Yard work and closed lows

Two closed lows meander over the U.S., one over New
York and New England 

I mentioned in my last blog that my immediate agenda included yard work and my old mower. Indeed it did, despite the weather, and the old mower again became a reluctant work partner. First of all, the weather. Yard work is, of course, dependent on the weather, and in no place is this more true than upstate New York. Spring here is often a bitter disappointment. After a long and hard winter, even snow lovers like me really look forward to a warm and sunny spring day. While we are "flooded" with traditional spring images of sunshine and flowers, spring here in the middle latitudes often offers a different, much harsher reality. Spring is the time of year for closed, or cut off lows. "What is that?" you say. Glad you asked. In the spring, we still have big differences in the cold to the north and the increasing warmth in the south. This develops large and strong low pressure storm systems, just like in winter. The difference is that in the spring, the jet stream that moves lows and highs, has begun to retreat to the north, leaving these big lows cut off from the flow, and meandering aimlessly. If you happen to be in an area where there is no low, you may have days of warm sunny weather, but if you happen to live in an area under one of these cut off lows, you will be in for days of clouds, rain, and cool air as the low moves slowly, or even circles about. Often, upstate New York seems to be in the perfect place for lousy weather, as it was (is) for much of the first part of May.

Friday deluge. Green is bad. Yellow,
really bad.  Red? Oof. 

So, being a professional meteorologist, I knew this was coming and decided that on Thursday of last week I needed to get the lawns done before this low moved in and established residency. Now I had already cut the lawn at home once and was pleasantly surprised with the old mower and how quickly it had started. It ran pretty nicely as well. The Sea Foam additive had done it's job. I expected little trouble when I went to cut the grass on the last sunny day before the deluge. Ha Ha. One solid hour of priming, pleading, and pulling and that damn mower wouldn't start. I removed the spark plug, the most common cause of non starting small engines, and to my untrained eye, it looked quite fouled. I carefully cleaned and reinstalled it. No luck. I was out of time. I had to still drive to the in laws and cut the grass there. So, I put the mower away and gave up. Friday, as predicted, the rain came. In buckets.  Saturday, a brief break arrived and I headed out. I pulled the plug again and ran to the hardware store for a replacement. I popped the new plug in the mower and it fired immediately. My guess is that in doing it's job, the Sea Foam additive did indeed dissolve the years of gunk in the carburetor that got into the combustion chamber and in turn fouled the plug. In any case I had to wait to cut the grass until the puddles in the lawn mostly disappeared before I did a fast and furious job on the lawn ahead of the next round of rain. I finished the entire thing in about an hour, a new record.

One of the bigger trees I cut down. Note that the gloves are
not near the chainsaw. 

Before the rain on Wednesday, I got out my el cheapo Harbor Freight chain saw and attacked some more of the low hanging branches and dead trees in the side yard. Overall, I'm pleased with the performance of the saw. It had plenty of power and was light and easy to handle. On the down side, the double safety switch was hard to squeeze and keep in the "on" position with heavy gloves on. I ended up taking my gloves off and it was easier to keep the saw going at all angles. I cut up some old wood I had laying around to fireplace size, and took down some new dead and live branches and trees that just needed to go away. A big improvement to the general look to the trees and lawn, and it made it much easier to mow.

Lowe"s wants $89 for this 3 foot high
"Fat Albert" spruce.Yikes!

We want to do some plantings in the near future and have started to look at some options at the local home stores. I'm somewhat apprehensive since the growing and nurturing gene seems to have skipped me and despite the green thumbs of my parents and brother, pretty much everything I plant dies. In any case, we haven't made any firm decisions, but are looking to plant a spruce somewhere near the middle of the side yard. I'm surprised at how difficult it is to find a spruce to transplant, and how expensive they are if you do manage to find one. I need to find a friend with some acreage and some wild spruce so that I can dig one up and plant it in my yard.

Little if anything has been done on the home repair and improvement front. I'm becoming more convinced that I have fixed the tub leak and will soon begin the repair the kitchen ceiling (triggering a new leak no doubt). This may trigger some more work in the kitchen very soon, including the oven hood/microwave combo installation and wall repair and painting.

Miscellaneous...Part 3

We did find a new comforter and
blanket for the master, which
Katia and Natasha really
appreciated. 

I know, not exactly the most intriguing or clever title, but this blog will really be all over the place. It's been over a month since my last blog and a lot has happened, just nothing that would be a real headline grabber. It's kind of amazing how busy you can be but still not really be able to check off a major accomplishment. I guess in that spirit I'll start on the latest with the house. The best news is that I feel pretty confident that I have tracked down the last of the tub leaks that have damaged our kitchen ceiling. Even though any major kitchen renovation is well down the list and out in the future, I will take time now to repair the plaster and repaint the kitchen ceiling, hopefully for the last time. I worked in the downstairs bathroom as well, repairing the missing tiles and fixing the molding near the floor. I'm looking at a more permanent repair to the walls, perhaps replacing the tiles with something newer, cleaner, and more appealing. The room also needs paint on the ceiling, and a coat of something above the tiles but below the ceiling. The guest room project has stalled, mainly for a lack of time. I mentioned last month, the major repair/construction is completed, we've just stalled on selecting things like curtains and a comforter. I did a major cleanup of the windows and sills including climbing out on the porch roof to get the outside of the old windows.

We had the boardwalk to ourselves. I love the off season. 

It was a bit chilly on the balcony. I surprised Cindy with some
hot chocolate.

Our big, late winter snowstorm ended up messing up our spring break vacation. The Union - Endicott School District used up all their snow days and had to shave a day of spring break. I had already been approved for leave that week so our plans for traveling south became limited by time. In the end, we saved some money and "only" went to south New Jersey and stayed in Wildwood. If you haven't been there, you should know that Wildwood is kind of the quintessential New Jersey beach town with a long boardwalk, numerous amusements, and endless t-shirt shops. While that may not sound all that appealing, especially for a couple in their 50s, it does have a certain charm and it is just 5 minutes from Cape May, a scenic wonder with beautiful Victorian architecture, excellent restaurants, and a feeling that you are much further from home than you actually are. Interesting as well is that the beach in Wildwood is unique. First of all it is free, which is unusual for New Jersey. Also, it is growing!They actually have so much sand they were working on a project to remove some and send it on up the line. Amazing when you consider that most beach towns are struggling to save their beach while the Wildwoods are trying to figure out what to do with all that sand!

Our new couch. I'm watching the cats carefully.

Back on the home front, we finally had our new couch delivered. We had ordered it back in the fall and they told us it would be a few months before it arrived. Well, it arrived in a few weeks and we just weren't ready for it. We were getting increasingly desperate phone calls from the salesman that sold us the couch wondering when we were going to pick it up. The problem was that I wanted to donate our 20 some year old couch to a friend in need and we had to get that done before the new one could be delivered. Easier said than done. First, it was HUGE, and knew they struggled to get it in the house, and we would struggle to get it out. Also, upstate New York winter weather is not conducive to uncovered couch delivery. Finally I got a helping hand and pickup truck from a brother firefighter at Prospect Terrace. A break in the weather arrived and we got it done. Then, Olum's arrived later that some day and I watched their THREE delivery men struggle with a smaller couch. Even the professionals realized what a tight fit that front door is.

Final accomplishment of note (by me) was the cleaning of the garage. I also donated an old window air conditioner which freed up some space in the garage. This allowed be to better stow the snow blower for the season, but not before repairing the electric starter (YAY!). Turned out it was just loose and not engaging the fly wheel properly. I was afraid I had burned it out cranking on it when I stupidly forgot to put the key in. Anyway, I got all the old leaves out of the garage, swept up, stowed the snow tires for the Charger, and pulled out old storm windows and a rug that will go in the trash. My garage is not longer an embarrassment to the neighborhood. Cindy continues to work on the less glamorous but no less important jobs of daily maintenance, cleaning, and the unending task of switching our clothes and home for the different seasons.

In the immediate future is yard work, including getting the chain saw out, chopping roots, and seeing if I can coax another season out of that old mower.

And then it snowed...

This photo of my walk and a buried car kind of  went viral
after I tweeted it. Like Jerry Lewis, it was popular in
 France, for unknown reasons.

March is traditionally a fickle month in most places, and upstate New York is no exception. In fact, the fickle weather around here often extends into April, and at least once we've had over 20 inches of snow in April. But anyway, back to March, specifically this March, which lived up to it's reputation. The month started off warm; we were in the 60s on March 1, but then the roller coaster began with lows near zero bracketed with highs in the 50s. On the 14th, the big snowstorm came. Big, even by New York standards. The snow began falling around 4 in the morning, then fell heavily for most of the day, ending with 31 inches, and all time record for Binghamton in a 24 hour period. A few more inches fell the next day leading to a storm total of nearly 3 feet. Unfortunately, the timing of this was during my graveyard shifts and that led to some interesting climbs up to Mt Ettrick and the Binghamton Regional Airport where our office is located. Also, it cut into my daytime sleeping as the struggle to maintain an open driveway and sidewalks were a non stop effort.

 "Troy" and I taking a much deserved break. 

My trusty snow blower was up to the task thankfully, or I would still be digging. The electric start malfunctioned, may be a solenoid but just two pulls and it fired right up. It has a 24 inch "bite" and normally that's more than enough but with 3 feet of snow. I had to keep backing off as snow fell over the top of the machine and into the motor. It took them 2 days to plow our street, and Binghamton schools were closed for three days leading to the firing of the Public Works commissioner and his deputy. That seems a bit harsh, since it was a record event but I guess someone had to pay for the road conditions and the mayor certainly isn't going to fire himself so,,,

All in all it was a great snowstorm, very pretty and frankly needed. This will give us a nice cool and wet start to Spring, as opposed to a warm and dry start that can lead to wildfires and water shortages down the road. It is probably is not enough to cause any real flooding concerns, unless we get heavy rain. So far, we've had perfect melting weather, melting some during the day, and freezing everything up at night. Ski resorts and skiers got a nice late season bonus too.

On the home improvement front, the guest room is pretty much done. We selected and I installed a ceiling fan. I was happy to find a solid attic floor joist exactly where I wanted to hang the fan and am confident the fan will never fall. Interestingly enough, the fan blades are no longer attached by machine screws and washers, but snap into place on posts with rubber grommets in the fan blade. I'm a bit apprehensive but the Hunter Fan Company must know what they are doing, right? Now it's time to turn the room over to Cindy so she can work her magic cleaning and decorating. We need to pick out some "window treatments" too so any guests we have can have a little privacy. By the way, it's Katia and Natasha's favorite room as the windows face south and west giving them plenty of warm sunshine.

I was at it again in the bathroom...wait...that doesn't sound right. What I mean is I worked at caulking the tub and other repairs. The shower wall pulled away from the room wall so I purchased, for the lack of a better description, tub glue, and glued and clamped the wall back in place. Also, the plaster walls near the base of the tub near the floor were falling apart, literally,  so re-plastered and painted the wall with a nice semi gloss paint that will better repel the water. Finally, I caulked around the top of the tub wall where my tall frame was causing water to splash and *perhaps* leak down into the kitchen. Since then, we've been dry on the kitchen floor so hopefully I've fixed that problem. If so, I can go ahead and repair the ceiling in the kitchen that has become water stained.

Security

I'm going to ramble a bit in this blog, so bear with me please as I veer off the home improvement topic and more into the lifestyle side of our life. This blog has been spinning around in my head for some time, and was activated once again as Cindy and I discuss security at our home.

First, a little background. Most of my blog readers are local, and are familiar with the Binghamton area. However, I do have an international audience, with several readers from France and Russia, for example. I'm not sure how or why they read my blog, but grateful for this, and it gives me the opportunity to expand on the town in which we live. Greater Binghamton is typical of the "rust belt" cities of the northeast United States. In my lifetime, heavy manufacturing fled overseas, leaving behind empty factories, and the sturdy but small homes these blue collar workers lived in. The homes are typically in the urban core with small yards, small rooms, and are simply not the kind of home current urban professionals are looking for. They are sprinkled all over the west side of Binghamton where we live, and have mostly been converted to rental property for students or low income renters by absentee landlords. I've mentioned this in previous blogs but it is true that Binghamton real estate is truly schizophrenic with mansions next door to shacks.

We (Cindy) saw the potential behind these overgrown bushes.

To be clear, Binghamton is not lost, and seems to be improving. There are still a lot of defense and aerospace based tech manufacturing with BAE, Lockheed Martin, and even vestiges of IBM. The local health care industry is booming, as is Binghamton University, which continues to expand adding class rooms and offices downtown, and is building a new pharmacy school nearby in Johnson City. However, for the most part, the highly paid workers associated with these employers prefer the affluent suburbs in Vestal and elsewhere. This leaves even the nicer and larger homes within the urban core empty. Now, some opportunists like Cindy and I see the potential of these homes and grab them, but even as we did, we found that we were bidding against an out of town bidder that wished to convert our property to student housing.

The security team on duty.

Now, to the point and the topic. This jumble of housing types and prices brings an impressively diverse population. Professionals like Cindy and I are in the mix, as are college students. The low price housing has attracted an influx of big city refugees looking to flee the crime and a crushing cost of living. As a matter of course, following these unfortunates is a darker element of gang activity and drug sales. With that comes property crime and isolated violence. So far, we have had our car broken into, and strangely found a valuable coronet and case on our side yard. My rotating work schedule leaves Cindy alone some evenings and overnights, which makes her nervous. Now, with out going into details, we do have a rudimentary security system in our home. It involves lighting, video cameras. and two cats. We probably should upgrade.

So what type of system should we get? If you've ever looked into purchasing a home security system you know that the sky is the limit. At the high end are wired, professionally installed and monitored system with cameras, fire detection, and sensors at every entry point. I think we will go to the middle ground with a self installed system that has motion detectors and wireless connectivity. You can add fire detection, a piercing alarm and a cell phone based dialer if you wish. The idea will be to help Cindy feel safe when she's home alone, and also protect the house when no one is home, without spending a fortune. Here's a handy list and review of security systems currently available from reviews.com. I'll be sure to update this blog as we move forward with our decision.

Beer and sausages mandatory, Funny hat optional.

In other news...we had a lot of fun the Hayes family for parade day. Both Mike and Steve marched in their FDNY uniforms with Mike Sr and the Johnson City Fire Department. We met for breakfast sausages at Downs Ave Tavern before the parade, then after a quick warm up and hydration session at the American Legion we headed over the Seton Catholic Central for bagpipes and a beer or two. Good times.

Coming up in future blogs: It's March but it's not Spring and Finishing off the Guest Room.

Windows

Picture from 2015 showing the storm windows
 above and none below.

We have 25 windows in our home, not counting the attic and basement. They are the original windows, with the old storm windows replaced with more modern storm windows in 18 of them. Why they didn't add new storms to the other 7 is a complete mystery to me. Anyway, we like the original woodwork on the old windows and decided for the short term at least, to purchase storm windows for the remaining windows. Perhaps in the future, we'll consider replacement windows, but that's for another day.

So, last fall I went out and began to measure. I measured each window at least three times, carefully recording and adjusting my measurements. To match the current storm windows, they would need to be mounted inside the outer frame of the window, meaning that there was little room for error in the measurements. After I was as confident as I could be, I went down to Home Depot and ordered 6 custom storm windows. Did you just catch my error? Yes, that's right. Somehow, my brain short circuited (again) and I failed to order a storm window for the kitchen. More on that later.

The windows arrived about a month later in November. Very bad weather, and a busy work and home schedule arrived as well, meaning our new windows sat in the garage taking up room and getting dirty. Then. the warmest day ever in February arrived, corresponding with a break in my work schedule and a day off for Cindy, After some hesitation on my part, mainly because I was concerned about pushing my lovely bride into service as window installation specialist and ladder climber (no one person can install a window, it takes two). Added to the mix was that we were both coming off a nasty cold, Cindy especially, making going up and down the ladder a thrill, AND a particularly strong line of thunderstorms was bearing down on us as we worked.

First window in place. Little
did I know that I had made a
mistake. 

After being in the garage for for over 3 months the windows were quite dirty, as were the windows and windowsills on the house. Cleaner-in-charge Cindy rightly demanded  a complete cleaning of all new windows and the old windows before installation. So, each window was un-packaged, un-assembled and cleaned. Each window on the house was cleaned and prepped and then the storms were reassembled and installed. This was done with each of us on a ladder. I aligned the window, then Cindy held in them in place while I installed the wood screws fastening the window to the house.

In my excitement and haste, I made my one mistake of the day. I failed to open the house window before installing the storm. Last summer I repaired and painted the windows, which essentially painted the windows shut. They are relatively easy to free up from the outside, not so much from the inside. So, for the first window, I can struggle to open in from the inside, or uninstall the storm window and free it up from there. Rats. All the other windows are opening and closing properly.

Finished!

Three of my Christmas presents came into use on this project. My new multi-position ladder was needed for the install, and my rechargeable drill with clutch was very handy and kept me from stripping the screws as I put them into the soft old wood of the window frames. My new drill bits included an extender which allowed me to reach beyond the frame and tighten the screws.

Overall the project went well. We finished the last window in the rain as the thunderstorms bore down on us. Luckily, we were working on the north side of the house and the large overhang protected us from the rain. However, our prep area in the driveway was not and we found ourselves in the strange situation of cleaning windows with paper towels while it poured.

Then it rained

We have already noticed a difference in the dining room and living room. The new windows have cut down on the noise from Grand Boulevard, and the room seemed warmer on Sunday despite the cold day and gusty winds. My reaction, as usual, was "why didn't I get this done earlier?".

Before I forget, I have no earthly idea why I failed to order a window for the kitchen. It's not a big deal in that there's no special discount for ordering all at once, but it's kind of a pain and I was left trying to explain myself, again, to Cindy. I simply threw myself at the mercy of the court. She was sympathetic but a bit bewildered and possibly concerned for my mental health. I don't blame her but she should be used to it. I've always been this way.

In other news...I made good progress in the guest bedroom. The painting is done and we really like the color. We have narrowed down our choice for a ceiling fan and should have it purchased and installed soon. Then it will be time for curtains and and other final touches. Pictures and details coming soon.

Painting again

As I mentioned on my last blog, we made the decision to go ahead and work on the guest bedroom next. First order of business was to make some minor repairs to the ceiling, walls, and trim work. In general, things were in good shape but the ceiling did have water damage from an old roof leak, the college students had punched numerous holes in the walls, and there was some nasty gaps in the trim work. After I repaired the cracks and put stain blocker over the water damage, the ceiling came out really nice. Of the original ceilings that remain in the house, this one may be the nicest.

Multiple color samples on the wall.

The project then stalled because we once again struggled to pick a color for the walls. My vision was to make a statement and to have something that would pop. Being a guest room, if it was too much, we could just close the door, and it would serve a dual purpose and keep unwanted guests from lingering. The problem is, sometimes your statement is just too LOUD. Another factor is that we were limited in our color choices. We had hit the yellows pretty hard downstairs in the dining room and living room, and we went to the blues/grays by selecting "Etched Glass", a light blueish grey in the master. That led us to the red/brown palette. Anything pink was out, which kind of pushes you toward brown side, which in turn doesn't really pop, and can actually be a bit depressing. I really didn't want earth tones. After several color samples we had either garish brightness, or depressing mauves.

Applying Balcony Sunset to the walls.

Then, as my dynamic meteorology professor once said, a miracle happened. We came across Balcony Sunset on the color chart. Kind of a burnt orange that was loud enough but not blindingly so. It will set off the white pine floors and work well with the white painted trim work. A nice bonus is that the windows in the room face south and west making it a logical choice, geographically. As the sun lowers in the sky, the room practically glows with color. Very nice. Unfortunately, one coat did not cover, which surprised me since I'm using my favorite paint (which "guarantees" one coat coverage) and I'm spreading it over white. So, another coat is in order.

After that's done, we need to pick out and install a nice ceiling fan for the room. I'd like to see if we can get something that matches the southwest sun theme, or even something suggesting a beach. I must also repaint all the woodwork and trim. I plan to go with a plain gloss or semi-gloss white. A final task is the doors. The previous painters slopped paint on the varnished wood and they look just awful. They're in pretty rough shape too and ultimately should be replaced, so I will not spend the time and effort to strip them and will likely just paint them. Once again, the color choice will be difficult but I'm starting to think a grayish tan may look nice and balance off the bright walls nicely.

I mentioned in the previous blog, in my attempt to insulate the massive hole in basement wall that went to the crawl space under the back porch, I loosened one of the fittings First Brother in Law Randy installed for me. Well, a second miracle happened: I managed to fix it. It no longer leaks and I have re-installed the insulation around the pipe. Plugging that hole has made a huge difference in the basement temperature. I should have tackled that long ago.

Katia and Natasha enjoy the fire. Cindy refused to curl up
on the floor for the picture. 

In other news, we have had a lot of fires in our fireplace and I'm not sure which of my lovely ladies likes it more, Cindy, Katia, or Natasha. We've had so many fires that we have already begun to burn through the grate I purchased only a year or so ago and it is sagging in the middle. Our local Home Depot has already put the fireplace equipment on clearance and I just purchased an identical replacement for less than $20. For that price, it really doesn't matter if they don't last too long. We've gone through about two thirds of our full face cord of wood, which is about where I expected to be at this time. Cindy has even taken over fire maintenance when I'm not home. She will add logs to the fire and run to the garage for more wood as needed. This shows you how much she like the fire.

Bread making, clean up, and back at it

Natasha really enjoyed one of her Christmas presents. She
sits on it for hours watching the fire. 

Blogging has taken a back seat as has home improvement, although both are now moving back into the forefront. When I last blogged, I gave a quick Christmas summary including a list of the home improvement toys Santa brought me. Since then, much of our time was spent recovering from the holiday, including the somewhat depressing and tedious task of taking the tree down. It was a great, fresh cut tree that held it's needles well, but the right angle turn through the foyer and out the door acted a bit like a stripper and many of the needles were left there. So we pretty much exhausted a full day with the removal of ornaments, removal of tree, and vacuuming of needles of the floor. Of course, all the decorations need to be stowed in the attic so there is that too.

Much of January has been mild which made the outdoor light removal task much easier. It requires a fair amount of climbing in and around the front porch which is considerably less pleasant in the snow and cold.

Oops. A little crispy. We did 4 more that came out great. 

We made our first batch of bread at the new house, pushed our limits and tested the oven. This did result in some mistakes, but overall it turned out well. We decided to make three full matches since we were behind on our stock, which in turn caused us to really load up the oven. Well, not being used to this new gas oven in turn caused us to kind of burn some of the loaves on the bottom rack. Good news is despite a blackened crust on a few, the bread came out nicely.

Ugly gap

Gap fixed

After discussion we decided to change project priorities on the home improvement front. The ceiling repair in the den will require some research and take time so we shifted that project down the list and moved up the guest room, which is a fairly straightforward refresh project. As usual, the college students have left behind numerous holes, dents, and tape marks on the walls and ceiling which required attention. Then, there was a nasty gap between the woodwork and wall that needed caulking. Also, before the previous owner repaired the roof, water had leaked in and stained and cracked the the ceiling. So, some plaster work and application of a stain blocker was needed before I could paint. This room will have the added task of painting the doors. As you can see from the pictures, the previous painters really slopped on the paint and basically ruined the doors. I could strip the doors and leave an more natural wood grain but frankly they are in bad shape and will need to be replaced at some point. So, until then I will just paint them. Deciding on a color will be tough.

Stain and crack from leak undergoing repair.

Finally, we will install a ceiling fan in the room. It really dresses up the room and with our high ceilings they are practical and functional. I find it very pleasant sleep with a virtually silent fan moving the air about the room. The room should be finished soon and ready for visitors.

Otherwise, more mundane work continues. I have done a very amateurish but somewhat effective job of blocking the crawlway to the area under the back porch. Ridiculous amounts of cold air flow into the basement through this 20 x 30 inch hole and I've already noticed a warmer basement since my work began. I'm too embarrassed to show a picture of my work, at least at this point but will at some time especially if I improve the job. Unfortunately, some of my tugging on my panels and the pipe that passes through the gap started a leak from the sharkbite fitting on the hot water pipe. I may try to repair that myself or call back First Brother in Law Randy who did the original repair. For now, there's no hot water in the downstairs bathroom. Finally, the damn bathtub continues to leak at times, mainly when I decide to take a longer shower. I continue to narrow down and caulk suspected areas, but the struggle continues. I may lose a battle, but I'll win the war!