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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.

I perused the January summary before starting this post, to recall if I made any commitments to be completed by the end of February. Turns out – I did and I failed. Whoops. The great room tv/audio/book shelves project not only wasn’t completed; the only thing accomplished was purchasing a large flat screen from Best Buy when they were having a President’s Day sale. Hey – 30% off normal retail price ! The current flat screen tv will go into Carole’s studio. I really want to have this project done by the end of March. The clock is ticking… stay tuned to this blog for future developments

As predicted in January, I spent considerable time in the garage, actually getting wrenches out and working on cars, along with a lot of goofing off in the shop piddling around with cars. To have a fully heated, well lit shop in the winter is simply the best. Speaking of cars, I didn’t mention the 2004 330i BMW sedan I purchased from Alex several years ago, was involved in an accident in early January. A car backed into me while waiting for a traffic light to change. She wanted to back up a little, creating space for a motorist to make a left turn into a parking lot. Blew the horn when I saw her reverse lights, but she didn’t react. The bottom of her solid steel Jeep bumper just cleared the top of my front bumper. So while her speed was super slow, my hood and front grills took all of it. Long story short; her insurance totaled the car. Estimates to replace the bucked hood, grills, and repair the bumper (pre-existing issue – shhhhhh…) came to $4800. Because the car has high miles, peeling clearcoat, too many small hail dents to count, and other minor cosmetic stuff, it deserves a “good” condition. An industry standard that includes a list of attributes determining a vehicle’s condition (and retail value) ranging from: poor, fair, good, very good and excellent. A good condition 2004 330i has a retail value of $4400. I had already completed my own analysis and had come up with a similar value, so did not argue. I advised them that I wanted to keep the car and fix it myself. They were happy to allow that, and promptly gave me a check for $3300, deducting $1100 for scrap value, since I was “buying” it back from them. I paid Alex $2500 for the car, 6 years ago. He bought it from a customer that couldn’t afford to repair the A/C. When he was detailing it, while waiting for aircon parts, noticed the binder that contained warranty book and owners manual showed the car was purchased new in 2004 from Joe Self BMW in Wichita. A quick search of BMW’s maintenance system using the car’s VIN, revealed he performed some warranty work on the car during his first week as a BMW technician. After learning that, I asked to buy the car when the A/C was fixed and would keep it until I could no longer drive. Will then give it back to Alex as a gift.

The picture for this month’s post is our beloved Akita, Layla. The term is “blowout” and is a normal annual fur shedding event that takes several weeks to complete. The amount of hair she expels is just crazy. You easily see the difference between the winter coat being shed and her eventual summer coat. If she is out when it’s snowing, the white flakes pile up on her back until she shakes them off.

Most of this month’s summary will be devoted to our radiant heat system. After Lucas checked everything on January 2nd, we set the thermostats to the desired temperature for each of the five zones and watched the boiler go into action. Because the system was dormant for 3 days, we lost a considerable amount of the heat stored in the concrete slabs. The boiler had to run continuously for 12 hours (oh shit, the propane being consumed…). Once the slabs are up to temperature, the boiler only kicks on for a few minutes, whenever a zone is down one degree down from the set point. Example: thermostat is set to 68 degrees, boiler will send hot water to that zone when the thermostat sees 66.9 degrees. The cycle is completed and the boiler shuts off when the thermostat is back to 68 degrees. I check the mechanical room multiple times per day, just to get smarter about how this system works. I rarely see the boiler on, from early morning until we go to bed. Typically, during my first check in the morning, will feel the copper manifolds and they are all warm to the touch, indicating the system has gone off and on while we slept. Very energy efficient – when it’s working properly. Read on… lol

Mid-month, we experienced a brutally cold winter storm that settled over most of the US. The only room in both buildings that became colder during this cold spike, was the living/great room. This was not unexpected, with the 15 foot ceiling and the wall of glass looking west. Was pleased to observe when operating the ceiling fan, warm air was pushed down closer to floor level, adding a couple degrees. No surprise when a small fire in the woodstove quickly made the large room very comfortable. Toward the end of the crazy cold weather, the boiler went back to random, infrequent shut downs with a 128 fault code (no flame detected during staging) displayed. This has been an ongoing irritation since November. Thought we were done with that after 2 weeks of trouble free operation. When looking in the mechanical room, if I observe a light flashing on the boiler control panel, would also see the number; 128. When that occurs, the boiler shuts down. It’s a simple procedure, pushing the reset button for 2 seconds, and the boiler is back in operation. Sometimes this occurs one or more times per day, or fault free for days or a couple weeks. It happened during the cold stretch, apparently shutting down shortly after we went to bed. The next morning, it was noticeably chilly and all of the copper manifolding was cool to my touch. As a result, the boiler ran continuously for 7 hours to get caught up. Lucas is calling the boiler manufacturer’s product support engineering group to see if they have experience to share, and the root cause.

In other news, I have a pair of vehicle lifts assembled and operating in the shop. This is literally a dream come true for me. I have spent more than 40 years working under cars with jack stands and a creeper. Finally having a fully heated shop, with the equipment to work under a vehicle – standing up – is making me giddy. lol. Closing out January by developing a detailed plan for the north wall of the great room. It will consist of built-in shelves and base cabinets to store vinyl albums, cds, dvds, books, an audio rack and large flat screen television. I would like to complete that large project by the end of February, but there is a strong invisible force pulling me to the shop to commence getting caught up with vehicle maintenance.

A full month of fun, working on inside trim & finish, and considerable goofing off. Now that we have settled in (5 months) to our lovely home, I have established a routine. AM is spent drinking coffee and searching the internet. Eat lunch and work all afternoon whatever finish and trim detail interests me.

Invited several friends over to move the disassembled 4 post lift from the trailer into the shop. Hope to report this shop tool is operational in the January summary. Also worked on the 2 post life, getting it ready for assembly in early 2024.

Got kitchen cabinet toe kicks installed this month. No more tennis balls getting lost by the dogs. The biggest completion this month is the walk-in pantry. Lot’s of open shelves, a large spice rack near the entrance and a fully functional bar cabinet.

The 31st: Last day of the month and the year. Late morning, and we were sitting around doing nothing in particular when we heard a BANG ! Sounded like it originated from the laundry room. As I approached the mechanical room could hear water running. Opened the door to see water pouring out of the boiler drain pipe. Shut down the system and closed appropriate valves so we didn’t lose all of the water. Called Lucas. He couldn’t come out until Tuesday, Jan. 2

Jan. 2 update: Lucas couldn’t find anything broken. He thinks it was a pressure spike/surge causing the relief valve to trip. Been running it for several hours now and all is well…. Happy New Year !

A busy month with news and updates to report. Lucas & Steve were here to commission the radiant slab heating system. Took them nearly a full day to fill 5 thousand feet of pex tubing and copper manifolds with water, eliminate any air, fire up the boiler, make a few adjustments and correct a couple minor water leaks. Still not cold outside, so shut it down until it’s really needed. We hosted a dinner with cousins Phil and Linda Frantz, who we haven’t seen in a very long time. Hope to get together again the Spring. Spent a day helping Kent with his construction project. We have been friends over 50 years and live a few miles apart. Got going on the kitchen pantry project. Needed to have the pantry at least partially completed to help Carole with cooking/kitchen chores over Thanksgiving.

Joe and I agreed on a price for his 2 post vehicle lift. I got a great deal, because it includes access whenever he needs to do car repair in the future. He and I disassembled it, loaded onto my trailer and unloaded in my shop (see picture). We will get it reassembled sometime this winter…

We have been using the heat pump to keep the house comfortable, but the shop was slowly getting cooler (55 degrees), following the same trend for outdoor weather. We were keeping Carole’s studio warm with a small space heater. Finally started up the slab heat for both buildings on Nov 19th. I eased into it, by selecting a couple zones at a time, then turning down those thermostats after partial warming, and starting other zones. I went with the idea of going back and forth for a couple reasons. Foremost, so the boiler wasn’t operating continuously at TRT (full power) until both buildings were fully up. Second reason, is the lag associated with radiant heat, if you get the concrete too warm, the room temperature will rise to an uncomfortable level. After a couple days of inching up the temperature, both buildings are at 70 degrees, and the boiler is off for the most part, firing up occasionally for one zone or another.

Had our first overnight guests when Travis, Lynn, Jackson, Elliott & Oliver arrived from Olathe KS and Alex & Lacey got here after driving from Edmond OK to spend Thanksgiving with us. We were less than 100% prepared for them, so it was a bit rough due to a lack of comfortable beds and the guest shower needing a shower door installed. Carole and I were thrilled to have everyone under one roof, and know what needs to be done before they (or other guests) plan to stay here overnight.

Found a new 4 post vehicle lift at an attractive Thanksgiving internet sale price. Drove to Indianapolis to pick it up, saving 350 bucks for freight. Will get friends over to help unload it into the shop next week. Add that to the list of things to do in the shop during the winter.

Carole and I are still giddy about living in this space we designed and created. The house suits our lifestyle perfectly, and we both have fantastic areas dedicated to our hobbies. We encourage anyone reading this blog, to stop by for a visit. We’ll leave the porch light on for you… IYKYK (lol)

Hello ! The post title says it all. I am changing the blog format from a weekly to a monthly summary as I hinted in the previous post. When the blog was launched in March 2021, the first 20 posts were titled for the specific activity, with the details provided in the post description. When construction began on April 18th 2022, I thought a weekly summary was appropriate (not imagining a spring monsoon would make the next five posts the same while waiting for the rain to abate) because there would be reportable activity on a daily basis. Now that we have moved in; I have gotten lazy (in more ways than one) and have enjoyed days where NOTHING happened (with no regrets)…

October found us continuing to unpack and complete home and shop details. Carole is nearly completed her move into the studio. I have just began moving into my shop. Helped a friend place and finish a concrete slab for a home he is building. Woodstove installation is complete with flue pipe installed. Finally got around to a long overdue interior clean and a wash for our 2 primary BMW’s. Did some work on the truck I purchased in February. Weather for the month was still warm and dry with a couple exceptions. Had a cold spell toward the middle of the month. We did not turn on the heat pump, just to see how the house performed. With overnight temps and the 30’s and highs in the 50’s during 3-4 days; the temperature inside the house ranged from 68-70 degrees. Another cold front arrived on October 30th after hitting 70 degrees on the 29th, 30 overnight. Yesterday’s high was 50 and it was 27 degrees this morning. Inside temp was 64 when we got out of bed. Tonight will be similar, so we fired up the heat pump and brought the house up to 68 degrees. Lucas will be over soon to commission the slab heat system. The plan all along is to use the heat pump until cold weather has become the norm. We want to minimize propane consumption, and wait until the system is truly necessary to keep us warm. The forecast has us back in the 50’s and 60’s later this week. The image for this post was taken from the front porch when the leaf color peaked in Brown county earlier this week.

Wow. Sorry about that. I am negligent by not providing timely posts. Nothing wrong here, we’re just having so much fun in our new home. Carole has unpacked and is spending several hours every day in her studio. I’ve been working to get my shop unpacked and organized to be productive. We need to have the walk-in pantry completed ASAP. I’m acting more my age (retired) by sleeping in and taking longer breaks (sometimes, all day). Still working hard helping friends; poured & finished a concrete slab on Tuesday (17th) and will do it again tomorrow (21st). Best time of my life.

With construction behind us, I think the blog should take a slightly different direction going forward. I’m considering a monthly posting frequency with a summary Carole’s studio and my shop.

Whoops ! So… I had so much non-stop fun during week 75, I didn’t give a thought to this blog until this time LAST week. Sorry about that.

Nothing special, just living (and loving) the retired life. Doing nothing at all, getting stuff done, socializing with friends, sleeping late in the morning, home repairs at dad’s house, bird watching, fun drives on the twisty Brown county roads, working on the house & shop, and so much more !

Week 76 was pretty much a repeat of week 75. Toward the end of each day, while sipping a Manhattan, I will make a plan for projects or tasks to be accomplished the following day. Sometimes I stick to the plan, but frequently abandon the plan and go in a completely different direction. Everyday is Saturday, and most of the planned activities on any given day; can wait another day or two… Grass needs to be mowed (since Friday). Maybe today is the day. Today’s picture is the shop, my fun place to be. Starting to get things moved into position, storage shelves are going up. Enjoy your day ! I certainly am.