Home Security and Electrical Problems

My garden electricity problems are solved.

As expected, I cross connected Circuit B when I should have re-routed Circuit A and conjugated the ground with the pre-fibrous optic leg of the confluent adjacent nodes and then intersected the low flow gallions into the concurrent backscratchers.

I mean, any idiot knows that!

Anyway it was not a serious problem that could not be deciphered by learning the meaning of "line" as opposed to "load".

Suffice it to say that I have not electrocuted myself and the flag can now be lit through the night.

I will also say that we have updated our Home Security System but I'm not going to give any more information than that here. If you want to know what we did, try stopping by in the middle of the night sometime.

Day to Day Stuff

I got home from work and got back to work on the front yard. My task is to get the electrical outlets working in the new garden. 

Susan got home from work and got back to work cleaning the house, which has been neglected over the last week or two. She set out to vacuum the dining room and living room.

She was much more successful in her tasks than I was with mine. The wiring is all connected, but I made a bad connection somewhere and I believe it is right at the front of the line. I'll try to make it right tomorrow.

Brewing Beer on the Deck with the Gas Flame



I also made a batch of beer tonight for an upcoming wedding. I threw in a few cones of my Sterling Hops right off the vine. I have no idea how it will effect it, if it effects it at all.

I also made a mess of the deck!

Much Make Work for Dirt on Wall

Much work over long weekend make us tired down and beaten at with no use of yes grammar or good speaking skills left on us. Work on garden much hardness and many trips to drive truck for dirt getting. Then return to undirt the truck into garden spaces, make full with dirt and plantages.

Then soak in tub and much to drink for late in night to bed.

Much happy!

Time for a New Project

With the success of yesterday, we allowed ourselves to take it easy today. 

After church, we went out and did a few clean up touches on the wall. We back filled the wall with the remaining gravel we had. We also back filled with some rocks we have out back but  didn't come close to using those up.

After about an hour and a half, we were done and rewarded ourselves with a trip to the river. We paddled up stream for a bit, had some snacks, some beer and enjoyed the solitude and natural beauty of the river.

We made it home early and just kind of sat around. 

A nice barbecue meal ended the evening with a bonus visit from our friend Mark.

I guess I need to start thinking about a new project.

East Side Story

7:48AM: The goal today is to complete the east wall. That may be too ambitious for today...but, that's the goal. I have dropped Susan off at work, had a nice breakfast and now I am ready to rock...or brick.

The forecast calls for a high of 96 degrees today. Fortunately, I am working in the shade for most of the day. However, I will take steps to keep myself hydrated and cool.

8:59AM: You can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning!

All my tools are gathered in the front yard and I am ready to go. Above is a picture of what I'm starting with. 

First objective, get my trench dug to the required depths.  I have four depths to dig. Ten inches at the start and end of the wall...next to the house. That will be two bricks high. 

The next depth is 14 inches, with a three brick stack and 18 inches which will be four bricks (16") high. The wall will be level with the bottom step on the front porch stairs.

10:22AM: I believe I am satisfied with my trench. I faced a brief but intense battle with another sizable root, but it was no match for the wrath of my sturdy, if not sharp, ax. 

It is now at the depths I want and mostly levelish. The leveling will come with the next step; the placement of the gravel.

I am starting at the lowest point of the wall, which in this case is in the front. I will lay the gravel in to the desired depth and then place a course of bricks through that entire level. Then I will lay in the gravel on the next level and line up my next course. 

I think it is going very well. Short of having enough bricks to build the wall, I could be done with this today.

11:04AM: I am ready to lay the first course of bricks. I'm very nervous but a wise wall builder once said the wall of one hundred and twenty-nine bricks begins with a single stone. Ooh! Awwwwww!

11:55AM: The first course of the lowest level is down. It's pretty close (within a half inch) to the level it is supposed to be and that is good enough for me. Moving on!

3:04PM: All the bricks I have are on the wall. I need 30 more to finish. I am off to "the Depot"!

4:04PM: I have just placed the last brick. I would be very happy to say I am done. Alas...nothing good comes after "Alas"...I am not finished. There are a couple of small things I want to take care of tomorrow. Plus, I still have a small pile of gravel and I'm going to use the excess to back fill the wall.

I will tell you this...I'm very close to finished, and that makes me happy. It also helps to remind me why I am so very very sore.

5:30PM: This time of year the hot tub gets turned down. It's currently sitting at 85 degrees and I have just emerged from it's depths. It was just right after a looooooooooong day in the shade, building a wall. 

I don't know what the high was for today yet but I can tell you it was in the warm region. If you were in the direct sunlight, it was a region or five warmer. 

The SuperStanWeatherCenter 5000 says that it is 109 degrees on the roof. It's an unshielded sensor so it is not to be trusted in direct sunlight, which it gets during the whole time that the sun is out.

I'm waiting for Susan to call at any moment and request my Taxi Service. Then I will be concentrating on some sort of dinner type of affair.

7:26PM: Susan is home, we've had a couple of beers to celebrate the end of the wall construction and now we are going out for some beer and high brow pizza at the Flying Goat.

Good day!

What Else Can I Break?!

I am gearing up for a weekend of wall building. I am in the process tonight of getting my ducks in a row. The ducks are so far cooperating and things are looking good for a successful weekend of ducks in a row. 

As far as building a wall, I think I'm Fucked!

No, no! I'm much more optimistic than that. I have defined my trench. I have the area stacked out with a level to work with. I have my gravel base to fill the trench. I have purchased most of my bricks. I am ready!

So, other than unloading the gravel from the truck tonight, I am taking the evening slow. I'm going to return a few things I have borrowed. These items are either no longer needed or broken and therefore, useless to me.

I took a step tonight towards damaging the camera. It fell out of my pocket while driving today and then onto the parking lot when I stopped and opened the door. It still takes perfectly good pictures but the display looks like hell.

So stay tuned to see what else I can damage. My top prospects are Ron's Pick and my back.

By the way, I normally try to write in the inclusive "we" when talking about our projects. Afterall, these projects are joint ventures by the wife and I.

Susan is working most of the weekend and so I am on my own for tomorrow, at least, when it will about 400 degrees out and most of the heavy lifting (shoveling) gets done.

Please understand that I am not coming down on Susan. I wish I had an extra job so I could get out of this. I'm simply explaining things that I should leave unexplained...which makes me wonder why I did, or didn't. 

I'm now not sure what I didn't not do...or did



...or didn't!

The Ax Man Cometh

Work progresses on the East Wall. We have the trench well defined and the area is staked out with a string indicating the zenith of the wall in a relatively level sort of fashion.

Even with all our intensive root removal work of the previous nights, we still ran into a couple of substantial roots. One got my neighbor Derek involved with his battery powered Sawzall. We kept cutting and then prying, only to discover another sizable tendril heading off in a different direction. At one point, we had half the neighborhood standing around and offering advice...none of it helpful.

So we managed to accomplish what we wanted to accomplish for the night and spent the rest of the evening sitting on the front porch enjoying where we live.

Here are the roots (Horizontal Tree Trunks) we removed tonight.

East Side Garden Wall Building Day 2

We had a productive evening of root removal tonight. I cut out a bunch more roots and broke the Sawzall in the process. I could not remove the blade when it was time to change it. I pulled the set screw completely out and it looked like there was something still in there preventing the blade extraction.

Fortunately, I pulled out the ax and it did the job quite nicely and with about the same amount of effort.

Then I rototilled the area and we dug out a vague outline of the trench.

Tomorrow we will place the stakes and set the line to the level we want and begin the process of preparing the previously mentioned trench.

If things go well, we could have this second wall completed by this weekend. I think I shall make that "the Goal".

Here are some pictures.

That is the start of East Wall. We have a long way to go.

This is the root pile that we have pulled out so far. That is all the roots we've pulled, from the west side as well as the east. It's going to make a great fire some day soon.

This log is actually a root that I cut out on Monday night. It's the biggest root I've ever seen, at least 5 inches across, and now has me slightly concerned for the stability of the tree.

This of course, is T.J. preparing to drive the truck to get a fish snack.

Beggar & Mooch Landscaping

We have done it. We have completed the wall.

Here are the statistics. It took us two weekends...four days, with a few hours after work during this past week. The wall took 138 bricks. The total cost of the west side of the project is $260.45. That price includes bricks and gravel. It does not include the thirty some hours Susan and I each put in. It does not include the rototiller we borrowed, the truck we borrowed, the wheel barrow we borrowed, or the pick, hoe, spade, and tamper we borrowed. 

If it wasn't for people we know, we would never get anything accomplished.

And now for the pictures.

This is the truck before I picked up 60 bricks.

This is the truck after it is loaded with 60 bricks. You may note that the water line is a little lower in the stern. It also navigates much more sloppily upon the roadways.

This is Oscar crapping in the newly spread dirt. I expect we are going to get a lot of cat fertilizer over the coming months.

This is how the garden looked at the very start of the wall project last Saturday.

This is what we ended up with today.

It's not perfect but I am happy. We plan to take what we learned into the next wall, which starts tomorrow.

Or possibly the day after that...or after that...or October.

West Wall Construction Day Six

Day is done and so am I!

We made excellent progress on the wall around the front garden today. I am definitely going to meet my goal of completing the west side this weekend. 

With time left over, we may even get a start on the east side tomorrow.

I worked all day prepping the ground and then laying in the gravel and getting it smooth, tamped down and level. Most important of all...level.

I probably spent two hours laying down the first course. I wasted a half an hour by starting in the wrong place. I should have started at the lowest point but I started up against the house... also known as the highest point...also known as the place not to start.

Once the first layer was down and leveled to my satisfaction, everything else was a breeze. 

I stopped about 4:30 or five because I ran out of blocks. I'll be getting more tomorrow. I think I need about 50 to finish but I'm going to get 75. I think the truck can handle the weight and it will be one less trip I have to make later.

In the meantime, I am spent, tired, tuckered out, wasted, and generally of no use to anyone. It is 9:30 and I am going to bed. A nice couple of aspirin chased with a lovely scotch and I am off to dream land.

And then there were Three

I write with tears this morning as we lost our little Scouty. 

I came down this morning and she was very weak, barely able to eke out a meow. She passed away while we were back upstairs, me getting dressed and Susan brushing her teeth.

So the other three cats are outside while we figure out appropriate funeral arrangements. Nothing fancy, just a lone horse drawn casket and a 21 paw salute.

Doomed to Toil

Another evening of toil in the sands of doom. 

Tonight I got a very rudimentary trench dug which took much longer than anticipated because of the roots. I ran into a bunch more that needed to be clipped. A couple were more substantial than mere roots.

Then we got the area staked out and placed a level string around the whole project. Well, the west side of the project.

It's coming along and I am trying not to rush it. As I head for bed, I am tired. Good Night!

Another Day...that happens to be PERFECT!

Get up,Get Dressed, Go to Church. Go Home, get changed, get your lazy ass in the yard.


I'm not sure where to start with this post other than to try and do it chronologically. But that seems so lame. So I'm starting out with a before and after picture of the front west garden.

Many thanks to Randy and Karen who loaned us their rototiller. They did not just loan it to us. They loaded it into their truck, they drove over to our house, they helped unload it and show us how to use to, and they filled it with gas. They also drank some of our beers. So it all evened out in the end.


The rototiller made fast work of tearing up the garden soil as well as a shit load of roots. I'm not kidding. There is a SHIT load of roots ready for our next stump fire.


We pretty much decimated all the work we did yesterday. But I think it is well worth it and we are well on the way to getting this project completed. 


The Goal: I want this done by Labor Day. If you're keeping score...and I am...that means we have 27 days.


Here are my two best pictures of the day.


This one I call "Shit Load of Roots"

This one I call "Woman being thrown around by RotoTiller."

Susan cannot possibly weigh much more than this rototiller. And she got the crap knocked out of her.


The thing died all the time because of the overwhelming roots. And the rototiller didn't do much better.


But, we got it all cleared out and now we are ready to get the trench dug, leveled, graveled, sanding, tamped, and finally bricked.


We worked until about four and it was a bright, hot sunny day. The temperature was well into the 90's while we where working.


I spend my childhood working in my parents yard. I mowed, raked, pulled weeds, hauled dirt, hauled rocks, spread mulch, transplanted trees and hated every minute of it.


I had a blast today. It felt so good to be out there, working in the dirt, swing an ax over those damn roots. It was just the best! It amazes me to write this. I commented to Susan about how much I was enjoying myself until she told me to shut up.


We finished the day by bottling some wine for a friends upcoming wedding. We bottled 28 bottles of Johannesburg Riesling. It has a special label designed by the bride and groom.


It was the perfect end to a great day and I am happy to be alive and living on Corbin Park! 

Super Saturday Stuff

Welcome to the end of a day. I am tempted to say it was a very good day. But I don't want to go all "Superlative" on you. Besides, days are good and days are bad and this day had elements of both...like any other...so welcome to the end of a day.


We woke up in the back bedroom where the sleep number bed caressed our asses throughout the night. I, myself, slept like a guy who had just the right amount of alcohol to fall asleep hard 10 minutes after hitting the mattress and maintain that level of unconsciousness until the Diabetic Cat Alarm went off at 6AM.


The first task of the day was to transport Scout to the vet. She is not feeling well and has lost a lot of weight in recent weeks. It turns out her kidneys are starting to fail. They want to keep her over the weekend, get some fluids in her and get a better picture of what's going on.

After dropping her off, we went out to the home of a wine making buddy to retrieve a corker. We are bottling wine tomorrow night.


Since we got such an early start on our day, breakfast seemed appropriate. We tried going to the Cottage Cafe where my son Scott is a cook, but they were experiencing 20 minute waits and we don't enjoy that kind of experience. So we headed off to the Skyway where we walked right in. They were busy but it's a much bigger place and tables were available.


Now comes the terrible part of the day. We have committed to doing something in the front yard as far as landscaping this summer. We went to the Home Depot and bought 20 retaining wall bricks. We are going to build a little wall defining the front gardens on either side of the front walkway. 


We started with 20 because I wasn't sure how many the car would handle, weight wise.


When we got home I began the arduous task of digging a trench to build the foundation on which to place the wall. 


Susan did some raking and shrub trimming as well as some dirt loosening. We completed a 15 foot leg of the trench but I have decided to go in search of a rototiller. That would make my life a lot easier in this job. There are just so many roots to get through. 


One root I will soon have to deal with will require an ax. That will be a post in itself and may come as early as tomorrow.


After a hot and sweaty afternoon in the yard, we relaxed for a while. Susan took a long lazy bath and I goofed around...which is code for sat in front of the TV and watched reruns of "NCIS" on the USA Network.


We left the house at six and went to pick up Ron and Kelly. They then followed us to the quaint apartment on the river of Chuck and Maggie. They have a dock party every year about this time and one of the traditions of the party is my diving off the Argonne Street Bridge into the river.

This year was no exception. I have worn a Superman shirt in the past but this year I augmented it with a cape and tiny red undies. It made quite an impression.

I cannot figure out why this picture is coming in upside down and I have given up trying.


The party was great and we stayed until 10...followed by an incredible job of impaired driving on the way home. 


No arrests were made.

ArbVee Transplantational Activity

After work, I got back out to the front garden to do some more digging and scratching around the Arbor Vitae. I really had no idea how much of a root ball I was going to be dealing with. The shrub had been there long before we owned the house. So I was thinking there were going to be long roots going all about, here and there, willy nilly.


I really wasn't expecting to "Git R Dun" tonight. But it turns out the root ball was very close to the surface and nothing major in terms of  a network of long branchy roots shooting out in all directions, here and there, willy or nilly.


I hosed everything down with the water hose hoping to soften the dirt a bit, and that did work to some extent. 


I am fond of saying there is not a square inch of ground around this house that I can put a shovel to and not hit a root. That was true in this case. But the added bonus was rocks. Mostly, you're medium sized rocks. We have terrible soil in the yard.


But, after some more digging, I started rocking the trunk and it very easily yielded. I got the shrub up and had the new hole all ready for it. It went much faster than anticipated and now I have this big area of soft, semi-cultivate earth. 

It filled that hole in the fence line very nicely and really opens up the front of the house. I really should bring in a rototiller and chew that whole garden up. But I think we'll just add some good dirt to the top after we get the bricks in.