April 2024 Recap
rain, rain, go away
Will the rains ever end?
It’s the question on top of my mind as Spring in Wisconsin continues. It’s been the 2nd or 3rd wettest spring on record, depending on what historical source you reference. Day after day after day the rain keeps on falling. And each downpour feels stronger than the last.
Our sump finally said no to all of it and quit working during one particular bad spell of rain. Typically when Shannon yells my name from the basement it is because she found an insect that needs eradicating. But on this fateful day it was because she went to go retrieve something and found herself standing in water.
Fortunately, our shelving was elevated and none of our storage was ruined. It was still such a mess. It did however give us a chance to rethink and rebuild the layout of our basement. Moving shelving units that my dad and I built just over a year ago to strategically open up the room and hopefully allow for water to better drain in the case of another emergency.
We also bought a new sump pump and had that installed.
I love deviled eggs. I don’t make them because I never could hard boil them with any consistency. The advertising gods heard me and I got a promoted ad for one of those fool-proof multi-use egg cookers. $20 and an Amazon day later and I had an 18-egg cooker that turned out some beautifully cooked eggs.
My first batch was delicious despite that I may have slightly overdone the paprika.
I still have concerning knee pain that has lingered for over a year now from a previous hiking injury and was interested in trying out a virtual form of physical therapy from home that I have available through work.
The service is administered by Sword Health and they send you a tablet in the mail with their proprietary app pre-installed. Via the tablet’s camera, it can track your movements, quite accurately, and allows your dedicated therapist to track your progress. TBD on long-term improvements of course, yet I am impressed how well it all works and how it can be worked into my already busy schedule.
Our neighbors beyond the back wood line shared with us that there was a patch of our land that in past years had been known to produce some tasty morel mushrooms. Later that week, right where they had said they would be, I found some. Now to learn what to do with them…
It finally happened. After one and a half summers of toiling to cut the lawn with a push mower, we bought a rider. Our research pointed us in the direction of a Cub Cadet. We went with the XT1 LT46 model. It was an expensive purchase, but as we evaluate the price of our time, it felt worth it. A full yard cut has gone from a 7-hour exhausting affair to a not-so-bad 2 hour session.
My grandpa/Opa and my Aunt Kari came to visit near the end of the month it coincided with a particularly nasty bout of storms moving through the area. It started as a magnificent lightning show that lit up the skies for hours.
It got scary quick as a Tornado warning was declared and soon after a Tornado warning was issued as ominous swirling winds were sighted a few miles west of us and heading our way. As the sirens started wailing all of us stopped our card game and we hustled into the basement. We spent the next hour there waiting for the storm cell to pass. At least our basement was dry by this point! Thankfully, a tornado never fully materialized and all we had was a large amount of tree debris across the property.
On a complete whim looking for something to do on a Thursday night, I bought Stardew Valley on the PS5. Not having any idea what I was ushering into our home. I have played enough games over the years to know that rarely does a game scratch the addictive itch for me. Stardew is one of the exceptions.
I was not alone in that feeling as Shannon and I spent an inordinate amount of time over the last few weeks bringing our farm to life. Playing Stardew is a delightful and whimsical experience and I am in awe that the creator, Eric Barone, was a 1-person studio in designing and scripting the whole thing.
My full media diet log can be found here. My favorite book I read in April was Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. My favorite film I watched in April was Civil War.
Evan 👋