End of the Four Day Weekend

Wow! What a busy Thanksgiving Weekend we have had. We managed to pack a lot of activity and work into the four days.

We got up Thursday at a reasonable yet satisfying 9:30 and set out to paint a couple of windows. They were both office buildings and I have furnished pictures below.

It was very festive while we painted as it was snowing the first snowfall of the season. You can see that we are not creating any great works of art. We are somewhat limited by the present climate of society where we do not really admit that this is the Christmas Season. Instead, it is the Holiday Season and so we are not painting any overt Christmas Images. I guess I went a little overt there on the Holy Family Medical Building, but then again, it is the "HOLY FAMILY" Medical Building. You would think they would be okay with Christmas.

We made it home by two and Susan had one more pie to prepare before dinner at five.

We drove to Mom's for Thanksgiving. There was about 14 of us there. We got to meet the daughter and son-in-law of Mom's gentleman friend. His name is john and they have been keeping each others company for a while now. Susan and I only recently met him. Thanksgiving was great and I didn't eat too much. That was good and amazingly out of character for me.

We got out on Friday and did some more painting. We completed our first skywalk. It took about five hours. I am hoping we will be able to shave some minutes off the time as we go. We are both still getting our painting bearings back and figuring out our process.

We painted today in the skywalk that goes to City Hall. We painted for about five hours and we still have an hour to go. We'll finish up tomorrow and get started on skywalk.

We still haven't nailed down all the skywalks that we are doing. We are waiting to hear from a local real estate company that manages a lot of the buildings that our skywalks are attached to. They are the ones paying the bills and we haven't gotten them to agree to the painting yet.

During this time, the floor sits patiently idol while we complete the Holiday Window Painting Marathon. If we don't pick up any more skywalks, we'll be done this week. I'll find out tomorrow what the story is. Then, we shall continue on staple removal and wrist torture.

Now it is Sunday Evening and we are settled into the house and preparing to enjoy our own little Thanksgiving. We miss having a Turkey and all the trimmings so we have it all set to go for tonight. I haven't had anything to eat all day and I am prepared to stuff myself shortly. It's great to be back in character!

Day Three of the Floor Project

The progress I made last night on the floor represents about three hours, three beers and one stunningly fabulous glass of Cabernet. (There was a second glass after the work stopped) From the photograph, it doesn't look like much progress at all but I would estimate I cleared about the same square footage of linoleum as the night before.

I had to do myself last night as Susan had an equally important job of preparing a couple of Thanksgiving Day pies.

Unfortunately, we are starting to paint Christmas Windows tomorrow so that's about all the work that is going to get done on the floor for the next week or so. That is good news to my wrists and fingers which are quite unhappy with me today. All the prying of staples and nails has taken its toll.

Since this is a Wednesday that really is a Friday, we are joining some friends this evening at a local drinking establishment called Blues at the Bend. There shall be fun and frivolity and complaining about my wrists and fingers.

Mathematical Meanderings of a Destaplizing Personality

I got home last night about six and went to work on de-stapling the floor. It is even more tedious than I earlier indicated. All the little black dots that you see in the photograph are staples. There is just a little bit of the top of the staple exposed and it is very difficult to get a good hold on one to pull it up. There are also a number of nails and these weird little nails with an angled head that are really little bastards to get up.

Susan arrived home shortly after I did. Between the two of us, we worked a total of about three and half hours and cleared about nine square feet of linoleum. We have about 60 square feet to go to make it to the door. There is probably another 60 to 80 square feet going the other direction toward the kitchen, bathroom and TV room.

Based on those figures, I figure we have about 45 hours and 57 beers in front of us just to get up the linoleum.

And yet, the more we uncover, the more excited we get.

Talk about unstable people!

A Week of Thankfulocity

What a pleasure to walk down the stairs this morning and see a little clearing of hardwood floor. We are both mightily delighted at the prospect of how this floor is going to look. In the spirit of the coming holiday, we are thankful that it will be a realitively easy and inexpensive portion of the remodel. You can tell we are hopelessly involved with our home when this is the kind of thing that excites us.

It was 20 degrees when I left the house this morning. There is no snow yet but winter is just around the corner. I think they are predicting a skiff of snow for Thanksgiving evening.

With all my complaining about my back the other day, you would think I would be feeling stiff and sore today. We did lots of prying and lifting in awkward positions. And yet, no problems with the ol backeroo. There's another thing to be thankful for.

Finally, here is another picture from yesterday showing the misty haze of saw smoke floating around the living room.

Requiem for a New Project

Let it be known to all who care and the many more who don't, that on this day, in this house, we started remodeling the Entry Way.

This project will continue for an unknown amount of time and then about two months beyond that. As with all our other projects that we have completed, we don't know what we getting into here or how it is going to take shape. And like the other projects we have completed, we only know that it will be better than it was.

As an overview, I can tell you that the scope of the project entails remodeling our entry way and staircase. We have already done some work on the staircase. Work to be done there involves sanding the pads and risers down to bare wood, re staining and varnishing the pads and risers, and painting the wanes coating along the stairway as well as the balusters.

The entry way involves removing two sub floors and linoleum and then depending on the condition of the hardwood upon which the sub floors where stupidly placed, re staining it or replacing it.

Let's start with some pictures.

What you see above is a collage of the entryway from various angles. I think it appropriately displays the linoleum floor that we despise. The picture in the middle on the left shows the hardwood floor in the Living Room and the lip the becomes the linoleum. It does not show it well but that lip is a sub floor with a layer of linoleum. And then, someone came along and decided that the first layer of linoleum was not enough so they put down ANOTHER sub floor and linoleum which is what we have now throughout the main floor, except for the Living and Dining Rooms.

We believe that the hardwood extends under the linoleum from the front door all the way down to the kitchen.

And so, the plan for today was to take my circular saw and cut panels out of the floor that were deep enough to penetrate to the second sub floor but not the hardwood.

A quick aside now on me and my tools. I spend as much time looking for tools as I do actually using them. I'm trying to get better but I have too many places to put things.

Today, I went out to collect the tools I expected we would need and I found them all in the first place I looked for them. That is a very big deal to me. And a huge time saver!

And so, I went to work on the task of cutting the panels. The blade on the saw was quite dull. I was not so much cutting as I was melting. This created a great deal of smoke which quickly set off the smoke detectors. It's good to know they work. It also created this wonderful cloudy effect throughout the house that was best exemplified in the Dining Room.We quickly determined that the best way to proceed was to completely pull up the first sub floor and then see what we had underneath. The floor came up pretty easily and we had the whole thing up in about an hour and a half. We also had a tremendous dusty mess. As I type, Susan is downstairs with her birthday present, vacuuming away.The really really great news that we learned upon working on the second layer is that they did not glue the sub floor to the hardwood. They used plenty of glue on that top layer and it was a bitch to get up in a few places. Fortunately, the hardwood floor was protected by the other layer of floor so we could be pretty rough with our pry bars. And it is clear from the above picture that neither layer of linoleum is especially pleasing. I know that times and tastes change but why one would cover hardwood floors is hard to understand. But again, I am thankful they had the fore site to not cover the hardwood with glue.The photo above shows just a little of the original hardwood floor. You can see that it is in pretty good shape. The other really really good news we learned is that the original sub floor they put down was press board which crumbles very nicely under a bit of pressure from our pry bar. Susan used a small flat pry bar and I used a stiff putty knife.

The bad news is that what they saved in glue they made up for in nails and staples. We have quite a job ahead of us. Chipping away at the sub floor a little bit at time and then pulling staples and nails is tedious and time consuming. By the time I am done pulling staples, I expect to end up with enough metal to forge a gun and shoot myself.

It will be interesting to see how much we complete in the week to come. Starting Thursday morning, we will be out painting windows for the Holidays. That will consume all our time for the next couple of weeks. We never plan these projects very well.With all that being said, we are very pleased with the results of our first day. We are thrilled to learn that the hardwood looks salvageable. The alternative if the floor looked pretty torn up was going to be expensive. The tricky part is going to be refinishing it and doing it in a way that creates a smooth transition from the hallway to the living room.

And so in closing, I would like to give a trash talking shout out to Mike and Steve at the Muzzy Mansion. What have you guys done lately?!

Adventures of a Nancy-Boy

I feel compelled to make a disclosure right up front. I do not suffer pain well. I am a wimp! And when I am in pain, I have some facet of my personality that wants EVERYONE TO KNOW I AM IN PAIN!

I was taking the garbage out this morning. The can was only half full so I wheeled it around to the front of the house to load a couple of bags of leaves into it. I grabbed a great big full one and plopped it into the can. I still had room for another so I selected this small bag. I lifted it up to the can and...

Meanwhile in the Back Department: Whoop Whoop Whoop. Alarm Alarm! Danger!!! She's going to BLOOOOOOOOOOOW!

...suddenly a nerve in my mid back seized me and forced all the breath out of me. I managed to drop the bag into the can as I hit my knees and gasped for air.

This has happened to me before. The first time was years ago when I was pulling green chain at a lumber mill. All I did was turn and I was suddenly on my knees...gasping for air.

It is most unpleasant when it happens and it takes forever to get to a point where I can breathe properly.

I am going to attempt to be a Trooper at work today but my stiff demeanor is sure to give me away. In the meantime, I have vented, complained, moaned and whined here which should appease my urge to tell everyone else.

Hey! You! C'Mere a minute. I wanna tell you....

Brew Vinery In Full Swing

I started brewing a batch of my world famous and highly coveted Christmas beer on Monday. Now we have the whole Brewery AND Vinery operating in the kitchen at full capacity. The beer is in the red carboy with the blow off tube going into a bucket of water. The wine is in the green carboy. That blow off tube will come off soon and be replaced with a little vapor lock. Beer is very active for the first few days and blows off a lot of spooge (that's the technical term) and then calms down for the rest of the fermentation process. This batch of beer is really percolating right now. They all bubble pretty good after the yeast first kicks in but this batch is very active. I cannot recall another batch as active as this one is. I was watching TV last night and every few minutes, the bucket would erupt in a gi-normous belch of gaseous fervor.

We had a bit of a panic last night. We opened the door to let a cat in and/or out and caught a whiff of skunk. I checked the ground around the Carriage House and it was free of any signs of digging. I presume it was probably just someone passing through. I mean, surely we are not the only house around the park that has been inhabited by skunks.

Sunday Activities

Today's Post will be a progressive thing. We have lots to do. You might say we have a long way to go and a short time to get there. We're East bound. Oh watch Ole' Bandit run.

9:54AM: First off, I need to get some coffee and go get the truck. We have a least one load of leaves to haul and maybe a little more.

As I was leaving to get the truck, there was a squirrel scurrying around the yard and the little bastard got me in a good mood so I broke out the bag of peanuts and put a few in a tree. I left the bag by the back door and went off to get the truck.

When I returned, the peanuts in the tree hadn't been touched. The varmint went right after the candy store. I really shouldn't be surprised and I am aware that there will be no appreciation coming from the little fellow.


1:04PM: A little more! We just finished with the first load and we're getting ready to head out. We have a really full load as seen in the picture. Unfortunately, we have a couple of piles still on the ground and the whole yard could use a once over with the Suckula Five Thousand Yard Vac.

3:19PM: Well that took waaaaaaay too long. We went North to Diversified Products but they chose to be closed on Sundays. I wish I would have noticed that when I was there on Friday.

So we turned around and went all the way out to Busy Bee. I could have saved some time by going to the City Dump but then, as I have explained so often in the past, I'm paying to dump water. In these tight financial times, it does not make sense to a tight wad like Susan (and me) to pay for a bunch of wet leaves. It cost ten dollars at "the Bee" and we had a really big load.

The problem now is we are burning daylight and we still have some leaves to get up. We have decided to bag them and then throw one in the garbage every week. I'll take a couple of bags to the Valley Transfer Station on my way to work this week and winnow them down that way too.

4:35PM: The day is over as far as the yard is concerned. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. It seems I barely scratched the surface on Friday when I took the morning off. Have I mentioned how much I dislike trees this time of year?

The good news is that the leaves were dry enough to make the Suckula Five Thousand Yard Vac quite effective. The yard looks pretty nice and the leaves are up...or at least bagged. Susan made use of the Leaf Blower and I sucked up her little piles in between passes up and down the yard. We have completed Fall Yard Clean up.

Next, it is time to turn our attention inward and begin the next house project. We want to start pulling up the linoleum in our entry way. That will lead to completing the stairs.

But first, I get my reward...a cold home brew and a hot shower. In that order!!!

5:33PM: We are refreshed. Susan took a bath and I am fresh out of the shower with beer in hand. All is well, including the price of gas.
I really feel like I'm being manipulated but "the Man", whoever that may be. I know this cheap gas thing is a total illusion. It makes no sense that gas is as inexpensive as it is. Considering the state of things, gas should be approaching $5.00 a gallon.

But, I shall go along and pay the cheap price for as long as they will offer it. It could (and most likely will) all go to hell tomorrow.

One Load to the Dump

I took the morning off to dispose of the leaves. I didn't do very well. I only had time to make one load and I tweaked my back in the process. Don't worry, I'll be okay. I'll just be a walking and moving a bit more gingerly for the day.

So I got most of the leaves in the back and half in the front. That means my plans for Sunday are already set. I'll be going to the dump again. And perhaps again. And maybe once after that.

We got a shit load of leaves!

Another Weather Report

I don't have much to report here today other than the weather. You might want to stop reading now and get on with your life.

The wind is supposed to come up today but I'm hoping that yesterday's rainfall will help keep the piles mostly in place.

It was really quite warm when I went out the door this morning. My thermometer said it was 50 degrees.

I struggled with the reindeer again last night. I'm giving up and moving on to re-stringing new light.

We are moving into the Season of Window Painting. I am talking with the people I need to talk to in order to arrange painting the skywalks downtown. We have a meeting tonight. We won't start until the day after Thanksgiving. I am reluctant to even say the "word" before Thanksgiving. All these Holiday Decorations up in the stores before Halloween is over really chap my hide.

I still have lots of people to get in touch with. I better get on it.

Today's Tidbit: Another Haiku from Craigslist titled "How Stoned Am I"

Looking for my belt
searched high low and in between
found it... on my waist

Waverly Place Vinery & Wineyard

We started a new batch of wine last week. We are making a Syrah. We racked it last night. That's the process of transferring the wine (must) from the first bucket (Primary Fermenter) to the second bucket (Secondary Fermenter).

If all goes well, we will be entering this wine in various fairs and exhibitions next summer. We didn't get anything made in time to enter in the fair this year and we were very discouraged and experienced great ennui upon attending the fair and seeing all the wine that we didn't enter.

And hence, our proactive efforts as seen above. It now has to sit for about two weeks and finish fermenting. It tastes highly alcoholic right now. There is a grapey flavor followed by a phenolic bite. It's not award winning yet.
Speaking of proactive, I pulled out the Ole reindeer last night to see if I can get the lights to work. I haven't even hung it the last couple of years because the lights stopped working. I intended to buy new lights and restring the thing, but I came across this nifty little tool to help me find the burned out bulbs. I'm about half way through it and I only have one string working. My nifty tool is helpful but I'm starting to think I need to buy a couple new strings. I wanted to avoid that possibility but I figure if young Chinese children can string the thing, I have a chance of accomplishing it as well.

I haven't been able to get a hold of Rob to borrow his truck so the leaves are still piled up in the yard. The forecast is calling for more rain today and along with it.....wind. Oh boy, we will get to rake alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll over again.

Today's Tidbit: Taken from the Haiku Section of Craig's List.

Thank that Psycho Bitch

She did you both a Favor

Free now to find love

Lots o Little Piles

It was a good productive day here at the ranch.

I started by installing a rain gutter that fell down last year because I wanted to see how long an icicle would get. I learned my lesson and there shall be no more icicle competitions. All the rain we have had (1/2 inch on Friday) necessitated the rain gutter. It's right above the back door and you can't go down the stairs without passing through a curtain of runoff when it's raining.

After that, we went to work on the leaves. Most have fallen and it was time to get them raked up. I didn't have access to my friends truck today so we just raked them into a bunch of piles and I will try to take them to the dump later this week.

The problem of course with dumping rain soaked leaves is the amount of water I am paying to dump. There is a private dump spot I use for things like this because they look at the load and charge according to that rather than by weight.

The problem with using them is that they are a bit farther out in the sticks. But what I spend on gas will be saved at the dump.

I have started doing some research on Horse-Chestnuts. I didn't really know anything about these things other than I have a bunch of them. The chestnuts in the picture were gathered up in about two minutes from one of the leaf piles. They are quite prolific in the front yard. I'm going to take this little pile and see if they burn very well.

I have learned that they contain a toxin called Aesculin. It causes destruction of red blood cells. The interesting thing is that deer and squirrels are resistant to the toxin. I know the squirrels eat them but they don't eat them a lot. I think it is their go-to food when other more tasty morsels are unavailable.

I've also learned you can pulverize the nuts and repeatedly boil them into a wholesome porridge. The continuous boiling leaches out the toxin. They are also used in Homeopathic medicine to relieve pain in the sacroiliac region as well as the rectal region. If we are ever beset with Hemorrhoids, we are golden. I can't find any info with regards to burning them so we'll have to see for ourselves.

And now, I would like to present a new feature of this Blog,

Today's Tidbit:

Today is the 33rd anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitsgerald. Nobody would even care if not for Gordon Lightfoot.

Economics of Gasoline

I feel compelled to write today about the price of gas.

It has been dropping since the end of Summer and it seems to keep going. You can see from the picture what the price I paid today is. I don't think it has been this low in several years. When I stopped working for the Wall Street Journal in May of 2003, the price of gas was about $1.35 a gallon. Back in July when I was riding my bike to work, it was over $4.00 a gallon. It has dropped $2.00 in about three months.

I never thought I would see two dollar gas again. I should be buying up gas cans and getting all I can. Of course, I won't because it isn't practical. But when it starts going back up again, I'll be complaining because I didn't.

Weather Report

Wow! It's really raining. I could hear the rain coming down while laying in bed this morning. I got up and saw that it was a pretty good driving rain. On the freeway, everyone was driving a bit slower in order to be able to see.

I set a coffee cup on top of the car when I got to work in order to see how much rain it collects during the morning. A weather station that I check in with on line says it's coming down at .04 inches per hour right now. I forgot to look at my Weather Station at home to see what info it had to offer.

I'm hoping this will knock the rest of the leaves out of my trees. I would really like to get them raked up this weekend. I won't be taking them to the dump this time. Too much water. I'll take the load out to Busy Bee where it will cost me about $10.00 a load.

The radio is on and they just reported that there are power outages in Seattle and all around the west side of the state due to all this rain. Apparently, an inch of rain fell there yesterday. The forecast is calling for more rain over the next couple of days.

Weather Update: As I drove out of the parking lot to go to lunch, I heard a clunk on the roof that reminded me that I had placed a cup up there. I pulled over and was pleased to see it was still there and upright. It had a bit less than a quarter of an inch of rain water in it.

I have made a couple of changes to the Blog. I changed the template and I added a site counter. As I write this, the counter is at 007 and I am responsible for all se7en hits. Even though this blog is for us to reference improvements on the house, I am still vain enough that I want to know if other people are reading it. Nobody ever leaves comments so a counter is the only tool I have to know if people other than me show up here.

Blog Review

I have spent the last couple of days looking over all the entries I've made to this Blog over the last couple of years. I've tried to be really careful about spelling and punctuation, as well as adhering to my own special grammatical rules. I was astonished to see lots of misspelled words. I tried to correct them as I went but it became rather tedious and time consuming so I didn't get them all. Damn Spell Checker!

The other thing I noticed is that I repeat stuff a LOT! I guess I need to hire an editor. Perhaps I'll wait until it comes out in book form.

Best of all though, it really is a good record of what we have been doing. Not only with the house but with our lives. I read lots of stuff that I had forgotten about. Other things reminded me of things that happened that I didn't even remember that I wrote about. Damn Memory!

All in all, I am happy with this Blog and I shall continue to update it. I think it is time to change the look of it though. I don't know exactly what the change will be but it will be more personalized. Also, it will be something that is readable on a Mac. This template I have chosen doesn't display itself very well when you read it on a Mac. Damn Macs!

As I was walking out the door to work this morning, I noticed a squirrel up on the roof over the back door. That's the area that had been chewed up a couple weeks ago. It must have been Chewie the Chewer that I saw up there because a whole new area of siding had been removed. I pulled out the ladder and the Pepper Spray and got up there and soaked the siding and the roof as best I could. I guess I'll have to keep an eye on it for a while and probably treat it again in a few days. Damn Squirrels!

Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope

I awoke this morning to a new America.

It's an America were hope is alive and anyone can grow up to become President. An America where the unpopular, failed policies of the past are swept away like yesterday's wet, soggy leaves in order to make way for the transitional coldness of winter where sleeps the buds of new ideas ready to spring forth under the unfamiliar freshness of a new sun and sentences seem to run on and on and on forever without end or any chance of anyone realizing the original point that was trying to be so lamely made.

I am speaking of course, of the new chicken-wire blockade I laid down over the old skunk hole and the whole side of the Carriage House. Here is a picture with Oscar the Chicken-Wire Inspector as he scrutinizes my craftsmanship.

It is temporary measure so it is not very attractive. It is designed to get us Skunk Free through the Winter. We will lay down our new brick breezeway when the Spring time weather allows it.

Rain, Skunks and the Vermin We Elect

It has been raining steadily through the night which means that my leaves will be knocked out of the trees and very very wet. Oh well! Frankly, I'm amazed that we have gotten this far into Autumn without more rain. October was a dry month.

There is no digging. I did a little work next to the Carriage House last night (in the dark) and made it look like a sand trap. The area was undisturbed this morning. That means that I officially declare our house "Skunk Free".

Now I need to see to it that it remains that way. I'm going to get out there tonight and lay down some chicken wire. I'm not going to go through the time and effort to bury it. I'm just going to lay it down against the baseboard of the building and stretch it over the ground and then secure it with stakes and wire. That should be good enough to get us through the winter. Next spring we will put down the paver bricks and seal the thing up really good.

Today is Election Day and there will be a new President tomorrow. I am soooooooo ready for this election season to be over. The political ads are loathsome, repugnant and loaded with half truths designed to sway the mass of stupid people who don't study the issues and cancel out my vote. I find myself hoping for a good old fashioned Hemorrhoid Commercial.

As far as the Presidency goes, I'm not a fan of either candidate. I'm less of a fan of Barack Obama. I take solace in the fact that our system is designed so no one guy can screw it up too badly over eight years. Although, one could make a persuasive argument concerning Lame W.

Skunk Check

There is the possibility that there was some digging going on last night around the Skunk Hole. It was not at the Skunk Hole but further down the wall from the Skunk Hole. And it was just a little digging. It barely looked big enough for a skunk to crawl through. So I am not exactly sure what I have going on there.

I am going to properly prepare the surface tonight and then take before and after pictures in order to confirm or repudiate my contention that there may or may not be more skunkus verminosis under the Carriage House.....which may need to be renamed, Skunk Club.

On the landscaping/yard work side of things, we cleaned up all our Halloween Decorations and got them properly stowed. Plus, I made a run to the dump with $5.00 worth of leaves. That was a full pick up bed. If I don't get to more leaves before the rain comes, that same load will cost me $20.00.

I love paying to dump water.

Skunk # Nine

Standard Time has kicked back into our daily lives and I haven't used my extra hour yet. To me, it's 10:30 right now. I'm not sure when I am going to use it. Perhaps in a couple of weeks.

I am happy to say that we trapped Skunk Number Nine last night. It was an un-eventful catch and release. I buried the skunk hole after taking him to the skunk dump. I will find out in the morning if it was indeed the last skunk. If the skunk hole is disturbed, I still got vermin. If it is undisturbed, I lay down a shit load of Skunk Away Spray and bury chicken wire to keep them from digging their way back under the Carriage House.

815 Trick or Treaters

We have two neighbors who keep a pretty good account of the number of Trick of Treaters we get. We have too much fun handing out candy and trying to scare kids to keep track so we rely on their numbers. I do not believe they are off by much. Halloween was an absolute zoo and one of the best times we've had on the park.

The combination of a wonderful, warm autumn evening and a Friday night made it one of the biggest ever. We had friends come over to help us and they always thought I was full of crap when I told them how many kids we get. The are singing a different tune to whistle Dixie to today.

There were times when the line ran down the steps and out to the sidewalk. It was just nuts. I say this every year but I really mean it this year. I'm going to start buying candy NOW!

We ran through the first 336 full size candy bars by 6:30 and ended up giving out licorice sticks until 8:30 when those dried up.

I even gave out my cans of Spam to some lucky kid!

All in all, a wonderfully fun evening and a great little party in the house afterwards.