Happy 4th

Today is the 4th of July, 2011. It is the 9th anniversary of marriage to my wife. Melinda. Happy anniversary Woman.

Today she gave me a gift. A gift of alone time.  I worked on a patio I am building for her today. Today was the 4th session of excavation.  During the 1st session I removed the existing gravel and flat stone.  I used that material and made this:




Then there were two more session of additional soil removal.  Today was the fourth and final. I have move a total of approximately 17 yards of gravel, rocks, and till and now have a perfect hole to backfill with stone, sand and and the concrete patio blocks.  The following pic is the end of the 4th excavation session/. 7 hours today. 22 hours total. 10 tractor hours.

 This hole is level to 24 inches depth (+_3inches) from the pavement on the left, all the way to the right.  The bottom is hand tamped (compacted).  It is about 200 sqft. 2 feet deep.    There was a lot of hand shovel digging.  Hard, but I got my man hands back.
This fucking shit will not frost heave when I am done.  Effort in equals favorable results out.

Excuse my derivation from good formatting, I am too damn tired to care. It is beer O'clock


Oh yeah right. i haven't posted in a while...I got a tractor. Its frigging aWEsoMMMMe.

LumberJackin'

Saturday and Sunday proved to be a productive day in the yard. Brother came up early to help me bring down some hardwood in the backyard. In about 2 hours on Saturday morning we managed to bring down 4 trees about 6-8 inches in diameter, 6 trees about 4 inches, and one maple about 13 inches in size.

The maple was tricky because it was leaning the opposite direction I wanted to bring it down in. So to bring it over safely I put I line on it, up about 12 feet from where I would place the cut and ran the line over to a come-along. We cranked up the tension and I placed my wedge cut. I had my bother crank the eveah-lovin’-crap out of the come-along to really get the tree bending. Then as I placed the backside felling cut the line would slack just enough for him to get one or two more cranks in. The maple went down perfectly and the top landed about 2 inches from my brother.

Sunday morning we went back out and limbed up the trees. Segregated the wood into three piles. Pile 1-Brushy crap. This I will stack off in the woods and let dry out. In the fall Ill come back into it and break it up to use as kindling. Pile 2-small diameter limbs. Pile 3-larger diameters trunks. The limbs and trunks Ill cut to size and split it all. It will dry out way faster and be ready for December.

The pic is a before and after of the area. It doesn’t’ show the maple and isn’t as dramatic if the trees had leaves. Regardless it will be some good firewood and I just reduced my leaf raking about 3 hours.

H2O Removal

The last few days a couple of 'fun' surprises have been throw my way. Luckily, as I have said before, I am a HandyMotherFucker.
We just got a wicked snow storm this past Sunday night. I was lucky to only end up with 12-inches of the wet heavy snow. So at 6:30am I start to clear out the driveway. I made one cut down to the road (my driveway is 200 feet long) and the snowblower throws a belt. "Hi...work. Yeah I wont be in."
At least I had a path EMTs could get up if something really shitty happened. Fortunately, my mom was able to come over later in the day and plow us out. Anyway, I brought the machine back up to the garage and opened up the belt housing. "Yep," the auger drive belt was shredded. The first pic is of the drive wheels and replacement belt (green) I put on. The replacement job took less than 10 minutes. I had no idea it was so easy.
Then yesterday I got home, went into the basement to get some firewood and I hear the sump pump running. I check it out and it was stuck on. With no idea how long it had been running I found that the whole cast iron housing was hot and actually steaming the water. I unplugged it and took it out for an inspection. "I can fix this." I think. "Well, I at least can't break it more." So, after opening it up I figured out that the switch has just worn out. I removed the switch housing and switch and found a replacement on-line through Grainger. I should be back in action by tomorrow. The pump b.t.w. is a Zoeller 1/3 hp sump pump. The thing is a friggin' work horse.
Anyway, as I was back up stairs looking up the switch I was thinking about the sump water. I then went back to check on the water level. I didn't have until tomorrow to wait. I HAD to set up something temporary. Late last night, I'm standing in the aisle of HomeDesprate buying the cheapest pump they had and some plumbing supplies. $100 bucks. *poof*
I got home and rigged up the temp. system in about an hour, saving the basement from flooding. I'm awesome. When I get the switch Ill rig the zoeller back up.

Descending Hens

Saturday approaches. Hens from three states will be flocking to my house bearing gifts for my son to be. Mothers, Grandmothers, Aunts, female friends, pregnant female friends, and small children all destined for my home and a multi-hour session of womanly, baby oozing preparations. Estrogen Central.

My tasks, as reported in a previous post, are to prepared the house like Martha Stewart her self is due for arrival. I finished the hardwood flooring on Saturday and I only have one wall and one closet remain to paint. Re-installing doors and base molding and the easy part is done. Then its yard work (mowing, trimming and some painting), garage re-organization, cleaning, sweeping, moping and semi-final room preparations/ decoration to do. I’ll need a beer, or six.

Luckily during Baby-Fest 2008 I will be taking the dogs to B-Ham with my Dad and Brother where we will wait it out. Wife also despises girly-girl shit, so I am hoping the Festival of Estrogen will end sooner rather than later.

After it’s all over, I get the feeling that’s when it really begins, and will never end.

Last week was busy. And here is a lesson for future homeowners. Sometimes after you get home from work the sink drain is still clogged and you have to fix it because well, you have no choice.

After trying to run a plumbing snake down the clean out end a couple of times earlier in the week to no avail I thought of another ingenious, albiet, messy way to clean the line. I got out the garden hose. Set the sprayer nozzle to the jet adjustment and shoved it down the line to the clog.

"ALRIGHT DAD TURN ON THE HOSE!"

Then the fun started as the nasty ass water starts pouring out the end I am working from as I work the hose back and forth, trying to get the clog to clear. Gray, stank water is pouring all over the basement and me. I and now covered in pipe-stew. After a few more minutes of jambing the hose back and forth the hose finally did the trick. The line was cleared. Ill need a hepatitis B shot now (not really Ma, don't panic) but at least I didn't have to shell out any money to a plumber.

I backed the hose out and spent the next hour cleaning everything and myself.

Job done. Now back to installing the hardwood floors, only one more room to go. Then it's on to painting the trim. ***Wheeee.*** It never ends. Ever. But what else are you going to do?