yeah, no budget... the leadbutt GOP is perfectly happy to sacrifice the 98% of Minnesotans to avoid a penny of tax on the richest 2%, so we have no budget. a hard shutdown is almost certain.
about two or three days of no service, closed offices, torn up roads with equipment left on them, and all the parks and rest areas closed for the July 4th weekend, and them good ol' boys are going to find out what the voters think.
might hear something different from the 367 millionnaires, too, by then.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
busy weekend, dead night
finished framing out the east half of the basement, fixed some minor wiring issues, insulated south wall. cleared out some surplus tools.
tonight was planned for a check of the scraped oven wiring and lawn mowing. but it's raining frogs, and the wife is baking. so it's a healing night, favoring the right shoulder.
I am led to believe CNN had a debate for Republican presidential candidates Monday night. Sermonette At Signoff beat their ratings. as it should be.
tonight was planned for a check of the scraped oven wiring and lawn mowing. but it's raining frogs, and the wife is baking. so it's a healing night, favoring the right shoulder.
I am led to believe CNN had a debate for Republican presidential candidates Monday night. Sermonette At Signoff beat their ratings. as it should be.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
gardens, basements, and other things that make me toss and turn all night
garden first, it's fun now. we've had irises here since we moved in from the previous owners, and added several plants of Mom's the first year. never a bloom.
this wet year, they're all a-flower now. Mom's were yellow. there's one of her blue ones in front. the surprise was the wimpy, skimpy ones in a raised garden in the back yard grew big and tall, and are all in bloom. red, white, and blue! we're pleasantly surprised.
the two 96 and 105 degree days this week dried everything up, we dumped our 6 rain barrels with 240 gallons of rainwater on the gardens. sprinkled a little more last night. we're hoping for overnight rain the next two nights; radar is showing most south of us.
have been out of the basement so far this week.. a 3 day weekend coming up, however, that will change. we have windows and wells in, and the south wall of the media/family/big-ass-open area has been completed. have some LV wiring conduit yet to put in there, then some duct fixes and survey of the range wiring. it is skinned long and deeply, and I have to see if it can be safely reinsulated, or if it has to be replaced. code requires 6-3/WG now, four wires, which means new plug and socket for the range as well if we touch it.
we teased a politician of the "cut cut cut" variety on Tuesday night at a union-arranged town hall with a bunch of "support the (democratic) governor" sort of questions. good clean fun for all, and everybody behaved. I left my wish list of questions for the Pee Tarties types at home. we're trying to avoid a shutdown here, why be antagonistic, just keep reminding folks how narrow their election wins were.
you know, things like, "Can we tie you under the arms and drag you behind the truck now?" "May we feed your fingers to the Wolverines? (c) NBC"
not the meeting for that. hoping we can keep that in reserve for November, 2012.
had a CAT scan today, the ENT wanted to see how the sinuses and septums and all that stuff were doing after a month of eating horse pills for a sinus infection. it arose because I was gobbling and snoring under the CPAP. wasn't worried, you know, do what's gotta be done... but it was a break from routine.
either the reception staff has taken lessons, or they really have NOT heard the old line, "yes, here for the 9:15 with Dr. Soandso, and my scan. Oh, wait... I forgot my cat." anyway, no issues, the machine did NOT print a blank page of paper representing the inside of my head, but tomography, and I politely mewed once on the way out, my inner kitty having been released.
this wet year, they're all a-flower now. Mom's were yellow. there's one of her blue ones in front. the surprise was the wimpy, skimpy ones in a raised garden in the back yard grew big and tall, and are all in bloom. red, white, and blue! we're pleasantly surprised.
the two 96 and 105 degree days this week dried everything up, we dumped our 6 rain barrels with 240 gallons of rainwater on the gardens. sprinkled a little more last night. we're hoping for overnight rain the next two nights; radar is showing most south of us.
have been out of the basement so far this week.. a 3 day weekend coming up, however, that will change. we have windows and wells in, and the south wall of the media/family/big-ass-open area has been completed. have some LV wiring conduit yet to put in there, then some duct fixes and survey of the range wiring. it is skinned long and deeply, and I have to see if it can be safely reinsulated, or if it has to be replaced. code requires 6-3/WG now, four wires, which means new plug and socket for the range as well if we touch it.
we teased a politician of the "cut cut cut" variety on Tuesday night at a union-arranged town hall with a bunch of "support the (democratic) governor" sort of questions. good clean fun for all, and everybody behaved. I left my wish list of questions for the Pee Tarties types at home. we're trying to avoid a shutdown here, why be antagonistic, just keep reminding folks how narrow their election wins were.
you know, things like, "Can we tie you under the arms and drag you behind the truck now?" "May we feed your fingers to the Wolverines? (c) NBC"
not the meeting for that. hoping we can keep that in reserve for November, 2012.
had a CAT scan today, the ENT wanted to see how the sinuses and septums and all that stuff were doing after a month of eating horse pills for a sinus infection. it arose because I was gobbling and snoring under the CPAP. wasn't worried, you know, do what's gotta be done... but it was a break from routine.
either the reception staff has taken lessons, or they really have NOT heard the old line, "yes, here for the 9:15 with Dr. Soandso, and my scan. Oh, wait... I forgot my cat." anyway, no issues, the machine did NOT print a blank page of paper representing the inside of my head, but tomography, and I politely mewed once on the way out, my inner kitty having been released.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
windows are in! I'm just about dead!
might be a bad sign, I've stopped stinking.
got a cramp-fest in the left hand, and had to go off the job twice with a right arm so pained up and crampy it was totally useless, but we got the egress windows in. they're larger than the windows in the rest of the house. Shawn had to cut 3 courses of block... twice... but they're in and weatherproofed. don't have the trim on and siliconed outside, but they ought to withstand some weather for a couple days.
Memorial Day is thus a well-earned rest day, no heavy lifting. tonight is rated severe risk of meso T-storms, more likely tomorrow starting in the afternoon. we got a couple drips on our shoulders a couple times today, but the Lord was with us, and we got the egress windows in.
woo!
got a cramp-fest in the left hand, and had to go off the job twice with a right arm so pained up and crampy it was totally useless, but we got the egress windows in. they're larger than the windows in the rest of the house. Shawn had to cut 3 courses of block... twice... but they're in and weatherproofed. don't have the trim on and siliconed outside, but they ought to withstand some weather for a couple days.
Memorial Day is thus a well-earned rest day, no heavy lifting. tonight is rated severe risk of meso T-storms, more likely tomorrow starting in the afternoon. we got a couple drips on our shoulders a couple times today, but the Lord was with us, and we got the egress windows in.
woo!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
curses! rained out again!
going to be too wet to put in the egress windows this weekend... maybe Sunday, but likely not. raining right now.
so we're picking paint colors, having decided on the carpet, and then efforts to reinforce the basement staircase (overcut by the builders, needs some 2x6 on the stringers), put up a pole surround wall, put up more can lights, and get wiring done.
east side towards the driveway should be waterproofed nicely. lot of cavity under the concrete, and the wall up to ground level was 12-inch block. the wall above ground level was 8-inch block. so right under the walkways, there are big block openings up to 3-1/2 inches. basically everything from the driveway to the grass ends up draining into the basement.
or did. filled the cavities with spray foam, filled the expansion joint cracks with self-levelling polyurethane caulk (like about 40 tubes of it,) and after all the mortar cap over the block mess was removed and those cavities filled, sealed with quick-set sand mix and sealed with poly caulk over the top.
lot of escapees from the millipede and sowbug colonies that invariably form in wet, organic, peaty areas, and a lot of trapped ickbugs. that should take care of infiltrations of bugs into the basement, too.
so we're picking paint colors, having decided on the carpet, and then efforts to reinforce the basement staircase (overcut by the builders, needs some 2x6 on the stringers), put up a pole surround wall, put up more can lights, and get wiring done.
east side towards the driveway should be waterproofed nicely. lot of cavity under the concrete, and the wall up to ground level was 12-inch block. the wall above ground level was 8-inch block. so right under the walkways, there are big block openings up to 3-1/2 inches. basically everything from the driveway to the grass ends up draining into the basement.
or did. filled the cavities with spray foam, filled the expansion joint cracks with self-levelling polyurethane caulk (like about 40 tubes of it,) and after all the mortar cap over the block mess was removed and those cavities filled, sealed with quick-set sand mix and sealed with poly caulk over the top.
lot of escapees from the millipede and sowbug colonies that invariably form in wet, organic, peaty areas, and a lot of trapped ickbugs. that should take care of infiltrations of bugs into the basement, too.
Monday, May 9, 2011
there's a reason I can't raise my right hand to scratch my ear tonight
at this point, we've gutted half the basement, only to find another wonderful infiltration of water that needs to be fixed. requires breaking a mortar cap over block, sealing it, recapping with the right spec-mix concrete, using flexible urethane caulk/seal to fill the walkway/foundation gaps.
dug out one window well at about 5x4x3 feet deep. tore out the upper deck steps, tore out 1/4 of the lower deck, which now allows digging out the second upgrade to a legal egress window. just finished building the new upper deck steps away from the hole's work zone. probably about a ton of wet green-treated lumber hauled and cut and placed.
still need to reframe the basement walls in the east half after Drylok, insulate, rewire, put in the conduits for the media stuff, etc. I've taken the week off for that.
this is a 40-year job, I'm only doing it once per house ;)
dug out one window well at about 5x4x3 feet deep. tore out the upper deck steps, tore out 1/4 of the lower deck, which now allows digging out the second upgrade to a legal egress window. just finished building the new upper deck steps away from the hole's work zone. probably about a ton of wet green-treated lumber hauled and cut and placed.
still need to reframe the basement walls in the east half after Drylok, insulate, rewire, put in the conduits for the media stuff, etc. I've taken the week off for that.
this is a 40-year job, I'm only doing it once per house ;)
Friday, May 6, 2011
I need a break
think I'm going to have a drink or two. I hear the SEALs have whipped up a winner. they call it Geronimo.
made with two shots and a splash.
made with two shots and a splash.
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