular contractor.)

Also last week, I had a junk removal company come in after work to give me an estimate on removing the crap in the garage. I had hoped they would be able to take the items for donation (on the right) as well as the junk, but the estimate was too high, well beyond what I had budgeted. So I just had them take everything on the left. 

There was a lot of cardboard from flat-pack furniture (I love you, Ikea!!). Usually I cut that stuff up myself, but too much time had passed and I was just too lazy. (This is 2+ years' worth, below.)

There also were a couple of cat trees, one of them 6-ft and still in great shape, good for donation, the other definitely junk. And a brand new 8x10 area rug (still in plastic) which had been a duplicate from Wayfair a few years ago (long story).

So now I have room for more donations, and I will call a local charity in the spring, when the weather is good, to have them come and pick up everything leftover, plus anything new I haul out of the house.

Those of you who have read my blog for a while know I love, love, love decluttering! I'm running out of big stuff to get rid of, at least until I move (whenever that might be). But there's no end to the little stuff to be disposed of. It's more a matter of my not tossing or donating something I might want in 6 months time...which happens more often than I care to admit, as it did at Christmas-time, when I was looking for household extension cords. Oops.

Anyway, I'm already bagging up blankets and clothing, costume jewelry, etc., and I'll keep at that for a while. It's a never-ending process. Anyone need someone ruthless to come in and get rid of stuff?  :-)

I'll leave you with another pic of Derry, below. I'd posted it on Instagram this morning (and I'm loving Instagram, can you believe it?), but it's too cute not to post here too. One day, my Derry-Bear will absolutely break my heart into a million pieces. But I hope not today...or anytime soon.

Take care, everyone.

Peace.