A "Mini-Contest"

Ok... No prizes or anything (other than bragging rights), but who can most accurately describe what I did today?

The Countdown Beginith..

God willing (no holdovers, sick calls, terrorist attacks, or "acts of God") - My summer vacation beings in just over sixteen hours.

As of Friday at 1500 hours (3pm) - I AM ON VACATION!!!! I do not have to return to work until July 12th at 0700 (7am).

This will be (mostly) a working vacation, and provide me an opportunity to catch up on some small yet nagging things that have been looming over my head for the past year or so.

Some of the PROJECTS on my list include...

About a day's worth of work to complete the DECK.
Woodwork and Trim in the basement
Removing a divider wall between our Kitchen and living room.
Help my Father in Law with prepping his almost-finished basement project
Oil Change
Garage Clean up
Closet project in #3 of 5's bedroom.
Closet Project in #2 of 5's bedroom.

But, it's not going to be all work... Nope.. I have some LEISURE activities planned too!

The Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota
Use my newly obtained smoker to smoke up some pork ribs!
Trying to squeeze a little fishing time in with the kids
Get a "walk a day" in - perhaps up to two miles
Catch up on some movie watching.
Smoke some cigars while relax on the deck.
Quality time with Ron, Fez, East Side Dave, Earl and the gang (XM - 202 - Noon to three (eastern))
Catch up on some DRASTICALLY NEEDED sleep.

Oh, I am quite sure that there is more I will try to fit in. I'll be here on the blogsphere, and updating over the next

A little list

UPDATED 05/03/07 @ 2018 hours

Well, I have ended yet another busy workweek. In addition to work, and training a new employee, Ben was Confirmed, and Melissa (the youngest) celebrated her thrid birthday. Let's just say that my schedule was busy enough that my 38th birthday came and went (and I did not even notice it - which is not a bad thing). I am not much of a birthday guy anyway. A quick phone call, or a hug from the kids wishing me happy birthday is about all I need!

I start three days off today, and have quite a few things planned. (Many "little" tasks that need my attention)

Here is a list of some of the things I want to get done on my days off.
(Crossed off items have been completed)

---

Change Oil in the Escort

Pick up rocks from the yard (scattered by the kids from the landscaping throughout the winter)

Buy some new jeans (On-line)

Get a haircut (I have a coupon!)

Fill the cracks in our driveway

Research a replacement battery for my Palm Pilot

Finish the last few items left on the deck

Mow the lawn - But before mowing, I had to do the "spring clean up" of the mower. I also decided that this was the year I am going to buy a bench grinder to sharpen the blade. I also discovered while mowing the lawn that I needed to Spray lawn weeds with herbicide.

Apply for our annual "Recreational Fire" permit

Pay the Bills

Pick up Ben on early release day (after his juggling club meeting)

Clean the garage

Start up the sprinkler system for the year (and troubleshoot) - No problems.

The Crawl Space

I have had a pretty busy weekend.

For the first time in almost a month, my days off were not taken up with plans. Thanksgiving was great, and thanksgiving dinner was one of the best I have had in a long time. Michele did a great job!

Since Thanksgiving, we got out all the Christmas decorations. Our decorations are stored in the "crawl space" under the steps of the house. It's a small storage area with less than half the height of the rest of the room.

The first several years we lived in the house, I would crawl in, and wear out the knees of my pants, as I was crawling directly on the cement floor. Most cement floors are abrasive, and because of that, I would pretty much ruin what ever pants I was wearing. After we finished the basement, I had carpet remnants left over, and laid them out in patchwork on the floor to kneel on. That worked ok, but the remnants would move all around, and only covered a small portion of the space. As I would drag things out, the remnants would slide, bunch up, and block my ability to pull (or push) out the bigger or heaver storage containers.

This summer, one of the local Menards stores was closing, and moving down the street. As they did this, they put their merchandise on clearance to get rid of it and not have to move it. As Michele and I meandered around the store we found boxes of adhesive carpet squares. It was the perfect solution. We picked them up and decided to store them away (in the crawl space) until Christmas time when we would have 75% of the crawlspace cleared out, and installing them would be easier!

Fast forward 5 months, and I had forgotten all about the squares. As we got out the Christmas Decorations, we "found" the squares, and made plans for Saturday to get them put in. I spent a large portion of Saturday getting them put in!

Before (more like during) and After photos

I ending up being about a box short (we bought what Menards had left at the time). Also, tired of hitting a hot light bulb hanging WAY down below the ceiling line, I have decided to upgrade the lighting in the crawlspace. So Monday or Tuesday I will run to the store, pick up some more tiles, and some upgraded lighting. I will update this post when that is complete.

I also have a couple of other posts to finish up. I hope to have them finished by Wed.

David.

Vacation - Part I

Tonight is my last night of vacation. It has been one of the best vacations I have had in a LONG time. I had time away from work. I have had time to get a lot of projects around the house done. I had time to spend with my children, and I had time to spend with my wife, and even a little bit of time alone too!

Here is a list of just a few of the many projects around the house I got done:

1. Finished the spindles on the deck.
2. Repaired the sprinkler system.
3. Mowed and edged the lawn.
4. Repaired a broken light switch in the basement
5. Changed the oil in my car.
6. Sorted and put away lots of loose tools that have been hanging around the house.
7. Painted the front pillar.
8. Cleaned and vacuumed both the van and my "daily driver".
9. Cleaned and painted our bedroom.
(Our bedroom was the last room still in the "original" color. We have new bedding and
furniture for the room too! - about a year old - we just never got around to painting our room.)
10. Repaired, set and filled the automatic fish feeder on my aquarium.
11. Cleaned portions of the garage.
12. Cleaned all the debris from my deck building project that have been laying around the yard.
(Cut boards, sawdust, broken beer bottles, screws, nails, tacks, and staples, etc.)
(Now the kids can actually play under the deck!)
13. Replaced the finicky 3rd "cyclops" brake light in my car (that has been out as long as I can remember).
14. Tracked down my missing license tabs that I bought on-line and never received.
15. Repaired the drain in the bathroom vanity

Again, there were just some of the bigger projects I got accomplished. I will try to find my original "list" of things I wanted to get done on my vacation and compare the lists...

End of Part I - Part II to follow....

D.

Today's little project...

Today I fixed the leak I knew our new sprinkler system (new last year) had. I knew it had a leak because when all the water in the house was turned off, I could see the little sweep hand on the water meter moving - Indicating that it was leaking somewhere. When standing outside the supply line for the sprinkler system was always cold and sweating, and you could hear a hissing noise from the pipe.

Reluctant to call the irrigation company back (for fear of a bill that looked like $$$$) I decided last night (while "rejuvenating" on my new deck & listening to XM radio) that today was the day I tackled the problem.

I have been (since charging the system this year) keeping the system off - turning on the control box, then walking out and turning on the valve each time I water, remembering to do the same (only off) when the cycle was done. If I did not, water would leak out somewhere underground - and I may as well "wipe" with dollar bills as let water pour out of a pipe somewhere under the ground!

Well, I started off where it made the most sense - the water source. Where the supply line enters the ground. It is under some decorative rocks, so I started digging the rocks back. When the shovel was not working the way I wanted it to, I got out the knee pads and started using my hands.

Well, right at the pipe I noticed how soft the ground was (under the rock and landscape plastic) and how water was starting to show up around the rocks as I dug them out. I decided to try a little "experiment" and I turned on the valve - and I saw movement like currents in the water around the rocks!!! GOOD NEWS! The leak was somewhere close to the pipe. I dug, and dug, and dug (carefully as to not cut any other pipes) and finally cleared out the area. It was now full of standing water. I got out a cup and bailed out the hole. It worked great. Now my pipe, the fittings, and the underground pipe were all exposed. I turned on the water again, and saw the stream of water coming from where the fitting met the copper pipe. It was a pretty strong stream of water...

Long story short - my local hardware store was out of the plastic fitting, but had everything else. Because my wife was out and about on errands, I called her and explained what I needed her to pick up for me (which she did - perfectly I may add) and waited for her return.

I sweated all the fittings, taped up the threads, made all the connections, and put pressure on the system. One small pinhole leak in my last sweat fitting. A couple more goes at it, and voila - A complete and functional sprinkler system again. I can leave the control box on, and the valve on, and no more spinning little water meter dial!