prairieman

lol. Holy shit – it’s January 8th ! I’m a lazy sob. My lame excuse: the radiant heat system for the house and shop is NMC (not mission capable) which is a military aviation acronym for; broken. won’t start or run. not functional. It happened on December 22nd. Almost 3 weeks ago. I already said it was a lame excuse…

Back to Dec 22nd. I noticed the great room was a couple degrees cooler than the set point on the slab heat thermostat. The thermostat display indicated it was calling for heat, but the boiler was not answering the phone. Went to the mechanical room. On the panel for the switchable relay (small box with lots of low voltage wires and 120v wires) I should have observed a red light illuminated for zone 3; the heating zone for the great room. No red light illuminated, and the boiler was dormant. Went to the other 4 thermostats and raised the set points. All five thermostats indicated they made the call for hot water. Back to the mechanical room and confirmed: zero red lights illuminated for all five zones. I shut everything down and went to the brief (4 procedural steps) troubleshooting tree. Quickly completed step 4, and a fault tree dead end. My USAF maintainer friends would know the next step. Replace the MEC ! lol Called the 800 number for Azel, the manufacturer – no answer. Easy search produced their website. Clicked on “contact us”. Keystroked the story above and waited patiently.

When we constructed this place, I had the foresight to include a heat pump to the fully ducted air conditioning system designed for the house. We also have a free-standing wood stove in the great room. Both serve as a backup/reserve heat source if the slab radiant heat should ever become NMC. I activated the thermostat for the heat pump and it quickly brought the house up to the comfortable set point. Azel product support sent an mail the following day, requesting one additional troubleshooting step, not found in the instruction manual. Quickly accomplished that, reported the result via email reply, and got a reply almost immediately, asking for a copy of my purchase receipt. The switchable relay has a 3 year warranty. We purchased it 2 years ago as a line item with the entire heating system kit. Another reply followed, telling me a replacement relay had been shipped and included tracking information. I did not expect to see it until after Christmas and possibly not until after the new year. It arrived on Dec. 30th.

Swapped it out on January 2nd. No joy – same symptoms. Still NMC. While waiting for the relay to ship from Canada, I spoke to Lucas to tell him a new relay was on the way. Lucas is the HVAC guy who installed the entire radiant system above the concrete slab to include the boiler, various valves, copper tubing manifolds, etc. He let me know he was leaving town on a planned vacation to Key West, departing Dec. 29th, back home on January 5th. Currently waiting patiently on his list of people to see and things to do.

The only other news for December; I cut and split firewood from a large Ash tree that fell during construction. My brief effort, didn’t produce nearly enough firewood for the winter. Was hoping we wouldn’t need much firewood until the end of January.

Well… that didn’t work very well. Since it’s January 8th: I’ll report we got a foot of snow on Jan 5th, with bitterly cold temperatures until the end of this week. We are burning wood like crazy, because the heat pump can’t keep up with the extreme cold temps outside. I dug the truck out of the snow yesterday and will purchase firewood later today.

No worries here.

I’m finally keystroking this overdue monthly missive, sitting in a comfortable chair, watching the fire in the wood stove and the birds at the feeders on the deck, while sipping on hot coffee, jazzed up w/Baileys Irish Cream. It could be worse….

Winter is here. dammit. Our weather was typical Fall in Indiana (30’s / 50’s) until the last week of the month. Colder temperatures moved in November 21st with overnight temps in the teens and 20’s, and high temps in the 30’s. It’s supposed to remain like this for another 7-10 days. Fired up the boiler on the 21st to begin radiant heating the concrete in both buildings.

Earlier this month, I got Joe to bring his tractor to our place, so he could move and spread the small pile of crushed stone that was pictured in the October summary. Now we have an easier entry and exit from our property. A big improvement for sure.

With the shop full of the treasure/junk from the storage unit, I am impeded from getting anything done. I have decided to construct a lawn equipment shed – now. (maybe THAT’s why it’s suddenly super cold-lol) Recall the first paragraph of the post regarding current weather conditions. Nope, not doing outdoor construction when the high temp is in the 20’s. Call me worthless and weak, I don’t care. I’m in a holding pattern until we can get to the 40’s during the day. Shed design is complete along with a materials list. The shed will be 12′ by 20′, pretty much a copy of the shed I constructed at the Pin Oak Ct. home in Wichita.

The site next door has been cleaned up for the most part. The only major task remaining is to demolish the mobile home, but that won’t happen until Spring 2025. Had to pay 350 bucks for the roll off dumpster I filled with the demolished RV camper and received 395 dollars for the van at the local scrap yard. Will get that pile of crushed stone spread ASAP so we can begin using the new property entrance.

We had a plan to vote early, so decided to celebrate a little by having breakfast in Nashville, then on to the polling place. Nashville IN is a popular tourist stop year round, but is crazy in the Fall because of the hills and thick forests. People arrive in droves to shop in the village and drive around the county admiring the Fall foliage. The 10 minute wait for a table at the diner was longer than the line to vote. By the time we finished our meal, the line outside went around the corner. There were 3 voters ahead of us at the polling place.

Looking back, it took us about 15 months to construct this haven. After basic unpacking, I declared myself wasted and spent; void of any energy to get the project 100% completed. That was about 15 months ago. It wasn’t like I stopped doing anything productive, I simply dialed way back, to how much of my day was spent relaxing versus working projects. I’m pleased to report that I’ve got the spark again. After we closed on the trashed, eyesore property next door, I couldn’t stand to look at the mess any longer. With that completed, I have started working in the shop to get shelves up so we can get our stuff from the storage unit, off the floor and put away, allowing us to pull cars inside the shop ahead of winter. Don’t worry – I got used to relaxing and will continue that habit, I’m just making an adjustment to get a little more done each day. Unless I get an offer from a friend to goof off, of course….

More of the same. Retirement is under rated. Still sleeping in, followed by coffee and reading the internet until noon. A quick lunch, then applying myself to whatever project suits my mood for the afternoon. With Summer gone and Fall underway, I am concentrating on outdoor projects. Most of my efforts have been spent cleaning up the adjacent property. I started a small burn pile and kept slowly feeding it material for 2 days. While we have built and enjoyed gigantic brush pile burns when we lived in Kansas, we had to go with a small burn strategy here. Simply could not allow the fire to get out of control for several reasons. The fuel was mostly dead tree limbs, junk wood furniture, old fence boards and other scrap lumber. Cheap thrills to see everything gone and reduced to an ash pile a couple inches high. Over several days, I loaded junk quality chain link fence sections, a metal shed that had been crushed after a large tree fell on it, some appliances, and lots of scrap metal. Ending up being 2300 pounds of metal junk that put 200 bucks in my pocket from the local scrap yard.

I ended the month, by demolishing the camper trailer that Bryant placed against our shared property line 8 years ago. That eyesore is only a feet from the highway, and we had to look at it whenever we were making a trip to/from Bloomington. The task went significantly easier than expected. Armed with a reciprocating saw, crowbar and sledge hammer, I began by cutting the roof from side to side, about 2 feet apart, and in between the 2 by 2 pine ceiling/roof joists. After making those cuts, made a long cut along the top of each side, front to back so each 2 foot section of roof fell to the camper floor. Moved the roof pieces to the roll off dumpster and started working on the walls. The project thus far, has consumed eleven hours of labor over the course of 3 days. The only thing left is the OSB floor you can see in the picture. Once that is loaded into the dumpster, I will take the steel frame to the scrap yard.

The plan is to make a new entrance to the property where the camper sits now. Currently, we drive a couple hundred feet past the camper and huge tree stump, negotiating a very tight hairpin turn off the highway and onto our driveway. This month’s picture with the demolished camper also shows the original entrance to our property before we purchased it – see the wood wagon wheel, which was believed to be the north property line. We demanded a formal survey before making an offer on the place 10 years ago. Everybody (ESPECIALLY the seller) was shocked to learn where the north property line is actually located. This will make getting in and out of our place much easier. If we are leaving to go east toward Nashville, we will continue using the other (current) driveway.

Woo hoo ! It’s September 2nd. Happy Labor Day !

A number of events happened in August.

We closed on the adjacent property. We now own our SECOND pre-owned single wide mobile home. The good news: we have no intention of living in this one. Bought our first pre-owned single wide mobile home, when we purchased 35 acres of land in south central Kansas, in 1998. But that’s another story… (it’s a good one. lol)

I have started cleaning up the monumental mess that Bryant left behind. Several people have stopped when I’ve been picking up trash, to ask what was happening to the property. All of them expressed their appreciation that the property is getting the attention it needs and correcting the blight this scenic highway does not deserve. Hope to report significant progress for the September summary.

I have moved out of the storage unit we have rented since relocating to Indiana in 2020. Mostly vintage BMW parts, lawn equipment, and a large accumulation of – other stuff. The storage unit is in Helmsburg, which is approx. 3 miles from our rural estate. It was very handy for valuable construction materials during the home & shop build. Saves us $130 a month. Now I need to construct a lawn equipment shed, so I can park cars in the shop again.

Finally, we hosted a birthday party for dad to celebrate his 93rd birthday. He is still mentally sharp and quick witted. Is able to get around with a cane and weather permitting, is taking a daily walk in Blue Ridge. Hope we repeat this annual event for several more years.

The picture for this post, is the aerial view of the acre parcel we now own, our original parcel with the house and shop is south, or just below the bottom of the 2 acre parcel shown.

holy shit – it’s August 10th ! I have really missed the deadline for this post. I have a list of lame excuses, but will spare you by not including them in this update.

If nothing else, July has been a month of anniversaries. July 18th – our 43rd wedding anniversary. July 19th – our first anniversary living here at 6619 St Rt 45. The weekend of July 26th-28th – my 50th high school reunion.

It’s no secret, that I was completely spent and exhausted after we moved in to our retirement home last July. There has some activity over the past 12 months, but not a lot progress when actual work on projects typically spanned from noon until four. Troubling for me, was realizing, that I was falling into a likeable routine of laziness. When we celebrated the 1 year moving anniversary, told myself it is time to get off my ass, and get some shit done. Not as easy as it sounds, and probably because I’m 68 years old, and doing nothing felt pretty good. I’m determined to get up and complete what I started in April 2022.

Some good news: we put in an offer for the slum property to the north, and our offer was accepted ! We close on the purchase and will own it on August 16th. Have already begun picking up trash and making separate piles of garbage, recycling steel and aluminum. Mowed the place for the first time in several years. Cutting up downed trees and figuring out the best way to demolish the camper trailer. It’s been good therapy as well, doing mindless physical work.

I’m going to end this post here, and work harder to be punctual for the August summary.

Life is good. I’m still having more fun than I deserve, or maybe; having all of the fun a person possibly can. I’m living in the movie Groundhog Day, except in blog terms; groundhog month. June was very similar to May… and April. Made progress on a number of projects that I’ve been picking away the past couple months. I am never bored. I maintain a near term list of things to do, and get up each morning to review the list to figure out what I will work on. If it’s a high priority-must-do; it gets done. I strive to prevent chores & projects from making the urgent list.

This month’s image shows the deceased neighbor’s property. There is a derelict single wide mobile home that Bryant actually lived in. Stepping inside, it looks as though the mobile home was turned upside down and shaken, then returned to it’s current resting place. There is a small metal shed, partially crushed by a dead tree that fell during a severe storm last year. After the tree fell on the shed, tree limbs were blocking one lane of highway 45, so I cut and removed the limbs back to the edge of the pavement. There is an old GMC van that has seen better days, and a travel trailer in worse condition than the mobile home. Also scattered randomly all over the 2 acre parcel, is trash, and a lot of it. Extremely overgrown and grass hasn’t been cut in years. That’s the bad news. The good news – when we finally own the property, and have removed the travel trailer (hidden by the small tree at the property line), we will make that our primary driveway entry to our property. Currently, the driveway to enter our property is 300 feet further east on State Road 45 past the mailbox, and is an extremely tight hairpin turn off the highway onto the driveway. Currently waiting on our appraiser to provide his analysis, to help us determine a fair cash price. I have been working to come up with the cost to get rid of all the very large, large and small trash, which will be reflected in the offer amount. We have no intention to put a replacement trailer on the property and be landlords. The only idea thus far, is to provide a place to park a large RV or travel trailer, and rent the space like a campground, with space for one. Water, electric and septic are all on site.

May was similar to the previous couple of months, which is another way of saying; I goofed around on indoor & outdoor projects around the house and shop, mowing dad’s grass and other to do projects at his place. Worked on a couple of my automobiles, and helped old friends with their construction projects. To be certain, I did all of that while making sure I didn’t encroach into the AM hours I have reserved to sleep in, drink coffee and read all of the news and visit my favorite web sites.

The biggest outdoor improvement was getting a number of shrubs and trees planted, and getting a lawn started. A portion of the property that fronts highway 45 lacks any sort of privacy when cars and trucks drive by. Most of the 220 feet of frontage is shrubs and small trees. For the open area, I went with holly bushes and an arborvitae tree which I planted at the property boundary with our neighbor to the north.

The construction phase in 2022 and last year, created a large area around all 4 sides of both buildings that was exposed subsoil and weeds. Our excavator came by at the end of April to spread topsoil everywhere it was needed. We planted 200 pounds of grass seed and covered it with straw. By the second week of May, grass shoots could be seen coming out of the straw cover. By Memorial Day, the straw was no longer visible and I mowed all of the newly planted areas for the first time. We’ve been really fortunate with timely rain so I’ve only had to water the new grass a couple times.

An annual tradition in May is old friends arriving “back home again in Indiana” to attend the Indy 500. My motivation to attend the Greatest Spectacle in Racing has waned over the past several years, but such is not the case for a number of people we have known for more than 50 years. We hosted a reunion/luncheon for them and our Bloomington-based friends. A good time was had by all. Alex and Lacey made the trip over Memorial Day, and it was great to see both of them. Alex was able to hack a way around the local TV blackout of the race. Unfortunately, Travis, Lynn and the boys had to cancel their plans to be here.

The last bit of news involves the 2 acre parcel adjacent to our north property line. It has a dilapidated mobile home, lots & lots of trash and a couple abandoned vehicles. The owner (Bryant) was an electrician and a drug dealer. In August 2022 we learned he had been found unresponsive in his car behind a local McDonalds at 3AM. EMS was unable to revive him. I learned this when I met his mother, who had traveled from Maryland to see what was going on at her son’s residence. I started sending her text messages in the Fall, telling her I wanted to purchase the property after Bryant’s estate was settled. She always responded promptly telling how long, slow and frustrating the probate court system is, especially when Bryant didn’t have a will, but did have a demanding ex-wife. She sent me a text for the first time last Friday, telling me everything was signed and settled. I replied, confirming I still want to purchase the place and am now working to determine a fair price to offer her. I hope to have more on this story next month.

Dammit. I’m late getting April’s summary to you and I’m truly sorry. It’s Sunday night May 5th and I need to get this missive published tonight: ’cause I’ve got fun shit lined up to do tomorrow (lol). My lame excuse; spring has sprung, flowers are blooming, driving a convertible again, being outside w/ warm & sunny days, and the list goes on. I am having the time of my life, retirement is underrated.

April was a great month on our Howard Ridge plot of ground. We enjoyed onsite 100% totality for the April 8th solar eclipse (it was really nice to simply step outside and not have to travel). April 19th was the second anniversary for breaking ground on this project. Finally, we got grass seed planted over a very large area around all sides of the house & shop, launching the outdoor landscaping aspect of this project. April also means it’s time to start mowing grass at dad’s home. An easy 20-30 minute push mower gig. Without a doubt, it is the thickest turfgrass lawn I’ve ever experienced. This time of year requires mowing twice a week. Let it go 5 days, and I’m have to rake or bag, cut grass. Priceless: enjoying a casual conversation with my 92 year old father at least twice a week.

For the first time in four years, I finally have all six of my BMW automobiles under one roof. When we moved last July, I was able to move 5 out of 6 bimmers. The M5 had been stored in dad’s garage for the past four years. The car currently lacks an operable clutch, the result of being dormant too long. I calculated there were only 2 stop intersections between dad’s house and our place, which are 10 miles apart. I reasoned, that on a Sunday morning, traffic would be so light, I could likely roll through both intersections, not needing an operable clutch to actually stop, then go. Was pleased when it worked out exactly as planned. I used a technique called “floating gears” which means shifting a gearbox without pushing the clutch pedal down. An utterly useless skill in an everyday world, but sooooo much fun, when completing smooth up and downshifts and the left foot is resting.

Home progress: installed birch cabinet drawer fronts for the audio video wall. End of April, a large effort to bring in topsoil and have to graded, seeded, and covered with straw. Added a front entry storm door w/partial screen, which has really improved airflow through the house. Working on several other projects, to include, but not limited to; a landscaping plan, designing a custom, racoon-proof bird feeder, along with all sorts of ideas to improve the shop. Materials for book shelves is cut and ready to install. The M5 is currently up on the lift to restore clutch function.

PSA: standing up while working on the underside of a vehicle – is life changing – especially for an old geezer like me.

Thankfully, Spring officially arrived in March along with DST. Spent time working on the house and shop. Working on vehicles IN the shop. Helped friends with their own projects. Provided assistance to my sister and brother-in-law with their relocation to Franklin Tennessee.

It’s no secret that Carole and I detest winter with a passion. Clearly NOT one of the reasons we moved back to Bloomington, however; with a fully heated dedicated shop space for me and a studio for Carole, we made it through the winter of 2023-24 with ease.

The image for this month is the north wall of our living room. The six cabinets to the left will be 2 drawer units storing our vinyl LP collection. The drawer fronts will be birch to match the dining table and chairs. The wider cabinet to the right will house the CD and DVD collection. The open space in between the cabinets will be an audio rack. Finally, the television will be surrounded with built-in book shelves. The goal is to have this project completed before Memorial Day.

I spent more time in the shop this month, getting caught up on vehicle maintenance. The current collection is six cars and three trucks, and all I did was check the oil and tire pressures since starting on home construction in April 2022. Two of the trucks will be sold in the near term. Alex came to visit last Spring to provide his master level skill set to repair Carole’s BMW. It is pure joy to have a large, well lit & equipped shop to work in. Kevin asked if he could bring his car to check a number of things of concern on his Miata. The answer was; of course, I’m happy to share with friends. Putting the Miata up in the air so we could walk underneath to perform some routine inspections and rotate the tires, put a smile on Kevin’s face.

I helped Scott and Barb with their relocation to Franklin Tennessee, by driving a rented moving truck, filled with fragile, delicate and difficult to pack household goods they didn’t want to entrust to the pro movers with furniture etc. I have driven large box trucks many times, but it has been quite a few years since the last time. So I thought it was interesting that I was a bit sore the next day. I attributed my soreness to the wild bouncing of the empty truck over rough pavement on the trip back to Bloomington. That, and… the fact that I’m now an old man, and suffer soreness for activities I once considered routine.

With flowers starting to bloom, and warmer weather on the horizon, hope to see friends and family stop by for a visit.