Weekend Away and the End of the Boiler Game 2022

We have just returned from a weekend getaway to Walla Walla.

We met some friends in Walla Walla for their annual Balloon Jamboree. There was supposed to be 38 balloons scheduled to show up.

Our extended summer ended last Friday and it rained all day all the way to Walla Walla. Apparently, rain and hot air balloons do not go well together. The jamboree was canceled.

So we had nothing to do but visit wineries and breweries.

Our friends were staying in their camp trailer at an RV Park while we reserved a room at the local Super 8. 

On Sunday, we drove to Prosser to collect some grapes. We purchased 100 pounds of Cabernet and 100 pounds of Syrah...just like last year.

We spent the rest of the day visiting a few more wineries in the Prosser area and then checking into our favorite place in Sunnyside, the Sunnyside Inn.

We also returned to a restaurant we discovered last year called Las Islas. It is an authentic Mexican restaurant with authentic Mexican people who may or may not speak English. we thought their food was fantastic last year and we have been looking forward to our return.

But, like everything that you remember fondly, it did not live up to our hype. The food was good and the atmosphere was about like we remembered. 

The problem was they were playing that really shitty Ranchero music loaded with accordions and a tuba to play the bass line. I don't really object to the music other than it all sounds the same to me.

 What we objected to was the decibel level that the music was played at. We could hardly talk to each other, let alone order any food.

For some reason, I have always enjoyed looking at this barn next to the freeway.

This year, we stopped and took some pictures. I think this will make a nice pen and ink drawing.

We had a nice leisurely drive home today and got back about 2:00. 

My first order of business was to fire up the boiler. So the new record is October 24th.       

Boiler Game Excitement

 It is looking like we are going to set a new record for the Boiler Game. This Fall has been extremely unusual. Summer has extended well into October. I golfed yesterday with Rob and Mike and I wished I has worn shorts. It was a beautiful, warm day.

I believe the city has already set a record for the most days in October with daily high temperatures in the 70’s.

Tomorrow is the date to tie the Boiler Game record and from the looks of things, I am confident we can easily make it Saturday and perhaps beyond.

We are living in exciting times!

Number Eighteen

Eighteen years ago my wife married the luckiest man in the world...ME!

We had a real low key anniversary today without cards or gifts but we did go to dinner. I made her pay cuz I'm still the luckiest man in the world.

We have run into a pattern when we go out for our anniversary dinner. It's difficult to find a place that's open. The first place we chose to patronize, the Park Lodge was closed. The second place on the list was Azar's since they are closing up shop for good at the end of the week. They are closed on Sundays as well.

So we settled for our third spot, O'Donnell's, which was lovely. We had quite a time finding how to get in the building due to all the street construction going on around them.

Susan had Fish and Chips and I had Whiskey Mac n' Cheese.

I love you, Susan.  

Victor on Parade

We are in the midst of an extraordinary extended summer. The days have been really warm. We could possible break a record for the most October days in the 70’s. That also means that we could have a new record for the Boiler Game. 

It’s been such a nice, warm day that I'm going to surprise Susan tonight with a pit fire.

I took a few pictures of our doorman, Victor tonight.

 I was trying to get something scary that was a little in focus.

You can see I didn't do very well.

Well, there's a reason for that. I blame it on Susan.

She got into one of her cleaning jags the other day and made me move my tripod. Therefore, I couldn't get good steady low light pictures because I don't know where I moved my tripod to.

This is probably the best one.  

The Seahawks Lost Today.

 Yesterday, I rented an Aerator from the local Sun Rental shop and split the cost of it with Mark and Ted. Mark did his yard first, Ted went next and since I was next door, he brought over for me to use. Ted actually did some of the aerating on my yard because I'm such an invalid.

I'm hoping to augment some of the aerating today near the front porch steps with the little hand aerator I have and throw some grass seed in the ground as well. 

The only problem with this strategy is that Halloween is three weeks away and any grass I get growing is likely to get trampled Halloween night.

First item on the work agenda for the day is to put up some Halloween lights on the front porch.

10:19PM: We got the lights up and we also cleaned the porch carpets and I performed a blow job on the porch and front walkway with my leaf blower. I also had a little stump fire which sort of went unsupervised. But nothing burned down.

I guess I'll get to throwing down some lawn seed tomorrow.

Time For Hallowen

I was looking back through the archives of this blog trying to find references to the paper mache pumpkin heads I was working on earlier in the year. I only found one reference back in May that showed this picture.

I'm really disappointed in myself for not tracking this project better. I thought I took a lot more pictures but so far, I can't find any.

I bring this up now because we started hauling down some of our Halloween décor to start getting ready for the upcoming scary day.

I went to grab my pumpkin head and discovered this.

The damn mice have been feasting on my pumpkin. They didn't touch the other pumpkin I made and left the one Susan made years ago alone.

I am now on a mission to destroy every mouse within the world. I will have to figure out how to save this poor poor pumpkin. I have an idea which I hope I will document here. But my history tells a different story.  

Major Kitchen Decision

We are about to make a major commitment to the kitchen remodeling project. We have selected Cabinet Pro as our cabinet provider and are going to make a down payment of eighteen grand. The total cost for cabinets, floor and counter tops is about $24,000. That does not include the cost of moving the sink and having a gas line run in the island.

We have decided that we will not be doing the actual kitchen destruction and installation until January. The cabinets are six weeks out and that puts us square in the Holiday season. We don’t want to be without a kitchen for Thanksgiving or Christmas. But lookout January second.

Project of the Day - A.C. Abatement

It is not yet even noon o'clock yet and I have finished my designated project of the day. I guess it is nap time.

The project was to remove the air conditioning units from their various places around the house. We are up to four units now but really only consistently use the one in the kitchen and the one in the back bedroom, where we sleep.

With this being the second day of fall, it is another sign that the good ol' summertime is over.

Also indicative of the end of the summer, it's Greek Fest weekend. We went last night after attending a Sales Pitch for a Resort Vacation Scam sort of thing. $15,000 for a life time membership to get discounted airfare, hotels and resorts.

I had a Gyro and Greek Donuts called Loukoumathes (loo koo MAT is). Susan had Spanakopita and Greek Fries, which are french fries with feta cheese sprinkled on them. 

Autumn Cometh and The Post Man Finisheth

Today we finished the back stairway rail project.

Yesterday we measured the post to size and then brewed up some cement to file the hole, with the post in it of course.

Initially, I bought 2 ten pound bags of cement. I ended up buying two more yesterday and then went back for a fifth. The five bags cost about 25 bucks.

The post was firmly in the ground by the end of the day yesterday and so I felt it was no problem to reattach the rail today. It didn't go back exactly as I had hoped but it is definitely more sturdy and stout than it was. That post will be there long after I'm gone.

And we have our SJB logo scratched into the cement to forever immortalize our effort. However, it will probably get buried in the dirt.

As of today, Summer of 2022 is in the history books and it is time to prepare for the colder months. I have not turned on the boiler yet so the Boiler Game is still in progress.

I have noticed that the bathroom heater, which is on it's own thermostat has come on a couple of times in the morning this week. So that's another sign to indicate the end of Summer.   

Rail Work

We are in limbo with the kitchen right now so I decided to work on another project that won't take too long.

The post on the stair rail at the back door has totally rotted away and is just propped up by a nub on the ground. I tried to make it a little more secure by pounding a couple of rebar posts into the ground next to the suppoet post and then securing the post to the rebar. The problem with that solution was that the rebar was not at all secure. 

At one point, I hit the rebar into the ground with my hammer and the whole thing almost disappeared into the ground. The old rotted fence post made the area quite fluid.  

So, I removed the rail and pulled the old post off.

I ended up having to dig out the hole so I can fill it with concrete. 

I have a bunch of old 4x4 posts that I can use as a replacement but I need to clean them up and paint them.

 

That's a project for tomorrow.

Nemesis, Nullified

Back on August 15th, I wrote a post about the small radiator in the kitchen. I said it was going to be my nemesis because it was not cooperating in the disconnection department. I needed to remove it in order to get to the flooring underneath.

Today, our plumber Tracy solved the problem with a simple sawsall. Take that, Nemesis!

Tracy capped off the pipes on both kitchen radiators. We are going to heat the kitchen through the winter with our EdenPure space heaters. That way we can continue to work on the kitchen without having to deal with the radiators when it comes to putting down the floor.

The flooring is up except for under the refrigerator and the area of the south wall, where the linoleum goes under the cabinets.

We are still waiting on a quote from Zieglers Home Center and we are waiting for a gas guy to give us a quote for laying a gas line.

Linoleum Liquidators

We have spent our day pulling up flooring.

Susan worked the area south of the island and I concentrated on the floor in front of the doors to the deck.

It took us about three hours and then another hour and a half to clean up.

Now we need to take a trip to the dump. The last load I took was a bout 250 pounds and cost about thirty bucks.

I think we have pretty close to that amount for todays' dump run. Gotta go. The dumps closes at 5:00.

What To Do Once You’re Retired

11:58AM: Today we are continuing the destruction of the kitchen floor. Ideally, I would like to get the whole rest of the linoleum cut up with the saw and be done with the messy part of this project.

I have completed the first half, cutting up everything to the south of the island. I even moved the fridge and cut up the floor under it.

Susan is presently vacuuming while I am writing this portion of the post. When she is finished, we will move the Piano Bar and mini fridge and other assorted items that are in the way so I can proceed to cutting up the remaining linoleum near the doors to the deck.

3:00PM: The floor is cut up in to nice bite sized squares. I do not feel like pulling up any of those squares. We are concentrating now and some dust remediation. Now that the floor has been completely cut up, the dust storm this house has endured is at its end. So we can dust and clean the thick layer of dust I have been creating since this started back on the second week of August.

But first, I think I deserve a dip in the pool.

Mo Flo

Susan took a Covid test this morning and she tested negative. Finally! She has been feeling better the last couple days. She was feeling good enough yesterday to help with floor removal.

We pretty much got the pantry room completely linoleum free. I have a little to do along the edges where the cabinets are. It seems the flooring is under the cabinet so it’s giving me some grief about coming out.

I figure we still have 340 square feet to go.

Cabinets and Radiators

We met today with Rick from CabinetPro. He took and bunch of measurements and talked about what we had in mind for the kitchen. He's going to work up a plan and give us some ideas plus a quote of what it will cost.

I'm anxious to see what he comes up with. We should be hearing from him by the end of the week.

In the meantime I am dealing with this radiator...my nemesis.

It's giving me trouble because I cannot disconnect it. I've drained the radiators so I can pull this and the radiator across the room out of the way to get to the flooring underneath.

I've got the left side disconnected, which only required loosening the connection with my pipe wrench. The other side is soldered into place and so far, it's not cooperating.

I made no progress on the floor today as I had a golf date with Mark.     

Kitchen Kontinuation

I'm slowly plugging away on the kitchen floor. I figure if I do a little work on it everyday, I will have it done in no time...which is equal to about two or three weeks.

One problem I have run into involves that radiator in the picture up there. I need to drain the system and remove the radiators in the kitchen. That's not going to be too much of a problem, but it will take time and will be my project for tomorrow.

When they put the linoleum down, they did not remove the radiators. They put the linoleum around the radiators. I can't get under them without removing them. 

Don't worry. It'll be fine.
 

Kitchen Man

Today was the first day of the rest of the Kitchen  Floor. We are going to be in battle, that floor and I. I will eventually win, but it will NOT be without casualties.

I started about 10:00 and stopped for the day at 1:00.

I have removed 18 square feet of a 400 square foot kitchen space.

I can tell you that a sharp saw blade makes all the difference. I've also gone from 60 to 24 teeth so it tears it up pretty good.

I am doing this by myself right now because Susan is down with Covid. This is Day 2 1/2. So far, I feel fine.

I'm happy to be doing this on my own right now because I'm trying to figure out the process. One thing I learned today is to cut small squares. It's much easier to pull out a small square of floor in one piece, which saves on clean up and searching for nails. 

Kitchen Floor

I am not counting today as the start of the Kitchen Remodel. But I did take some distinctive action.

I got out my circular saw and cut out a section of the kitchen floor. I wanted to see how easy and/or difficult it was going to be. It turns out that it is going to be easy but difficult because it's going to be slow going. 

I didn't do any more than this small section because my saw blade is so dull. I went out and bought a couple new blades that I hope will work for a while.

I went on YouTube to look up some videos on removing a sub floor and it appears I am doing it properly.

So, tomorrow, I'm going to hit it hard as soon as I finish mowing.   

Plugging a Hole

A while back, I discovered this fairly large hole in the base of our foundation right next to the basement door.

Susan discovered it a couple weeks ago and insists that it be fill in. Susan is the reason that anything gets done around here.

So we went out and bought an 80 pound bag of mortar today and went to work on the problem. In addition to the hole, Susan worked on a couple of other areas in the outside stair well where the mortar has turned to sand.

We found rocks around the yard to fill in the bulk of the hole and then slobbered mortar into the space.

It looks pretty good and now the mice will have to have to find a new way to get in. I'm sure there are plenty of other holes.   

Se7en Two Six

The heat continues its onslaught here in Spokane. I think it was close to 90°.

Susan has been working all day on cleaning the main floor of the house. I have been working on the Play House. I got up early and drove to Coeur d'Alene to get two 10 inch by 10 foot cedar boards for the Play House siding. Cost: $69.00!

I've spent the day struggling with them. Cutting to the correct length, priming them, fitting them into place and a crap load of nailing.

The old boards rotted from the nails and fell off a couple of years ago. Here's one of them.

I'm happy to say that it looks half way decent now. I'll do the final painting tomorrow. 

Then I have to get to work on a thorough cleaning of the front porch.

I should also mention that today is Susan's birthday. We will be enjoying her traditional birthday dinner of cheeseburgers, corn, potato chips and cottage cheese.   

First Day of Retirement

Today is the official first day of Susan's retirement. Friday was her last day of work but today is the day she didn't have to get up and go to work.

We celebrated with a mile and a half walk and a pair of Bloody Mary's afterwards.

I was out checking the garden and found my first ripe tomato.

It's a cherry tomato and there is another right behind it. Oh boy! Here they come.

By the way, it was delicious!  

Major Investment

In the world around us, we are enduring a tremendous rise in inflation. Gas is hovering around five bucks. Food prices are going nuts. The value of my retirement fund has dropped 70 Grand.

We decided to stop some of the bleeding and make a huge investment.

Our mortgage is set to be paid off in May of 2025. We accelerated that a bit.

So yesterday, after moving some money around with our financial advisor Glen, I called Wells Fargo Mortgage Services and paid off the remaining balance on this house.

We are now home owners in the truest sense of the word.

It doesn't feel life changing yet. But it will when we restructure our monthly expenses.

Needless to say, we are pleased with us.   

Garden Update

Back in May, I repaired this little garden space on the back of the house. Then I planted a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, basil and chives. 

Amazingly, I never took pictures after I planted everything. I’m a huge fan of before and after pictures, in case you haven’t noticed. I don’t know what the hell I was thinking.

Other than turning on the water every day or so and doing a little weeding, I really haven’t paid the garden much attention.

Tonight, my son stopped by and asked how my garden was doing. We went out back to look and he was amazed at how well it was doing. Upon closer inspection, I have a crap load of tomatoes. I have a nice little bush of basil ready for harvesting and there is something that looks like a jalapeño pepper, which I am not interested in. But Susan can use it.

Preppin' for a Party

 I don't know if I've mentioned it before now but we are having a Retirement Party. I have been retired for a year and Susan is fast approaching her date of July 22nd.

Among the many things we are doing to prepare for the party is to paint these old resin chairs that have been out in the weather for who knows how long.

I painted a couple earlier in the week and they turned out good enough that Susan wanted to do the rest.

She bought a bunch of cans of green spray paint and went to town.

I was toiling elsewhere in the yard while she painted six chairs.

They came out looking great in a couple of cases and acceptable in a couple of other cases.

I worked on forever sealing the skunk access to under the garage. I hope I have been successful. Don't worry. I made sure the skunks had moved on before I filled in the hole.

My other project was to drill into this stump in an effort to remove it. I drilled the holes and then poured Roundup into them. Later this week, I shall light it on fire and slowly burn the stump away.

You can look into the archives here and find other examples of Stump Fires.

Holiday Float

We took advantage of what appeared to be the only sunny day of the Fourth of July weekend to float the Little Spokane River with our friends, Karen and Randy.

It was a great day although someone fell off their diet and also got a little sunburned.

It was an excellent way to spend the afternoon.