Day 74ish

Here are a couple of images to show the progress on the bathroom. Remember the bathroom. We started on it a while back (July 10th) and it is almost a month past it's finish date...and counting. No problem! I'm confident we will be in it soon. We are getting to the part where everything starts to take shape. Below is a set of before and now pictures of the shower. As the drywalling continues, you can start to get a sense of how it will look.Next is a shot looking into the bathroom from the hallway. Eventually, there will be a toilet there by the window. And that red wire hanging out of the wall is for the thermostat that will control the wall heater...providing I can figure out how to wire it. So far, it eludes me.

Sunday Special Project

Susan has been upset with the state of affairs in the basement for quite some time. So she scheduled today for the re-organizational disembowelment. It was quite a mess and well over due for a cleansing. The area where I keep all my wine and beer making stuff was particularly cluttered. One of the painful but necessary jobs I had to do today was dump a bunch of bottles of wine.Specifically, we had 13 bottles of Homemade Rhubarb wine from 2003. Homemade wine does not have any preservatives in it and therefore, it is not the type of thing that you put away for a long time. Two years is about the limit. We tried opening a bottle earlier this summer and it was clear that it was no good. At one time, it was a delightfully sweet little white wine. But that was about two years ago.

As we cleaned further, I found some bottles on the bottom of the wine rack that had no labels. I assumed they were Beet Wine, part of a failed experiment were I learned that you do not make wine from beets.

There were four of these unlabeled suspect bottles but when I opened the first one, I discovered it was not beet wine. I think it was Huckleberry from about three years ago. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't worth saving.

We managed to get the whole basement back to a state that Susan could live with. I was able to live with it as it was, but I must admit that this is much better. I don't have to climb over crap and I have a better idea where most of my tools are.

New Camera

I gave in and purchased a new camera. I decided to stay true to my roots and what I know and bought a Canon. I have always had luck with Canon and they accept the abuse I subject them too.

I just looked back and found that I bought my previous camera, the generally unimpressive Kodak EasyShare 340C last September 19th. It lasted me a year and cost about the same as this Canon, if you include the rechargeable batteries I kept buying for it.

I really don't know much about this new Camera yet. I was able to use the same SD Media card I used in my old Kodak but was unable to use the rechargeable battery pack. It looks like I'll have to buy a set of individual rechargeable batteries and go that route.

Anyway, I'm back in the camera world, and that makes me happy!

Countdown to the Furnace

I woke up this morning and it was 41 degrees outside and 61 degrees inside. I moved the heater into the bathroom so it would be warm in there when Susan got up. I have not yet turned on the furnace.

As long as the house maintains a temperature of around 60, I don't think I'll need to turn it on. Sixty is the temperature I plan to keep the furnace at. I'll probably up it 65 as it gets colder.

But for now, we are quite comfy with the space heaters going in the kitchen. That is where we seem to spend our evenings.

It makes sense to heat only the areas we occupy and these heaters we bought are much more efficient than the furnace. In fact, they are much more efficient than your garden variety space heater. They better be for what we paid for them.

The upstairs bathroom remodel is progressing. Dry wall is going up. We should have all the dry walling completed by this weekend. Then we need to purchase our wainscoating supplies and tile for the shower. I also need to buy a small window for the shower too.

Pressure Test

I spent last night working on our Central Heating System. I capped the pipes I cut and filled the system with water.

As you will recall, the pipes are part of the heating system in the house, which is a gas fired boiler attached to a network of radiators. I cut the pipes that used to feed the radiator in the upstairs bathroom because we removed that radiator. In its place, I installed an electric wall heater with a programmable thermostat. That way, we can set the thermostat to turn on the heat at 5:30 AM and the bathroom will be all warmed up when we go in to use it.

We are trying to get away from using the main furnace as much as possible. We will use it to keep the house at 60 degrees, thereby preventing the pipes from freezing. We will use our various space heaters to heat the rooms we actually occupy. The hope is that we can avoid the $400.00 a month heating bills we got last winter.

So, I capped the pipes in the basement where I cut them. I used these plastic fittings that snugged over the pipe end and then sinched down around a rubber sleeve as they are tightened. So far, they are working fine. I filled the system with water and there are no leaks coming from the caps.

The next test will be when I turn on the gas and actually heat the system up. Then I will find out how well these PVC fittings work.

I would like to add that we are now up to September 20th without the main heat turned on. I am hoping to make it to the end of the month.

Wiring and Respect

Last night was Wiring Night. I'm getting pretty good at it. I wired a light in the shower and I did it without turning off the juice.

Don't think I'm getting cocky. I still respect electricity.

But sometimes, it's worth the risk to get a little shock rather than crawl down from the attic, go all the way down to the basement, turn off the breaker, go all the way back up the stairs, crawl back into the attic only to discover that I turned off the wrong breaker.

The light in the shower turned out to be an essential item. It's pretty dark in there without the light. I have left a opening on the end by the windows to allow some natural light into the shower but it is nowhere near enough. I will of course, be closing it in with glass.

It does appear that my camera is toast. I thought that perhaps I was having a problem with my battery charging properly. But I re-charged it and that didn't make the camera come on. I tried brand new Energizer batteries and that didn't make the camera come on.

This is particularly distressing to me as I really need my camera. We are going on a trip soon and I need to be able to record the event in pictures. I would hate to have to resort to my 35mm camera. It's not that I mind the camera. I have a great old Canon SLR. I mind missing the instant gratification that comes with the digital age. Plus the savings from the film processor.

I would also like to add that the furnace is still off. It's getting chillier in the morning but we are making due with area heaters. So we are now five days past last years record...and counting!

Done Deck Deal

We officially closed the Deck Painting Debacle on Sunday. As you can see from the picture, we done good!
If you go back and look at my post from June 18th, you can see what we started with and how much we have done to get it to this point. That's the main reason I started blogging. Now I have a place to keep a record of stuff we do and when we do it.
These may very well be the last pictures that I post for a while because my camera seems to have gone tits up. I guess I have to start looking for a new and more durable one. I only spent about $100.00 on this little Kodak thing. The lens won't pop out when I turn it on. I'm quite certain it is not worth the money to take it somewhere and have it fixed. What a throw away society I am.

The Busy Weekend of Many Activities

We have made it one day beyond last years record for keeping the heat turned off. The weather does not appear to indicate that it will be cooling off dramatically soon. That is good news for us as the longer the furnace is powered down, the more money we have to spend on beer.

I did preform a winterizing chore today. I removed the air conditioner from the window in the Master Bedroom. I used it one night last week but didn't really have to. Before that, it had been weeks since we had used it.

We are closing in on being finished with painting the deck. Susan did some work today and I did a little work this evening after returning home from working at the bar. Tomorrow, I hope to wrap the whole project up. Plus, we'll be working on the bathroom.

Finally, I have one project remaining to preform before I can power up the furnace. I have to cap off those pipes that used to go to the upstairs bathroom radiator.

I decided I would feel much better if the pipes were capped off in the basement where there is access to them, rather than under the bathroom floor were there is none. The pipes are cut but I have some issues with removing the elbow joints so I can use existing threading to cap the pipes. The issues involve not being able to remove the elbow joints. They are screwed down very solidly. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by pipes that are still solidly connected after 98 years.

If I am unable to remove those joints, I have to use this semi-funky system of PVC connections that will cap off the pipe but look like they have tremendous potential to not seal properly.

I guess I'll have to see what I end up with and then I can provide pictures which will describe it better than I have here.

The Return of the Heating Game

Last year about this time, we began an informal contest to see how long we could go before we had to fire up the boiler and turn on the heat. We only lasted until September 14th. I have much greater faith in our ability to undure further into the approach of Autumn. Not because it is staying warmer this year. And not because we have developed thicker skins.

No, this year the difference is a network of regionalized space heaters that will allow us to heat just the areas we occupy rather than the whole 2,800 square feet of the house. We are hoping that this will substantially drop the gas portion of our heating bill, which can go as high as $300.00 in December or January.

I should add that it got down to 36.4 degrees at 3.41AM. Also, I had to turn on the heat in my car on the drive to work this morning.

Moving on now to Spokane Interstate Fair News, Susan and I can now claim that the wine
coming out of the Waverly Place Winery are "Award Winning Wines".

I was totally amazed to walk into the Beer & Wine Booths at the fair yesterday to discover that both our entries had won Third Place Ribbons.

It is the first time we have entered beer and/or wine in the fair so I was not expecting anything. Especially since I was not thrilled with my beer and the wine is just barely in the bottle.

However, I must assume that all the Judges are Professional Wine Drinkers and their decisions must be respected.
Here is a shot looking towards the Midway as the sun sets on a wonderful Sunday at the fair. We had a Fair Time and I got to eat all kinds of unhealthy fair food like Corn Dogs, Elephant Ears, and Greasy Blocks O'Fries.

Oh, by the way, we have not finished painting.

The Terrible Conflict

On Saturday's, I work at a local bar from 8:00 AM to 5:00PM. We serve breakfast and get a fair crowd in for that. Now that Football has returned, we are much busier for lunch and then throughout the afternoon. At least, that was the case today. We were slammed pretty much all day. I am quite tuckered out at this point and don't really feel like going out on the deck to paint. I only have about another half hour of good light with which to paint with remaining.

Susan was not able to finish today. She came close but there is still about two hours of painting to complete the job. Well, it's not getting done by me tonight.

And yet, I feel guilty and conflicted that I should be doing some painting out there.

I think instead, I will do some work on the bathroom. I don't need the sunlight to accomplish that and it will salve my guilt.

Painting goes On and On and On and On and...

We are still painting! We have been out every night after work this week getting in as much painting as light allows. We don't have far to go. Susan should be able to finish up on Saturday and then after I get off from Bartending, I'll go over everything for some touch up.

It really is a tedious job. Getting paint into all the nooks and cranny's of a railing is drudgery at its finest. Add to that all the arbors up above, and there is a lot to paint.

In the meantime, we haven't done ANYTHING to the bathroom this week. I am going to try and get the radiator pipes capped off tonight. If that goes smoothly and there are no leaks, then I can finish the sub-floor. Then we can get to work on the shower and then the tiling which will hopefully then be followed by the end of waking up in the middle of the night and going allllllll the waaaaay downstairs to use the toilet.

We will be going to the fair on Sunday so stand by for pictures and results of our entries into the Beer and Wine Judging.

Finally, I would like to add that my Weather Machine is now fully operational. I had to wait for a mounting shelf for the rain gauge. It came the other day and I finally got it installed on my Weather Machine Mast last night.

I have been poking around the Internet for like-minded Weather Junkies such as myself. I am gratified to discover that I only have a minor Weather Fetish as compared to others. There is a whole network of people who have Weather Machines like mine that are perpetually connected to their computer and delivering their local Weather Machine info to anyone who wants (or needs) it via the World Wide Web.

In fact, thanks to this kind of information, I can tell you that it is currently 76 degrees out and the wind is out of the South Southwest at 1mph. Furthermore, the Humidy is at 25%, the Dew Point is at 38 degreesand the Barometer is at 29.88 inches and steady.

That's the News and Weather together from RadioBlog KSJB. Film at Eleven!

On Schedule to be Late!

As I was working out in my head what I was going to write in today's blog, I fully expected to talk about how sore I was from the previous days' activity. I was writhing in Soreness ALL NIGHT LONG. I had no idea how I was going to get up and do all the stuff we had planned to accomplish.

But I got out of bed about 8:00 and started doing stuff to get ready for the day, and the soreness kind of went away. Besides, I'm not one to complain. (10.5 on the Sarcasometer)

We did okay today even though we are light years away from completing this project by tomorrow. I don't really care. It was a nice day to be outside, we were working on the house and we were progressing towards the completion of a worthy goal. Besides, the only real issue with getting the painting done is whether or not it is going to rain. By tomorrow, that won't be an issue for us because we will have painted all the critical areas that might be setback if it rained.

The Great Under-Estimater

It is Day One of the Labra Dor Weekend and we are about two-thirds of the way through the prep work on the deck. We got a late start, around 10:30 or 11:00 and sanded and scraped until 4:00. The prep work sucks! It seems to take forever. But we had a nice time doing it, drinking an occassional beer and listening to the Washington State Cougars as they lost their first game of the season. I am still holding out hope that we can finish this project by Monday.

Tonight, we are riding our bikes downtown to enjoy "Pigout in the Park". There are a bunch of restaurants with booths set up in the park as well as a multitude of Bands to listen to and many Perveyors of Assorted Crap.