Chimney and other jobs...What a summer it was...the final chapter

Close up view of our ugly chimney with
festive holly growing on top. 

I think the biggest expense on our home has been the chimney, which was in very poor shape when we purchased the house. I've mentioned it in blogs several times, notably here and here, and I'm hoping this will be final major repair to the chimney and the flue. The final contractor repair involved capping the chimney including removing the vegetation, and resurfacing. It was the same contractors we used for past work, Chimney Solutions and I can't recommend them enough. They are friendly, efficient, and do good work for a reasonable price.  The work was split over two days as they needed for the concrete to dry before completing the second day. The finished job was remarkable and it was really shocking how much the new chimney improved the look of the house.

I took it upon my self to repair and repaint the chimney below overhang. First, I had to repair some  cracks, chips, and then caulk the entire joint between the chimney and the house. However, the biggest hurdle on this job was attempting to match the color of the house. After several trips to the Home Depot paint center, I finally brought a chip from the stucco and the paint expert managed to match the paint, even adding some "dirt" account for differences across the home surface. The final result was an incredible match. You can't hardly tell the difference, even up close.

Your favorite blogger well
 up a ladder.

A couple of the neighbors came up to me after the job was done and remarked how nice it looked. Their comments reinforce my belief that the old chimney was really an eyesore and probably the number one thing that was detracting from the look of the house. Both Cindy and I are very pleased with the way it looks and how it improves the home.

We are so pleased, in fact, that when it came time to begin to place the Christmas lights this year, I decided to shine to spotlights on that north side of the house. With the leaves off the trees, that side of the house is easily visible through the park from Grand Boulevard and it looks nice.

Finally finished.

In other news, the struggle continues as we try to find a color for our sun room/bar/breakfast nook. We are trying to find a bright yet relaxing aquamarine that will help brighten the room. I plan to put a wood stained wainscoting on three of the four walls so I want a nice bright color for contrast, and hopefully it will also brighten the mood of anyone in there. We are up to about a dozen or so paint samples so far and are still looking. Oof.

Finally, the tub started leaking again and did a bit of damage to the kitchen ceiling. It turned out water was leaking through the floor next to the tub so I repaired the area next to the tub and caulked the seam. At the request of Cindy, I ripped out much of the caulk in the tub and replaced that as well, No leaks were coming from within the tub itself, it was more of an aesthetic thing as my caulking skills continue to improve.

That's it for now. Everyone have a wonderful and peaceful holiday. Hug someone close to you and keep them nearer to your heart.

Time...again.

One of our great trips to NJ. A
tradition we owe to Pop. 

I've written two blogs already about time, our passage through it and the milestones it brings (here and here).  A very significant milestone was reached at the end of October when dad passed. His health was failing, so I shouldn't have been surprised, but he went quickly when his time came, and that caught me off guard. It was a good thing, of course, that he didn't suffer, and that provides me with some selfish comfort, but the loss really hurt. I now reflect how much he really meant to me, and how much he influenced my life.

I think his most important influence on me was his loyalty and commitment to his wife and family. His honor and love of mom was unconditional and unshakable. They were married shortly before he was shipped to Korea and his love of her, I believe, carried him through the darkest time of his life. We still have the letters he wrote home from the war. I haven't read them, and doubt I will, but they are no doubt heartbreaking and poignant. How difficult must it have been to be torn from the love of your life and sent to hell on earth. The war scarred him for certain, but I believe it also strengthened his commitment to his wife, and eventually the family.

On The Schooner American.  One of his favorite spots.

Upon his return from the war, he and mom settled down and went about with the business of raising a family. His job at IBM afford them with the luxury of leaving mom at home with the task of raising us kids. But as we got older and could be left alone, he encouraged mom to finish her college education at SUNY Binghamton. His support of her was unwavering.

You brought us together again, pop. 

After he retired, he and mom traveled extensively. They signed up to be notified about last minute deals on cruises and ended up on the QE2 for her final cruise. They cruised to Alaska, relived their 1970s trip to The Virgin Islands, and had numerous trips to Cape May and the Jersey shore. As mom's health declined and she struggled, the trips dwindled and he became a full time caregiver for his wife. Once again, his commitment to her never wavered despite what must have been extremely difficult and upsetting work. When she passed, he literally was near death himself, at least partially from the toll of taking care of her. After open heart surgery to repair a diseased valve, he slowly recovered.

One of the first things we did upon his recovery, was a family trip to south Jersey. He absolutely loved it there and loved to spend the afternoon at The Lobster House with a front row seat on The Schooner drinking beer and eating incredible amounts of seafood. It almost became routine, especially with Cindy and I, to take a trip to "Jersey" and spend hours lingering on The Schooner. It's one tradition we will continue Pop.

The family gathered, from all parts of the country, upon his passing. It was comforting to me to see how much he meant to his grandchildren. He felt at liberty to relax with them, free from his job as a father to discipline or judge. This earned him the loving title of "Pop", and their tributes to him at the services were very moving.

So time moves on, with increasing speed it seems to me. Losing my father has made me reflect on not only his life, but my own, and how time may be the most precious thing we have. Time is infinite, but finite to us, at least on this world, and we must use it wisely. Effort must be made to have more "good" time than "bad" time, and that is an effort worth making. Since it's costing me valuable time, this means retiring from my job sooner rather than later, and improving my time spent. A final lesson from a wise man, who valued time spent with those he loved, above everything else.

Here's to you Pop. Thanks for everything. 

Me and my bright ideas. (What a summer it was...part 2)

The main bath in our house has always been an issue. It really needs a complete redo, like down to the bare wall studs and floor joists. The problem is that such a job would leave us without a tub and shower for a time, and I'm just not inclined to deal with that. Plus, I am not equipped to design and build a new bathroom, so we'd have to go down the road with contractors and such. No fun. In any case, the bathroom has been serviceable as it is. After several tries I finally managed to fix all the leaking problems, and have become marginally good at caulking, which is more of an art that skill.

I could paint this. With a roller and gallon of Glidden. 

Sidebar: Anybody can caulk, just like anybody can paint. I can paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, just not like da Vinci. Of course, this is not to say that caulking a tub is like painting the Sistine Chapel, but the comparison fits I think. You can put enough caulk around a tub to make it stop leaking, but some art keeps it from looking like blown in insulation. The same applies to the bathroom, in general. I didn't want to just throw in new fixtures and be done with it. I wanted it to look nice too and was afraid that my skills ( or lack thereof ), didn't match my aspirations.

Then one recent day as I was shaving and becoming annoyed again by the worst sink on the planet, I made my decision. My next decision was even crazier that the first. I decided to march downstairs and announce my plans to Cindy. Before I knew what I was doing I told Cindy that the sink and toilet had to go, and I was replacing them both.

New toilet is in. Annoying sink is gone.

You would think after 30+ years of marriage, I would have learned my lesson by now. Once I announce any plans to Cindy, formal or informal, it's a go. There is no turning back. It's a good thing, in some ways, since I am a bit of a procrastinator, but it's bad in that I haven't always thought  things completely through before announcing them. Then the night sweats start until I can think of an escape route. By that I mean a way to get expert help, or at least some other layman that can say something like "no, turn it to the left!". More on that in an upcoming blog.

It actually started with the toilet. It always had a tendency to clog, and recently seemed like there was some sewer gas leaking out. This meant that there was likely a gap in the wax seal, or some other more serious fault. If you are going to remove the toilet to replace the seal, and the thing doesn't work all that great anyway, you might as well get a new one. Then there's that ridiculous sink. They really spared every expense when they bought it. It was a small, single sink with no room to put anything down. So if you set down your razor or toothbrush, it would invariably slide into the bottom of the sink.

Replacing a toilet is actually pretty easy. There's the wax seal, a couple of bolts that secure it to the floor, then a water hookup. Selecting a toilet is a different matter. I've never really looked at them before and was amazed at the selection. Do we really need this many choices in toilets? Anyway, we ended up with an American Standard toilet that claims you can flush a bucket of golf balls. That should do.

Oops. 

SO toilet installation almost always starts with toilet removal, which is neither pleasant nor easy. All the bolts on the old toilet were rusted. Normally, you remove the tank then remove the bowl, but with the rusted bolts, they were locked in an ugly embrace. The floor bolts were rusted too, but I managed to break them off. Then Cindy and I had the wonderful job of carrying the icky assembly down the stairs and to the curb, without gouging a wall or making a mess. We did it without arguing. Amazing.

Finshed! Halloween decorations by Cindy. 

The new installation was easy. New bracket, seal, and hook up the water. A couple test flushes and no leaks! A rare accomplishment for this very amateur plumber.

Next came the vanity. After MUCH deliberation, we ended up with a 36" vanity with a manufactured marble top. The manufactured marble has an integrated back splash. I loved the real marble but didn't want to deal with gluing the back splash to the wall. Anyhow, the main difficulty was that we needed to "off-center" the vanity to have reasonable clearance from the toilet, which meant there would need to be some creative plumbing.

So other than the offset, the vanity installation was pretty straightforward. The wall and floor were not square, of course, so I attached quarter inch shims to the front of the vanity, then attached it to the wall with two inch wood screws. Then I caulked the top and sides of the back splash and it was done. Miraculously, no leaks once again.

We really love our new bathroom and it turned out to be one of my nicest improvements to date. We still have the old pink tub, but I did fix the enclosure, add a new rainfall shower head and update the faucets so it's not all that bad. It's behind a shower curtain anyway so you really don't even see it.

Well that's it for Part 2. Next blog will continue the summer projects including a problematic half bath update, finally painting a door, and the final work done on our chimney.

What a summer it was...Part 1.

Not that we did anything real exciting, but actual progress was made on several home projects. There was a price to be paid of course, and that price was the loss of a week or more of laying by a pool, eating and drinking too much. It was a fair trade however, because my lovely bride is quite happy with the progress, and our home is looking that much nicer.

Repainted porch. First do over.

There is so much to write about, I'm going to have to this in at least two parts. When I last blogged, I wrote about First Brother-In-Law Randy showing up and creating a whirlwind of brush clean up and grass planting. Little did I know that he set the pace for projects through the summer. First on the list was repainting of the porch floor, the first redo of any projects. The floor had become worn and chipped, especially near the door and on the steps. I hope this is due to the poor condition of it when I first painted, and not a job I'll have to do every three years. I hope this coat lasts longer.

Nifty location of outlet and transformer.
Looking at this reminds me to stow those
wires properly. 

Next was a major project was something I had put off for over a year. As a house "Christmas Present", we purchased outdoor lighting. I was dragging my feet on this one for a couple reasons, first was that I have no outdoor power outlets at the house. Upon reading the instructions, they want you to plug the system into a GFI outlet. When we purchased the house, we had an electrician check every outlet, and bypass the old knob and tube wiring. For reasons that are unclear to me, they also installed a GFI outlet in the basement, I think to compensate for a lack of grounded outlets through the house. Anyway, the first step was to tap into that outlet, and run power outside the house.

This brings us to the other reason why I put off the job.

Back garden lights.

Having a house with masonry construction is both a blessing and a curse. One foot thick concrete walls are definitely a curse when you are looking for was to install things outside the house. I finally decided to drill through the frame of one of the basement windows and install the outlet on the casement. This will prevent the window from opening, but I don't care.

Side house lights

Next I had to install the transformer, a rather large box that converts the power and controls the lights by timer and sensor. After that, it was time to position the lights and run the power cord. Immediately adjacent to the driveway is a concrete walk the abuts the house. Luckily there was a small gap between the house and the walk with just enough room to run the cabling. The first cable runs to the back of the house, lighting the driveway and flower bed out to the little storage area. If we ever fix the other flower bed, I left enough cable to go further.

Front walk lights and spot for flag

The other line ran down the driveway to the front of the house. We purchased these narrow little lights that I managed to install at the seams in the sidewalk, right next to the house. Further down, I dug a trench and installed two more standard lamps along the walk to the street. We also purchased a spotlight to illuminate our flag at night. This will replace the solar powered spotlight that actually worked pretty well, but didn't hold up in the long, dark winter nights.

That's it for now. The next blog will document a moment of insanity, leading to my biggest project ever.

Yard work

Actual green grass on the side lawn. Please don't look too
closely at the "flower bed" at the back corner of the house. 

Believe it or not, I've had some compliments on our yard, specifically the grass. I started fertilizing last year, continued this year and actually have a somewhat green lawn, as opposed to half dead looking weeds. Of course, the near constant rain (and snow) over the last year or so has helped, mainly because I'm too cheap to constantly water the triple lot. Still, considering my usual abject failure with growing things. I'm quite proud of the progress I've made with the lawn.  As an aside, our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree is doing quite well this year too. I've made an effort to keep it watered and added cedar chips around the base to keep the moisture in. The little spruce seems to love them.

Photo shows an arbor terrorist with a mission
and means to complete it.

Actually our land. Potential site for shed. Driveway easement
access to Grand Blvd seen in the back. 

A familiar face in an old red pickup truck showed up at our place on a Saturday back in May, and I haven't been able to get rid of him. When First Brother-In-Law Randy is set on a task, he will see it to it's conclusion, come hell or bad weather. Randy had offered to help me clean up the back of the yard, and haul away the debris. There were old logs, leaves and just plain old garbage along the back of the property adjacent to the spooky old house. Well, like pulling a loose thread on a sweater, one yanked weed led to another, and before we knew it we had literally expanded the property. As we cleaned and raked, it became apparent that we weren't sure where the property line was. Randy, being the real estate expert that he is, did some simple research, and after some measuring, we have determined that my property is even bigger than I thought it was, and the spooky house has less than we thought. Best thing is that what I thought was the neighbors driveway, is actually partially mine, partially city owned, with the rest likely an easement. This means I have driveway access to the back of the property off Grand Boulevard, and a nice level piece of asphalt for a potential storage shed.

Re-seeded park fence line, cleared back property line, and
spooky house in the background.

We continued to work, with Randy doing the lion's share, trimming trees to let in light, pulling weeds and vines, raking leaves, and yanking out stumps with the old pickup. Then Randy brought in two truckloads of topsoil and two bags of grass seed to get some green into the newly liberated property. We also re-seeded the fence line along the park after raking and clearing that side of the yard. Throughout the project, I would get a text from Randy saying he was at the house, or I would glance at the security cameras and see him working. He really worked quite hard with zero prompting from me, and only the occasional glass of lemonade from Cindy. Randy finally loaded up his tools and headed out just yesterday. I doubt very much that he's actually done, although it looks complete to me. I think he'll be back.

The neighbor's compliments are already pouring in, including the owner of the bed and breakfast across the street, also wisely noting that Randy was doing most of the work, as at the time, I was holding a garden hose in one hand, and a Yuengling in the other. Other folks walking by with their dogs, or just out for a stroll have noticed and complimented on the progress. It is a good feeling to rescue an old home from the inside, and from the outside.

Lack of blog posts means a busier life.

Can you spot the missing part?

There's been so much going on, with home repairs, remodeling and everything else, it's almost an overwhelming task to write a blog. It's hard to know where to start. One of the most exciting things was inheriting my parent's grandfather clock. I've always liked old style clocks and watches. Sometime around 1990 my parents purchased a beautiful grandfather clock (Cindy and I were with them when they made the purchase). I always admired the clock and when Dad moved out of the house it was agreed in the family that Cindy and I could have the clock.

So, how do you move a grandfather clock? Very carefully, (HA HA), but it's not as difficult as you might think. I discussed the issue with the very helpful owner at The Clock Shop and he told me what to do. You remove the pendulum (take a picture so you know how it hangs), remove the weights, and "bread tie" the weight cables so they don't come off the rollers, then lay the clock on it's back. First Brother Ed was in town and helped me with the physical moving of the clock. After we placed the clock, it was a matter of leveling it, reinstalling the weights and pendulum, and it worked. Well, sort of. The clock would run perfectly for a time, then randomly stop. I thought at first that the weight cables got messed up somehow in the move, but they hadn't. I then noticed that the three weights had assigned positions, but I had some how miraculously put them in the correct places. I finally realized that the minute hand was getting caught on the hour hand. I knew that dad had trouble with the hand falling off. Turns out that the clock was missing it's hand nut, a teeny little nut that goes on the post that holds the hand in the proper place and alignment.

Well it's working beautifully now in our dining room. The clock has three selectable chimes, as well as chiming the hour. You can hear it throughout the house.

Evidence of actual work being done. 

Work on the sun room has stalled. I got as far as tearing off the old molding before the project came to a halt. We did buy a few color sample for the walls, but the big hold up is the ceiling, which is the next logical step. I can't decide if, and if so, how, I'm going to hang ceiling tiles. The ceiling is prone to peeling paint and would need an oil based primer followed by a latex ceiling paint. However, at least two rooms upstairs are going to need plaster repair or ceiling tiles so I want to learn how to do this. Drop ceilings are out of the question since I hate them, and they are no fun to install. The tiles we like are designed to be glued to the ceiling. That makes me nervous since there is really no going back after you start so any mistake or misgivings will be difficult to recover from. I have worked with furring strips in the past but theses tiles are just not made to work that way. Anyway, at some point I'll make a decision and move forward.

I did manage to fix the leaky pipes for the downstairs half bath. During the extreme cold, the compression fittings on both the hot and cold water blew off in the cold crawl space under the house. So, I went out and bought the tools and fittings needed to replace the entire section with Pex piping, which actually resists freeze damage better than copper pipe since it can expand. I also installed in line drains so in case of extreme cold, I can shut off the water AND drain the pipes. After working with Pex pipe, I found I actually enjoyed plumbing and am now eyeing other repairs and replacements in the basement.

Nice view from our room in Wildwood

For the first time in quite a while, Cindy and got away for a quick vacation. Over Spring Break the weather looked decent so we decided to head to Wildwwod New Jersey.  Unfortunately, I got sick with a stomach virus the night before we left. It was an uncomfortable drive down and for most of our time there, I didn't feel much like eating. Our last full day of the trip, I finally recovered. The next morning, Cindy came down with the same thing, and she was sick all the way home, and for a few days after. Believe it or not, we still had a nice time, It was actually very relaxing.

Well that was a long blog. Still have more to write so the next blog should come soon and will have details on more new "used" furniture, and the fate of our old stuff. I've also been checking off items on the impressive honey-do list.

2

How I won the Daytona 500.

I wandered away from the office on a recent night shift
and snapped this picture. 

One of the not so good side effects of having a job in meteorology, is the hours. The weather waits for no man (or woman) and like donuts, people want a fresh batch when they wake up. This means that there are night shifts in which we prepare forecasts for the following day. I have in fact muttered "time to make the donuts" as I stumble out of the house on my way to the graveyard shift at the NWS.

I've been doing this for 30+ years on a rotating basis and I'll tell you there's no good way to work nights and try to get a reasonable amount of sleep. Everyone seems to handle it differently. I'm exhausted by the time I get home, around 730 am and normally just collapse in bed. Some manage to stay up for a good part of the morning, falling asleep in the afternoon, not waking until it's time again for work. That method is not real good for family life, but may result in better sleep. For me, I've noticed that it has become more difficult to sleep during the day as I get older, and I often wake up between 11 am and noon, giving me only a few hours of sleep. This in turn leads me to take an evening nap before returning to work at 10 pm. This leads me to winning the Daytona 500.

Alas, my name does not appear here. 

Sleep deprivation and odd hours can result in strange behavior. In my case, I occasionally have episodes where I awake with a start, completely disoriented. I need a complete reboot in these instances, since I do not know the day, time, or sometimes even where I am at. It can be unsettling. Another effect can be strange and vivid dreams, which I can often recall after waking. This is how I wan the Daytona 500. I recently had a vivid dream in which I was asked to drive for one of the Earnhardt's, which one, senior of junior, I do not know. I was asked to step in mid race as the driver became ill, and through a series of crashes and dumb luck, I managed to win the race. I woke during the dream, thought about it, fell asleep and the dream continued. I was receiving accolades in person and on social media when my alarm awoke me. It was time to head into work. The dream was so realistic, I was still somewhat disoriented for the first few minutes of the drive to work (why am I in this SUV and not in a Stock Car?).

The dream itself is a mystery to me. I am not a NASCAR fan, haven't watched the race in years, and don't even know who the current champion is. Why would my brain create such an elaborate fantasy for me is really strange, I had no idea I even had the base information to create such a story. Still, I enjoyed it and appreciate the effort.

On the home front, my "solution" for the pipes in the half bath was a bust, literally. In the epic cold spell, the pipes froze once again. I will have to pull out the insulation and get to the pipes and repair the damage. The plan now is to install drains so I can turn off and drain the pipes in the coldest weather to avoid further damage. That's going to have to wait until warmer weather so until then, the half bath is out of service.

Holidays, The Shutdown, and The Wheel of Time

I tend to write a blog when I have house news to share, or when I am inspired by something. This blog will lean toward the latter, although there is some house news to share as well. I look back and see that my last entry is from November, the longest gap since I started this blog in 2015. The two main reasons for the gap were that I was busy through the holiday (not on house stuff), and I was feeling rather uninspired. Not sure why this mini writers block hit me, but the beauty of it is that it was easy to walk away for a while as I am pretty certain that not many have noticed that my blog was missing.

Our beautiful home on Christmas Day.

The holidays were great. Nice and quiet, for the most part. I worked on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years. The weather stops for no man (or woman). Working during holidays is old hat for me, and I don't mind it all too much. Cindy and I can flex our celebrations to fit my schedule since it's just the two of us. Most of our families traveled for the holiday, but we did get out to do some visits, drop of treats and down a quick shot of Stoli (smidgens as Cindy calls them). The weather was mild in the second half of December, after a cold and snowy end to fall. Then, the shutdown hit.

Many of my NWS co-workers changed their
Facebook profile photo to a pawn. 

I am determined not to let politics seep into my blog. It would serve no purpose for me to try to convince you of whatever opinion I may have, not that I could, and it may just anger or displease you. In any case, this or any shutdown uses the American people, and Federal employees, as pawns in the game of politics. This hurts them in many ways, not the least of which is stress. For Federal employees, going the month after the holidays with no paycheck to settle bills is not at all pleasant. Many new or lower level employees do indeed live paycheck to paycheck, despite what government officials may say, and I felt truly bad for them. Making matters worse, here at the NWS and many other agencies, we are "excepted" employees meaning we are required to work, despite not being paid. So, in addition to everyday expenses, many in the NWS have the expense of working, like daycare and even fuel. There has been bi-partisan efforts to end shutdowns once and for all, forcing Congress and the President to do their jobs. I support this legislation.

The cover of the first book in The
Wheel of Time. Warning: you will
get hooked. 

The shutdown got me thinking about an incredible book anthology that I read many years ago called The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.  This epic fantasy series spanned 14 volumes and thousands and thousands of pages. It took 30 years to write and had to be completed by a second author after Mr. Jordan died. Fortunately, Jordan had left detailed notes revealing the ending of the story so we were all not left hanging. The series is very complex, with entire volumes devoted to only a few of the many characters. One of those characters was Thom, a Gleeman that travels with the group that, of course, turns out to be more than he seems, royalty in fact. In any case, Thom is an expert in The Game of Houses, which, at it's basic level, is a game of deception and one-upmanship by the rich that can result in everything from petty crime, to adultery, to murder. The working class is unaware of the games being played, and the effect of the game in their daily life. This is what brings me back to our government and the shutdown, and how we are controlled by the high power games that are being played by the elite in Washington. Truly a Game of Houses, but in this case we are painfully aware of the price.

Oh yeah, the house! Well, I finished the downstairs half bath, for the most part. I put down new molding along the floor that came out really nice. I opened up the access to the plumbing and wrapped the pipes in insulation, and insulated the wall with pink fiberglass, That should prevent the pipes from freezing again, but in the very coldest weather I will still shut off the water just in case. We still need to pick out a new towel rack, and more importantly a mirror to replace the old medicine cabinet, but that stuff is pretty straightforward.

Our living room crown molding. Can I do it?

We have decided to move into the sun room as our next project. We just keep some plants in their now but we eventually would like to use the room as a breakfast nook/bar. First job, as usual, will be to repair the ceiling. The plaster is in good shape, but the paint is peeling so it will need to be scrapped, primed, and repainted. After that, we will need to pick a new color *shudders* and paint the walls. Then, I plan to use the same rather complex crown molding for the room, that we used on the rest of the house. This will test my abilities as an amateur carpenter and budding complex miter saw operator.