Plumbing Master and the Next Roof Stage

JH is one of my new heroes. The guy should wear tights and a cape. He came over and fixed the darn pipes without hesitating. I would have cogitated on the problem for months before doing anything, but he just jumped right in. And, he's got a serious tool kit (can anyone say "real-man?), complete with a propane torch. Amazing.

We set about immediately to fix the outdoor faucet. The first order of business was to remove the old one, which entailed unscrewing it, of all thing. I didn't realize it was all one piece, and you simply unscrewed it and pulled it through. At first glance, it looked to me like it had been welded together, but that seems to be some sort of artifact of continuous running water. After pulling it through, we got into JH's car and headed over to the hardware store. He even let me drive his car, which is a Honda Fit. We are toying with getting one, and it was nice to give it a spin. Nice car.

We went to Britton's, but they didn't have the right size and would have to order it, which would take a few days. Being the men of action that we are, this wouldn't do, so we jetted over to Woodstock Home and Hardware and found the right size. And they had two of them.

B never showed up, and he did call, but the guy is losing credibility over here. Not sure where to go with that one. We do need someone to come and look at that floor, however. I will give him a call.

Finally, I took the plunge and called the roofers and told them to "Come on down." Just call me Bob Barker. They said they will probably come in the next week, so I have to get on that roof and clean off all the moss. Since the trees were cut down, the moss has sort of died off, but it's still sitting on the shingles. I need to get up there with a broom and sweep the stuff off, which isn't rocket science, but entails working up on the roof, which is never a fun proposition, especially in light of the fact that my friend just recently fell off the roof and thought he broke his back. Ouch! Plus, it is not as if I have a lot of free time, especially since dumplings have taken over our lives, but no sense in whining about it... as if that ever stopped me.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to ARL and NRL for the pics.

When it rains...

Boy, when it rains, it sure pours.

The list of things to do on the house is never ending, and it always seems to grow in leaps and bounds. I've managed to get the barn almost ready for the roofers. In fact, I'm going to call them and tell them it's ready, even though I still have to sweep some of the moss off, but I can do that in a day (famous last words).

In the meantime, I need a professional (I need professional help) to come and look at the floor boards near the entrance. The water damage has led to some rot, and the question then becomes, what to do next. I think JH and I are capable of fixing the deck, I have a better understanding of how it is attached, and I think removal will not be easy, but doable. However, if the floor boards need to be replaced, we are looking at framing issues, which is a big deal on a finished house. It's easy on an unfinished frame, you just knock out a few boards with a sledge hammer, but on a house, I'm guessing, it's not so simple. Time to call B. The problem I run into with contractors is getting them to show up in the first place, but we'll see.

We also need to fix the pipes in the basement, but JH says he's up to the task. He even has a torch and soldering capabilities. Amazing. What can't that guy do? He's definitely well established in the real man department, he's got an amazing tool set. I think we'll begin on that this week. The dripping pipe is not urgent because it only drips when you turn on the outside faucet, and then we can catch the water in a bucket. I know it's a short term solution, but a solution, nonetheless.

We also have some problems with carpenter ants. This bums me out to no end. I found a bunch of dead ones under the trap door to the deck, and it makes sense because the wood is rotting and is exposed to endless amounts of rain. It is cedar, however, but there must be pine trim somewhere. Either way, there are ants. People say, "Don't worry, they're dead," which baffles me, because surely where there are dead ones, there are live ones. I think we need to replace that deck, but in the meantime, we need to tackle those ants. I also found one in the sink, which really worries me, though there are no visible signs of water damage or rot. The window trim to the basement, however, is rotted, and it's possible they live in there and went on a mission to seek food, which brought them to the sink.

I spoke with HH, who is a former contractor, and she recommended putting poison baits in the form of boric acid before ripping up the walls and deck. I'm all for it, and will give it a try. I will also work on that darn window frame to the basement.

It amazes me to no end how nature continually assaults you, and wins. I'm thinking that composite boards may be in order.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Dimitri Castrique for the pic.

War Has Been Declared

Just when you thought it was safe to let your guard down and wallow in complacency, trouble rears its ugly head once again. We were cruising along with the garden, feeling smug with ourselves, when all of a sudden, R began noticing that several of the plants were being eaten down to the root. At first we suspected a small rodent like a mole or a very large insect. After all, how the heck was a groundhog going to get into the garden, we sealed that thing up like Fort Knox.

The problem began to gradually get worse until it was clear some sort of large mammal was helping themselves to our bounty. We concluded it must be a groundhog, even though there weren't any holes being dug into the garden. S&M G did a fabulous job in constructing that fence, and sure enough, it has held its ground. The question then became, how the heck is he getting in?

We figured he might be entering by crawling through a hole in the deer mesh, then scaling the wire fence to get in. Interestingly enough, there were areas where it was clear he was trying to dig his way out, but failed.

Well, sure enough, on the day that I was supposed to be getting ready for the local market, I went down to the garden to inspect things and caught one of the varmints in the garden. He was chomping on something and tried to hide in some onions. I ran into the shed to get something to bludgeon him with, but within seconds he was onto me and bolted out of the garden. I did, however, figure out his entry and exit strategy. I turns out that true enough, he finds holes in the deer mesh, crawls in, and then scales the wire fence, not even leaving a trace of how he does it. Brilliant.

And man did he bolt out of there quickly. By the time I came out of the shed, pitchfork in hand, he was long gone. I got some old barn boards and sealed the bottom of the fence, then stapled the loose mesh onto the boards. For the record, the heat was excruciating. I then went back inside and started preparing for the market, but just before I fired up the stove to heat the oil, I went back down to check on the barrier, and sure enough, the little bugger had come back and tried to breach the fence. Unable to get through the mesh, he tried digging underneath, but was stopped by the wire fence. You gotta love foresight and good planning.

Well, that might have been the end of it, except that after cooking the dumplings and preparing to clean up, some two hours later, I paid the garden another visit, and saw yet another groundhog in the garden. This guy was bigger, and he seemed trapped inside, as if he'd forgotten where the door was. I got the pitchfork and went inside, ready to turn him into coyote fodder.

He was bummed, and started to panic. He couldn't figure out how to exit, and as I approached him, he started getting a little testy. I have to confess, it unnerved me a little. As I got even closer, he bolted right at me, and my Mentor will shake his head in shame at my admitting this, but it scared me. I let out a yelp, after, of course, I wet my pants and soiled my underwear. However, I was poised and ready to plunge that pitchfork into his guts, but just as he passed me, I found I couldn't do it.

I realize this may seriously jeopardize my chances of ever being a real man, but somehow killing this furry little creature just because he's eating a few root vegetables in our garden seemed a bit much. He's just trying to eat. Maybe shooting him would be easier.

I then tried to scare him out of the garden, leaving the gate open, but the guy still couldn't figure things out. After chasing him around the perimeter, he finally put two and two together and bolted out the front entrance. You want to know what's really crazy about all this? He seems to have taken up residence underneath our shed. How's that for convenience? It's like living next to McDonald's. I'm hoping I traumatized him enough so that he won't come back, but somehow I doubt it.

Oh well, maybe I'll get another chance to win real man points if I can manage to take him out. Only time will tell.

Until then, thanks for reading, and thanks to Lynn Haas for the pic.

Twin Dormers

Believe it or not, I've managed to finish the second dormer, almost (note the before and after). I've installed the two window and now need to simply seal them with I&W shield, than we're almost ready for the roofers. I just need to get up there and clean off the excess moss on both roofs, and if I can, squeeze in a chimney cleaning, and we're good to go. Amazing.

The next step, I believe, as indicated by my Mentor, would be to put in the soffit, and then start in on the siding, which will be a bear of a job, but JH said he'd be up for helping out. Beautiful.

For now, after I'm done sealing, I'll break down the platform and remove the brackets, and move on to greener pastures, like second floor door, which is going to be a challenge to install, to say the least. Whose idea was that?

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Firewood and The Deck

I saw JH the other day at the market and then the 4th of July fair, and we both agreed that if we put our heads together, we'd have one darn big head. Actually, we concurred that working together, we felt like we could tackle most jobs around here, being that he's a real man and I'm a real man in training. The barn project is ongoing, but I got to thinking that attention really needs to be paid to our front deck. I've basically ignored it for the past 6 months, much to the chagrin of R, and it may be the fitting next chapter in our journey towards manhood, or at least mine.

I think the next time JH comes over, we'll take a good long look at it and decide on a course of action. It could be challenging, but nothing that won't make for good reading, and everyone loves a good story.

On other fronts, I also need to return my attention to firewood. We stacked this year's pile and then seemed to cease thinking about the rest of the wood. It took me awhile to cut up the logs, thanks in a large part to my beautiful new chain, and now I've got to split and stack year two. We also got our new pile of logs (years 3 and 4), which I might cut up a bit before Winter arrives. I figure I've got a jug filled with gasoline, so I might as well use it up.

In the meantime, I need to move those blocks over to the splitting area, which is no small task when you're using a wheelbarrow. Speaking of which, I think I may need to replace the bed on mine, it's really taken a beating.

Until then, thanks for reading.

This Could Be The Week

The kids will be away at camp during the day all this week, so I think I might very well get some stuff done around the house, though it's supposed to be ugly scorching hot out here. Whose idea was that?

The first order of business will be to get the dormers done and have the roofers come and do their thing. After doing battle with an army of hornets, I managed to clear the roof of about thirty of their nests. I then replaced the fascia, which like many things in life, was much easier the second time around. In fact, I'm rather disappointed in the awful job I did the first time around on the first dormer, and if I had all the time in the world (which I don't), I'd go back and redo it, but it's done, and sometimes we just have to move on with our lives.

Having said that, after I finish nailing in the fascia, I can frame the windows, install, and then Tyvek, and we're good to go. Hopefully the framing won't be too bad, but I won't make any predictions at this point. Once the windows are in and the roof is on, the barn will be fairly well sealed from the elements, and that will be a major milestone, maybe even grounds for a celebration, but who's got time for complacency?

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Good Karate Class

Sensei CH couldn't make it to class last week, and my first impulse is to always cancel the class. However, Master JH was going to be there, as was D, so it was going to be fine. We went ahead with class and it turned out nicely. Best of all, A&N wanted to come along and watch, probably in a large part because their friends show up. I did notice, however, that when A was playing with one of her friends who tends to play a little rough, she could have easily taken him out with a little patience a skill. She would thus benefit from taking the class, but that may be coming soon.

Anyway, we had a good class, Master H took over and we went over katas, though D gave me some constructive criticism on my form, which I of course took to heart. He's the man.

Often when CH isn't there, we don't spar, but Master H wanted to get down to business, which meant that I was going to have to do battle in front of the kids. The pressure was on, and though I didn't have to win, I felt like I needed to score some points in front of them. Mission accomplished. In fact, afterward, N came up to me and gave me a pat on the back and said, "Nice job, dad."

I think they are getting closer to joining in. At least I hope so.

Until then, thanks for reading.