Mulching was the order of business this morning. Jeanine had 4 cubic yards of finely chopped leaf mulch delivered earlier this week and we have been installing it in 2 hour shifts. Today it was my turn as she prepared food for an evening gathering we hosted. Nicolai joined us for the party and chipped in as our expert “Tangerita” maker and guacamole chef.

At Formlabs, where Maya works, you know you have “arrived” when you get “photochopped”. A picture taken of you at work is distributed to the photochop group and is edited into several outrageous and funny versions that are then circulated within the team. The original image shows Maya and a colleague presenting a soon-to-be-released new product. Regrettably, I am not at liberty to show that photo. The chopped version, however, requires no explanation. Go Maya!

Jeanine borrowed a page from Maya’s playbook and offered to puppy-sit for a friend so she could get a dog fix. I was invited to join the fun but was busy with several projects. One was to build a simple open box to hold small cloth hand towels. We use these to replace paper towels and wash them when soiled. They have been sitting on our kitchen counter in an undersized store-bought box for months and it irks me to see them stuffed inside. I used box joints for the new box and started the project by fabricating a simple jig to cut them. It still needs another finishing coat but I already like the appearance of the joints. Now that I have the box joint jig, I can see knocking out several other storage boxes for the kitchen.

It is hard to believe but this is my 9000th post. That works out to one per day for nearly 25 years. In fact, it has only been 19 years and a couple of months. In the early years of the blog, I posted each picture as a standalone post, sometimes several in one day. Later, I switched to a single post per day which explains the discrepancy.

Jeanine and I spent a good portion of the morning weeding and mulching our newly planted yard. It is tedious work and the key is to do a little bit every day rather than trying to get it all done at once. This is especially true on really hot days like we have been experiencing for the past week. So far, most of our plants are doing very well, the one exception being our elephant ear hostas which have succumbed to the nourishment of our local deer population. Fortunately, our smaller hostas do not appear to be on their dining menu.

Over the years, I have been adding only cordless handheld power tools to my shop. It is hard to quantify just how much easier and more pleasurable they are to use without having to worry about cord management. Today, I put several corded tools up for sale for which I now have cordless equivalents or no longer use. I was motivated by the discovery that several companies now make tools that are compatible with the DeWALT battery system in which I am heavily invested. To justify a new tool purchase, I feel the need to sell tools that I use infrequently. New tools arriving shortly include a cordless soldering iron, cordless hot melt glue gun, and cordless plastic welding gun.

Nico has been named to the U.S. Amputee Soccer Men’s Team that will travel to Honduras in September for the inaugural Gold Cup which will include the national teams from Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. Although it will likely conflict with my own soccer schedule, I think I would like to attend this tournament.

It is hard to believe but our second child will be thirty years old starting tomorrow. We celebrated today with an outdoor feast that included family and friends. Nico reminds us all how to live in the moment and to suck the marrow out of life. He is the Lead Educator for the Bionic Project, captain of the USA National Amputee Soccer Team, and all-time leading scorer for the US, a brand ambassador for Arc’teryx, a board member of the American Amputee Soccer Association, and assistant soccer coach for Regis College. He was the first to summit Mount Kilimanjaro on crutches, has been a guest on the Ellen Degeneres Show, and has received numerous awards, including a Heros Among Us from the Boston Celtics, and was named an Honorary Captain of the New England Revolution Soccer Team. We are very proud of him and can’t wait to see what he does next.

Jeanine and I had little trouble agreeing on the design of our new house since we share a common aesthetic for architecture. The same cannot be said for artwork. On this front we are off to a slow start, often finding it difficult to agree. That was not the case for the pictured sculpture that was created by my mother. We both love it. We also agreed that it needed a stand to elevate it from the floor. Today, I fashioned one by extending the contours of the sculpture’s base using a lamination of leftover LVL studs. I think my mother would have been very pleased with this solution.

The galette has its roots in French cuisine and dates back to ancient times. The term “galette” comes from the French word “galet,” meaning a flat, round stone, which reflects the flat and round shape of the pastry. Historically, galettes were simple, rustic cakes made from coarse grains, often served as a staple food.

In Brittany, a region in France, galettes made from buckwheat flour became popular, especially for savory versions filled with ingredients like cheese, meats, and vegetables. Over time, the concept of the galette evolved, and sweet versions with fruits and other fillings became common.

The modern galette, known for its free-form and rustic appearance, is celebrated for its versatility and ease of preparation. Pictured above is one of two galettes prepared by Jeanine for a dinner party we attended this evening. And yes, they were as delicious as they looked.

Jeanine and I traveled to Medford this afternoon for a 4th of July barbecue with Kyle. We lounged on his partially completed patio, enjoying burgers, salad, watermelon, and homemade strawberry and lemon sorbet that Jeanine prepared. Before dessert, we took a long stroll around the lake in nearby Fellsmere Park where waterfowl outnumbered people and the soothing sound of the fountains was in stark contrast to exploding firecrackers that peppered the tranquility. Nico joined us after dinner, having just flown back from his western states road trip, and regaled us with tales of his travels. Maya is on Nantucket staying with several of her high school girlfriends and we hope to see her on Sunday when we will be gathering again to celebrate Nico’s birthday.

After nearly two days of research, I pulled the trigger on purchasing the pictured wood chipper. What I learned is that size matters. A chipper rated at 3″ capacity is lucky to handle 2″ diameter branches. A unit specified at 4 inches is best used for 3″ and under. This knowledge was gained by watching at least 100 YouTube videos of chippers in action. I also discovered that designs featuring a combination chipper (fed through a narrow side-mounted tube) and shredder (fed through a large hopper on top) are sub-optimal at both tasks and limited to smaller size machines. I found one company that makes a battery-powered unit but its capacity and run time were both insufficient for the type of work I can anticipate. In the end, I settled on a Power King 5″ 14hp model with an electric starter. What impressed me about the company is that the founder demonstrated the machine successfully chipping a 6″ diameter log which is above its rated capacity. I liked the robust construction quality and ease of serviceability. I also contacted customer support in advance to make sure I could speak to a knowledgeable human, easily order replacement parts, and/or get help with a technical issue.

I am not happy to have purchased a machine that requires gasoline to run, especially after having purged my garage of all such tools and replacing them with battery-powered substitutes. As a consolation, rather than burning all of our downed trees and limbs, we will be converting them into wood chips to be used as mulch around the yard.

UPDATE: I decided to cancel this order before it shipped. I just could not get past owning a gas-powered tool again.

I often make morning coffee for Jeanine and serve it to her in bed. She really likes this treatment. Today, I opted to use a cat-inspired coffee cup I found at the back of the cupboard. It looked especially cute with the frothed milk hairdo. When I decided to photograph it, the shadow reminded me of the bat signal. Suffice it to say, Jeanine found this cup as humorous as I did.

One of my soccer teammates let me know that he saw a nice video of Nico’s amputee soccer team on AppleTV. I searched YouTube and found the video above. Not sure if it is the same one but interesting nonetheless.

This morning, my soccer team competed in the championship finals for the over-62 division in which we play. High temperature and humidity made for a brutally exhausting match. We faced our toughest opponent of the season and had to dig deep for the 2-0 victory. I played for 55 minutes of the match and was utterly spent by the end. I hope to increase my fitness level (i.e. drop some weight) over the summer so that I can be more competitive when our fall season begins in September. For the moment, however, I am just going to enjoy the win.

Kyle is making great progress on his patio project as shown in this recent photo he shared. Last week, I loaned him my laser leveling tools, and he has put them to great use. The result, unfortunately, is that he had to do substantially more grading than originally anticipated. Nevertheless, he has adapted the design nicely. I suspect he will be ready to start laying pavers in one or two weeks and then the “heavy ‘lifting” will be behind him. We can’t wait for his first family patio party.