Trailer Pictures!

Sometimes, it is just best to show the methods and final results...

Obsessive featherboards...

Dado blades...

The tablesaw

Output, LOL!

Sides...

Capped tops and back panel...

Sad part.  I just couldn't get the back corners to match.  After a bad measurement, that was what I have to live with.

But the whole thing is going to be functional for the next 20 years, so...  OK.

Trailer!

Pictures, as promised...

Like in any project, I could do it a bit better a second time, but, "twill serve, twill serve".

Trailer Completus

FINALLY!

Sometimes things that seem so simple are surprisingly complicated.  I sure learned (re-learned?) that this past 2 weeks. 

It seemed simple.  Put plywood sides on a metal framed hauling trailer.  Put tops on the exposed plywood top edges.  Big deal.  Um, not quite.

Yuo remember the Six Million Doolar Man where "they" could make him betteer faster and all that?  Right...  It doesn't go that easy even with simpler things.  All I wanted to do was put sides on the trailer and top the plywood edges on the top so they wouldn't rot so quickly.  And the idea is to make the trailer so that sand won't fall out as I drive home from the landscape supply place.  Not that I buy a lot of sand, but if sand won't fall out, mulch won't and I do buy a lot of mulch.

The sides were easy.  Sort of.  I bought two 4'x8' panels of T1-11 exterior plywood siding.  The stuff is great.  Stable, solid, straight.  I had the lumber store cut the sheets in 20" lengths (there are more details but I won't bore you with those).  And I bought 2"x'4"x8' boards.  Home I went...

The first problem I re-discovered (I probably learned this when I originally did the sides 20 years ago, but forgot) was that the metal frame around the trailer was NOT square in ANY direction.  That means I had to craft the pieces into place.  I made a few errors.  I corrected the errors "pretty" well by hand sawing some cuts to the sides to accommodate the metal welding bumps, but I did a couple of sawings that I shouldn't have done.  At least they were small errors.

After I got the sides to fit, I got at the 2x4 tops.  That was trickier than I thought.  I knew I could cut dadoes (stacked saw blades that make a thick cut -5/8" [20/32"] in this case) on my table saw to fit the 19/32" plywood.  It would have worked great except that the plywood was a bit curvy along the entire length.  Not much to see by eye, but the dado cuts sure could tell.

It took two more days to get the dado cuts to fit over the plywood edge tops.  And THEN I had to adjust all the lengths to fit exactly.  Did I mention I wanted all the corners to join with miter cuts?

And the back panel has to be removable.  There are 2 rectangular welded shapes that are supposed to pit a 2x4 set into them.  They don't, of course.  The inside edges are curved.  So I had to shape 2x4 pieces to fit inside lossely enough to go in and out easily but also fit tightly enough to remove easily. 

That took an hour.  And then I had to attach those pieces to the back sheet squarely enough so they both matched the rectangle metal fittings AND were firmly attached to the back.  That was easy enough except I had to go back into the basement several times for more tools.

If I did this more often than every 20 years, it would be a lot easier.  I almost wish a neighbor would come over now and ask me if I had any experience at doing this.  I sure do now! 

Tomorrow, pictures!

Ah First Things First...

Well, to get the supplies I need for the enclosed garden, I need the hauling trailer renovated.  The old 20 yer-old wood sides rotted out.  I got new T1-11 sides cut to height and length.

I worked on the front and back yesterday. The sides of the trailer aren't exactly square, so I measured the top and bottom of the front side and put a square against the sides to estimate the unsquareness.  Then realized it doesn't matter because there is an inch of metal frame in each corner.

Still, I want to make good joints for personal reasons, and I did.  Even with slight angles, no edge came out more than 1/16' of matching the corners. So they matched that tolerance.  The back hs a strange brace that matched a 2"x4" board IF you sand it down at the corners, and I have the pieces cut to length for that but not yet crafted carefully to size.

But it DOES mean that the trailer will be ready to haul 23 10' pipes  in a couple days and 12 rolls of chicken wire shortly after that.

I looked at rental equipment for making the holes the upright pipes will sit in.  An auger costs $100 for 4 hours; a trencher something like $281 for 4 hours.  Looks like crowbar and post-hole-digging work for my.  Well, I only need 9 holes!  I can manage that.  It would take that long just to drive to the store, rent the machine, drive back, unload it, set it up, use it, etc, and do the reverse.

I'll still hate pounding through rocky gravel...

Garden Layout

Megan asked why the garden beds "should be true square feet".  A good question.

There is a home gardening system by Mel Bartholomew based on planting home crops by square feet.   Generally, I have used it.  It works by rotating crops through square feet, never letting any space be unused.  It works, but you have to keep at it.  A square foot of radishes, a square foot of carrots, etc.  You learn the best spacing for crops.  16 radishes per square foot, 9 carrots, etc.  It does make easy planting.  As I understand it, it is an adaptation of French Intensive Row Planting.

I try to keep at it, but it takes planning.  Still, I want my framed beds to be in true square feet of interior size.  The interior size is the problem.  The boards you use to make the framed bed take up some space.  So you have to use boards that are longer by their thickness.

It isn't TOO complicated.  To make a 4'x4' soil framed bed, you need boards that are 4' 1.5 inches on all sides because the boards are 1.5" thick.  If you just use exactly 4' boards, some of the last squares are 12"'x9" (12" -[1.5"x2]).

So in my framed bed plans, I have to make the the framed boards a few inches larger than the square feet.  An 8'x4' bed actually has to have boards 8' 3" and 4' 3".  It makes the details a bit insane!

Fortunately, there are some shortcuts.  If there are 4 beds (8 boards total), then that takes 12" of space (8*1.5").  If I didn't take that in to account, then the paths between the beds would be too small for my 24" wide wheelbarrow,

Properly arranged, my beds allow my wheelbarrow.  An inch wrong, it doesn't.  So, my constructed beds must have outside dimensions larger than the true square feet inside but allow the wheelbarrow just barely. 


I hope that all makes sense.

And Megan, you sent me your email once but I lost it,  Would you send it again?  cavebear2118 AT verizon DOT net...

Trailer Re-Siding

Before I can get the pipes, bulk chicken wire, and then additional compost/soil for the garden enclosure, I have to have the trailer renovated.  I started on that back in last Summer with pressure-treated plywood to cover the sides and base, but the plywood layers separated and warped on the sides, was too high, and too thin for good stability.  All around, a seemingly good choice of material that didn't work. 

Well, "almost" didn't work.  It did fine screwed down onto the boards that make up the bottom of the trailer.  I covered those with plywood because the original individual boards have gaps between them that let sand/dirt/compost fall through unless I covered them with a plastic tarp.  And when you shovel the contents out, you tear up the tarp.  At $10 per tarp, I got tired of that fast (and repairing tears with duct tape isn't free either).

So last week, I decided to go back to what DID work; T1-11 Exterior Plywood Siding.  The previous sides lasted 15 years before starting to rot, and the stuff is very stable and strong.  I should have just stayed with that last Summer.  I guess I figured pressure treated plywood would last even longer.

So last week, I started planning for T1-11 plywood.  I went to Home Depot and they didn't have any of the T1-11 in the thickness I wanted (it comes in basically 3/8" and 5/8" thick) and I wanted the thicker for strength.  Three days later, they also did not have it.  Today I went and I was annoyed enough to find a helpful employee to ask.  He said, that if the plywood wasn't on the shelves, they probably didn't have it in stock. 

I suggested that maybe there was some "in the back" or newly delivered.  But as I said that, I looked WAY UP at the top of the stacks, a good 20 feet up an saw a carboard-covered box that suggested it was the stuff I wanted.  19/32nds thick (seriously, who would make anything 19/32nds?  It must actually be metric).  Then a look from the side showed the other dimensions I wanted.

I won't say the senior lumber guy wasn't exactly upset to have to get that stuff down from the top, but he didn't thank me for the opportunity either.  Well, he got to use a BIG DAMN FORKLIFT and most guys would enjoy that.  Other employees gathered around to watch (they don't get to use that cool stuff).   I don't want to spoil any "guyness" here, but I'm not impressed.  He had only 3 controls:  A steering wheel, the fork up and down, and a slight forward adjustment to the fork.  My mouse is that complicated.  And he screwed it up the first 2 tries!  And he was the senior person...

OK, eventually, he got the pallet of the plywood I wanted down to the sales-level bin.  I told him I wanted 2 sheets and I wanted them cut.  I should explain the cutting.

I wanted the sides of the trailer 18" high.  But that's tricky with T1-11 because it has a tongue and groove edges  (like half-laps depending on your familiarity with terms). 

I had the lumber guy use the coolest saw I ever saw...  Its a circular saw on a pipe grid that works both vertically AND horizontally, with rollers at the bottom so the large plywood panels slide smoothly. 

I ended up with four 8'x18" pieces  and 2 scraps I will find a use for later.  I was initially worried about securing the pieces on the trailer, but then I realized the could fit corner to opposite corner.

Back home, I set the 2 long sides of the 8' plywood strips along the 8" side of the metal frame and drilled holes through the wood to attach them with 1/4" bolt and fender washers on the inside, and lock washers and wing nuts (for easy re-tightening) on the outside.  That took care of the sides.

The front and removable back will take some more exact cuts.  It will be important that the front and back make good contact with the sides so I can't lose material at the corners.  Fotunately, when I put the old back in place, it fit perfectly, so I know what size to cut the new T1-11.  The front part will require so detailed fitting.  Well, the last part always needs details work.

And the forecast is for 2 days of heavy rain, so I brought all the side pieces into the garage.  I'm guessing Tuesday is when I can bring the pieces out to the trailer for correct fitting.

Then I can use the trailer to get the pipes and chicken wire for the enclosed garden.  I always say
something else has to be done first" on any project, and this is proof.  LOL!

Garden Enclosure 2

I love gardening.  I love geometry.  The two intersect when laying out framed beds in restricted space.  Having decided that a 20'x20' enclosed space ought to be a reasonable size to built, I have been sketching out various sizes and arrangements of framed beds to but in that area.

The results have been both maddening and enjoyable.  Maddening because there are possibly endless arrangements, and enjoyable because I love the challenge.  In the process, I have developed some rules:

Primary Considerations:

1.  20'x20' total enclosed size
2.  Paths between beds cannot be narrower than 2' (wheelbarrow access)
3.  No part of a bed can be more than 2' from an edge (for easy digging and reaching access)
        A.  That means no bed can be wider than 4'
        B.  A 4' bed needs a path on both sides
4.  Maximize growing square footage
5.  Minimize pathway square footage
6.  There has to be a support pole dead center in the 20'x20' enclosure and it can't be in a path (the 10' pipes need a center support)
7.  Growing area in beds must be true square feet*

Secondary Considerations:

1.  I won't walk on the framed bed soil, so beds must allow easy movement among them (no labyrinthine paths)
2.  Boards cost money, so the fewer needed, the better.
3.  Beds against the enclosure chicken wire allow some access to varmints

Observations:

1.  Material costs count only once.  Square feet of growing area is forever. 


* Meaning the inside dimensions of the beds are whole feet, not the outside dimensions.  That threw me for days when I calculated the square feet of the beds and the square feet of the paths and it wouldn't add up to 400 square feet (20'x20').  Boards have thickness, and it adds up!  Nominal 2" boards are actually 1.5" thick, so 8 boards across 4 beds takes exactly 1 foot off the available space!

Anyone who wants to suggest some layouts is more than welcome to send some.  My email address is right under the header.

Enclosed Garden

After several years of increased varmint invasion, I have decided decided to take the bull by the horns (or more properly the squirrel by the tail) and exclude the little beastards entirely.  I'm going to totally enclose my garden in 1" chicken wire.

My original (and technically "current") garden has a 32'x2' framed trellis, plus four 8'x3' beds and two 4'x4' beds.  But over the years tree shading and invasive vine growth has reduced that to 12 feet of trellis, two 8x3s and two 4x4s.  And they are over 20 years old, so the wood frames are rotting badly.  With the need to rebuild the beds anyway, the varmint problems invited a serious solution.

First, let me assure you that I realize home gardening does not save money on food.  It is a hobby (of great personal satisfaction) and no hobby saves money.  Hobbyist fishermen don't get fish cheaper than can be gotten at the grocery stores, and the same is true for hunting.  So if my plan seems to cost more money than its worth, don't be surprised.

Second, last year the squirrels (and possibly a groundhog and a rabbit or two) ate or pulled up almost all of my seedlings early and ate most of my ripening tomatoes and melons later.  That was the last straw; I could either give up of double-down.  I'm doubling down!

I started looking for structure ideas last Fall and found one site where a person had constructed an enclosed structure about 8'x10' using EMT pipes (thin metal pipe used to hold electrical wire underground) and chicken wire suspended over picture frame wire.  I sketched out a few designs on that idea and realized it needed to be stronger for the 20'x20' size I wanted.

One thing I discovered was that PVC pipe fitting fit over EMT pipe quite tightly.  So I figured out the kinds of connections I needed to build a 20'x20' grid of 1"x10' EMT pipes.  There aren't metal connectors in complicated shapes like there are for PVC pipes, so that was great.

I ordered the PVC connections last week and they arrived a few days ago.  But I wasn't committed to the structure until I started to take apart the existing framed beds.  I started on that today.  My 2'x32' trellis bed had 6" concrete remesh wire as the vertical support.  That's the heavy wire grid they put into concrete driveways for strength.  I use it for super-strong tomato cages and trellis material. 

The act of commitment was to cut the trellis remesh wire off the posts supporting it.  I have a tool called a "Sawz-All" that is basically an electric kitchen knife on steroids.  It can cut wood or metal.

I unrolled 125' of heavy-duty extension cord out to the garden, plugged in the Sawzall and started cutting the concrete remesh from the trellis posts.  It went easier than I thought.  But there is ALWAYS some suprise to any part of a project.  Well, the first half of the remesh grid came off fine and I propped it against the fence (it will be used later). 

The second half was not so easy.  Years of evil vines (some 3/4" thick) had the wire remesh locked down.  It took a good 30 minutes to cut the vines loose.  No matter how many I cut there were more from unexpected directions, so it took multiple tries to get it all loose.  I finally got that half propped against the fence, but there is probably another hour of pruning to get all those interwoven vines cut out of the remesh.

So part is done.  A small part.  But a start is good and I have to continue now or there won't be any trellis to grow cucumbers, pole beans, etc on this year.  The first part of destruction requires the remainder.

The next step is to pull up all the scrap carpet I've used to suppress weeds in the paths between the framed beds.  I already know that there are many weeds growing through it, so pulling it up won't be easy.  Then I have to take apart the framed beds themselves.  That old lumber is all trash, but it will leave the good garden soil without support. 

With Spring coming late, I don't have as much time as I expected to have to complete this project.  Of course!  Any normal year, I could have started this project in early March.  THIS YEAR, we have more snow forecast for Wdnesday! 

Basically, I have to set nine 10' EMT pipes in the ground 2' deep in a 3x3 grid and then connect them all at the top.  I can dig individual holes but my test dig in the rocky clay soil was not promising to be easy.  I could rent a power auger to drill holes.  Or I can rent a power trencher to make a trench along the entire outside of the structure and then backfill the soil around the EMT pipes.

I may go with the trencher because I have some other uses for one.  There are tree roots coming from neighbors' trees and I need to get them out because they are are making the ground unlevel and the new framed beds need to be on flat soil.  But maybe I can cut them with an ax and pry them out with a steel bar easier.  I'll have to give the latter a try first.

The last part of the project is to use the interior structure space as efficiently as possible.  I have done some sketches and realized that my original layout of framed beds was very inefficient.  Well, that didn't matter when I had the whole backyard.  Now it matters.  The most efficient 20'x20' section of the existing beds had 126 square feet of garden.  The best 20'x20' section I have layed out so far has 224 sq ft with 2' wide paths.

A new post when I do more...

I'll be taking lots of pictures as I go on this.  I can tell from doing internet searches that a lot of people want to do this but don't know how and will find my project.  I don't have anything to show yet, but should soon. 

New Cosmos TV Show

If you are like me, you worry when you read that some Hollywood type is going to make a movie of your favorite book, or old comic mag, or a remake of an older favorite movie.   I went through the 60s to 80s with bad results from Hollywood.  The first Dune movie was horrid, and I still have horrible thoughts about 'Howard The Duck'.  When the first Marvel Comics movies were announced, I prepared to cringe.  But they came off well, as did The Lord Of The Ring  and I sure never expected they could do THAT right.

Somewhere along the years, Hollywood realized that a good book (or even comic book) could make a good movie "as is".  Even the slight changes in the movies were well done.

So I've come to expect decent adaptations from Hollywood.  But I was still worried when I read that someone was remaking 'Cosmos', the outstanding "Life, The Universe, and Everything" of my younger years.  I was relieved to read that Niel DeGrasse Tyson would be the host.  A decade ago, I thought that he could do that, but doubted it would ever be done.

Some themes can be redone wonderfully.  "West Side Story' was a wonderful adaptation of 'Romeo and Juliet'.  "The Wiz' was a great redo of The Wizard of Oz'.  And I'm sure Movie majors in college would name many "redos" of Shakespeare.  But good "redos" were few and far between.

'Cosmos" appears to be a great "redo", and Mr. Tyson after the first 2 episodes.  Tyson has the best relaxed and yet enthusiastic approach to science since Sagan, he doesn't drown you in professional terminology, and he just makes things sound exciting.

No "redo" would be good if the "redo" was just a copycat of the original.  There are differences between Sagan and Tyson.  Sagan came across as someone talking just to YOU across a pleasant small restaurant table.  Tyson is talking to a small group of amateur science enthusiasts.  The difference is real, but maybe not very important.

I have watched the first 2 episodes of the new 'Cosmos".  I gave been re-watching the original on other evenings.  I can't wait for the series to be completed so that I can add the DVDs to my library.

Dad Update

I've been asked how my Dad is doing.  He is not real happy, but there isn't much I can do about it.  He lost the ability to take care of himself about 2 years ago when he turned 90.  Some of you may remember that I had to fly down from MD to FL to retrieve him from a rehab hospital where he had been held for a month due to doctor-judged incapacity.

I and my brother got him up to my house where I took care of him for a year as he gradually became less able to manage daily affairs even with my help.  Last April, my sister found a good assisted-living facility near her where she and my brother and assorted nieces could visit him regularly.

We got him to sell the FL house Fall of 2012 and 2 condo investments he had in NH this past January.  They were decent investments, but he kept saying he should move to one of them, so we had to get them out of his thoughts.  He doesn't recall either of those places anymore, so that is something less for him to worry about.

Dad gets regular visits from local family.  I hate to drive, so I mostly write letters every few weeks telling him things I am doing.  He likes to read about "accomplishments", as he was a very dedicated D-I-Y type himself (more than I will ever be).

I get the impression that he his generally happy except after family visits.  I know that sounds a bit of a contradiction from above, but it's timing.  Left alone, he is generally OK, mostly complaining he doesn't get to watch all the Fox News political talk and Golf he wants.  Well, that's because there are more ladies there and they like to watch Soaps and Shopping Channel shows and they outnumber him.

We tried a TV in his room, but he can't manage the channels and mostly forgot it was even there.  So he sits quietly and watches whatever is on.  There are scheduled activities, but Dad was always bored by arts and crafts and socializing, so he retreats to his room.

I feel sad about it all.  He wishes his body would just give up and stop.  He's in better physical health than mental health.  Physically, he could live to a 100.  He can sometimes express a fear that he will start living physically without any self-awareness.  I understand that.  He can't do anything about it (personal decision).  By which I mean that *I* hope I can just crawl out on the deck some cold Winter's night and end it all when I think the time has come for ME.  But he doesnt think that way.

He isn't religious in the organized sense, but he does have a residual idea that deliberately ending his own life is somehow "wrong".  I don't agree, but I have been very careful not to say anything about that.  I don't want to influence him in any way.  He is confused enough about his life as it is.  I am not wise enough to give him advice about his last years, and he wouldn't pay any attention to my advice if I gave it to him (I'm just a "child" after all, so what could *I* know).

So I write letters to him that I suspect are barely read and little understood.  I avoid anything complex and (back to the top) about DIY things he might still understand in general and that might give him the reminder that I am DOING THINGS, hoping he likes that.

*sigh*

Deer Ate A Shrub

Well, OK, that's not all that uncommon.  But it has been for me. 

The very first landscaping I did when I moved in here 27 years ago (new house so no initial landscaping) was plant a few shrubs on the east side of the house.  It was a Korean Dogwood tree with 2 Euonymus shrubs, several Nandina (false bamboo) plants, and some spreading evergreen.

Well, nothing bothered the shrubs in all that time.  Until last week!  But as I walked around that side of the yard (a least-visited side), "something" just looked odd.  It took a few minutes, but I realized all the bottom halves of the Euonymus shrubs looked "wrong".  It hit me suddenly that all the leaves on the bottom half of the 8' high Euonymus shrubs were GONE!  

Well, sometimes it takes a few minutes for the brain to "see" the difference between what it is looking at and what the memory says was there before.  So many possibilities came to mind.  Insect damage?  Not in Winter.  Fungal disease?  Ditto about Winter.  Natural leaf fall?  No, it's an evergreen. 

DEER! 

When I moved into to this newly-built neighborhood, there were deer around.  There was a swamp across the street and deer love wetland edges.  I almost got trampled by 2 panicked deer while I was mowing the lawn my first Fall.  I used to see deerprints in the lawn at first.  That all stopped after a few years as the street filled with new houses.

Last year, I had some hostas eaten for the first time in 15 years.  This Winter, shrubs for the very first time.

And they even left me a "gift"...

THEY'RE BAAAACCCKK...

Snowblowwer Snow That Wouldn't Melt

Well, I intend to write mostly about something else tonight, but I just stumbled across something on the Public Broadcasting System at dinner I really liked.  A show called "Classic Rewind" plays famous classical music set to film (like Disney's Fantasia" was classical music set to animation).  And apparently, it is a regular show but also available as an 8 DVD set of 135 pieces of music.  I plan to get it.  So I just wanted to mention that first.

OK, onward...  Before it gets too late, I wanted to mention a seeming violation of the laws of physics.  Seriously, ice melts in your drink too fast, right?  Well, I had the opposite problem.  I couldn't get snow to melt!

I happened after I FINALLY got to use my 3 year old snowblower for the first time March 5th (See?  This is already 10 days old).  But the point is that I used it, it worked pretty well, and I was done clearing the driveway and sidewalk.  But there was a slight problem.  Toward the end as the snowblower warmed up I suppose) the input area got packed with snow (so it was heavier than the snow on the ground) and the output chute got clogged with slush.  I had cleared it once, but when I was done, I didn't think about it much except to recognize that the snow in the snowblower would melt in the garage, so I placed an old towel under it to wick away the melting packed snow and let it evaporate.  Good plan.

Except the snow packed in the snowblower refused to melt!  The garage was at 40F degrees, so it should have melted.  Three days later, no apparent melt!  It was FIVE DAYS above freezing in the garage before the snow finally started to melt.  It was only 2 days ago that it finally all melted.

I wish I had taken pictures, but I had no reason to think it would be interesting at first, and after a few days I was just fixated on my annoyance that the snow in the blower wouldn't melt!

You can imagine it though.  Sort of like the "snowman who wouyldn't die"!

Warmer Weather

Just a few days ago, it was freezing at best in the day.  And before that, it was bitterly cold some days.  So what should happen the first nice day?

Mosquito bites.

And to make it worse, I got bitten INSIDE THE HOUSE!

Those Asian Tiger Mosquitoes make me reconsider DDT...

Last year, it was so bad I couldn't run out to get my mail without a bite or two.  Today, I opened the deck doors for 5 minutes and I killed 5 of the little suckers and there are at least 2 more around I haven't caught yet.

Topics

You know how sometimes you want to write, but can't think of what to write about?  Me too.  That's why sometimes I go on about something badly and then delete it a day later.

So I sat down a few minutes ago and decided to just scribble out some things going on around me, the house, and the yard.  I hit a dozen immediately!  Some days are like that.

1.  Frogs
2.  Mosquitoes
3.  Crocuses
4.  Deer Ate Shrub
5.  Car Battery
6.  Snowblower Snow Wouldn't Melt
7.  Enclosed Garden
8.  Tomato Grafting
9.  Dad
10. Smoking/Not Smoking
11. Covered Plant Rack
12. Wine

So, how about "frogs"?  Now, I generally LIKE frogs.  None of them around here are poisonous, they eat mostly bad insects, they are impressively weird, and they mostly don't bother me.


Except Spring Peepers.  For a month each year around now, they all start a "chirping contest".  And since there are wetlands across the street (used to be a full-fledged swamp) they are a biblical multitude!  10,000 chirping Spring Peepers can be distracting.  The chirps are of a sound frequency that comes right through windows and walls.  Well, no wonder at THAT, they evolved their sound to penetrate woodsy swamps. 



I can live with that; there are so many of them that the sound is constant.  Its the 5 or so of them that find my small 4'x6' lily pond that drive me NUTS!  The pond is only 20' from my bedroom window, and with only a few of them, the chirping comes and goes.  I can't sleep when they chirp randomly.

It was so bad when I worked, that I would sometimes have to go out at night, find the little devils with a flashlight, and stomp on them just to get some sleep.  And its not like I didn't try passive frog-friendly ideas first.  I put acoustical ceiling tiles covering the inside of my bedroom window.  It didn't work!  Well, it helped some, but not enough.

Even after retirement, when I can sleep later to make up for the disturbance, it is still aggravating.  The past 5 years, I have covered the pond with loose-woven garden cloth.  That works.  If they can't get to the water, they can't mate, so they don't chirp.

I usually notice them first as I go to bed and it is really too late to do the covering thing that night.  But this year, today, I caught them in the act.  It was suddenly very warm today (75F at 4 PM), s I had some windows open.  It was nice and quiet. 

Until...  At precisely 5:30 PM, I heard a chirp in the wetland.  And 2 seconds later, I heard 10,000!!!  They ALL started immediately when the very first one did.  I was astonished.  At least I have tomorrow to cover the pond.  The pond doesn't seem to warm up as fast as the open wetland do, so there is a lag.

Tomorrow, I will take out the garden cloth and cover the pond and ruin the mating possibilities of the several Spring Peepers who chose my pond as their "Dream Seduction Site".  Well, they are either the dumbest Spring Peepers and deserve not to mate, or they are the smartest Spring Peepers (choosing a less-competitive location) and just had the bad luck to annoy ME!  Either way, I doubt I am affecting the long-term survival of Spring Peepers...

And if I am?  Well, MY sleep comes first.  Being Top Of The Food Chain has its benefits.

Topics 2-12 to come later, maybe in no particular order, and interrupted by new topics as they come to mind.

Language Pet Peeve

I learned language early.  My Godmother/Aunt worked on the big 1976  Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Mom was a dedicated teacher of her children (and as eldest child I got the full attention).  I could read before my fellow 1st-graders knew the alphabet, and I had a library card at 6.  By 12, I had read all the "young adult" books in the local library and was allowed to read the "adult" stuff (with adult pre-approval).  I even use semi-colons; who does THAT anymore?  ;)  I had a boss who actually removed a comma from one of the letters I wrote.  I (and a co-worker) were so surprised we did research in the Government Style Manual about it (turned out he was right) and I don't think I have ever put a comma in front of a dependent clause since.  So I should be a language snob, right?  Nah...  I am WAY more relaxed about it all these days.

I got over that fast in college and in my first job.  I can read bad documents and even tweets without cringing.  Everyone has different things that come easy.

But I have a peeve.  I noticed it a few years ago.  The first examples were rare and I considered them editing slips.  But I heard President Obama make the same error in a speech recently, and I consider him to be a really careful writer/speaker.

It's "4 times less" (or 3 or 2 or any number).  How can anything be "4 times less" than the whole?  If a sector of the economy is 10 billion dollars, what is 4 times less than that?  The whole of a number is "one times".  Well, what is 1 times 10 billion dollars?  It's 10 billion.  So 1 times less than 10 billion (10 billion minus 10 billion) is zero.

So what is "4 times less" than 10 billion?  -30 billion (10 billion minus 40 billion, or even -40 billion if you look it it in a certain way).  Well, money can be negative numbers.  But what is "4 times less" of a 10 pole?  Have you ever seen a minus 30" pole?

I cringe every time I hear the phrase "X times less than".  Yes, I know what they mean; "4 times less than" means 1/4.  But it just raises all the hackles of my brain (metaphorically speaking) every time I hear that phraseology!

More Snow

I was caught off-guard Sunday to hear we were getting more snow the next day.  I really thought we were done with that here, and I hadn't paid attention to the forecast.  Then Sunday night, I saw that we were dead center in the storm-track and could expect to get 6-10"!

And sure enough, Monday morning it was snowing.  Not hard but steadily.  Worse, it had started as freezing rain, so we had a nice later of ice down first.  YUCK!

Well, at least it meant I would get a chance to use the snowblower.  You may recall that after the previous 8" snowstorm (which ended in the morning) I awoke to find that someone had snow-blowed my driveway for me.  I thought I knew who had.  I sure appreciated the neighborly gesture, but I was disappointed to not get to use mine for the first time after having it sit around for 3 years.  At least I did start it up and widen the driveway clearing by one pass on each side (and mostly hoping that the helpful neighbor would notice that I had a snowblower).

But while it was still snowing in the early afternoon Monday, I heard the likely good neighbor snowblowing his driveway, then a neighbor's, then another neighbor's, so I watched carefully.  Seriously, I wanted to use mine, but I was going to wait at least until it stopped snowing!

As soon as he came to the foot of my driveway, I ran down to the garage, pulled my snowblower to the garage door and opened it.  When he looked up, I smiled broadly and pointed to MY machine with a big "Ta-Da" gesture.  He laughed and came up to the garage and we talked for a while.  He admired my snowblower (and it is a good one - I did some careful research before choosing it). 

I thanked him very much for doing my driveway previously, of course.  He completely understood I was anxious to use my own for the first time.  We talked for a while.  Which was good, because I don't talk to my neighbors all that often.  It's not that I'm unfriendly, its more that I spend most of my time outside in the fenced backyard.  And I'm not good at standing around out by the street just "hanging out".  I'm more the "you need help, just knock on the door" kind of neighbor. 

It turns out he does things like snowblow neighbors' driveways because he's bored all the time.  As he said "I watch TV, fall asleep, wake up, watch TV, fall asleep".  Which may explain why he has so many "toys".  He has 2 cars, a boat, an ATV, a jet-ski, and probably other mechanical stuff I haven't seen.  In the Winter, he's trapped inside! 

While we were talking, another helpful neighbor came by (with a snow plow blade on an ATV) and decided I needed the snow at the end of the driveway shoved to the sides before I could say anything.  What had been light powdery snow became a 2' high block of ice...  We both waved at him so he came up and we all talked more for a while.

Well, they were both wearing heavy Winter coats and I was out there in my shirtsleeves, so eventually I had to admit I was freezing AND needed to get back to my lunch (if the cats hadn't already eaten it).  They both laughed and went along their helpful way.  It was nice to talk to them both though.

Later, just before dark, the snow stopped so I went out and used my snowblower for the first real time.  Wow, those things are great!  I have to admit that it was actually fun.  It really threw the snow well off onto the lawn, and with powered wheels, going back up the sloped driveway was a breeze.  6 passes and I was done.  But it is SO COLD that even in my garage, the snow packed around the augers in the front hasn't melted yet.

But funny story:  The snow surface all around my driveway is now MUDDY!  You see, my asphalt driveway is 27 years old and I've never been one to re-coat the driveway every few years (if things are functional, I don't bother with them much).  So grass as grown up through it in places.  I didn't realize that the growing grass was creating humps of soil on the top.  Things that happen very gradually escape notice.  So when I went along the driveway with the snowblower, it cheerfully scraped the humps of grassy soil right along with the snow.

For right now, I would be glad not to have enough more snow to need the snowblower again this season!

Gardening 2

Well, it was my favorite weekend of the years last weekend.  Its the day I start seeds of some of my favorite crops.  8 weeks before average last frost day...

It was TOMATO DAY!  And bell pepper, broccoli, cabbage, radicchio, celery, and "some other stuff" day.

I love fresh heirloom tomatoes above all individual foods.  Right from vine to mouth, sides on the dinnerplate, in salads, as snacks.

But the last few years, my heirloom tomatoes have not produced well (even for heirloom tomatoes) in spite of good care.  So when I read about grafting heirloom tomato stalks on disease-resistant hybrid roots, I got interested.  Well, almost all grapes grown for wine are grafted on disease-resistant roots, s why not tomatoes?

I planted 2x my normal number of heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Striped German) and as many of the hybrid Big Beef to use as hybrid roots (plus 4 to grow for themselves as backups).

The idea is that you cut the tops off the heirlooms and the hybrids and attach the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots.  I bought small silicon clips to hold the 2 together.  It may be tricky to do (I have shakey hands from teenage DDT exposure), but I will give it my best try.  And I've planted enough of the heirlooms so that, if the grafts fail, I will have enough regular heirloom plants for the garden.

I will take LOTS of pictures so that I can look back on the points of success or failure.

There is good news on the previous weekend flower plantings.  There are SEEDLINGS showing!  That is encouraging, because the seed packets said "germination in 7-21 days" and I'm seeing some at 7 days.

I bought a mini greenhouse today.  And I mean "mini-mini".  Its a steel frame with metal mesh shelves and a vinyl cover with zippers that allow you to adjust how closed/open the cover is.  Its for hardening off plants outside before permanent planting, a transition I have always had difficulties with.  It's kind of simplistic, but at $30, worth a try.  I found it at Lowes.

The other gandenng project I keep working on is an enclosed garden surrounded by chicken wire to keep the squirrels from tearing up the seedlings and eating the ripe veggies. I made a fast and crude attempt last year and it "sort of worked".  But not well enough and it was a real effort to harvest anything through the barriers.

I looked up "enclosed gardens", and found a decent design.  But it was small and had flaws.  I've been thinking of improvements.  Thinking of improvements even in my dreams at night...

I think I have something easier to construct, easier to build larger, and sturdier.  I won't give out all the details right now (they are changing daily), but basically, its a 20'x20' grid of 1/2" metal pipe built of 10' pipes and connectors, covered all around with chicken wire and chicken wire extended out from the bottom at ground level about 3' to discourage animals from tunneling under.

I'll show pictures when I settle on the design.

I will have a busy early Spring to deconstruct my existing framed beds in early April (falling apart after 25 years) before the planting season starts in late April.  But it is either then or not and I want to have a garden free of the evil squirrels.

Niece Wedding

My sister's oldest daughter got married Saturday.  The wedding was in a fancy old victorian house.  I'm told the food was great (I didn't attend - too long a drive, a late ceremony so an overnight stay at a motel was required, etc).

The bride was beautiful. 

The couple was thrilled.

So they left the ceremony to go on their honeymoon to the Dominican Republic.  At the bottom of the stairs outside, Danielle stepped on a very small patch of ice and fell.  She fractured her fibula!  What a sad way to end a wedding...

Goodbye Dominican Republic honeymoon!!!  She will have a cast on that leg for 3 months.

I plan to send her a card with an letter enclosed.  Finding a card may be a challenge.  How many "Sorry you were injured on your wedding day" cards do you suppose are available?  I may have to make one myself.  But my newly updated Photoshop Elements is baffling me at the moment.

So you have a couple days to leave sympathy comments that I can include...  Personally, I am going for the light-hearted ("How many brides does it take to screw in a lightbulb?  Depends on how awkward the cast is" and I have a good famous one I can adapt rather weirdly to a bride in a cast (no dirty thoughts allowed).  OK, OK, I'll work on better punch lines.  And feel free to suggest some.

Cleaning

Last week, I became obsessed with cleaning the garage and basement.  Now, I'm not saying that you would look at either place and go "Oh Wow"!  That's because you wouldn't have seen how bad they were before I cleaned.  Seriously, all cleaning is relative.  Your cleaning compared to your mom.  your mpm's cleaning compared to HER mom.  Your floors compared to a new developement model home compared to a hospital operating room compared to a science lab.  There is always something cleaner than you.

So my point is that I am WAY cleaner in the basement and garage than I was last week.  And in some cases, maybe for 25 years.  I used my shop vac BEHIND the water heater and I think that is the first time EVER!

Hey, I've been a bit clutterred since I moved in in 1986.

[Funny story:  The first thing I did when I moved in was nail the metal pan that held the fruit my sister sent me as a house-warming gift onto a basement frame board.  It's still there]

But anyway, I went into cleaning mode.  I spent 4 hours  moving stuff around so I could vacuum.  I brought stuff to the trash can, I brought stuff to the recycle bin, I brought stuff to a box of hazardess materials.  I folded up yards of that brown paper they use for shipping (great weed-reduction stuff between plants), I collected odds and ends of board scraps and piles of sawdust in buckets for future fires, I sorted out all the various odds and ends on the top of my workbench, etc, etc, etc.

My basement space in increased by a 1/3 and that's a lot if you think about it, and my next effort will make equal gains.  For example, 5 years ago, I bought an oval maple table at the Salvation Army store that needed "only" some sanding and refinishing.  If I don't actually do that work THIS YEAR, I'm giving it back to them.  And I have other projects too.  The attic needs plywood flooring so that I can fill it with sturdy boxes for when I more "someday".

I want to allow for fires in the fireplace too, finding space to move the fancy tablesaw out of the way of the fireplace heat.  And I need more space for woodworking tools and less for boxes of newspapers kept for years do be mulch in the compost pile I have yet to build.

I will solve one problem in the basement each week, and finish one good project in the upstairs twice a week!

First Seeds Of The New Gardening Season

I am glad to say the new gardening season is underway.  Well, I suppose you could say it started when I ordered new seeds, but it doesn't really count until a seed meets dirt!  I started on Sunday.

Does it seem a bit early?  Yes.  But many annual flowers can be planted indoors 10-12 weeks before the average last frost because they are slow to germinate (7-21 days) and grow slowly at first.  And in fact, Sunday was 9 weeks before average last frost, so I am late.  So I planted impatiens, salvia, dusty miller, butterfly weed, forget-me-not, and wave petunia.  I also planted a dozen leeks, so the veggies are started too.

I love the lighting stand I made from a storage shelf.  It originally had five 2'x4' thin plastic-coated wood shelves on a steel frame.  I added 1/2" plywood under the top 4 shelves and attached 4' fluorescent fixtures under each plywood shelf (4 tubes per shelf).  I can fit four 11"x22" planting trays on each shelf if I want, but I start the trays 2 to a shelf lengthwise to get the maximum light at the start.

It felt SO GOOD to get into the potting soil and fill the cell-packs, read the planting requirements for each seed, and PLANT THEM!  The earliest seeds to plant are usually the trickiest.  Those are the ones that are tiny, need light to germinate, and are fussy about moisture.  

Things will  be more traditional this next weekend.  -8 weeks before last average frost is the time to start the major veggies.  Tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, lettuces, will get planted.  The tomatoes are always my favorites.

I'm trying something new with the tomatoes this year.  In past years, I've grown mostly heirlooms (Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Aunt Gertie's Gold, and Tennessee Britches) with a couple hybrids like Big Beef for backup if the heirlooms do poorly.  Over the Winter, I read about tomato-grafting.  It's just like grafting grapevines; you put a good fruiting top on a healthier rootstock.

With the tomatoes, you put an heirloom top on a hybrid root. 


The plants are more productive because the hybrid rootstock is larger, and the plants avoid many soilborne diseases because the hybrid rootstocks are resistant to them.  I've seen comparison pictures of heirlooms alone grown along side of grafted heirlooms and the apparent production differences are impressive.  And I mean pictures from agricultural sites, not scammy commercial advertisements.

You can buy the grafted plants from catalogs at high prices, but I am going to try doing the grafting myself.  I bought some small soft clips designed for attaching the heirloom tops to the hybrid roots.  I just hope I'm adept enough for the effort.  I don't have the steadiest of hands (DDT exposure in my youth), so my efforts may not work out.

That's why I will have 2 full sets of tomato seedlings!  One set will be let to develop naturally, as if there was no grafting intended.  The other set will be for the grafting experiment.  I usually plant 2-3 of each type of tomato outside but start 6 seedlings inside of each type anyway, so I don't even have to plant more than usual.

If this works I may be the happiest gardener in the county (just guessing I'm the only person trying to graft tomato seedlings in the county the first time this year). 

All That Trash

Re-reading the Wednesday post about the tubs of used kitty litter and bags of trash, I thought I should explain a bit.

I don't pay for weekly trash pickup service because I have so little.  I used to pay $40/month for weekly trash pickup, but since I only accumulated enough to bother putting it out once a month, they tended to forget I was on their pickup route.  THEY said to just put out my little one bag each week and the driver would remember I was a customer.  Still, that was only a 5 gallon bucket per week, and seemed not worth it.

I have so little "regular" trash other than the used kitty litter.  50% of my "trash" is recyclable.  Another 20% is "film plastic" (shopping bags and shrink wrap) which my grocery store recycles to make new bags.  Most of the rest is compostable (almost nothing goes down my garage "dispose-all").  The remainder is styrofoam that nobody will accept, and that gets collected in bags in the garage for months.

That leaves the used kitty litter.  I keep a half-gallon lidded plastic container lined with a plastic shopping bag near the litter boxes and scoop everything in there.  When filled, I tie the bag up tight and set it into one of the tubs the litter comes in.  So I have a tied bag, in a tub with a tight lid, in the garage.  You can't tell its there even after several months.  And just to be a "little" more environmentally friendly, I'm looking for small biodegradable bags to use for the litter.

The landfill charges a flat rate of $5 for all "household trash" you can fit in your car.  You can pay by weight, too (they weigh the whole car going in and then leaving and charge you by the loss in weight), but I found that after 143 pounds, flat rate is cheaper.  I usually accumulate about 300-400 pounds in used kitty litter every 4-5 months, plus about 4 large bags of styrofoam and other odd stuff I can't recycle.

So basically, I got rid of 500 pounds of trash for $5 (plus gas) by driving 10 miles to the landfill, instead of paying $160-200 for weekly trash pickup I seldom used and got skipped over most of the time.

Snow Removal

A neighbor removed the snow from my driveway while I was still in bed Thursday, and I'm annoyed!  I think I know who did it, and he did my next-door neighbor's too.  He is across the street and he's the only person nearby I've seen using a snowblower (and this obviously wasn't shoveled).

Why am I annoyed?  Well, I don't mind a kind neighborly deed.  I wasn't feeling my property rights were violated.  It was even nice to have a nice clean driveway even though I wasn't planning to drive anywhere.  I didn't even hear him doing it.  Well, I might have heard and ignored the snowblower noise, assuming it was his own driveway.  I tend to ignore extraneous neighbor noises.

But I have my own snowblower.  I bought it in Spring 2011 after the three 12"+ storms of the previous Winter.  And I hadn't gotten a chance to use it yet.  We just didn't get any snow until Thursday worth using it.  It sat clutterring up my garage for 2 years until I finally moved it to the toolshed last Spring.

Wednesday, the forecast was for 4-8" of snow, so I wrestled the snowblower around to the garage, gassed it up, made sure it started, and waited with some anticipation of finally using it.  I watched the snow fall and accumulate Wednesday night.  So when I got up the next day and saw the cleared driveway, I was a bit taken aback!  We had gotten about 6" of snow.

Then it snowed more after lunch, then rained most of the midafternoon before changing to freezing rain.  Then, in early evening, it changed back to snow.  By the time I went to bed Thursday night, we had another 4" of snow.  Hurray!  Enough to snowblow!!!

I got up early today to make sure my neighbor hadn't cleared my driveway again.  I got dressed quickly and went out to use my own snowblower.  It started right up, and I had a blast using it.  It worked pretty well.  With all the rain and freezing rain that had fallen on the lunchtime snow and more snow in the evening hours, it was heavy wet snow!  Nearly slush!

Toward the end, the slushy snow froze in the discharge chute a couple of times and I had to clear the chute with a plastic plunger that came with the snowblower.  And at the street where a plow had pushed up a wall of slush 2' tall, the wheels slipped a bit.

When I later shoveled a path clear on the deck (for both myself and the cats), I found it nearly impossible to lift a whole shovelful of the stuff up and over the deck rails.  I think this was about the heaviest snow (by weight) I have ever encountered!  No wonder the snowblower struggled a bit on the driveway.

But it did handle the heavy snow well enough to assure me that regular snow will never be a problem for it.

Next time I talk to my neighbor, I'll ask if he cleared the driveway the first time.  If so, I will thank him very much for the kind act.  But I'll also tell him the story of waiting 3 years to use my own and we'll have a good laugh.  He's a genial person.

My snowblower is a good one.  I did a lot of research before I bought it.  It's a Troy-Bilt Storm 2620.  The number seems to mean 26" width and 20" high intake.  It it gas-powered (there are electrics), has powered wheels (because my driveway slopes up toward the house and there's no way I'm going to push a heavy non-powered piece of equipment up a slippery slope), separate controls for the blades and the wheels.  It even has a headlight.  But best of all, it has electric starting!  Not a battery, you plug a cord into an outlet, press a button, and then disconnect it.  I'm not 25 anymore; I appreciate all the powered help I can get, LOL!

I admire well-designed and user-friendly equipment...

So while I don't exactly hope for more snowstorms, it is sure nice to have something that will clear my 60' driveway in just 20 minutes.  If I had had to shovel that heavy snow manually, it would have taken a couple hours and I would have had to stop for a few minutes many many times and been utterly exhausted by the end.

You Always Have To Do Something Else First!

I had to drive to the landfill today because the snowblower was in the toolshed.

That actually makes sense.  Allow me to explain...

I have a narrow but deep yard.  The toolshed is in the back about 200' from the garage and the snowblower is kept in there most of the year.  While we have had a couple of light snowfalls here this Winter, they weren't worth the effort of pushing the snowblower all the way around the yard and into the garage, so I just shoveled.  But we are forecast to get between 4-8" of heavy wet snow and freezing rain tonite and tomorrow, so I wanted the snowblower available.

But the only spot in the garage large enough for the snowblower was occupied by tubs of used cat litter and big honking recycling bin (bigger than any trashcan I've even owned).  The only place I could move the recycle bin to was where the golf clubs, a snow shovel, and a hand truck were stored.  The only place I could move the golf clubs and handtruck to was where there were bags of dry but uncompostable trash.

So, I filled the SUV with tubs of kitty litter and bags of trash (and accumulated junk stashed out under the deck) and drove to the landfill and returned home.  Where the trash bags had been, I moved the golf clubs and handtruck.  Where the golf clubs and handtruck had been, I moved the big honking recycling bin.  Where the tubs of used kitty litter and the recycling bin had been, I moved the snowblower.

And that's why I had to go to the landfill in order to move the snowblower into the garage.  LOL!

Humidifier Wiring

Frustrated with the poor/confusing installation instructions that came with my new humidifier, I emailed the company.  First, I have to admit that one of my questions had an error.  I asked about the wires coming out of the transformer when I meant the drum motor.

But the rest of the reply I received was of little help  and one part I think is factually inaccurate.  But, ONE thing that was mentioned (and not an answer to any of my questions) solved my whole problem!

The wires coming out of the heat pump blower unit were (I assumed) 120v and I was distressed to see 120v going through such thin wires.  The included transformer is supposed to reduce the regular household current from 120v to 24v.  The technician mentioned looking for a connection on the blower labelled "HUM" (which I assume stands for "humidifier"). I didn't find "HUM", but I did find a spot where regular household wired went IN and the thin wires came OUT.

EUREKA!  The current was ALREADY reduced to 24v; no need for the included transformer.  And staring at the instructions one last time, I realized that while the existing wiring through the humidifier control LOOKED different from the diagram, it was functionally the same. 

I used some doorbell wire I had (which is standard for 24v circuits) and attached the drum motor wires to the existing wires.

It works!

Darn good thing, too, because I called an electrician and was told it would be $90 for a service visit and $120 per hour after that (minimum 1 hour fee).  I sure hope the new humidifier works well, because the humidity in the house today is only 19% and I am very tired of all the static electricity!

Wiring and Cabling, Part 2

Last time I mentioned the (eventually) successful connection of the new HDTV and video components to the old stereo system (with the fancy new tuner).  It's working great, even though it means I have 4 remote controls to deal with (5, if you count the "grampa remote" with the big buttons and few features).

The other wiring issue is only electric wiring, and not successful, and I am VERY frustrated.  Some background...  When I retired 8 years ago, I got tired of static electricity in Winter (I could half-turn-on fluorescent lamps just by touching them and stroking the cats caused sparks.  Taking clothes out of the dryer was actually painful) and bought a whole house humidifier.  The brand was Skuttle, and it had a cabinet attached to an opening cut in the main heater output duct.  In the cabinet was a tray of water and a sponge cylinder rotated through the tray of water whenever the heater blower was on.

I bought it locally and had it installed.  It worked great!  No static.  But a problem with the cylinder/drum humidifiers is that they get "gunky" (mold or something).  So when the sponge on the drum couldn't be cleaned anymore (yes I was too stupid/cheap/witless to just buy a new sponge drum), I did some research and found a different kind of humidifier. 

The new one had a honeycomb where water dribbled over the top and air blew through it to add humidity.  It had good ratings.  I installed it myself, but I needed an electrician to come by for a wiring problem I couldn't figure out (an outside humidity detector that adjusted the inside settings to the outside humidity - turned out it was a feature my model didn't have), but he did finish the basic wiring for me since I had paid for a visit).  But it has NEVER worked well in 3 Winters.  I couldn't get the inside humidity above 23%.  The drum type got it up to 35%.  At least there wasn't any static shock...

I should mention that I have a heat pump.  There are good and bad things about heat pumps, but one bad thing is that they dehumidify the inside air as part of the way they work.  Great in Summer, but not so great in Winter.  In Winter, I am fighting the design of the heat pump to dehumidify with a humidifier to improve that.  The condensation-collection container that pumps the collected water into the laundry tub works overtime in Winter.

So I decided to go back to the drum type.  I couldn't find a local retailer/installer, but I found a decent Skuttle brand of the same drum type on Amazon at a great price.

It arrived.  The required duct cutout was smaller than the current Honeywell honeycomb humidifier cutout, so I had to buy some sheet metal, cut a new smaller opening, and attach the sheet metal to cover the older larger hole.  Awkward tin-snip work and getting sheet metal screws holes drilled (never really easy work), but it only took 45 minutes (professional: 10 minutes; me, 45), and I covered all the edges with duct tapes.

I got the water tray and drum installed, attached the water supply, and adjusted the float that controls the water level in the tray (much like a toilet float that keeps the upper reservoir from overflowing).

The last thing was to attach the wiring that makes the drum turn when the heater is on. 

BUSTED!  I can't make any sense of the (undetailed and simple) diagrams in the installation manual.  I've stared at the unit and the instructions 4 separate times over the past 3 days.  As far as I can tell (and admittedly, electricity is NOT my favorite stuff to deal with), the diagram instructions are not only incomplete, but also completely wrong.

For example, electric wires are usually color-coded.  Red for positive, black for neutral.  Not these, they are both black!  Sometimes, electrical wires that are joined (like on a lamp cord) have one side that is smooth and the other ribbed for identification.  Not these.  The system uses a transformer that reduces standard 120 volt A/C current to 24 volt current to power the tiny motor that turn the sponge drum in the water tray. 

And they refer to "enclosing the transformer in the metal box" (for safety I assume).  No metal box, or any place to attach the transformer on the humidifier cabinet.  But there IS a 1" threaded pipe with a nut on it for attaching to SOMETHING. 

It is all quite maddening.  The Skuttle website provides absolutely NO information about installations.  There is a email address for "customer service".  I'll try that in a few minutes, but I don't expect it will be useful.  I'll probably have to hire an electrician to come by and try to figure it out.  Which probably means I could have just bought some other brand (of the same drum type) locally and had it installed at the same total price without any work on my part.

I am so completely annoyed I can't figure this out.  It possible the wiring choices don't really matter.  Immean, if I hook it up one way, the drum rotates clockwise and the other way it rotates counterclockwise and makes no difference.  But it could mean I burn out the whole motor unit.  I don't know enough to tell. 

If anyone who reads this has any guidance about the wiring, PLEASE leave a comment.  I hate to say it, but in my 60s, I'm starting to lose my willingness/ability to "just try it and see what happens"...

Wiring And Cabling

Darn I hate wiring and cable connections.  Give me a shovel and a pile of dirt to move anytime!  There's nothing complicated about shovelling dirt.

But I've had 2 run-ins with wiring stuff lately.  Both annoying, but at least one finally solved.  I'll mention the successful one today.

I've struggled to connect my TV to the stereo system a few times the past decade.  It has never worked. Mostly, the audio and video haven't matched up.  Watching people talk and having the sound even a half second off is disturbing.

Even with the new HDTV, I couldn't get it to work.  The wiring diagrams in the manuals showed wires from the cable box to the stereo.  I pulled the TV stand and the stereo cabinet out many times to look at all the possible connections.  And I don't mean to say that I understand what all those color-coded plugs mean.  But they ARE all labeled better than 20 years ago.  Or 10 years ago.

My Pioneer VSX-42 tuner is a wonder.  It allows more possibilities than I can even comprehend.  I don't even know what "pandora" IS, but I could access it if I wanted to.  Maybe I will soon.  But the problem was that "audio out" from the cable box did not match the timing on the TV picture.

So, I sat back there and stared at the back of the HDTV and stereo system for a while.  There JUST wasn't an "audio out" from the TV that I recognized.  Not even an modern HDMI  audio outlet   I stared, I fumed, I yelled.

But eventually, I saw a weird looking plug on the HDTV labeled "Digital Optical Audio Out".  No idea what that meant.  But I searched the back of the stereo tuner.  The print was so small even my reading glasses weren't enough, I had to crawl out to get a magnifying glass! 

Whoever thinks that it is easy to read orange print on white, or blue on green should be summarily executed.

But I did eventually find a similar plug on the tuner.  It was labelled "Digital Optical Audio In".  I immediately searched the manuals for the HDTV and the tuner.  66 pages of the Pioneer tuner and 35 pages of the Samsung HDTV (estimates) didn't explain WHAT "digital optical" was. 

But I figured, if there is a delay in the audio from the cable box through the stereo (and I wasn' getting any sound from the DVD player), if I could get sound direct from the HDTV to the stereo speakers, that would work for all components AND stop the audio delay.

Keep in mind that I had already spent $40 on various cables I THOUGHT would connect the HDTV to the stereo properly...

So I drove to Best Buy.  Explained the problem.  Asked about "digital optical audio"  He said "you need this" and showed me a cable.  I said "that doesn't look like the plug, and I even pushed the gateway open with a toothpick".  He said that if it has that gateway, this cable WAS the right one cuz that's the only one with a gate.  I bought it and went home.

The TV and the stereo cabinet were still pulled out for access.  I unplugged the red/white "component cables".  I attached the new digital optical cable and turned on the HDTV and the stereo.

And got NOTHING!  But the Pioneer tuner has many choices.  I rotated the knob (and remembering that the first time I got ANY sound from it took 15 seconds ).  When I turned the tuner knob to "TV", I GOT SOUND!  From the TV.  In perfect synch!

But only one speaker was giving sound.  GLOOOOM!

I dragged out the soundless speaker, and it immediately gave sound.  Oh man, just a loose wire connection!  I fixed that right off.

You want to know something odd about modern tuners?  They don't seem to have a speaker balance dial.  Matbe it exists and I haven't found it yet, but I've read and re-read all the "speaker" parts of the manuals.  OK, I pushed the chair, TV, and speakers around a bit, and NOW it is balanced.  It's almost funny, I adjusted myself an the TV to balance the speakers.

Oh and I mentioned previously that I couldn't find the remote control for the Pioneer tuner?  I found it.  Sitting right on top of the old tuner that died. Buried under other stuff in the computer room. 

But now, I am watching great TV AND listening to audio that matches the picture.  And since it comes directly off the TV, it works with all components I have.

Food

Just some food thoughts that work for me...

Brussels sprouts cut in half or quarters, mixed with 4:1 ratio mushsrooms, steamed fer 4 minutes.  With simple butter, melted shredded cheese and milk, or cheese and a little lemon juice.

Or asparagus the same ways...  Or broccoli.

Or pork stew.  Boston butt cut into 1" cubes, simmered with cubed Yukon Gold potatoes, celery, carrots, and leeks for 20 minutes with a flour slurry or cornstarch added the last few minutes.  With crushed garlic and a lot of oregano.  Boston butt doesn't get tough.

Or hot italian sausage smothered in onion and green bell peppers.

Or chicken thighs sauteed in little olive oil covered so they sort of bake, but brown nicely.  Its hard to overcook chicken thighs.

I love thinking about food even when I'm not hungry, LOL!

Sometimes, Doing Nothing Is Good

And by that title, I mean that good things sometimes come to those who just sit in frustration.

Warning, long post ahead!

Background:

Six years ago, I desired to connect my stereo system to my 1st HDTV because flat screens are too thin to have good built-in speakers.  I couldn't get it to work.  Oh, I got TV sound through the stereo system, but in one arrangement, I got off-synch sound from both the stereo and the TV which was too annoying to listen to.  In the other, I got only stereo system sound but with a 1/2 second delay which was too annoying to watch.  So I gave up and separated the 2 systems.

Two years ago, my stereo tuner died and I ended up with a Pioneer VSX-42.  It did everything!  Way more than I had any use for, as a matter of fact.  Not just controlling stereo components, but the TV, the DVD, internet radio, gameboxes, Pandora, bluetooth, and some things I don't even know what they are!  All I wanted was a new tuner.

Turns out it made my old "dedicated buttons radio station controller" obsolete.  I miss having dedicated buttons to 20 radio stations.  With the Pioneer, you just have a single preset button and if you want station #12, you have to press it 12 times.  Not exactly the end of the world, but annoying.  And instead of dedicated buttons for each function (like radio, CD, tape deck, phono, and all those others I don't understand), there is a dial you turn to see each function choice displayed on a LED screen.

As you might guess, I am not intuitively good at modern electronic components.  I have to really work at it.  But as a "success through persistence" kind of person person who can (eventually) sift through instruction manuals, I get by.  Seriously, sometimes I actually draw flowcharts to figure out what the technical manual is trying (badly) to tell me.

So with the new Samsung HDTV in place, I dragged the old stereo system back into the TV room (I wanted to rearrange the rooms anyway).  First thing was to add a surge protector to the new HDTV.  A tech guy (not the floor salesman) at the store told me that power surges cause the cycling on/off problem I had with the previous HDTV.  So I bought one that had 2 more outlets than I thought I needed.

At home, I discovered I needed a 2nd coaxial cable, so I started a list of more stuff I needed.  That's when I decided to try again to connect the old stereo system to the HDTV.  I figured that "Hey, this Pioneer control unit seems designed to be the central control point for seriously integrated home theater system, I have to at least be able to listen to the TV through the stereo speakers".

So there I was, with the HDTV stand pulled away from the wall in one direction and the stereo cabinet angled in the opposite direction so I could see all the ports and cables.  I had a flashlight and all the manuals by my side.  Well, "almost all".  I couldn't find the Pioneer manual.  But I looked stuff up on the internet and I had some basic diagrams of various cable connections.

First instruction was to find the "audio out" ports on the TV or cable box.  Naturally, nothing was labled "audio out" on either.  The TV had "audio in" ports and an "optical audio out" with a plug shape I have never seen anywhere.  The cable box had some ports just labeled "AV"  The Pioneer tuner had every type of plug imaginable.  It was daunting!  I was very worried that connecting cables to the wrong ports might blow out some piece of equipment.

But I was willing to try.  Actually, just re-attaching the stereo speakers to the Pioneer tuner was an exercise in frustration.  Whoever designed the connectors was either an idiot or a sadist.  There are little knobs to loosen to expose a tiny hole to stick bare wire into.  The knobs are so close together that you need tweezers to hold the speaker wires to get them at the connection holes.  Anyway, it took me 15 minutes to guide the speaker wire into the required spots.  My previous tuner had connections where the wire went into a hole in the facing side just like sticking an electrical plug into a wall socket.  Who designs these things?  But I got that done.

Then came the cable connection fun.  The internet helped.  At one site, I found a reference to "unlabeled audio ports" being "out", and the cable box was unlabeled.  So I plugged in the red/white/yellow cable there.  Looking at the Pioneer tuner ports was like looking at a final exam for The Geek Squad hiring test.  The entire back of the thing is nothing but ports of all shapes and labels!

There are 6 different HDMI ports, several pairs of regular round red/white/yellow ports, several "optical", some "component" ports, and "some other stuff".

I finally chose to connect the cables from the cable TV box labeled "AV" to the Pioneer ports labelled "sat/cable" (satellite or cable TV I assume)  I crawled out, set the Pioneer to "sat/cable" and counted to 5 (set to "radio", the sound comes on instantaneously).  No sound.  Discouraged, I crawled back behind the equipment and tried some other connections.  When I had the cable box audio cables connected to DVD and nothing happened I just sat there discouraged.

And then, after about 30 seconds, I suddenly heard the TV through the stereo speakers!  HAL-aluhiah!!!  30 seconds in FOREVER in electronics time.  But I was never going to remember that the TV was controlled on the Pioneer tuner set to"DVD".  So I cautiously switched the cables back to the sat/cable ports and waited.  Damn, the TV sound came on after only 15 seconds.

And that's why I'm saying that sometimes doing nothing is good!  If I hadn't just sat there behind the electronics and glared balefully at the ports for a while, I never would never have known that I had the right connections!  Doing nothing for 30 seconds (a really long time to sit sometimes) worked.  Just sitting there solved my problem.

After that success, I sat down in my TV chair to listen to the speakers.  It was sightly fuzzy and minutely out of synch.  So I studied the Samsung manual.  I had already set it to "external speakers" so that I would know if the cable connection were working.  But I found that I had both the TV internal speakers AND the external stereo speakers on.  I shut off the TV speakers.  Much better.

But the speakers weren't balanced, so I went to the Pioneer tuner to adjust the balance between the 2 speakers.  The left speaker is a little further away from my chair than the right speaker.  Guess what?  There is no speaker balance on the Pioneer tuner.  WHAT?  Well, apparently you can download an app to do that.  Great, I don't have a smartphone...

There ARE ways though to adjust balance.  I moved the left speaker forward a couple feet and angled the right speaker away slightly.  I tested it by closing my eyes and aiming my head at the balanced sound point (try it, it works).  When I was off the center of the TV, I adjusted them again and again.  I have it balanced pretty good now, but it looks a little odd.  I'd rather have a speaker balancer.

The Pioneer manual says I could balance the speakers and have other controls I would like using the remote control.  I wish I had it.  I searched the house for 2 hours looking for it.  I know where I would normally keep it.  It wasn't there.  Nor in any other spot I could thing of.  I may have to buy a replacement.  Mainly because I change the volume a lot as I move from the TV room to the kitchen (where I can still see the TV as I prepare food), and back.  Adjusting the volume manually on the stereo is a bit annoying.

Want to bet that the day I receive a replacement remote control for the Pioneer tumner, I find the ols one within a week?  LOL!

BUT, the point is that I figured out all the connections, they work, and I understand the system right now. 

This is a MAJOR SUCCESS in a lifelong battle with electronics.

Reality TV

All the "reality" shows on TV are utterly fake in my opinion.

But I have a particular dislike for Survivorman (a TV series).   *I* personally consider it all fake.  The first episode (years ago), Survivorman made a big deal out of how he was completely alone.  Then, in that episode, he walked down a path through the woods AND THE CAMERA FOLLOWED HIM!  Think about that... 

I was in a human prehistory discussion group at the time.   Another early episode had him "desperate" to make a hole in 6" ice (to catch a fish for food) but unsuccessful.  We immediately came up with 6 different ways to do that.  And then suddenly a new person joined the discussion, defending Survivorman against every example of apparent falseness.  After a couple days, the site administrator posted that he had tracked the new member's IP address and (wait for it), it was Survivorman's address!!!  

I only mention that to say this...  After some (14?) years of Survivorman, the reality there is no greater.  I saw the teaser ad for the new season and I laughed my ass off.  I actually had to pay attention to it several times to be sure.

The teaser ad shows Survivorman cutting a sapling trunk into a sharp spear point.  Then you see him standing in the water (with a VERY FIERCE expression) waiting to stab a fish for his dinner.  That's OK so far as it goes.  If you spear a fish with a good upwards movement, the fish will stay on the spear.

Except...  The point of his wooden spear looks bent over!  Seriously, it looks like he pounded the point on the ground a few times OR it was deliberately bent to look like a barb.  But it won't work either way.  Essentially, Survivorman is standing in the water threatening to jab a fish with the eraser end of a pencil, LOL!  The fishes scales will block THAT everytime.  

If you want to see actual sensible survivor skills without hyped drama, try http://aloneinthewilderness.com/.  It's about a guy who simply lived in remote Alaska for some time and succeded in the daily tasks required to get by.

THAT guy was real.

Its available in several versions at Amazon.  Just don't accidentally order the Survivorman title of a similar name.  Its not the one I'm recommending.