View allAll Photos Tagged sideyard
After 4-6 hours of 2 people scraping.
scraping.
house maintenance, living room window, peeling paint.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
May 27, 2011.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
Before we started using stripping compound (ultimately spending >$50 on tons of it), we stripped using only elbow grease. This was after we spent maybe 2-3 hours of 2 people scraping.
scraping.
house maintenance, living room window, peeling paint.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
May 27, 2011.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
I finally finished the 24 pavers for the sideyard. Yahoo!! Now, I've decided to make a garden patchwork rug out of pavers in an area coming into the side yard. Not too certain whether I will need 10 or 12.....Here are the first two.
Oranjello meets the window. Their new favorite place. Shortly afterward, the window sill was repainted so that it looked as new as the window.
Notice my neighbor's deck! What deck, you say? It's covered in kudzu! It used to be a 2-level deck, but then hurricane + house condemnation = removal. Anyway, the way we eventually solved the "homeowners insurance getting dropped 3 times" problem was to ask her what they used for her house. :)
Oranjello the cat, house maintenance, kudzu, living room window, radiator.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
Just because I left Schoeplfe Garden doesn't mean I am done taking pictures this afternoon, my one night off in 13 nights! My sideyard berries prove themselves fitting subjects.
This is the "cat paw makes the wings go" shot. It can be challenging to restrain a cat on a leash and take a photo at the same time.
If it hadn't been for my cat "Sunshine", I wouldn't have known this moth was in the grass. She spotted it and wasn't sure what it was, so she was attempting to touch it. But every time she would get close to touching it, the moth would flap its wings and she'd yank her paw back and jump from being startled.
So, I kept her from harming it and snapped a few phone photos. Then I made sure she stayed away from it until it went elsewhere.
Once again, thanks to my friend Rebecca for the quick ID.
It's rare that a cat gets use of our "funny face" tag, but here is a appropriate example. What were you thinking, Lemonjello?
Lemonjello the cat, brick wall, broken window, kudzu, peeling paint, telephone box.
edited. funny face.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
June 19, 2010.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: We staged some photos to re-create The Great Cat Escape Of 2010. Lemonjello, the inferior cat, is superior in a select few ways: And one of those is warning Clint that something is up. When Oranjello was trapped in the crawlspace, Lemonjello literally meowed and led Clint, 5 feet at a time, to the door of the crawlspace.
This other morning, he meowed with similar alarm and tone -- a meow that is even worse than his normal annoying whiny meows. He led me to the living room, where I immediately felt the heat coming in from the missing pane. It fell 4 feet, but did not break (SLACK!). Being a cat-related endeavor, it fell to Carolyn to deal with the consequences. It was all of $3 to fix.
Yes, this window is in terrible condition, as is the sill. It looked especially worse when we put new siding on the house (the rest of our house had looked like that). I don't really see a point in upkeeping them (Repair? Yes. Upkeep? No.) since they really need to be replaced with 2-pane energy efficient windows anyway. It could definitely use a fresh coat of paint. In the interim, we simply put pillows over the hole. This kept the cats in and the heat out. Fortunately, they never go too far when they get out... But right before fixing it, we decided to take some pictures of the unique situation!
We went out and drew some plans to determine how we would like to add some lighting to our side & back yard for outside parties and security. Basically, for 75 yrs, this house has had an unilluminated yard. Know anyone who can add a new circuit and lay a bunch of wire in our yard?
Side yard: We thought to put a light on a pole up high by the hill near the road, and add a pole light by the oak tree. We thought of putting a spotlight in the back pointed at the backyard and adding a motion light on the back of the house pointing in and down. For the side of the house by the pig pen, we thought of putting a light pole where the X is. We thought it should be 15 ft high attached to the wall with a bracket. We thought the electricity could run from the utility room.
construction, light, light pole, motion light, oak tree, pig pen, plans, plans drawing, spiral notebook.
diptych.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL at wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL at wordpress.com
After the (first) new window was (incorrectly) installed.
As I had a pending homeowners insurance house inspection, I made them come and put a temporary cap (white) on the window. It would be a month before they came and installed the newly made, correctly sized window.
Random Trivia: That Mr. Bungle cardboard display in the middle of this picture? I got it from a record store in high school. I did not listen to Mr. Bungle at the time. I had heard of them and THOUGHT I might listen to them at some point in the future, so I pre-hoarded the display in case I did end up liking them later. And I did. I got *deeply* into Mr. Bungle during college, and was glad I had the foresight to grab that display before I even liked the band :) Thank you Waxie-Maxie of Potomac Mills, Woodbridge, circa 1990.
house maintenance, living room window.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made,so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
OMFG my neighbor actually removed the kudzu from her deck! You can actually see that it exists! There used to be a 2nd level deck, but it had to be removed to get the house un-condemned after a post-hurricane landslide. She unfortunately doesn't have the retaining walls that me or Tim do. (Repairing/adding to a retaining wall I did not even realize existed is one of our projects for next year.)
Also, you can see how the inner sill has now been painted white to match the window. No more yellow lines and ripped-off paint.
Lemonjello the cat, Oranjello the cat, bricks, deck, house maintenance, kudzu, living room window.
after painting.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
October 14, 2011.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for somany months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
Oops! Guess that WAS lead paint I was scraping and letting fall all in my mouth and eyes and all over my skin for weeks on end.
They had to do a lead test. No extra cost to the customer; but they had to take extra state-mandated safety measures, PLUS due to the lead status, they were only allowed to take 50% of the job costs up front. Since we had already paid the full cost of the job (~$2500) up front, they had to refund us half, and ask us to write another check for just ~$1250. Funny how the government kept me from paying the business I wanted to pay for the service they wanted to provide me. I understand that this was for my protection, but when I actually needed protection from a creepy addition builder who took 3 years to perform a 3 month contract, screwing me out of more than $10K extra over the contract, the government could only fine him $500 and help me $0. So what I am seeing from a lot of government regulation is that it makes people feel good, but doesn't actually do anything for them.
This is also an example of a repainted window sill. Though this window is barely a window -- the outer pane is just a sheet of plastic screwed into the wooden window pane. Not airtight or anything. I had sprayed Great Stuff in there years ago. Looks like ass but probably helped the breeze a bit. This time I painted a margin around the plastic sheet itself, to obscure the ugly Great Stuff. I often call this "The Worst Window In All Of Scotland", after the "Worst Toilet In All Of Scotland" from the movie Trainspotting.
We're waiting for the sill on this window to finish rotting out. This window is one of the top 2 windows in the house up for future replacement. Always has been.
ADT sticker, Secured by ADT sticker, house maintenance, lead work area sign, living room window, no smoking or eating sign, no smoking warning.after painting.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for anew one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
We have a few cats that hang around the neighborhood every so often. We call them "Interloper kitties." Oranjello and Lemonjello always get excited when they can see the interloper.
You can tell we don't use our yard much...
balcony, brick wall, cat, grill, kudzu, leaves, oil drum, patio, solar light, trees, window.
flare.
side yard, living room, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
November 12, 2012.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
After the old window was removed; before the first (incorrect) new window was installed.
Random Trivia: That Mr. Bungle cardboard display in the middle of this picture? I got it from a record store in high school. I did not listen to Mr. Bungle at the time. I had heard of them and THOUGHT I might listen to them at some point in the future, so I pre-hoarded the display in case I did end up liking them later. And I did. I got *deeply* into Mr. Bungle during college, and was glad I had the foresight to grab that display before I even liked the band :) Thank you Waxie-Maxie of Potomac Mills, Woodbridge, circa 1990.
house maintenance, ladders, living room window.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills,as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
Inside view of the window. A surprising number of our frequent house guests seemed surprised to learn that this window even existed. That's weird to me, because even though I never look out windows -- and kind of hate them -- I could probably place every window in any house I've been in more than once.
We lost the shutters in the upgrade. That's okay; some were broken anyway. More random wood to put in my attic to use for blocking raccoon entry or what-not.
house maintenance, kudzu, living room window, radiator, shutters.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So ourhomeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data,whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
Southernmost House ~ Key West, Florida
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southernmost_House
www.southernmosthouse.com/photos/pictures-historic-beachf...
South side yard. Mouse over for notes.
This narrow side yard faces southand sits on top of a 3-foot retaining wall. The sandy soil retains very little water and the brick wall of the house relfects a lot of heat, so the plants I put here had to be both heat and drought tolerant.
Up until 2005, this was my best (in my opinion) Photographer's Shadow pic, not so much because of the shadow but because of the total composition. Now, however, it has some serious competition. You'll have to wait, however. It's going to be part of your Christmas present.
They broke my trim while installing the window. Given that I had waited an additional month past the original install date due to their mess-ups ... I was pretty insistent that they go down to Home Depot, buy replacement trim, and install it at no cost to me right that second. They sent a higher-level guy over -- he actually arrived within 2 minutes of me calling (!). I ultimately got my way. Even if, in theory, they weren't the ones to break it....The least they can do for keeping our living room in disarray for a whole month is to actually make the final product look right. After all the trouble we've had with contractors during EVERY possible home renovation, it's increasingly hard to get me to take no for an answer, and I've increasingly come to understand why "bitchy customers" are the way they are. Asking nice doesn't work.
The replacement trim wasn't an exact match, but nobody's checking that. I'm quite happy with the results, especially after Carolyn painted it.
Look outside the window. See the solar light sitting in the bricks? LIFE TETRIS.
bricks, house maintenance, kudzu, living room window, replacement trim, solar light.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: So our homeowners insurance (Farmers) got dropped due to having peeling paint on our window sills (among other things). Weak. It was a LOT of work AND money for us to repaint all our sills. Wood windows SUCK!! Modern vinyl windows are MAINTANENCE-FREE!! Wood windows... You gotta re-glaze the panes when they fall out, and then the wood itself is always going to slowly rot away. We already had our cats knock a pane out, so we already had glazing compound for pane repairs. This came in handy when we painted our various window sills, as some also needed glazing compound.
So the largest window in our house -- actually 3 windows -- was a major pain, and one of the few single-pane windows in the house. It would leak heat/cold in the summer/winter, and looked really bad compared to the new siding we had installed 6 or so years ago. So we decided to go ahead and replace just this window (actually 3 separate windows). Man was it expensive! $2,350! Thompson Creek had the best pitch and data, whereas Home Depot required $30 up front for an appointment they never showed up for and a list of 4 phone numbers to escalate (all 4 failed). So we had Thompson Creek do it of course! They did it, said they did it wrong, made us wait a month while making a new window (pro: they are all custom-made just for you; con: they are all custom-made, so a screw-up requires waiting for a new one to be made), then installed the new window, and finally everything was good and we were satisfied.
It was just kind of a pain because it cost so much money and had our living room in disarray for so many months, and the whole insurance basis for the situation was pretty bullshitty in the first place. We're not going to make a property damage claim due to moisture that occurs because our paint was peeling! Ridiculous...
Well! Much better now! Still bad, but at least now it looks like a bad paint job instead of a door about to fall apart. And the DSL line is much better now too.
Our utility room door. Not opened since the 1990s -- had to be pried back shut. Used to have a wooden storm door, until one year it just collapsed and disintegrated from the elements (which is why there is a piece of wood attached to hinges on the right). The cinder block wall to our patio (left) is in crap condition too -- but maybe the paint will help keep out the moisture and make it last a bit longer.
You can see where the cats ripped open the blinds so they could look open the window. This is an orange cat thing; our other cats didn't do this.
You can see our DSL line hanging down. Originally it was worse, with cracked/missing wire insulation exposing inside wires all over the place. Combination of what I can only assume was cheap wire, combined with snow, ice, rain, and kudzu twisting the wires taut all the time. I used many many feet of electrical tape to patch up the outside of the water, and to preemptively cover up cracks that were going to end up getting worse later ("a stitch in time saves nine"). I wedged it behind various trim pieces whenever possible, with the extra slack hanging around our electric meter. DSL saved! The internet and phone companies will NOT fix this line for less than $180 per visit if it breaks. Last time it took them two visits because I wasn't there to point at where the wire was broken. COVAD are dicks. This shit is important. It shouldn't be considered inside wiring, but it is. Once it's past your junction box, it's all "inside" wiring, even if it's outside! Typical corporate doublespeak; outside becomes inside in the world of profiting off your consumers. I am the 99%, goddamnit.
Damn kudzu is already climbing up the door again, despite us weed-wacking the hell out of it just weeks before.
Home Depot's color-matching skills with Behr paint-with-prime vs Behr paint-without-prime leaves a lot to be desired. A LOT. Our color mis-matching here is what you get when you take the same paint back and ask them to match the existing paint. They, er, uh... don't. No refunds! $40 a gallon paint-with-primer, $25 a gallon paint-without-primer, tons of brushes, paint thinner, rags, elbow grease -- And you get this! Mis-matched color!
DSL line, Home Depot color matching, cinder blocks, concrete wall, house maintenance, kudzu, mismatched paint, utility room door.
after painting.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
July 20, 2011.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: While dealing with Farmers insurance & Progressive/Homesite insurance's dropping our policy for us having peeling window sill paint (among other things), we had to do a bunch of house repairs. While painting our window sills, we also painted other surfaces that needed painting, such as doors, railings, soffits, stairs, gutters, pipes, and cinder block walls.
Apparently, this old house in downtown Alviso has been sold as I saw a relatively new BMW parked at its sideyard. I wonder who has bought it. Would the new owner tear it down and build a new house? This charming old town is slowly disappearing its characters. Some old buildings I have photographed in the past no longer exist anymore. So when I walked past this house, I decided to capture it with film.
Film: Cinestill BwXX
Camera: Nikon FM2n
Lens: Voigtlander Ultron 40mm F2 SLII Asph
Hoping this one gets submitted to ThereIFixedIt ...
One thing not mentioned by the insurance companies was these wobbly wooden steps. The concrete had eroded away around the nails that held these to the wall. One of the vertical support boards was rotting away. Things didn't quite line up. They were getting downright dangerous, rocking with each step. I feared they would completely collapse! To me, this is the one valid thing that truly had to be fixed -- and it wasn't even on the insurance companies' lists!
So I replaced the rotting board with another board from my attic, which I had found somewhere years ago. It was rotting, too, but I flipped it so the rotting side was on top. I left the extra part up there as sacrificial material and/or something to hang something on. For less than the cost of a single board, we used a TON of wood filler (which you can see--the yellow stuff on the unpainted brown wood) on all the rotting parts of the wood. Nailage was doubled on most of the boards. I bought concrete nails at Home Depot (THEY ARE AWESOME) and re-nailed the vertical support boards to the concrete well. I used a caulking gun full of Liquid Nails behind the vertical support boards, as an additional kludgey hold should the nails get loose later. Then we painted it all. The stairs have no wobble and are like new! Only one board doesn't look so hot -- the top-most board has split horizontally into 2 separate boards, as this is where the water trickles down during storms -- probably due to me deliberately changing the water flow to go down these steps many years ago; see recent flooding video at www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/6166790798/ ... But since each sub-board is properly nailed, it doesn't matter that it split. It's just like using 2 smaller pieces of wood. I was so positive we'd have to replace these stairs 5-10 years ago! Now I think they very well may last 'til 2020! We'll see!
You can see the divot I axed out of the concrete stairtop-barrier during a storm 10+ yrs ago in order for water to drain more quickly.
barbecue, cinder blocks, concrete, concrete wall, house maintenance, oil drum, shed, stairs, well, wood filler.
after painting.
side yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
June 14, 2011.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: While dealing with Farmers insurance & Progressive/Homesite insurance's dropping our policy for us having peeling window sill paint (among other things), we had to do a bunch of house repairs. We dealt with these stairs while doing the other repairs. This is the part of the project where I hammered Carolyn's fingernail, turning it black for about 4 months. BTW -- kudzu can climb these stairs in less than a week.
Well, I spent most of the day exploring through the front yard and side yard. I guess I'll camp here for the night and make sure I have everything. Let's see...
1. My neighbor let me borrow his horse for a few days. Our neighbor doesn't have a name for his horse, so my son, Max, calls him "Spot" for some reason. I told him that this horse doesn't have a spot and that "Spot" is usually a dog name. But, anyway...
2. I have carrots and apples for Spot
3. Binoculars, to spy for rock monsters and other things.
4. Telescope, just in case there's some cool stars out at night.
5. I have mint gum in my shoulder bag. (Max says the shoulder bag is a purse.)
6. A special Indiana Jones whip to get Spot moving.
7. A backpack which holds my sleeping bag, a first aid kit, and lots of unhealthy snacks.
8. A scared face I can put on in case I meet up with some giant spiders.
9. A crossbow and extra arrows for hunting or defending myself against rock monsters or giant spiders.
10. And if the crossbow doesn't do me any good, I've got a lightsaber.
11. A starburst candy that will hopefully last me a couple days.
12. Max wants me to call him on my cell phone in case I see any dinosaurs.
13. A shovel...hmmm...I don't remember why I packed a shovel...maybe I'll find out later.
14. My Indiana Jones outfit.
15. My very important camera to take lots and lots of pictures with its awesome 2mm lens!!
And...OH NO! I forgot to bring my night light! oh well...there's probably no outlets out here anyway...
Well, tomorrow, I'll be in the back yard! Hmm...I don't even know if I have enough room to carry HALF of this stuff...
I took 2 videos that are essentially the same thing in different order, one without narration, one with. They're both one of a kind in terms of weather so I was unable to choose one for deletion.
Incidentally, with our old windows it wasn't possible to see the creek from this window, because you couldn't open them and stick your head out of them. Plus we'd blocked them off so well that longtime guests were unaware we even had a window there. It's neat being able to see the creek out of a new window!
Peapod guy interrupted the end of this video. (He was already in the house and I didn't realize it, front door was proppedopen.) We normally do unattended delivery, but in this weather the food would have been ruined. Our deliveries ALWAYS come after 4 hour window. Very late. Usually when we're watching TV or a movie. Always in the dark. It came early today -- they probably gave people the option to cancel, and most did. So we got ours at 5PM instead of 9-11PM. But our walkway had 4 inches of water in it. This dude had to have gotten wet. We tipped him $5. Normally we do unattended with no tip and such. But this was a real help. Didn't want to reschedule grocery delivery. Wanted fresh fruit without leaving the house, dammit! But anyway, considering how bad Peapod usually screws up their deliveries... This was an AWESOME delivery. They saved SO much trouble. Can't imagine going to the grocery store in this crazy rain.
draining, flooding.
creek, drain, drainage, flood, kudzu, patio, steps, trees, water.
side yard, yard, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
September 8, 2011.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL.wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL.wordpress.com
BACKSTORY: Hurricane Irene was a hurri-lame. But the storm AFTER it? That was a doozy. Not nearly as much wind, but way, way, way more water. Fortunately our house has been around awhile, so previous landowners already shaped the property in such a way that it's almost impossible to flood our house. The crookedness of the foundation alone would mean that any flooding would go out our back kitchen door instead of standing in the house. (Except for the fact that the door is currently painted shut...grrr.) Sometimes weakness is a strength.