Back from the wedding.

Krass' wedding was a lot of fun.  It was at a really nice venue in lower Manhattan (NYC), right on the East River (I think).  This is a picture from the reception, I spent a bunch of time down by the water.  While I didn't get it in this picture (for whatever reason I didn't take a panorama), the Statue of Liberty was also in the backdrop of the wedding.  I didn't take many pictures; my phone was completely off throughout the ceremony.

The hotel we stayed at almost had an amazing view, if it weren't for a skyscraper right in the middle of it.  I could still see the intersection of the East and Hudson rivers though, and watch the boats go by.

I would also not recommend Men's Wearhouse; that is where we rented the suits from, and there were more issues than successes.  For me, they measured me wrong and my pants were too short (I would guess they measured my pant length from my hips, not my waist but don't know for sure what happened), my jacket was very tight across the shoulders (most are though; I have wide shoulders), but the sleeves were too long (even after I complained about it when I was measured and fitted).  When I first picked up the rental, the pants were missing a button.  They also gave me the wrong size socks (they were size 7-10, and I wear a 13W), which by the end of the night left noticeable dents in my legs. And all things considered, I was reasonably trouble-free compared to some of the other groomsmen and the groom. It wasn't all bad though, the shirt was actually quite nice, and breathed well which was nice given that it was quite warm.  The shoes, while they fit poorly because of my duck feet, looked nice.

One of the gifts from the groom was they gave us all specialized ties to wear. Given my propensity to build things, mine has blueprints on it.

This was also my first Amtrak experience.  The train wasn't bad.  It will probably be my preferred method of getting to the city going forward.  It is nice to be able to go visit Aunt and Uncle, who are conveniently located just minutes away from the Renselaer station so I can get a ride.  The wifi wasn't great.  It was still better than using my cell data which made my phone very confused on the way back (the way back the wifi was broken).  The seats were very spacious, though I didn't find them very comfortable, the angles were not good for me (better than an airline seat though).  It is also nice that you don't have to lose an extra few hours waiting for bureaucratic BS.  I arrived 10 minutes before my train was supposed to leave, and easily made the boarding without rushing.

On the way back, the wifi didn't work, and I sat on the correct side of the train, the side facing the Hudson.  I am mildly curious why a not insignificant amount of the track appears to have been built in the Hudson (water on both sides).  Matt and I theorized it was perhaps due to land acquisition issues, but at any rate, I got to see a gorgeous sunset on the river.

I am peopled out for a bit. My turkeys were back this morning though.  

No movement on the checklist.  If you look at the more broken down task list, I am doing fine, but I won't finish everything I need to before this weekend, so I might have to push out the KY trip at least one week, maybe two.  

2021 Projects:

• Shed supports
• Table
• South wall siding
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Level back yard
• Level front yard 
• Remove dead/dying beech trees
• Eliminate pile of crap in back
• Camper Power Center (portable AC power source and generator)
• Baffle box
• Driveway round three
• Fix shed floor.

Fixes and a new generator

We are pretty near the time of the year where I can't really do anything when I get home, since it is already dark.  I did get a couple of things done this week though.  

I took advantage having the dumpster there (they hauled it away yesterday) to replace the carpet in my entryway.  It had gotten chock full of dirt and my wimpy vacuum wasn't picking it up anymore.  

I picked up the generator last night.  

The last thing I have been working on is fixing the cap.  It is now bolted back together.  Only one of the holes was busted, so hopefully this holds up ok.  

I lost a drill bit doing it though.  I was a very weird angle drilling out the rivets, and I apparently torqued it too much.

None of these items are on the checklist, though the generator enables the construction of the baffle box.  I mostly wanted to get the cap fixed before I drove the truck to Albany this weekend.  I am headed to a wedding in NYC (taking the train from Albany) and didn't want the back window to tear off or anything.  I probably won't have much of an update this weekend.

2021 Projects:

• Shed supports
• Table
• South wall siding
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Level back yard
• Level front yard 
• Remove dead/dying beech trees
• Eliminate pile of crap in back
• Camper Power Center (portable AC power source and generator)
• Baffle box
• Driveway round three
• Fix shed floor.

Goodbye boat and other failing shenanigans. Long post.

When I got home Thursday, the dumpster did make it on time.  They actually put the dumpster where I asked them to as well, which doesn't happen often.  

I also got the bathroom floor finished up Friday, and I showered in it over the weekend.  It appears to have worked.  We shall see of the damp subflooring dries out now. 

It isn't clear like advertised, but the fiberglass defects are filled in now.  It seems watertight too.

Saturday was a lot wetter than expected and forecasted.  I did manage to get almost all the other side of the shed cleaned out.  For whatever reason I seemingly forgot to move all the lumber out though.

Here is a better look at the problem.

The portable garage thing wasn't nearly as full as I expected.

After getting rained on for the third time, I gave up on the day.

Sunday I had help, Matt came up to lend a hand.  We started with getting the boat in the dumpster.  My plan worked reasonably well, though it was tricky getting the truck back there to hold the trailer.  I had to move my other utility trailer.  I am tempted to sell it; utility trailer prices are crazy right now, and this is the first time it has moved all year.  I paid $100 for it, have put a few hundred in it, and could probably sell it for close to a grand.  It isn't big enough to haul my tractor, so I need a bigger one anyways.

Me on my tractor.  I haven't played with it nearly enough this year.  I have put less than 10 hours on it this year.  

The tractor couldn't lift the boat as expected, but it could lift the back end up and pull.  Even just lifting the back end though I had to be careful, the boat was easily heavy enough to tip the tractor, and I ended up on two wheels a couple of times.  I wasn't expecting that, but it seems the boat is a bit heavier than I thought it was.  

We ended up using a strap and attached it to the hook on my bucket.  I tried just lifting it with the cutting edge as pointed up as it would go and dragging it off, but the bucket didn't grip the boat well enough.

I ended up not using skids to slide the boat on.  This part of my yard is well drained and was very solid, the boat didn't leave any gouges in the yard.  The tractor did more damage than the boat actually.  The tractor pushed it quite easily.  I had to lift the front of the boat when it got to the dumpster, but otherwise the operation went smoothly.

The boat filled the dumpster a lot more than I thought it would.  I am glad I went up a size from the dumpster I normally get.

The truck left some ruts, but oh well.  It didn't get stuck.  

For now I just put the trailer over by my septic tank. Now that I can see underneath the boat, it is pretty clear the rollers need to be replaced.  The bunks look ok, though they need to be reattached, apparently the previous owner thought that a single 6 penny nail was enough to hold the bunk on.  

We started filling the dumpster until we stopped for lunch.  It turns out that my grill was out of propane which was not terribly surprising, I have been running that tank for at least a year and a half, probably more than 2.  Knowing that, I got my spare tank filled this spring.  Turns out that tank was empty too, so either the valve or the tank leaks.  So no grilling.  This was supposed to be my grill's last hurrah.  Instead its life ended with a whimper.

At that point it was very clear that there was no way to get the entire pile in the dumpster, which was mostly full, so we moved onto the shed.  We slid the beam under the shed, and it was clearly not strong enough, so we added some reinforcement.  I am planning on using the beam after fixing the shed for center support.

Even with the reinforcement, my plan to jack up the shed met with failure.  Most of the joists aren't even touching the board.  It clearly isn't rigid enough for what I had in mind.  Apparently my shed is too much of a porker.  This means I have no choice but to remove the flooring and fix it one joist at a time.  It is kind of odd to see wood flexing in such a nice looking curve though.

Pulling up the floor is something I can do myself and will be very time consuming.  Unlike this corner, I actually used appropriate nails when I put the flooring down.  So we moved on to the siding, the last thing I needed a second person around for.  

I unfortunately didn't grab a picture of it before it was eliminated, but I decided not to do the siding.  The board was badly warped, which isn't a problem, but it was also completely covered in mold and mildew, which is not something that I wanted to trap in the house.  It is annoying too; this board was underneath a tarp and another piece of T1-11 to protect it.  This picture was of the spare board after we chucked them in the dumpster.

So we spent the rest of the time finishing filling the dumpster.  The grill and my patio table (which was damaged last winter and about as stable as a top) got chucked in.  This corner of the slab looks kind of empty now.

This is what is left of the pile in the back.  It doesn't look much different, but my yard is notably larger now.

The dumpster is quite full.

A couple of other odds and ends: it really seems my knotweed has become resilient to chemical warfare.  After a week, made at a much higher concentration than the bottle recommends, it is just now discoloring the leaves.

The new stuff appeared to having a better go at it.  Still not an inspiring performance though.

I also broke my truck cap.  Looks like I will have to drill it out and put in some bolts.  I think I have a rivet gun somewhere, but bolts would be easier.

So this presents an interesting conundrum.  I think I am going to mark the pile in the back as complete, since I won't be doing anything else with it this year.  It will just make another appearance next year.  I think at this point, once I clear out and take down the portable garage thing, I might mark the shed floor as complete.  For now I am just marking the siding as deferred.  At this point, I might not do anything with either of them before winter (other than taking down the temporary garage).  I went all last winter without siding on that wall without issue.  The shed floor might end up being my winter project.  Unfortunate, but that is the way it goes.

2021 Projects:

• Shed supports
• Table
• South wall siding
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Level back yard
• Level front yard 
• Remove dead/dying beech trees
• Eliminate pile of crap in back
• Camper Power Center (portable AC power source and generator)
• Baffle box
• Driveway round three
• Fix shed floor.

Materials have gotten expensive.

I got some dirt and rock delivered yesterday.  One full dump truck of each. Dirt and rock has gotten absurdly expensive; those two piles ran a grand.  Materials have gone up substantially from last year; my last load of rock was $14 a ton, this was $18, but delivery has gone way up as well, from 68 a truck load to 117.  Loam is over $20 a ton.  Might make me seriously consider getting a big dump trailer down the road since my lot needs a ton of dirt.  

Last night I also got around to cleaning the floor in the bathroom.  

I also sprayed down a can of the flex seal.  They don't put coverage numbers on their cans, and I can see why.  I ran out before I got a single coat on the floor.  I was laying it down thick, but that is just sad, I am only covering maybe 8-9 square feet.

This stuff isn't cheap either, it is 14 bucks a can.  If it works, it is worth it though.  Not having an inside shower at home kind of stinks.  Having a shower that leaks wasn't too great either.  Hopefully this will solve those issues.  I will pick up another can tonight.

Apparently I have a lot of bugs in my yard.  I have now seen turkeys each of the last 5 days.

While the materials are now on hand for the driveway and back yard items, I am not marking them in progress until I start doing something with it, so no movement on the checklist.  I am going to try to get the dumpster delivered today. 

2021 Projects:

• Shed supports
• Table
• South wall siding
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Level back yard
• Level front yard 
• Remove dead/dying beech trees
• Eliminate pile of crap in back
• Camper Power Center (portable AC power source and generator)
• Baffle box
• Driveway round three
• Fix shed floor.

Grass and wildlife

Saturday I finished up the beam for the shed.  It is long.  That goes all way to the bookshelf in the back corner of the shed.  It is 20' long, so it is 4' longer than the shed.

I stopped into Harbor Freight for a single use jack, but apparently they are all out.  I got a hold of Tim and he has a small floor jack that I can use.  

I also pulled out my weedwhacker.  Much to my surprise I put the TruFuel in it and it fired right up third pull.  It was running very poorly last time I used it (it would often overheat, but wouldn't run without the choke on), and that was 2 years ago.  It stuttered a bit at first, but I ran a tank and a half through it and it was running great by the end.

I have the brushcutter head on my weedwhacker, and I abused it today cutting stuff like this, which I really should have pulled out my shears for.  

That tree in the middle was about an inch and a half in diameter.

It didn't like it.  Looks like I need to sharpen it now and get that chunk ground out.  Oops.  I have a chainsaw, I should try using it.

One of the main things I wanted to clear was out by the road.  The knotweed has taken over, and it was at the point where I couldn't see before I pulled out.  In past years the town has cut it down when it gets bad, but with lots of flooding and washouts this year, they have been rather busy keeping the roads passable.

I also pushed back the encroachment of knotweed down by the road.  I am tired it whacking me when I mow.  

I also trimmed (yes, with the weedwhacker) the branches that were hitting my truck when I drove up my driveway.  I have a chainsaw and really should use it.  

While I was trimming the beech down by the parking spot/destroying the blade on my weedwhacker, I was wondering if I should remove that tree.  It was one of the trees slated for elimination, since I wanted to keep the maples and the beech is too close to the driveway.  My lot has a dearth of color in the fall because there isn't a good variety of trees, but the maples have already lost most of their leaves and haven't contributed any fall color.  My maples aren't the only ones doing that this year though, driving around you can see many that have behaved the same.

I also did some clearing over by the carport and by the pile of junk in the back before the weedwhacker was done for the day.

I also noticed while I was clearing that I have a bunch of holes in my yard.  They look like mole holes, but usually with moles you can see the track of where they dug since they stay shallow, but these almost look like something started to dig and stopped.   Not sure what to make of those.  They aren't big enough to impact mowing though, so I might just simply not care.

I had a little of daylight left on Saturday, so I also moved some stuff into the carport.  I got most of the loose stuff on the left (stable) wall cleared out.  The back corner will be the challenging part though.  

There are a bunch of things I came across that I might just get rid of too, like I have most of a roll of tar paper, a giant roll of CAT6 cable that I got from Matt and have never used, stuff like that.  

After dark, I finally got around to cleaning my big fan too.  It was bad.  Here is a before and after.  It works much better now.

As I was cleaning up the dust from cleaning the fan, I noticed that my supposed OEM replacement filters from Black and Decker for my hand vac don't fit.  Grrr.  I will have to check, but I think I am past the return window on them too.  The filter on the left is the one that is in it.

Sunday was all about destruction of vegetation.  I mixed up the rest of my glyphosate and sprayed around the pile of junk.  

I also noticed that my well was leaking around the top, so I need to go clean the filter on the daylight pipe.  So I sprayed a bunch of the knotweed over in that general area.  I was surprised that when I sprayed it, I apparently have a very large number of honeybees that I irritated.  I didn't think I had any honey bees, but they weren't the yellow jackets or wasps I normally see.  They apparently don't like getting sprayed with Glyphosate either.  

I also sprayed down the side over by the carport so that it will hopefully stay dead.  

After I ran out of glyphosate, I mixed up a batch of the other stuff I picked up at Home Depot, who doesn't carry glyphosate anymore.  In case the sticker isn't readable, this stuff is Glufosinate-Ammonium.

It certainly doesn't mix as nicely, it foamed real bad, and the foam didn't settle down very fast.  My hose still leaks like a strainer too.  I sprayed the rest of the knotweed in the front that I had pushed back, we shall see if this stuff works better or worse.  The glyphosate historically wilts the knotweed, but doesn't kill it, it just grows a new stalk.  

At that point I decided to go make lunch (mmm, popcorn shrimp).  Apparently my wildlife had the same thought.  There was a pack of turkeys that came out.  They came from the front, and worked their way back.  They basically made a loop around the house.  

The picture sucks because I didn't really want to go outside and disturb them, but they really really loved the pile of mulch.  They were digging and picking at it for almost 20 minutes.  

My porky woodchuck even came out for lunch too.  

They made a couple of stops around my septic system, both around the tank and the leech field, on their way out.  

After they left, I went and looked at the damage.  Most of them shook off (turkeys shake like a dog apparently) on the slab.  They made a mess.  

They dug several holes in the mulch too.  

After that it was mowing time.  I got most of the mowing done, at least enough to move the boat and the front.  While I was mowing the back yard, I noticed the lawn tractor had a weird issue, something was preventing the front tire from spinning.  

I brought it to the slab, and it quickly became clear what the problem was.  I knew the deck was worn out when I got it, but this is pretty fatal.  I will take a look around to see if I can find a used deck for it, since the Cub still runs great, but I know Dad looked in KY before I got it and didn't have much luck.  If I can't find one, this might be the end of the line for it.

I also went to move the boat.  My TPMS has been complaining for a while, and since I had the compressor out already (the Cub's right rear tire needs filling every time I mow) I checked them.  It turns out one of my rear tires has started leaking too, though it is still very slow.  I filled it up, but the light didn't go off, confirming my suspicion that one my sensors has just gone bad.  

I got the boat moved.  This is so that I can get the dumpster put in the back yard, which was inaccessible with the boat there.  And while I didn't get a picture of it, I finished mowing the back yard with the push mower and picked up the acrylic that blew out of the carport from last winter (I hadn't picked all of it up yet, only where I normally mow).  

At least the front was mowed before the deck gave up.  I will probably only mow once or maybe twice more for the year.  I can use the Craftsman if it comes to it (which is operable, though the deck is still screwed up on it; the deck brakes aren't disengaging, but the deck mows) or just use my push mower.  

I also peeled up the vinyl tape.  The vinyl tape apparently isn't nearly as waterproof as I had expected.  I had intended to clean the floor in the bathroom and reseal it, but couldn't find the sealer (I guess I put it in the shed somewhere?) and my can of scrubbing bubbles didn't have any air left in it, so I will probably work on that tonight.  Most of the floor was wet too even with a fan blowing in there and having not used the shower in several days (I have been showering at the gym).  I still don't understand what causes fiberglass to do this.  It looks like I wore the resin out of the glass, but I don't know that is possible.

While this completes several sub-tasks on that pre-work week checklist, it didn't complete any of the projects.  I am still on track for a work weekend, and the preliminary forecasts look pretty good for this weekend (it is supposed to rain all week, but not Saturday and Sunday), so I might start putting out feelers.  

2021 Projects:

• Shed supports
• Table
• South wall siding
• Review options for house (mobile home vs stick built vs modular)
• Level back yard
• Level front yard 
• Remove dead/dying beech trees
• Eliminate pile of crap in back
• Camper Power Center (portable AC power source and generator)
• Baffle box
• Driveway round three
• Fix shed floor.