Septic Day Remembered
A year ago today the septic tank was replaced. To commemorate the occasion, here are some unseen videos edited together to give an idea of…
Author: stega
The Bowels of Purgatory, Part 2: Furnace Stink
Continuing the last post, we’ve been slowly getting some work done on the heating utensils of Purgatory. Last year we scraped by with minimal knowledge of our furnaces,…
The Bowels of Purgatory, Part 1: Furnace Story
First a point of clarification: we have two furnaces of the exact same make/model. Furnace B handles the north wing of the house, and Furnace A the…
The 1 Year List
So in a year and a bit, this is the list of major projects we have managed to complete. I consider it basically a score…
Robot Love
In addition to the new toy that took last week’s aerial video, we have a plethora of other autonomous and/or robotic devices here at Purgatory.…
More Bird Vids
As mentioned a few posts back, I cleaned out pictures and videos on my iPhone. Some were worth posting, including these old videos of Tenar.…
Another random product of happiness
In a previous post I mentioned we have speakers out by the pool. They are mounted under the eaves and came with the house, along with…
A bird and his bucket.
Last fall I posted about Thy and his magic bucket and how it went missing and later returned. While sorting through videos on my iPhone,…
These boots were made for mudding
Both Agent Smith and I have invested in more serious footwear that can deal with the large quantities of mud we will encounter this winter.…
Flying Over Purgatory
Based on the recommendation of our contact in Zurich, Agent Smith bought a new device that enabled him to shoot this. Stills from this will be…
Sounds of Purgatory
Most evenings here at Purgatory are quiet, but since we live in the hills, sound carries quite a bit, and when some of our neighbors have…
Coming and Going and Going and Coming
Our road is a private one–not maintained by the county but by the collective group of home owners who live off it. We have no idea…
The new list
While there have been a lot of fluff posts of late, work at Purgatory continues as the list of projects is unending. Since no exciting…
The amazingly scary bits
The road to Purgatory is pretty narrow. While it is technically two lanes wide, care must be made when passing oncoming traffic as there are…
The Visitors
One of the things we did not have during the 8-odd years we lived in San Francisco was an actual spare room in which guests…
Pool lights at play
Last fall we had the lights in the pool replaced. This is what they look like at night now (although the LED lights actually also…
Tiny Fun
We do have some silly fun here at Purgatory.
Cat update | more
We’ve had a few people ask if we still have feral cats here at Purgatory. While we have had few sightings compared to the early…
More Blooms @ Purgatory
A selection of flowers from the last few weeks here at Purgatory.
Savings at the pumps
Slightly unrelated to work and projects here at PAWDF, but still somewhat interesting, is a purchase we made several years ago that has since saved…
Other people’s trash is OUR trash
One of the unfortunate aspects of living outside the normal bounds of civilization is that some rather stupid and inconsiderate people drive up our roads…
Old things are new again
When I first moved to California from Ohio, I lived not too far from Purgatory. If you have binoculars and know where to look, you…
Mowing Season, Part 1
Now that the rains have ended, it’s time to post pictures of before and after mowing. First, I should say that, because the previous owners allowed…
Sunday Drives
When we lived in SF, there were two grocery stores on our street, so I would just pop next door or half a block down when…
Another Expansive View
Continuing the theme of the previous post, here’s a more current shot of the view from Purgatory. As you can see, things have become pretty brown…
Valley Fires
One of unexpected things that comes with having such expansive views of the Santa Clara Valley is that sometimes we see the smoke of fires…
I saw the sign
One of the little things that bugged me–because I saw it several times a day–was the little fire extinguisher plaque on the hydrant door outside…
One day in the barn
One morning Agent Smith and I went for a ride in the mini-truck to take some before pictures prior to the mowing man’s imminent arrival.…
The fun things to drive at Purgatory
In addition to the project and race cars and utility vehicles, we have the daily drivers–our less sensible, but oh-so-fun vehicles. First is a shot of…
The Other “Vehicles” @ Purgatory
As mentioned in the previous post, quite a bit of wrenching on cars goes on here. It’s not just race cars that are taken care…
The Auto Works
As many people know, we spent about two years looking for the right “house.” By “house,” what I really mean is a large garage with…
Fun With Math and Water
This is one of my summer projects: North wing: 24′ x 60′ South wing: 23′ x 48′ Great room: 26′ x 26′ Studio: 32′ x…