Long update for a long weekend.

I thought I was going to have good weather two of the three days, though that didn't turn out to be the case.  I did get some stuff done though.

Saturday I wasn't feeling too good, but I went up anyways.  I finished the metal, cutting it and painting it.  It took forever to cut through thick steel supports with the hack saw, and it turns out I cut it too long.  I wanted it to be snug across the whole frame, but I made it a little too snug.


Saddened by that, I decided to break out the weedwacker and chop down all the bamboo I have.  It grows quite fast, and is rather obnoxious.  I didn't recall running the weedwacker out of gas when I was testing it, but I know I didn't put much in it, so it didn't strike me as odd that it was empty.  Went to fill it up, and this happened, and not because of my bad accuracy.

I guess the primer bulb that I thought was too stiff for its own good was legitimately a problem...

I also propped up the truck cover so that I can use it as a shelter and as a platform.  Thankfully this didn't go ill like the rest of the day did.


One other piece of good news, the meeting with the zoning board is scheduled for Thursday.  While I am a little concerned that it is technically sooner than it ought to be (the regulations say 10 days after notifications are sent out, which was Friday), earlier is better for me.  Just to keep my good news tempered though, it came in with the first property tax bill.  NH sends out two a year.  My tax rate for the year doesn't look to have changed ($31.58 per thousand), though I think it changed on the second bill last year.  Sullivan's taxes are quite high, but the property values are lower, so it evens out.

Sunday seemed like a nice day, until I got rained out.  I got my barbeque in and as I went to work, it started to rain on me.  So I spent most of Sunday cleaning and doing chores, some of which had been neglected.  I also found out that apparently I can't shower and run the dishwasher at the same time in my apartment, and had to clean up a bunch of water off my counters and floors.  Seems to me like someone didn't do the plumbing right...

Today, I managed to poach a few light fixtures off the freebie section of Craigslist.


This leaves me one fixture short of all that I need.  I will put one of the strips in the bathroom, the other probably in the kitchen (personally I am not a big fan of the huge fluorescent fixtures and almost never use the one in my kitchen).  I have the ceiling fan which will cover the "dining room" aka the tiny space between the kitchen and living room, and this fixture will cover the living room.  I just need one for the laundry room and I am all set.

I also did some detailed wall designs today in case the zoning board asks for them.  These actually show where the windows are, expected window sizes (I haven't picked out windows yet.  They will likely end up being whatever is on sale when I am ready to install them)  and the door framing.  I intentionally didn't dimension the drawing because those sizes are unknown, but wanted to show where I will have the windows, approximate sizes, and show that I am intending to install headers and whatnot for them.  The door gives me a little pause, since I am not sure I have enough space for a header, but that is something I will deal with when the time comes.  I might just use a 4x4 trimmed to fit for the header.  It isn't ideal, but may be the best I can make fit with my 7' wall.  The windows will probably use a double 2x4 header.  It is a bit lightly built (2x6 is standard for windows, and 2x8 for the door), but should be fine.  The drawing was fairly quick with my new drawing board setup.

Note that the left, and whatnot is what wall it refers to on the floorplan, since North/south isn't meaningful to most people.

Dumpster is full, mowing done

Did the last of the cleaup today.  The dumpster is full.


Found some interesting stuff.  A couple things worth keeping.


I also found a bunch of shit.  Literally.  A 5 gallon bucket half full of it.  I will have to figure out what I am going to do with it.  Probably dig a hole somewhere and bury it.


Some of the stuff is gone.  The rest I will likely have the contractor deal with who comes in to do the septic.




Tim came up and helped today for a bit.  He also brought up the sawhorses he dropped a tree on last year.  He rebuilt it, and it works again.


I also finished getting the mower discharge chute on today.  A lot easier when you take the plate off the deck to mount it to.  For a while I didn't think it was going to come off.  But after a few doses of WD-40, the bolts loosened up a bit.


I also got the yard mowed, since it is supposed to rain all week.  Even the back yard.  It was still very wet, but it is done.

Slab cleared off.

The slab part of the cleanup is done.  It is a good thing I got a 15 yard (a 10 wasn't available) since I filled more of it than I expected.  A good portion of the leaves had blown off before I took this picture, so hopefully the rest of them will vacate the premises before tomorrow.


I even picked up the back yard which had styrofoam blown into it again.  It really needs mowing, which I plan to do tomorrow, though this section isn't really mowable with either the push mower (which I still haven't fixed) or the tractor.


The dumpster is perhaps a touch over half full.


The only garbage remaining up on the slab is one of the old mattresses.  I left it on its side to drain.  It was so badly waterlogged I almost couldn't lift it this morning.  And despite being in the sun with a breeze all day, it was still draining enough water to leave a puddle.


I will probably finish filling it tomorrow when I go to cleanup the old foundation.  I also got the discharge chute for the mower.  I started to install it, but it came with no instructions, and while I figured out how everything needed to go so that the spring was loaded correctly and so on, it was being a real pain so I figured I would look up some directions online.  It turns out you are supposed to remove the bolted clip on the deck to install it, which would make it a whole lot easier.

Trailer refurbishing is complete.

We'll have to call today a draw with the bugs.  I was winning most of the evening, but around dusk when they start to get really bad, the black flies finally realized that they are in fact small enough to crawl through the mosquito netting.  By then I was pretty much done though.

The trailer is now completed.  I got the remaining underside (man I really need a creeper) and the remaining cross pieces complete.


In between waiting for the coats of paint to dry, I started to haul junk into the dumpster.


The paperwork for the zoning board is now complete and the application is submitted.  It took three tries, but it is done finally.

Evened up with the bugs

For those keeping score (ahem, Heather) today I was prepared for the infestation.  I only got a few hours of work in since I was stuck at work until 630, but only ended up with one or two bug bites

My setup.  A mosquito mask and pure deet.


I got the sides and top wire brushed and painted on the trailer.  It was really hot, so the paint dried quick.


All that is left is the front-most crossmembers and the underside on the front.


I tried again to get the application in for the zoning board.  Last time my info was out of date and I was missing copies of the building permit (which they had on file...).  This time they said there were a couple of people missing, myself and the DEC.  So I will add them to notification list and submit the application again tomorrow.

Dumpster arrived, but bugs won the day.

They delivered the dumpster yesterday, so I will be starting to clean up the cruft that is up there, and hopefully get my slab back.  

My signage: 

Finally a use for one of the old mattresses.

The dumpster is a 15 yard rolloff.  Should be plenty big enough.

I tried to start the rest of the frame refurbishing, but the bugs defeated me.  I had two bites, three that flew into my eyes, and one into my ear before I even managed to get the wire brush into the drill.  I decided that was enough, and I will remember to bring bug spray and my mosquito nets and whatnot if I can find them for tomorrow. 

I went up today to bring up the zoning board application paperwork, and found out that the state kiosk where you can look up property cards is out of date, so I have some corrections to make to the list of abutters.  The property directly across the street from me was just sold to a dude in Shanghai.  I will be bringing up the corrected documentation tomorrow.

Rearranging done

I woke up early and got some of the rearranging done up on the slab.

This is the final location of the trailer.  It wasn't easy to get it into place, the trailer turns too slowly, I ended up driving in the yard to get it in place, but it is there now.  I can park up on the slab now too which is nice.


When the truck tires bumped up against the slab, I might have gassed it a bit too hard.  That used to be the septic drain from the slab.  Thankfully it isn't the one I am going to use, it is the one that goes to the back yard.


I took the cover off the bed, so that I can pick up a fridge when I see one.  I think I figured out why it leaks and didn't work right though, the railing that attaches to the bed rail wasn't properly connected to the cover.


I am not sure what he was marking, I think these are from the septic guy.


Ace finally restocked the metal, so I cleaned them out again.  I am still one short, though Tractor Supply carries them as well.  I got the ones I have painted today.

Tractor up and mowing.

I finally got the rest of the maintenance done on the tractor today and got the yard mowed for the first time this season.  I need to find a solution to the black fly problem.  They were following me literally as a cloud.  Needless to say, the mosquito dunks were a failure.

The air filter was really bad.  It is supposed to be white, not black.


Though it looks the same as the old one, it is a new battery.  I have a disconnect on the way.


I also pulled out my driveway markers today.


The yard is all mowed.






While it still spins the blades a little bit, the belt definitely stretched during the mowing today.  Another round or two and the belt will be fine.

I also called and have a dumpster on the way this coming week.  It is a 15 yard rolloff which is probably larger than I need to get everything cleaned up, but is the smallest one that they had.

I just have a few finishing touches to put on the paperwork for the zoning board, and will get that rolling shortly.

Getting the stuff ready in between the bouts of rain.

Yesterday I went up there to start getting the mowers and stuff ready, and didn't get too far before I got rained out.  Today I stuck with it and while I got wet a few times, they were all quick showers.  Unfortunately the black flies are now out in force, which is annoying.  I was hoping the dunks in the stream would curb the population, but that doesn't appear to have worked.

The first thing I tried today was the weed wacker.  It fired up first pull.  The primer bulb is really stiff and I was worried it would crack when I pushed it the first time, but it behaved and everything fired up.  I put the brush cutting head on it since I imagine that is the head I will be using the most on it.  I cleared the tall stuff up by the slab, and also down by the road.

This head works better than I expected.  It doesn't cut quite as good as the circular saw blade, but it doesn't lug the weed wacker very bad and chops down what I am using it for with ease.




This is the area I tested it on.


This is the gas can I got for it at Tractor Supply.  I like this nozzle a bit better (no retarded mechanisms, just a push button), and I like the shape of the can better, it doesn't roll in my trunk.


I also replaced the grates on the grill today.  I looked at the burners yesterday, and they appeared to be rusted but ok, so I only got a new grate.  I would have gotten new heat tents for it, but Home Depot doesn't seemingly carry any parts for this grill.  The grates are a universal set that I don't think I will like too much.


I only bought them since the alternative was a 80 dollar set of Weber grates (which probably wouldn't fit right on my Char-Broil) and the old ones were very unusable.  They had holes and were bent badly.




I did the oil change on the tractor today, and it desperately needed it.  It was still running the filter and oil that Tim put in it last time he used it probably around a decade ago.  The oil was black thick and opaque.


Another highly intelligent design by Kohler.  Putting oil filters upside down makes a real mess and you can't actually drain out all the old oil...


But it has a nice shiny new filter and fresh oil.


I also dropped the deck, the PTO actuation is very good, and the blades weren't too bad, so I left them.  I was sharpening them quite often last year since I was hitting a lot of rocks and whatnot.  I also put a new belt on it.  Despite being the same size as the official Craftsman belt, this one is too tight and the blades spin even with the PTO off.  I am not sure yet if I am going to care.  There is a good chance that the first time I mow with it the belt will stretch and the issue will go away.


I did get the mower fired up.  It turns over almost scarily quickly when my car is driving it.  Despite leaving it hooked up to my car for 15 minutes with the car running, the battery in the mower wouldn't even click.  They should change their name from Duralast to Didn'tLast.  The battery is well under a year old, so I will try to exchange it, though I doubt I have the receipt for it anymore.


I got rained out again, so I haven't gotten to the push mower yet, but I am fairly confident that if I just drain the gas and empty the bowl for the carburetor  if will probably work fine.  I checked the oil in it, and was still almost clear, since I didn't use it much once I got the tractor.  I might just leave it.  Unfortunately I forgot my socket set at home (it is really annoying having my tools distributed across 4 spots, my car my truck, my shed and my second bedroom), so I haven't pulled the plugs yet, but I will likely replace those too.