Random Successes

1.  Got the 4th of 6 framed beds completed.  Next job is to fill them halfway with existing soil from where the 5th and 6th of 6 beds will go.  Today is about the last decent day to work outside for a while, so I better take advantage of it.

2.  Accumulating more stuff in the basement to have Salvation Army pick up.  It sometimes seems everywhere I look there is more stuff I really don't need.  Some of it is so odd I am labeling it. 

3.  The new trash pickup service is great!  The fact that they provide company-labeled trash bins is a great improvement.  With the labeled bin, they don't forget me if I only have enough trash to tput out once a month.  If they see their bin, they empty it.

4.  The strong winds this month have been a benefit.  Usually, the basket oak trees hold on to the leaves until January.  But they are almost all fallen now.   I can mow over them several passes with the riding mower until they are all mulched into the lawn.  What falls from the trees seeps into the yard to feed the trees.  And the grass.

5.  Getting ready to have the tub tiles replaced.  After 28 years, they are coming loose around the faucet.  I should have been aware that there was a problem, but some things happen so grdually, you don't notice.

6.  And as long as I have some tile work done in the bathroom, I might as well fulfill a minor design fantasy.  I always loved Rachel Ray's green tiled kitchen.  I think I will duplicate that.  I do love green.

















7.  Dug up 4 Basil plants before the freezes hit.  Will keep them in the south-facing window so I can pick some leaves all Winter,  I hope.

8.  Have 3 planter-boxes of Meslun, Leaf lettuce, and Head lettuce.  Hoping for routine salad improvements all Winter.

Veterans Day

I am not a veteran.  I came of that age during the Vietnam War and I was against that war.  In my 2nd year of college, the draft lottery started.  I gave up my college deferment and took my chance.

My number was something like 254.  They didn't reach that number and I was free of the draft after that.

I will not say that upset me.  I thought the war was dumb.  But I did not think less of those who did serve.  Had my number been called, I would have served (reluctantly).

My father was rejected for service in WWII for heart reasons.  I had many uncles who did serve and valiantly.  Most of them thought the Vietnam war was idiotic.

I sometimes wonder how differently my life would have gone had my Vietnam number been called.  I wouldn't have been a great soldier.  I abhor militaristic hierarchy.  But I would have done my best.  I would probably have been killed, because I do have a sense of getting out in front of situations.  But my number wasn't called and I am here today.  Some people I knew in college surely aren't.

Everyone has a view of how to live and what to die for.  I didn't choose to risk mine in Vietnam.  But I have no doubt that I would risk it to push someone out of the path of a speeding truck or in stopping a fight.  Its all where you decide you would risk death.

I thank those who decide to risk theirs and serve in war.  To each their own...

Energy Use After New Insulation and Other Stuff

1.  Energy Usage After New Insulation:

One month does not prove anything much, but my first post-insulation project usage for October shows that my Oct 2013 usage was 1326 "some unit" and the Oct 2014 usage was only 973.  It is promising, but weather in one month can be different one year to the next.  I'll wait to see the next few bills.

But it does look good.

2.  The framed raised garden beds are progressing.  3 of 6 completed and the boards for the 4th are all cut.  Now that I have the process of building them routinely, the 4th will be easier than the first.  And I am set to buy the lumber for the 5th and( last) 6th  any day the weather is "OK".

3.  I'm continuing to accumulate a pile of donatable items in the basement.  Its not the "usual stuff".  Today I cleaned out the top shelf of the pantry.  Anyone have  a bamboo multi-layer chinese steamer?  I do, and I haven't used it in 20 years.  Onto the pile it goes.  I hope the Salvation Army knows what it is.  LOL!  I keep holding off calling Salvation Army for a pickup because I keep finding new stuff to add to the pile.  I wonder what they will do with a 4" lens refraction telescope, for example.  But that's their problem/good luck.

4.  I'm loving the new trash pickup!  I got rid of 12 bags of kitty litter last Friday and 10 today.  They say they don't accept "lumber", but I have a barrelful of scrap ends, and so far as I can tell watching them mechanically lift and dump the dedicated container they provided, they can't see what is in it.  I can keep cutting the trash lumber into 6" pieces and put them in bags all month until is is all gone.  It sure will be nice to not have to drive to the landfill this winter!  And I have a lot more junk to get rid of.  I'll fit it it into the dedicated Evergreen container even if I need a sledgehammer to break it up.  And I'm not trashing any recyclable or compostable stuff.

5.  Last night was the first hard freeze here.  I dug up 4 Basil plants to try to keep them growing inside on the south window.  Picked the last tomatoes too.  A few were at orange, so they might ripen.  For the others, I will look up "fried green tomatoes".

6.  Got out my 3 window box planters tonight.  I can get some fancy mesclun lettuce from them over the winter,  I have just enough potting soil left from last Spring to fill them.

7.  The lowering sun this time of year is now blasting my eyes through the kitchen window.  I found a tension rod to fit across the window and a valance to hang just low enough to prevent the glare as I make my lunch.  28 years and I'm finally getting around to doing that!  I had a choice of 2 valances.  One white lacey and one red.  I chose the red; white lace isn't quite my style.  Red doesn't fit the white wall and black appliance colors, but who cares.  The cats won't complain.  I've been considering having the kitchen tiled in various shades of 4" green and painting the rest of the kitchen celery.  Maybe I'll hang a little label on the red valance "annoying red dissonance".  LOL! 

Actually, I like red/green/black as a color scheme.  My living room is hunter green, the TV room (traditionally the dining room) is dark red, and all the other stuff is black except for the medium wood furniture.  Oh well, I never expected to be displayed in "House Beautiful".  I like what I like.

8.  Next indoor project is to arrange the planting area.  Everything since Spring has just been piled into the grow-light shelves.  Since growing season starts indoors here in 2 months, I better get started on that soon.  Or I'll need to do it fast the day I want to start planting.

Blogblast For Peace, Elections

Can't help it, I just love this one...

And...

 -------------------------------

I can't forget US election day, though.  I won't try to suggest who to vote for anywhere.   But things have been improving since the Great Recession of the middle 2000s, we are out of 2 unilateral wars, and back into building alliances (as difficult and slow as that can be). 

Mostly, though, I just want to say:  VOTE!

Since my first vote in 1972, I have only missed voting in one Presidential or Mid-Term or Primary election.  I skipped the presidential election in 1980 because I couldn't stand either Jimmy Carter OR Ronald Reagan and supported John Anderson.  And with the long lines and the hopelessness of his chances, I just stayed home.  I regret that.

Voting is precious.  If you don't vote, don't complain about the results...

So VOTE!

Waterbed Management

I sleep on a King Size waterbed.  Lots of room for me and the Mews.  And Marley slept the entire night under the blankets at my side last night.


Did you know that water escapes a big thick plastic waterbed mattress?  Yeah, me neither!  It happens very slowly, and I suppose few people have a waterbed undisturbed for 28 years.  I'm guessing some random breakdown of water into hydrogen and oxygen (there was a big air bubble in the mattress), some very gradual escape (even plastic/rubber isn't 100% impermeable forever,and "something else" (its always wise to cover all possibilities, LOL!).  But over 20 yeras, the water in the waterbed had lessened,

SO...  I hauled a garden hose into the house.  I kept the connector to the waterbed all these years (I've had this waterbed mattress for 38 years - talk about a good deal).  Well, the waterbed frame has drawers below it, so it just sat patiently in there waiting to be used again after the 28 years since I moved here.

The hose in through the bathroom window...

The window...

Outside the window...

Hose from the stand...

Looped over the holder...

Inside.  The blue thing screws onto the waterbed fill at the long end.  There is a black hose valve so I can start the waterflow from inside the house...

And finally, towels around the waterbed fill connection.  There is always some leakage as it is detached.

So I connected the garden hose to the waterbed mattress connector and turned it on full blast.  For . 10. Minutes.

That's a lot of water.  The mattress is twice as thick as it was before.  Now you have to understand that the incoming water is cold.  I hope the Very Small Heater can warm it up enough by the time I go to bed.  A cold waterbed mattress can suck the warmth right out of you even through several blankets.

But oh is it going to be nice tonight!  It had gotten to the point where, when I turned over, my knees hit the support frame below the mattress.  That sure won't happen for ANOTHER 20 years, LOL!  And honestly, in another 20 years I doubt I'll notice.  Or I'll have to do it again!


Update,  it warmed up nicely.  I slept like a good baby and I haven't done that for a while.

Garden Enclosure Again

Got back to work on the framed beds.  Bought twelve 2"x8"x8' pressure-treated boards yesterday morning and cut up half of them in the afternoon.  Half because I bought boards for 2 beds and decided to do them one at a time.

First, I discovered why the first set of boards I bought a few weeks ago for the first 2 beds were hard to get squared in construction.  I had the store staff cut them on their huge fancy saw.  Silly me!  I assumed the boards were the lengths the labels said (like 8' long).  The length didnt matter for the long sides of the beds, but it did for the widths because I simply said "ct them in half". 

"Half" isn't a measurement...

Only after constructing the first 2 beds did I realize that all the boards were not equal.  Not exactly a functional disaster for a garden bed, but it vaguely offended me.  I should have been forewarned by the very surly male store person who was talking to the female cashiers when I made him do some work.

So this time I simply took all the boards home to cut myself.  It was a revelation!  The boards varied in length from barely 8' to 8' 1"!!!  End the ends were NOT square by as much as 1/4" over the widt.  No WONDER I had had so much trouble getting the first set to match up square!

I have a radial saw to cut long boards to length easily.  I have a good table saw too, but you can't slide an 8' board on it.  Radial saws work best for that.  So first, I measured a board and found it was long and not square at the end.

I have it next to an 8' workbench at the same level height, so I can handle 10' long boards.  The radial saw is great for long boards because the saw moves, not the long boards.  I bought it when I built the fence because I had to cut about 1500 long boards (yes 1500) for that project.  It paid for itself just for that and I've probably cut almost as many more since then.

But back to the odd lengths and unsquareness of the boards...  I first shaved 1/4" off one end of each, then stacked them to the side.  When all were done, I clamped down a board at 8' from the saw blade (as a positive "stop"" and cut them to exact length.  Perfect length and all square ends!

Two of the 8' boards were WAY heavier than the others (I could barely lift them), so I kept them aside to cut into the smaller widths for the bed ends of 3'.  Like the longer boards, I shaved off the ends to get them squared.

Nothing ever works out as planned.  I set up another positive stop (meaning a clamped board away from the saw blade an exact repeatable distance).  And clamped the board against the saw fence so that there could be NO errors.

There was an error on the very first one.  I screamed in frustration!!!  How could it have been wrong?  Oops, the edges of preservative treated lumber are not "perfectly" straight along the long edges.  I had chosen the straightest ones I could find, but flat straight ones vary along their length.  So, as I kept adjusting the clamping to get them as straight as possible, the board slipped away 1/4 inch from the positive stop...

You can't win sometimes!  So this bed isn't 8' long; it is 7' 11 and 3/4" long.  *sigh*  It why I don't try to build furniture.  I'm cursed with minor errors.  OK, in the garden framed beds, it doesn't really matter much.  But it still ticks me off!

So, this early afternoon, I went out to construct the 3rd bed.  I have the digging routine down pat.  The yard is sloped, so I have to dig a trench for each bed to make it level.  I set the lower end of the long boards on a brick and raise it until it is level.  Then I dig down the upper end by that much.  It works.  Then I level the end board and clamp the long boards to it.

Making the end board fit even with the long boards, I drive in three 3" screws on each side, then raise the other narrow end up onto a board to keep them even.  Drive three 3" screws into each side there.  Then remove the support boards and settle the completed frame into the shallow trench.

If it isn't level, I lift the frame and push dirt under it until it is level.  Not usually required, but I did have to once.  Then I make sure the frame is really square.  You do that by measuring both opposite corners.  When I tap them a bit so the opposite dimensions are the same, I know it is really square.

It started to rain slightly after I got the first layer of frame for the 3rd frame in place this afternoon, so I had to stop and put all the tools away.  But at least that was done.  Putting the 2nd layer of boards on the top of the 1st level is always easy.  You just match the tops to the bottoms.

I cut a scrap board into two 2' pieces to space the beds apart for walkable/wheelbarrowable paths.  The upper left is the bottom of newer box...

But the rain stopped.  I didn't want to haul all the tools out of the shed in case the rain started again, but I did have time to haul all the boards for the 4th bed out of the trailer and into the garage.  At least I know how to do the cutting better than the first time, LOL!

That will be tomorrow's start.

Garden Enclosure

Back On Track!  Sometimes, when I get most frustrated about a project, I back off and think.  There is almost always a solution to any simple problem.  I found a solution to the problem I most recently posted about on the subject.

The problems were having to build framed beds on unlevel ground, keeping 2 layers of boards even and connected, and making the paths wide enough to get around all the beds in an enclosed area.

Sometimes the solutions are pathetically obvious in hindsight, sometimes the solutions are less obvious.

The biggest problem with my original design is that I did not take the thickness of the boards.  2x8 boards are 1.5" thick.  Not much, but after 3 beds with boards on both sides, that adds up.  Each framed bed takes 3" and 3 beds is almost a foot.

So instead of all the framed beds being 4' wide, the center one is 3'.  That gives me 2' paths and 3" to mess up in.

Then I realized that having 7' long beds meant that the center pole support would be in the middle of a path.  ARGH!  So, the center beds will be 8' and 6' instead of 7' and 7'.  The ceter support pole will be exactly on the side of the 8' framed bed.

The last problem is that the yard is unlevel.  I don't want to make the beds be unlevel, s I need to adjust the board frames so they ARE level.  But at one end, that puts the frame above ground.  I decided to slip a 1" board at the lower end on the first beds.  That's a bad fix.  The RIGHT way to do it is to bury a 2"x4" board at the lower level til it "just reaches ground level and set the new frames on top of that.  If that isn't clear, don't worry it works.  I had done that on another project 20 years ago and forgotten.  I "reinvented the wheel" so to speak.  Anyway, it will work.

So I am back on the project.

Tomorrow, I go to Home Depot and buy twelve 2"x8"x8' pressure-treated boards.  I had planned to do that today, but I ended up raking fallen trees debris off my roof. and them sweeping the debris off the deck. 

But I know how to complete my garden enclosure project now, and that's the main thing.

Trash Pickup

Before I moved here, I rented a house in another county where trash pickup was a single-contractor county service, paid through taxes.  When I moved here, it was all private multiple-contractor service, and I signed up.  All had 2 day per week pickup and all cost the same (about $35 per month and that was 20 years ago).  It was all OK for a while.

But then, the county started recycling pickups AND I had started a compost pile.  Between recycling and compost, my "trash" dropped to almost nothing!  My one bag of trash once a month got ignored because my pickup company guys kept forgetting I was a customer.  And paying $35 a month for one bag seemed ridiculous.  And back then, I had Tinkerbell, then Skeeter and LC and they preferred to do their business outside.  I didn't even have much kitty litter to toss.

I tried 3 companies and they always lost track of me on the routes.  They said "well just put out your trash can twice a week with a small bag in it.  I didn't even have THAT most weeks.  So I cancelled the pickup service and switched to saving it for a few months and then driving to the county landfill paying $1 for the bag (my "trash" is not smelly, almost anything "smelly" is compostable).

Things change.  Ayla, Iza, and Marley prefer to do their business indoors.  I've even seen them demand to come in, use the litter box, and then demand to go back outside.  And I've started ending up with some bulkier trash.  So I was going to the landfill sometimes with a few 100 lbs of non-recyclable, non-compostable trash, and the price of gas was going up.  So between the flat disposal rate of $5 and a gallon of gas to get there in my SUV, it was starting to be noticible.  And who wants to have to drive to a landfill to unload in Winter or mucky Spring rains?

Well, 2 days ago, a guy knocked on the door and asked abut my trash pickup service.  I told him I didn't have one.  Now, I usually automatically just (politely) blow off door-knockers.  If I want something, I'll find it on my own and comparison-shop carefully.  But he managed to get my interest.

I explained that the cost was too high, and that I usually didn't have enough trash to put out the barrel once or twice each week and that what I really needed was a service that charged half the price for a single monthly pickup.

I was surprised to discover my 2 major problems were resolved!  First, they provide company-identified trash cans and the cost was half what it used to be.  So, no matter how infrequently I put the trash out, they won't miss me!  Second, at only $20 per month, the cost begins to approach my own cost of landfill dumping and gas (and time).  And the contract is only quarterly, not annual.  If I don't like their service, I can drop them.

Most of my trash is kitty litter, followed by styrofoam packing peanuts,and blue or black styrofoam containers (which are not recyclable here), and some strange odds and ends.  I can manage a small bag each week.

And the cool thing is that I HAPPEN to have a LOT of unrecyclable, un-compostable trash right now.  Heavy old rotting preservative-treated wood from the old raised framed garden beds I am replacing now!  I estimate that the cost of landfill-dumping of all that stuff would be about $50 at least right now, and I'm less than half through tearing out the old wood.  So I should actually save money through Spring and getting rid of it a LOT easier.

And I'll mention that the landfill is inundated by seagulls searching for scraps of food.  They normally don't bother visitors, but one day they got all scared up and flew over my car.  Raining poop...  If you don't know about seagull poop, it dries quickly and turns to cement.  It took me 2 hours to clean the car after that 1 episode.

I hesitated to hand the trash guy a $60 check for services I hadn't yet received, but he presented a pretty good collection of legitimacy.  His car had the trash company logo (Evergreen Disposal) and I see their trucks each week.  He had a well-worn Evergreen hat, pictures of him in an Evergreen trash truck, pictures of him with other Evergreen people, a picture of him at some trash conventionpictures of him receiving an award at an Evergreen company meeting, and I imagine a check made out to Evergreen Disposal would be awkward to cash...  He suggested I use my smart phone to check their website (where he said he is a route manager) assuming I had a smart phone (who doesn't?  Well, *I* don't, but he didn't know that).  I think I was sufficiently cautious.

If I got scammed by a door-knocker, it will be about the first time ever and I might even tip my hat to him.  I have a pretty good mental "BS meter".

But I expect I will be getting regular trash pickup starting Nov 4th at a really good price and saving myself a lot of trips to the county landfill.

Garden Enclosure, Again

Some projects just go WRONG.  And you don't realize until you are about half done.  I thought the major work would be to build the enclosure and tearing apart the old rotting frame beds would be easy.

I'm an idiot!  PPPPPPPTTTTT..............

I wish it was April again and I was just starting this.  I would do it SO differently! But I wanted to save all the good soil by moving it from the old beds to the new beds as I built them.  Seemed logical at the time, but Bad Decision.  Happens a lot.

I had a friend who decided to almost double the size of his house by having half of it demolished and then added to.  It went horribly!  He could have had the whole house demolished and rebuilt so much easier and at about the same cost faster.  Ruined a year of his life and cost me our friendship (I mentioned the renovator who built my toolshed and did some additions elsewhere). 

Don't EVER make major recommendations to friends...  He blamed me for the disaster and I wasn't sympathetic enough but that's another story (which I will tell someday soon).

But back to the garden.  I SHOULD have just busted out all the old framed beds from end to end last April, disposed of all the old wood, and spread the soil and used my rototiller to level the whole *#%@ area.  I didn't and I regret it now. 

Part of the problem is that my lot slopes from back to front and from the center to the sides.  Nothing is level here.  It isn't obvious by just looking, but even an 8' long bed is 4" higher at one end than the other.

I have 2 of the 6 beds built.  It was hard work.  I had the original beds because the soil in the last sunny areas is all rock and clay.  I should have remembered that when I planned to replace them. 

If I was starting the project again today, I would just take out all the existing rotting boards at the same time and roto-till the entire area to level it all at once.  Why not do that now?...

Because of a silly piece of twine.  It outlines the whole new enclosure area.  Silly, but I didn't want to undo the careful twine outline of the new bed.  I can be very talented and very stupid at the same time.  No laws prevent it..

But clearly, the way to go is to disassemble the 2 beds I built already (which in spite of my digging are unlevel and unsquare.  Save the wood.  Rototill the entire area and rake it flat as a pancake, THEN easily build the new framed beds on the leveled ground and add new soil.  

And THEN build the squirrel and groundhog proof chicken wire enclosure.  

My tomatoes MAY only cost me $10 each for several years...

I'm doing this because it is basically my "Last Hurrah" of gardening.  In a few years (I'm 64) I won't be able to take on this kind of project.  The new garden beds will basically last me my future years until I can't garden any more.  So it is to rebuild them now or never.

And I will do it myself, or there is no point to it.

Games

I've stayed away from Pogo.com for a couple weeks.  I can spend the whole night there SO easily.  Scrabble, Risk, Hearts...

But I dropped in to play "one game" tonight and it seems there was a challenge from them to win 6 games of Scrabble in a week.  3,000 free token point and some badge.

Pish Posh.

Took me 7 games.  Darn, I lost one by 2 points cuz I couldn't find a place to  use that darn "J" I got right at the end.  The others, I won by 100+ points. 

They're clever, they keep me coming back...

Politics

Well, it is less than 3 weeks before the midterm elections, so I am going to get a bit political until then.  Its more than a hobby but less than an obsession.

I don't have a political party by loyalty.  I generally vote Democratic because they support my views here in Maryland.  But mostly, I try to vote be perceived honesty and concerns over issues I care about. 

I consider my self "independent" in the sense that fair voting, honest and "greater good" concerns matter most to me.  I care about fair and competitive election districts, getting as many people to vote as possible, and good honest debates between candidates.  I don't like corporate money in political campaigns; businesses have no legitimate place in elections. 

I'll discuss some particular elections in some detail in the coming few weeks. 

And I will stop posting about politics shortly after the elections until late 2016.