More Homeowner Trials and Tribulations...

Checked a bunch of little projects off the honey-do list this weekend. Freedom House is ten (going on 11) years old, and little things are starting to wear out, as they tend to do. We've rebuilt one toilet already, and this weekend I rebuilt two more (really just dropping in a new fill valve, which is so pitifully easy even I can do it).

The second toilet rebuild took about five minutes, start to finish, and if I'd had a third valve handy, I'd have gone down into the basement and rebuilt that one as well, that's how easy it was. It's nice to have toilets that flush again... Y'know, it's funny. A $7.50 part and all of a sudden there's no more flush toilet. Pretty much the hallmark of advanced civilization and it can be thwarted by a $0.10 piece of plastic. But I digress.

Also tackled the cold water pipes in the basement, and got about 24 feet covered in insulation. We'd been seeing some condensation when running consecutive loads of laundry, so the pipes got wrapped, and it's a good thing I tackled it when I did, because I found out that the freezer had stopped working...

As it turns out, I caught it pretty soon after it stopped working, because 90% of the contents were still frozen (and the remainder was close enough). The freezer is fine, it turns out; the electrical outlet it was plugged into gave up the ghost. Now, me and electrical work, we have an understanding. I don't attempt it, and it doesn't kill me.

I messed around with some serious electrical in another life, and came very close to making a rather permanent mistake, so I'm a little leery of playing around with anything more electrical than swapping out batteries in the smoke detectors, so I'll defer to an electrician for this (we need to have an electrician out for unrelated work anyways).

One of the things I thought about installing in the basement is a light fixture with an electrical outlet wired in. Dad G. had a couple put into his new workshop, and it seems to be exactly the solution I need for my work area. I picked up a couple cheap 4' fluorescent lights, and with the plug in the light socket, I can turn on both the fluorescent and the standard bulb at the same time.

Then I saw this:

Socket with Outlets.

I've got to be missing something. For $2.50, I get a pair of plugs I can screw into a light socket and control either with a light switch or a pull chain (there's two lights in the workshop, each controlled separately). I think I might pick up a couple and an extra fluorescent fixture and have more light in the basement.

Anyone have experience with these, good or bad?

That is all.

Special Thanks...

This is going to embarass him greatly, but I have to do this. I owe someone a serious debt of gratitude. Commenter, blogshoot attendee, lifelong friend, and all-around wonderful human being SCI-FI really helped me out recently, and I want to acknowledge and thank him for it.

The NRA's 141st Annual Meeting was arranged well over a year ago. I had booked my hotel before the beginning of the year; I arranged my flights back in January. Imagine my chagrin when - at the end of March - I received an e-mail informing me that the "Daddy Daughter Dance" for Girl Scouts was Friday, April 13th. Which would be rather difficult for me, as I was scheduled to be in St. Louis that day. Usually the Daddy Daughter Dance is the first Friday in April - but this year, that was Good Friday.

I have a sister. My wife has two sisters. Both my father and my father-in-law have mobility issues that would make a two hour dance with a high-energy child a difficult evening. Plus, as BabyGirl G. so delicately stated, "They're *old*!" (Note: We did not pass this along; I don't think that either my dad or my FIL read my blog...). So at the beginning of last week, I had to find my little girl a suitable date for the Daddy Daughter Dance. Her godfather was not available - not that SCI-FI was my second choice, but because her godfather (who is also a lifelong friend and like a brother) happens to work with me.

So with less than a week's notice, I called SCI-FI and asked him if he could be my stand-in at the Daddy Daughter Dance. He accepted without a moment's hesitation, re-arranging his plans for Friday night so that my little girl could go to the dance and have fun. I cannot stress enough how much I appreciate his selflessness and willingness to help a friend out. I was able to attend the NRA convention (Baby Girl G., upon hearing when the Daddy Daughter Dance was, told me, in all seriousness, "Sorry daddy, you can't go to the NRA convention"...) and not worry that I was letting my little girl down.

Because of the kindness of a friend, my little girl had a wonderful time. Rather than have to sit out the dance, or go without an escort, she was able to go with someone she's known her entire life; someone she genuinely likes and is close with her family. I cannot express how much I appreciate SCI-FI's help. It does not surprise me, mind you; SCI-FI is one of those people that will move heaven and earth to help a friend - or even a complete stranger. Saying he'll give you the shirt off your back doesn't begin to cover it; he'll follow up later to find out why you needed a shirt and to see if you need future shirts, too...

A few months ago, on my drive to work, I came across a woman in a disabled SUV who was blocking a line of traffic leading up to a stop light at a busy intersection. As she stood outside the car, calling someone on the phone, I thought to myself, "What would SCI-FI do?", and I peeled off into the nearby parking lot. I talked with her briefly, discovering that her SUV had stalled unexpectedly and couldn't start; she had called someone to come help her and was waiting. I told her I'd push her SUV into the parking lot, got her off the road and out of harm's way, and pushed her the 100 feet or so into the lot, where she parked and waited for her friend. It was that thought - what would SCI-FI do - that compelled me to stop and help rather than drive on by. That's the kind of person he is; that's the kind of effect he has on folks.

So, SCI-FI, I know that if you read this it will embarass you, but I wanted to take a moment and thank you for helping me out of a jam. You're the closest thing I have on this planet to a brother, and I can't think of anyone that Baby Girl G. would have had a better time with (after her daddy, natch). She had a wonderful time; I was able to relax Friday night knowing that she was in good hands; and your kindness turned what could have been a very bad situation into something good. Thank you, so very much, for helping me and Baby Girl G. out.

And I think it's worth noting that he's one of a very select few of people I have approved to dance with my daughter...

That is all.

Can't Talk...

Eating turkey. Suggest you do the same.



Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

That is all.

All Decked Out...

This weekend saw the completion of one of the first semi-major remodels at Casa del G. This was a somewhat unplanned remodel, but one we knew was coming - our back deck needed new railings. Now, when we built the house, we cut a few corners in the interest of saving money. One of the areas was in the deck railings - we really wanted the plastic railings, but at the time of construction the plastic stuff was a) brand new and really expensive; and b) looked like it was made out of used PVC for the most part. We opted for untreated pine over pressure treated, with the idea that "someday" we would replace the pine with the plastic.

Well, someday came.

The railings had been in failing health for a couple of years - we've been losing post caps at a rate of one or two a year:

Rot is an ugly thing...

This past winter saw record snowfalls in our neck of the woods - at one point, the snow on the back porch actually came up over the railings. The weight of the snow, combined with prolonged exposure to a source of water, pushed the railings over the edge from "going" to "gone":

Rot, take two

We actually lost an entire section of railing when the snow melted:

Railing's gone, man

The section on the left actually saw the top part of the railing - and all of the balusters - fall over onto the lawn somewhere around March. One morning I just came down to get my morning coffee, and when I looked out the window there was a big gaping hole in the railing on the back deck. It was like my house was playing hockey...

So it was time to replace the railings. Not a huge deal; I could certainly have brought home a bunch of 2X4 pressure treated boards and rebuilt it in a weekend (or three...). We took a look at the prices and options for the plastic railings, though, and decided that it was time to add on the maintenance-free option we wanted from the beginning. Here's where it got interesting.

Apparently all of the contractors, handymen, and carpenters in the area have been ignoring the news of the slow economy, because the best we got out of a half-dozen calls was one site visit - and that was a friend of mine! We had a couple of contractors promise to stop by for an estimate and never show; we had a couple "friend of a friend" deals where our calls were never returned, and I was starting to think that I was going to have to bite the bullet and figure it out myself. Fortunately, Dad G. had a friend who was looking for side jobs, and he gave a price that couldn't be beat.

Inside of a week, we had this:

Even my house has rails!

I wish we had done this back in May, but we had other things on our plate at the time. As the summer wore on, we looked around to find someone to take on this project, and here it is Labor Day weekend and it's finally done. There's no sense in dragging the patio furniture out for a couple of weeks; however I fully intend to bring the camp table and four chairs out to have a handful of meals cooked on the grill and enjoyed on the deck.

It's nice to see a home improvement project both finished on time and on budget!

That is all.