In the garden, and RAIN!!!! by SIGNYM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Hey Brenda

As you know, I am hearing impaired. And yet ... even though I TRY to remember!, when dealing with relatives who I know are also hearing impaired - I STILL will walk away while talking to them, or try talking from another room, about half the time. It is SUCH a bad habit! And they - do the same to me!

Your boss and her husband - I don't know if they're even trying, or just blitheringly oblivious to others. I'm just saying they may need to be reminded.

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Friday, September 27, 2019 3:07 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Sigh. "The Blob" of extreme ocean heat off the west coast looks like it's back.

https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/the-blob-is-back-pacific-heat-wave-a
lready-second-largest-in-recent-history/

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Friday, September 27, 2019 6:07 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I think I may have some insight into 2 medical items:

empty nose syndrome - caused by TOO smooth and laminar an air flow in the nasal cavity, leading to the feeling you can't breathe. One depends on subtle feedback of air impinging on turbinates to sense airflow, and cognate that air is moving in and out.

active avoidance of interaction by a subset of autistics - If you look at eye tracking by one set of autistics, their gaze scans a scene entirely at random, neither lingering on nor avoiding human faces - sometimes looking at a door knob, a tabletop, a human face. If you look at eye tracking by another set of autistics, their gaze actively avoids impinging on a human face. I suspect this second set is not incapable of (is capable of) human interaction, but doesn't receive an oxytocin boost from it, so that it's more stressful than pleasant. And in addition, they have a lower ability to self-soothe social unpleasantness (they can't generate their own internal boost of oxytocin). And so they actively avoid social interaction, and are in fact distressed by any attempt to engage in it.
FWIW I also believe there's a particular brain region that marshals a particular set of responses to human faces specifically, that is one of the underlying reasons why responses to human faces specifically are such a distinguishing feature of autism.

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Friday, September 27, 2019 7:01 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Hey Brenda

As you know, I am hearing impaired. And yet ... even though I TRY to remember!, when dealing with relatives who I know are also hearing impaired - I STILL will walk away while talking to them, or try talking from another room, about half the time. It is SUCH a bad habit! And they - do the same to me!

Your boss and her husband - I don't know if they're even trying, or just blitheringly oblivious to others. I'm just saying they may need to be reminded.

Hi Kiki,

I do sort of know they have some problems with their hearing as they are in their 70s and I try not to talk to them while walking out of a room and stuff.

To me, they are not trying and are just oblivious to anything outside of their own spheres. As I said yesterday was the 3rd time that I have told her about this and asked her not to do that. And I am sick of doing that. So if they get a "what?" thrown back at them then that is there fault. Impolite or not. I deserve some respect.

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Friday, September 27, 2019 7:02 PM

Bad day today. Lost at the casino and on top of that I couldn't find any lamb chops for my birthday on Sunday. Have one more place to look tomorrow after I get my laundry done. And I am hoping.

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Friday, September 27, 2019 7:16 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Hey Brenda

As you know, I am hearing impaired. And yet ... even though I TRY to remember!, when dealing with relatives who I know are also hearing impaired - I STILL will walk away while talking to them, or try talking from another room, about half the time. It is SUCH a bad habit! And they - do the same to me!

Your boss and her husband - I don't know if they're even trying, or just blitheringly oblivious to others. I'm just saying they may need to be reminded.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:

Hi Kiki,

I do sort of know they have some problems with their hearing as they are in their 70s and I try not to talk to them while walking out of a room and stuff.

To me, they are not trying and are just oblivious to anything outside of their own spheres. As I said yesterday was the 3rd time that I have told her about this and asked her not to do that. And I am sick of doing that. So if they get a "what?" thrown back at them then that is there fault. Impolite or not. I deserve some respect.

I hear ya' on that! HA HA! And from personal experience, I know how irritating it is when someone does that. It seems so - inconsiderate is the nicest word. But I also know that even with my personal experience and my good intentions, I have failed to eradicate the habit in myself!

A "what?" does seem perfectly appropriate, and not at all impolite, however!

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Friday, September 27, 2019 8:01 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Finally - it was unusually cloudy today, but that made me realize just HOW dim it is a 5PM compared to only a few weeks ago! The days are definitely shorter!

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Friday, September 27, 2019 8:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
GREAT WORK JACK!

I think I figured out what's going on with your surface water ... it's not a high water table (ground water) because that implies some kind of permanence. I think what you have is subsurface flow of surface water through your property, whenever there's a surface water source uphill of you.

I see that A LOT both within my yard and in the neighborhood. My lot generally has a steep north to south slope, and a much gentler east to west slope, so that the highest point is the NE and the lowest is the SW. The front of my house faces north, uphill. Whenever I water the trees on the northwest in the front yard I get a water seep on the west side yard downhill from it. If I do EXTRA watering, the coast live oak even further downhill on the west side yard sprouts extra-long new shoots.

I even have a funny story. As you might remember, my house is now quite old - even (sadly) a city historic house (with a crap-ton of restrictions and the official city interest that comes with it). And though you're not supposed to discuss a lady's age, she's 112 this year. Anyway, back when I bought it, it still had all the original plumbing, including a hose bibb in the rear that suddenly broke and was almost leaking a steady stream. But there were a lot of various ongoing medical emergencies over time, and I just didn't have the opportunity to deal with it. So I got a really short hose and attached it to the hose bibb, and put on a nozzle that I could at least shut off - mostly. It had a really, really slow drip - maybe 2 (or 3 maximum) drips a minute. Crisis - not solved but at least addressed!

A few months later, my back-door neighbor from across the alley south of me and one lot west - which is downhill in two directions - asked me if I had a water leak in my yard - because he was having a seep coming up in his!

And I sort of got alerted to this because years ago I had asked an arborist why my big trees were doing OK even though I didn't water them (dry, dry, dry sunny SoCal was a mystery to me), and she said it was because the people upslope from me were watering their lawns too much.

So, yeah, subsurface surface-water flow - it happens!

Hmmmmm... maybe you're right about that.

I don't think anybody waters anything around here. Haven't had any need to the last 5 years, anyhow. But you might be right about the surface water thing. The "main drag" that turns into my street is above the ditch to the point that there's a bridge over it before you turn. Then as you go toward my house, there's a huge dip in the road. Like I said before, without actually measuring by anything but my eyes, the ditch across the street from me is 6 feet higher than the floor on my 1st floor. I'd say the main drag is probably at least 10 or 12 feet elevated from my lawn, and it gets even worse behind me.

There might not really be much I can do if that's the case. The water getting in my crawl is coming in through the french drain into the sump well and then pushed out into the street. Even if I had gutters pushing rain from my roof away from the house, it would still be coming downhill to me and up against the front of my house regardless. Gutters on the back might protect the back of the house successfully though. That's where the living space is, so at least there's that.

Got the plywood and more screws and nails than I'll probably ever use to finish this job. I'm done messing around with tiny boxes and wasting money. If I have leftovers, so be it. I'm sure I'll find something else to use most of them on before I'm done here.

Didn't do anything after that but monitor the walls from time to time during the all day thunderstorms we've had for the last 8 or so hours. Louvers still not leaking a drop into the house like I suspected they wouldn't during even a hard rainfall, so it must have come from the snowdrifts and melting when it's packed up in there like I thought. Back windows seem to be watertight. Unlike last storm, this time they have gotten quite a bit of water because of wind. Nothing leaking in though, and I seem to have done a good job grading it away from the house this time before painting them.

Lots of rain here the next few days. Hope it's not too dank in that crawlspace tomorrow and I can at least finish the structural stuff. Still got a lot of work to do before those floors go in, and I need to get it done before my friend can come back to help put it down.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, September 27, 2019 9:23 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Jack, I'm not suggesting it! But I think one might be able to divert the subsurface flow by putting in culverts or drywells plus outflows to direct it around the house.

Again - I'm not suggesting it! I just have an annoying impulse to pursue topics as far as I can, to see where they end up.

But I want to say again -

GREAT WORK JACK !!! I hope you're pleased with how it's all looking so far!

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Friday, September 27, 2019 11:07 PM

Yeah... Pleased with how it looks. Not so pleased with my discovery tonight though...

Visqueen isn't going to do shit. After a full day of hard rain and thunderstorms, I'm looking at enough water in the porch crawlspace to draw a full bath.

It's mainly coming from the back. Of everything I did my shitty tuckpointing job in the front, there's only a dark spot or two on the wall inside. I noticed one part that was under the flooring that I hadn't even hit that is leaking a fair bit, but nothing serious on the front end.

The back though... OMG. The lowest layer of blocks is a bit further out than the rest of them that are more or less straight. Who knows how much rainwater got in from there, but I also see quite a bit of evidence of water leaking in from the two layers on top of that as well. Even with a flashlight I couldn't take a very good video of it now because I'm afraid to even plug in my halogen lamps that I left down there right now.

The good news is that everything I had tuck pointed from outside and tarred are dry as a bone. It's everything beneath it that is bad.

I don't think there's any way I can put the floor in now until I figure out something to fix this issue. I never would have imagined this much water coming in from the walls. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. The damage to that wall was extensive. I guess the repercussions of some things don't really hit home though until you see them in action.

Humidity must have been a constant issue down there the entire time I lived here, and possibly decades before that as well. Really kind of clueless how to proceed now. I don't think asking my friend about it will yield any results. If he knew anything about this he would have told me what to do when he saw the cinder blocks all pushed in in the first place.

No way around it, I suppose. I think I'm going to have to trench out the entire back wall, jack the entire wall up for much, much longer than I'm comfortable doing, re-set everything and re-tuck point everything. I seriously doubt any of the work I've done both inside and out on that wall is going to hold up if I have to move the very bottom row of cinder blocks.

Unless... there is some way I can add something to the bottom row on the inside that would block it and withstand a reasonable test of time.

It doesn't seem like any of this is seeping through the actual house foundation. The sump pump has been going like clockwork again at least the last 3 or 4 hours, but the ground in the house crawl is relatively dry since the pump is working.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, September 27, 2019 11:33 PM

Some guy on a DIY forum made a suggestion that makes sense, but I don't think it will fix my problem because the bottom blocks are out too far and it would only work if they were pushed in further than the rest of the blocks. He said to trench out the wall and use screw jacks to push the blocks back out, then crack the top of every other top block and pour concrete in until it's full. Again, I don't think this would help me because I'd have to jack the bottom bricks from the outside.

Those bottom bricks are probably where they're supposed to be as well, and it would be all of the bricks on top of it that are too far out. I dunno. This is beyond me. I'm starting to worry about things again. I might need to just wrap everything up as quickly as I can so I can sell the house as-is and get out. Main house is fine, but I don't know what to do about the porch foundation.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Friday, September 27, 2019 11:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Hey Brenda

As you know, I am hearing impaired. And yet ... even though I TRY to remember!, when dealing with relatives who I know are also hearing impaired - I STILL will walk away while talking to them, or try talking from another room, about half the time. It is SUCH a bad habit! And they - do the same to me!

Your boss and her husband - I don't know if they're even trying, or just blitheringly oblivious to others. I'm just saying they may need to be reminded.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:

Hi Kiki,

I do sort of know they have some problems with their hearing as they are in their 70s and I try not to talk to them while walking out of a room and stuff.

To me, they are not trying and are just oblivious to anything outside of their own spheres. As I said yesterday was the 3rd time that I have told her about this and asked her not to do that. And I am sick of doing that. So if they get a "what?" thrown back at them then that is there fault. Impolite or not. I deserve some respect.
I hear ya' on that! HA HA! And from personal experience, I know how irritating it is when someone does that. It seems so - inconsiderate is the nicest word. But I also know that even with my personal experience and my good intentions, I have failed to eradicate the habit in myself!

A "what?" does seem perfectly appropriate, and not at all impolite, however!

I know I haven't eradicated from me either.

As much as I am sure they won't like it "what?" is about all I have left for them on this subject.

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Friday, September 27, 2019 11:39 PM

Rained this evening and had some dark clouds roll in. Thought it was going to storm but didn't.

Was going to bake my birthday cake but discovered that I am missing a couple of items. Will do it tomorrow after I go shopping after I get the laundry done.

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Friday, September 27, 2019 11:41 PM

Wow. Something is definately wrong with the drainage around here tonight. I just looked out my kitchen window and there's a big pickup truck that is out in the street right now with water more than halfway up the tires and nearly up into his cab. He seems to be doing something out there, but I can't tell what he's trying to do.

I knew it was raining bad today, but the weather service says there are floods all over here right now. We've already had 5 to 6 inches of rain since 11AM today and it's not going to let up until at least 2AM.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 1:39 AM

Yup. I'm not getting any sleep tonight...

Ditch system isn't broken. It just can't keep up with the water. City guys have been up and down the street occasionally, making sure the sewers weren't clogged, but mostly just jerking each other off since there's nothing that can be done.

Hasn't been raining hard the last few hours like most of the day, but it's just a steady flow now and I've watched half of my very large front lawn be devoured by the flood. In just a few hours I've watched it creep up about 5 feet closer to my house. It's about 15 feet from taking over my garage and maybe 18 feet from coming up to my house. Thank god the power is still on. But since it doesn't look like there is any end in sight for this rain for a long time, that might be moot. If it gets up to my house it's only a matter of time before it comes in the 1st floor and then I'm totally screwed.

Rarely in my life have I ever felt this sense of dread and helplessness before.

I feel like I should be doing something, but there's absolutely nothing I can do but wait it out and hope.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 8:35 AM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Please let us know how things are going, Jack!

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 12:17 PM

Not only did it turn out fine, but had I just gone to sleep last night around 10PM and slept through the night, I wouldn't even have known that it had happened.

Seriously. There is zero evidence that nearly 75% of my lawn was flooded by 3:30AM. I expected maybe mud or debris everywhere, but there's nothing besides some more leaves that have fallen off the maple trees.

I couldn't even take a video of it or the short time where water in my porch crawlspace was standing because my tablet doesn't seem to have any sort of torch, and although it was bright enough for the human eye to see everything, the tablet didn't show anything but some small glare from street lights off of the water.

By around 4:00-4:30, the rain had finally slowed down for a while and I could actually see that it had receeded back to the street about as much as it had crept up between 10:45PM when I first noticed it until 3:30AM.

About the porch...

There's no telling how much water I took in the crawl through the bad cinder blocks. Right now, dirt on the back half is wet, but toward the front where the wall seems to be in excellent shape comparatively the dirt is still dry.

When thinking about the fact that the plywood under surface is bright and shiny and looks new like the stuff we just bought yesterday, and the fact that the joists that were bad on the ends around the bad sills and outside joists were more or less in good shape in the middle, I don't think that the humidity issue is very critical, to be honest.

I had a great test yesterday that proved that there is zero water getting on any of the wood from outside now after sealing up the back windows. As long as I do a good job installing the windows on the front and sealing them up, and I buy a high quality storm door and install it correctly, any liquid water touching any of the wood structure should be kept outside from now on.

As much rain as we had, the ground must have been fairly dry because I didn't take any water in the living area of my house. This spring, with the heavy rain we had for months, there was probably about 3 gallons of water that had seeped its way onto the tile and cement floors over the whole of the season. This leads me to believe that even with the heavy rainfall if I had had gutters on the back of the porch that were lead away properly, I probably would have taken much less water in the porch crawl.

Still going to see what my friend and his dad say, but I'm thinking this might not be the end of the world and as long as I keep any liquid water from getting into the walls and onto the wood structure it should be fine putting the floor back in.

Maybe building an access panel for myself until I'm ready to move isn't the worst idea in the world afterall though. I could then easily put a powerful fan down there and leave it open during the heavy rain springs and see how much better it does when I have gutters up everywhere. I can always cover that up with carpet or tile or something before selling the house and nobody would know the door was there until if/when they tear up the flooring again.

Anyhow, crisis averted.

I'm exhausted. Probably chain smoked two packs of cigarettes last night and didn't even get to sleep until around 4:30-5:00AM.

Don't want to go back to sleep now and put my schedule all out of wack, but I don't imagine I'm going to be getting much done today either.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 1:23 PM

Laundry day in a few moments if any of the machines are free.

Later peeps.

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 3:54 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

GREAT !! news, Jack !!

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 3:58 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Laundry day in a few moments if any of the machines are free.

Later peeps.

Yeah, that's on MY list for today as well! Though I suspect yours are onsite ... and I have to drive. And if I can get my act together, I have more than enough laundry for 4 trips of multiple loads each. I'll probably only manage 2 trips though.

Later to you ... and you all ... too !

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 6:27 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Laundry day in a few moments if any of the machines are free.

Later peeps.
Yeah, that's on MY list for today as well! Though I suspect yours are onsite ... and I have to drive. And if I can get my act together, I have more than enough laundry for 4 trips of multiple loads each. I'll probably only manage 2 trips though.

Later to you ... and you all ... too !

Yes, it is now on site and I got it done.

However small snag in the baking of birthday cake. Old Frigidaire stove and I can't turn on the oven. So no baking for me today.

Also no lamb chops for my birthday dinner tomorrow. So it is chicken. Well, I can have some popcorn for tomorrow anyways.

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 9:34 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

SIX: When you see water creeping up to your house, think sandbags.

But it sounds like it all turned out well.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 9:55 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
SIX: When you see water creeping up to your house, think sandbags.

But it sounds like it all turned out well.

Sure... I thought about it.

No way I could get them though. I don't have a truck, so even if my car wasn't absolutely trapped because of how high the water was on the street, there was no way I was going to be able to bring them to my house. If I even attempted to put my car in the street it would have died instantly once I got off the driveway.

I just got rid of about 10,000 lbs of junk, so there's no way I want to fill my garage with a billion pounds of sand bags just in case this ever happens again.

It's just crazy that anybody who had been sleeping before 10PM or didn't look out their window at all throughout the night would have woken up in the morning completely unaware that this even happened. With no air sirens or loud noises going on during the night, it was just another heavy rainstorm. Zero evidence of the flood when I woke up around 10:30AM or so.

Besides my memories, the only evidence I have that any of this even happened is a super dark video from my front porch with the street light rippling off of water that shouldn't be there.

It makes me wonder if this really is the first time this has happened in the 8 years I've lived here. I'm not here 24/7. And there is 4 or 5 years or so of heavy drinking in between. This might have happened a few times before and I was just one of the lucky oblivious ones.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 9:57 PM

Not sure how late I'll be up tonight Brenda, so in case I'm not still here at midnight I wanted to be the first to wish you a Happy Birthday.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 11:25 PM

Thanks SIX.

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 11:26 PM

Got Dracula on. The version from 1931 with Bela Lugosi. Haven't seen it in years. Forgot how cheesy it was.

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Saturday, September 28, 2019 11:38 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

And I'll be number two ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDA!

I hope you feel the warm wishes from me all the way up there.

And I have no idea what your favorite colors or themes are - but this looked so cheerful! I hope you enjoy it!

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 2:17 AM

Thanks Kiki.

I do indeed.

Unfortunately, your picture didn't come through. But I'll tell you my favourite colour is blue.

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 7:54 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Got Dracula on. The version from 1931 with Bela Lugosi. Haven't seen it in years. Forgot how cheesy it was.

Is that the movie where Bela died in real life and they got somebody like a foot and a half taller to play the rest of the Dracula parts and walk around covering his face with the cloak?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 8:49 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Thanks Kiki.

I do indeed.

Unfortunately, your picture didn't come through. But I'll tell you my favourite colour is blue.

HAPPY B'DAY BRENDA!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 8:58 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Jeez SIX, that nightime flood that came and went without a trace sounds like something from The Twilight Zone. I guess you're right: The ground must have been pretty dry for so much water to soak in. You've mentioned that you soil is sandy? I guess the water must have percolated down pretty fast.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 10:26 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Jeez SIX, that nightime flood that came and went without a trace sounds like something from The Twilight Zone. I guess you're right: The ground must have been pretty dry for so much water to soak in. You've mentioned that you soil is sandy? I guess the water must have percolated down pretty fast.

Nah... The ground probably wasn't super dry since we had a day of storms about a week before.

That was all the storm sewer system and the ditch. It ties into a river around here... all sorts of complicated machinery involved, yada, yada, yada. We would have all been screwed if not for that, probably 5 times a year the last 5 rainy seasons.

Not only are there traditional sewers with manhole covers every 100-120 feet or so around here, but on the curb of the ditch there is a large rectangle grate that is probably 60 feet long too. (I can't imagine that goes directly into the ditch itself since I think gravity would push water out of that grate from the ditch if it did, so I don't know how it works).

The whole system is the reason we "don't have floods anymore" and why people aren't kayaking down the street constantly like they did back in the 60s. The only problem with it yesterday (allegedly, as I heard it from a low level employee of my city) is that there was just so much water in so short a time span that the system couldn't keep up with it.

Once the rain finally slowed down and eventually stopped everywhere, I assume that the water everywhere there was problems began to disappear similarly to how it did in my crawlspace when I put in a new sump pump and turned the power on.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 11:14 AM

Still raining on and off today. Nothing crazy though...

Can't tell if anything is getting in the cinder blocks that is fresh with a normal rain. The dirt is wet down there now in the low spots, but still hasn't saturated everything over to the high spots in the front.

I've got to get down there and finish my work. Only 4 days left of highs in the 70's and 80's and then it's all mid 60's in the next two weeks. Summer's over :(

I'm going to have to put some old plywood scraps down there or something. Since I didn't get the work done before the crazy storms turned my dry dirt into mud, it's going to be quite messy otherwise.

I've got to get the structural repair finished, then regrade the dirt and rocks before I put the patio pavers down there before the visqueen comes. Hopefully my friend can come by at least one night this week. I think it will take two more nights before the floor is installed. If things go right, I should have a floor on the porch again by the middle of next week.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 2:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Got Dracula on. The version from 1931 with Bela Lugosi. Haven't seen it in years. Forgot how cheesy it was.

Is that the movie where Bela died in real life and they got somebody like a foot and a half taller to play the rest of the Dracula parts and walk around covering his face with the cloak?

Do Right, Be Right. :)

No, that was a different movie and now that you mention it the commentator guy talked about it and I can't remember the name of it.

The 1931 movie was the film Lugosi did after being in the stage play of "Dracula".

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 2:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Thanks Kiki.

I do indeed.

Unfortunately, your picture didn't come through. But I'll tell you my favourite colour is blue.
HAPPY B'DAY BRENDA!

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

Thanks SIG.

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 2:11 PM

Well, just another lazy Sunday up here.

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Sunday, September 29, 2019 8:25 PM

Going to make some popcorn before I sit down to watch some tv.

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Monday, September 30, 2019 12:52 PM

Beginning of another week.

Hear from some friends in Alberta and a message from my cousin in Alberta on FB.

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Monday, September 30, 2019 10:28 PM

Minus the backflip, I did this today on a joist...

Seriously, not nearly as funny in real life. Tomorrow is going to be fun.

Got a lot done today. Not what I was expecting to do going into it, and had to re-arrange how I'm doing some things due to the rain we had the other day, but progress nonetheless. It all needs to be done at some point.

Hopefully I'll still have the floor in by next week.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Monday, September 30, 2019 11:01 PM

Bright sunny day here today.

But winter has arrived in Southern Alberta. Snow, snow and more snow which has now moved on to Saskatchewan.

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Monday, September 30, 2019 11:07 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

I think that snow is super early - kind of a freak storm. I'm curious to see, but I wouldn't be surprised if autumn came back for a while.

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Monday, September 30, 2019 11:11 PM

Goodbye, kind world (George Monbiot) - In common with all those generations which have contemplated catastrophe, we appear to be incapable of understanding what confronts us.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Minus the backflip, I did this today on a joist...

Try to be careful, Jack! It's my experience that any damage you take on past the bloom of youth tends to hang around.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6IXSTRINGJACK:
Hopefully I'll still have the floor in by next week.
Do Right, Be Right. :)

And I bet you'll celebrate that, at least a little bit, at least in your mind !!!

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019 12:05 AM

I'm icing it now, Kiki.

Huge amount of pain. I had a board in front of the door because I was moving some of the patio pavers down below earlier in the day. Did the same damn thing where I had it hanging over too far to one side again, and I was in a hurry to get out since I saw my neighbor across the street walking his dog and I wanted to talk to him about the flood the other night and see if he even was aware of it.

I see-sawed it again, only this time with absolutely no other boards around it I had nowhere to fall but straight down a few feet and I racked myself. I got up and thought "this is how I die"... bleeding out internally...

Seems my right inner thigh took the brunt of it. If this ice doesn't do the trick I imagine I'm going to have a monster bruise down there in a day or two.

I hate this house. I've got to get out of this place.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019 7:35 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by 1KIKI:
I think that snow is super early - kind of a freak storm. I'm curious to see, but I wouldn't be surprised if autumn came back for a while.

That snow is super early even for the prairies. So, we shall see. Friends up Edmonton said they saw a couple of flakes but nothing stayed.

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019 7:37 PM

Did some reorganizing and got a toaster oven on sale. Last one of its kind on the shelves. I thought it was $39 but when I checked the tag, it came up $25. So I picked that up right away. I can bake now and do a little roasting with it.

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019 9:16 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Minus the backflip, I did this today on a joist...

Crikey!!

Quote:
I'm icing it now, Kiki.

Huge amount of pain. I had a board in front of the door because I was moving some of the patio pavers down below earlier in the day. Did the same damn thing where I had it hanging over too far to one side again, and I was in a hurry to get out since I saw my neighbor across the street walking his dog and I wanted to talk to him about the flood the other night and see if he even was aware of it.

I see-sawed it again, only this time with absolutely no other boards around it I had nowhere to fall but straight down a few feet and I racked myself. I got up and thought "this is how I die"... bleeding out internally...

Seems my right inner thigh took the brunt of it. If this ice doesn't do the trick I imagine I'm going to have a monster bruise down there in a day or two.

I hate this house. I've got to get out of this place.

Of course. It has a lot of bad memories associated with it.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019 9:27 PM

Better day today. No injuries.

Looks like I may have successfully blocked the mole from getting in between the porch and the shed with the trench work I did. Everything looks undisturbed. I seriously doubt the racoon is ever going to find its way back in there either after this cleaner and more permanent fix.

Cut away the existing plywood flooring smooth up to the existing walls with a new tool, so no jagged crappy edges from the sawzall. Threw out all the garbage that was underneath from the bad wood to 40 year old beer cans and other crap Uncle Bob left down there when he did this crap job. Vaccumed up all debris.

Now I'm in the process of grading the dirt and rocks in the crawl properly so I can start getting the patio pavers on top of them and get it all ready for the visqueen. I still have structural work to do down below, but it was so gross down there I don't want to even think about doing that until I have a more or less clean and dry concrete floor beneath my feet. Hopefully I can at least start back up on that before the end of the day tomorrow.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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Thursday, October 3, 2019 9:46 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Cut away the existing plywood flooring smooth up to the existing walls with a new tool

What tool would that be? I thought a sawzall was THE go-to tool for awkward construction cuts!

At this end ... I think this would qualify as the beginning of the big cleanup. dd and I are going thru her stuff, finally. I hired my occasional guy for front yard clean-up, and I worked with him for a few hours to push the cleanup along.

In the meantime, hubby and I are working on fixing up the front bathroom, which used to be the nicest until dd compulsively started peeling paint from the door, walls, and cabinetry. (TBH, the paint was peeling already.) So he pulled down the door and we scraped off the remaining paint, sanded the door and oiled it with tung oil. Now it looks better than new.

Also, when we had our emergency waste-line replacement (because our iron waste line for the kitchen rusted shut one weekend, and the rest of the lines were 75% on their way there) the plumbers cracked one of the copper pipes leading up into the faucet handle. The crack was inside the fitting, and the only way to fix it was to replace the fitting, but the only way to get to it was to pull the sink, which hubby did with a few heavy-duty tugs. The threaded pipe was dented (how did THAT happen?!?) and the nut was so corroded that, after using a cold chisel to spin the nut partway up, we had to get the oscillating saw and cut the nut in half. Anyway, sink is removed, fittings are out, door is fixed. Now all we need to do is get/install a replacement faucet/drain/sink/ a few tiles, spackle, paint and clean. But I think my very next item of business is to continue the decluttering.

-----------
Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor - William Blake

You idiots have been oppressing the entire sexual spectrum as long as you have existed. I can't wait for the day your kind is dead - WISHIMAY

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Thursday, October 3, 2019 10:11 AM