Sprung

Spring is at full throttle around here. The wisteria has exploded out of the azaleas, yellow tree pollen is everywhere, and the dogwoods are in full bloom. I love autumn for the crisp nights, but really spring is where it is at in the south.

We broke out the mowers this weekend, our lawn was a shaggy mess and desperately needed attention. There wasn't too much drama starting the tractor, it had one tire in need of air and the battery needed a boost. the one tricky bit was when Larry was almost done mowing and the mower deck quit working. Luckily it as just a cotter pin working loose and I knew all about it from last year. Technically it wasn't a cotter pin as I had used a heavy duty paper clip, but the end result was the same. This time I used a heavy duty key ring (sans keys) to hold the bits together. I am the queen of ad hoc tractor repair.

The Return of My Nemesis

I think it is really and truly spring now.

My beloved crab apple tree is leafing out which means its flower buds should be shortly  coming along. This also heralds the return of my nemesis, the tent caterpillar.

This morning as I was hustling Nate off to his ride i espied this tent in my tree. I didn't have time to deal with, what with three other kids having to be pushed out the door. But this afternoon I made time to deal with it and literally nip it in the bud. The offending tent was cut off alon with it's branch. I trimmed away the excess branch and triple bagged the whole mess with the final bag an old, but serviceable resealable plastic baggie. i tossed the lot into the trash and was happy to move.

Unfortunately I saw another tent higher up in the tree. It looks like I'll be vacuuming the tree in the near future.

Frosty Morning

Frosty Morning, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

We have had some very frosty mornings the past couple of days, as evidenced by the traceries of frost on the glass tabletop out on the deck. The sudden and rather early plunge in the temperature has caught out a few people in the neighborhood.

The backflow piping for sprinkler systems jut up into the cold air and those that hadn't winterized their systems yet swaddle them up at night to prevent freezing. Then they are forced into running their sprinklers in the predawn hours to keep the water moving. My neighbor was one such vicyom, which surprisd me since he is very handy about the house and fixes his own cars. It turned out he called his guy to winterize their system four weeks ago and they just got around to blowing out all the water today. i wouldn't be surprised if they hire someone else next year.

Meanwhile I'm happy that I never did fire up the lawn sprinklers this year. It was such a wet spring and summer I did not see the point of wasting water and money. As a result,I was already winterized. Being cheap sometimes pays off.

Clarity

old, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

We have had some big doings over here. As of today we officially have a new roof on our home. For the past three and a half days there has been a crew of guys ripping off the old, starting to leak shingles and replacing with lovely new ones. It's been very loud and I have been blocked from our garage and driveway from the assorted roofing materials and truck filling up the driveway. Plus there is the added joy of schlepping across the front yard to get to our vehicles.

I know, first world problems. However, I did have to drag a 40 bag of dog kibble across the lawn to replace the empty one.

Anyway, part of the whole re-roofing was the replacement of our seven (!) skylight, one in each of the upstairs bathrooms and the remaining five in the ceiling above the rear portion of the house. The top picture is on of the downstairs skylights with the old window. It's almost opaque, there is no view and the light is fairly dim.

new, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Here is the adjacent skylight with the new crystal clear window.

I was shocked by the difference. I knew the previous skylights were not particularly good, but I didn't know how bad they were until now.

My eyes are continuously drawn to the new view. I just can't get over how much better the new skylights are. And the improvements don't stop there, the windows are far more energy efficient. The glass is insulated and sealed which could potentially lead to lower fuel bills in the winter and the summer.

In the meantime I'm going to enjoy the new view.

Just 19 Days Later

October Beach, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

I can't believe a mere 19 days ago I was at he beach and happily frolicking in the waves. It was a perfect day for the beach and we were able to go out and enjoy the last day of summer weather.

Now it is sock weather and I'm wearing a sweater as I write this post. I can't imagine willingly stepping into the ocean now. Yesterday the upstairs' heating system kicked on for the first time with the annual burning off of the dust on the heater coil and thus setting off the smoke detectors. The summer weather is clearly over here in central Virginia.

Broken

Broken, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

And this was the aftermath of our late spring snow. A few cuts with a saw and the bush was fine. It needed to be pruned back from the house and the snow got the job started.

As for the snow, it is mostly gone. A classic southern snowstorm.

Artist of the Week: Lumberjack Larry

Lumberjack Larry, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

My husband is this week's artist for getting the job done.

Last month Larry decided to do something about the holly tree next to the house. It was too close to the house and was blocking the light in his office. He hauled out his chainsaw, cleaned it off , and got it ready for action. A short while later we had one less holly tree and a whole lot of light in the front room.

I do a fair amount of tinkering in the house, plumbing and what not, but the chainsaw is wholly his domain. Honestly I am a bit scared of the dang thing and I'm glad he is able to handle it so well. Larry neatly cut down the stump, you can just see it under his left foot, and hauled away the tree. The chainsaw was then tucked away until the next time something needs to be cut up.

It really is amazing how much brighter the room is without the tree blocking the window. My man of action is a lumberjack and he's more than okay.

404 Laundry

404 laundry, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

I actually like doing laundry. It's satisfying emptying out the three hampers and having nice clean clothes when I'm done. It's the putting away I can do without. I have a loose schedule of twice a week, necessary with six people. It all gets done without being totally overwhelming.

Now the laundry room is upstairs, which I love since most of the laundry is up there, but the placement leaves a bit to be desired.

It's a large closet that is partially beneath the attic stairs. Of course the washer is jammed in the far corner so you have to stoop under and around the slope of the ceiling to reach inside. It works, but barely. Thus you have to be a certain height in order to reach inside, a step stool doesn't quite fit.

So yes, I do need to teach my children, Jake is certainly tall enough now to reach into the bottom of our very awkwardly placed top load washer. But it'll be a while until I completely give up the job.

Irene Goodnight

Irene, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Hi there!

After 3 days and 6 hours without electricity, I'm back with two very clean fridges and a whole lot of twigs and branches across the yard.

We got off very lightly. We only lost two and a half trees on our property (the half is a leaner we need to have cut down). One missed the shed by about ten feet and the other is parallel to the tree that was felled by Isabel in 2003, both missed the playsets in our backyard.

As for food, I'm very fortunate to have a good friend like Meryl. She never lost power and happily opened her fridge and kitchen to us. So the only things I tossed are the odd item that turns up when you empty out a fridge (that sour cream is how old?).

Add on top to this this, my mother flew in for a quick visit.

So needless to say I've been a wee bit busy and Artist of the Week has to wait until next week.

Finally Happy

old chair
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

Fifteen or so years ago we acquired a dining room table. A friend of the family was in the process of emptying out her parents old house and putting it on the market. By way of Larry's mother we were invited to come over and take whatever struck our fancy from what was left after the family went through the house.

It was too good an offer to refuse, so we headed on over.

Most of the furniture was not to our taste, but with one notable exception- the dining room table.

It has a beautiful faux Malachite finish and has built in storage for it's four leaves. I fell in love with it and wanted to take it home. But first Larry had to drive Jake and I home then empty out he van. Before he left I told him not to bring home the chairs, they were ugly, stained and were far too low for the table.

Unfortunately the soon to be former owners insisted the we bring the chairs home along with the table.

And so for the past decade and a half I've lived with dinning room chairs that pretty much reviled.

new chairs
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

But now that has all changed for the better, a few weeks ago I found my chars.

They are simple and elegant with a style for more appropriate than their predecessors. No longer do we sit with our chins practically in our plates. If fact the new chairs are so much nicer that even Nate noticed. He declared the the new chairs are far more in keeping with the table than the other pattern and design. Which is quite a statement for an eleven year old boy.

Meanwhile I'm just happy the I finally got some dining room chairs that I actually like.

A Bit More On My Victory

I ended up redoing the wiring from the sensors to the garage door opener. I was not happy with how the staples were attaching the wires to the the wall. Some of them just were not up to snuff and I decided it would be better to just start over and staple a tie to the wall and then tie the wires on. I just didn't want a repeat of the mystery short.

As for the rest of the electrical issues, it turns out our Invisible Fence was also tripping the circuit breaker. It would happen once, maybe twice a day. I'm not sure why it's doing it. I've replaced the backup battery, but it was still tripping the breaker. I'm pretty sure it's not the outlet it is plugged into, maybe it's the power strip/ surge protector. I hope so, because anything else will require my calling up the fine folks at Invisible Fence and scheduling an appointment.

So for now the fence is off. The dogs haven't quite figured it out yet and I hope they never do.

Victory!

Today I finally solved an electrical puzzle in our home.

It seemly started off with the circuit breaker for the garage and master bath randomly tripping. It first happened after a heavy rain and that side tracked me, but then that association evaporated. I considered getting an electrician, however I wanted to pinpoint the problem and not just be waving my had at the fuse box and saying something is wrong.

Meanwhile the garage door opener was getting increasingly stupider. Sometimes it would, other times it would refuse to close. It was very annoying. One of the sensors was always getting knocked around by the kids' bikes. I reinstalled it countless times only for it to be knocked loose. I thought that that was the issue until I noticed the other sensor was only lighting up part of the time.

Ah ha! Maybe that is the problem, the sensor is shorting out and taking the whole system down at the same time. I checked the wiring from the motor to the sensor, connections we checked and tightened and it all looked just ducky. I figured it was time to replace the light sensors. Unfortunately we have a fancy pants opener and I had to get the parts from an official dealer.

I was expecting to pay less than $20. The store quoted $36 - $50.

Ouch.

So yesterday I schlepped on over and plunked down 50 bucks for new sensors. It was pretty easy swapping them out and at first it worked Yay!!! Then the old problem came back. Frustrated by the whole mess I looked over the whole system and then I saw it.

The light hit the wires from the track to the motor just right and I could see the teeny tiny flaw.

The belt drive had been lightly rubbing on the wire (which was stupidly positioned by the installer- the exact amount of wire needed was used and as a result it was nigh impossible to reposition the wire) and over the course of many years had worn away one side of the wire.

Hooray! I could return the pricey sensors and pick up a couple spools of wire. Redo the wiring and solve it once and for all. Two spools of wire, four connectors, and a bucket of sweat later (It was like a bloody sauna in the garage) I now have a fully function garage door opener once again.

Yay me!

Lazy Days of Summer

Me
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

Yeah right.

So far today I have spent half an hour at my local hardware store sorting out replacement parts, drained the hot water heater, replaced it's drain valve (had an annoying slow drip), then replaced the shut off valve to the dishwasher's supply line (while cursing the cheap non standard valve originally installed), refilled the water water tank and tightened up the cold water supply valve to the tank, and then reassembled the outside hose to it's caddy so it no longer drips.

Oh and I picked up a few things for dinner when I was out and about and made the kids lunch.

All done before 1:00 pm.

So dang it, I deserve a trip to "For the Love of Chocolate."

Feeling Handy

I like the fact that I'm willing to take a crack at minor repairs, a good thing considering we are home owners.

I've patched a hole in the wall, replaced a light fixture, and replaced all manner of belts on our vacuum cleaner. My latest accomplishment was replacing the blades on our lawn tractor. According to out mower repair guy the mowing deck was not off kilter (when I mowed the left side of the swatch would be significantly lower than the right), instead the right blade was bent. He would have been happy to do the job, but he didn't stock the mulching blades in the right size on his truck and he couldn't come back until next week. He asked if I was up to the job and I was. Part description in hand I ordered the new blades from the dealer and picked them up on Wednesday.

Nigh on 9 years ago I had converted the tractor into a mulching mower, so I knew I was up to the task. The hardest part would be wrestling the mower deck around because it is a fairly heavy chunk of steel. The only catch was I needed to find the service manual. After a bit of digging I found it and then I was ready to go.

The whole process went surprisingly smoothly. A successfully avoided dropping anything heavy on my appendages and I didn't break anything on the mower. It did, however, take a fair amount of effort to loosen the bolts holding the blades in place. In the end I had to kick the handle of my socket wrench to get the bolts undone. Then it was full steam ahead.

Once the blades were on I had to wrestle the mowing deck back in place. Things weren't as smooth at first. It was hard lining up everything and on the first go around I skipped an important step. Luckily it was no big deal to try again.

So now I have a properly equipped mower and it even works. Not a bad day's work.

It's All About Good Customer Service

So far this week:

1) Riding mower is essentially fixed, all it needs is a new blade. Our new mower repairman, waived the service fee, because he didn't have the part with him on his truck and I said I could pick it up and do it myself. He then told me to call if I have any problems and he'll come out and help. He was a real find.

2)The front tire on Larry's bike has been replaced (It was the victim of a very unfortunate car backing up mishap). The best part was when I was dropping it off at my favorite bike shop, Bunny Hop. As I stood there discussing what needed to be done with Jake's bike I was asked by one of the guys in the shop if he could jump on the tire. I thought it was a decidedly weird request, but since the wheel was toast (It was Pringle shaped) I handed it over. He carefully laid it on the floor, considered it for a bit, and then jumped on it.

SPRONG

The wheel was back to normal shape.

All present were dully impressed. The wheel was still messed up and not salvageable, but it was somewhat usable if I had been stuck far from home on my bike. I had never seen that done before, it was educational and entertaining.

3) Jake's bike has been fixed up with wonky gears and rear derailer replaced. It should be much better now and will hopefully not need constant readjustment. All for less the $50. With quick turn around and outstanding service, that is why I have a favorite bike shop.

So yes, good service at more than fair prices still exists. You just have to look around.

Wide Open

wide open
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

I frequently complain about the hot weather coupled with the high humidity in the summer down here in the Virginia and the laughable winters are also another sore point. But the weather we have had the past couple days almost makes up for it.

Temperatures in the 70's with almost no humidity or bugs, it's heavenly.

I've thrown open the patio doors and have reveled in the glorious weather. The leaves are falling, but you can still see a bit of color in our backyard.

Sadly, the remains of Ida are making their way up the coast and the next few days will be soggy indeed. I'm glad I seized the moment when the weather was good and put our new back door to good use.

The previous set had one false door, only the right hand side could be opened. It irked me to no end. When the bottom frame rotted out I was in a small way happy. I could finally get a proper set of patio doors.

I Think My Phone is Slugged

Yuck
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

We have been having intermittent problems with our phone line. Instead of a normal dial tone there will be a loud buzzing noise and caller ID no longer works.

I went through all the normal hoops (unplug the phones, disconnect the house and plug directly into the test jack, etc) to no avail. It still buzzes and you can't hear anything else over the noise. On impulse I decided to check out the box by the side of the road. For whatever reason It has never been closed up properly and I figured what the hey. Maybe it will be something obvious.

I strolled down the driveway and popped the cover off to discover a truly revolting mess.

The wires were coated in a horrible brown glop reminiscent of Oompa-Loompa food. A seemly defunct small paper wasp nest was attached to the cover. And, best of all, slugs were oozing about on the wires.

To say I was taken aback would be an understatement.

I went back inside and grabbed a paper tool to wipe off some of the muck. I ended up flicking off the wasp nest and prying off the slugs with a handy twig. The picture here is post clean-up and, trust me here, you should be glad it is. I slogged back to the house and checked the phone after I was done, but the line was still toast.

Unfortunately the phone company can not come until Tuesday, but I did entertain the operator and she agreed that the sad state of the box may be to blame.

Time to Make Oompa Loompa Food

Spring is here, the crab apple is in full bloom and that means it's time to vacuum the tree.

This year we only have three tents so far and now they are gone. I really love our Shop-Vac.

Oh and I would like to note that my local computer guys totally rock. I dropped off my CPU at 11:00 and it was all fixed before 2:00. I'm willing to swap out video cards and add memory, but I don't fool around with the power supplies.

A Rather Nasty Surprise

old pipe
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

Yesterday while looking for some errant buckets for the ongoing fort project I decided to look in the crawl space under the house.

Our crawl space is far nicer than most. It does have a dirt floor, but in some areas you can almost stand up and it has an electric light. We use it to store largish things like our canoe, lawn chairs, the bouncey tent, the rocket box and a bird bath left behind by the former owners. Our furnace is also located down there. The one negative to the whole space is that it can only be entered from two access panels in the foundation, otherwise it is a very useful spot.

new pipe
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

While I was casting about for the buckets I decided to give the furnace's vent pipe to the chimney a quick check.

I was horrified to find a huge crack in one of the pipes. I'm fairly certain it wasn't there last year when I looked. Either way this was a dangerous situation (fortunately we do have a CO monitor on the first floor, so I knew it wasn't a problem... yet) and needed to be taken care of immediately.

So today's big project was to swap out the old pipes (the adjoining one looked ok, but figured if I'm going to do one I might as well do two) with nice new ones.

After a bit of measuring I headed off to Lowes to buy a couple of five foot long pipes. I didn't have the diameter, but I did get the circumference, which was fine except Lowes didn't carry my pipe. It turns out I need a 5 inch pipe and they only carry even number sizes.

Dang. I really want to get the pipe and not have to pay a furnace guy gobs of money for such an easy job.

However all was not lost, we also have a Home Depot less than a mile from the Lowes. I headed on in, found the right aisle and the clouds parted and the angels did sing. They had tons of the piping I needed. I snagged two plus a furnace filter and headed home.

Inspector hound
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

After lunch (mmm, leftover lasagna) it was time to get to work.

The red boys accompanied me outside and were very excited to go into the crawl space. The dogs make terrible home repair assistants, but do have the whole inspection thing down pat. I don't think the two of them missed an inch. John even went so far as to rear up and take a peek inside the canoe.

Taking the pipes off was not to bad, the cracked one was very brittle to the touch and was easy to pull out. The other pipe was in not much better condition and I was glad that I had decided to replace it as well.

Putting in the new pipes was a much harder challenge.

all in
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

The vent pipe to the chimney was fixed in place as was the run attached to the furnace. I futzed around trying one thing, than other. I even thought about cutting then down, but that really wouldn't be a good solution. I finally hit upon te idea of having the two new pipes fitted together in a bit of a v shape so I could slip the ends into the fixed pipes.

It worked and with only a small amount of swearing and a large amount of banging with my rubber mallet. The best part was I did not damage myself or the pipes.

all taped up
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

The end result was a nice smooth run of shiny new pipes from the furnace to the chimney. All that was left to do was to seal up the the joints.

I'm proud to say that for the second time in my life I actually used duct tape to tape ducts. I used a boat load of tape, but hey I don't want to cheap out and have leaky pipes, carbon monoxide poisoning is serious business.

When it was all done I gave Larry call at work and told him all about today's project. His reaction "I married well."

Busted!

busted
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

As I was driving up to the garage yesterday I got to see the deer in action.

I slowed down to a crawl and then stopped the car so as to watch four does daintily pick their way among the plantings and enjoy the pumpkin buffet I had so thoughtfully laid out.

Luckily I had my camera in the car and I was able to capture one of the does just before she nibbled on a pumpkin. I missed one really great shot of a deer clearly licking a pumpkin as I fumbled with the camera case.

The picture quality isn't that great, but that's what you get when shooting through a grubby windshield.

who me
Originally uploaded by Teckelcar

The second picture came out much better. It is of a doe mucking about in the bushes in front of our house. She really wasn't at all bothered by the car or the sound of the garage door. She looked up when I peeked around the corner to take the picture. I think the only reason she left was because the others had already moved into the woods.

Shortly thereafter I carted all the pumpkins down to the far edge of the woods. The deer can now enjoy their buffet without having to go near the house, not that it stopped them.

This why I call them tall rats. They are cute, but they are pests.