Comments (13)

By kilax, July 14, 2016 12:47 pm

Random house updates time!

There’s a few things we worked on in June that I haven’t documented yet. I actually keep a running spreadsheet of the dates and projects we work on, but I like to post it here too, for narrative/photo documentation.

Project 1 – pulling ethernet cable

To get internet at our house, we have a wireless antenna mounted outside on the side of the house (cable is not available where we live). We wanted to pull ethernet cable from the antenna (which is by the attic) to our first floor office (where our network switch is), so Steven had the brilliant idea of running the cable through the old central vacuum tubing that runs in the house! The tubing already ran from the second floor to the basement, so Steven bought more tubing to run it in to the attic (to connect to the antenna). This required some demolition in our second floor hallway!

The new vacuum tube installed.

Patching up the hole.

Steven putting the tubing in in the attic

We put the new tubing in on May 30, pulled the cables through on June 5, and worked on patching throughout June and finished the wall (painting) on July 4.

All patched up!

Project 2 – fixing the garage attic gas leak

Ha, we put this one off for awhile. We noticed a natural gas smell in our downstairs bathroom when the FHA 203k streamlined contractors finished up their work in the end of April. It turns out that bathroom exhaust ductwork that runs through the attic was punctured, and the existing gas leak (caused by a damaged/tapered pipe connection) was going in to that ductwork, hence why we were smelling it in the bathroom.

The tapered/messed-up pipe.

So the project entailed replacing gas pipes and the bathroom ductwork. We made sure to do it on a really hot day (June 11) since it involved being in the attic. Ha ha! It took all day, and a bit of brainstorming, but we fixed it, and we can’t smell the gas anymore. Yay!

The small space Steven worked in. I was the gopher!

It also gave us a chance to try out rigid ductwork, which we are thinking of using in our other attic!

Project 3 – jacking up the house

This is an ongoing project. Two joists in our basement are being crushed because of faulty loading (due to faulty design!) coming from the upper floors. Because these joists are crushed, the floors on top of them are not level. Our fridge actually leans back toward the wall that is above these joists, and my office shelves lean toward the wall on the other side.

Well, they used to! It’s getting better, because we put jacks in the basement to jack those joists up. We’re using the tall jack to push one up from the floor, and a short jack to push one up from the brick wall it sits on.  Steven put in supportive blocking to try to keep the joists from failing by buckling to the side.

You know what would be awesome? If I remembered ANYTHING I learned about loading in college. Gah. Most useless architecture degree EVER.

We started jacking the house up on June 18. We do a little every few days. It’s VERY interesting to see how the house responds. Walls are obviously cracking. The basement door, which is very close to the joists, gets harder and harder to close (and has actually been open since Saturday, since we can’t close it) the more we jack up the joists, because the floor level is rising.

But! It’s not all bad! The first level floors are leveling out, and second level doors that weren’t plumb before are squaring off and closing like they should. Yay!

Eventually, when things are level and we’ve allowed them to settle, we’ll add solid blocking to support the load and replace or sister the affected joists with new engineered lumber joists. Then, we can go through the process of fixing all the cracks and unevenness caused by the buckling in the floors. And eventually, get a backsplash in the kitchen – that is on hold since the wall it would go on is one of the walls being affected by the jacks!

Hopefully I’ve said this on the blog before, but I am very impressed by how much of a go-getter Steven is with figuring out house projects and tackling them. He loves to do research and figure things out, and he’s totally in his element! It doesn’t come as naturally to me, but I like helping him, and that we’re working on things together.

Comments (7)

By kilax, July 9, 2016 9:23 am

Leading up to our trip to Alaska, we (mostly Steven) did a lot of work to the pond area. We removed all the brush and raked out the old leaves. Steven and a friend dug the hole for the fountain equipment and started digging the trench toward the pond for the piping.

Then we were gone for a week.

And when we came back the stumps we had cut down had new leaves growing off of them. There was new growth in the area we cleared up too. In a week’s time! Nuts!

Even more nuts though? Was how much the level of the pond went down while we were gone. Here is a panoramic from May 20:

And  June 3:

And here is one I took this morning:

Do you feel like you can barely see the pond? And all you can see is mud? (Did you find the three ducks in the photo?) It’s not just my horrible photo taking skills – the water has gone down that much. I’ll outline the perimeter of the pond in red for ya:

We’ve haven’t had much rain this summer, and nothing feeds in to our pond so the water is slowly evaporating. We kind of feel like we might go out there one day and it will just be a giant mud pit. Yay…

The muddy area in this photo was all covered in water when we moved in.

But we (Steven) are still working at it. Steven cleared a bunch of brush around the edge of the pond on Independence Day, so that now, while the water is low, you can walk around it. And we’re still discussing putting a fountain in, because even though it’s low, we’d like the water to circulate so we have a few less mosquitoes in the yard.

Can’t go outside without these guys showing up (from L to R: Bill, Bob and Freddie)! They thought I was coming to feed them when I went outside this am to take photos. So of course, I went and got them some seed.

Comments (11)

By kilax, July 8, 2016 6:43 pm

So that on hot summer days, like today, I can run the five miles to Bobbi’s house and jump in to her pool!

Ahh yes. Cool, cool relief!

When we first looked at our house, back in August, I was so overly excited about it, and how close it was to Bobbi’s house, that I said to her one day “You guys plan on living in your house forever, right? Because we’re looking at one that’s only a few miles from you!” Basically, don’t move, because it would be awesome to have a ten minute drive to see you instead of forty-five minutes!

I felt foolish being so excited about it, so early (we didn’t think we’d get the house after that, then didn’t know until late November we were (hopefully) moving here), but Bobbi was excited too. Which made me so excited.

So I was happy today, to finally do the run between our places. Yay! I hope it’s something that happens many times again in the future! With or without the pool at the end.

Comments (21)

By kilax, July 6, 2016 6:24 am

Raspberries!

Yay! My favorite fruit!

Things I am NOT so excited are growing in my yard – poison ivy. I am not sure where it is, but it’s gotta be out there.

Before we left for Alaska, Steven had really odd reactions to bug bites on his arms – swelling, some drainage (ew), and it was somewhat spreading like a rash… and getting crusty. Awesome…

I went to the pharmacist and described it to them (as a reaction to bug bites) and got Steven some allergy medicine and cream to help with it. The medicine seemed to dry it up and we figured it was all good.

Then the same thing happened to me when we got back from Alaska. Which is funny, because I was teasing Steven about it happening to him because of his “weak genes.” “You can’t handle living out here in the woods! Neener neener!” But wait a second, now my skin is reacting the same way? What the heck?

So I figured it was some odd bug bite my body had to get used to. Spider bites (ick) I told myself. “That must be why my body is reacting differently.”

Then yesterday, as the spot oozed again, I thought, “Wait. Maybe this isn’t a reaction to a bug bite at all” Light bulb moment! I took a photo of it and sent it to the family poison ivy expert – my mom. “Does this look like poison ivy rash to you?”

She didn’t even text back. She immediately called “Whose arm is that? I hope it’s not yours because they definitely have poison ivy.”

Dammit. It’s mine. (My leg, actually.)

My mom is allergic to poison ivy and has had some HORRIBLE reactions to it, including getting it on her face and in her eyes last year… so I trust that she can spot it. Blah. Now, to try not to scratch it…

But hey, at least if it happens to me and Steven again, I’ll think of it first! And know not to tease him since I had the same reaction!

Comments (4)

By kilax, June 22, 2016 10:43 am

… and you have to do yard work, and know the ducks will expect you to feed them because they hear the dump cart, so you prep some of your grapes for them to eat.

Yep, as Steven says, the ducks have ME trained.

They’re out of luck when we’re gone though – Bobbi said she is only feeding Data, not the neighbor’s ducks, ha ha!

I hope the ducks are still interested* in hanging out in the fall when Luca visits – I think he’ll get a kick out of them!

*I am sure they will be if I keep feeding them like kings.

Comments (24)

By kilax, June 20, 2016 6:25 am

We bought sleep masks for our Alaska trip since the sun will be up for so long and we don’t know if the places we’re staying will have (blackout) shades.

Ha, the company name makes me laugh.

What kind of place doesn’t have shades?! Ha, secluded places in the wilderness. Places like our house…

We don’t plan on getting shades/window treatments for our home since there is no one around to “see in” and since the views are so nice. There are only two reasons* I can think of for shades – to block the western sun from hitting the television in our living space, and to keep the early rising sun from disrupting our sleep too much in the bedroom.

But I can just wear the sleep mask to help with the second issue!

Ugh, but that doesn’t stop Data from bugging me as soon as the sun’s up. He needs a little cat sized sleep mask!

*Unless our stuff starts to get hella faded… then we may have to get some! And we have temporary shades we can put up in the guest bedroom for guests who prefer shades. 

Comments (14)

By kilax, June 8, 2016 6:23 am

My boss and I were in Indianapolis yesterday for a two hour meeting. Getting there involved my two hour train commute, then a three hour drive from Chicago, and the same on the way home. Which sounds horrible, but I was actually not dreading it, because I highly enjoy my boss’s company and was looking forward to all that time to chat (which was fun!).

But then it did get horrible on the way home, because I started to get a migraine. UGH. This happens often when I am in long work meetings, or traveling for work. I drink less water, because I don’t want to constantly be getting up from meetings to go to the bathroom and BOOM – headache. And we had a nicer, cooler, windy day, and the pressure change didn’t help my head either. Blah.

So we’re driving home and it hits me, bad. We pull over and get medicine and more fluids. I think I am feeling better, then all of a sudden, I get that feeling in my mouth like I am going to throw up. Awesome.

I tried to close my eyes and relax and will it to pass away, but I couldn’t get comfortable. I was constantly adjusting my seat, the AC, and taking my jacket on and off. Ugh.

Can you imagine doing all that in a car with your boss?

I’m not sure I would have mentioned it, or at least, showed my discomfort to the extent I did, with previous bosses, but my current boss is so kind, understanding, and relatable, I felt okay about it.

In fact, she is so kind, that she INSISTED on driving me the entire way home from Chicago, instead of having me get on the train home. So… she added an extra two hours to her commute, so that I would feel comfortable, and could sleep in the car.

How nice is that?

At first I didn’t want to inconvenience her, but I was getting so out of it with the headache that I went along with it. Ha. And I am happy I did – sleeping in the car while she drove really helped me feel better, quicker. I wouldn’t have been able to sleep like that on the train.

So, long story long, my boss rocks. I’ll be really sad whenever she leaves our group (maybe that will be what finally makes me leave my group for something else in the company).

Also, I never threw up. Yay! (But Data threw up when I got home, so I got to clean that up while feeling crummy, ha ha! (Steven was gone all day (and still gone when I got home) so Data was making himself all stressed and that is why he threw up – he’s been doing that every now and then, lately, ugh).)

I don’t have any photos for this story, but here’s one from yesterday, of Freddie and Bill being demanding:

We used to think Freddie (the white duck) was the ring leader, but nope, it’s definitely Bill (the brown duck).

Comments (12)

By kilax, June 4, 2016 6:50 am

Man, Freddie and Bill crack me up.

Have I mentioned Data gives zero f*cks about them? Chipmunks and birds? Oh yes, please. A raccoon? That’s his buddy! Deer/dogs? He’ll hiss at them. Ducks? Not even sure he sees them. No reaction. I had to place him here to look out the window:

And he was like, “eh.”

He does care that we are working outside without him. Sorry, Data.

We’ve spent the last three nights clearing an area around the pond, and removing trees from the pond (with Freddie and Bill keeping us company the whole time, each night). We’re prepping the area for pond fountain equipment, but also trying to better our view of the pond, and make it healthier, overall.

Before (note, all the brush on the left side of the photo, and more trees in the pond):

click to see larger

After (still a work in progress):

I know – you can barely tell the difference!

Here’s a shot from Wednesday after we cleared a lot of the brush, but before we took most of the trees down:

And here it is on Friday with the trees removed from the pond (stumps left behind to deal with later, circled in red) and waiting on the grass to be cut up:

Lots of work left to do, but we enjoy it (it does wear us out though)! Several people had negative things to say about yardwork before we bought the house (and since), but we like it. I actually prefer it to inside the house work! And getting this pond cleaned up will make it a lot better to be outside, because (hopefully!) we’ll have less of a mosquito issue!

JK, guys. I use the clippers.

Comments (18)

By kilax, June 2, 2016 11:29 am

• Freddie and Bill seem to be conditioned to the sound of the dump cart – they hear it coming and think I am coming with food! Which, I usually am, but last night I was actually using the dump cart to clear out logs and brush from around the pond. But they came running up, anyway. Sorry, guys! Luckily, I was able to empty out a feeder for them. They must be STARVING. Ha ha.

Not food

Also, not food (you can barely see the cart, ha!)

• I was unprepared for how sad I would feel, cutting down a few trees, even though we talked about it, and we want a bigger clearing by the pond (and need it for some of the fountain equipment) … and have a LOT more trees on our property. Sigh. It’s the nature girl in me. I better get used to it though – we’ll have to take down more in the future to make our land a bit healthier (not enough light is getting to the forest floor).

Lots of trees

• This year is the first time I’ve made time to run on “Global Running Day” (which is always the first Wednesday in June, and previously called “National Running Day”). For years, I’ve been in the office every Wednesday, and not made the time to run with the hours commuting. But my team switched our required office day this year (it changes every other week) and it was easier to fit a run in on the “holiday” this year, because I was working from home! I think these made up holidays are a bit hokey (National Donut day is tomorrow!), but I do like starting my month off with a run! May was crap (workout-wise) and I am determined to make June better.
• Damn though, my June schedule is getting NUTSO. Someone asked me when I was free for a meeting (outside of work) and I had two dates to give them… out of the whole month. And now one of those is no longer available. Eek. How about July?
• My ankles are sore from unclipping out of my bike pedals on their own from my fall. Ouch! You can’t see the bruise/swollen-ness too well in this photo… but you can see my ridic tan line! Ha!

Link to Random Thoughts Thursday 100

Comments (17)

By kilax, June 1, 2016 6:23 am

… for Data. Ha.

I heard him hit the window and thought “what in the world?!”

Then, “Oh yeah, the chipmunks!”

A few baby chipmunks live in our yard, and one of them was giving Data a show this morning.

Steven loves the to watch the chipmunks. His favorite thing is when they sit on the edge or our patio, and look out over the yard.

We often see them do that in the morning, so I imagine it’s the calm before they start their crazy chipmunk day of running around and up things. Ha ha.