February 28, 2010
Peoria, AZ
Yes, I wanted to have the house painting done by the end of February. No, I'm not done yet. In days of old, this would have bothered me. Now my reaction is "Oh, well...".
It's not that I don't want to finish up. Oh, I do. It's just that I'm focused on doing as good a job as possible, and not being driven by a deadline.
So, where are we? Well, we finished up the front and sides, except for a few touch-ups that are needed, a while ago. Then I proceeded to the rear of the house, taking down all the patio lights and decorations and handling the dreaded scraping under the eaves. That's when things started to slow down. When I got to the eaves on the roof over the patio, I realized that I really needed to put a soffit in, because the scraping just wasn't getting me clear material to paint. Hmmm, if we're going that far, shouldn't we also box in the beam and posts that hold up the patio roof? The 4x12" beam and 4x8" posts are "rough hewn" lumber, pretty shaggy after years in the desert sun and not exactly a match for anything else on the house.
Off to Home Depot (no good lumber options) and Lowe's (marginally OK lumber options) I go. A few hundred dollars later - no wonder home improvement sales are sluggish, given the prices for simple clear pine boards - and we have a pile of pine and plywood in the back yard. I moved half of the power tools out back and fashioned the soffit from 1/4" plywood (good exterior grade material this time, so maybe it won't delaminate like the cheap particle board stuff the builder used on the roof sheathing), with hand-cut ventilation grates. I picked up a roll of roof vent screen and cut that to fit the openings, held in place on the inside with construction adhesive.
Once the soffit was in place, I started boxing in the posts and beam. With nary a straight or square section, I had a lot of shimming and cut-to-fit work to do. Geri helped me hoist the 1x12" sections covering the beam into place (she's a real trouper, given that she doesn't like ladders). Next steps involve finishing this new wood off with sanding and primer, and then we'll finally be able to paint the back of the house.
So, what else have we been doing? Well, today is another "rainy day" project day, since it's actually raining (some rainy day forecasts are about the "potential for rain"). Rather than spend the day in the study on the computer, today's projects involved putting new shelves in said study and in the laundry room. You can never have enough shelves. I put "desk-to-ceiling" shelves on one side of the study a couple of years ago, so we did the other side to match. The laundry room had one shelf over the washer and dryer, but "stuff" expands to exceed the space available and there was plenty of headroom for another. Next rainy day, we'll add another top shelf to the pantry for good measure.
That's it for now...
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
All Caught Up...
February 21, 2010
Peoria, AZ
Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since the blog has been updated. Of course, since we're not traveling, that's not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, we've had some interesting stuff going on over the past two weeks so here goes.
First and foremost, we completed the painting project. Woo-Hoo! Two coats of paint, and the house looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. As with most painting projects, the devil is in the details. In this case, it was all in the preparation. I'm so glad I found our commercial-level airless paint sprayer as a reconditioned "special" at Home Depot several years ago. Once all the masking was done, I was able to spray each coat (three sides of the house - we held off on the rear for a separate phase since we have work to do on the patio before we paint) in under four hours. I had to do a lot of masking since I'm not as adept and practiced as the professionals in using a hand-held block and not getting overspray. At a cost of around $750 for paint and supplies, we're at about 35-50% of what it would cost to have pros come in and do it. Not bad for a retiree on a budget. Of course, our friend Mary Ann had her house done last week and it took three guys two days to get the whole thing done. It took me, with Geri's help managing the ladder work, two+ weeks. Of course, we had the time so, overall, we're pretty happy with the results. Painting wrapped up last Wednesday and we washed all the screens (Geri) and windows (me) on Friday.
Thursday was a great change of pace. I got to work on the coach for a change! I did the annual maintenance on the furnace and had a bad float switch replaced. Unlike most RVs that have forced hot air heat using a propane burner, ours has a hydronic heating system using a diesel-fired burner, just like a residential furnace using oil as fuel. The burner heats a hot water tank for domestic use and there's a coil inside that heats a fluid that's pumped to all the heat exchangers throughout the coach (3 zones). It's pretty neat in that there's a separate coil that circulates engine coolant so we always have hot water after a day's drive. As a bonus, we can use the furnace to warm up the engine for easier starting on cold mornings (this came in handy when we were in Florida last month - brrrr!).
In any event, just like a household furnace, there's an annual maintenance routine that needs to be done. The burner nozzle gets changed, the combustion chamber gets cleaned of any soot and checked for cracks, the igniting electrodes' gap is checked and set, and a small fuel filter is changed out. It's not difficult, costly (~$30 in parts), or time-consuming (~1 hour once you've done it a time or two). This year's maintenance was a little different, since a float switch needed to be replaced. The furnace uses an electronic control system to manage the ignition and burn processes, control the various pumps for the zones, and provide safeguards. One key item is that it'll shut down if the boiler fluid level is too low. Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often. Unfortunately, the float switches tend to go bad; we've had our switch replaced once several years ago, and it failed again last June on our way to Alaska. Although it was easy to bypass the switch and get it operating again, I knew that I eventually wanted to get it fixed. I'm glad I waited, since Roger Berke, one of the best "roving" hydronic heating service providers, found a new solid-state sensor that should be much less likely to fail. I'd made arrangements to have him come out while he was in the Phoenix area, and we worked together to change out the switch. He also gave the burner and chamber a once-over, verifying that we're in good shape at this point.
In spite of all the projects going on, we have been able to squeeze in a bit of fun. Friday night, we caught up with some colleagues (Pat, Sharon, and Leslie) from my Aetna days that I haven't seen since 1993. We reconnected via Facebook, which is actually turning out to be a reasonably good communication tool. Pat and Sharon were in town visiting with Leslie and spending some time with family they brought along from Connecticut. We met up at an interesting "burgers and beer" joint, Greasewood Flat, over in North Scottsdale and had a great time catching up.
Of course, the other thing we had going on was our annual "celebration week": Valentine's Day on the 14th, our anniversary on the 16th, and Geri's birthday on the 17th. We had cards galore, Geri got a Kindle, we had a great dinner with our friends Ana and Larry (Chateaubriand and Penfolds Grange - how can you go wrong?) and their pups, Molly and Tsunami, and generally enjoyed the idea that we made it 30 years. I still own her a lobster dinner since we ended up ordering pizza on our anniversary due to the painting project.
So, we took advantage of the break in the El Niño weather pattern to get a lot of things done, and now we're in for a couple of "showery" days. No matter - plenty of "rainy day" projects like filing the taxes (refund time - Woo-Hoo!), paying bills, updating the blog, etc. This week, we'll probably wrap up painting the rear of the house (it's just the body color since the trim is all done), so I'll be able to put all the painting equipment away.
Peoria, AZ
Wow, I didn't realize how long it's been since the blog has been updated. Of course, since we're not traveling, that's not necessarily a bad thing. On the other hand, we've had some interesting stuff going on over the past two weeks so here goes.
Thursday was a great change of pace. I got to work on the coach for a change! I did the annual maintenance on the furnace and had a bad float switch replaced. Unlike most RVs that have forced hot air heat using a propane burner, ours has a hydronic heating system using a diesel-fired burner, just like a residential furnace using oil as fuel. The burner heats a hot water tank for domestic use and there's a coil inside that heats a fluid that's pumped to all the heat exchangers throughout the coach (3 zones). It's pretty neat in that there's a separate coil that circulates engine coolant so we always have hot water after a day's drive. As a bonus, we can use the furnace to warm up the engine for easier starting on cold mornings (this came in handy when we were in Florida last month - brrrr!).
In any event, just like a household furnace, there's an annual maintenance routine that needs to be done. The burner nozzle gets changed, the combustion chamber gets cleaned of any soot and checked for cracks, the igniting electrodes' gap is checked and set, and a small fuel filter is changed out. It's not difficult, costly (~$30 in parts), or time-consuming (~1 hour once you've done it a time or two). This year's maintenance was a little different, since a float switch needed to be replaced. The furnace uses an electronic control system to manage the ignition and burn processes, control the various pumps for the zones, and provide safeguards. One key item is that it'll shut down if the boiler fluid level is too low. Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often. Unfortunately, the float switches tend to go bad; we've had our switch replaced once several years ago, and it failed again last June on our way to Alaska. Although it was easy to bypass the switch and get it operating again, I knew that I eventually wanted to get it fixed. I'm glad I waited, since Roger Berke, one of the best "roving" hydronic heating service providers, found a new solid-state sensor that should be much less likely to fail. I'd made arrangements to have him come out while he was in the Phoenix area, and we worked together to change out the switch. He also gave the burner and chamber a once-over, verifying that we're in good shape at this point.
In spite of all the projects going on, we have been able to squeeze in a bit of fun. Friday night, we caught up with some colleagues (Pat, Sharon, and Leslie) from my Aetna days that I haven't seen since 1993. We reconnected via Facebook, which is actually turning out to be a reasonably good communication tool. Pat and Sharon were in town visiting with Leslie and spending some time with family they brought along from Connecticut. We met up at an interesting "burgers and beer" joint, Greasewood Flat, over in North Scottsdale and had a great time catching up.
Of course, the other thing we had going on was our annual "celebration week": Valentine's Day on the 14th, our anniversary on the 16th, and Geri's birthday on the 17th. We had cards galore, Geri got a Kindle, we had a great dinner with our friends Ana and Larry (Chateaubriand and Penfolds Grange - how can you go wrong?) and their pups, Molly and Tsunami, and generally enjoyed the idea that we made it 30 years. I still own her a lobster dinner since we ended up ordering pizza on our anniversary due to the painting project.
So, we took advantage of the break in the El Niño weather pattern to get a lot of things done, and now we're in for a couple of "showery" days. No matter - plenty of "rainy day" projects like filing the taxes (refund time - Woo-Hoo!), paying bills, updating the blog, etc. This week, we'll probably wrap up painting the rear of the house (it's just the body color since the trim is all done), so I'll be able to put all the painting equipment away.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Almost ready...
February 6, 2010
Peoria, AZ
...to paint the house, that is. This project has been everything I expected, and more. Emphasis on the "more".
All in all, we had a good week. I've got everything mostly prepped and washed, and will be ready to start spraying next week. As with any good do-it-yourself project, there's a "pride of process" effect that grows as you realize (or theorize) that you're doing a better job than anyone you could have hired to do the work since you have the desire (and the time) to pay attention to all the little details. Extra scraping and sanding here, more stucco patch there - you get the idea. Of course, this also means that every time I walk around the house I find a new "little thing" or two that I should address.
Much of the time this week has been spent addressing things on the roof. Huh, what does painting the house have to do with the roof, you ask? Good question! Part of the answer has to do with the design of the house, which has several roof levels and associated eaves. All of the eaves have their own fascia, so that all had to be sanded. Our foyer is a 10' round area, and the ceiling there is raised to 16' height. This yields a round "turret" for lack of a better word that extends above the normal roof line, with its own fascia (eighteen two-foot sections angled together). All of this had to be sanded and then washed. Since the house hasn't been painted since it was built in 2001, and builders are notorious for watering down the paint, sanding the fascia has resulted in taking most of it down to bare wood.
And then there are the birds. Surprisingly, since we have very few flying insects here in the desert, there are a lot of birds in the area. We have a hummingbird feeder in the yard, and there are various sparrows, wrens, and finches (OK, I'm not an ornithologist, so I'm guessing here) around, along with a few doves. More prevalent are pigeons and quail; they're everywhere. And, we have a group of white-tailed hawks that nest in the neighborhood and hunt quite successfully.
So? What do birds have to do with painting? Well, birds make nests. Some eaves are good places (according to birds) to built nests. So far, I found two spots where nests have been made. Up under the turret eaves, which are only 4-7 inches deep, I found two small nests. Over the garage, I knew there was a pigeon nest, since we've seen them out the kitchen window for two years now. So, I pulled out all the nests (including all the pigeon poop and one hatchling carcass) and custom fit wire mesh into each opening to prevent further access. Closing up the eaves on the turret was actually easier than over the garage. I used 24" wide 1/2" coated wire mesh and cut the eighteen sections to length (4 to 7 inches wide - you didn't expect the builder to actually make the thing even all the way around, did you?), and then worked each into place. Air stapler in hand (have to have the right tool for the job), it was easy to staple each piece to the bottom of its associated fascia board. A few gaps were filled with small pieces wired in, and it was done.
In the front of the house, the hip roof from the house meets the angled roof over the garage. This provides a great place for birds to nest. I can tell because it was most difficult to prevent. I used small pieces of chicken wire mesh, cut to fit to close off the opening between the ceiling joist and the roof, and stapled them in as best I could. To actually see, I had to lay down on the roof "upside down", feet high and head low. This was not a comfortable position to be in!
While I had the ladder in place, I took a can of flashing sealant and treated all the various vent pipes and chimneys (hot water heater and furnace, both gas appliances). We don't have any leaks, but why wait for that since I'm already up? It's part of that attention to detail thing.
I've concluded that I no longer like being on the roof. When I was younger, it was no big deal. Now, while I don't really suffer from acrophobia, I'm much more cautious. I had Geri out "spotting" for me while on the extension ladder, and I was very careful, especially when near the edges. Since I've got the whole thing sanded, patched and washed, the only time I need to get back on the roof is to actually paint. I'll be glad when that's done.
So, today, I'll finish up the stucco patch. I noticed some cracking and deterioration (and some crappy stucco work) along the bottom edge of the stucco, right above the foundation, pretty much all the way around the house. Given that I'm working to make this the best job it can be, it didn't take long to convince myself that I had to take the time to fix it, or I'd be kicking myself afterwards. It's supposed to "shower" this afternoon and tomorrow, so I'll hold off on painting until it clears. With the El Niño pattern still in effect, we may get more cloudy/rainy days than usual. I set a target to have the house done by the end of February, so I can afford a few "off" days.
In other news, the big deal is that Geri found a small local house cleaning service for a reasonable price. They arrived in force (four cleaners) yesterday and spent 3½ hours scrubbing the inside of the house. Next week, the carpet cleaner will be here. Soon, I'll be done with painting and will wash all the windows and screens as part of the clean-up process. It'll be like having a new house!
Peoria, AZ
...to paint the house, that is. This project has been everything I expected, and more. Emphasis on the "more".
All in all, we had a good week. I've got everything mostly prepped and washed, and will be ready to start spraying next week. As with any good do-it-yourself project, there's a "pride of process" effect that grows as you realize (or theorize) that you're doing a better job than anyone you could have hired to do the work since you have the desire (and the time) to pay attention to all the little details. Extra scraping and sanding here, more stucco patch there - you get the idea. Of course, this also means that every time I walk around the house I find a new "little thing" or two that I should address.
Much of the time this week has been spent addressing things on the roof. Huh, what does painting the house have to do with the roof, you ask? Good question! Part of the answer has to do with the design of the house, which has several roof levels and associated eaves. All of the eaves have their own fascia, so that all had to be sanded. Our foyer is a 10' round area, and the ceiling there is raised to 16' height. This yields a round "turret" for lack of a better word that extends above the normal roof line, with its own fascia (eighteen two-foot sections angled together). All of this had to be sanded and then washed. Since the house hasn't been painted since it was built in 2001, and builders are notorious for watering down the paint, sanding the fascia has resulted in taking most of it down to bare wood.
And then there are the birds. Surprisingly, since we have very few flying insects here in the desert, there are a lot of birds in the area. We have a hummingbird feeder in the yard, and there are various sparrows, wrens, and finches (OK, I'm not an ornithologist, so I'm guessing here) around, along with a few doves. More prevalent are pigeons and quail; they're everywhere. And, we have a group of white-tailed hawks that nest in the neighborhood and hunt quite successfully.
So? What do birds have to do with painting? Well, birds make nests. Some eaves are good places (according to birds) to built nests. So far, I found two spots where nests have been made. Up under the turret eaves, which are only 4-7 inches deep, I found two small nests. Over the garage, I knew there was a pigeon nest, since we've seen them out the kitchen window for two years now. So, I pulled out all the nests (including all the pigeon poop and one hatchling carcass) and custom fit wire mesh into each opening to prevent further access. Closing up the eaves on the turret was actually easier than over the garage. I used 24" wide 1/2" coated wire mesh and cut the eighteen sections to length (4 to 7 inches wide - you didn't expect the builder to actually make the thing even all the way around, did you?), and then worked each into place. Air stapler in hand (have to have the right tool for the job), it was easy to staple each piece to the bottom of its associated fascia board. A few gaps were filled with small pieces wired in, and it was done.
In the front of the house, the hip roof from the house meets the angled roof over the garage. This provides a great place for birds to nest. I can tell because it was most difficult to prevent. I used small pieces of chicken wire mesh, cut to fit to close off the opening between the ceiling joist and the roof, and stapled them in as best I could. To actually see, I had to lay down on the roof "upside down", feet high and head low. This was not a comfortable position to be in!
While I had the ladder in place, I took a can of flashing sealant and treated all the various vent pipes and chimneys (hot water heater and furnace, both gas appliances). We don't have any leaks, but why wait for that since I'm already up? It's part of that attention to detail thing.
I've concluded that I no longer like being on the roof. When I was younger, it was no big deal. Now, while I don't really suffer from acrophobia, I'm much more cautious. I had Geri out "spotting" for me while on the extension ladder, and I was very careful, especially when near the edges. Since I've got the whole thing sanded, patched and washed, the only time I need to get back on the roof is to actually paint. I'll be glad when that's done.
Geri's been keeping Facebook updated with pictures.
So, today, I'll finish up the stucco patch. I noticed some cracking and deterioration (and some crappy stucco work) along the bottom edge of the stucco, right above the foundation, pretty much all the way around the house. Given that I'm working to make this the best job it can be, it didn't take long to convince myself that I had to take the time to fix it, or I'd be kicking myself afterwards. It's supposed to "shower" this afternoon and tomorrow, so I'll hold off on painting until it clears. With the El Niño pattern still in effect, we may get more cloudy/rainy days than usual. I set a target to have the house done by the end of February, so I can afford a few "off" days.
In other news, the big deal is that Geri found a small local house cleaning service for a reasonable price. They arrived in force (four cleaners) yesterday and spent 3½ hours scrubbing the inside of the house. Next week, the carpet cleaner will be here. Soon, I'll be done with painting and will wash all the windows and screens as part of the clean-up process. It'll be like having a new house!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Excellent progress and improving weather
January 30, 2010 (fingers still aren't used to typing 2010)
Peoria, AZ
What more could you ask for? Life is good here in the desert. I've made good progress with preparing the outside of the house (well, three sides of it anyway) for painting, although I've got a long way to go.
Painting a house is kind of like a lot of projects we got involved in back in the working days. It's a pretty straightforward concept and the steps are easy to understand: prep, paint, clean up, Miller time. Unfortunately, once you start actually doing things, all sorts of little details start appearing.
The primary obstacle to painting was the eaves, specifically the cheap plywood and poor painting techniques the builder used. What watered-down paint did get applied to the underside of the roof sheathing under the eaves was peeling quite badly. When I started scraping (old school, like with a scraper, since the spaces between the roof trusses are too small for power tools), much of the first layer of the sheathing just peeled off and crumbled away. I wrapped up the scraping yesterday afternoon, thankfully. Always try to get the hardest part of any job out of the way first, I say.
I sanded the fascia trim while I was slowly moving the ladder around the house 16" at a time, and that's where "scope creep" started. The wood was never primed and a rough sanding took it right down to bare wood. OK, so that'll require two coats of paint instead of one. And there are quite a few places where the stucco (I hate stucco) needs patching. Hmmm, the paint on the foundation looks like it's peeling; that'll require some wire brush work and priming as well. Hey, there's a bird's nest up here where the house eaves meet the garage. Looks like we'll need wire mesh installed to keep the birds out. Oops, another nest up over the front foyer; more wire. I wonder how well the paint will adhere to those galvanized pipes that were installed to run natural gas to the stove and grill. OK, I'll clean and prime them first. Uh, what's this area where the window trim butts up to the fascia? No, stucco is not a sealant, so that'll all have to be removed and sealed properly before painting.
So, you get the idea, my "project plan" has grown to about 40 discrete steps, several of which have to be done in the right order. Some things never change: I'm just a planner at heart. I really do enjoy figuring all this out. Scraping under eaves? Not so much.
Several neighbors and passersby have commented directly or indirectly that I'm nuts to do this myself. On the other hand, I'll save $1,500 (buys a lot of diesel) but more importantly, there's no way I could get someone to really do all the scraping, sealing, and other prep work correctly, so it would be peeling again in a year or two. Plus, it keeps me out of trouble and it's the perfect time of year (low-to-mid-60s, light breezes - El Niño aside) for this kind of project.
And, speaking of weather, it's been pretty nice since the last round of storms passed through. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get over to Quartzsite to catch up with RVing friends (Geri, not so much - about Q, not friends), but downpours in the desert aren't our thing. Thursday was kind of interesting, with clouds on the horizon in three directions all day. Even later in the day when the clouds increased, we could still see blue sky through them. As we were walking the pups, Geri and I both commented that the sky looked ripe for a rainbow. Well, not five minutes later, the setting sun dropped below the clouds to the west and we were graced with a perfect rainbow stretching cleanly all the way across the arc, plus a great sunset. As we finished our walk, we got hit with a few raindrops ("showers" in AZ terminology) and the rainbow turned to a double. We quickened our pace heading for home to grab the camera, but the double had faded by the time I could get the shot. It was still pretty, though.
Otherwise, it's been life as usual. Yesterday, we helped our neighbor across the street, Clisby, with some PC updates, and we did wings and 'ritas last night when another neighbor, Mary Ann, joined us for dinner. Geri's been busy organizing excess stuff for a proposed yard sale in the spring (why is it that two people need over 50 wine glasses, anyway?) and arranging for a carpet cleaner and house cleaner (we don't need someone on a schedule, but we do need a team to come in and scrub the place down from time to time) to get in here in early-February.
Today, I "took the day off". I actually started reading the new Dan Brown book. Well, it's not new any more since it came out last September or something like that but, hey, that's pretty good for me these days. Tomorrow: back to the paint prep...
Peoria, AZ
What more could you ask for? Life is good here in the desert. I've made good progress with preparing the outside of the house (well, three sides of it anyway) for painting, although I've got a long way to go.
Painting a house is kind of like a lot of projects we got involved in back in the working days. It's a pretty straightforward concept and the steps are easy to understand: prep, paint, clean up, Miller time. Unfortunately, once you start actually doing things, all sorts of little details start appearing.
The primary obstacle to painting was the eaves, specifically the cheap plywood and poor painting techniques the builder used. What watered-down paint did get applied to the underside of the roof sheathing under the eaves was peeling quite badly. When I started scraping (old school, like with a scraper, since the spaces between the roof trusses are too small for power tools), much of the first layer of the sheathing just peeled off and crumbled away. I wrapped up the scraping yesterday afternoon, thankfully. Always try to get the hardest part of any job out of the way first, I say.
I sanded the fascia trim while I was slowly moving the ladder around the house 16" at a time, and that's where "scope creep" started. The wood was never primed and a rough sanding took it right down to bare wood. OK, so that'll require two coats of paint instead of one. And there are quite a few places where the stucco (I hate stucco) needs patching. Hmmm, the paint on the foundation looks like it's peeling; that'll require some wire brush work and priming as well. Hey, there's a bird's nest up here where the house eaves meet the garage. Looks like we'll need wire mesh installed to keep the birds out. Oops, another nest up over the front foyer; more wire. I wonder how well the paint will adhere to those galvanized pipes that were installed to run natural gas to the stove and grill. OK, I'll clean and prime them first. Uh, what's this area where the window trim butts up to the fascia? No, stucco is not a sealant, so that'll all have to be removed and sealed properly before painting.
So, you get the idea, my "project plan" has grown to about 40 discrete steps, several of which have to be done in the right order. Some things never change: I'm just a planner at heart. I really do enjoy figuring all this out. Scraping under eaves? Not so much.
Several neighbors and passersby have commented directly or indirectly that I'm nuts to do this myself. On the other hand, I'll save $1,500 (buys a lot of diesel) but more importantly, there's no way I could get someone to really do all the scraping, sealing, and other prep work correctly, so it would be peeling again in a year or two. Plus, it keeps me out of trouble and it's the perfect time of year (low-to-mid-60s, light breezes - El Niño aside) for this kind of project.
And, speaking of weather, it's been pretty nice since the last round of storms passed through. I'm a little disappointed that we didn't get over to Quartzsite to catch up with RVing friends (Geri, not so much - about Q, not friends), but downpours in the desert aren't our thing. Thursday was kind of interesting, with clouds on the horizon in three directions all day. Even later in the day when the clouds increased, we could still see blue sky through them. As we were walking the pups, Geri and I both commented that the sky looked ripe for a rainbow. Well, not five minutes later, the setting sun dropped below the clouds to the west and we were graced with a perfect rainbow stretching cleanly all the way across the arc, plus a great sunset. As we finished our walk, we got hit with a few raindrops ("showers" in AZ terminology) and the rainbow turned to a double. We quickened our pace heading for home to grab the camera, but the double had faded by the time I could get the shot. It was still pretty, though.
Otherwise, it's been life as usual. Yesterday, we helped our neighbor across the street, Clisby, with some PC updates, and we did wings and 'ritas last night when another neighbor, Mary Ann, joined us for dinner. Geri's been busy organizing excess stuff for a proposed yard sale in the spring (why is it that two people need over 50 wine glasses, anyway?) and arranging for a carpet cleaner and house cleaner (we don't need someone on a schedule, but we do need a team to come in and scrub the place down from time to time) to get in here in early-February.
Today, I "took the day off". I actually started reading the new Dan Brown book. Well, it's not new any more since it came out last September or something like that but, hey, that's pretty good for me these days. Tomorrow: back to the paint prep...
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Can't put it off any longer
January 28, 2010
Peoria, AZ
Painting the outside of the house, that is. Actually, painting isn't the problem, it's the preparation that I dread. But, it can't be avoided, so I started. The first step was relatively easy: supplies and tools. I loaded up on masking tape and plastic, and bought a new scraper. I'm a power tool guy, but getting all the loose paint from under the eaves will require a bit of old-school scraping. I started with some other fix-up efforts: installing clips to screw the conduit for the back yard electrical circuits to the foundation (zip-ties attaching the conduit to the gas line for the grill don't survive in the AZ heat), patching some damaged areas in the stucco, moving some paving blocks - anything to avoid the scraping. By Tuesday, I couldn't avoid it any longer, so out came the ladders and up I went. It's slow going, even listening to tunes on the iPod, and dirty (when you're scraping under the eaves, the stuff has no place to go but on you). But, good progress was made: I finished one side and can wrap up the rest in another day.
Yesterday was supposed to be a showery day (parts of the Valley got rain but we didn't), so I "took the day off", but today it's clearing so I'm getting charged up to get the "hard part" over. I suppose that's the way I've learned to tackle most things, by getting the difficult thing done first. Growing up as a picky eater, I always ate the thing I liked the least first and "saved the best for last". In this case, the actual painting should be relatively painless, since we have a pro-quality paint sprayer I'll use for that.
I have a couple of additional tasks to tackle after the scraping and sanding are done. I have to prep the foundation (wire brush) and prime the concrete well, clean and prime the gas lines (galvanized pipe) with Rustoleum, and install some wire mesh under certain parts of the eaves to keep birds out (I found two nests so far). I'll be into the painting by early next week. Since the house has two different colors (body and trim), that'll take two passes. Taking a cue from watching other houses get painted, I'll shoot the trim first, not worrying about overspray but using a narrow-pattern nozzle, then mask that off and shoot the body. Seems like a plan.
In the spirit of complete disclosure, I should note that this phase will only address three sides of the house - the part that "shows". I'm going to do the back of the house as a separate project because I have a lot of work to do to remove all the patio decorations before that area can be done. No matter what, we'll have the whole thing done by the end of February.
Peoria, AZ
Painting the outside of the house, that is. Actually, painting isn't the problem, it's the preparation that I dread. But, it can't be avoided, so I started. The first step was relatively easy: supplies and tools. I loaded up on masking tape and plastic, and bought a new scraper. I'm a power tool guy, but getting all the loose paint from under the eaves will require a bit of old-school scraping. I started with some other fix-up efforts: installing clips to screw the conduit for the back yard electrical circuits to the foundation (zip-ties attaching the conduit to the gas line for the grill don't survive in the AZ heat), patching some damaged areas in the stucco, moving some paving blocks - anything to avoid the scraping. By Tuesday, I couldn't avoid it any longer, so out came the ladders and up I went. It's slow going, even listening to tunes on the iPod, and dirty (when you're scraping under the eaves, the stuff has no place to go but on you). But, good progress was made: I finished one side and can wrap up the rest in another day.
Yesterday was supposed to be a showery day (parts of the Valley got rain but we didn't), so I "took the day off", but today it's clearing so I'm getting charged up to get the "hard part" over. I suppose that's the way I've learned to tackle most things, by getting the difficult thing done first. Growing up as a picky eater, I always ate the thing I liked the least first and "saved the best for last". In this case, the actual painting should be relatively painless, since we have a pro-quality paint sprayer I'll use for that.
I have a couple of additional tasks to tackle after the scraping and sanding are done. I have to prep the foundation (wire brush) and prime the concrete well, clean and prime the gas lines (galvanized pipe) with Rustoleum, and install some wire mesh under certain parts of the eaves to keep birds out (I found two nests so far). I'll be into the painting by early next week. Since the house has two different colors (body and trim), that'll take two passes. Taking a cue from watching other houses get painted, I'll shoot the trim first, not worrying about overspray but using a narrow-pattern nozzle, then mask that off and shoot the body. Seems like a plan.
In the spirit of complete disclosure, I should note that this phase will only address three sides of the house - the part that "shows". I'm going to do the back of the house as a separate project because I have a lot of work to do to remove all the patio decorations before that area can be done. No matter what, we'll have the whole thing done by the end of February.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Surviving the "Winter Wallop"
January 25, 2010
Peoria, AZ
Yes, we're still alive - sorry for the gap in posting! There's not much to report from the past week, other than the weather. A series of storms passed through and dumped some rain. Since we grew up with variable weather, we put on our rain gear (even the pups) and tended to take it in stride. Of course, we had all the obligatory TV news stories about people driving through washes filled with running water and getting stuck or worse, washed away. Stupid - not my term, they actually have a "Stupid Motorist Law" in AZ now. If you get caught driving around "road closed" signs, you get to pay the costs of your own rescue. Doesn't look like it'll help.
I wanted to get over to Quartzsite this winter, where RVs gather in the desert, to catch up with some traveling friends, but the weather made that a non-starter. Geri wasn't particularly in the mood for a trip there (or anywhere for that matter), having just gotten back from the 4-week dash to the East and back. Maybe next year...
Anyway, we caught up on some "rainy day projects" - often, we have these queued up and don't get to them in the nice weather. We both worked on to-do lists, organizing things that need to be done "now" versus before we leave for the summer. Geri got an early birthday/anniversary gift: i ordered her an Amazon Kindle book reader, which won't save us any money but will definitely make storage and transport easier. I'm holding out for the Apple tablet that's supposed to be announced later this week. I say that, but actually rarely read books anymore, tending to focus more on online reading (news, travel, motorhome, photography) and periodicals (same focus areas), so I'm not sure if it makes sense for me.
I also did some budgeting (downer - continuing to live within our income sucks) and a first cut at last year's taxes (upper - excess withholding and the tax credit for the solar equipment we put on the coach last spring yields a refund for a change). All in all, it's been a rather productive week.
On the food and wine front, we've continued to do well. We're almost through all of the red wine that ended up in the "drink it or lose it" pile when we reorganized the "wine box", although there's still quite a bit of white left. Given our tendency to focus on reds, I need to figure out how that happened or, better said, make sure that doesn't happen again. I think we'll be paring back on some of the "wine club" memberships we've accumulated where they ship us what they want as opposed to us buying what we like. On the meal front, one highlight was among the simpler dishes, as we made (well, Costco made and we cooked) a chicken-parmesan ravioli with a sun-dried tomato cream sauce. A simple sauce, this one will work with a variety of additions, so we'll be trying it out several times in the future, I imagine.
Peoria, AZ
Yes, we're still alive - sorry for the gap in posting! There's not much to report from the past week, other than the weather. A series of storms passed through and dumped some rain. Since we grew up with variable weather, we put on our rain gear (even the pups) and tended to take it in stride. Of course, we had all the obligatory TV news stories about people driving through washes filled with running water and getting stuck or worse, washed away. Stupid - not my term, they actually have a "Stupid Motorist Law" in AZ now. If you get caught driving around "road closed" signs, you get to pay the costs of your own rescue. Doesn't look like it'll help.
I wanted to get over to Quartzsite this winter, where RVs gather in the desert, to catch up with some traveling friends, but the weather made that a non-starter. Geri wasn't particularly in the mood for a trip there (or anywhere for that matter), having just gotten back from the 4-week dash to the East and back. Maybe next year...
Anyway, we caught up on some "rainy day projects" - often, we have these queued up and don't get to them in the nice weather. We both worked on to-do lists, organizing things that need to be done "now" versus before we leave for the summer. Geri got an early birthday/anniversary gift: i ordered her an Amazon Kindle book reader, which won't save us any money but will definitely make storage and transport easier. I'm holding out for the Apple tablet that's supposed to be announced later this week. I say that, but actually rarely read books anymore, tending to focus more on online reading (news, travel, motorhome, photography) and periodicals (same focus areas), so I'm not sure if it makes sense for me.
I also did some budgeting (downer - continuing to live within our income sucks) and a first cut at last year's taxes (upper - excess withholding and the tax credit for the solar equipment we put on the coach last spring yields a refund for a change). All in all, it's been a rather productive week.
On the food and wine front, we've continued to do well. We're almost through all of the red wine that ended up in the "drink it or lose it" pile when we reorganized the "wine box", although there's still quite a bit of white left. Given our tendency to focus on reds, I need to figure out how that happened or, better said, make sure that doesn't happen again. I think we'll be paring back on some of the "wine club" memberships we've accumulated where they ship us what they want as opposed to us buying what we like. On the meal front, one highlight was among the simpler dishes, as we made (well, Costco made and we cooked) a chicken-parmesan ravioli with a sun-dried tomato cream sauce. A simple sauce, this one will work with a variety of additions, so we'll be trying it out several times in the future, I imagine.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Back to normal - for a few days anyway
January 17, 2010
Peoria, AZ
"Normal" depends, of course, on where we happen to be and the time of year. For right now, we'll enjoy a few nice days of "winter in Arizona" (sunny and low 70s) before things turn cool and - OMG! - rainy next week as a strong El Niño pattern sets up. California is supposed to get the brunt of the bad weather, but we'll probably get some of it. We'll see...
So, yesterday Geri got to have all the nails done and I was able to watch some NFL playoff football. I don't tend to spend a lot of time following any sport until their post-season, and football is no different. For some reason, being from New England didn't lead to becoming a fan of the Pats, Giants or Jets. I can remember following the Vikings (Eller-Page-Larsen-Marshall, Tarkenton) and Colts (Unitas and the real Baltimore version) "back in the day". I've developed a soft spot for teams in "adopted" cities of Philadelphia and Phoenix, but you can't get too excited about teams that haven't developed the ability to win the big games. So, I guess we'll keep our eye on the Colts and Vikings, at least through next weekend. ;-)
Last night we had Steak Frittes (parmesan-truffle fries, at that)with a mushroom sauce and a 2004 Badge Pinot Noir. With fresh oil, I got the fries too crispy. I dug out the steak plates with the metal inserts in wooden trays, then didn't account for the extra cooking the heated plates would yield, turning nice rare steaks to medium. Not my best effort, but at least the wine was great.
I also small piece of lamb leg to marinating, so that will get grilled off today, once the late game is over. Then we'll batten down the hatches for the pending weather.
Peoria, AZ
"Normal" depends, of course, on where we happen to be and the time of year. For right now, we'll enjoy a few nice days of "winter in Arizona" (sunny and low 70s) before things turn cool and - OMG! - rainy next week as a strong El Niño pattern sets up. California is supposed to get the brunt of the bad weather, but we'll probably get some of it. We'll see...
So, yesterday Geri got to have all the nails done and I was able to watch some NFL playoff football. I don't tend to spend a lot of time following any sport until their post-season, and football is no different. For some reason, being from New England didn't lead to becoming a fan of the Pats, Giants or Jets. I can remember following the Vikings (Eller-Page-Larsen-Marshall, Tarkenton) and Colts (Unitas and the real Baltimore version) "back in the day". I've developed a soft spot for teams in "adopted" cities of Philadelphia and Phoenix, but you can't get too excited about teams that haven't developed the ability to win the big games. So, I guess we'll keep our eye on the Colts and Vikings, at least through next weekend. ;-)
Last night we had Steak Frittes (parmesan-truffle fries, at that)with a mushroom sauce and a 2004 Badge Pinot Noir. With fresh oil, I got the fries too crispy. I dug out the steak plates with the metal inserts in wooden trays, then didn't account for the extra cooking the heated plates would yield, turning nice rare steaks to medium. Not my best effort, but at least the wine was great.
I also small piece of lamb leg to marinating, so that will get grilled off today, once the late game is over. Then we'll batten down the hatches for the pending weather.
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