Next Project

We've started a new project that I think will be completed pretty quickly and for a minimal outlay of cashola.

The flooring at the back door has been bad since we moved in almost ten years ago. It was crappy out carpeting covering a rotting piece of plywood.

I pulled all that up the other and found the original tongue and groove wood flooring that was laid down when the house was built. It's in pretty bad shape as well so...

That had to come up as well.

At this point, I called Handy Phil to come and put down a new, level sub floor. As usual, it's going to be more difficult than expected because we have to jack up the post in order to set a solid foundation for the whole floor.

The other thing I didn't consider is the post at the bottom of that stair rail.

It's pretty much rotted through and needs to be replaced, as you can see from the life-like photographic representation above.

I was hoping to use the flooring I took up from the entry way when we installed the tile but I don't have enough of it to cover the area. That means we'll be shopping for some nice outdoor flooring during the Memorial Weekend.

Susan is continuing her stencil work on the fireplace and is getting ever so much closer to completing the project.

The Advantage of Security Cameras

My hops plants are doing quite well. The Hallertau has reached the top of the arbor and the Sterling is not far behind. I had a problem with the Sterling because the shoots kind of fell over near the top and then started growing up again.

I had to tie up the shoots which led to this bit of comedy caught on camera.

Here I am stepping off the chair, not realizing the cat's water bucket is right below me.

Here I hit the bucket and start the long decent into loss of balance.

Pivot points change, weights shift, the square of the hypotenuse intersects the cosine of my ass. I really don't think I need to comment beyond this point.

Amazingly, no injury, no bruises.

Just a dumb ass looking at the camera, wondering if that got recorded.

Skunk Times Two

I have been thinking for a while that it looks like there are two different skunks hanging out under the Skunk Cam. I was able to confirm it today.

The skunk on the right is MY skunk (Patty LaPue) who currently resides under the Carriage House. The one on the left (Stinky Usurper) is not from around here. Stinky comes by to check out the area but has never gone under the Carriage House.

I left Patty a little treat last night because I wanted her to be healthy. I cut up a hotdog and put it in a little bowl. I didn't get any video of her eating it but lots of footage of her after the meal.

A Salute to T.J.

We had to say good-bye to T.J. today. I came home last night and found him splayed on the couch and I thought he was dead. It turns out he went into a diabetic coma. I got him down to the Emergency Vet and they stabilized him but we think he had some loss of oxygen to the brain as he was having seizures and temperature spikes and not responding well. It did not look hopeful that he would recover so we had to make the hard decision.

A note from Susan:
T.J. - his full name being Thomas Jerald because when I first got him someone said he looked like the Tom and Jerry cartoon kitty - was an amazing, one-of-a-kind cat. He was definitely our Alpha kitty and I have to admit, my favorite. He was a good hunter and brought several birds, mice and even an earthworm through the cat door in my last house to show off. What a character! He did this unusual movement with his front paws in which he looked like he was waving. I called it the "paw thing". When he was little he would rise up on his haunches and do the "paw thing" whenever he saw something unusual, but when he got older he would mostly do it when sitting on my lap. You can go to the blog post of January 31st, 2011 to see him do it. I will miss you my dear, sweet kitty boy and I will never forget you.

He is missed!

Springulation

Pictured above is a hole that is going to be the subject of a recurring theme.

It will undoubtedly be featured here several times over the next several weeks because of the extraordinary wonder that nature yields. 

This is the west side of the Carriage House. That's right, we have a Carriage House. We have no Carriage, but when we do, it has a House. The unique feature of the west side is that it is the one area where nature can make its way under the building.

We have dealt with nature getting under there before and we have not enjoyed the encounter. And...that's a little strong. I thoroughly enjoyed the encounter but it required a great deal of extra work on my part.

The extra work to which I refer involves trapping and relocating pole cats. I have been battling a skunk for some time now that had been trying to dig under. She finally beat me. And I do believe that's a she.

So now I have the proof. I've seen her come out and go back in. I tried blocking her out and she made it back through. Skunks can dig!

So, I am expecting 4 to 7 little bundles of stink come popping out soon. Maybe within a couple weeks.

Skunk watching wasn't the only thing accomplished this weekend. I tending to the hops and the grape vines. I laid down some ant bait. I did some high level security work that I don't care to discuss here. I did a little pre-yard yard work. It's just the stuff you do before the other stuff you do.

I racked my current batch of beer, a clone of Alaskan Amber. This has been an odd brew. It reactivated itself after the first racking and got very active again. It kind of boogered up my cool new vapor lock.

Anyway, it's been almost three weeks and it's not yet ready to keg. That okay! I'm not yet ready to drink it. But it's coming!

Attack of the River

I have successfully completed my first transit of the Spokane River for the 2014 River Transiting Season.

I arranged with Don at work to get my car down river so it would be waiting for me when I arrived at the bottom.

Don then took me over to the river at Harvard Road where I put in.

The water was pretty chilly when I first stepped in but by the time I got out, I had adjusted. I wasn't worried because my plans were to be on the water, not in it!

The river is running at 15,300 cfs (cubic feet per second). That's about average for this time of year. And it means there are some kick ass fun rapids to ride through.

I put in at 4:40 and I pulled out at about 6. According to my GPS, I traveled about six miles and dropped about 25 feet.

It was the first trip of the year but definitely not the last.

 

Thanks to Don for taking the time to transport me around and for the bulk of these pictures.

Captain Dumb Ass

Thank the Lord for my neighbors, who are looking out for me, which is needed on a daily basis because I made an appearance this afternoon as Captain Dumb Ass Ass Ass Ass.

After having cut up a bunch of pallets a couple weeks ago, We have been enjoying lots of fires in the fireplace. That means lots of fireplace clean up. 

I cleaned out the fireplace after getting home from work and then went on about my other business of sitting around and avoiding doing stuff. I didn't bother to notice that the ashes were still hot when I put them in my garbage can packed full of dry leaves.

Hence the pretty picture.

My neighbor behind me rang the bell and alerted me to the situation. My water faucets were still turned off for the winter so it was a mad dash to find some water. 

Fortunately, it smoldered for a long time but never really took off, which could have been disastrous for the garage.

The garbage can is a total loss. I wonder what the city is going to ding me for that.

Update: March 28th, 2014, 10:05AM: I just got off the phone with the Solid Waste Department and they said they would get a new container out to me on Monday. I took total responsibility for the damaged receptacle but they did not indicate that I would incur a penalty or fee.

Big Weekend Roundup

I've been trying to post here all last week and it just never happened. So here I am, late on Sunday evening with the big Weekend Roundup.

It's the first week of the NCAA Basketball Madness and so we were all wrapped up in keeping track of our various brackets. One of the venues for Round Two games was here in Spokaloo. That means Susan had to work Thursday night and a good chunk of Saturday.

As for me, I'm unemployed on the weekends other than the income I can earn living off my wiles. 

My big accomplishments of the weekend include a little yard clean up and that's about it.

And then I skied on Sunday.

Vernal Gets Gassy

I had the evening to myself because the NCAA Tournament is in town and that means Susan is working at the Arena, which is the same place where the NCAA Tournament is taking place.

I bought myself a nice thick lean piece of sirloin to put on the barbeque to celebrate the arrival of my good friend, Vernal Equinox. I fired up the barby and waited for it to get good and hot. 

Whilst I waited, I played a little piano and started a load of laundry. It's important to pay attention and not confuse these activities. Getting soap in the piano makes my playing sound even worse and I totally screwed up the washer when I tried to tune it.

The steak went on the hot grill over indirect heat and began it's short trip to warm rare. I had it in there about 20 minutes but flipped it every four minutes.

Just as I was about to remove the steak there was a stern knocking, pounding really, at the front door. I opened the door to a fireman and suddenly noticed that there were fire engines parked all over the place.

They must have rolled up in stealth mode because I never heard a siren. I had been pretty intent on my steak and watching the NCAA Tournament where Susan was working.

Apparently, there was a gas leak in the neighborhood. More specifically, in the alley behind the house. I was asked to evacuate to the park. I told the guy I had a steak on the que that needed to be removed. When I went to the deck to get the steak, that's when I smelled the gas.

I then spent the next 15 minutes standing around in the park and chatting with all my other neighbors who got evacuated. I think they went to every house around the block and asked everyone to get out.

By then, the smell of gas was in the air. 

I walked up to Cleveland street with my neighbor Lou and we scoped the situation out there. I saw some firemen draining fire hoses but other than that, there really wasn't anything to see there either.

As I walked back towards the house, I passed a group of fire persons who told me all was well. I returned to the house to replace my steak on the grill to warm it up. 

And it was worth the wait!

Halloween Clean Up

For some time now, since Halloween if you must know, I have been wanting to remove the post holders I pound into the ground for the Flying Ghost display. 

In the past, I have found it to be a most arduous task, causing sweating, cursing, beer drinking, shortness of breath, and back pain.

In the past, I have always removed them soon after Halloween.

This year, the remained skewered to the ground all winter. 

So now it is approaching four months that they have been out there and it is time for me to be a responsible home owner and remove this blight.

I went out with shovels and rakes and implements of destruction, but no beer. I'm on my Season of Lent South Beach Insanity Diet and that means no beer. I was anticipating a fight and a beer would have been nice.

I proceeded to input my multi-pronged plan.

Prong 1: Place a post in the sleeve and move it back and forth and side to side to help loosen the soil around the post holder.

Prong 2: Place the post on the ground and use it as a fulcrum in concert with my trusty shovel to (hopefully) easily lift the post holder from its moorings.

Prong 3: With no beer to steel my nerves, say a short prayer.

Prong 4: Raise post holder from ground with the shovel as a pry bar and my courage as a force to be dealt with.

Prong 5: Remove the reaming post holder with the same ease and flare while imagining how much better this all would have been if I had a beer.

Surprisingly, they all came out easily. I attribute this to all the rain we have gotten in the last week...close to an inch.

With that job out of the way, I felt it was time for beer. Doo!

A Snowy Spokaloo Sunday

I might have to consider writing a song that goes with today's header. It's probably a country song, kind of ballad like.

I have just taken this picture and it is not a clear indication of how much it is snowing right now.

It snowed a couple of inches last night and I didn't get around to clearing it until after church this morning.

So I went out about noon to tackle the snow. As I started up the snow blower, it began to snow again. By the time I finished clearing the driveway and sidewalk, it was coming down pretty good.

And now, three hours later, there's almost an inch on the ground. 

It continues as I write.

We were supposed to paint St Patrick's windows at a nearby Barber Shop today. But they were really busy and the gal who runs the place asked us to come back later.

We are kind of bummed that we didn't get this job out of the way. But I think we are both happy to have sudden unplanned time land in our laps. 

Susan is relaxing with her time. Well deserved, I might add. She had to work hockey the last two nights.

I'm going to try and get another coat of varnish on the mantle.

Let's see how I do!

5:04PM: I just went outside and stuck a tape measure in the snow. It came back cold so it must still be snowing. It has snowed 2 inches since noon.

10:00PM: I have just come in from shoveling a good three inches of snow from the front walk. 

We watched the Academy Awards tonight and it snowed for quite a while. I went out and brushed the snow off the cars and then cleared the front walk way and side walk. I may snow blow in the morning but I have to wait and see what comes down in the next few hours.

As I finished shoveling, a sleety wet snow started to fall. The forecast is calling for rain all week so I don't feel very compelled to get out there and get everything cleared. It will clear itself in a couple of days.