Baseball

I've never been one to sit and watch sports on TV.  When I was younger and more active, I would always rather play than watch, and now that my joints creak a bit, I generally neither play nor watch.  The local professional teams have always had a habit of folding when the going got tough, which is frustrating to watch.

But the Washington Nationals baseball team has been doing really well this year and they have a tendency to WIN those tough close games at the end, so I've gotten a bit more into a watching habit.  It also helps that they play most of their games at night just as I'm sitting down to dinner (when I'm going to watch "some" TV anyway).

They've won 7 games in a row, something like the last 6 of 7 games have been won by 1 run late in the game, and the last 3 games were "walk-offs" (which I think means that, as the home team, they score the winning run in the bottom of the 9th inning and don't even have to complete the inning).  So they just "walk off" the field in the middle of the last inning.

And their fielding is a delight to watch.  They make plays I never even heard of a decade ago.  Say there are runners on 1st and 2nd base.  The batter hits a ball to the 1st baseman.  Traditionally, the 1st baseman would just run to 1st base with the ball and force 1 out there while the runners advanced.  But no, the 1st baseman throws to 3rd, who throws back to first and its a double play!  I even saw a double play from a ball that went into the outfield!

I'm amazed!  And a fan who is becoming more knowledgeable with each game I watch.

Attic Work

I'm been negotiating with an insulation company for several weeks.  It's not that I'm trying to drag things out or trying to get them down a dollar at a time, but each quote they send has either some errors or descriptions of work that need some further explanation.

Well, for example, I have part of the center of the attic covered with plywood flooring.  The complany is focussed on the insulation gains, so they proposed to remove the flooring.  They just want to fill the entire attic 2' deep in blown-in insulation.  And they wanted $100s of dollars just to remove the plywood.  So I replied that I would remove the plywood myself and that if I decided to replace it after they were gone, that was none of their concern. 

There were also some questions about access to the basement framed paneling.  The cavities between the cinderblock wall foundation and the paneling covering the 2"x4" framing need blown-in insulation.  They wanted to do that for about $1,900 "along the entire perimeter of the basement".  The paneling is only along 1/3 of the basement.  That sort of thing...

And part of their cost was moving the many many boxes I've saved.  The boxes are just in the way of their work (and I understand that).  There was about $500 involved in that work. 

Well, I've saved boxes all my life.  It's practical.  As I used to move from apartment to apartment when I was younger, it was really useful to save the packing boxes for all the various stereo and minor appliances.  What better packing for stereo equipment is there than the original boxes and styrofoam shapes?  And good sturdy boxes are always useful for packing "stuff"!  I mean, I always expected to move "someday".

But I've decided that I'm not going to move anytime soon, and when that day does come, I can afford to just buy matching moving boxes.  So I didn't need the ones I had (except for a few recent product boxes I'll keep).  So I started tossing attic boxes down the stairway. 

 It was enlightening!  I had a box for the Commodore 128 I brought with me here 28 years ago.  I cracked up seeing it.  That computer is SO long-gone!  Seriously, for those of you who have never heard of it, it was 128K memory.  But you COULD actually do things on it.  I wrote letters, learned spreadsheets, and played some rather interesting games on it.  The best part was that the programs for the Commodore games were so simple, you could buy codebreaker programs to copy them for friends (and if you learned Fortran and Basic, you could even improve them.  But I digress...

So I had all these boxes down the stairs (and more remaining in the attic.  I spent an hour pulling the styrofoam and bubble wrap out of the boxes.  The cardboard boxes are recyclable, the styrofoam (generically, polystyrene) is not.  So my game for the day was to fit the small boxes into the middle-sized boxes, and those into the larger boxes.  Then fitting them into the Highlander SUV.  Packing is a fun game.

I needed 2 trips to the recycling center Friday to get rid of most of the boxes, and one trip bringing all the styrofoam to the associated landfill.  And I really tried to find a place to recycle the styrofoam.  The nearest place was 100 miles away.  Apparently, styrofoam is dirt-cheap to make, buly to transport, and to energy-expensive to bother to melt down for reuse locally unless you live next to a styrofoam-producer.  Sad but true.

Unfortunately, I had to make the styrofoam disposal trip twice.  The landfill closes at 5PM.  I left on a 15 minute drive there at 4 PM Friday.  But there was an accident right at the intersection leading to the landfill.  I sat in traffic for 45 minutes and only got to the landfill 5 minutes too late.

I made a second trip Saturday and got rid of all of it. (and some odd old items, and a few boxes full of styrofoam "peanuts").


But it was worth it.  Only 6 boxes left in the attic (all old Christmas decorations I insist on saving).  I'll just bring them downstairs temporarily for the insulation work.

At least it was some productive work!

Deck Box Again, Part 2

Well, I changed plans and saw I needed about 6" more soil.   I raked the poor soil level level and used 4 wheelbarrows full from the existing garden out back.  The lawn-level digging at the sunken patio edge will wait another day ( have a tiller and think that is needed for the patio drainage problem).

So I took care of the deck framed bed.  This morning.  After staying up all night...  I'm crazy sometimes.

When I had it filled a bit more, I planted.  I had a flat of impatiens and a flat of coleus (about 36 each).  And a lot of the coleus were doubles.  So I teased the coleus apart and planted them at one end and all the impatiens at the other.  I don't expect much from them, they only have 3 months to grow.  But I had them (from seed) since February, and I figured they deserved a chance to grow.  Next year, the whole bed will be hostas moved from the front yard so the deer won't eat them.

So the impatiens and coleus are just for this year.

Coleus...

Dwarf Hostas...

Impatiens...

 Looking at the bed...

The hostas along the other side of the patio.  When the deck-builders came in late June, I had one old hosta in the way, so I divided it into about 12 pieces.  I bet they all survive and thrive!

And as they grow, I will divide them more and fill the entire under-stair area with them.  They aren't fancy ones, but they will fill up all the under-stairs in a few years.

And a nice thing I thought of...  Each winter, the wind blows tree leaves into the patio and I am forever shoveling them back out.  Well, now all I have to do is shovel them onto the hosta beds.  Decaying leaves are like fertilizer to the hostas.

Deck Box Again

Well I got back to the deck box yesterday afternnoon.

Today's work was to dig out the soil at the high end and move it to the lower end.  I have to appreciate the heavy rain that fell Tuesday, because the soil was finally softened and digable.

It's been awkward digging under the bottom of the deck.  But I had a great idea.  I stood on the sunken patio and dug at waist level into the framed soil.  It went GREAT!  Very little lifting and easy tossing to the low side.  I was able to move the poor existing soil evenly throughout the framed bed.

That left 4" of better soil to add.  Well, I have soil in the old garden area I need to move in order to build new framed beds.  So there was some digging and wheelbarrow transfer involved for several trips.  I filled the deck bed about halfway to filled with garden soil, and raked it smooth.

Since it is going to be a hosta bed (and they don't love REALLY rich soil), I'm going to solve two problems at once!

Remember from yesterday when I mentioned the lawn was too high for the sunken patio to drain well? Well, I'm going to fill up the rest of the deck bed with soil above the edge of the patio.  They are right in the same place.  There is no grass there at the patio edge (too much foot traffic and water), so it can go right in.  Hurray!

I LOVE solving two problems with one action!

Rain, Good And Bad

Well, we got some heavy rain here Tuesday.  Almost 3" all day, but almost all of it in 1 hour.

I'm not going to complain bout it much.  I needed some rain.  It hasn't been as dry as in some years when the soil cracked open, but on the other hand, the soil surface and grass was dry this afternoon, so I mowed the lawn.  Other places got more rain though, and not the kind that would just get soaked up by the lawn.  Places in Maryland got 9-10", and In New York, it got up to 14".  I saw pictures on TV of cars floating around in streets and parking lots.  So it could have been a LOT worse here.

Still, I had some problems with water getting into the basement, and I thought I had solved that with the extra-large raingutters installed 2 years ago and a drainage ditch I dug from the sunken patio.  The sunken patio has been a problem for a decade at least.  It properly slopes slightly away from the house.  The water that collects at the lower end for a day or 2 is a minor (but annoying) problem.

It's the fact that the lawn level has raised over the years that really creates the problem.  Grass grows, I mow it, the clippings become topsoil, etc.  Well, that's why praries have dozens of feet of topsoil.   I need to lower the lawn level at the edge of the deck, but that is back-breaking work and I keep avoiding it.

Instead, I dig a drainage ditch.  3"wide, 3" deep, and the lawn slopes downhill from the patio, so it works great.  It can drain off even the heaviest rain.  The problem?  Soil moves.  The ditch slowly fills in very slowly and I never notice when it is QUITE not capable of handling the occasionally heavy rainfall.  So I have to run out in the downpour and rescrape the ditch with the grubhoe deep enough to drain the patio.

But I had an additional surprise this time!  The raingutters ARE working just fine.  But, apparently, the soil level raised just enough this Summer to direct the outflow back toward the patio instead of out into the downslope lawn.

I'm generally an optimist (though maybe not a rational one).  I always expect things I fix to STAY fixed.  To show the flaw in that, I also expect weeded areas of the garden to STAY weedless, repaired cars to STAY working, and structures I build to stay standing.  Obviously, there is a flaw in my expectations.

So when I dig a ditch to drain rainfall away from the patio, I expect it to STAY a ditch...  Even though I'm the smartest person in the house, I have some errors in my assumptions.

So I'm going to fix this rainfall-in-the-basement problem once and for all!  I'm going to build a sealed 1' dike in front of my basement!  Just kidding... 

Seriously, I'm going to lower the lawn level 3" below the edge of the patio/lawn.  I will dig a 1' deep trench along that edge and toward the downslope lawn, and I will install perforated drainage pipe buried in sand and landscaping fabric (however it is recommended).  And I will attach a 4'  extension to the existing downspout to get the rainfall from the roof away from the patio.

Drainage pipe...

Gutter extention...

 

Deck Box, Part 2

One of the nice things about just posting pictures of projects is that the mistakes don't show up much.  But there always are some.  For example...

The tall framed part at the lower end had 2 metal rods pounded down through holes I drilled.  It worked well.  However, when I went to attach the first of the long boards along the side, I discovered a surprise.  Attaching "2x" boards (which are actually only 1.5") usually requires 3" screws.  Well, when I put the first one in, it went about 2" and stopped dead (actually stripping the hole).  Baffled, I stopped and looked at it for a couple minutes. 

 Oh no!  I had placed the metal rod too close to the end of the board and the screw was reaching it.  I measured carefully and decided a 2.25" screw wouldn't reach the metal rod.  Not as much holding power, so I used extras.  And exterior wood adhesive.  If that doesn't hold, I'll have to fashion an angled metal fastener on the outside of the corner to reinforce it.  Which will remind me of my error forever, LOL!

You can JUST see the little dot of the metal bar on the top right of  the picture.  All I had to do was drill the holes 1" further from the end of the boards... 

But I did make some more progress on the box today.  The box has existing soil level at the high end and none at the bottom.  Since the soil is poor, I decided to dig it deeper at the top and move it to the lower end.  That will leave me with about 6" to fill with better soil, and the hostas I intend to plant there don't have deep roots, so that should work fine.

Unfortunately, that poor soil is also rock-hard.  So I soaked the upper soil for an hour (yesterday) and attacked it today with my leverage fork.  What fun!  It was both still hard AND muddy.  I was able to dig up about 4" of it and move it to the lower area, but what a MESS!  And I need to do more digging tomorrow.  No point in leaving bad soil near the surface.

 Then I can fill it with topsoil  and plant some leftover annual coleus and impatiens there for what's left of this season.  I'll move the hostas from the front to this new box in October when the annuals die back.

Then I can get back to that chicken-wire garden enclosure to use next year.

That Deck Box

First, just want to say the pictures may not match up to the paragraphs.  I didn't do a good job taking pictures as I went along the work.  But enjoy them anyway.

Wow, I never did so much "Grub Hoe Trenching" before!  The guys who had to dig the 2' wide and 2' deep holes for the deck posts complained about the hard soil (and they had power tools) and now I sure understand why!  The stuff around the deck is hard rock and clay.  Even with a pick and grub hoe, it was murderous just making a 3" wide trench for the boards to sit in!

To make things worse, I found that the cinder block wall around the patio is neither level compared to the house AND not level to the yard.  That made constructing the frame enclosing the area level in both ways impossible.  I did get real close...

So I did the best I could, attaching boards to the new deck posts, and keeping the long way boards as level as I could.  Tricky, when nothing is flat, level or square to the house or the deck posts.  And don't worry, all the bottoms of the boards will be "just" covered in soil outside in the lawn direction and perfectly level inside.

The good part is that the top boards are relatively level because I gave a lot of care to making sure the bottom boards were level.  But that still made me fight a bit to get the top boards level. 

The problem with DIY home projects is that you seldom do them twice, so you don't learn a whole lot that is useful from one project to the next.  My biggest surprise was discovering that the metal rods I pounded through the holes I drilled in the very bottom boards were too close to the edges(you csn see the little dots on the first 2 pictures).  My 3" exterior screws hit them before they were fully in.   ARGGHHH!  I had to find a bunch of 2 1/4" screws to use.  I'll probably never have that situation again OR it will happen again so long in the future that I will forget!

Hopefully, using the exterior wood adhesive and several more shorter wood screws will solve the problem.   Still, those kinds of surprises are maddening.  Guys who build decks every day KNOW to avoid those kinds of errors.  I only discover them ONCE!

But it was solved and I went forwards and upwards.  I did underestimate how much trench-digging I had to do.  Using a grub hoe around the twine line-marker and underneath the "just-low-enough-deck to hit my head on if I stood upright was more not-fun stuff.  I banged my head more than once just standing up (and I even checked the height most times).   It was actually safer (if harder) to use the grub hoe while kneeling. 

That mailbox you see is for storing hose nozzles.  Very useful for not losing track of them.  I have another out in the garden for small hand tools (pruners, trowels, etc).

Finally, I reached the last board at the top of the slope!  And discovered I had to bury it.  Well, I knew the soil sloped down along the cinder block wall, but I hadn't noticed that it also sloped UP from it.  I mean, you stand around and a few inches of sloping are not all that noticable.  Well, it IS when you are down at ground level with a 3' bubble level tool!

And that soil was the part the deck guys complained about be "undiggable" (and they had power equipment).  So there I was kneeling awkwardly on the ground hacking away at the rocks and hard clay to make the last 6' board level and even at the top with the previous one.  That one last board took an HOUR to get both level AND matching the previous board. 

I was drenched with sweat enough so the cats kept kept their distance, but I finally got that last board in place ans screwed in.

Sometimes I don't understand WHY I do this stuff.    It's just for me (and you in pictures).  I blame my Dad.  He taught me to DO stuff, and I don't really know how to stop.  I just feel "right" when I'm doing "something".  Sometimes I think I do a lot more "stuff" than he did.  LOL!

But it's better than sitting around watching bad TV.

Tomorrow, I will use my leverage fork to dig up the soil higher than the boards and move it down to the empty space.  That will leave some space for better soil and some compost to bring it all up level with the wood framing.  I have 2 flats of annual coleus and impatiens dying to the planted there.  Well, I had expected to have this frame built a month ago.  Still, I'm sure they will be happy. 

Next Spring, I will be moving most of the front yard hostas to this space.  That will save them from being eaten by the local deer (and I am contemplating venison steaks this Fall in revenge).

But this project HAS taught me the methods that I need to dig some shallow trenches and construction needed for the new framed beds and upright chicken-wire structure for my major garden.  I'll finally get at that September 1st. 

It never ends, and I'm glad it doesn't...  And there are more projects on my list...  The good news is that I could do this again better and in half the time. 

Writing Process Blog Tour

Well I was sure surprised to discover the Mews had nominated ME for the next Writing Tour Blog Post.  I USUALLY know what they are doing, but I DO get caught off guard once in a while.

So, apparently, I have to answer 3 questions and nominate some other blogs to carry it forward.  OH, I see, they didn't want to find other blogs to nominate...  Typical of them.

1) What are we working on? Well, aside from my own blog (which tends to get a political as elections draw nearer), I am getting back to writing some prehistoric "Just So" stories a la Kipling.  I enjoy that.  Not much competition there.  Like writing about the discovery of gold, arrows, farming, taming horses, etc.  I wrote a quick one about recognizing the first constellations just a few days ago. 

Its nothing meaningful.  I'm not much into character development, though I think I did a decent job of that in 'Gold'.  Wrote a few shorts about cats.  But I'm mostly trying to get back to the "Just So" stories.  Those are fun to write.

My own blog is sporadic.  I write when I feel like it, but mostly spend my time fixing up the Mews' blog so their thoughts are readable.

2) Why do we write what we do?  I write because I HAVE to.  Too many thoughts and too few close friends to inflict them on.  I have a few ways to go in my writing.

A.  I could write about what I dream, and those are pretty odd sometimes, but whole tales.  I dream well and wake up often, so I recall them.  I'm not sure what people would think, though, and it would be a bit stream-of-conciousness.  Fortunately, my dreams aren't about monsters, or embarrassing situations.  I would need a recorder at the bed for them to get the good details

B.  I could write about the cats.  But I suppose I'm already doing that (though they might disagree).  Or I could write about family.  I would have to disguise that severely.  That might not be too hard; I doubt anyone in my family would WANT to claim I was writing about them.

C.  I could write some sci-fi.  I've sure read enough, and I keep up with current science.  How hard could it be to use "dark energy" since no one knows what it is?  LOL!  Just a few days ago, I wtched a BBC production about aliens attacking the Earth (similar to but not quite 'War of the Worlds' and also vaguely like WWI.  And my main thought was "I could do THAT" (and better).

Like many of us, I think there is a book in me just waiting to come out.  But I'm more a short story person.  But every time I think of writing anything, I think of 'The Star' by Arthur Clarke and know I can't beat THAT!

3) How does our writing process work? I write because I must.  If I didn't write, I would just implode.  Did you ever watch the movie 'Conagher'?  At one point Evie is attaching short notes to tumbleweeds to drift out into the plains to express her loneliness and says (something like) if I don't write, I shall just die.  I feel like that sometimes.

I really do feel like that sometimes.  I can't NOT write.  Whether poorly, inconsequentially, or ignored, I just have to send my thoughts out into the world.  It's not for the cats, it's for me.  I just HAVE to.

Well, so HOW do I write?  All at once mostly.  I get an idea and go with it.  I don't have a plan.  I seldom even have an ending in mind.  I just start writing with an idea and see where my thoughts take me.  Characters develop in ways I don't expect and they surprise me.  Plots twist.  Directions change.  And all AS I am writing,  Sometimes it is great.  Mostly it sucks.  I've deleted a WHOLE lot more than I have ever kept.  Most of what I write is terrible and makes little sense after I re-read it.  I pound my keyboard hard.  I have to buy a new one every few months.  Well, I get THAT excited when I have a good idea.

But sometimes I write something I like to read myself and that is all that matters.   I forget who said he liked to write stories he would like to read, but I'm like that.  Heinlein, Asimov?  Not that I'm remotely close, but I just mean I understand.

The best sentence I ever wrote was "And died" (it makes sense in context).  I worked days over that one, clarifying a thought from several sentences down to 2 words (a rare editing on my part).
 **************
And now I must nominate 3 blogs to move things along.  And they should be cat blogs (or related to cat blogs.)

I nominate (without checking first)...

1.  Katie Isabella

2.  Herman's Hideaway

3.  Ramblingon

All some of the best writing I admire...  Maybe I had best warn them.

Political Views

I don't consider myself "liberal".  To me that means you consider that one can do anything they want (similar to Libertarian).  I think of myself more as "progressive".  I hesitate to use the word "believe" because that suggests things accepted without facts.  Let's just says I "think" some things based on evidence.

There are many issues in politics today.  When you get down to the basics, the disagreements are mostly about the role of government.  I think that government is a positive thing. 

Federalist Paper #1 said "It has been frequently remarked, that it seems to have been reserved to the people of this country, by their conduct and example, to decide the important question, whether societies of men are really capable or not, of establishing good government from reflection and choice, or whether they are forever destined to depend, for their political constitutions, on accident and force".

Therefore, representative government itself is a positive good.  We have good roads, and government efforts have created those.  We have an educated population and government-created public schools have done that.  We have government regulations to keep unscrupulous and greedy people in check. 

So Government is a generally positive benefit to society.  Some people disagree.  I disagree with them.  I positively WANT an active government to coordinate the improvement of life for all the populace.  That's what governance IS!  Governance is NOT trying to kill all actions, stopping all improvements to life, or just saying "NO" everday to managing the nations affairs.

The progress of society has been from Kings to Representative Democracy (my apologies to the utopian Karl Marx).  The more representative governance is, the better.

If I "believe" in anything, it is actively beneficial governance for all.

A Little Political Humor

I'm a bit of a political nerd, so I hope these make sense (and I like VP Biden a lot)...


If VP Joe Biden became President in 2016...

1.  "Air Force One" would be a train.  To Delaware.
2.  Late night comedians would surge in the Neilson Ratings.  Joe is a constant source of gaffes.
3.  His White House Security name would be "VEEP".
4.  He would be conciliatory; he likes both chocolate AND vanilla ice cream on his cones.
5.  The official White House drink would be a non-tini (Joe doesn't drink alcohol).
6.  New national food craze - PASTA.  Joe loves pasta.
7.  Hillary appointed New York State dog-catcher.
8.  Then appointed Supreme Court Chief Justice (because Joe is a Nice Guy).
9.  National Capital moved to Wilmington Delaware ("Weekly Air Force One Train transporatation costs too high, says POTUS Biden").
10. Republicans announce support for Biden, "he's Our Kind Of Guy - white, male, and old" they declare.
11.  Southern Republicans go step further, "He's darn near a 'good ole boy' they say".
12.  Political partisanship ends, criminals reform, cancer is cured, Mars colony established, Al Gore retroactively recognized as 43rd President.  Bill Clinton resigns as VP to make room for Gore.
13 Vulcans arrive and invite Earth to join the Federation.  Bill Clinton elected World Representative.  Putin reduced to attacking neighboring nations in Risk Tournaments only.  Republicans disband party...

Next Project, Part 2

Made some progress on framing in the area around the sunken patio wall and deck posts the past to days.  It's a bit awkward using just the deck leftovers, but I think I have them arranged so that I don't have to dig really deep trenches to set the boards into the ground.

The lower end needs a 2"x12" board and a 2"x10" board to reach the top on the cinder block wall, but the far end is almost level with the wall, so I only need a 2"x4" board.  The in-between part will have a couple of stacked boards to complete the frame and make it level on the top of the boards.  And I can attach those directly to the deck posts, so it will be very sturdy.

I had some problems figuring out how to attach the lower end boards firmly, until I thought of drilling holes down the width at both ends.  I can put a 3' remesh bar through both and pound them into the ground with a sledgehammer.  That will have the remesh bars 1' into the ground.  Plus I will use some exterior caulking cement to attach the boards to the cinder block for some extra stability.  It's not epoxy or resin, just like really thick toothpaste.  I'm not sure what that stuff is actually called, but I've used it before to attach wood and cinder block in the basement and it holds like bolts!

Drilling the holes through the width of the 12 and 10" boards took 2 hours today!  Fortunately, I have a large drill press (generic image).  With some clamps and a speed square, I was able to get most on the holes drilled straight. 

But it won't go all the way through a 12' board (8" depth only).  So I had to finish the drilling manually.  Fortunately, having the 8 inch holes drilled straight allowed me to use a manual drill for the rest.  The drilled holes allowed me to stay straight for the final work.  But I couldn't have done THAT without the extra long drill bit.

I bought a 6-piece set of extra long drill bits many years ago thinking "I'll need those some day".  They're not the best quality either.  Not titanium or even high-speed steel, but how often do you need something like those?  So they were cheap and they work well enough.  Just using a couple of the cheap drill bits a couple of times has been well worth the cost.

It took some work though!  Every inch deep, I had to pull the drill bit out and remove sawdust packed in the drill spirals.  Could I have simply turned the boards over on the drill press and drilled from both sides?  Yeah.  But experience has taught me that no matter how carefully you measure, holes drilled from 2 sides will NEVER meet in the middle.  Sad but true.  You need factory precision tools to do that.

But that part is now done.  Tomorrow, I will attach the bottom pieces by pounding rebar through the holes and gluing the ends to the cinder block.  Then it will be a lot easier to trench the long side boards and attach them to the deck posts.

Filling in the framed box will be easy.  Why?  Well, the yard is made of dirt; I can steal it from almost anywhere, LOL!  I'm going to move the front yard hostas to the new box, and hostas don't even LIKE really good soil.

One interesting thing is that the hostas will be almost at eye level when I'm out on the sunken patio.  I used to park at a city garage that had an arrangement like that, and it was really different seeing the plants that way.  It was always calming.  So I'm hoping for the same effect here.

Surprise discovery...  The new deck posts are set precisely 14' away from the house.  But the distance from the sunken patio cinder block wall varies by 6".  The cinder block wall is NOT square to the house!  Every project I do reminds me that the builder did a slipshod job in all aspects.  So the framed box is not going to be a nice rectangle. 

But it was either make the framed box a 90 degree rectangle (in which case the deck posts would have been variably farther inside the frame, or use the deck posts as the guide for the frame and the frame gets 6" narrower toward the high end.  I decided that using the deck posts as a guide made a more logical appearance.

If any of my friends ever decide to measure it, I will rap their knuckles with a ruler!  LOL!

Some notes from the first picture...  1) At the far side of the sunken patio, there are some hostas already planted.  I had one common green hosta planted near the old deck stairs for 20 years and it spread some.  I was able to divide it into 12 pieces and transplanted them there.  All seem to be recovering well in that really terrible clay soil.  Well, its what they were growing in before, so I assume they liked it. 

2) That object in the upper right is a mailbox.  Of course, I don't get my mail delivered in the back yard.  But it makes a great place to store all my various garden hose nozzles and plumbers tape*.  I have another out in the garden where I store all my small hand tools.  Great idea to keep track of small items...

* Plumbers tape is thin plastic that wraps around the threads of hoses and attachments.


 It does a great job of stopping water leaks around hose and nozzle connections.  Leaky connections?  Give it a try.  $1 at most hardware stores.

Energy Reduction Quote

I received the company's fixed price quote today.  Interesting reading...  I have some questions about some of their measurements and proposed actions.  They want to meet with me personally to discuss the proposal, but I prefer to do it by email.

I always prefer to take company salespeople out of their comfort zone (talking a lot off the record).  Responding to email questions, they have to answer the questions and I have the email to read and re-read a few times to make sure I see what they are evading (if anything).  And it gives me time to consider more questions.

For example, I've noticed they over-estimated my current annual bill by 20% (and I showed them my last 12 month bills),  they overestimated my "conditioned" (meaning heated and cooled) residential square footage (added in my unheated garage as a "conditioned" area), added an extra exhaust fan to be sealed, etc.

So I will compose a list of questions for them to answer.  They should be pleased.  Their salesperson is 30 minuted away from me and planned a 30 minute visit to explain the quote.  I'm helping them do it in about 10 minutes.  Yes, I'm being a bit sarcastic...  I was a salesman once and know the value of talking face-to-face, sliding around questions, and not have anything in writing except the actual contract (with all the fine print).

Mostly, I know what works for ME.  I bought my last car by email, and it sure saved me a lot of time AND money.  No sitting around while the salesman pretends to "see if I can get the Manager to go for this low deal".  And with everything in writing, there were no "little surprise add-ons" afterwards.  I got the car for $500 above the dealers actually cost (according to the Consumer Reports Car Report I bought for $12).  And the car will be 10 years old In October.  So I like negotiating at a distance.

Back to the energy savings quote...  The total quote is for $5100 (with a $2000 subsidy from my electrical supplier bringing it to $3100).  The estimated savings is about 30% (in line with what I've found at seemingly neutral internet sites about such projects.  My last year energy cost was almost $3000, so that means  $900 per year and a payback of just under 3.5 years.  And that's assuming energy costs don't rise (and they will) so it will be closer to a 3 year payback.

After I get them to make some reductions in their quote, and given their Angieslist "A" rating on both quality of work AND price, I think I will just have them do the work without getting competitive bids.  And there are a few smaller cost-effective things I can do myself...

28 Year Old House Renovation Plans

I've sure been doin some research and talking to contractors (and checking with subsidy programs from my electrical supplier lately)!  I have pages of notes.  And I am darn near worn out just trying to combine all the possibilities.

The various contractors all promise 30% energy use reductions in just a few years.  Well, if I believed them all, I wouldn't be paying ANYTHING for electricity or water in just 3 years.  R I I G H T !

The electrical supplier site suggests I can reduce my bill 30-50% with 5-8 year paybacks.  The Govt  sites say about the same.  Those seem more reasonable and trustable.  So I could save $1,000-$1500 per year by spending $8,000 now.  Seems reasonable.

The best savings seem to come from...

1.  Attic blown insulation (gaining from R-12 to R-49).
2.  Attic baffles directing outside soffit heat to the roof vent.
3.  Basement blown insulation.
4.  Expanding/Sealant around the the attic and basement edges.
5.  Having the ducts scraped clean to improve air flow.
6.  Installing a low blow attic fan.
7.  Having the existing heat pump tuned.

An almost none of that was what I expected when I started to investigate this.  I thought it would be all new triple-pane windows and door weatherstripping!

I've learned otherwise...  Its all about proper insulation.  The standard batted stuff is crap.  It never fits tightly, and it never does the job.  But it is cheap for the builders and looks good.

My house is totally electric.  The average bill is $220 per month.  Which isn't horrible.  But if I stay here 10 years (and I probably will), I could save a few thousand $ in some simple ways.  Items 1-4 +6 seem like the way to go for me. 

But I'm still having a few geothermal companies come by for estimates.  That could save LOTS in 20 years.  More a selling point than an advantage I will see.  But I may stay here long enough, so who knows?  And I like the idea, personally and ideologically.

Thursday 13

You Are In Late Middle Age When...

1.  You go out to call all the cats in at dusk and they line up at the deck door.  From INSIDE!

2.  You read a comic strip about twerking and your not quite sure what they are talking about.

3.  You research something on the internet and you realize you are following links in a circle after seeing the same one a third time.

4.  The Houdini wine bottle cork screw remover "works" but you have to take the cork off the screw manually.

5.  You side with all the middle-aged comic strip characters and only "sort of" get the joke.

6.  You don't listen to your old CDs any more.  The songs are all earworms anyway.

7.  You get out of bed in the morning wondering which joint will "feel odd" when your feet hit the floor.

8.  You go to bed not because you are tired, but because you are bored.

9.  You buy some sports thing because "I used to do that".

10. You keep product boxes in the attic because you might move and they would be perfect for packing those things up.  And you threw those products away 10 years ago.

11. You haven't gone out to celebrate New Years Eve because, well, who wants to stay up that late, really?

12. Conversely, you decide that celebrating New Years Morning really makes more sense.

13. You make lists about being Late Middle Aged...

Next Project

I haven't forgotten about the chicken wire garden enclosure, but I'm trying to find a rentable trencher machine to do the hard work.  Now rush now; its late in the garden season, so anything I built will be for next year.  And I've adjusted so  that I have some veggies growing in the flowerbed areas usually reserved for flowers. 

I'm calling it a semi-lost season.  I do have some nice tomatoes growing.

And I dug out an old flowerbed where nothing much was growing to plant cukes and flat italian beans.  I've stuck 4 bell peppers around too.  I'll get by this year.

But since I have to wait a week for the quote of the house air leakage job, I'm on to a new project that I can do fast.

The sunken patio has walls (duh, "sunken") but the lawn slopes sideways to it.  And the new deck posts are 3' beyond the patio walls.  Looks like a great place to plant shade-loving plants if I frame it so that it is leveled.

That's one reason I took pieces of "junk" deck wood aside.  There are 3' pieces of 2"x12" boards which can frame the lowest end and 2"x6" boards that will work the long ways.  Don't worry about the details, just accept it means I can box a sloped area with free leftovers.

And since the deer have discovered my front yard hostas (after almost 10 years) and eaten all the leaves, it is time to change them out for deer-resistant plants (and I have a perfect one - more below).  So where do the front yard hostas go?  Well, in the new framed area I am making, shaded by the deck of course!  Every problem has an elegant solution waiting to be discovered.

The front yard box will become Snow On The Mountain (a variegated 12" tall foliage groundcover that loves shade) and daffodils (neither of which deer eat).  The hostas will be moved to the back yard which has a 6' fence the local deer have never jumped over.

Pictures later as I assemble the framed bed and move the hostas.

Always try to do something useful every day...

My House Is Leaky

I mentioned Friday that I had an energy inspector visit to see if I had sufficient problems to justify my electrical supplier subsidizing a further more detailed test  surprise, surprise, I did).  So a guy came by today to do a "negative air blower test" and examine all the rooms with an infrared camera to identify hotspots.

The air blower test was neat.  He opened the front door, sealed the opening, and turned on a large fan to pull air in from outside the house.  The pressure difference inside shows how much leakage there is.

While that was going on, he went from room to room taking pictures (I assume) to show where the hotspots were as outside air was being pulled into the house through gaps.  He showed me the camera display, and I have to admit there were many places that quickly got hotter in the places that one should expect.

I will be getting a fixed quote from the company in about a week.  From what the initial inspector suggested, the usual fixes are baffles in the attic that direct outside air from the roof soffits up to the roof ridge vent, additional blown-in insulation, expanding foam sealant around attic and basement beams and vent pipes.  The quote should also have a secondary section of things I can do or arrange myself (and that they will do if I choose) like an attic exhaust fan, new water heater.

I think this is all legitimate, though it isn't the kinds of things I can verify myself.  The company is part of an energy savings program sponsored (and subsidized) by my electrical supplier, they have a top rating on Angieslist, and the electrical supplier has previously advised me that I use more electricity than neighbors in similar houses.

I asked about window leakage (through the glass and around the frames).  He mentioned that the  EPA (Environmental Protection Agency for my non-US readers) has a list of most common energy losses.  They are in order; gaps, insufficient insulation, inefficient heating/airconditioning units, old water heaters, incandescent lights, windows, and large TVs.  I plan to replace the windows and old water heater anyway.  And he replaced (for free - subsidized by my electrical supplier) all my incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones.  I had already switched many fixtures to CFLs or LEDs where they stayed on for long times, but free ones for the rest was great.  There are even 3-way CFLs now.

He mentioned something else that really surprised me.  It is recommended by the EPA that 30% of the house air be replaced each hour, so even if they could seal the place up completely, it isn't healthy.  But 30% per hour?  WOW!  I would have guessed "per day".  Well, I guess that's why the house doesn't smell of cooked food and cat litter boxes all the time...

I plan to take the work proposal (to be received next week) to another highly rated company and ask for a similar quote.

One nice note...  Before the guy sealed the front door for the air pressure test, he pointed out that he could see light around the door (meaning leakage).  Well, I did know that myself and had put some weatherstrip along the outside of the door.  It was an odd kind that went on the frame outside the door, and I don't think it works very well.  I need the kind that goes between the door and the frame.

But the neat thing was that, when he assembled his door sealer for the air pressure test, he said that it should measure all the house leakage.  And I said "Well except for around that door".  He turned and looked at me, smiled, and said that I was the first homeowner he had met that had "caught" that. 

Well, I can't wait to see the work quote...

Computer Games - Risk

This will only make much sense if you play strategic computer games...

I'm either getting better at playing Risk (against real people, not the computer robots) or I am lucky.  Tonight, when I signed in, Pogo.com was offerring 2,000 free tokens (good for something, I'm sure - I'll have to look into that) for winning 2 games in 2 weeks.  That may seem easy, but with many obsessed players with multi-millions of points, that's hard for us more ocassional players.

But I'm willing to put my mind (game sense) against almost anyone (seriously, after a million points, how much better can anyone get?)

I needed to win 2 games in 2 weeks.  I played 4 games tonight and won 2!  I was stunned.  Thrilled too, but stunned.  The lowest rated player (other than me)  had 3 times my points.  Some of them had so many points you couldn't even read them because of the allowed space for their names.

So I had a really good night playing Risk.  Everyone should have a good day or night at SOMETHING, once in a while.

I'm not sure what to do with these tokens I've won.  I think you just make your displayed profile fancier.  I already have my avatar dressed in camo and an animated orange/white cat (Marley) licking his paws at my feet.  What could be better than that?  That's my life.

Maybe I can add more cats (Ayla and Iza).  And some background.  I bet they don't offer gardens as backgrounds.

I play Trivial Pursuit there too.  Kill it.  As long as it is not "Actors & Actresses".  I don't watch movies.

Should I try try out for 'Jeopardy'?

Interesting Day, Part 2

So after the "energy inspector" left yesterday, I had other things to do.

First, there was yet one more form to get notarized about Dad's death.  Dad had 4 investment accounts and life insurance (and 2 days retirement pay), which all required some forms (several of which needed bank manager legal signatures and stamps).  So I had all but the last one signed, copied and filed.  The last was just a Notary stamp, and I had the envelope all filled out (just needing the one last page stamped).

I got that, went straight to the post Office (they were all oversize envelopes of 6-10 pages, so I couldn't just stick an extra stamp on them).  OK, that's all done. 

I'm conflicted.  I don't need the money (I've been fortunate to have done well enough myself).  But I'm grateful to Dad for having accumulated it over his life and I appreciate my portion of his life's savings.  And he knew from our financial discussions over the years that I was doing well. 

So I'm going to increase my giving to charitable organization that I think help the world best.  I'm not naming specific ones, but world hunger, world medical treatments, and the general environment are high on my list.  And there will be a local cat no kill-shelter (Southern Maryland suggestions are invited).

After getting home, I planted leeks among the corn.  There's enough sunlight around the base of the corn for the leeks to thrive.  It was nice to get some dirt under my fingernails!  I have the corns planted about 8" apart in bins (its an experiment), but I figure the small space the leeks require won't bother the corn.  SCORE!

And then I wanted to get my garden mailbox re-installed.  I use 2 mailboxes in the yard to store small tools.  One is in the garden itself (for hand tools).  The other is at the deck for hose nozzles and attachments.  This one was the latter.  The old attachment had been poorly constructed and a bit off level.  I fixed that today, and attached it to the center post of the new deck absolutely level. SCORE!

They I decided to hang the niger thistle-seed finch-feeder from the center of the deck.  But there were 3 deck posts and only 2 long hangers.  So I need a third.  But I did have the 2 to install, so I did that.  And in honor of the new deck, I did it RIGHT!

I set one about balanced sideways on the post and clamped it loosely.  I have this neat tool that gives an analog dial red at any angle.  Old but accurate.  I clamped the hanger in about the center and level position, then measured it side to side.  I attached a screw at the bottom, then adjusted the position of the hanger to be level and clamped it tight.  Set in another screw at the top (pilot hole for accuracy and all that ease of screwing).  Perfect.  Now I just have to plant some appropriate flowers in the baskets to be hung. 

After THAT, I dug up weeds around the tomatoes and the bell peppers I planted.  They are all doing well.

By tht time, it was getting near dark out.  I called the cats in.  They get kibbles as treats when the come in when called.  Dinner was a smoked half steak sliced thin with carmelized onion, red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and crimini mushrooms (cheaper lately than regular white mushrooms), bean beans, tossed salad, and M/V potato.

Games

This was actually 3 days ago, but I have some posts scheduled and its just too confusing to go back and change the tenses of those.  So I'm writing this today in the present tense, but you are reading this a few days from now.  With that out of the way...

I play games of all sorts.  Board games, not people games.  And Dad taught me that there was no point in playing a game if you didn't try to win ("there's a reason you keep score", he said).  As the eldest child, Dad taught me a lot of card and board games.  He gave me no slack.  It was win or lose.  I respected that.  And it made me a good gameplayer.  I AM competitive.  Generally, I play to win. 

If you detect some guilt coming in here, you're right.

I was 20 by the time my youngest sister, Jennifer (deceased 2010 and sorely missed) started playing games herself.  I always won, but I showed her HOW I won, so she could learn (and she did) (which was more than I got from Dad).  You can ignore the father/son dynamics there...

And I still love to play games against people who are (or think they are) my equals (and a darn lot are better).  Otherwise you would be seeing me in chess or poker tournaments.

But, you know, lately I just don't care about winning so much.  Sometimes just playing is good enough, though I do try to win.  It's just that I'm not obsessive about it anymore.  Losing a game doesn't destroy my day.

So there I was at Pogo.com joining some games randomly (after staying up all night at them) and one game was doomed for me from the start because it was late in the game.  So the game ended and we started a new one.  Just 2 human players and 3 computer robots (who play quite well, BTW).  The routine is to kill of the Bots first, and the other guy agreed.  Something like this.


But then he turned the game over to his son (somewhere older than 12 and younger than 20 I would guess).  He was playing for a badge.  I know about the badges, but I don't pay any attention to earning them.  They just show up in my "space" sometimes. 

But this kid really wanted some particular badge and I was standing in his way.  He even attacked me before we killed the Bots. 

I felt for that kid.  I TRIED to lose.  Well, I didn't play suicidally, but I gave him every opportunity to win.  He got a winning position from his Dad.  And to be fair, I'm really good at comebacks.  Bit I really did try to let him win.  He didn't...  He even thanked me for the game.

So I feel like I failed by winning.

I didn't get a chance to explain to him how he lost (the games ends and all the players are gone).  If he learned anything from our game, I'll never know.

So my question.  Should I have tried harder to lose, or should I have tried harder to win faster?

I personally thrived in merciless competition, but some people don't.  So what do you think?

Interesting Day, Part 1

Some days are better than others, and today was a nice day.  Both productively and weather-wise.  But I'm talking about a sales visit today.

I got a cold call on home improvements yesterday, and I "never" respond to those.  But this one I did.  They offerred a free "energy inspection" (my verbal reply was "oh sure").  But they claimed to be operating under a program sponsored by my electrical company, the initial inspection was free as in "really free", and IF I decided to go with a full "energy audit" with real equipment tests, the cost was only $100 (because the other $300 of their costs are paid by the utility in hopes of reducing energy usage.

OK, I scheduled the initial visit for today.  Some people have trouble getting out of paying slowly increasing costs once a company "gets their foot in the door".  I'm not one of those people.  I love free inspections.  If a problem is found, then I go find a really professional company to do it again and if necessary, I get 3 bids to fix the problem.

So an energy inspector came by today.  She spent an hour poking around the basement and attic, asked me questions about known drafts and warm/cold rooms throughout the house.  Then she explained that (surprise, surprise), there were enough possible improvements to recommend a "negative air pressure test" and the various ways they could fix the energy leaks (depending on where the $100 audit found leaks.  Fortunately, I have some former professional experience with heating and ventilation practices, and the $100 cost (for me) was very reasonable. 

So I have the air pressure test scheduled for next week.  The air pressure test is familiar to me.  They open the front door, seal it with a powerful fan pulling air out of the house, and have air pressure gauges inside and out to see how much air gets pulled from outside into the house through air leaks.

So, after she left, I did some internet research to check the company, the methods, and the likely savings outcomes.  Angieslist gave them a high customer rating, the methods seem to be "good industry practice", and if my electrical supplier is subsidizing the work that seems like a decent recommendation too. 

And the electrical supplier subsidy is substantial.  They pay $300 of the total $400 cost for the detailed energy audit.  More importantly, they pay 50% of the first $4,000 dollars of actual work later.  I wouldn't even have to request reimbursement, I just wouldn't pay their 50% to begin with. 

I should explain that my house is 100% electric, that I get routine charts with my electric bill showing that my energy usage is above average for my type of house locally (3x average in Winter), and that I have been considering having some "fixes" anyway for a year.  That increased Winter spike started when I had a new heat pump installed 3 years ago, and it has been bothering me a lot recently.

I (naturally) didn't mention to the energy inspector that I will bid any serious work to 2 other highly-rated companies once I get the fixed work quote.

Aside from all that, I had an interesting time discussing the potential future "fixes" with the inspector.  I was not surprised that some of the improvements involved additional insulation in the attic (who argue against more insulation?).  I was a bit surprised that they propose to remove all the rolled/batted attic insulation, caulk around all the attic joists/drywall, and replace it with "blown-in" insulation to "R-49" (R-16" is standard code around here).  I'll check about that tomorrow.

But what surprised me?  She didn't know how insulation actually works! I didn't pursue the question, but it was informative.

So anyway, after researching the "good industry practices" (and keeping in mind the my energy supplier is willing to pay 50% of the first $2,000), I'm willing to go to the $100 equipment test (which involves about 2 hours of 2 person's work.  The company is not making any money off that!  I'll know more about things when I see their fixed quote with detailed work described.

The Old Boat

Is gone! 

Well, one of the deck demolition guys saw my old jon boat sitting in the backyard full of leaves and asked if I ever used it.  Well, I haven't for 5 years.  So he made an offer, I made a counter offer, he made a 3rd, and I didn't care about the difference so we agreed on a price.  He got a good deal, but the boat wasn't doing me any good either just sitting around.

So he paid me half as a down-payment and I wrote out a receipt.  He came by Sunday with the remaining amount.  He's never had a boat before and is retiring this year.  Wanted a cheap boat to go fishing in.  I sold it "as is" which may get him in trouble.  "As Is" was boat, trailer, and an electric motor.  Nothing beyond that.

Still, the next morning, I decided I couldn't let the guy drive away with leaves blowing out the back, so I cleaned them out (have I already mentioned all this?) and used the garden hose to blast it as clean as I could.

Good thing, because I found 2 wasp nests in the bait well and they would have been really p*&&ed by all that bouncing on the road home.  I killed them, but I did have to dodge the ones who returned to their absent nests later.

 So yeah, it was "as is", but I decided to improve the "as is".

I even made sure the boat was still waterproof by filling it up 6" deep in water and waiting a day to see if there were any leaks.  There weren't.  Draining the boat was impressive, and the shrub behind it appreciated the deep watering..

It wasn't perfect when the guy returned, but he sure did appreciate the improvement.  But it allowed me to show him how some parts of the boat worked.  The bait well, for example has a drain below the water line.  But there is a pvc pipe that rises above that so outside water doesn't come in.  Onshore, you pull the pvc pipe and it drains.  That sort of non-obvious thing.

But it looked OK.

I hope he enjoys the boat.  I had it for 21 years, so I got my money's worth out of it and some cash back.  But it sure looks odd not seeing a boat in the yard...

Now I'm deciding which way to go on a new boat.  I DO plan to start fishing again.  I like stillwater freshwater fishing, so I might go for a squareback canoe (for attaching an electric motor).  But there are some slightly fancier boats for getting out on the calmer waters of the Potomac river.  I'll wait a while to decide.

Damnable But Small Problems

It's the smaller problems of life that get at you the worst sometimes.  I mean, Really Bad Problems, you know they are, and you have to deal with them.  Family members die, you break a bone, you lose a job.  Those are bad.  And everyone understands.

Its the smaller stuff that is sometimes harder to deal with, because you are all alone with it.  The splinter in your finger, the sore shoulder, the car that doesn't like to start, those don't get so much sympathy. 

I've been plagued with the latter recently.  I don't need much sympathy, but I DO want to gripe about them.  And its MY blog, so here goes (LOL)...

My left thumb is inept.  For years, I've had a spot I stuck with a thorn and it caused a tiny hard spot that just won't go away.  I keep noticing it with the index fingernail.  I've opened it a couple times with a sewing needle, but I can't get it to heal away.  And I cut the base of my right thumb years ago and it formed a hard spot there too.  I just keep noticing it when I grab things.  So when I got a half-inch splinter in That Left Thumb from the new deck I just got all freaked.  I couldn't get it out.  Turn the inside of your left thumb towards you and put the back down on a steady surface.  Now try to get at it with a needle and tweezers. 

Maybe I'm not as flexible as I used to be, but I just couldn't.  It took a week for the skin harden over the splinter like a callous, and I managed to loosen it after that.  Its healing fine.

But sometimes, it is just stuff like that over and over.  I damaged the left shoulder rotater cuff 10 years ago, and I thing I've done it again.  I don't even know specifically how or when I did it.  I just woke up one morning and OUCH!!!

My aging Mother used to say "getting old isn't for sissies".  Hmmm. I've been enough heavy work on my own for a long time and had a lot of "ouchies" (and enough "ARGGGHS" too), but they seem to be coming more often these days.  I hope I'm not becoming a "sissy".  But let's just say that I used up a tube of muscle rub ointment before the expiration date for the first time this year.

I wish that was the only problem.  I garden a lot and I get a lot of unwanted tree saplings that need to be dug out.  Usually, its not a problem.  Oh, work for sure, but I get them out.  Well, I was surprised this week. 

I am rebuilding my old rotting framed garden beds.  Aligned better to the sunlight, wider and higher, and to have a chicken wire enclosure to keep the varmints out.  Well, with the season moving on, I decided to redig the beds that will be outside the enclosure so that I could have some Summer plants growing (cukes, beans).  Meaning the old less-productive asparagus bed had to be dug up. 

There were 4 tree saplings I've been cutting back in there for several years.  So it was the right time to REALLY dig them out.  I couldn't.  I mean, I used the same techniques I always used before, but they just would yield!  I have tools.  A sharp all metal spade, an axe, a 5' pry bar.  I finally got one out and it about killed me...

Talk about realizing that you aren't 30 anymore...  I'd be happy to be 40 (I'm 64).  I did the sensible thing.  I left the other 3 in and planted around them.  Its just for a few months.  Come Fall, I will cover that bed with plywood and plastic and let them DIE next year.  All problems can be solved with time.

But I only mentioned all this to tell you about today's problem...

I have historically had basement water problems.  The old gutters filled with tree debris and would overflow onto the deck and then down to the sunken patio.  The patio had ground level drainage.  But over the years, the soil build up (fallen leaves, mowed grass) and formed a pool that build up to the level of the basement door.  Water got in.  I solved that temporarily by digging a ditch through the lawn downslope. 

In Fall 2012, I had the roof reshingled, new vinyl siding, and new larger gutters with debris-proof tops.  No more gutter overflow filling the basement patio!  Yeah.

Right...  With the new deck, there was a lot of digging involved.  Lots of soil moved around.  They did a good job moving the extra soil to a corner of the yard.  So far, so good.  What I didn't notice was that some of the extra soil got spread into the remnants of the patio drainage ditch.  So I had a 2" wall of dirt around the lawn connection to the patio.

It rained really hard today.  I was glad for the rain because it has been about 1/4" per week the past month.  BUT!  The rain that fell through the deck filled up the basement patio (I bet you saw that coming).  FORTUNATELY, I happened to go into the basement to get something and saw the rainwater seeping in.  I threw some old towels on it and went to the toolshed IN THE TORRENTIAL RAIN to get my grub-hoe.  Shovels work, but a grub-how makes a nice 4" wide and deep trench.  In the rain. 

Even with a raincoat on (and I wished I still owned a poncho) I was soaked to the skin just making a 4" wide and deep ditch from the patio downslope 12' long.  It was a pleasure seeing the water draining out in a rush...

But that is still a temporary fix.  I thought the bigger rain gutters would solve the problem, but with enough hard rain, even just the water falling through the deck will fill up the patio.

The real fix is to lower the level of the lawn where it meets the deck, AND installing a below-ground drainage system to move the patio water downslope.

More work.  Just what I needed.  And I'm sure not going to do THAT before my shoulder heals.  I'll just have to make sure the grub-hoe surface dug ditch stays clear for a while.

ARGGH!

And I won't even get into the new adult groundhog and rabbit I saw around the garden this afternoon.  Well, OK, I just did, but you know what I mean.

One Last Thing

About the new deck.  They had to rush by on Tuesday before the INSPECTOR arrived because they forgot to add a handrail on the stairs.  So I tried it out.

Got a BIG SPLINTER in my left thumb.  &%*#  Couldn't pull it out.  Touchy-painful.  But I was patient.  I got it loose today, 5 days later.  What a relief...

And 2 days ago, I managed to wrench my left shoulder.  I can't even figure out when I did it.  Put there it is, all useless in some positions.  Its a little better today.  But if I extend it across my body and then use it to push away...  OUCH!!!

I do that to myself too often.  I suppose there will come a day when I do something like that and it won't just heal.  But that's not THIS time.  LOL!  Comes from living alone and having to do some things it really takes 2 people to do, I guess. 

Grafted Tomatoes Report

Complete Failure!  The idea I had read about was to graft heirloom tomato tops to hardier disease-resistant hybrid bottoms.  You cut a top and a bottom at an angle and use a flexible silicon tube/clip to hold them together while they join.  You keep them in a humidity container for a week or so to keep the tops hydrated until they are getting water and nutrients from the roots.

After a week, more than half the grafted tops had died.  After 2 weeks, I removed some of the clips, but the seemingly-healthy tops just fell off.  I had 5 left.  After 3 weeks, I went to transplant them and THOSE tops fell off.

Well, I'm sure most of that was my fault.  It is commonly done commercially and by home gardeners.  I know I waited too long to do the initial grafts.  The instruction said to do it "when there were 4 leaves" (the seedlings would be about 4" high).  Mine were 8" high with 8 leaves.

So I had to use the clips "wrong".  Think of an "8" (with a fatter bottom) with a slit cut through the top.  The top makes the clip part.  Squeeze the fat bottom of the "8" and it opens the top and you attach the 2 angle-cut tomato parts together.

Well, the clip part was too small by then but the fat round part was the right size, so I tried just putting the round part down over the rooted stem and then placing the cut heirloom top down in that.  I got them matched in size very well, put it didn't work.

I assume the seedling halves were too old to grow together properly.  Or the uncut round part constricted growth. 

I'll try again next year following the "4 leaves" instruction more carefully.  There are pictures of the initial grafting process HERE.

Fortunately, I made sure to plant enough seeds so that I had regular ungrafted heirlooms to plant out.  They are growing well and I have at least a dozen fruits among the 6 plants so far.  But the disease problems usually start in August, so we'll see if I get many ripe tomatoes.

Well, Its Over!

The inspector came.  He didn't seem like a happy person, so I told the builder I was just going to stand around and keep my mouth shut and hope for the best.

That lasted about 2 minutes.  But only becaue the inspector saw my tomato plants ad asked about them.  Me red, him green after here.

Nice tomatoes.
Yeah they're heirlooms  and doing very well after setting them out late.
You grow heirlooms?  Which ones?
Oh, Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Prudens Purple, Striped German, and Aunt Gertie's Gold.
My dad liked Cherokee Purples a lot.
Best tomato ever!
You grow peppers?
Well, bell peppers, Lipstick.  Grows red fast.
Like Ace, right?
Yeah, Ace replaced Lipstick a few years go, but I still like Lipstick better.  Hard to find though.
Yeah, I remember Lipstick.  Dad switched to Ace,  Nice use of the recycling bins BTW.  
Yeah, I'm trying some  bicolor corn and leeks and and Russian fingerling  potatoes this year.
Are they good?
Yeah, I tasted one  from the box.  Better than Yukon Gold.

Etc etc, for about 30 minutes ...  Needless to say we passed inspection.  He loved my garden (and the deck was pass-worthy anyway).

The builder was amazed.  Apparently this inspector is "picky", and never talks to people, but made no complaints about the deck.  For once.  Cheers for heirloom tomatoes!
     
And I can't wait for the first ripe one.

But most importantly, no more stranger/visitors for a long time.  The backyard is OURS again!  I let the cats out promptly...

Now, if you will forgive me, I'm going to go stand out on my deck for a while.  And go to bed early; I was up all last night!

Some Embarassment

Have you ever listened carefully to someone and thought you understood that they said and were wrong?  AND thought of the situation logically and were wrong?  That happened to me about the leftover materials from the new deck today.

Well, see, there were chunks of wood and leftover pieces from the deck, and the construction foreman said I could keep anything I could use because it was all just going to the landfill.  Cool!

But then later it occurred to me I should be able to because I had paid for all that material in the price of the deck.  It's not like they brought leftovers from their last job here for free.  There were 6' pieces of 6'x6' posts, pieces of 2'x12 boards, and lots of cutoffs from the composite deckboards.  Best of all, there were two 20' and one 8' lengths of composite deck boards!

I should mention that the deck itself is composite boards, but the rest is standard pressure-treated wood.  And when the builder discussed the upper posts and railings, my choices were narrow pointy vinyl with a narrow top or pressure-treated wood 6" wide.  I like flat top rails to lean on and set stuff down on.

After the construction, it occurred to me that topping the flat railtop pressure-treated (P-T) wood with composite board would be a nice finishing touch.  And the other boards were the right size to frame a sloped area behind the new posts for a row of hostas under the shade of the deck.  The remaining "chunks" were good for surrounding some shrubs and filling with mulch to keep down weeds.  Etc.

I spent a hot sweaty day outside Sunday moving the stuff I wanted to keep to the edge of the yard away from the pile of debris to be removed so that it was separate from the debris I didn't want. 

So, when I saw the contractor hauling some of the boards back toward the front yard, I asked him why.  He said he could return them to the lumber store for credit.  I said I was told by his foreman that "what was left was mine".  He said that only applied to the cut-up stuff.  Dang!  I felt embarrassed. like I was trying to steal stuff.  He said not to worry, it was a common mistake. 

But I really did want that compsite board to cap the rail tops, so I offerred to buy those two 20' long boards.  Saves him having to return them and me having to go get new ones.  I agreed to add them to the final deck cost.  The long composite boards with bullnose (rounded) fronts are not cheap - $70 each. 

But I've been thinking about this.  It seems to me that I paid for all the material the builder brought to the job.  And its not the cost (after $16,000, what's another $140), but a principle here. 

The contractor didn't arrive here with any free leftovers from the last job.  So everything he had delivered here, he bought within the price of the contract and expected to use building my deck.  So it seems to me that all the materials brought to the site are ones I was charged for in the job quote.

So, aren't they mine?  So, if I pay this guy returns unused materials to the lumber store for credit, shouldn't he reduce me cost by that much?  Or leave me those materials at no extra cost.

I plan to ask him more about that tomorrow.  I'm not going to be loud or demanding, but I do want to understand this matter of materials a bit better.  Partly for now, but partly for the next contractor (and there surely will be a "next contractor" about "something" here (planning kitchen tile work and a bathroom repair job).

OK, be honest, I can handle it.  Am I wrong to fuss about whether I've already paid for the slight leftover onsite materials?  I won't hold any comments against anyone, I need some reality-check.  I'm just trying to decide if this leftover stuff was already mine.

It's not like I'm complaining about the deck at all... I LOVE the new deck!

Thanks in advance,

Mark