Early rise this morning at 6:30, made the coffee and then got Jo up and going. We have a ton of things to get done and breakfast is high on my list of must-do things. We went to Anette's on Edgewater and had a scrumptious meal. I had the German sausage with eggs and home fries and rye toast. Jo had a half-order of biscuits and gravy with an egg.
I get to eat however much as I want on a heavy work day like today. Normally I'd have a little cereal and a piece of toast but today I hogged out cuz' I was going to need the energy.
After breakfast I made my first trip over to Bark Boys on Cherry Ave. to get a load of Hemlock bark dust. I use this kind because it has less splinters. Then we took it to the house and waited for the kids to show up. They were there in short order and the work could begin in earnest.
We needed to pull up the old fabric I had put under the original bark dust a few years ago because it was constantly being exposed as the bark dust was raked up or blown away by the gardeners. Anyway, it was looking pretty ratty and it just needed to go. Glad to have some younger backs there to help pull it out from under the old bark dust. Then we needed to do some leveling around the perimeter of the house because the soil had settled and created a hump near the foundation that caused the bark dust to slide away leaving the dirt showing next to the house. That and getting the rest of the old bark dust leveled back out before applying a fresh layer on top.
Maybe I should explain. We purchased the two houses to replace the income from a single home my Mom owned in California for years. No one lived anywhere near the place so it was not getting the attention needed to see to it that it was maintained properly. So we sold it. We rolled the profits into two homes that were being built side by side. We used them for rentals for a few years and when Mom's sight started to go and she needed more help, we move her into one of them and us into the other so we would have separate homes but be close enough to see her anytime she needed help.
We pulled all of the old bark dust out of the planter strips in the back yards and replaced it with cinders. We felt it would be a better choice than the bark dust because it would stop the dogs from digging in the planters. We'll see if that was wisdom or folly as time goes on.
Many thanks to Sab, James and Craig. We couldn't have done it without you.
February 12, 2011
February 11, 2011
Friday is a "Work" day right?
I got up late today, because I could. Most days I'm up at 5:30 AM during the week to get to work by 7:00 and 6:30 on the weekend, which allows me to get an extra hour in the sack. But, since we went to four day workweeks (it's the economy) I try to sleep in on Fridays.
I still have a lot of things to get done, so after a quick breakfast Jo and I loaded up in the Malibu and headed out. We went to our old house on Fairview to clean it out from the last phase of the remodel that was completed when the bathroom was torn out and redesigned to take better advantage of the space.
The old bathroom had a 28" doorway and the tub was old (1975?) and needed replacing. We tore out the entire bathroom and redesigned it to accommodate a wheelchair. We expanded the doorway to accept a 36" door and moved the new tub to the back of the room. Originally the tub was to the right as you entered the room and this made the bathroom seem narrow and crowded. We placed the toilet between the sink cabinet and the tub and increased the size of the cabinet. The utilities had to be moved to accommodate the changes and we shortened the length of pipe work that connected everything and located in a single "water wall" to keep it neat. This was a complete turn-about from what was in there originally.
Anyway, it left a lot of debris to dispose of and I have a small trailer so we planned on picking up the garbage and hauling it to the dump. I should have mentioned that we also replaced all of the windows with vinyl double paned windows and ripped out all of the flooring and doors. Plus we replaced all of the baseboard heaters with Cadet style heaters in each room. We cut off the bottom foot of the exterior T-111 and replaced it with new material after treating the exposed timbers with copper based insect repellent, and then wrapped the front of the house with house wrap and resided it with hardie siding.
We filled the trailer and Jo swept up the dust and other debris that had piled up in the house. This has been a long term project and we are just now beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Steve, our contractor, is supposed to start getting the texture done on the inside of the rest of the house from where we removed the popcorn ceiling material, and then we will paint the interior. But that is a later project.
We made it to the dump with an hour to spare, and then went home with the trailer attached. We stopped by the pizza place and ordered a couple of their best for dinner and while we waited we visited the the video store next door and picked up a copy of "Secretariat" to watch later over at Mom's house. It's going to be an at home date night this week.
The movie was great, a super feel-good story that shows that if you stick to your guns, good things can happen.
Still got to bed early enough to get a good nights sleep. Lots to do in the morning as Sab, James, and Craig are coming over to help us do the planter areas around our two houses with new bark dust and some cinders. Whew...
I still have a lot of things to get done, so after a quick breakfast Jo and I loaded up in the Malibu and headed out. We went to our old house on Fairview to clean it out from the last phase of the remodel that was completed when the bathroom was torn out and redesigned to take better advantage of the space.
The old bathroom had a 28" doorway and the tub was old (1975?) and needed replacing. We tore out the entire bathroom and redesigned it to accommodate a wheelchair. We expanded the doorway to accept a 36" door and moved the new tub to the back of the room. Originally the tub was to the right as you entered the room and this made the bathroom seem narrow and crowded. We placed the toilet between the sink cabinet and the tub and increased the size of the cabinet. The utilities had to be moved to accommodate the changes and we shortened the length of pipe work that connected everything and located in a single "water wall" to keep it neat. This was a complete turn-about from what was in there originally.
Anyway, it left a lot of debris to dispose of and I have a small trailer so we planned on picking up the garbage and hauling it to the dump. I should have mentioned that we also replaced all of the windows with vinyl double paned windows and ripped out all of the flooring and doors. Plus we replaced all of the baseboard heaters with Cadet style heaters in each room. We cut off the bottom foot of the exterior T-111 and replaced it with new material after treating the exposed timbers with copper based insect repellent, and then wrapped the front of the house with house wrap and resided it with hardie siding.
We filled the trailer and Jo swept up the dust and other debris that had piled up in the house. This has been a long term project and we are just now beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Steve, our contractor, is supposed to start getting the texture done on the inside of the rest of the house from where we removed the popcorn ceiling material, and then we will paint the interior. But that is a later project.
We made it to the dump with an hour to spare, and then went home with the trailer attached. We stopped by the pizza place and ordered a couple of their best for dinner and while we waited we visited the the video store next door and picked up a copy of "Secretariat" to watch later over at Mom's house. It's going to be an at home date night this week.
The movie was great, a super feel-good story that shows that if you stick to your guns, good things can happen.
Still got to bed early enough to get a good nights sleep. Lots to do in the morning as Sab, James, and Craig are coming over to help us do the planter areas around our two houses with new bark dust and some cinders. Whew...
February 10, 2011
A new direction?
Jo and I have been thinking about retirement for some time now and we both agree that sitting in our rocking chairs waiting for the hearst is not something we want to do.
Over the years we wanted to go traveling, sight-seeing, and just plain camping but there always seemed to be something keeping us from really getting out there, and except for a few short vacations over the years we have settled for weekend trips, mostly in Inn's and Hotels.
Then we discovered RV'ing blogs. We haven't really thought it through yet but once we started following several RV'rs blogs penned by happy fulltimers, I think I'm getting a rash. Some of them might describe it as hitch-itch.
Today was Jo's date to get her bi-weekly B-12 shot and when she's finished she comes over to my work and we go to lunch together. We started talking about what it would be like to get out and travel in an RV and travel all over the USA and maybe Mexico and Canada too. She is all for it, and so we are decided. Starting today, we are going to work together to put together a plan to become full time RV travelers.
I hadn't planned on retiring until Nov of 2015 when I become eligible for Medicare, but now with the new Health plan that's coming down the pipe it may be possible to join a pool of other like minded individuals and retire sooner with a reasonably priced product. Time will tell on that front.
Anyway, starting now the plan is to begin studying what we need to do to be ready when the time comes. We already started doing more about our health, and eating habits so we are already moving in the right direction. Still, we need to develop a comprehensive plan on what we are going to do with the property (sell it, rent it), the type of home we'll live in while we live this adventure. Plus a ton of other details that will need to be decided before we will be ready.
I'll be able to draw my SS in less than two years, so maybe we should start with that as a potential date to shoot for. I keep hearing "go sooner" echoing from the seasoned bloggers out there and I believe they are right.
Plus, after reading many other blogs it seems the first thing to do is to start thinking like I already lived in an RV. I'm a packrat. If you could see my garage, you'd understand what I'm talking about. Getting rid of most of the stuff I've collected over the years isn't going to be an easy project. But, we have taken the first step, a commitment to go. Now it's just a matter of planning and execution. Yippie!!!
Over the years we wanted to go traveling, sight-seeing, and just plain camping but there always seemed to be something keeping us from really getting out there, and except for a few short vacations over the years we have settled for weekend trips, mostly in Inn's and Hotels.
Then we discovered RV'ing blogs. We haven't really thought it through yet but once we started following several RV'rs blogs penned by happy fulltimers, I think I'm getting a rash. Some of them might describe it as hitch-itch.
Today was Jo's date to get her bi-weekly B-12 shot and when she's finished she comes over to my work and we go to lunch together. We started talking about what it would be like to get out and travel in an RV and travel all over the USA and maybe Mexico and Canada too. She is all for it, and so we are decided. Starting today, we are going to work together to put together a plan to become full time RV travelers.
I hadn't planned on retiring until Nov of 2015 when I become eligible for Medicare, but now with the new Health plan that's coming down the pipe it may be possible to join a pool of other like minded individuals and retire sooner with a reasonably priced product. Time will tell on that front.
Anyway, starting now the plan is to begin studying what we need to do to be ready when the time comes. We already started doing more about our health, and eating habits so we are already moving in the right direction. Still, we need to develop a comprehensive plan on what we are going to do with the property (sell it, rent it), the type of home we'll live in while we live this adventure. Plus a ton of other details that will need to be decided before we will be ready.
I'll be able to draw my SS in less than two years, so maybe we should start with that as a potential date to shoot for. I keep hearing "go sooner" echoing from the seasoned bloggers out there and I believe they are right.
Plus, after reading many other blogs it seems the first thing to do is to start thinking like I already lived in an RV. I'm a packrat. If you could see my garage, you'd understand what I'm talking about. Getting rid of most of the stuff I've collected over the years isn't going to be an easy project. But, we have taken the first step, a commitment to go. Now it's just a matter of planning and execution. Yippie!!!
January 29, 2011
A doggie door for Kota
We decided that getting up every 15 minutes to let Kota out was going to be a bit much. What was needed was a doggie door that our newest family member could use anytime she wanted. Besides, I really wanted to let her out of the cage at night. Even though it was OK with Kota, I kind of felt bad about it, and Jo wanted her to have more freedom to decide when she wanted out.
I picked up a double flap, medium sized pet door from Lowe's and installed it. There were some issues with the exterior electrical wires because they were mounted right where the door had to go.
I cut out the hole inside first, with a drywall saw, starting well away from the stud so I could tell where to mount the template before cutting the real hole. Once it was aligned properly and level, I cut the rest of the hole inside and drilled the bolt holes but only the two top ones to the outside wall. This was so I could reposition the template on the outside wall and get it aligned with the top two bolt holes so the rest of the door would also line up. I used a sawzall to finish the big hole outside, and then drilled the bottom holes according to the template. I was worried that the bolts might not line up perfectly so I wobbled out the outside holes a little extra so there would be some wiggle room.
Next thing was to assemble the pass through tunnel that goes inside the two halves of the pet door. It looked like it was going to be too long so I broke off the first pre-etched section of the tunnel to shorten it.
Shoot, turns out I miss-judged it and cut it too short. So, back to Lowe's and another new tunnel ($32). I saved the other parts from my error and will offer them for sale on craigslist or something for a reduced price as they'll fit a thinner wall just fine. Who knew?
Finally got the thing assembled in place and now the training could begin. Kota was sitting outside watching me working on the inside of the house before I even put the door together and when I called her she jumped right through the hole. But getting her to go through now it with the flaps in place was proving more difficult. Jo thought she just needed to know she could go out through the hole but pushing her through turned into a battle of wits and strength that only frustrated Jo and made Kota afraid of the door.
That's when I came up with the idea of tapping the flaps up so that there would be nothing in the way. Now she is OK jumping through the hole so long as there is something being offered on the other side, but still won't go through on her own. So, we left her outside with the flaps open and went into the living room to wait to see what she would do. It took may three minutes for her to overcome her fear and get through the door.
Still, she would not go near it with the flap down. Then I decided to do some progressive enticement. I put the inside flap down and then went outside with a dog biscuit. Kota loves these little bone shaped treats, and I broke it into three pieces. Then I put the first one in the opening just about an inch from the flap. She wanted it bad. Pretty soon (with a little encouragement from me) she pushed the flap open far enough to open it and get the treat. I put the next one in the middle of the tunnel, and this time she had it in about 10 seconds.
The last one I put as far out as I could, where she could still see it. This would require her to put head and shoulders inside the tunnel to get it. It didn't take long and that treat was gone too. She sat inside the house for about 30 more seconds and then just came through the flap to see what I was up to, and to see if I had any more treats.
She continued to pick up speed until she was hitting the opening with such force that the flap was swinging up and hitting the wall as she flew through it. Those Mini-Aussies are spring steel and hard headed, and boy are they fast. After a couple of days, I put the outside flap down too. She never even noticed.
I picked up a double flap, medium sized pet door from Lowe's and installed it. There were some issues with the exterior electrical wires because they were mounted right where the door had to go.
I cut out the hole inside first, with a drywall saw, starting well away from the stud so I could tell where to mount the template before cutting the real hole. Once it was aligned properly and level, I cut the rest of the hole inside and drilled the bolt holes but only the two top ones to the outside wall. This was so I could reposition the template on the outside wall and get it aligned with the top two bolt holes so the rest of the door would also line up. I used a sawzall to finish the big hole outside, and then drilled the bottom holes according to the template. I was worried that the bolts might not line up perfectly so I wobbled out the outside holes a little extra so there would be some wiggle room.
Next thing was to assemble the pass through tunnel that goes inside the two halves of the pet door. It looked like it was going to be too long so I broke off the first pre-etched section of the tunnel to shorten it.
Shoot, turns out I miss-judged it and cut it too short. So, back to Lowe's and another new tunnel ($32). I saved the other parts from my error and will offer them for sale on craigslist or something for a reduced price as they'll fit a thinner wall just fine. Who knew?
Finally got the thing assembled in place and now the training could begin. Kota was sitting outside watching me working on the inside of the house before I even put the door together and when I called her she jumped right through the hole. But getting her to go through now it with the flaps in place was proving more difficult. Jo thought she just needed to know she could go out through the hole but pushing her through turned into a battle of wits and strength that only frustrated Jo and made Kota afraid of the door.
That's when I came up with the idea of tapping the flaps up so that there would be nothing in the way. Now she is OK jumping through the hole so long as there is something being offered on the other side, but still won't go through on her own. So, we left her outside with the flaps open and went into the living room to wait to see what she would do. It took may three minutes for her to overcome her fear and get through the door.
Still, she would not go near it with the flap down. Then I decided to do some progressive enticement. I put the inside flap down and then went outside with a dog biscuit. Kota loves these little bone shaped treats, and I broke it into three pieces. Then I put the first one in the opening just about an inch from the flap. She wanted it bad. Pretty soon (with a little encouragement from me) she pushed the flap open far enough to open it and get the treat. I put the next one in the middle of the tunnel, and this time she had it in about 10 seconds.
The last one I put as far out as I could, where she could still see it. This would require her to put head and shoulders inside the tunnel to get it. It didn't take long and that treat was gone too. She sat inside the house for about 30 more seconds and then just came through the flap to see what I was up to, and to see if I had any more treats.
She continued to pick up speed until she was hitting the opening with such force that the flap was swinging up and hitting the wall as she flew through it. Those Mini-Aussies are spring steel and hard headed, and boy are they fast. After a couple of days, I put the outside flap down too. She never even noticed.
January 20, 2011
A new family member
After Bear left us, we didn't think we would want to be pet owners again. It's painful to lose them, and we're getting older. And then some friends on Facebook posted a message saying they were caring for a dog but it was just too much for them to care for it and thier other much older pooch. When I showed the picture of Dakota to Jo, she fell instantly in love.
How could you not love that face? I called and she was still available and so, we went to meet her. She was man-shy and wouldn't come near me, but she took to Jo like, well, a duck to water. I decided to just ignore her completly because if I didn't show any interest, she would stop seeing me as a threat.
Odd thing was that once she was on a leash, she was a totally different dog. She was able to be led (even by me) and seemed fine with going out and getting in the car. I could tell right away she was smart. It was just going to be a matter of time before she figured out how to master me.
We took her home. She was crate trained and was happy sleeping in the cage. I started sharing goodies with her and it wasn't two days and she was in my lap. Poor Phil had her for three weeks and she wouldn't even approach him, much less allow him to touch her.
Check back over the weeks as we get to know this new family member. We've decided to shorten her name to just "Kota" and she seems to be fine with us dropping the "Da" from her name. Next stop, the vet for an exam and to have her chipped. Then a license.
What's not to love?
Odd thing was that once she was on a leash, she was a totally different dog. She was able to be led (even by me) and seemed fine with going out and getting in the car. I could tell right away she was smart. It was just going to be a matter of time before she figured out how to master me.
We took her home. She was crate trained and was happy sleeping in the cage. I started sharing goodies with her and it wasn't two days and she was in my lap. Poor Phil had her for three weeks and she wouldn't even approach him, much less allow him to touch her.
Check back over the weeks as we get to know this new family member. We've decided to shorten her name to just "Kota" and she seems to be fine with us dropping the "Da" from her name. Next stop, the vet for an exam and to have her chipped. Then a license.
What's not to love?
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