Painting the porch and small engine maintenance

Wild Mustang. The new paint is the lighter color. 

One of the last things to do to the porch was to paint the floor. Once again we struggled with the color and purchased three different samples before settling on our color, called Wild Mustang. Then it was a matter of scraping  and prep work. First, we had to remove all the furniture and clean the picture window and screen door. That was followed by a scrubbing of the walls and floor and complete wash down. All this left the floor of the porch quite wet and naturally it took a good day for it to dry out enough for painting. Before painting I scraped the loose paint off, mainly near the front where it got more sun and rain. As I started, the trim work was tedious and took the most time but rolling the rest of the porch was quite easy, and pleasant since you can pretty much stand there and apply the paint, rather than bending over, or stretching to reach a high point. It really looked good after one coat but decided for durability I decided to do a second. The wood was so dried out the first coat took most of a gallon, so I was off to Home Depot for a second. It was worth it and the porch looks great. I have a few other minor jobs left but the porch is finally done!

Cushion malfunction. This was AFTER I cleaned up.

After a successful and uneventful porch painting, things got a bit sillier and stupid, at least on my part. First, the cushion covers for the porch furniture needed to be washed. So, we needed to unzip the covers and remove the padding. Cindy unzipped one and found that the paper covering the interior padding had deteriorated. So, rather than making a mess in the basement, we decided to remove the cushions outdoors. That was fine, until a rogue wind gust came up and blew my little pile of papers all over the driveway, and neighbor's yard. So, I ended up bending over picking lots of little pieces of paper, all over the place.

It's mocking me. 

Next comedy session came as I decided to try and start my snowblower. I had started it once last October after bringing it over from our old house, but then it sat all winter and summer without running. I couldn't remember if I had stored it properly, which I do by mainly just adding fuel stabilizer. I think the problem began as I was concerned that it would not start and it became a self fulfilling prophesy. I got the keys, unlocked the chain, and pushed the machine to the front of the garage, and checked the fuel. I primed it, set the choke and throttle, and pulled the start cord. Nothing. Not a surprise. Pulled again. Nothing. Ok, not a big surprise, it sat there for quite some time. I went and got the cord, and plugged in the electric start and pushed the start button. It cranked and cranked. Nothing. Ok, now I'm concerned. It has always started. After several more unsuccessful attempts, I got my tools. I pulled the spark plug. It looked fine and there was fuel in the carburetor. I put it all back together, tightened everything down and tried again. Nothing. This went on for some time, with me giving the little electric motor a chance to cool off, but just cranking and cranking it, mainly because my limited knowledge of engines prohibited me from doing anything else. Well, I was making enough noise that one of my neighbors, a retired mechanic and small engine expert arrived to find out "who was cranking the hell out of some small engine". He offered to help and asked me to pull the plug then checked to see if it was getting any spark. I did and it wasn't. He said, well it could be the magneto, or as he looked at the engine, that you didn't put the key in. DOH! The solution, as he sagely nodded with a small smile, "was in your pocket the entire time". Oof. I truly am a moron. I really wonder how long I would have cranked that thing without noticing that I hadn't put in the key. Realizing he was working with a complete idiot, he gave the poor snowblower a quick inspection and offered some other tips, including some gear oil for the driveshaft. I actually knew the tires needed air but don't have a pump so he offered help with both so I pushed it three houses down to his garage and he took care of it for me. He recommended that I fix some of the surface rust inside the machine to keep the snow from sticking. He also suggested adjusting the little skid plates on the front of the cowling to protect the bottom of the machine from wear. I did both the rust and adjustment after I got it home and I should be good to go for the winter, assuming it snows.

Which brings up my last blog. I promised a winter prediction, among other things this time around. Well, this blog has gone on too long so you're going to have to wait for that, along with the fascinating story of firewood and leaky plumbing. I bet you can't wait!

Stone, plumbing, and Arizona

I had every intention to write at least one more blog in September, and thought my life was going to get more simple, but it was just the opposite. The good news is that all the things that complicated my life were good things, well, except for the plumbing.

Randy, in the alley with his pavers. Sounds like a
murder accusation from the board game Clue. 

To start off, first brother in law and #1 realtor Randy showed up with some large slate pavers and helped me make the dirt "alley" between the pantry and the sun room more useful. To explain, the back porch of the house was enclosed and a bathroom installed at some time many years in the past. This left a 4 1/2' wide dirt floored leaf collector between it and the sun room. It's covered by large overhangs from both the second floor to the north and the pantry to the south so it is bone dry and shaded such that no grass or even weeds grow. We wanted to use for storage, at least, but were still working on how we would like to cover the dirt. Then Randy stepped up to the plate with enormous slate pavers he had salvaged from an old house years ago. The stone almost fit perfectly side by side. but did not. We ended putting them sideways leaving about an 8 inch gap which I need to somehow fix. Still, the space is immediately usable allowing me to store both grills, recycling bins and garbage can. Very nice.

Ugly pale pink tub with caulk removed at seam with wall.

Plumbing continues to be an issue. For some reason, when I shower, occasionally water leaks into the kitchen below. It never happens when Cindy showers. The joke is that when I step into the tub the flooring is crying from strain of holding the extra weight, but seriously folks, take my wife, please! But really, a viable theory is that the extra weight is causing a separation in the caulking so I removed and re-caulked the tub, which didn't help. I then got a plastic, pre-caulked seal that presses into place along the seam of the tub and the showers surround. That didn't work. SO, next step will simply be to caulk everything like crazy (it worked before), and perhaps lose some weight (HA HA!).

Stuck knob removal tool. You can also see the plastic seal in
place around the tub. 

Another on going issue has been the leaky faucets. All three tub controls (hot, cold, and shower control) leaked water around the handle when turned on. I've been delaying the repair since they don't drip when off but it is a waster of water, and there's the off chance that the leaky faucet is partially responsible for the leak into the kitchen, so I forged ahead, First thing was that the knobs would not come off, I'm guessing that the faucets have not been touched since the Truman administration and despite pulling and even banging with a hammer, they didn't budge. So, off to the trusty hardware store for a specialty tool that removes stuck faucet handles, which worked perfectly. After that, the stems came out rather easily and I was back to the hardware store for advice on gaskets and repacking the seals. That seemed to work and there has not been a leak around the handles or in the kitchen since so fingers are crossed.

The only picture I took in Phoenix., captured while waiting
to enter Fort Knox aka WFO Phoenix. 

A a part of my job I am a member of the IMET program (Incident Meteorologist) and I occasionally get sent to fires, usually out west. I got the call a couple weeks ago to go to Arizona and a fire near Payson in the Tonto National Forest. The flight out was miserable despite getting an "economy plus" seat for my $1000 one way ticket. Then, at the airport in Phoenix, things got worse. It took them almost an hour to get our bags off the plane (I don't travel light, with camping equipment and enough clothes for a 2 week dispatch), followed by a 2 hour wait at the Budget rental car counter. Then, I was off to the Phoenix weather office to pick up my weather and computer equipment that I had overnight shipped. Well, due to an office move, there was confusion as to the shipping address and my equipment had not arrived.  At this point I just threw my hands in the air and headed out on the 2 hour drive to the fire.

Fire camp. Note the complete lack of smoke.

If you've ever driven out west you know how rapidly things can change. The area around Phoenix is desert with the huge Saguaro cactus. As I headed north, the cactus finally petered out and gradually various species of pine appeared. By the time I reached Payson and the area of the fire, it was heavily forested and much different from the desert further south. Unfortunately, when I reached fire camp, things were winding down, and with rain forecast for the week, they decided they wouldn't need me. So, after only a few days, I was wedged into another cattle car...err...airplane and shipped back home. Despite the short time the trip was great experience and I got to see another part of this amazing country of ours. I am very lucky to be a part of one of the premier programs in the NWS

Selfie after just a few days in
camp. You should see me
after two weeks. 

On the next blog...we've finally picked a color for the porch floor but will the weather cooperate?, chimney inspection, firewood delivery, and probably more about that damn leaky tub. Oh, and maybe a winter weather prediction. Warm? Cold? Snowy? Your guess is NOT as good as mine. ;) 

Montana and home

Red Lodge, Montana

Me, at the pass.

At the end of my last blog, I mentioned that we would be heading to Montana for a wedding. Well we did and it was a wonderful trip and great experience. We were flying from small airport to small airport so there were three hops, but the flight to Billings was uneventful. When we landed, it was over a hundred degrees, but the temperatures were to change significantly, as they tend to do in the mountains. We stayed in Red Lodge, a nice little town at the foot of the Beartooth Mountains.  We spent a couple days exploring the town and the area before the Sunday wedding. On our first full day, we drove up to the pass on the Beartooth Highway and continued on to the northeast gate of Yellowstone park. It was only in the 50s at the pass, elevation near 11,000' but since I'm pretty much fed up with the heat
I thought it felt great, even with the wind. Cindy of course was freezing, but she did come prepared with a sweatshirt.

A moose visits the wedding

Unfortunately the weather slowly went downhill over the weekend with the day of the wedding, Sunday, being downright miserable. Even in town it was in the 40s with a steady rain. Snow was expected up in the mountains. Still, the wedding and reception were beautiful, with tents set up and heaters deployed. Plus, the beautiful mountain home they rented provided heat and shelter for those who needed it. One uninvited but welcome guest was a moose that wandered down the road near the reception. He created quite a stir and luckily was in a good mood. Despite all, Lea and Darren make a lovely couple and provided an opportunity for everyone to get together and visit a beautiful corner of the country.

Repaired and painted basement window. Please
ignore the over slop on the window.

A before picture of one of the windows.

Work on the home has been slow with all the traveling. I did manage to begin repairing and painting some of the aged and peeling window frames and sills, especially along the south side of the house where the sun has really beat up the old paint. I've been most worried about those south facing frames as I did not want them to go through another winter is such bad shape, The repairs include lots of scraping and brushing followed by liberal amounts of wood filler. So far, I haven't found any damage that requires replacement of the wood. A stumbling block is the second floor window, which is too high for my extension ladder. I'll need to beg, borrow, or steal something bigger to get that job done.

We had a nice gathering of the family a couple nights ago, the first real party we've had at the house. It was nice to get out the outside chairs and tables, and cook spiedies from Sharkey's for the group. It was a pleasantly cool evening as we sat outside (at least for me) with a touch of fall in the air. Reminds me that my time for outdoor work is coming to an end, and that indoor projects will dominate my time, and there are plenty of them. Just ask Cindy. ;)

We're going to need a bigger backhoe...

It started so innocently, with a tiny backhoe

Uh oh. Words you never want to hear. Luckily, it wasn't on my dime. It all started last year (read this blog) when our sewer backed up. Read the details if you like but what is germane to this blog is that I was advised to call the city and tell them to check the main sewer in the street. They came, and did, but I never heard anything from them. Suddenly this summer, I see the water, sewer and gas lines marked on the street in front of the house. Every now and then I would see a city worker but none ever seemed to know what was going on. Well one day I saw a contractor out there and he informed me that they were replacing my sewer line, Later that day, a small backhoe and a few traffic cones arrived. They assured me it was a quick job and that they would be done in a couple hours. Well, the next day tiny backhoe made short work of he job, but the problem wasn't in my line, Mr.Rooter was right, it was indeed the main. Time to call in the big guns.

This shit just got serious.

Arriving later that day was a monster shovel and a medium front end loader/backhoe combination. As they excavated the line they found nothing. No sewage, just an empty line. Uh oh. After removing a section of the main they found the problem. A massive root plug. With some help from the backhoe, they attached a chain pulled out the root plug. Great, except that one of the poor workers was still down in the hole and hundreds of gallons of backed up sewage roared out of the line. He scrambled up the ladder just in time. I'm not sure what they pay him, but I AM sure it's not enough. In any event, after the sewage wave subsided they patched the line and filled up the hole. Ironically, the plug was upstream from us so we wouldn't have had a problem, but very soon many of our neighbors would have a rather messy problem in their basement. When they found this out, complaints about the noise, dust, and dug up street ended.

Dad awaits lunch and a cold Yuengling. Not in that order.

In other news, we have been traveling a bit since I'm off work, (as is Cindy) and we decided to head to the Jersey shore with my dad. Specifically we went to Wildwood Crest, but dad and I spent most afternoons down in Cape May at The Lobster House, specifically The Schooner American enjoying lunch, cold beer, and a parade of yachts, fishing boats and personal watercraft. I cannot recommend a better place to have lunch and unwind. Up next, Montana and a wedding in the mountains.

Screen door

Crack team of installers.

Work and social/family commitments have slowed progress on house projects this month but we did manage to find a morning to install our screen door in the front. It was clear from the door frame that a screen door of some type had been there before, probably and old fashioned type with a wooden frame. It might have been nice to restore the old door had it still been there, but only the old hinges remained. Anyway, like just about any project, there were obstacles to overcome. First, was the size of the door frame. Apparently, standard door frame size is either 32 or 36 inches by 80 inches. One thing I have learned is that our house is anything but standard and the door frame at our house is a lovely 34 and 5/8 inches. Of course, places will sell you a door of any size, custom made if need be, you just have to pay a considerable up charge for the privilege. However, I found one place that would sell a 34 inch width door at the price of a standard door, and that would be Home Depot. Now, sharp eyed readers will note that I mentioned the width of the door was 34 and 5/8 inches. The "standard" 34 inch door will accommodate a door frame opening up to 34 and 3/8 inches. DOH!

The finished job. Well...almost. 

Stepping up to the plate was Uncle Ed and his Yankee workshop in Apalachin. He had a piece of oak that he perfectly milled to 80 x 1 x 1/2 inches that filled the gap. He brought that oak furring strip pre-drilled and ready to mount. After that, it was a fairly simple job to mount the door in the frame and add the hardware.

The height of the door was about 81 inches, which was really perfect since I needed to add a threshold anyway. I ended up choosing an aluminum threshold and used a hacksaw to size it to the door frame. I then adjusted the rubber brush on the bottom of the door to close the gap.

The door is really nice and more practical that an old fashioned wooded screen door. The biggest advantage is the roll down screen that eliminates the need to store the screen for the winter. As you slide the upper glass down, the screen rolls down from the top. This will be convenient in the shoulder seasons when you want to get some air in the house on unseasonably warm days, or let the sun in but not the cold. I had wanted the door with a kick panel on the bottom but Cindy preferred the full glass door and, well, you can see who won the argument.

The Woods Inn. The weather was better than
 the picture shows,.

Natasha and Katia, our resident cats, also prefer the full glass model as they can lay on the rug, basking in the sun and see out the door. The kick panel would have blocked their view.

I mentioned commitments and I should mention that we had a great time over the weekend at the wedding of the son of our friends Joe and Angela. The ceremony took place in Old Forge NY at the The Woods Inn. The inn was a classic turn of the century hotel on a beautiful lake in the Adirondacks. We had quite an adventure the morning of the wedding when the hotel where we and much of the wedding guests and party were staying lost water. I was willing to go ahead and throw on my clothes and "forge" ahead (this is the mountains for crying out loud) but Cindy calmly and patiently explained (kidding - ha ha) how she needed a shower before the wedding. She actually considered jumping into the lake at one point but just in the nick of time the water came back on and we literally walked in for the "I do's" of the ceremony. Most importantly, we were there, well showered, for the reception.

My  spooky, deluxe suite.

A work commitment was our annual weather support for the NASCAR race at Watkins Glen. I spent two days sitting in the Emergency Operations Center waiting to give weather support for fire and law enforcement should things go bad. Luckily things stayed quiet through the race. Of interest however, is the the New York State Fire Academy where support personnel stay during the event. There may not be a spookier place to sleep anywhere and while nothing went bump in the night, walking around the place is unnerving. The faux marble floor hallways echo your footstep in the 5 story brick edifice. At the end of some of the halls are memorials to dead firefighters and rescued children including silent statues. Past students and officers stare at you from framed black and white pictures. If a couple of red haired little girls in pink dresses ever stepped out from around a corner I'd be out of there faster than a lightning bolt.

Lawnmowers are for short people

My el cheapo lawnmower.

I'm around 6'3", almost 6'4". Not a giant, but taller than most. I would imagine most people would see that being taller is an advantage, and it is usually, but not always. I'm not tall enough to worry about hitting my head on things (usually) and our new home has nice high ceilings, although there is that low part on the stairs (ouch!). Still, there are times that being tall is a real pain, and one of those times is when I'm forced to use "standard" sized equipment. What I mean is that most things can be fitted for size. Clothes, hats, car seats can all be purchased or adjusted to fit. Other things, like tables, chairs, and lawnmowers are pretty much used as is. Cindy and I bake bread (perhaps a future blog) and the job of kneading falls on me. I enjoy it, other than my back aches by the time I'm done because our kitchen table is too low and I have to bend over to work.  Other "too short" facilities and tools for tall people include most sinks, water fountains (I still use them, do you?), snow shovels, and, most importantly, airplane seats.

The north "forty" after a back breaker.

My silly cheap lawn mower is too short for me. I actually love the thing. I bought it for around $150 at Lowes ages ago and it just goes. I've never sharpened the blades, tuned it up, or even changed the oil. I have cleaned and replaced the air filter a couple times, and I check to be sure it HAS oil. Other than that I prime it three times and pull the cord once and off I go. Problem is, it is too short. As I walk back and forth for an hour or so, I'm bent over to reach the handle. My poor back aches. I have to stop a few times to stretch out and walk around to release the knot in my back. I have looked at push mowers double or triple the cost and they do not seem to be any better. If I do end up buying a riding mower, it will mostly be because my back cannot take it any longer.

A definite improvement.

We got a nice gift from Karen and Randy (Realtors Extraordinaire and Best Sister and Brother). Randy surreptitiously measured our fireplace and custom cut some birch logs for us. He carefully washed and dried them to Cindy's standard and approval. They fit perfectly look beautiful.

Of course, right after I wrote my last blog we got a real soaker and and the grass grew like crazy (prompting this post). While there was some relief, the drought continues and the forecast for the next week or so is more dry weather.

In other home improvement news, the ordered screen door has arrived and sits in the garage, hopefully installment will be this week. I installed a dimmer switch for our porch lights so we could sit out there and have them on without feeling like we are on a stage. The dimmer also allows us to have low level welcoming/security lighting for the front of our home. Otherwise progress on projects will be slow for the rest of the month. I'm currently on a 13 day work stretch and we have two weddings and a short vacation at the shore before the end of the month. All that fun and relaxing will be exhausting.

Dry, Drier, Driest

The golden brown over western NY
Indicates a "Severe Drought"

I've been forecaster for central New York for almost 30 years and like fashion, I've seen the weather go in cycles. We'll have periods of wet, dry, cold, warm, snowy, and snowless that will last years, sometimes nearly a decade. The 90's were warm and dry in the summer, but produced some record snow for the winters. The 2000's turned wet, with record breaking floods and billions in damage, but the winters were rather snowless. Of course, there are shorter term periods within these that bucked the trend, but in general there seems to be a cycle of sorts. This year, we are having a very dry summer, in fact a drought, and farmers and owners of shallow wells are very concerned. Some local municipalities are issuing stern warnings about the water supply. The City of Binghamton, which gets it's water from the Susquehanna river, has stated they have no current problems. Who knows, perhaps we are entering a period of warm, dry summers and snowy winters.

The question I always get asked, is if the dry weather is related to climate change. Well, no. Climate change (which I will not get into on this blog) is a large "background' decades long trend upon which our short tern weather is painted. In other words, warm, dry, cold, wet are all short term, normal weather variations that have been, and will continue to be, going on for millions of years despite whatever background temperature change is.

Tree down up at the corner of Park & Grand

Locally, the dry weather has affected my work around the house. I gave up cutting the grass the other day because I could not tell where I had cut, and where I had not. The grass has pretty much gone dormant, and even the weeds have slowed down. I've also given up watering the grass after noting that it was not helping, and also noting that I had doubled my water bill. Yikes! Of course, there has been some rain. A recent storm brought down trees and caused a blackout on the street, but not for us. Our next door neighbor lost power for 3 1/2 hours as did most of the street, but we didn't. Weird thing is our service lines come from the same pole.

The heat caused us to purchased a window air conditioner for the bedroom. I had hoped that the solid masonry construction of the home, along with the ceiling fan, would get us through the hottest weather, but it was just too warm at night, We now are slumbering in a cool albeit noisy cave each night. It's amazing how much noisier air conditioners are once you get them home and it's 3 AM. Thing was as quiet as a church mouse in Sam's Club.

Branches ready for pickup. Note the pitiful excuse
of a "lawn" in the foreground.

Back at work on the graveyard shift this past week severely limited my repairs and improvements. I did manage to trim some more trees along the fence line by the park. Again I did this with my hand saw as my purchase of a chain saw has been stymied by indecision. It was exhausting work in the heat and barring emergencies, I think I'm done trimming for the year, or until I get a chain saw.

Sloppy yet effective repair of Katia's destruction. 

Katia, our rambunctious cat/dog who follows us around the house on all projects and tasks decided to climb the dryer vent which I had carefully cleaned and pieced back together. I used some duct tape to temporarily hold it in place but the heat of the vent actually makes this a poor choice. I should get some aluminum tape soon and do a proper repair job and permanently cat proof the vent.

This week, screen door arrives and we figure out how to get it to work in an irregular size opening. I see head scratching, swear words, and Yuengling in my future.