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Summer is winding down but we are in full tilt "Git-Out-Thar-and-Git-Ur-Dunn" mode. (Yeah, we speak stupid when the Summer is winding down.)
Yesterday, Susan made great progress in the bathroom with her wall papering. She expects to finish up today. I'm going to try and place some of my wainscoting panels but I don't want to get in her way.
Therefore, I'm holding off and working on a couple of other projects which I will show you in the amazing paragraphs to come.
But first, we went to a baseball game last night. The Spokane Indians were playing the TriCity Dust Bastards. As we drove up to the stadium at the end of the second inning, the score was 0-1, the Dust Bastards were up.
By the time we got to our seats, the score was 0-6.
The final score was 9-3 with the Indians losing. But I got some pictures.
Here is one of my pal Jerry, taking pictures from far across the concourse.
Okay, let's talk about today.
Here is one of my many projects for today.
There is supposed to be a post to hold that gate closed.
I decided that I should get a nice coat of paint on it before I replace it,
In between painting, I decided to drain the hot tub. The heat has been off for the last couple of months because we just don't use it in the summer. I have totally neglected it and was very surprised to open it and discover that it had not turned into a thick green slim. All it had was a bunch of leaves and detritus material.
I went across the street and borrowed Lou's sump pump. If I where to attach the hose to the drain nozzle and let it drain that way, it would take hours. With Lou's pump, it takes about half an hour.
It makes quite a mess of the yard though. I kind of flooded neighbor Ted's driveway.
It was a nice warm summer day so I kind of enjoyed cleaning the hot tub. I got in there with my swim trunks and scrubbed the sides with comet. Then I filled it about a quarter way full and drained the water. Another rinse and drain.
It worked well and the tub is back in service. It will take it a day to get back to temperature but I think I'm going to tone it down to the nineties, at least for the next month or so.
I got the repainted post installed as well.
While I was out in nature, Susan was sequestered in the bathroom finishing the wallpapering.
Here she is laying the last section of wall paper. I think she is mostly happy with the finished product but has some issues with a couple of things.
One problem is that nothing in the room is square. The wall paper highlights that fact if you look carefully.
So don't look carefully.
Susan continues to fuss over cleaning the tile whilst I am doing a variety of little things here and there...preparing for tonight's' bottling, watering the lawn, stoking the beer cooler with ice, things of this nature.
Frankly, I don't feel very helpful. I think I shall return to my work on the wainscoting. I'm very close to completing it.
Okay, we did okay. I got my five pieces of wainscoting cut, including the two panels that have electrical outlets in them. Next I need to paint them and then nail them into place.
Susan is mostly, sort of satisfied kind of with the shower tile, in a way. She prepped the area around the shower and is ready to wall paper. Unless she's not.
We have now had a delicious steak dinner on the front porch except for the part where Susan likes well done and hers was more like medium rarish.
Next on the menu for the evening is to bottle our Tempranillo. Here we go!
We got 23 bottles out of our re-bottle but, it is now something we both like and can drink without reservation. Plus, we now feel much better about entering it in the fair. Whether or not the judges agree with us remains to be seen. We have 22 days until we find out.
Despite my dumbassery, the sprinkler is motoring along. I'm happy to have it back.
It's another beautiful day with the forecast predicting temperatures to hit the nineties...again. We are planning to do stuff around the house. One of my planned jobs is mowing the lawn.
This will be made extra interesting by the fact that I am wearing a heart monitor. I have to wear it for 48 hours, which expires around 4:00PM today. I thought it would be a good idea to have it record me while active. I have already noted a bike ride on Thursday.
I'm also sitting around this morning doing some ciphering. We always enjoy a bit of coffee with our Bailey's Irish Cream on the weekends and I decided to figure out how much it costs per cup. We go through a 1.75 liter bottle ($42.00) in two weekends. I figured that a 4 ounce pour of Bailey's costs just under $3.00.
My ciphering continues with figuring out my average weight, blood pressure and heart beat over the last 28 days. (I've been keeping notes) That information is over on my health blog, www.porkymccorpulent.blogspot.com.
For now, I need to get some breakfast going and prepare for the many tasks ahead.
10:30AM: Breakfast is finished, Susan has left for a hair appointment, and it is time to mow.
12:58PM: The mowing is in the rear-view mirror and I have survived it with no issues to speak of. I have some lawn watering going and I'm going to go out and try to put some paint on the primed siding. We primed on the 6th so I think it has had time to cure.
3:19PM: I got down the first coat of the green but if you look close, it's streaky. It needs a second coat, which I'm about to go out and put down.
5:16PM: Susan has been working on the shower tile, tidying up the edges so the wall paper will lay cleanly and flatly.
The second coat of paint went on rather quickly, as you might expect. The unfortunate thing is I used up all the paint and am unsure as to the correct formula for more paint. We shall have to search our records.
After getting the second coat on the siding, I went upstairs to fold some of my laundry. I course of doing so, I discovered that the time had run out on my Heart Monitor and I was Free At Last!
This meant I could have a shower. After all the dust and grime I threw into the air whilst mowing, and having gone 48 hours without a proper cleaning, I was ready. And it felt GREAT!
8:15PM: We have just returned from a delicious meal at the Cathay Inn and we are ready to further adulterate the Tempranillo wine.
Susan purchased three more cans of grape juice. We will be starting by adding half of one can.
Later: We ended up adding the whole can and stopping there. We are now satisfied and this will be as good as it gets.
Bottling is tomorrow.
We are doing some wine work tonight. We have our 2014 Tempranillo ready to enter the fair. We bottled it about 2 or 3 months ago. We tasted a bottle recently and were not happy.
Last Monday, we uncorked the whole batch, about 25 bottles, into a five gallon carboy. Tonight, we are adding some grape juice concentrate to try and improve the flavor.
The trick is to figure out how much juice to add.
We pulled out one cup of wine and added one tablespoon of juice. That did not seem to do much so we added a second tablespoon. We liked the change. Now we have to extrapolate of numbers into a measurement for five gallons. According to our calculations we needed to add a half gallon of juice. That did not seem right. Susan purchased two 12 oz. cans of Old Orchard Grape Juice. We added one can to the carboy, tasted and added the second. We have decided to add one more but will have to wait until tomorrow because we have to purchase more.
I am a Giant Dumbass!
I got a delivery from UPS the day before yesterday from Fiskars USA. It was the stuff I ordered for my Tractor Sprinkler, a new transmission and a new sprinkler rotor.
I have already done this repair once and that sprinkler was stolen shortly afterwards...as chronicled here.
I started the repair for my old sprinkler that has been sitting in the garage for the last three years. This one will not get stolen because I will not allow it to happen.
Anyway, I got my Dremmel Tool out and ground the wheel caps off the axles. That allowed me to remove the wheels. Then I got my power driver out to remove the screws that hold the transmission on the body.
Two came out quite easily. The other three were locked in pretty tight and would not budge. I tried very hard to get them removed and had no luck.
I went so far as to use my torch to heat up the metal body, hoping the heat would loosen the screws. All that managed to do was melt the old transmission housing.
Here is why I am a Giant Dumbass. I was so focused on trying to find a Phillips Screw Driver large enough to give me enough leverage to budge the screw, that I completely failed to notice that the heads were little bolts that I could put a ratchet to.
When I brought the tractor body in to work today and asked Gary if he had any ideas on how to loosen the screws, he looked right at it and said, "How about using a socket set?"
I'm a giant Dumbass!
With all we have to do around the house, we chose to chuck it all and go canoeing on the Little Spokane River. I don't have any pictures other than some cliffs.
Can you find the face in the rocks?
How about here?
It was a great afternoon and we are beat.
Good Night!
7:53AM: It's Saturday morning, almost eight o'clock. I have just come downstairs to the smell of coffee. I occurred to me what a wonderful sensation that is.
It looks like it's going to be nice day and there are a number of things I want to get done this weekend, all the while fitting in some enjoyable activities as well.
Things planned for today are take Willy to the Vet, do some painting around the house over the priming we did last week, water the lawn, perhaps some work in the bathroom, visit the Garland Street Fair and listen to Sammy Eubanks, take samples of wine and beer over to Jim's Home Brew for an evaluation,and drink some beer.
How successful I am at accomplishing these tasks will be chronicled here.
But first, off to the grocery to get some eggs...after I get my coffee.
8:21AM: I am back from the store. The hoses are running in the yard and I'm going to settle down and read the paper.
10:25AM: I'm back from the Vet. We felt we needed to take Willy in because he is so boney. He has clearly lost weight but it turns out to be only 1 1/4 pounds. But that can be a lot for a cat.
I had a little trouble getting him into the Cat Carrier. Once he saw it, he knew there was trouble ahead.
There was a little trouble for me as well.
Now I'm off to the paint store with a stop at Jim's Home Brew.
11:29AM: Jim's was very little help in determining what we should do with the wines and beer. That is because we entered them in the fair and they (Bob & Gary of Jim's Home Brew) are among the judges. It just would not be fair.
We bottled a Tempranillo a couple of months ago. we loved it when we bottled it but are not so thrilled with it now. Our Lemberger is from last years trip to Prosser. We have not bottled it. It tastes okay but we are wondering if there is something we can do to make it better.
They did taste my Shummer Sandy Lemon beer. They both thought it was okay but I told them I'm adding some more Lemon flavor to it. They did not respond either way. We all agreed it is a good drinkable beer.
Next, we are off to the Garland Street Fair which is just up the hill from us. The Sammy Eubanks Blues Band is playing and we love them.
1:35PM: We're back from the Sammy Show and the Garland Street Fair. That has really turned into a great event. They have Garland Street shut down from Monroe to Wall, covered with Vendor Booths and even a couple of side streets.
After listening to Sammy for a while, we walked over to Rick's Ringside pub and had a couple of beers.
Unfortunately, Susan has to work tonight so we left to come back home and give her a chance to decompress prior to going to work. I'm going to do a little painting.
4:03PM: I'm nearly done with the painting. At least, this little bit of painting. The painting I'm doing today is to cover the priming we did last week on the dark green trim around the base of the house. I found the old can this morning and pealed off a half inch cap of gelled paint. There were lots of chunks in there so I went to the General Store and got a couple of cheap strainers. It really slow going. It helps to stir the funnel and force the paint through. There's a certain amount that is just going to go to waste. But I'm trying to use as much as I can.
In any event, I happy with the results.
7:05PM: I'm back again! This time I have been back to Jim's to get s'mor CO2. I needed it for mine beer. My last $17,00 bottle bled away.
Then I stopped at the Hub Tavern for waaaaaaay too long.
But I'm home now and since I'm on my own tonight, I'm going to cook me some dinner. I purchased a nice piece of meat and I shall throw on the barbecue.
9:09PM: I've had myself a nice dinner and am now trying to settle down for the evening. I was hoping to try and put a little paint on the deck siding but it has gotten too dark.
I'm planning to get a pit fire going before Susan comes home. It seems like a good night for a fire. In the meantime, I'm watching old episodes of Star Trek on Netflicks and doing a few little chores around the plantation.
10:57PM: There is a burning ban throughout the state of Washington so the picture below must be from my archives, even though I appear to be wearing the same clothes I was wearing today.
In any event, it was a lovely way to wind up the day.
It's been a week now without my Lawn Tractor Sprinkler and I am moving on, but still pissed. I spent $25.00 on one of those wave sprinklers and it is doing an okay job for me. The problem of course, is that I have to attend to it every half hour or so. The Lawn Tractor just moved across the space of the lawn and then turned itself off at the end.
In the meantime, we are still trying to be productive.
Here is our productive work for today.
From this,
to this.
We got a coat of primer on the new siding. Tomorrow we will try to finish up with a nice finishing coat of sage green.
The amazing thing is that it used to look like this.
And while this is not a great shot of the same angle, here is a picture of what we started with.
