Tag Archives: backyard wildlife

2015/10/16 (F) Desk Installation

We were up at 8 AM, fed the cats, made coffee, and had breakfast. Phil showed up around 8:30 AM, unloaded his front loader, dropped his flatbed trailer, and left in his dump truck. I turned on the fireplace and we enjoyed our coffee while iPading until 10:15 AM.

Our first task today was to cut up several large limbs that I pulled out of the woods last evening to get them out of Phil’s way. I cut them up with the chain saw and then we stacked them on the disposal pile for Phil to haul away.

Phil returned at 10:30 and moved his Caterpillar 305C excavator into the woods across the street by the culvert. I went down to chat with him briefly to make sure I understood what he was going to work on. There were a lot of small trees (3″ diameter), saplings, and bushes scattered around the site. Some of them had been dead for years and some had just been knocked over by Phil. I decided to work in that area with my chain saw cutting everything up into five foot lengths so Phil could use his front loader to get them into his dump truck. I worked at this until 11:30 AM and then turned my attention to the bus. Linda worked on her needlepoint while I cut wood.

Before getting started on construction tasks I took two pieces of filter material and set them on the wire shelf in the freezer compartment of the new refrigerator, one on top of the other. I then set the two remote thermometer sensors on the filter material. Butch had suggested the other night that I set the sensor on a sponge to get it off of the floor of the freezer compartment as it was likely responding to the automatic defroster heat strips when they come on. I figured the filter material would work just as well and that placing the sensors on the shelf would definitely get them away from the floor.

Linda brought out a bag of ice from the house fridge and put it in the bus freezer. She also filled several 1/2 gallon juice and milk cartons with water, put the caps on, and put them in the fresh food compartment. The purpose of all of this was to add thermal mass to the compartments to cause the refrigerator to run less often and reduce large swings in temperature.

Inside the bus our first sub-project was installing the desk, which included putting the front passenger side HVAC duct cover in place even though it is not finished. It took us quite a while to get everything positioned just right. With Linda holding things in position I screwed the right pedestal to the wall, adjusted the position of the base and screwed the pedestal to the base. We then repeated that process for the left pedestal and base.

Linda removes the backing from the double-sided tape on the back side of the air grate in the center connector/cover for the desk.

At this point we had several things to do with, and under, the center connector/cover so I removed it and took it into the garage/shop. We cut a piece of the decorative brass colored metal grate and secured it to the back of the air opening with small screws every few inches. Next we cut a piece of black plastic mesh to fit over the grate. We then cut pieces of 3M Extreme Mounting Tape (double-sided) and attached them to the back side of the grate in between the screws. Linda peeled off the protective layer and we carefully placed the plastic mesh. Using one of the scrap pieces of the protective layer I rolled the plastic into the take with our wallpaper seam roller. Finally, we had a piece of filter material already cut to cover this air intake opening so we set that on top of the mesh, pressed it down to take advantage of the tape, and then secured it with Gorilla Tape on all four edges, rolling it with the seam roller to get good bonding.

A detailed view of one of the homebrewed tongue and groove alignment assemblies made from flat mending plates.

Back in the coach I had to tie in the outlet strip to the 120VAC power feed. I shut off the breaker for this circuit and checked with my tester to make sure it was not live. The hot and neutral wires were accessible but the ground wires were back under the left pedestal where they were not easy to reach and manipulate. It took a while, certainly longer than it should have, but I got the three ground wires tied together with a grounding clamp. I connected the hot and neutral wires (three each) relatively easily using wire nuts. I turned the circuit breaker back on and checked that the outlet strip had power between the correct terminals and did have power between any other terminal pairs.

I went to the garage to get a four foot long piece of 1″X1″ aluminum angle that I bought weeks ago to use as a support bracket for the upper rear edge of the center connector/cover. I was going to cut off a 26″ long piece and then drill countersunk holes but I noticed a piece of 1/2″X1/2″ light gage angle that was about 26″ long and already had holes in it. It was long enough to span the space between the pedestals and go under each one about an inch. That was sufficient to position it correctly so Linda held it there while I secured it to the wall with four round (pan) head screws. I then put the center connector/cover back in place.

Phil has cleared all of the organic debris from the area where the driveway extension and RV pad will be located.

Phil starts trenching and placing the plastic drain tile tubing for the French drain.

Phil had long since left in his truck to dump all of the wood debris. We had a light lunch of Amy’s Lentil Vegetable soup and fresh organic grapes. While we were eating a group of three deer came to our back yard and eventually ended up eating apples that had fallen from our tree onto the ground. These same deer, along with two others, were here yesterday at twilight and were very frisky. We saw them later in our neighbor’s yard across the street.

Another view of Phil’s smaller excavator with the 12” bucket being used to trench the French drain in the southwest portion of our property.

Phil returned around 3 PM and started working on the French drain. He replaced the 30″ wide toothed bucket with the 12″ one and started at the high end if the culvert on this side of the road.

The grand finale was the installation of the Corian desktop, which has been sitting on a blanket in the middle of the living area floor since Tuesday. I drilled countersunk holes through the four corner plates in each desk pedestal from underneath. I then inserted 1-1/4″ #8 self-drilling outdoor wood screws into each hole, again from underneath, until they just protruded above the corner blocks and then backed them off until the tips were just below the surface. We set the desktop across the pedestals and pushed it as tight to the back and right end wall as we could. Linda put her weight on it and I ran the screws home, pulling the top tight to the pedestals. We reinstalled the four drawers in the right pedestal, finally getting them off the floor in the hallway where they have been since Tuesday. We stepped back to admire the desk and agreed it was a thing of beauty and a joy to behold. Linda also marveled, once again, at how much space she now has to work in the kitchen.

A wider shot showing the excavator and drain tile. The laser level is at the left edge of the frame. The main arm of the excavator (with the bucket attached) has a laser sensor on it that tells Phil exactly where the lower edge of the bucket is relative to the laser level.

The “denouement” was mounting the outlet strip and adding felt pads to the two fake drawer fronts on the left pedestal and then adjusting the magnetic catches. I originally had the outlet strip (temporarily) mounted to the wall between the two pedestals with two screws a few inches below the cord notch in the center of the back edge of the desktop. Rather than put it back there I decided to mount it on the underside of the desktop just in front of the cord notch.

The underside location will work just as well as the wall mount location for regular 2- and 3-prong plugs but probably not as well for small AC adapters. The added pluses of this location, however, are: 1) it will not interfere with cords coming through the notch, 2) it will be up out of the way of the UPS (uninterruptible power supply) that will sit on the shelf at the top of the center connector/cover, and 3) if liquids are accidentally spilled and run over through the notch they will not run into the outlet strip. Besides, devices with an AC adapter will probably be plugged into the UPS so this was a better overall approach.

Our next task was to adjust the sofa seat until it was deep enough to be comfortable. We slide the plywood seat out a couple of inches and then got the seat and back cushions (three each) from the house where they have been stored since September 21st. We put the cushions in place and sat down. We pulled the cushions out and pulled the seat board out until it was five inches farther out than originally designed and put the cushions back in.

The front edge of the seat cushions were out farther than I liked but we both agreed the sofa was now comfortable to sit on. The distance from the bottom front edge of the back cushions to the front edge of the seat cushions was originally only 16 inches and that turned out to just be too short. With the seat board moved out it will now be 21 inches.

In order for the sofa to work correctly, both as a sofa and as a bed, we will need a cushion that is 5″ wide by 6″ high, by ~76″ long to fill in the space behind the seat cushions and below the back cushions. The height and foam makeup will be such that it is level with the tops of the seat cushions and have the same firmness and feel. Would that I had designed the sofa for this depth to begin with and had the seat cushions made accordingly, but we were trying to open up the living room by not having the sofa protrude into the aisle any more than absolutely necessary.

Next up was reinstalling the wood trim in hallway. We have an interesting plan for the lower half of the hallway but in case we do not get it finished before we leave for the winter we wanted the trim off the bed and back on the wall.

The lower outside hallway wall. There were originally three framed panels of vertical strip mirrors here. We will replace them with wood panels, probably in a lighter color to contrast with the walnut trim.

This trim originally framed three panels of vertical strip mirrors. We were able to remove the mirrors as they were glued to wallpaper. In the process we discovered that the left and right panels were the same width but the center panel was wider. The trim consisted of six pieces of wood; a long upper and lower horizontal piece and four vertical pieces. The six pieces were screwed to the lower half of the outer wall but not attached to each other. The left and right vertical pieces were tight to adjacent woodwork, but the two intermediate pieces were free to be repositioned.

We reattached the upper horizontal piece first making sure the mounting screws went back in the same holes. Next we pushed the lower horizontal piece into place but did not screw it to the wall. We then attached the left and right verticals. The horizontal distance between the inside edges of the left and right verticals was 75 inches. The two intermediate verticals were each 4-1/2″ wide so the distance between verticals needed to be 22″ (75 minus 9 = 66 divided by 3 = 22). We carefully positioned and secured the two intermediate verticals to achieve this spacing.

The trim boards all have rabbited edges on the back side. I need to measure them carefully, but they are ~3/16″ deep by 3/8″ wide. Our current plan is to use 3/16″ underlayment or other 3/16″ high quality plywood to make three panels that will fit within these rabbits with a little room to spare. The panels will either have a hardwood face or we will cover them with a hardwood veneer of a wood that contrasts with the walnut trim. We can get the veneer from Rockler once we decide what we want.

Linda spread out several towels on the new desktop and we moved tools and supplies from the A-V cabinet, behind the driver’s seat, to the new desk. I then removed the Corian top of the A-V cabinet and put in on the bed. We still have a small amount of wallpaper to install in the front of the living room and into the cockpit on the driver side, but it will not be easy to do.

These areas, such as the one behind the A-V cabinet, are small with limited access so most of my sanders cannot be used. The only one that might work is the Porter-Cable oscillating tool but I did not get it out today. I got some sanding sponges instead and tried those on the wall under the passenger side window trim next to the co-pilot seat. When I sanded a dark area about 6″ long by 3″ wide the wood in the center crumbled and I ended up with a hole 3″ long by an inch and a half wide. I could see one of the stainless steel structural members through the hole. Given what was obviously water damage I was glad we bought a bus with welded stainless steel as the main structural material.

Based on what I could see, the walls in the bus appear to be 1/2″ plywood although I did not measure the thickness. This area had obviously gotten very wet over a long period of time and some of the wood has rotted. It is the only spot we have discovered that is this damaged and we immediately realized that we will not be able to wallpaper this area. We will probably panel over it, similar to what we plan to do with the veneered panels in the hallway, but today was not the day to figure that out.

It was going on 5 PM and we decided we were done for the day. I turned off all of the electric heaters, turned on the Aqua-Hot, turned on all three thermostats, and set the temperature to 20 degrees C. The refrigerator was also indicating much colder freezer temperatures than it had been before I moved/isolated the remote sensors so I reset the freezer and fresh food controls to their “normal” center positions. Tomorrow we will replace the alkaline batteries with the Lithium batteries we bought specifically for the TempMinder thermometer system, reset the min/max data, and monitor it for a few days.

I walked down to see what Phil was doing. He was making good progress with the French drain but did not have enough of the plastic drain tile to finish it today. He plans to work tomorrow and will have the additional tile he needs to finish the drain. I left him to his work and took photos of the fall colors in our yard as I worked my way back to the house.

I spent an hour at my computer dealing with e-mail and transferring photos from the Sony a100 to my laptop. Linda called me to dinner at 7 PM. It was a simple meal of vegan Coney dogs with mustard, onion, and beans served open-faced on a whole wheat hotdog bun. As a side dish Linda steamed Opo squash. It was the first time either of us had this particular squash. It was very mild with a hint of cucumber. It is available all over the world and widely consumed as it is relatively inexpensive. It was OK, but I thought it might work better as an ingredient rather than a stand-alone side dish.

I exchanged a couple of text messages with Chuck and confirmed that we would be at his shop tomorrow after breakfast to retrieve our two bus windshields. The rest of the evening was spent in the living room by the fireplace reading and writing on our iPads before turning in and watching episodes of Rick Steeves’ Europe and Joseph Rezendo’s Travelscope on Detroit PBS (WTVS).

2015/10/10 (S) The New Camera

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Madeline was awake before 7 AM and coughing loose a bit of nasal/chest congestion. A little after 7 Linda put on her robe and went to check on her. I put my robe on too and Linda brought her to bed with us. She lay quietly between us for a half hour, as dawn gradually illuminated the outside world, but never fell back asleep. I needed to change position and offered to hold her on the sofa in the living room, which she accepted. I turned on the fireplace and she climbed up in my lap and snuggled up. Linda joined us a little while later and the three of us cuddled in the dancing light and warmth of the fire for another 20 minutes. These are the special moments.

Madeline wanted to see the last part of the Curious George video we watched last night so Linda did video duty while I made a pot of coffee. By the time the cartoon was done Madeline was awake enough to help make breakfast; vegan pancakes with blueberries incorporated into the batter. Madeline helped mix all of the ingredients but Linda handled the cooking. Madeline is only 34 months old after all, and not ready to work with sharp objects or heat. We had hot real maple syrup and mixed berries on the side with orange juice (not from concentrate).

The whole morning was accomplished in our robes and pajamas and it felt like it was Sunday. Madeline even got to see a half dozen very large wild turkeys in the street in front of our house. The cats seem to know when Madeline is seated at the table and often emerge long enough to get a few kibbles and a drink of water. Madeline got some berry stains on her pajamas so Linda got her undressed to get them out. Madeline took that as an opportunity to enjoy the freedom of running around in her birthday suit for a few minutes. You can get away with that when you are not yet three years old.

Everyone got dressed and then took up their stations in the living room. Linda and Madeline played with Legos and played (with) the organ. Ms. M and I then played “soccer,” throwing, catching, and kicking a large beach type ball and a small soccer type ball. Madeline was still a little tired so Linda sat with her while she played an iPad game that involved taking care of a dog.

Yesterday the UPS truck delivered a package from B&H Photo in New York. Inside was a Sony alpha 99 camera body, specifically an SLT-A99V, which included an infoLithium (Lithium ion) battery and charger, a camera strap, a hot shoe flash adapter, Getting Started instructions, a CD-ROM with software and manuals, and various pieces of paper that included warranties and special offers. Also in the box was a vertical battery grip (VG-C99AM), five additional infoLithium batteries, a belt-mount battery holder, and two 64 GB SDXC memory cards.

Linda suggested that this was my Christmas and birthday present for the next five years, but the reality is that the old Sony alpha 100 body was an increasingly unsatisfactory camera and needed to be replaced. I bought the a100 in 2007 or 2008 and have not spent hardly any money on photographic equipment since then. The a99 has been around for a few years now but is still Sony’s top-of-the-line full-frame (36mm x 24mm) sensor, A-mount lens body, which means it is compatible with all of my old existing A-mount Minolta lenses. As it turns out, I can also use A-mount lenses designed for smaller sensors, such as the lens that came with the a100. The a99 detects the lens format and adjusts the use of the sensor accordingly. The a100 zoom lens, however, was an inexpensive “kit” lens that turned out not to be very sharp, especially around the edges, so it is unlikely that I will ever use it with the a99.

At 24 MP (mega pixels) the a99v is not a state-of-the-art camera by comparison to the newest offerings from Canon and Nikon, or even Sony’s own E-mount product line, but it is double the pixel count of the 12 MP a100, and has many features that the a100 does not have, including much better auto-focus and much better sensitivity to low light. The maximum effective ISO speed on the a100 is 1600 whereas the a99v is 25600 and can be set even higher if needed. The a99v also includes a built-in GPS receiver that enables it to geotag images. It includes a hot shoe flash adapter, as well as a PC flash connection, so I have some hope that I will be able to use my old flash equipment, something I have not been able to do with my much older Sony alpha 100.

The old a100 holds one Lithium ion battery and one Compact Flash card, 4 GB maximum. It also has an adapter so it can use SD memory cards, but the maximum usable capacity is still 4 GB. The a99v also holds one Lithium ion battery in the camera body but holds two additional batteries in the vertical grip accessory. Not only will the vertical grip be handy for shooting in portrait orientation, the two additional batteries should allow for extended shooting time even when using flash. The body also has two memory card slots both of which can accept SD memory cards up to 64 GB. Slot one can also accept a Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo.

Digital cameras are sophisticated combinations of mechanical, optical, electronic, and computer technologies. Compared to film cameras of yesteryear prosumer and professional cameras, both single lens reflex (SLR) and single lens translucent (SLT) like the a99v, are feature-rich devices designed to give photographers complete control of the images that are produced. That also means they are complicated devices with significant learning curves. Throw in the fact that cameras like the a99v can shoot HD movies with sound and it takes considerable practice over an extended period of time to really master their use. But I am retired, and photography is one of my three hobbies, so I have, and will take, the time to learn to use this new camera competently. Competence in this case means the ability to quickly and intuitively select modes and adjust settings to allow me to capture (create) the images I envision.

Brendan called to see how Madeline was doing and arranged to pick up her up later in the afternoon, after the 3:30 PM start time of the U of M football game. Unless you are attending the game you do not want to drive in, or anywhere near, Ann Arbor for the four or five hours preceding the opening kickoff. It’s not a great place to be after the game ends either, especially as regards getting in to a restaurant or pub, unless you specifically want to be part of the pre/post game experience.

Madeline wanted to go outside and swing so we put on our shoes and got her into a light jacket. She is just learning to pump her feet. She understands the concept but does not yet having the timing. When she was done with the swing we collected branches and twigs that were lying in the yard and added them to the burn pile. We then walked around part of the back yard but her shoes got wet from the grass and she wanted to go back inside.

I checked our apple tree and was surprised to see damage that looked similar to that caused by the Emerald Ash Borer. It’s possible that deer have been chewing at the bark but whatever the cause there are some very large limbs that are now dead. What concerned me is that I do not recall them being in that condition the last time I looked. The tree is very old, very large, and has not been properly pruned for a very long time. We may end up losing it in the end, which would be a shame, but the time to prune is late winter to very early spring and we have not been here at that time of year the last two seasons. I have my eye on a portion of the western 2/3rds of our yard, however, as prime real estate for some new trees, including some fruit trees. But not this year, and probably not next year either.

Madeline was hungry after her backyard adventure. She had soy yogurt and pistachios for lunch and found the pistachios very much to her liking. She and Linda watched a Daniel Stripped Tiger cartoon and then she laid down for a nap at 1:30 PM. I snuck off to my office to check e-mail, install the software that came with my new camera, and start downloading updates for the Linux box. Completing the installation of the Sony Play Memories Home software required the camera to be connected to the computer, so I installed the two SDXC memory cards and one of the fully charged batteries. On first power up I had to set the date and time. I then connected it to the computer with the provided USB cable and completed the software installation.

One of the things the PMH software does is go through the PICTURES folder and catalog all of the images it finds by date and makes them accessible through a calendar view. The camera also came with the Image Data Converter program for dealing with RAW format image files and Remote Control software that allows the camera to be tethered to a computer and controlled from there. I will eventually have to figure out if/how Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop deal with Sony RAW files.

I quit working at 3 PM, Linda got Madeline up at 3:30, and Brendan arrived at 3:35. Madeline had been sleeping pretty soundly and did not wake up easily. She was initially upset that her mom did not come with her dad to get her and got herself worked up enough that she took quite a while to settle down. To make matters worse she really wanted to stay another night at our house and was resisting going home even though she wanted to see her mommy. When you are not yet 3 years of age it’s hard to understand that you cannot have mutually contradictory things at the same time, although I suppose in this case that had Shawna come to the house and stayed overnight Madeline could have had everything she wanted.

Linda got Madeline’s toddler bed deflated and packed for travel and rolled up her sleeping bag. She and Brendan then gathered up all of the things that had to go back to Ann Arbor. Madeline does not travel light; the clothes, books, toys, stuffed animals, and other accoutrements filled four carry bags in addition to the bed and sleeping bag.

After Brendan and Madeline left I checked my e-mail and replied to several having to do with my duties as secretary of the FMCA Freethinkers Associate Chapter. We will be holding our annual meeting by teleconference in the next three to six weeks and I have to update the roster and prepare financial statements.

I transferred the complete User’s Manual for the Sony a99v from the CD-ROM to my laptop, backed it up to the NAS units, and then e-mailed it to my iPad. I downloaded it to my iPad and spent much of the evening reading it. We headed off to bed a little after 9 PM. I tuned into the Create channel on Detroit PBS (WTVS) and watched a series of back-to-back episodes of Cooking with Nick Stellino while I worked on this post. Nick’s show is charming and he is the poster boy for unapologetic high self-esteem but with no hint of arrogance. His love of food and passion for cooking is infectious and I enjoy his show.

2015/10/03 (S) Wallpaper Stumps

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Last night we discussed not going to breakfast this morning and that was sufficient to give us permission to sleep in. We got up at 7:30 AM, too late to make it to South Lyon by 8, so I made coffee while Linda cooked oatmeal with nuts and dried fruits.

There was a hawk on the ground just behind our house. It took flight but stayed in the area dancing with a crow. In spite of seeing it repeatedly–on the ground, perched in a tree, and in flight–we could not identify it other than to be fairly certain it was not a red-tailed hawk. Red-tailed hawks are the most commonly seen raptor around here but they are very distinctive due to their red tails.

I checked the bus and the temperature was 54 degrees F, too cool for wallpapering. I had left two electric heaters on last night but obviously did not set the thermostats high enough. The refrigerator freezer compartment was 24 degrees, which is way too high, and has me concerned that something has broken, perhaps as a result of driving on our very bad roads. I settled in to enjoy my coffee (as best I could) and await the arrival of Philip Jarrell from Precision Grading.

Phil showed up at 8:35 AM. The fact that he was probably starting work on our French drain and driveway extension project this morning was the main reason we decided not to go to our weekly ham radio club breakfast. I left Phil alone long enough to get his equipment unloaded and then went out to chat with him briefly. He had already communicated with me by phone during the week about what he wanted to accomplish today, and where he needed to start the work, but I always like to be on site when a contractor arrives and double check these things. That is especially true when they have big equipment that can move a lot of earth in a short time.

Phil was using his smaller backhoe to dig up tree stumps and pull debris out of the woods along the area where the pull-through driveway extension will run. He also pulled out concrete blocks, pipes, and other building debris that has been thrown there over many years. I did not, however, have him pull out the two piles of bricks as I presume they are the same as the ones on the house and we might want to keep them for future repairs.

I needed to get the air-ride seat base back to Chuck this morning so I put it in the car and drove to his shop in Novi. He was just pulling his stacker trailer out of the shop with his forklift when I arrived. After he finished getting it out and positioning it I gave him the air-ride base and he put it in the trailer through the side door. We chatted briefly about moving the two remaining windshields, during which time Barbara showed up, so I left them to their chores and headed home.

Back at the house we decided not to try hanging wallpaper today. The temperature was in the low 50’s and it was drizzling lightly and intermittently. Not wanting to waste the day we decided to straighten up the temporary workshop we have set up in the garage. We had just started that when we got a call from our son and he put his daughter on the phone. Madeline wanted to come visit her grandparents which we were all too happy to oblige. A return call pinned down the day/time as tomorrow morning. I helped Linda load the recyclables into her car and she took them to Recycle Livingston. She stopped at the Meijer’s in Howell on the way home to pick up ingredients for a fruit salad for tomorrow’s visit.

Part of the reason for cleaning up the garage/shop was that when I went to pull out the tub with all of our wallpapering tools I could not find it even though we both remembered recently seeing the tools somewhere. The more we looked the more it seemed that “recently” was either a long time ago or a product of our collective imaginations. We still have a lot of stuff in boxes from our move 2-1/2 years ago and we have boxes stored behind boxes in the garage making it difficult to get to many of them.

We worked steadily except for a lunch break and a couple of quick chats with Phil. Lunch was a half sandwich of hummus and onions on rye with leftover potato salad and collard greens Cole slaw.

Phil was working by the culvert that goes under the road and had dug away the earth in front of it. I got down and looked in; it was completely clogged. Phil said he knew a company in Walled Lake that could open it and clean it out using a hydro-jet system and agreed to give them a call on Monday. He was setting up his laser level to shoot the grade and mark the route for the French drain when I went back inside.We did not get the garage completely cleaned and organized but by mid-afternoon it was a lot better than when we started. I eventually spotted the dark gray tray that we have used in the distant past for wetting pre-pasted wallpaper. It was on top of some upper cabinets, not down on a shelf where we had been looking. Inside were all of our wallpapering tools except for a long edge that we used for guiding the razor knife when trimming corners. The smoothing tool was falling apart and completely useless so we threw it away. We will need to pick up a few new tools when we buy the wallpaper paste.

Linda made some hot tea and settled in to work on her counted cross-stitch project while I worked on my iPad. I eventually went back to the garage to see if I could find my small gasoline powered chain saw. Fortunately, it was where I remembered last seeing it. We have a dead tree that needs to be cut down before it also falls across the road and several trees that are already down and need to be cut into small enough pieces so that Phil can use his front loader to move them to his dump truck.

As long as Phil is hauling wood debris off of the site we might as well take advantage of his willingness to take whatever will fit in his truck. The alternative is for us to haul it to the fire pit with our (currently non-functioning) lawn tractor and burn it. Unfortunately I could not find the small red plastic gasoline container that I use for gasoline mixed 40:1 with 2-cycle oil for use in small, air-cooled 2-stroke engines such as the chain saw. I also could not find our Ryobi multipurpose trimmer/saw and figured I had lent all of this to one of our children, probably our son.

Our 13″ McCullough chain saw has not seen regular use over the years but has always been willing to run when needed and proven to be very handy. It’s a nice size for cutting down small trees and de-limbing larger ones. In order to use it I needed a small gasoline container. I would normally go to Lowe’s in Howell but much of the drive is on dirt roads. It had been drizzling all day and the dirt roads were sloppy so I went to The Home Depot in Brighton. The entire route is paved except the first/last mile from/to our house.

THD had quarts of pre-mixed gasoline and oil in 40:1 and 50:1 ratios. Although expensive compared to the cost of gasoline at a filling station, I did not have to buy a new container, a bottle of oil, stop at the filling station on the way home, deal with mixing everything in the correct ratio, add Stabil fuel stabilizer to the container, and then remember what was in the container or label it. Sometimes the price of convenience is a price worth paying.

When I got home I added the fuel to the tank of the chain saw and set all of the controls according to the starting directions. I figured it would take a few pulls of the handle, perhaps quite a few, to get it to start but I did not expect the engine to be locked up. On a couple of tries I got the crank to turn slightly but mostly it would not budge. I have no idea what is wrong with it but I suspect that something is rusted or bent. Whatever the case I have no intention of taking the time to try to disassemble it to find out.

Dinner was salad and leftover pizza with a small glass of wine. I went to Lowe’s after dinner and bought a new chain saw. Lowe’s sells at least five different brands of chain saws but they feature Husqvarna. I bought a Poulan Pro 18″ model figuring the longer chain bar would be useful for cutting down and/or cutting up slightly larger trees. I got it for 1/2 to 2/3 of the comparable Husqvarna models.

Poulan is Husqvarna’s less expensive product line and it seemed good enough for the occasional use it will get. We have too many trees on our property to be without a functioning chain saw, however, and Phil will be done cleaning and hauling timber at the end of his next day here. I will probably take the little McCullough somewhere to see if it can be repaired but that may not be until next spring. Even if I took it someplace on Monday I would not have it back in time, assuming it can even be repaired.

Back home I turned on the natural gas fireplace and we relaxed in the living room reading, writing, and playing games on our iPads. With the new iOS 9 Apple changed the Game Center so the login screen pops up every time you open any game. It is REALLY annoying and apparently we are not alone in that view. Linda was checking online to see if there was a way to disable it and saw a lot of chatter on the subject, none of it positive (but no way to disable the “feature”). She did find something that said it should stop popping up for any game where you have clicked “Cancel” three times in a row but she has canceled the login more times than that yet is still getting the screen. Interestingly, the login screen has stopped popping up on my iPad. The only difference between them is that I used mine the other day while waiting at Discount Tire without any connection to the Internet. Maybe that confused it.

We turned in just before 10 PM hoping to watch a little television but did not find much on that interested us even on PBS. We searched through the channels and happened on a program titled “If You Build It” (on one of the three PBS affiliates we can pick up) about project-based learning. It was interesting.

2015/09/25 (F) Miss Dig

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I turned the lights out at 11 PM last night and slept until 8:15 AM this morning. I was preparing coffee when Linda told me there were wild turkeys in the back yard. They were gathered at the deer feed block and more showed up while we were watching. There were 15 in all, and they were big. We had our usual granola for breakfast with fresh blueberries, strawberries, and bananas. We finished our morning routine and coffee at 10 AM and got back to work on the bus.

Linda continued working on removing the old wallpaper while I worked on the entry and cockpit. She used a drywall sanding sponge to try and remove the last little bit of material from the walls she stripped yesterday and it worked rather well but not 100%. I was able to remove the step well cover assembly yesterday and today I removed the last step before reaching the main floor. It did not come out easily; the three screws securing it to two adjacent walls were badly rusted and the Philips heads would not hold the screwdriver bit. I ended up prying them loose, and inelegant (brute force) but effective solution. I am going to rebuild this step with a slightly deeper run and an open front so we can store shoes under it. First, however, I have to tile the floor.

I spent some time examining the old tile in the driver’s part of the cockpit. It clearly goes under the accelerator pedal but around the brake pedal. That’s reasonable as the accelerator is electrical, with only a cable that goes through a small hole in the floor, while the brake is pneumatic and the major part of it is in the bay below the floor with all of the air lines connected to it. I came to the conclusion that the tile was also installed under the seat base, which means Creative Mobile Interiors removed the base to install the tile. I did not come to a final decision regarding removing the tile versus tiling over it, but I am leaning towards removing it.

I was also able to determine that the retaining nut on the swivel bases for the pilot and copilot seats was 15/16″ and accessible from the rear with the seats moved forward. That means I can remove the seat, 6-way power base, and swivel plate as one assembly by removing one nut. I will then have excellent access to the pedestal mounting bolts and the driver’s area once everything else is out of the way.

Rebecca from Shutz HVAC called at 10:30 AM and arrived about 15 minutes later. Shutz is the HVAC installation contractor for the Lowe’s in Howell and she was here to look at our main air-conditioning system and give us a quote on a new Trane system as that is what Lowe’s sells. Lowe’s had a Pro Show on Wednesday and Rebecca was staffing the Shutz table so we stopped to chat. She let us know that everything at Lowe’s was on sale through tomorrow at closing for 10% off with our Lowe’s credit card, including installation labor. The card is automatically good for 5% off on any product purchase so the extra 5% is not enough of an incentive to cause us to make the purchase, but we were curious what a new system might cost. I will get a quote from Darryl at DCM, however, before making any decisions. Also, our friend Mike (W8XH) recently had an A-C system installed and was very happy with the company, product, and installation so I will find out who he used and get a quote from them too.

Rebecca was very nice and very knowledgable. After looking at the condenser/compressor outside I got a step ladder and she went up in the attic to look at the old air-handler/evaporator. The system is a Coleman and we have no idea how old it is; we just know that it did not do a good job of cooling the house this summer. The quote was for a “3 ton” system for $7,800. With 10% off it came to $7,020 but that price was based on flushing, testing, and reusing the existing refrigerant lines, which did not sound like a good idea to me.

Charles from USIC (Miss Dig) showed up around 11:30 AM to mark the utilities. Phil plans to start digging and grading next week, hopefully Tuesday. Charles came to the front door and I excused myself from the air-conditioning conversation to walk the property with him. I explained what we were having done and showed him where the work would take place. He marked the main gas line along the entire length of our property, a portion of the branch line going to our meter, the tie in for the branch line to the house across the street, and the T at the northwest corner of our property where the main line splits to service the court. He also marked the phone line, which runs underground from a pole west of our house to the southwest corner of our garage. The main electrical service runs underground with the phone line but someone else has to come out and mark that. I chatted with Charles briefly before he left and then called Phil and left him a message.

Last summer Darryl from DCM Heating and Cooling installed a new natural gas furnace with an air conditioner for our library, a natural gas heater in our garage, ran all of the black iron pipe, including 160 feet of 2″ line, hooked us up to the gas meter, and got everything working for just under $11,000. The Trane system would be bigger than the one for the library, and the air-handler in the attic is a more difficult installation, but $7,800 for just the air-conditioner without new refrigerant lines seemed a bit high. After Rebecca left I called and left a message for Darryl.

Linda was ready to strip the wallpaper behind the built-in sofa so we moved the two desk pedestals onto a blanket on the kitchen floor in the bus and unscrewed the seat and set it on top of the desk pedestals. When I finally got back to work on the bus I removed the cover for the front OTR HVAC system and set it aside. I was trying to get access to the underside of the wood trim that includes a grab handle that needs to be tightened but had a look around first.

I noticed a damper controlled by a flexible cable and figured it was what determined if the air was fresh or recirculated. I turned the knob on the dashboard and saw the cable move but not the damper. The damper was stuck so I loosened it by hand but the knob still did not cause it to move. I then noticed that the sheath of the flexible cable had come loose from its retaining clip. It was a tight spot in which to work but I was able to loosen the two screws holding the clip using a right angle screwdriver. I slipped the sheath under the clip, tightened the screws enough to hold it, and turned the knob. It worked! On a day when I did not feel like I was accomplishing very much this was a tangible and unexpected success.

I removed the only four visible screws from the wood trim but it would not budge. I had tried removing it once before without success but was determined to get it loose this time. The only reasonable explanation was that CMI had glued it on after tightening the grab handle as part of the initial work we had them do right after we bought the coach. I carefully worked a pry bar under the passenger side end and gradually applied force to it. It was, indeed, “glued” on but it appeared that I would be able to pry it loose without breaking anything if I took my time.

When I did finally get it off I could see that they had used clear silicon (adhesive) caulk to attach it to a dark gray plastic piece. Royale Coach had originally attached it to this plastic piece using four screws. The plastic piece turned out to be the lower windshield defroster duct and I am considering how we might finish this without replacing the wood trim. Wallpaper is currently at the top of my list but I doubt that it would be a good solution. Of further interest to us was the wood itself. We presumed it was maple based on the color but were puzzled why they would have used a different wood in the entryway. Once we saw the back side, however, it was obviously walnut that lightened where it was exposed to light to the point of looking like maple. There is other wood in the entry and copilot area that is equally light and we now realized that we had a refinishing task and not just a cleaning task, ahead of us at some point.

My next task was to scrape as much of the caulk off as I could. I got a lot of it off, but not all. Silicon caulk is difficult to remove. I eventually found a single edge razor blade holder and blade and used that to get the last bit off. I then worked on removing layers of masking tape from the edges of the base where the former step well slide was installed.

I have some carpentry to do to rebuild the steps and prep them for the tile installation and needed some materials and supplies so I went to Lowe’s and got:

Adhesive remover;
A 4’x8′ sheet of 3/16″ SurePly underlayment;
Two 3/4″ x 2.5″ – 6′ poplar boards;
A 15/16″ open or closed end ratcheting wrench;
A bottle of Piranha Wallpaper remover;
A Piranha wallpaper remover sponge;
A pack of 2,000 18 gauge 3/4″ long x 1/4″ crown staples;
A pack of 25 sheets of 120 grit and a pack of 25 sheets of 220 grit 1/4 sheet sandpaper.

I got 10% off the total bill! which was nice. I did not get a palm sander as they were out of the Porter Cable model I wanted. The Lowe’s in New Hudson showed two in their inventory so we will stop there tomorrow after breakfast and get one. I also needed a half sheet of 3/4″ plywood to make a new platform to replace the step well slide but did not feel like dealing with that.

For dinner Linda heated some butternut squash ravioli she bought at Whole Foods. She served it with sliced vegan Italian sausage cooked with mushrooms, onions, and garlic, a side dish of steamed fresh green beans, and a glass of Moscato.

After dinner I uploaded my blog posts for July 23 through 31 plus a gallery post of 11 photos I got from Jarel Beatty of the custom walnut desk in the process of being built in his shop. I got a call back from Darryl and we discussed the new air-conditioning system. He said he would get me a price but advised us not to let anyone reuse the old refrigerant lines. If they are not 100% clean the old refrigerant will contaminate the new system. If Shutz installs the Trane system it comes with a 10 year parts and labor warranty, but it would still be a hassle to deal with getting a contaminated unit repaired or replaced.

After chatting with Darryl for a while we agreed that there wasn’t any urgency to this. For one, we need to have Darryl check the current system for leaks, and assuming it does not have one, for proper refrigerant charge, cooling capacity, and airflow. Darryl is busy doing heating systems at the moment, but is willing to do the maintenance work. Also, the cooling season is done for this year and we will be traveling during the hottest part of next summer. A final factor is that this has been another expensive summer for us with the new roof on the house, the interior remodeling of our motorcoach, and the work Phil is about to do, so we would prefer to defer this expense.

2015/09/10 (R) Illuminating

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Linda had to go to the bakery today so she was up at 5:45 AM and out the door by 6:15. I was vaguely aware of the activity but fell back asleep and finally woke up a little before 8 AM. I skipped breakfast save for a glass of juice to wash down my vitamin and allergy pill. I spent time finishing yesterday’s blog post and thinking about what I absolutely had to get done in next four days.

I was working at the dining room table instead of in the living room so I got to watch a Red squirrel dart back and forth across the deck all morning. It was gathering walnuts from the tree northeast of our house and taking them somewhere west of our upper deck. It would run (hop) across the deck with a giant walnut in its mouth and then return by way of the deck railing. While it was gathering another walnut I moved to our library where I had a good view of our lower deck. It came down the stairs from the upper deck and disappeared behind the grill. It may be storing them under the deck or under the cover on the grill, in which case we will have to move them.

The main pieces of the desk set in place but not yet assembled or secured, and without the temporary plywood top or permanent Corian countertop.

Once I was in the bus I continued pondering how to get the desk installed so that everything would line up. Built-in furniture is just that, and I had not spent a lot of time in advance figuring out how I was going to fasten pieces together and secure them to the coach. I retrieved the piece of 1/4″ Baltic birch plywood from the garage to use as a spacer at the right end and just slid it in place temporarily. I decided I would use mending plates attached to the back and underside of the left and right bases and pedestals to align the center cover. I also decided to use a length of angle against the wall to support and align the pedestals and cover. Along the same lines I decided to use smaller angle brackets to attach the vertical front panel of the built-in sofa to the two plenum/support boxes and the air return shelf, and to attach the plenum boxes and shelf to the HVAC/wiring chase.

One of the original living room AC light fixtures. These were no doubt high-end fixtures but no longer worked in our remodeled interior.

Feeling like I should get something tangible accomplished I decided to re-install the AC light fixture and the three DC reading lights under the overhead cabinets above the desk. Linda and I agreed last night that we needed to replace the three 120V AC light fixtures in the front of the coach so I turned my attention to that issue. I removed the fixture on the driver’s side by the kitchen end of the sofa alcove and removed the mounting ring. I also measured the size of the base and the overall size of the fixture and wrote them down. Ideally I will find a fixture that has a similar size base but with most of the light fixture above the center point. One of the problems with the current fixtures is that they hang down far enough that a person sitting on the sofa would bump them with their head and probably break them as they are made of glass rods.

I headed towards The Home Depot in Howell and stopped at McDonald’s first for French fries and a soda beverage. I looked at all of their wall sconce light fixtures. They had two different ones that I thought might work but deferred a purchase until I had checked at Lowe’s. THD had 72″ piano (continuous) hinges, however, so I bought one. I also looked at PEX plumbing parts as Butch mentioned last night that I could use them to plumb the fan-coil heat exchangers.

Lowe’s had a wall sconce that was a little more to my liking. I needed three but they only had one in stock, which I bought. The Associate checked inventory at other stores and indicated that there were two more in stock in New Hudson. He wrote down the Model number and the phone number for the store and said I could call and they would hold the items for me. I picked up a couple of 75W GE Reveal light bulbs, the mending plates, angle brackets, and two different pieces of aluminum angle while I was there. I looked for pieces of felt but all they had were very thick furniture pads which was not what I needed.

The new living room light fixture. The color, style, and fit are a better match to the remodeled interior.

I was going to stop at O’Reilly’s Auto Parts to check on heater hose, fittings, and band clamps but decided to skip that stop in favor of getting home and installing the new wall sconce light fixture. It installed without too much difficulty and I liked the look. The fixture, however, was rated for a maximum 60W bulb.

I closed up the house and bus and drove to the Lowe’s in New Hudson. They did indeed have two more of the wall sconce light fixtures that I needed so I bought them. I also picked up three 60W (equivalent, 8.5W actual) 800 lumens dimmable LED warm white light bulbs. Linda texted me while I was at the store to let me know she was leaving the bakery and heading home.

I stopped at Michael’s Arts and Crafts in Brighton and bought a 36″ x 36″ piece of walnut brown felt. I plan to use the felt underneath all of the pieces of the desk and sofa that contact the floor, and possibly in some other areas as well, to keep the wood from marring the tile.

When I got home I called Elkhart Campground to make a reservation for the GLCC rally next week. I also called A-1 Upholstery in Elkhart, Indiana to check on our sofa cushions. Terry said they were almost done and we could pick them up on Monday. I then sent several text messages to Jarel with photos attached of the desk and sofa in place on the bus and indicated I had some questions and would call him later.

I was getting ready to install the other two light fixtures when Linda got home. The timing was good as she got to see the first one and approve it before I installed the other two. We discussed the covering up of the mirror strips in the corner and decided we would leave them for now. We can cover them up later if desired. Linda went in the house to fix dinner. I got the second sconce installed and went inside.

I had a few minutes until dinner was ready and used it to send an e-mail to Jarel. Dinner was couscous on power greens and small slices of bread from a baguette Linda bought the other day. I also had the leftover corn on the cob.

After dinner I called Jarel. We had a long chat and it was 8 PM by the time we finished. Linda headed to bed and I went back to the bus to install the third/final light fixture. I also installed four small frosted bulbs in the light fixture under the overhead cabinets above the desk, replacing the clear bulbs that were there. This light fixture is part of the same collection as the ones I removed from the living room walls but its design and location do interfere with anything. We might replace it someday, if we find something we like better for use over the desk that is the right size and shape, but for now it will remain in place. I locked up the bus, closed up the garage, and headed to my office.

I dealt with some BCM-related e-mail and then off-loaded today’s photos from the Sony a-100 DSLR. I went through all of the photos from September, selected about a dozen, and processed them into 300×200 pixel size images so I could share them with friends and family via e-mail. I have written extensive blog posts everyday but last posted to the website in mid-July. I don’t like being that far behind but getting the posts uploaded is just not as important as other things I have to do at this time.

I was heading to bed when I decided to replace the two light bulbs in our home kitchen that were burned out. I had the two 75W GE Reveal bulbs that I could not use in the bus, so I installed them in the kitchen downlights, and that really brightened things up.

I got to bed just before midnight. It had been a beautiful day, weather wise, and a cool night was in store portending good sleep. But first I had to capture the details of today’s work for this post.

2015/08/26 (W) Delux Delay

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We were a bit sore last night, and needed a good night’s sleep, so we both took some Advil PM right before going to bed. As a result we did not wake up until almost 8 AM this morning. The Advil, combined with the very cool temperatures, made for good sleeping.

Our son had called yesterday to see if Linda could watch Madeline today while he did some work on the rental property that he and Shawna own. It was Shawna’s house before they got married, and is a nice little place, but with Madeline on the way they wanted a slightly larger place. They also wanted to be on the other side of Stadium Boulevard in the attendance area for Burns Park Elementary School and walking distance to both the school and adjacent Burns Park without having to cross any major streets.

Ann Arbor is a major rental housing market because of the University of Michigan and the local government is very involved in this market. Rental properties must be inspected at least every 30 months and meet code requirements. The rental house was scheduled for inspection on Friday and needed some minor repairs, so Brendan set aside today to take care of things. What I find interesting about this inspection requirement is that most of the rental houses our son and daughter lived in while at U of M looked to me like they had not been inspected in over a decade.

Linda was due at Brendan and Shawna’s house around 10:30 AM so she left our house at 9:15. She took the three books of wallpaper samples with her and went directly to Delux Drapery and Shades in Ann Arbor to return them and placed the order for four bolts (double roll packs) of Sellers and Josephson Just Textures Lamar paper. Not long after she left Delux I got a call at home from the store. They were looking for Linda to let her know the wallpaper was back ordered until September 11. (I’m not the least bit superstitious but September 11. Really.) To cancel the order we would have to let them know today but I told them to let it ride. I then texted Linda to let her know and she agreed with my decision.

I had a feeling this might happen and it’s what we get for waiting so long to look for, select, and finally order a wall covering. But it is what it is and we were not going to settle for something that wasn’t “right” for our interior just because it was available more quickly. If the paper actually comes in on the 11th we will have the 12th and 13th to at least install it in a few critical areas before the new seating goes in. If it doesn’t arrive by then we will deal with it when it does. Either way the only big issue is that we wanted to paper the wall behind where the desk will go before the desk is installed. As things stand we will either uninstall/reinstall the desk or paper around it.

The pantry supported by plywood and 2x4s.

There were several small tasks that I could have worked today but the thing that needed to be done was the installation of the pull-out pantry, so that is what I did. The pantry was already in the coach, which was a good start. I got two of the small leftover pieces of 3/4″ oak veneered plywood and set them in front of the alcove base. I then set a 5′ length of 2×4 on the flat in the space where the pantry goes and extending out beyond the alcove by more than the depth of the pantry. I then set the pantry on the 2×4, pushed it snug to the side of the alcove, and slid it towards the back of the alcove until the front was approximately one inch behind the vertical front edge of the left side panel.

There were two main reasons for using the 2×4. First, the lowest slide attached to the pantry box extends below the box so the bottom of the box needed to sit on something that was thicker than the amount by which the slide hung down. Second, a 2×4 on the flat is 1.5″ thick and that turned out to be a good thickness for positioning the pantry vertically in the alcove.

The reveal between the front of the pantry and the front edge of the alcove side panel was wider at the top than the bottom so I placed two wood shims side-by-side under the back end of the 2×4 to raise it slightly and tilt the top of the front out. I fussed with this for quite a while and each time I adjusted the shims I had to pick the pantry up, set it aside, and put it back. I eventually got the reveal to be the same along the entire length (height) of the front.

Once I knew where I wanted the pantry to be when it was closed I had to figure out how to mount the slides to the side panel of the alcove. I pondered this for quite a while. If nothing else, I have learned that when it is not clear how to proceed the best course of action is to do nothing. I have also learned that if I ponder long enough I will eventually see a way forward. Sometimes that takes days or weeks of conscious and subconscious thinking, but luckily the solution came to me relatively quickly.

The pantry box is 27″ deep. The full extension slides are 26″ deep and they are mounted so they are flush with the front of the pantry box when they are fully closed. I wanted a 1″ reveal along the front, so I needed to place the back edge of the slides 27″ back from the front edge of the alcove side panel. With the pantry box out of the alcove I used a metal ruler to measure back at three points and make very fine scratch marks. I then used the metal ruler to draw a fine pencil line through the three scratch marks.

I returned the pantry to the alcove, pushed it tight to the alcove side panel, and then pulled it out about three inches. Measuring on the back side outside the alcove I made final adjustments to the shims to get a consistent reveal. I then pulled each of the nine slides back, carefully aligned the back edge of the slide to the reference line, drilled a hole with a self-centering VIX bit, and secured it with a #6-3/4″ SR (square recessed) screw. (I was not able to initially secure the bottom slide as the 2×4 was in the way.) I pulled the pantry out a little farther until the next mounting hole in the top slide was visible and then drilled that hole on all eight slides and secured it with a screw. I proceeded in this way until all but the bottom slide were attached to the alcove side panel through every available mounting hole; 88 screws in all (11 screws for each slide x 8 slides).

The pantry with the installation boards removed from underneath it.

To secure the bottom slide I needed to get the 2×4 out from under the pantry. I slid the pantry all the way in, slid the two pieces of 3/4″ plywood out from under the 2×4, and tried to slide the 2×4 out. Unfortunately I used a 2×4 that was too long to just slide out as part of the original pantry cabinet is directly across from the pull-out pantry. So I got my circular saw and cut about 4″ off the end of the 2×4. Close, but not quite, so I cut off another 2″ and was finally able to slide it out.

With the pantry all the way out I was able to drill and secure the mounting holes for the back half of the bottom slide. The holes for the front half were a bit tedious as I had to move the box to reveal each one. To avoid going back and forth between the drill and the screw driver bit I drilled all of the holes first and then put in the screws. I should also mention that I used the Shop Vac to vacuum up any debris that got in the slides as a result of the drilling. I also wiped the slides out (carefully, they have sharp edges) with a paper towel.

The pantry slides all the way in and out but is a little tight the closer it gets to being fully closed. I know that Jarel was very meticulous in attaching the slides to the pantry box so they were all parallel. My working hypothesis is that either I did not get them attached to the alcove exactly parallel (entirely likely) and/or there is more drag on them because of the one-sided installation (probably, but no way for me to quantify) than there would be if they were installed on both sides of a drawer.

All of the slides are on the same side, which is not how they are normally used. A pair of these slides is rated to support 100 pounds when used on both sides of a drawer, so four and a half pairs would, conservatively, support 400 to 450 pounds in a normal application. Even if they will only support 1/3 that much weight in a single-sided application that is still 133 to 150 pounds for our nine slides. I think the box weighs about 30 pounds so that leaves at least 100 pounds for stored items and I doubt that we could get 100 pounds of stuff in the pantry even if we loaded it with canned goods. Because the pantry is narrow and tall with lots of slides I suspect most of the load on the slides is vertical, which is what they are designed for, rather than sideways, which would tend to pull them apart, so I suspect that it can safely carry considerably more than 100 pounds of staples.

The piece of aluminum angle that will prevent the refrigerator from sliding sideways into the pantry. It is not installed yet as the plywood refrigerator base is not stained yet.

I had just finished installing the pantry and was cleaning up my tools and materials when Linda got home around 3 PM. I had skipped lunch and she had a PB&J sandwich while she was out so we agreed to have dinner at 5:30 PM. Linda picked up where she left off yesterday cleaning and waxing the drawer fronts and the woodwork in the bedroom. I decided that the oak veneered plywood base in the alcove needed to be painted or stained and then sealed so I went to Lowe’s and got a small can of Rustoleum American Walnut stain, a small can of Rustoleum satin finish polyurethane, and two foam brushes.

I brushed the stain on liberally, working in sections, let it sit for two minutes per the instructions, and then wiped it off with a lint-free cloth. The stain required mineral spirits for cleanup so I threw the brush and cloth away. The instructions said to wait one hour before applying a finish. It was 5 O’clock by then so I went to my office to check e-mail while Linda prepared dinner.

She made a nice salad and grilled a couple of vegan burgers and added some vegan cheese. Mustard, ketchup, pickles, onions, and lettuce on a nice bun made for a tasty sandwich. Two deer, a doe and her young fawn, came to our deer block while we were eating and a ruby-throated hummingbird stopped at our plants and feeders. For dessert we had half of a small, very sweet watermelon.

By the time we were done with dinner it was 6:30 PM so I went back out to the bus and applied the polyurethane. The directions said to apply it sparingly so that is what I tried to do. They also said that it could take 48 hours to be usably dry and seven days for a full cure. Drying time was dependent, however, on temperature and humidity, with higher temps and lower relative humidity promoting quicker drying.

I had run the Aqua-Hot earlier in the day and determined that there was still a little too much coolant in the system as the expansion reservoir overflowed into my catch bottle. I closed the three windows that were open, leaving them just slightly ajar, turned on the Aqua-Hot, turned on all three thermostats, and set them for about 72 degrees Fahrenheit. I will not be applying a second coat of polyurethane and cannot spare 48 hours for this one to dry.

I had thought that we might get the first sheet of underlayment installed this evening but decided we had done enough for one day. It will be the only full 4’x8′ sheet we install but it needs a notch cut out of it before it goes in. I thought it would require several cuts but then realized I had some floor leveling compound that I had not removed. I got my chisel and mini-sledgehammer and knocked off the big chunks. I then used the oscillating sander with 50 grit sandpaper to smooth everything out. It was 7:45 PM and I was done working on the bus for today.

I went to my office and spent a couple of hours dealing with e-mails. Linda was still up when I turned in at 10 PM but drifted off to sleep as I finished up this post. She has to go to the bakery tomorrow which means she will be up very early.

2015/08/18 (T) Walking Grind

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We were up at 8 AM and I made a pot of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe half-caff coffee while Linda got breakfast ready. She made a batch of granola yesterday so we had some with fresh blueberries and unsweetened soy milk. It’s our standard breakfast, but that’s because we like it so much. She had an e-mail from Robin at the bakery and had to deal with some issues related to the bakery’s new account, The University of Michigan Ann Arbor. As I do most mornings I sat in the living room working on my iPad, drinking my coffee, and paying attention to our two cats.

Being Tuesday Linda had a date with Diane to walk at 10 AM and left at 9:30 for Kensington Metropark. I continued working on my iPad for a while and enjoying my coffee. At 10:15 AM I called the Livingston County Sheriff and reported the mailbox incident from late Friday evening /early Saturday morning. Shelby took the call, was very nice, said she was not aware of any other mailbox reports, but would pass the info along to the Desk Sargent. I checked my e-mail and confirmed with Harvey for Friday at 10 AM to move the old bus refrigerator. I finally went out to work on the floor of the bus at 11 AM, by which time the outside air temperature was already in the 80’s.

I leave three of the awning style windows in the bus open a few inches so it doesn’t get too hot inside. I opened all three roof vents, turned on their ceiling fans, and set them to exhaust air rather than draw it in. I also left the entrance door open to allow more air to flow through the inside of the coach. I then sanded and vacuumed until about 1 PM. When I came back in the house I had two missed calls from Michele Henry of Phoenix Paint so I called her back. I was on the phone with her when Linda got back from her walk.

Once I wrapped up the call with Michele we had a light lunch of hummus with pita chips and both black and red grapes. While we were eating we were entertained by a gray squirrel who had gotten onto the bird feeder and was hanging upside down by its hind legs. It would curl its body to bring its mouth up to the bottom of the feeder, emancipate some seed, and then uncurl to the more relaxed stretched out position and eat it. All of this was also being watched with both interest and considerable skepticism by three crows who were hanging around on the ground under the feeder. They grabbed seeds that the squirrel dropped but seemed very wary of it, which surprised us. I speculated that perhaps they had never seen a squirrel behave in this way and were, therefore, understandably and appropriately cautious; crows are very smart, after all.

After lunch we took the three wallpaper sample books to the bus to look at them with the woodwork. Before we could do that, however, we discovered a small bird trapped in the coach and had to deal with it. I say “trapped” because it was up on the dashboard and obviously confused by the windshields as it kept trying to fly out through them. It did not realize it could get out the same way it came in, through the open door.

The bird seemed small and I think it was an immature sparrow but I’m not sure. It was seeking safe shelter in the space between the dashboard cover and the lower driver side windshield. I used a broom to try to gently encourage it to fly towards the door but it was understandably suspicious of my good intentions. I put on a pair of canvas work gloves and it allowed me to gently pick it up. I tried to release it at the door opening and it flew into the door causing Linda to make a comment about why we use the phrase “bird-brained.” I caught it again, got outside the bus clear of the door, and tossed it gently away from the bus. It immediately took flight and flew off to the southwest, apparently none the worse for its ordeal. I can only image the story it told the other birds.

I got a piece of the Armstrong Alterna Luxury Vinyl floor tile from the garage. Many of the wallpapers that we thought would look good with the floor tile turned out to be too yellow, and most of the ones with good color tone were too dark, but we found a few that we liked. Those tended to be lighter without a lot of pattern and a neutral, off-white color. We are, however, far from a final choice as we do not currently have a sample of the Lambright Notion Linen upholstery fabric or the MCD night shade material and the wallpaper has to work with all of these simultaneously.

We measured the areas that need to be repapered and in the process decided that we would leave the old wallpaper on the inner wall of the hallway, at least for now. (The paper in the bathroom, which is different from the rest of the coach, is generally in good condition and we are not currently planning on replacing it as part of this project.) The existing wallpaper in most of the coach is a string cloth with a beige base but distinct vertical threads that contain a noticeable amount of grey and a more subtle herringbone pattern. It looks good with the walnut woodwork and worked well with the old white carpet, black ceramic floor tile, and bone leather upholstery, so we think it will continue to look good with the new floor tile.

If Josh is at his shop tomorrow we will try to stop and pick up the Lambright Notion Linen sample as whatever wallpaper we choose has to work well with the furniture fabric. On Thursday we will revisit the papers in the three books we currently have with an eye towards something that has some grey in it.

It was another warm, humid day and I was done sanding so I closed up the roof vents, locked up the coach, and went inside. Linda prepared a pizza using the gluten-free crust recipe she got from Mara. Yum.

After dinner I went to Lowe’s and bought two bags of TEC Skill Set Universal Floor Patch and Skim Coat, a mixing bucket, two bags of tile spacers, and three 4’x8′ sheets of 1/4″ SurePly underlayment. I meant to buy a folding metal sawhorse but left it somewhere in the store. I was going to buy premixed floor leveling compound but they only had 1-quart containers for $10 each and the directions said it would only cover 1.5 square feet. I have about 80 square feet of floor to patch and level, so that clearly was not a good solution.

The Universal Floor Patch is a powder that has to be mixed with water, but each bag will cover 20 – 25 square feet at 1/8″ thickness and costs $13; much better than the premixed stuff. I have a few areas to patch that are deeper than 1/8″ but the material can be applied up to 1/2″ thick per coat, and most of the area just needs a much thinner skimcoat. It can also be sanded within 24 hours which will allow me to make it very smooth and keep the work moving along. My goal is to have the floor leveled and sanded smooth by bedtime on Saturday so I can install the 1/4″ underlayment on Sunday and start laying tile on Monday or Tuesday next week.

I stopped at Teeko’s Coffee and Teas to get some more of the Cafe Europe half-caff blend. They had the regular blend but not the decaf blend so I had Roger use the Columbian decaf instead. He roasted the beans for me while I waited and Jeff showed up along with his wife as I was leaving. They were married last September and are expecting their first child late next month. Jeff was wearing his Pepsi delivery shirt, confirming what the woman at the Kahuna Coffee Shop told us last Friday.

We turned in early as we will be getting up very early tomorrow to drive to Indiana again. Linda watched an episode of NCIS after which I watched a PBS special on the origins and evolution of the Navy Seals.

2015/08/17 (M) Wallpaper Search

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We awoke this morning to find wild turkeys in the yard behind our bedroom. The deer feed block and natural mineral rock initially attracted a doe and her faun but has been a much stronger attraction for the wild turkeys and crows. Both the turkeys and crows also like to clean up the bird seed that falls to the ground under the seed block that Linda hung from a branch on one of our White Pine trees. The turkeys eventually moved on and we sat down to a breakfast of fresh mixed berries, juice, and coffee, which we took to the living room while we used our iPads to read, write, or play a few games, as is our morning habit.

I had a text message exchange with Chuck regarding the moving of our old bus refrigerator out of his shop. He and Barbara are headed off to Oscoda on Friday with their race car so I e-mailed Harvey (AC8NO) from our SLAARC ham radio club to see if he could help us move the refrigerator on Friday.

We had quite a few downed branches, and a couple of downed trees, scattered about the property as a result of winter snows, spring/summer storms, poor drainage, and age. With Keith coming this morning to mow the grass I decided I should pick up as many of them as I could. When I started at 9:30 AM it was already warm and muggy. Keith showed up at 10 AM and got right to work but I managed to stay ahead of him and got everything of any size picked up except for one tree. It was at least 8″ in diameter at the base and at least 30′ long so I will have to de-limb it, cut up the trunk with a chain saw, and haul the pieces away using the lawn tractor and utility dump trailer. That, however, won’t happen anytime soon.

We skipped last week’s mowing because it had been dry and the grass had not grown noticeably, but we got rain during the past week and the grass responded accordingly. The yard looked good when Keith was done and the timing of his visit was fortuitous as there is rain in the forecast for the next few days with slightly cooler temperatures.

We had a light lunch and then Linda settled in to work at her desk while I worked in the bus. I spent a couple of hours using the belt sander to grind down the residual thinset and mastic on the floor. I wear a dust mask, hearing protector, and safety glasses when sanding, which is even less comfortable than normal when the temperature and humidity are elevated. But I needed to have the floor prep finished by the end of this week, and the new floor installed by the end of next week, or I risked not being ready for the installation of the new seating on September 14 and 15.

I suggested to Linda that we go to Ann Arbor to look at wallpaper, visit Brendan, Shawna, and Madeline and then pick up some things at the Whole Foods Market that we cannot get locally. Linda researched wallpaper stores and made arrangements with our son while I took a shower and got dressed for visiting.

We left around 3:30 PM and drove down US-23 to the Washtenaw Road exit. If we had put the address in the GPS sooner we would have taken M-14 west instead of staying on US-23 as the Delux Drapery and Shade Co. is on West Stadium Boulevard. Still, we got there in a reasonable amount of time. We told the sales associate that we were looking for something that would stand up to use in a motorhome, preferably something that could be wiped, washed, or scrubbed. We wanted something light and neutral (off white) without a pattern that had to be matched, but with some texture. She pulled out several sample books and we looked through them. We ended up signing out three books each of which had one or two papers that we liked and thought might work well with our woodwork, floor tiles, and upholstery.

We drove back across town to our son and daughter-in-law’s house. Our daughter’s car was also there but no one was around so Linda called Brendan. As we suspected they were at Burns Park so we walked over there and found them. Madeline was very excited to see her Grandma Linda and ran over to give her a hug. As we were heading towards the park exit that most directly leads back to their house we spotted Madeline’s friend Maya and her dad Jason. That unplanned encounter resulted in 20 minutes of child play and adult socializing before we finally resumed our homeward trek.

Back at the house we continued to visit until dinner time. Meghan left to go fix dinner for herself and Chris. Madeline had her dinner and then let her dad read a Curious George story. Brendan and Shawna had packing to do for their flight tomorrow so we took our leave. The three of them are flying to Denver to visit Shawna’s mom (Carol) and her husband (Cliff), who live nearby in Golden, Colorado. Madeline is well-traveled for a 30 month old child.

We stopped at the Whole Foods Market on Washtenaw Avenue, which is close to their house and conveniently located on our route out of town. The main item on our list was plain soy creamer. We used to be able to get this at both the Meijer’s and Kroger stores near our house but they are only carrying the vanilla flavored version which I do not like. We picked up a bag of sauerkraut to go with the vegan beer brats, six bottles of wine, because you get a 10% discount on six or more bottles (mix and match), two pieces of vegan cake, and some other stuff. It’s probably a good thing that we do not have a Whole Foods closer to our house.

By the time we got home it was 7:45 PM. Linda heated the sauerkraut and the vegan beer brats and served them open-faced on hot dog buns with mustard, of course. Black grapes provided a sweet contrast to the savory main dish. We sat for a while in the living room, playing iPad games and writing blog posts while we had some of the vegan cakes, before turning in. I continued to write while we watched a TV program and then went to sleep.

2015/08/13 (R) Sanding Success

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Linda was scheduled to go into the bakery today but knew before we went to bed last night that the visit was postponed. That was just as well; we were very tired from our long day yesterday and slept in this morning.

Before I even had a chance to make coffee I spotted wild turkeys by the road in our easternmost driveway entrance. They walked past the east end of the house into our backyard. They hung around by the deer block for quite a while so we had a good long look at them and I took a few pictures. There was a big tom, a younger/smaller tom, and a half-dozen hens, one with a surprisingly small chick for this late in the season. The turkeys eventually moved on and we got back to our normal routine. While I made the coffee Linda made her own version of raisin, date, walnut oatmeal with some quick oats that she had in the pantry. It was very good.

We read for a bit but I needed to finish the blog posts for the last several days and Linda needed to return some items to the Howell Library and run a couple other errands. While working on the blog post for yesterday I realized that we had not loaded all of the pieces for the built-in sofa. I checked the pieces we had against the drawings, which we should have done yesterday, and confirmed that we were missing the two top pieces (E) for the support boxes (HVAC plenums) and the top piece (H) for the return air plenum. I texted Jarel and he replied quickly that he would try to take care of it in time for me to drive back down on Wednesday to pick up them up. It’s a 12-17 hour, 550 mile day, for me and costs about $60 in gasoline, so hopefully he will have the pantry done by then as well.

Linda got word from our son via TXT message that Shawna’s father, Mick, had passed away. He had an aggressive but non-cancerous brain tumor that did respond to two separate surgeries and was moved to hospice care about two weeks ago. Brendan, Shawna, and Madeline are cutting their vacation short by a day to head to the Grand Rapids area but are still leaving Tuesday to fly to Denver to visit Shawna’s mother, Carol, and her husband, Cliff. It appears that a memorial service may be in the works for the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd, in which case we will probably drive over.

My sister tried to call me today. Linda was on the house phone quite a bit today with bakery-related business so Patty tried my cell phone but did not leave a message. I was working in the bus at the time, did not have it with me, and Linda could not find it in time when it was ringing. Being deaf in one ear she cannot locate where sounds are coming from. She does a little better when she uses her BAHA, but rarely wears it around the house. I called my sister back and left a message and she eventually called me back and we got to talk.

Our father, who is 90, had been admitted to a hospital near where he lives. The staff said he appeared to have severe dementia, but he was fine (for his age) just a couple of weeks ago, so I suspected a stroke or some other sudden change. Patty sent me a text latter that the CAT scan of his brain revealed two recent lesions (last few weeks), the telltale sign of two strokes. She also said he was being transferred to Missouri Baptist Hospital, which is much closer to where she lives, for further care.

Those two pieces of news certainly put a damper on the day, and may cause an adjustment in my plans if I have to travel to St. Louis. In the meantime there is stuff that has to get done, so even though it was warm today and I wasn’t really in the humor, I kept working in the bus, off and on. I vacuumed up loose material, including inside the bases of cabinets, and then cleaned the wiring in the refrigerator alcove with Lysol. I decided to make a template for the refrigerator alcove plywood base filler panels so I could cut them the right size/shape on the first try. I then used one of the new ceramic sanding belts on the residual thin-set and mastic, and it worked! My sense of hope was renewed that I will be able to install the new floor correctly.

By 7 PM I was feeling drained so I wrapped up my work and took a shower. For dinner Linda made pan-grilled BBQ tofu with caramelized onions and served it open faced on a hamburger bun with a side of fresh steamed asparagus. It was delicious.

After dinner I went to Lowe’s and The Home Depot in search of several items but only ended up buying another 36 grit sanding belt. I needed floor leveling compound but was not prepared to choose between their limited options. I also needed a self-centering drill bit but neither store had them. Lowe’s and THD really are focused on the tools and materials one needs to work on a house and its surrounding property. Things like self-centering drill bits, though useful for things like drilling holes for door hinges, are really cabinet-making tools. As big as these stores are they can’t, and don’t, sell everything.

I talked to Butch on the drive home. The self-centering drill bit that Jarel recommended for installing the pull-out pantry slides is a Vix and Butch suggested four places where I could buy it: Rockler, Custom Service Hardware, McFeeley’s, and Grizzly’s. Before ordering one I need to e-mail or text Jarel and ask him what size screw I need to mount the pull-out pantry extension slides.

Back home I thought of four other things I could have bought while I was out so I added them to my list. I then went to my office and worked on blog posts, updated the BCM Group page on RVillage, e-mailed Gary Hatt at BCM, responded to an e-mail from Howard (PlayaDog) re: screens for sliding bus windows, and started downloading Adobe Creative Cloud 2015 updates. Jack Conrad had responded to my earlier e-mail asking if he knew what was going on with the Arcadia rally and I sent him a reply. By the time I dealt with all that I was ready to recline and rest.

2015/08/10 (M) Keep on Buss’in

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We have a doe and her spotted faun that have been coming in the early morning to the deer block we set in our back yard the other day. They were there again this morning and the block is close enough to the house that we got a good look at them through the bedroom doorwall. They must be comfortable with the setting as the faun wandered off towards the western part of our property and the doe let it go while she continued to lick the block. Eventually, however, the faun was out of sight and the doe headed off in that direction to find it.

We had cinnamon raisin toast and soy yogurt for breakfast, with orange-grapefruit juice to wash down the vitamins. I used up the last of the Sweet Seattle Dreams half-caff coffee beans for our pot of morning coffee. Keith usually mows our grass on Mondays and he came to the front door around 9:30 AM to ask if we wanted it cut this week. That’s the first time he has done that this summer but it was an appropriate and timely question. We have had very little rain the last couple of weeks so the grass had not gown much since last Monday and was a little brown in places. We agreed to skip this week, which I think was what Keith was hoping I would say. There was a high probability of rain starting around noon and I suspect he had another yard he wanted to cut before it started.

We have been very busy the last few days and I have not had time to do more than outline my blog posts. Linda needed to work on an analysis for the bakery so I spent much of the day filling in the details of my recent posts. Our days are very full and if I wait too long I cannot capture them accurately.

Linda looked up the information on the DTE Energy “Energy Efficiency” appliance recycling program. I called the 866 number and was assisted by Reginald. The earliest available pickup date was Friday, August 28 so I took that. It took quite a while to arrange the pickup but Reginald appeared to get all the pertinent information and give me a confirmation code and a phone number to reach the truck on pickup day.

Once the refrigerator pickup was arranged I texted Chuck to let him know the details. That prompted a return phone call and a conversation about refrigerators. Having seen how our swap went on Saturday he and Barb are also thinking very seriously about replacing the refrigerator in their bus. The rationale is the same as ours; the fridge is old, so it is noisier and less efficient than newer ones, and having it break on the road would be more than inconvenient.

Replacing a refrigerator in an RV, especially a residential unit in a bus conversion, is not like replacing one in a home. Access is a major problem and there is not a lot of space to maneuver it or get more than two pairs of hands on it. If they replace theirs here (in Michigan) their bus will be inside their garage/shop, the forklift will be available to do the heavy lifting, and trusted friends and family will be available to help. And, most importantly, they won’t be living in it and dependent on the fridge for preserving their food.

Before the day got away from me I pulled up the PDF of the manual for the wireless keypad for the large garage door. When I installed the new opener for the small garage door and reprogrammed the wireless remotes for our cars I inadvertently rendered the keypad inoperable. Reprogramming it was simple enough once I had the procedure. It’s the small, simple tasks like this one that become big burdens if not taken care of in a timely manner.

The predicted rain started around noon and was steady until 3 PM. It was just the kind of rain we needed; gentle enough to give it a chance to soak in but hard enough to provide a useful quantity of moisture to the ground. Six to 10 hours of this would have been even better but we were glad for what we got.

I had thought that we might mask off the inside of the coach today with painter’s plastic but with the rain and humidity, and plenty of other things to do, I decided to defer that until tomorrow. During the afternoon Jarel texted me a couple of pictures and a brief status update on our custom woodworking projects. Not surprisingly he is already well along on the construction of the pull-out pantry and has spray lacquered the pieces for the built-in sofa.

One of the photos showed one of the 1/8″ thick aluminum plates that will form the side rails for each shelf in the pantry. He applied a brushed finish to the plate and countersunk the screw holes so the heads would not protrude beyond the surface. Jarel did metal work at one time before he became a cabinet maker so he knows how to do this kind of stuff. He is also meticulous and takes great pride in his work. Given a choice I would always prefer to hire a craftsman who cares as much, or more, about the quality of their work as I do.

When I know I am going to have a long full day, such as this coming Wednesday, I will try to “write ahead” on my blog, basically outlining the plan for the day but obviously not filling in the details of things that have not yet happened. Along the same lines, I often use future blog posts as a planning tool. As things occur to me that I need to do I will note them in the draft of a future post. If the thing actually gets done on that date I flesh out the details, and if not, I move it to a new date.

I think I did several loads of laundry today and spent some time editing and uploading blog posts during the evening, but as I am finishing this post later in the week I have lost the details and will just end here.

2015/07/27 (M) Finish Drawings

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I got up at 7:25 AM and fed the cats. There was a very large tom turkey feeding in the back yard by the basement walkout and just far enough out from the house that I could see him from the dining room doorwall where we keep the cats’ food dishes. He walked up the west slope and then cautiously headed for our lower deck. I kept an unseen eye on him from the kitchen corner window as he headed east towards the main deck. I thought he might have spotted Linda’s tomato and herb planters but he kept on going. Perhaps he caught sight of Jasper, or me, or his own reflection but something spooked him and he trotted to the east end of the deck. He had Jasper’s full, undivided attention by this point and just walked around until he decided to walk down the stairs into the east yard and around the east end of the house. I lost sight of him after that but we have seen turkeys feeding on that end of the house before and they have ready access to dense, protective cover from there. I suspect this is the same lone tom that we have seen feeding in Cory’s yard across the street.

I sat and played games for a while and then started working on this post at 8:15 AM. At 8:30 I caught a glimpse of a deer crossing the road into our yard by the main driveway but could not get up to get a better view as Juniper had settled in in my lap. Linda got up around that same time having finally gotten a good night’s sleep. I got dressed and made coffee. We finally had breakfast at 10 AM.

My initial focus for today was to finish the drawings for the pull-out pantry, design/draw the cover for the front half of the passenger side HVAC duct and wiring chase, and design/draw the small cover that will connect the chase cover to the left side of the left desk pedestal base and hide the heater hoses. I took occasional breaks to chat with friends on the South Lyon 2m repeater and finished my drawings at 4:30 PM.

Linda located a FedEx Office location in Brighton so I drove there instead of to the one in Novi to make copies and buy a mailing tube. The copies did not come out as well as at the other office so I rolled up the originals and put them in the tube. I checked to see what it would cost to have FedEx deliver the tube. Their cheapest method was going to cost $28 and take three days to get there so I went across the street to the post office and mailed them to Jarel in Logansport, Indiana it for $2.94. It will be there by Thursday and may get there by Wednesday.

When I got home I e-mailed Jarel to let him know the drawings were on the way. Linda then reheated various leftovers for dinner. I had started the day with an ambitious list of things I wanted to accomplish but by the time we were done with dinner I decided I had accomplished enough for the day and took an uncharacteristic nap. I had just woken up when Butch called and we chatted about buses for a bit. We turned in earlier than usual and watched Antiques Roadshow and the concluding episode of Ken Burn’s “The Dust Bowl” on the Detroit PBS station.

2014/09/01 (M) A Day To Labor

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One of the odd things about being “retired” is that holidays, like weekends, do not have the same significance they had when we were employed full time. We no longer have “3-day weekends.” We also do not have a tradition in our family of gathering on the summer holidays, so those days tend to blend into the days around them. If not for our Saturday morning ham radio breakfast and the Sunday morning Howell Farmers Market we probably would not know what day of the week it was.

Knowing that today was Labor Day, Linda prepared vegan cinnamon rolls yesterday and baked them first thing this morning. This was the first time she has made these and they were a real treat. Vegan, yes; whole plant-based food, not exactly. These will be a rare treat for us.

As has been my pattern for the last few weeks, I sanded and touched up drywall first thing after breakfast. Most of the drywall compound was finally smooth enough that I felt it was ready to prime. I discovered that I was out of primer, so I went to Lowe’s to get some and picked up a few other things while I was there. It was very humid today, which tends to slow the drying of paint, but primer is thinner than paint and gets absorbed into the paper drywall covering I was hopeful that I might get a first coat of paint applied this evening.

Mike (W8XH) sent an e-mail Saturday evening to the members of the SLAARC announcing the availability of the new WordPress website and indicating that they would each be receiving a unique username and password from me in the next few days. I wanted to wait at least 24 hours before I started creating users. That waiting period had passed, so today I parked myself in front of my computer and registered users.

Part of the registration process required me to create a username. That was easy for a ham radio club as (almost) everyone has an FCC call sign. It also required a valid/unique e-mail address. When I created an account an e-mail, with their username and a randomly generated password, got sent to the e-mail address I entered. The e-mail also contained instructions on how to get to the website, how to login, and how to change their password. I finished creating the last user account around 9 PM, but I did not work on this between 5 PM and 8 PM.

The vegan cinnamon rolls made for a filing and somewhat higher calorie breakfast, so we skipped lunch today and had an early dinner. I had requested a picnic type of meal to celebrate the end of the summer tourist season, and Linda fixed a nice one. We had vegan potato salad, corn-on-the-cob, and pan-grilled tofu slices with BBQ sauce and caramelized onions served open-faced on some of the Italian bread she made for dinner on Saturday. Dessert was watermelon balls. And the wonderful thing is that I am maintaining a good weight. Eating well and eating healthy are not mutually exclusive. However, like low-fat and fat-free foods, and then gluten-free foods, the processed food industry has discovered a “market” for foods that are free of animal products. That, however, does not mean they are free of unpronounceable chemicals or excessive amounts of sugar and salt. There is a growing amount of vegan junk food available in the marketplace.

We spent a little time after dinner on the back deck watching wildlife as a storm front approached from the west. As the wind kicked up we lost our AT&T DSL connection and then our phone went out, exhibiting the same behavior we have had throughout most of August. I shut down my computer and changed back into my work clothes to do some painting. I put a coat of paint on the east wall of the garage and both the inside and outside of the utility closet. It started raining really hard so I had to close the garage door, which cut down on my light, but eventually the rain let up and I was able to open the garage doors again. The inside of the utility closet may need another coat, but I think that most of the outside of the closet, and the east wall of the garage, may be done. That means I can finally mount the thermostat for the garage furnace and put cover plates back on switches and outlets.

I am still working on the outside of the south wall of the utility closet (with the door). I am using drywall compound to create a smooth transition at the hinge edge of the door to correct for a carpentry error I made when installing the door much earlier in the project. The transition will make it possible for me to install trim around the door, but I have to build up the transition in thin, tapered layers, allow it to dry, sand it smooth, and repeat the process over, and over, and over. Ditto for the west wall of the library, which is the other side of the east wall of the garage, where I am building up a slightly recessed area where the opening was for the old window A-C unit so it will blend in with the surrounding wall surface.

The Phase Place

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Tag Archives: backyard wildlife

2015/10/16 (F) Desk Installation

2015/10/10 (S) The New Camera

2015/10/03 (S) Wallpaper Stumps

2015/09/25 (F) Miss Dig

2015/09/10 (R) Illuminating

2015/08/26 (W) Delux Delay

2015/08/18 (T) Walking Grind

2015/08/17 (M) Wallpaper Search

2015/08/13 (R) Sanding Success

2015/08/10 (M) Keep on Buss’in

2015/07/27 (M) Finish Drawings

2014/09/01 (M) A Day To Labor