Entry for April 01, 2007

Did you ever start something you really didn't intend on starting and ended up working harder than you expected to? Well my plan for Saturday took on that theme. I'll explain later in this post.

I had a pretty good week at work. all the major purchases were complete last week. My boss and the engineering manager for the project were out most of the week. I had the opportunity to get caught up with organizing files, finances and vendor information for the project.

Friday night Gin and I drove up to Saluda for a gourmet pizza at the Purple Onion. Gin had the Mediterranean and I had the Chicken Poblano. both were 6" personal pizzas. After the pizza we drove down to Greenville for some frozen yogurt. Once we were home I loaded up the trailer for another landfill run on Saturday. The pile of debris is getting smaller as my progress toward seeing the floor in the outbuilding is getting better.

I was at the landfill by 7am Saturday and unloaded in 15 minutes. I then made a trip to Lowes for some grass seed to fill in the bare spots near the oak trees. I left the store with a 15 lbs of grass seed, 10 lbs of fertilizer, a broadcast spreader and some fire ant pellets. This is where thinking small job becomes doing a big job. I made it home and unloaded the supplies. After surveying the lawn again, I started raking the dead leaves and acorns. While raking I noticed the existing grass was the creeping type that has runners all over the place. Raking turned into thatching. I spent 2 hours raking the leaves, grass clippings and self made mulch. All this did not get all the debris up. My next move was to set up the riding mower with bag attachment and vacuum up the rest. I then started to loosen up the bare spots with the garden rake. The ground was so hard that the rake had little impact.

While I was working on the lawn, Gin was bringing the outside plants from their winter home in the house. She also had the new Flox plants to sow on the front hill beside the road. I helped with digging the holes by using a post hole digger which made short easy work for planting the Flox. We concentrated on one side of the steps that lead up from the road. We already have several Flox patches scattered across the hill, but many bare spots. We always enjoy seeing the flowers this time of year, one day the hill will be covered with blue, white and pink flowers.
Gin and I took a lunch break, then went out for some errands and to find a thatching attachment for the riding mower. I picked up a tow behind thatcher and we also bought an Eastern Red Bud tree and a Golden Rod bush.

Retuning home once again, I assembled the thatching device and was able to loosen up the hard soil around the bare spots. Gin planted the Golden Rod and moved some other plants to the front flower beds. Once the thatching was done, Gin and I planted the Red Bud tree. Next I spread the starter fertilizer, then the grass seed. I finished cutting the (onion) grass in the back, then watered the front yard. It was 6pm by the time I had everything done for the day. I thought the lawn would only take about 2 hours max, boy was I wrong.

Sunday we went to the grocery store and stopped by Lowes for 2 bales of wheat straw to cover the seeded areas. I spread the straw over the bare spots to help keep the moisture with the seeds. We had lunch at Patrick and Jessica's then played softball in their backyard. We were home by 4 and made a pot of white chili for dinner. I added the white beans after I separated Gin's portion of the batch. No beans for her, which means more for me.

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Entry for March 26, 2007

Saturday morning I was up and working early. By 6am I was loading the trailer with debris from the years of renovation waste that piled up in the outbuilding. This is the second load and the pile is not touching the ceiling. To put this pile in perspective, think of your average bedroom. Then think of it full of scrap vinyl siding, storm window frames, shutters, carpet, linoleum, empty paint cans, old insulation, etc. I’m sure you get the picture. It was just easier to toss it in the corner of the building and take care of it later. Now is later! Back to the work at hand, I was loaded up and tied down by 7 and off to the landfill.

The landfill is somewhat intimidating to me as far as pulling in with a trailer and backing it up to the drop off cliff. If I’m lucky there will only be a few people there to witness my lack of skills. Luckily there is only one car there, so I am able to circle around and line myself up pretty straight. Then after approximately 4 left turn twitches and 4 right alternating twitches, I am at the cliff. The cliff is just that, a big pit created by a massive bull dozer with steel hammer heads welded all over each wheel. Untied and unloaded in about 15 minutes is pretty good.

After the dump I stopped by Lowes for some OSB plywood that is on sale for $4.97 a sheet. I pick up a dozen since this stuff has gone for as much as $15 a sheet. I also pick up some bird seed and a galvanized trash can to store it in. Since I have increased the bird feeding I decided that a more secure storage container was needed. The squirrel is getting smarter and I have seen some raccoons hanging around at night. The squirrel has this trick he does at the sunflower seed feeder. He scurries down the thin wire the feeder is attached to. He hangs from his hind legs and picks at the wire screen to get seeds to stuff in his jaws. He then hangs straight down (upside-down) and eats what’s in his jaws discarding the hulls. That is the only feeder he messes with so I just let it go. The birds get plenty and also pick at him to fall off.

Gin worked on staining the 2nd drawing file cabinet for the engineers. I went to work on assembling the next two. Patrick stopped by for lunch and to pick up the lawn mower. After lunch we went out to the local greenhouse to pick up some Creeping Flox for the front hill. We want to eliminate having to weed-eat or mow the steep side of the lawn next to the road. After the garden trip I went back to assembling cabinets and Gin applied the 1 st coat of poly to the stained cabinet.

Sunday we were hit the Whole Foods Market in Greenville for some specialty items and also a little Salmon dip and Italian bread for lunch. On the way home we picked up the remainder of groceries at Wal-Mart along with some more Creeping Flox from the garden center. I worked in the shop the rest of the afternoon. Gin applied the last coat of poly to the cabinet. She also worked on some transplanting some of the wild plants around the yard. For dinner Gin made turkey sausage patties with provolone cheese, mixed peppers and onions.

I worked on the 3 rd cabinet a little more after dinner. By nightfall I was closing up the shop and getting the finished cabinet loaded in the truck for a Monday morning delivery.

The picture is a lizzard that was hanging out at the ramp to the shop.

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Entry for March 21, 2007

It’s Wednesday and I think I’m fully recovered from our trip to Norfolk. We left last Wednesday and had lunch in Rocky Mount with Mom. Dad made it home from his round of golf before we left departed for Norfolk. This was probably the first time we drove the route and took our sweet time getting there. We made it a point to keep our speed down and let traffic fly by. The level of stress is amazingly lower even though we made 3 wrong turns once we came out of the Mid-Town Tunnel. We arrived sometime after 4 and unloaded pretty quickly. We caught up on things with Jean over dinner and through the evening. Thursday Gin and Jean painted the 2nd floor den while I spent the day outside painting the book shelves. I couldn’t have asked for more beautiful weather. We opted for Doumar’s barbeque for dinner.

Friday was a wet and windy day. Most of the painting was complete. I replaced the fan light fixture with a 3 bulb unit. Gin and Jean worked on the furniture items in the room. Later, I ran several errands around town including picking up lunch at Zero’s. You can not go to Norfolk and skip Doumar’s or Zero’s. We met Susan and Richard at Fellini’s Italian Restaurant for dinner.

Saturday we visited with Susan and Richard at their house in the morning. We stopped for an awesome burrito in downtown Norfolk then went back to Jean’s to complete lamp repairs and putting the room back together.

Sunday we headed home with a stop in Albemarle to visit with Caris and Thomas. We also picked up Stetson for his return to our nest.

The picture is scrap yard art from the metal recycle yard off of Colley Avenue near the railroad tracks. There were several animals and other items fabricated out of scrap metal and attached to the fences and gates.

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Entry for March 10, 2007

OK, so I didn't write last week. You probably didn't check to see if I did. I only had one visitor and I think I know who it was.


Actually, I was worn out after Sunday's work. I'll back up to Saturday the 3rd. I spent the majority of the day working on Jean's book case. The end product pictured above is not what I was working on at first. A few months ago (before Christmas) I cut the side pieces of wood for the book cases, but never assembled them. I was side tracked on several other projects. Back to what I was doing brought up the question: What was I thinking when I cut those boards. Well. I tried to piece the puzzle together and ended up scrapping the entire idea do to lack of logical reason for making it that way. I then applied the KISS to the project (Keep It Simple Stupid).

The new plan uses 3/4 sanded plywood for 98% of the construction. So I cut two sheets of plywood into all the sides, tops, bottoms and shelves. It was amazing on how little the waste pile was, not counting the previous plan. After the pieces were cut I set up a jig on the drill press for making the shelf support peg holes and drilled holes for the first cabinet.

Sunday 3/4 Gin and I helped her friend Jean with her two dog kennels. What should have been a quick 2 hour job turned into an all day, on your knees (on cold concrete) back breaker. All materials used are recycled from a pool deck that used to be in Jean's back yard. I removed old wire fencing material up to 3' off the floor on two sides of each kennel. Then I attached 1x6 pressure treated boards for nailers. After the nailer strips I cut and installed 36 inch long plastic deck boards vertically. The reason for the change in the kennel walls is to keep her Pointer, Puppy, from climbing the fence and over the top. Puppy is no puppy, he is an 8 year old show dog. Damon is the other Pointer. Jean used to be a professional dog handler, she has won best in show at the AKC show at Madison Square Garden. Jean is very particular in how she wants something done, aren't we all. I finished the day by climbing on her roof and re-attaching a piece of siding and cleaning out her porch gutters.

Monday and Wednesday evening were weight lifting nights. Tuesday and Thursday night I worked on the bookcase assembly.

Friday afternoon Gin and I placed our t-shirt order with the screen printer for our Walk America team. Later in the afternoon we drove to Albemarle to drop Stetson off with Caris. While in Albemarle we went with Caris, Thomas and his parents to look at a few houses in the area (for Caris & Thomas). We had dinner together at a local Mexican restaurant. We lucked out and had the waiter that was least interested in earning a good tip. The meal and company helped make the evening enjoyable.

Today I finished the book cases, look at the picture above to see for yourself. I cut and installed the back panels and shelves. I also cut and installed the face trim to cover the plywood ends. All nails were set under the surface and holes filled and sanded.

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Entry for February 26, 2007

Last week I started a new exercise routine that has re-motivated me mentally and physically. It is mostly common sense advice that I had probably seen before but did not put all the pieces together. There is a lot of good information in books and internet sites regarding weight/fat loss and strength conditioning. I have finally found a way to tie in the best advice from all, or at least it appears that way. No magic pills, secret exercises or boring routines. It is all hard work and I already feel the difference more that any other system I have tried. For the last year I have been hanging around the 205 lb. range. I realize I appear to be in good shape, but I still carry fat around my stomach that I can’t seam to get rid of. I have cleaned up my diet and gone back to recording all my food intake to make sure I’m getting a quality diet.

Saturday Gin and I rode out to Greenville looking for some more weights and a bench with a bench press rack. We hit the Play It Again Sports store for their used equipment bargains. I also had a copy of the local classified ads with me, which had a bench and weight set for a very reasonable price. After shopping the store for the best bargain, I decided to wait and see what else is available. We left the store and finally were able to get in touch with the person advertising the used set. We picked up the weights and bench from a family that just finished a yard sale saving us about $175 from the store prices. We did go back to the store and picked up an extra weight bar and dumb bell bars.

When we finally made it home, I cleaned up the weights and applied a fresh coat of primer and paint to all the plates. Gin removed the bench covering material and treated the foam with bleach and an odor remover.

Sunday we picked up the groceries which required hitting several different stores. I installed the last drawer on the second drawing cabinet for the engineers at work. Gin was nice enough to take Stetson in the office for some computer games while I took a brief nap on the couch with Shelby and Fluff.

We drove over to Patrick and Jessica’s to drop off the chocolate bars we are selling for the March of Dimes. We had a nice little visit with them and went home for a quick chicken wrap dinner.

P@

Entry for February 19, 2007

Monday Gin finished the last coat of poly on the drawing cabinet. I installed the dowel pins for the angled storage rack at the top and delivered the cabinet Thursday morning. The engineers and designers were pleased with the end product and can’t wait for the other three. The old plastic pipe rack they used before was emptied and put aside and the new cabinet was filled about one third of its capacity. Overall, I am pleased with the design and how it works.

Friday night Gin and I had dinner at Connolly’s Irish Pub in Spartanburg. After dinner we attended the “Green Cards” show at the new Hub-Bub venue two blocks from Connolly’s. Hub-Bub is an arts center located in an old shoe warehouse. We first saw the Green Cards at the Handlebar in Greenville last fall. They are a bluegrass band from Australia and England. It’s funny hearing their native accents when they talk and their Americanized twang when they sing.

Saturday we switched cell phone plans for Gin. She picked up one of those thin camera phones that also has an MP3 music player. Technology just gets more compact every day. Once we made it back home, I worked on the second drawing cabinet.

Sunday I continued working on the second drawing cabinet while Gin prepared a new turkey sausage burger from a Rachael Ray recipe she saw on one of the shows. The recipe called for steak and pork chop, but we opted for the healthier turkey. Patrick and Jessica were over for dinner and were also in on the new dish. The meal was great and I think everyone enjoyed the new recipe. Gin sautéed some mixed peppers and onions to add to the burgers.

After dinner we played Rummy. Patrick had a book of card games and had told us how he and Jessica started playing different games together. I think Jessica ended up with the most points to win. I came up with the least points at 9 for a final total.

If you haven’t done so yet, please visit the link below and give what you can to support my walk in the March of Dimes Walk America campaign. Thank you to those who have already donated. The picture for this blog is from the foot prints of Beau and Haley which was given to Jessica.

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Entry for February 11, 2007

We celebrated Jessica's birthday Friday night at our house. I intended on preparing my grilled pork chops, but the local grocers decided to stop carrying Papa Demos marinade. We opted for pizza and garlic knots from The Brick in Columbus, NC. After dinner and some tasty cinnamon cake from Gin. Caris had been home most of the day Friday. We played two rounds of Blokus while waiting for Stephanie and Chris to arrive later. Patrick managed to win both games of Blokus. The Honeycutt siblings arrived and we set up for a long game of Aggravation Rummy. I managed to pull out another victory despite Chris' effort to catch me.

Caris and Gin prepared an egg breakfast for Summer's birthday which is Monday. We had scrambled eggs, home-made hash browns, maple sausage and toast. Summer hung out with Gin and Caris for a while and I started working on the drawing cabinet project for the engineers I work with. Later Saturday afternoon, Gin stained first cabinet, while I worked on the assembly of the second. Caris headed back to Albemarle shortly before lunch.

Sunday was just another day of cabinet work for me. Gin applied the first coat of poly on the finished cabinet.

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Entry for February 09, 2007

It’s been a hard week to get through. Having witnessed Jessica and Patrick losing Beau and Haley, their twin babies, last week due to complications with her pregnancy was heartbreaking for all of us. I can not begin to imagine what Jessica is feeling. As Patrick’s father, I have never felt so helpless in my life.

I want to do so much to prevent this from ever happening again. Then I read and hear about this situation happening more and more every day. Gin talked with someone this week whose best friend just lost her baby at 19 weeks of the pregnancy. We tend to believe that when a woman is pregnant that they just need to eat right and see the doctor. I have learned that there is a lot more information and monitoring of health necessary to sustain a full term pregnancy.

I joined the March of Dimes “Walk America” campaign and will do all I can to help more babies survive the 9 month journey to life.
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Entry for January 31, 2007

Last week I was back to normal, health wise. The lingering effects of the cold were gone and I was back into my exercise routine. Unfortunately, Gin had fallen victim to the cold it stayed with her most of last week. Caris came home for the weekend with Thomas and she also had a cold. Monday Gin was feeling much better and I think she has turned the corner on losing the cold.

Saturday and Sunday I worked on cutting the rest of the pieces for the drawing file storage cabinets. I assembled some more trim pieces on the proto-type cabinet. All the major assembly pieces are now cut and ready for assembly.

We had dinner Saturday night with Patrick, Jessica, Caris and Thomas. Mexican was the choice of entrée. After dinner it was back to our house for a game of Aggravation Rummy. I managed to pull out a victory after Thomas had pulled ahead. I did have the help of a FREE tile to guide me along.

Monday was my Grandmother Jimmie’s birthday, she would have been 102. I did not know her real well, but always enjoyed visiting her house in Norfolk when I was younger. I know she was a strong person and did a lot to take care of her family.

The picture was taken at Granddaddy Mike's house, I'm not sure when. Grandmother is holding Patrick (PJ back then). Chris, Tony and yours truly are standing behind them. I love the smiles on their faces.

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Entry for January 22, 2007

Sick and tired was the theme of the week. someone at work brought a head cold in and decided to be generous enough to give it to as many people as possible. I was one of the gifted recipients. I ran Monday through Wednesday and planned taking Thursday off since we were expecting an ice storm. We only had rain, but the head cold started settling in first thing in the morning. No fever was involved, just congestion and head aches. I managed to work through the misery Thursday and Friday.

Saturday Gin went to Albemarle for Caris' wedding shower for Christmas. Patrick and I attended the Clemson/Boston College basketball game at Clemson. We sat in the top of the arena at center court. The place is pretty small so the seats were not too far from the court. The game was exciting as Clemson won by 20 points to beat the only unbeaten team in the ACC. We had lunch at Buffalo's Cafe in Anderson before heading home. Gin arrived shortly after 7 and we relaxed for the evening and watched "The Devil Wears Prada" on pay per view.

Sunday was definitely a day of rest. Gin came down with the cold and I handled the grocery shopping, cooking and laundry. It sounds like a lot of work but it really wasn't that difficult. The grocery store wasn't crowded, the cooking was simple and the laundry was done in short spurts of time.

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Entry for January 15, 2007

I started a new running routine last week. It is a four week program using intervals speeds for each work out. The cycle of days to run is 2 days on, 1 day off, 3 days on and 1 day off. So far it was pretty invigorating to run using a scheduled cycle for intensity levels. Since all the areas I run in are made up of hills, the cycles vary on where they will start and end. Before this I had tried doing speed changes up hill or down hill only. Now I never really know where a cycle will happen. It makes the challenge greater than before.

Saturday and Sunday I worked on a new cabinet project for the engineering department at work. The engineering manager requested for me to build some stick file cabinets for their smaller drawings. A stick file is a bar clamp that holds several 11x17 drawings. The stick straddles two parallel surfaces while the drawings hang down for storage. I built one prototype and cut out the pieces for a second cabinet. I showed the pictures to engineering this morning and now they want 4 of these built. I still have some minor details to work out for trim and finishing, but overall I’m satisfied with how they look.

Gin and I took a short break Sunday afternoon and drove around the county taking pictures of trees. She is going to make more stained tree paintings and sell them in consignment shops. We also helped Patrick and Jessica out with feeding their dogs while they spent the weekend in Gatlinburg.

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Entry for January 07, 2007

It's been several weeks since I last made an entry in the BLOG. Since then I helped Gin with making frames and attaching them to her tree paintings she made for Susan, Kate and Jessica. I also finished making the sundial for Susan. The last two weeks before Christmas went by so fast that I really didn't have much time to write or complete any other side projects.

Gin and I enjoyed Christmas with our children and their partners on the Saturday before Christmas. We spent the day at Patrick's opening gifts and having lunch. After our get together Gin and I had the rest of the evening to pack for a 9 day outing with family.

Sunday morning we attended church in Albemarle with Caris and Thomas. We had a quick lunch together at Arby's and then we were off to Rocky Mount. We made it to Mom and Dad's around 4 and relaxed for a while with them. I went with Dad to a meeting where he spoke to a small group on Christmas Eve. I learned a lot of things about my father that I had never known. I also learned more about myself during the speech.

Christmas morning we attended church with Mom and Dad in downtown Rocky Mount. They have a new Irish priest who provides an uplifting presence in the church. After the service Dad treated us to his skills in the kitchen by whipping up a big breakfast. Gifts were exchanged after breakfast and we spent time together catching up on time past. Aunt Ginny made it there later in the day and we proceeded into a game of Aggravation Rummy. Ginny was the unfortunate recipient of a difficult card that she kept trying to play with no luck.

Tuesday morning we prepared for our travels further east to the Outer Banks of NC. We left Rocky Mount around 1 and were in Corolla by 4. The traffic was very light and the weather was perfect. Kate and her family had arrived a few hours before us and had already begun to settle in. Joe and his family made it there shortly after us.

We spent the next 5 days eating, touring places on the island, eating, walking on the beach, eating, jogging, eating, reading, eating, playing whiffle ball, eating, shopping, eating, exchanging gifts, eating, taking sunrise/sunset pictures, eating, hot-tubbing, eating, playing pool and did I mention eating. There was definitely plenty to dine and snack on during our stay at the beach house. David prepared a seafood pasta, Ingrid made several fresh apple pies, Gin baked her famous cookies, Ingrid and Mom made tacos, Richard baked a ham, Jessica made peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate and Laurie made her graham cracker candies. If I didn't mention someone and what the made, I do apologize, there was just so much to enjoy. I did manage to get two of my east coast favorites, first I had a meatball sub from Zeros and toward the end of the week I enjoyed a 7-11 Slurpee. We did have a slight scare on New Year's Eve when Patrick called informing us about a tornado being spotted near our home. After several calls and weather checks, we were relieved to find out from our local fire department that all was well.

We left the beach on New Year's Day and stopped in Rocky Mount for lunch with Mom, Dad, Chris and Alecia. We also played an abbreviated game of Aggravation Rummy. It was great to see my brother and parents once again. After leaving Rocky Mount we headed back to Albemarle to pick-up Caris' bird, Stetson. We made a quick in and out stop at Thomas' and were home by 9. Unpacking the truck took about an hour including putting things away.

I took off on Tuesday, knowing that an extra day to recover would definitely be necessary, and it was. I worked a short 3 day week in the office which ended up being like a full week with 53 emails and a page long to-do list at hand. I made it through without working overtime.

With intentions of relaxing this weekend, I had thoughts of catching up on mail and reading. I was wrong. Gin showed me the water bill which was double the normal amount. I spent part of Saturday morning under the house tracing out all piping for leaks. I found none, yet the meter was still running. I shut off several different sources and still no luck finding it. I finally narrowed the search down to the underground pipe from the meter to the house. After digging several holes in the front yard with the help of Gin, we found the leak. The copper pipe coming off the meter looped down then back up to a compression fitting. From there the pipe changed to a flexible gray plastic and then to white PVC plastic. It was the compression fitting that was leaking. I tried to tighten it which resulted in breaking the fitting. I made a list of materials needed, then Gin and I went to the home center for parts. I finished the repairs right at night fall while Gin started filling in the other holes we dug up earlier. After testing the line for leaks and a few adjustments, we were back in business. We partially covered the hole and monitored the meter until this morning. I checked the meter again this morning and all was still. I completed replacing the dirt and spread some grass seed over the bare spots.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing after our weekly trip to the grocery store.

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