Chilly Mornings

The last couple of days have been pretty chilly here in Spokane and that has made the house equally chilly. Our space heaters are not keeping up. I may start a fire tonight (in the fireplace, don't get all concerned) to help warm up the house.

Eviction Consequences

On Sunday, I returned to the scene of the Squirrel Eviction to permanently close off access to the newly created Squirrel Hole. As I removed the siding to tear into the project, the extent of the damage began to reveal itself.The worst part of the damage was when I shined a flashlight into the hole and found a dead baby squirrel. I should have checked for that before closing off the hole last week, but it didn't occur to me. So now, I am responsible for the death of an innocent squirrel and I have a Momma Squirrel out there who is really pissed.

With a heavy heart, I continued my repair work. I removed all the siding on one side of the wall and the first couple of layers around the corner.

My first task was to replace a couple of support struts. That's the really badly chewed up piece and another below it. As usual, I ran into an equipment problem. The blade on my chop saw was so dull that I wasn't so much cutting through the wood as burning through the wood.

At that point, it was late in the day so I decided to buy the saw blade the next day. However, I still had a large opening and I didn't want any squirrels in there. My solution was Owlbert. We bought him at the General Store for about 30 bucks. He has motion sensors. His head turns and he hoots when the motion sensors detect movement.I think it worked good enough to keep the varmints out for a day. I heard it go off early Monday morning.My next step is to fit a piece of sheet metal over the whole side. There will be no more chewing through the house...at least in this area.

Then, I have to finish up and replace the siding.

We also have a major problem with moss. I have been scraping some of it away while I have been up there working. Once I'm done with this project, I will concentrate on the moss. I'm looking forward to some wonderful salads.

I feel really bad about the baby squirrel. After all the care I took last year to capture and re-locate skunks in a humane manner, knowing I am responsible for the rather unpleasant demise of a cute little future house shredder is unsettling. As with everything pertaining to the house, I will take the lessons I have learned and try to remember to apply them in the future.

So, the lessons learned in the past week?

Don't kill Squirrels. Don't cut the Gas Line.

Eviction

I have a Love/Hate relationship going with the squirrels. I realize that I am not going to be able to eliminate them from the park and surrounding area. That's genocide and we're not into that. But I would like to diminish their impact on the house as much as possible.

In contrast, I like to put out peanuts for them. Especially in the winter when it is much harder for them to forage for food. I really need to stop! I mean, why encourage the little varmints?!

We awoke last Sunday morning to the sound of chewing. I thought it was coming from the back corner of the house. Susan thought it was coming from the opposite side of the house. As usual, she was right.

This one squirrel had managed to chew his way into the inside of the balcony. He was assisted by me, who removed a couple of shingles last fall and then forgot to replace them. I noticed him earlier this week when I was outside the front of the house surveying my tremendous crop of moss. You can see both the moss and the squirrel hole in the picture above.

Anyway, I was observing the moss and considering a plan of action that would not blow up the house. I noticed this squirrel scurrying down the roof and then slipping into the side of the balcony. Moss was no longer my main concern.

So I got up on the balcony and scrambled out onto the roof and the corner of the balcony structure and peered in the squirrel hole.

I was actually happy to see that he had made his home so close to the opening. Once inside there, the squirrel would have access to the whole roof section above the front porch.

I tried using this personal alarm I have to scare him out but he wouldn't move. Then I remembered the anti-varmint pepper spray. I couple of squirts into the hole and he was outta thar.

I was ready with more siding to nail into place. I then heavily coated the whole area with the spray to discourage any more chewing.

I went out this morning to check things out. The patch is still in place.

I deposited an extra generous pile of peanuts near the tree.

Earth Day Home Repair

You know, I still have a leaky faucet to deal with. I decided to go a different repair route. A route that is friendlier...not so much to the environment, but to me.

I mixed up some JB Weld on Tuesday and applied it to the inside of the faucet pipe. I tried to cover as much of the inside and as far back as possible. I spread a little around where I knew the crack was.

Then last night, I screwed the faucet into place and turned to water on. To my pleasure and amazement, it worked. I cannot see any leakage. This outcome also caused me to feel even more stupid concerning my attempts at a more aggressive repair method.

And now, it's time for a Hops Plant update.

Pictured below is my Sterling Hops plant. It has taken off this year. The vines are much thicker and they are growing at an incredible rate.

Notice the black marks on the support stick the vine is wrapping around. I marked it this morning at the top. There is a mark about four inches below that I made yesterday. It is really cruising. And this is even with a broken stem near the bottom of the plant. You can kind of make out the damage right at the bottom of the picture.The photograph above shows my Haullertau Hops Plant. It is not growing as fast but it is starting to catch up with the Sterling. Additionally, it is sending up about se7en vine shoots as opposed to the two of three shoots that the other plant is sprouting.

I still see no signs of life in either of my grape vine plants of the Clematis. The winter might just have done them in.

Sharing a Hallmark Moment

One of my favorite responses to people who ask, "How ya Doing?", is "Happy to be on this side of the dirt!"

That has taken on a whole new meaning to me after the events of Sunday. I was surprised at how affected I was after everything calmed down. I didn't sleep well, my stomach was kind of queasy all day and I just had this weird feeling of dodging a major bullet. The more I thought about it, the more I came to realize that I was a spark away from buying the farm and then exploding it into little pieces, taking my wife with me.

I feel really stupid because it was such a lame mistake. But, I am so thankful and grateful to be alive which allows me the opportunity to feel as stupid as I do. I am going to try my best to remember this feeling and somehow make it reflect in my life.

I guess what I'm saying is that we take so much for granted. Stop it! Look around. Notice how amazing life is. No matter how crappy you think your life is, that's a temporary situation and it will change. When you feel like crap, thank God you're alive to feel it. Celebrate it.

Okay, that's my Hallmark Moment.

Almost a Darwin Award Winner

I had a project set for today that I was determined to accomplish. I have to fix the outside faucet. The end of the pipe where the faucet attaches has a crack that allows water to leak out behind the faucet. I traced the water line down in the basement and went to work to replace the length of pipe about four feet long.

I was reefing on it with my pipe wrench and couldn't break the seal on the joint. I got my torch and tried heating up the elbow to allow for some expansion and contraction, again hoping to break the seal.

I drove to Home Depot for some advice. The guy there told me I could cut the pipe near the joint and then probably have better luck loosening that smaller section. If I still couldn't get the pipe out, I would have to saw into the connection in several points around the pipe in order to break it up and thereby remove it.

So I drove on back home, got my hack saw and began to cut. It was very slow going and really quite an arduous task, so I decided to speed things up with the Sawzall. That worked great. I fired it up and started cutting and tore through the pipe. It threw off a couple of little sparks but nothing that concerned me about setting the joists ablaze.

Suddenly I noticed a hissing sound. Sssssssssssssssssss! Next I smelled the rotten eggs. Yes, the water pipe I had been cutting into with a power saw, with sparks a flying, that I was heating up with a torch, was in fact my gas line.

I went into total panic mode when I realized what a stupid damn idiot I was. I ran upstairs to tell Susan and call the Gas Company. I ran back down stairs to shut off the pilot light and power. I also grabbed some duct tape and wrapped it around the pipe. Surprisingly, that helped to staunch the flow of gas pretty well. Gas lines are not under a lot of pressure, I now know.

I finally found the phone number for the Gas Company and after going through their phone tree, I accessed their emergency gas leak line where they put me on hold for ten minutes.

During this time, I decided to try and find the gas shutoff valve at the meter. All this time, I am really pissed at myself and running around and breathing heavily and not really thinking clearly. I work very well under pressure.

Anyway, I got the gas shut off and the smell of it dissipated quickly and then the Avista guy showed up. He double checked that I did indeed get the valve shut off properly and that there was no gas.

It was fortunate this happened now that I don't need the furnace. I have a guy who is coming next Sunday to replace the pipe I cut.

Once I had the chance to wind down and think about what happened, I am just flabbergasted at my ignorance and stupidity. How do you follow one water line and then loose it and pick up the gas line. God had an Angel sitting on my shoulder during all this because clearly, as close as I came, it is apparently not yet my time to go.

I am no longer allowed to work on pipes.

Home Maintenance Issues

As a home owner, you will frequently be faced with unexpected home maintenance issues. These issues may involve small pesky rodent or normal wear and tear. Tonight, I am dealing with both.

I have seen signs that some sort of four legged mammal creature is trying to gain entry to the underbelly of the Carriage House. Specifically, I have seen signs of digging around a hole in the pavement of the alley immediately adjacent to the rear alley side of the Carriage House. This is a situation that we cannot allow to develop.

In an effort to quell this uprising, I am instigating protocols to determine the exact species attempting to gain entry and the intentions of the aforementioned, as yet unnamed mammal rodent individuals. I think the pictures speak for themselves.

I think I have already mentioned the leaky outdoor faucet. In order to fix it correctly, I have to remove and replace a sizable chunk of pipe. It is inside with easy access from the basement. I have not yet attempted a replacement of this nature so I am approaching it with a certain amount of trepidation.

Here is a picture of the pipe run I have to replace.

I have to remove the pipe from the elbow to the faucet, which is just on the other side of the far wall. It should be an easy project except for the following concerns:

1) I will have to shut off the main water to remove this pipe. The shut off valve down the line is old and does not completely seal the shut off. If the water is still on, it will leak profusely.

2) Once I have the pipe removed, I will need to take it to the local Home Improvement Center to retrieve the proper replacement length and parts.

3) During this time, the water will be shut off. If I want to flush, Tough!

4) If I cannot properly replace this pipe by late afternoon, I will have to have some plan in place that will allow me to turn the water back on and keep this thing from leaking all over the basement floor.

5) Maybe I shouldn't do anything right now.

Having listed my concerns, I now feel free to ignore the issue.

What was it we were talking about?!

Hops Disaster

The hops pictured in the last post survived the snow but it did not survive some animal rubbing up against it and breaking it. I am stunned. this is a huge set back for a vine of hops that was really getting a good foothold on the growing season. I'm going to have to erect some chicken wire enclosures around all those plants to protect them.

I have the first signs of something trying to move in under the Carriage House. It looks like some animal has dug in through a hole in the paved alley. A bunch of dirt was dug out of the hole and onto the pavement. I filled it back in and I'll keep a watch on it.

The snow from the other day pushed the seasonal total snowfall to 97.7 inches.

Snowy Hops

I hope this isn't a bad omen for the hops. It has gotten a nice solid start on the season and then something like this happens. The snow will likely be gone by noon so it shouldn't be too damaging. At least, that's what the latent farmer in me thinks.

Sloppy Easter

One sure way to schedule some wet weather is to arrange a nice spring holiday. The forecasters were falling all over themselves saying that Easter Sunday will be okay during the day but rainy as the day wore on. Nice try!

It rained steadily all day. It would ease off here and there but it never really did stop.

That's good for the hops though so I approve.

We didn't really do anything on Easter because Susan had to work. The damn Spokane Chiefs hockey team keeps winning and so she has to keep working games. And then, when they had a chance to seal the deal and move on, they lost. The last game of the series is tomorrow against the Vancouver Vasectomy's. Goat Cheese Go!

I need to get back to sanding but I'm not gonna tonight. I had me a workout that didn't agree with me on account of all that running and working out. I hate that stuff. But I'm fat and I'll be dead soon if I don't try to embrace it more.

More Signs of Life

I have been keeping an eye on my hops and grape vines that I planted last year. So far, I have seen very little evidence that they survived the winter...until last night. It looks like the hops is starting to push out some healthy looking buds. I doused them in Miracle Grow and we'll see how they do.

The great weather continues and it is very conducive to getting out in the yard and cleaning up every night. The yard needs sooooooo much work and is sooooooo far away from being where we want it to be.

I noticed last night that there is a leak one of my water faucets outside. I removed it and the pipes to which is was attached doesn't look very good. The end is corroded and chipped and looks like it has been fatigued. I'm going to purchase a new faucet today and see if that fits onto the pipe better and seals the leak.

I also need to buy a new hose caddy. The one I had in the backyard has suffered some damage over the winter. I don't know what happened to it but the crank you use to return the hose to the reel and been broken off. As I stated, I don't know how that could have happened, but it happened.

Spring Time Has Arrived

This Blog is dedicated to the Home Remodeling Project of Stan & Susan Burke. Here we will chronicle our on-going project as we move toward our goal of completing our remodel by 2009, the 100 year anniversary of our home. We will also list our various injuries and lost body parts.

As of today, that is the subject header of the blog. I haven't read it in a while. It seems it is time to update it. Here it is 2009 and we are waaaaay behind our ambitious schedule. I haven't done any work on the stairs since last Sunday. I guess that is something that I'll work on.

I rode my bike to work this morning, resuming the routine I followed last Summer of riding downtown, catching the bus to Liberty Lake and then doing it backwards on the way home. It was chilly this morning but a nice ride home. I am waaaaaay out of riding shape. I 'spect it will take some acclimating.

I was able to get home tonight in time to run a mile around the park and then get some fertilizer on the lawn. I'm trying to get ahead of the dandelions. I hate the dandelions.

I am also keeping an eye on my hops and grape vines. So far, I do not see any evidence that they weathered the winter months.

There's a nearly full moon out tonight and it still about 60 degrees. I'll have to go out and walk the grounds.

Beautiful Sunday

Sunday was a beautiful day. It got up into the 60's and was a great day to be out working in the yard. We also had a couple of birthday parties to attend which made for a totally lovely, if not fattening afternoon.

As I was driving home on Friday, I came across the biggest pickup truck I have ever seen. I don't count those Monster Trucks that you see crushing stacks while rabid fans cheer and duck. Those can't haul anything. This was an actual working pickup.

It was a Semi-tractor crew cab with a pickup bed on back. The bed could probably hold a regular sized pickup.One way to gauge the size of this thing is too look at the trailer hitch on it. Notice how far down it has to drop in order to pull a regular trailer at anything close to level. Now that's a guy who doesn't give a shit about the price of diesel.

Narcissism and the Blog

As I predicted yesterday, the snow was all gone by the time I got home from work. It continues to try and snow. It's snowing right now. I heard on the radio that we set a record yesterday for snow fall on an April Second. The previous record was 1.2 inches and we got two. Our chest is swelled with pride. Or sunken with cabin fever rage.

I have been trying to evaluate my narcissistic tendencies. I tell myself I am keeping this blog because it is a great vehicle for looking back at what we've done on the house. I have easy access to it. It has been very helpful in referring to when projects were started or finished. I also discovered I like doing it. I like writing. It makes me wish I had paid more attention in Mrs. Jurgenson's class.

But I think I am fooling myself when I say that I don't care if anybody reads it. If I really wanted a record of home remodeling accomplishments, I would keep a journal. (I wrote "diary" there first but that's too gay.) I have kept journals in the past and I'll be damned if I can tell you where they are.

I think that all bloggers want to be read even if they say they don't. Saying you don't care if anyone reads it is a safety valve for when in fact, nobody does read it. Anyway, that's my excuse.

April Fools - A Day Late

This was the scene upon opening the door this morning to let the cats out. The weather folks had forecast it but they've been forecasting it for three days. There was about three inches. I was able to fight the urge to break out the snow blower because I'm quite confident it will be gone by this afternoon.

I'm not sure how much longer my camera is going to be with me. I have been having problems with the automatic lense cover. It doesn't always open completely and it has been doing that for several months. I fix it by giving it a little flick and it opens right up.

Now it looks like it isn't positioned properly and it won't open at all. I was able to open it with a friendly nudge from my pocket knife, but now it won't close. That means I am due for a scratched lense. Until then, I'll keep snapping.

By the way, this snow fall has added even more to the seasonal total putting us way up into "Seen Worse" territory.