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Check the calendar – it’s Dec 1st ! I’ve got a positive trend going for timely blog posts.

November weather was a roller coaster. We started out with average temps (40’s/50’s) then a cold blast with snow on the 10th. A week later, we got back to average temps until Thanksgiving with a return of cold & windy stuff – with more snow tonite !

I spent a number of days raking leaves this month and I’m not done. I have not completed moving a mountain of leaves from our property. Estimating I am 70% done. Any good news ? I started out and focused on dad’s yard and managed to complete leaf removal from his yard/home. The volume/amount of leaves in his small yard was… impressive. We enjoy State and National forests in South-central Indiana. The bill is due in the Fall. lol I also agreed to remove leaves from the yard of dad’s neighbor. The couple is in their 80’s and I mowed their lawn this year. Probably 40% of their leaves are waiting for me. The city used to haul off leaves if homeowners piled them along the curb. They elected to cease providing that service last year (no one’s property taxes went down). That means loading the leaves by hand onto a very large tarp laid out on my car hauling trailer. I have temporary sides installed, so I can pile the leaves 3-4 feet tall. Pull in the sides and tie it together, cover with a smaller tarp, then drive that rig to a farmer located near Bloomington who makes rich topsoil. It took 8 loads/trips for dad’s yard. It’s much easier at our place. All I have to do, is blow them from the mowed yard to the forest on our property to the west.

Meanwhile… back at the house. We knew Travis and his family would be visiting for Thanksgiving. Having family house guests, meant completing a few tasks, I had safely procrastinated since their last visit a year ago. I am pleased to report, the toilet in the shop’s 1/2 bath is fully operational. Our living room coffee table was disintegrating and in danger of collapsing. Took that furniture out to the shop, and returned it to the living room later the same day, looking just like new (if you squint your eyes).

When I wasn’t raking leaves or fixing toilets, I got underway on the storage shed. The building inspector approved the location (verifying setbacks, etc) and I assembled the perimeter framework (see attached picture). Really hoping the really cold and snowy weather gives up in early December, so I can complete leaf pickup – and – make real progress on the shed between now and Christmas.

send me an email if you have comments (positive OR negative)

I don’t have much to report for October. Partly because I got lazy. lol. Doing whatever I want (or nothing at all) when I want, is one of the best aspects of retirement. I’m guilty of having spent several days in October, where coffee and reading the internet lasted all morning, and most of the afternoon. No regrets. Life is good, and I am having the time of my life.

So… did I accomplish ANYTHING in October ? That’s a valid question with my confession above. Yes. I rented a stand-on small excavator/loader. I’ve never operated a machine like it. It made sense for several reasons. I didn’t have a lot of crushed stone to move for the shed foundation, it only weighs 3000 pounds, so I could use the smaller tilt bed trailer to haul it, and it’s very maneuverable. That quality came in handy because I corrected some grade work under the deck, and that’s where this little machine shined, and… the daily rate was much less than a typical loader/backhoe or skid steer loader. I will definitely rent that machine again.

As promised, I have attached a picture of the slab from a very large sycamore tree intended to be a future coffee table and end tables. Now that I have coffee & end table raw material… I will easily ignore that project until winter is raging outside (or longer… lol). I accomplished some scheduled maintenance on a couple of the BMW’s. While I am still behind on the maintenance of my small collection, it is in the best condition since we relolocated from Wichita in 2000.

I got started with winter preparations, by properly stacking the leftover firewood purchased last January when the radiant heat went tits-up. Also cut up several trees I felled during the summer. That wood is piled up and waiting for me to split into suitable firewood.

Finally… I got a building permit for the lawn equipment shed I’ve been trying to get built for over a year. We will get underway in November, weather permitting.

Oh my…. I’m timely with this month’s summary. For the second month in a row !

We really need rain. A total of one inch accumulated over 3 days in mid-September, and less than that for the entire month of August. I’m watering all of the shrubs planted earlier this summer to keep them alive.

It’s easy to forget about the lack of rain because… the GOOD news: temperatures (50’s/80’s) and low humidity have continued since the third week of August, when we turned off the air conditioning and opened all the windows. Our weather has been nothing short of wonderful, with the house & shop performing (w/o air con) as well as I hoped.

I spent September making progress on projects around the house and shop. Some projects got my attention, others were willfully ignored. lol It’s easy to make go no/go decisions: when one person is making the call. lmao. The daily routine continues: sleep in, getting out of bed around 8:30-9. Drink coffee and read the internet until noon. Have lunch and venture out to the shop and outside in the yard, to decide what I’m going to work on for the afternoon.

This month; cut down several more trees to accommodate fencing for the dogs. Purchased a long and wide Sycamore slab to eventually become our live-edge living room coffee and end tables. The wood slab is still rough cut from the sawmill. I have begun seeking a local wood shop to plane and sand the slab surfaces to be smooth enough for a tung oil finish. Also spent time in the shop performing overdue maintenance on my collection of vehicles. Then… there is always visiting really old friends and lending a hand with THEIR projects. Joe needed help moving furniture as a precursor to removing carpet and installing LVP flooring. Then… Kent and Rita’s daughter put her car in a ditch, ripping off the passenger side trim and puncturing the radiator on a 2021 Nissan SUV. I had them bring the vehicle to my shop for radiator R&R. This was an interesting challenge, as I have never worked on a vehicle so new. Was pleased I was able to successfully repair the car and didn’t have any leftover parts when I was done…

Finally…. I had to deal with a healthcare issue in September. My primary care physician referred me to a dermatologist 4 years ago. I see her on a semi-annual basis. She tracks various moles on my body for changes during her complete examination. My most recent appointment was in September, and she didn’t like the looks of a spot on my left ear lobe, so she cut a small sample of tissue for analysis. It came back as malignant Melanoma. She quickly scheduled surgery, and the entire malignant area was removed from my ear lobe: less than a week from discovery. It was no bigger than a 1/4″ by 1/2″ and a slightly darker color than the rest of the ear lobe. Now we hope it hasn’t already spread….

Which leaves us for this months summary picture; I had to choose between an ear lobe with stitches, or an impressive 38″ wide and 11′ long Sycamore slab. The PSA skin care picture prevailed I will try to post the slab picture for October’s summary.

Holy shit. It’s Monday evening and I am sitting in front of the computer to compose a monthly summary post for this blog. It’s Labor Day…. September FIRST ! !

Yeah, I know I’m still a day late (and a dollar short – do people still say that ?) August was interesting. It started with me working fairly hard on landscaping improvements and other outdoor projects. I purchased a pallet of used railroad ties to build a short retaining wall for the shed project. Then got started on auto maintenance and repair. Not sure of the exact date it commenced; but we had to endure blistering heat for a couple weeks. AC in the house: ON. Typical forecast: Mid 70’s overnight and mid-90’s in the afternoon. It was a reminder of the scorching hot summers we survived in Kansas and Oklahoma. I reluctantly retreated to the house. Nothing inside (the shop) or outside had to be done ASAP. I’m a retired wuss, I so elected to waste my time on the internet, in air-conditioned comfort. Zero regrets. lol

Then a miracle occurred (not miracles of biblical levels- just meteorological favorable outcomes). The local weather has been similar to typical San Diego weather for the past three weeks. Fucking unbelievable. 50’s overnight, 70’s in the afternoon. Zero rain chances. It’s nothing short of amazing. and wonderful. I built the Railroad tie retaining wall. Planted several shrubs, weeding, tree trimming. Received a truckload of crushed stone for the shed foundation. As we transition to September, the wonderful weather juggernaut continues.

This month’s image shows the building site for the storage shed and the railroad tie retaining wall. There will 12 feet of space between the east wall of the shed and the retaining wall. The plan is to have a raised bed vegetable & herb garden fill that space.

One data point is not a trend. Will see if I can be timely for September’s summary.

Oh my. yikes. ugh. sheee-ite. lol Shoulda seen the look on my face yesterday when I opened the site to post a July summary – on August 3rd. and… here we are. Let’s start this post with the May summary. “I’m late. Again. Sorry about that. Gonna try to surprise everyone with a June summary”. Prophetic ? uhhhh… no. Not even remotely the surprise I was thinking of, at the end of May/early June. I feel like Lewis Hamilton right now – useless.

I think the old saying “You get what you pay for” applies here. It’s entirely possible… if I was collecting $$$ from people subscribing to this nonsense, I would be a whole bunch better with deadlines. Not a half bunch. A WHOLE bunch. lol. here is the good (or bad) news: this blog will be free until I quit doing it. and I like doing it, it’s just a simple priority problem. I can (and will) do better.

Headline news: I got something done ! Our audio system is completely wired up and functional. Running a vintage Realistic STA 2100D receiver through Bose series III speakers while spinning a Project One belt drive turntable. The sound (vinyl) produced by this system is magical. We have run a variety of equipment for the past 44 years with some success. This arrangement is simply unbelievable. All of this pre-owned equipment was purchased, one at a time since 2020 w/the exception of the 25 disc Pioneer CD player, a 1998 purchase. Other speakers are installed and wired up in the great room, breezeway, deck and front porch. Our setup also includes a 5.1 surround sound system. It’s great when watching movies or anything on TV.

Even more good news. I am finally back to 2022/2023 levels of motivation and (age corrected) energy to complete/achieve by Fall; 1. the backyard fenced (to contain the dogs w/o our direct supervision). 2. construct a storage shed for lawn equipment, generator, mowers, rakes & shovels, chainsaws etc etc. (purify the sanctity of my shop) 3. Landscaping the front porch entry to the house. 2 years moved in, and the entry looks like a construction site w/weeds and subsoil. (embarrassing)

If this sounds stupid – you’re probably right. I typically have 5-6 projects going at a time. Car repairs (delayed completion – no problem – plenty of spare cars in the driveway), home completion details, landscaping, shed and/or fence building, etc. if I get stopped for materials, it goes on a list. If I’m not interested working on a specific project on a particular day – I don’t. Once I have several projects stalled for materials; I make a trip to town. I always pre-plan my visit to town so I can have White Castle for lunch. deee-licious ! lol

Retirement is under-rated. I am having the time of my life. The picture/image for this month’s summary is the location for the future storage shed. Send me an email if you have something to share.

I’m looking at the calendar, and realize: I’m a loser when it comes to posting a timely monthly summary – which should happen when the date rolls to the start of the new month ! No lame excuses…. I’m late. Again. Sorry about that. Gonna try to surpise everyone with a June summary –

May will be remembered as the month when I “woke up” and decided the effort to complete this construction project is overdue (kind of like my ability to post a timely monthly update…) I’ve been spending a lot more time in the shop, getting moved in and sorting through all of the treasure removed from the storage unit. Definite progress made. As for the storage unit inventory, nothing will be completed in the shop until I have a lawn equipment shed built. Deliberate time was spent in May to create blueprints, and a specific location for the proposed shed. I had my favorite excavator here for a visit a couple weeks ago, to see if my plan has merit. Kenny liked the plan and I am on his schedule for some simple leveling of the shed site. Back at the shop, I completed a custom installation for my radial arm saw. Turned out as well as I hoped, and will serve me well as I begin to construct a proper workbench. We also need to address landscaping at the house entry/front porch. Progress made on that effort as well. Should have more to report at the end of the month. Finally, I had to rent a large drain auger in May. We were experiencing a downpour of unrelenting rain. I went outside (with an umbrella, duh…) to see how the property drains rain away from the house. To my surprise – one of the downspouts was spewing water up and out from the buried drain tile. Next day – pulled the downspout away from the drain tile to find it was hopelessly clogged with tree debris ! After an exhaustive effort with the industrial drain auger, got it freed up. Installed gutter guards over the next couple weeks, to prevent that from happening again ! Email any questions or comments – good or bad.

April was good to us. Weather was typical (rainy) with an extra helping mid-month, when we received 8″ of rain over 3 days. Widespread flooding in low areas all over the Midwest, the Ohio river swelled to a level not observed in many years. Living on Howard Ridge, we were unaffected by the severe drenching. In fact, I think the epic quantity of rain, was the reason for the “explosion” of trees leafing out at the end of the month. Looking west, we can only see traffic on highway 45 during the winter. From April 22nd to the 25th, the highway disappeared due to the super quick greening of the forest around us.

The bookshelf project is – nearly – 100% completed. If you look closely, the 3/4″ cabinet edge plywood is exposed. The plan calls for trimming out the shelves with a solid birchwood frame. Material is in the shop and ready to be ripped and cut to length. I also need to connect the audio gear that is currently a static display. We are currently using the black face Denon receiver gifted by Mike & Cindy. Thanks again! The Bose 301 series 4 speakers are placed high, at the upper left and right corners of the bookcase. The Bose reflective sound design demands that the speakers be placed away from the wall, and near a corner. They are providing high-quality audio to the room, superior to any other setup we have had. The speakers were sourced locally while the home was still under construction. The plan as we advance, is to put the vintage silver face Realistic STA 2100-D receiver in service. It was purchased earlier this year from a Facebook Marketplace ad. That is when I will wire up the Realistic graphics equalizer, Akai reel-to-reel tape deck, CD player and recent turntable acquisition. The Denon receiver will go to Carole’s shop, and the vacated space in the lower cabinet will be filled with a Yamaha AV receiver we have owned for many years. The Yamaha will run a 5.1 surround system designed when the house was still being planned. Notice the speakers on the lowest shelves, left and right sides of the TV. The central speaker is located above the TV. There are already speakers installed and wired up in the ceiling near the peak. Finally, I have an in-wall subwoofer close to the floor near the dining table. Movie watching should be amazing. For those paying close attention and wondering, the speaker immediately under the TV is a soundbar for normal TV watching.

Warm weather and longer daylight hours, has improved my attitude and level of motivation to get going on too many projects I have ignored and allowed to pile up. Next up; I have drawn up a plan and estimated materials for a lawn equipment & storage shed. Getting the shed built, will then allow me to restore the shop to a level of organization that has been lacking since vacating the rental storage unit last August.

Soooo… I hope to build a shed, fence the backyard for the dogs, landscape around the front porch & breezeway, and get the E30 and E31 BMW’s running again. We will see how it goes and how much gets done…

April was interesting from a weather viewpoint. The extremes: we had a few very warm days: 81 (tied the record) and several cold overnight temps below freezing: 18 (also a record). The slab heat has been working perfectly for over a month now. We have the house adjusted so it is 69-70 in the living areas, 64 in the spare bedrooms, and 67 in our bedroom. Carole prefers her shop at 69 and I’m happy to have the shop at 65. I wear a sweatshirt if necessary to save on propane instead of keeping the shop temps appropriate for a t-shirt and shorts. The boiler only comes on briefly at any given time during the day/night.

The armoire/liquor cabinet project is complete and delivered to Mary Beth, Susan’s bff. Getting that project done, has allowed me to begin focusing on a large wall of bookshelves for the living room This project should have been completed as a winter task, but I’m being a lazy bitch. I won’t bore this audience with lame excuses. I will declare it now: I will complete this significant project by the end of April. It’s not just bookshelves surrounding the flat screen TV, the project also includes constructing an audio rack for upgraded equipment I’ve been acquiring to enjoy our significant collection of vinyl albums.

I’m eager to get going on outdoor projects this year. We still have a lot to do…

The picture for this month’s summary is the current condition of the living room’s north wall. The April summary will be the same picture AFTER installing the shelves and audio rack.

Hello ! We made it to March, which means we are a lot closer to Spring; Hooray! As expected, February brought us more snow and bitterly cold temperatures. During the week from Feb 16 – 20, we received a dusting or up to an inch of new snow overnight – every night. Finally, the last week of this month, we got weather to enjoy; sunny days and much warmer temperatures.

As for progress on the house and shop; very little got done, all because of current politics. The dizzying number of Executive orders, Musk and Doge, Canada, Mexico (the gulf & country), the EU and finally Ukraine – all combined to try and wear me out. We are living a moment in history that will be studied for many generations after us, and it will be embarrassing for the USA. As a way to cope; I have started another blog, akin to a personal diary. I’m posting significant events and internet links to news sources. It’s still a work in progress, as I try to get caught up. Will provide a link when I’m ready to share it with you.

I did actually get a couple things sorted out this month, and both projects have been annoying as hell for a long time. First up: the hydronic boiler shutting down due to the same fault code generated on a random and persistent basis/frequency. Since installation, we could go up to 4 days without a shutdown, then have the boiler shut down once or up to 4 times in one day, followed by a couple trouble-free days, then 2 or 3 shutdowns the following day. Once the shutdown was discovered (flashing light on the boiler control panel) pushing one button would reset the machine. The problem: if the boiler shutdown at 11pm while we are asleep, it wasn’t discovered until after getting up in the morning. The result was losing a couple degrees of concrete temperature and room air temperatures down 2-3 degrees. THAT equates to the boiler running nonstop until getting the slabs (and room temperatures) back up to the set point on the thermostats. REALLY frustrating… Lucas and I have called the OEM and they gave us ideas and replaced a part under warranty but nothing worked. Lucas called the product support group at Utica boilers – again – to tell them our frustrations. They shared a special procedure for problem-child boilers. Lucas stopped by a few days after the phone call. As I read the procedural instructions, Lucas was pushing and holding down buttons on the control panel. We essentially did a complete reset of all the boiler’s operational settings. That was February 18th. I am pleased to report we have experienced a total of zero fault codes for 2 weeks ! Check that off the list.

The second problem deals with our desire to watch TV using an OTA (over the air) antenna. We had success in OKC and Wichita w/OTA performance. We have high-speed fiber internet to stream anything the internet has to offer, but don’t want to pay for a streaming subscription to get local networks. I have been on the roof more than a few times adjusting the antenna and checking coax terminations. Super frustrating because we never knew from day to day, if we would get solid performance or a heavily pixelated picture. I kept track of good or bad performance and the weather. Several weeks of data gathering and couldn’t find any correlation. Found an OTA dedicated Reddit community and posted a question about my performance issues. Received several good ideas. One opinion was that my OTA antenna was not highly rated. For context, it’s the same make and model antenna we had in Wichita and it worked great, so I simply ordered another one from Amazon. Turns out – the Wichita location was easier to get away with a cheaper antenna, due to Kansas’s flat landscape and the broadcast towers were closer to home. Network broadcast towers in Indiana are significantly further away from our residence, and we have heavily wooded hills between us and Indianapolis. What to do ? Get out the wallet, and go big ! We are now using the Televes DAT BOX hi-res uhf & vhf long range amplified antenna. First antenna – $50. The Telves unit – $180. The old saying is still true: you get what you pay for. We now enjoy superb OTA performance, every night. Check another problem off the list. lol

Finally, I promised a full writeup on the Armoire I am re-purposing into a liquor cabinet. Current status ? Still working on it. It didn’t get it done. A combination of reaction to the current political situation and it’s prototype work, which means everything is new and nothing fits or works like it did in my head. It means making parts that become a pattern for the way I REALLY intended to make it. I like the challenge. I’m probably 75-80 percent done, so look for a writeup NEXT month.

The picture for this post is Millie and Layla. Layla is an Akita and the most challenging canine we have ever owned. She is everything we learned about the breed before we got her, and we grown to appreciate the things about an Akita that test our patience. What we didn’t know – until after we got her – all Akitas have a semi-annual hair shedding event known as a blowout. She sheds an alarmingly and crazy amount of hair over several weeks. The picture shows where she has already lost hair and where she has not.

It’s Groundhog Day ! If you read last month’s summary, I was terribly slow producing the monthly summary I know you can’t wait to enjoy. Lame excuse: I was distracted by splitting firewood and keeping the wood stove stoked. lol lame for sure.

Good news to report. Finally got a replacement switchable relay installed on January 15th. The radiant heat system is back up and running ! We have thankfully put the heat pump and wood stove into dormant status. We enjoy a fire in the wood stove as much, or more than the average person, but – it’s constant work to keep a fire going all day and night. That’s all I have to complain about…

When temperatures were really cold (negative temps overnight, and single digits during the day; the concrete slab in the shop got down to 39 degrees. Shop air temperature was down to 40 degrees. Started to have some concern about the run of tubing closest to the exterior walls possibly getting down a temperature that could cause the water in the tubing to freeze. I rigged up a 120-volt jumper wire with a plug on one end to plug into the nearby receptacle, and the load and neutral wires exposed at the other end. The idea was to start and run the circulator pumps for the heat zones that had a tubing loop by the exterior walls of my shop and Carole’s studio. Fortunately, the relay arrived before I attempted that strategy.

No that both building are back to normal; operating temperature, I am back in the shop working on a couple projects. Susan has commissioned me to modify an armoire into a wine and liquor cabinet. I picked up the cabinet over the holidays. No heat in the shop made for a delayed start. I’ve come up with a good design and have purchased the materials. I should have it done by the end of February. Will have a complete writeup for next month’s summary.