The Fliminati

Florescent plus illumination. My electrical bill showed up one day, twas a bit high....too high. So I spent some money. It took 36 fluorescents with a total of 356 watts to replace a mixture of halogens and incandescents. My old lighting wattage was 1815 watts. The incandescents got trashed. The halogens will go back up when winter rolls around since they are cheaper then gas hot water heating.

The Green house is done. The last act was pegboard behind a potting bench. This was a tough house to work on, but came out well.

My new employers are making sounds like I should spend weekends with them too. Well, maybe one per month. My plan is to be a good employee in the afternoon, and a house fixer in the morning. This house, the brown house.

Next weekend I roll up north, come back in the early afternoon of Monday, then go to work. That's the plan anyway.

Qaulity Time, or Getting My Kicks on Route 54.

I was headed back for a cold drink and hot meal and cruising well, until two pickup trucks took out a tractor trailer which took out five more cars and managed to close I-40 in both directions. One death, and a big fire to boot. North Carolina's answer to the Viking Funeral. This happens quite bit actually, but not on this big a scale this often. I bailed out at Miami Boulevard once again and headed down Rte 54, which looked like this after quite a few people had gotten the same idea.Basically, anyone who was heading eastbound on four lanes on the interstate wound up on one lane on Rte 54. Yep, you guessed it, more quality time and a fresh charge on my camera. Not even traffic lights to stare at for a free light show. The sign was hopelessly optimistic. We were creeping along at two miles an hour.

Eventually, I bailed out and paralleled down Church street through Morrisville. Unfortunately quite a few people had the same idea, and some of them wanted to turn left back into the mess. Not a great loss. I found this gem of a small house right next to me.At first glance, it looks unprepossessing, but that's only on the surface. No one has tried to remuddle or update the place. It's all original. Nice massing. Mostly vernacular Greek Revival with a nice Carpenter Gothic attic vent window and a vaguely Italianate chimney. The windows were made on the spot with some barn sash. Not too hard to do, having done it myself. Looking at the eaves, instead of molding, just tapered down strips of wood. It comes off pretty well. Take a look at the door, something that is to me a Morrisville signature, horizontal panels below the window. I'd love to swap my townhouse for this little house.

Here's a picture of another building in Morrisville from some days ago.Note the same horizontal panels in the door. Also, the ceilings are pretty high too, as seen by the transom above. A possible late forties or early fifties building, cinder block, and not very fancy but sturdy. This is of the old main drag and was probably part of the commercial district of pre-boom Morrisville. Being a barber shop, this is where the up to date news of the town would be found, and more accurate then what was printed in the newspaper.

Well, back to crawling home along with everyone else.All those people behind me, though of more concern were those people in front of me. High House Road in Cary near Cary Parkway. Speed....zero. So I played with the camera once again. Not even rush hour yet too..... Bet that sucked.

What, again?

It's 0356 hours in the morning and the Cary Fire Department is out front. The cat is hiding. 16 pounds of unhappy camper. Not been told to get out yet, so I'm having coffee and locating the cat carrier. Fire department is departing. So much for the morning.

Four o'clock interview this afternoon and I supposedly start on Monday. I'm gonna be real fresh....not.

"Green" house porch ring bolts are in. I had to move the holes three inches in. At least that was done before the porch ceiling got drilled. Porch swings have short chains, or the porch ceiling is just too high up.

Morrisville's old main drag

Chapel Hill Road runs through what was probably the old center of Morrisville, NC. I took some pics one day because traffic was moving at it's usual pace on Chapel Hill Road, that is to say, not at all, or real slow.

I was spending some quality time as usual and the camera still had a charge. This was probably the home of one of the local pillars of the community at one time. It's a rare untouched, well preserved Victorian vernacular complete with gingerbread. I'm guessing 1880s or 1890s. Some small former stores near it, now used for some type of landscaping business. They are in decent shape but touched a bit with vinyl siding.

My favorite building in Morrisville. It's got a wonderful massing to it and it's mostly original with the exception of the brick columns. It had to be the garage to go to when your Model A wasn't feeling well. Fairly substantial middle class house next door, was probably the owner. The German siding is worthy of mention, something that's no longer milled. The five panel door is kinda neat too. Note the other side of the road is moving. We just sat and watched the light turn red, green, yellow, red...........

The side door, another five panel, nice little porch, and then a transition to the side. Open bays in the back. They probably fixed your Fordson tractor as well...... That and someone could finally make that left turn. Red, green, yellow, red.......

A clue to how important this corner was to Morrisville. The fire department is still there. Fire departments were the unofficial town hall where things got done. Hey, they knew everybody. Yet more red, green, yellow, red......

The Town of Cary. Otherwise known as the Containment Area for Relocated Yankees. My bro-in-law is a true Southerner and is the rare exception for a resident. Both my sister and I grew up with one foot firmly planted in the South and one firmly planted in the North. Grits and scrapple, if you don't have to ask....., you're one of us. I'm never sure if I'm supposed to be a Yankee or a Dixie-crat. But hey, I do know the tune to Dixie....and some of the words. It's the South's analog of Under The Double Eagle, yet another musical survivor of a vanished time and country (Prussia). Just more unquiet ghosts.

Man, I don't want to work today.........

Man, I don't want to work today.........

Still, I got to do that touch up in the master bath at the "green" house, and the shelves with the boss, then the garage shelf with young R. Think I'll nail in the porch swing cleats on Wednesday.

Interesting talk on the declining dollar until the lecturer started going into fiat currency, conspiracy theory, and Haliburton. Gimme a break here, ain't no mystery, no mysterious cabal. We, as a country, and some private citizens, have spent beyond our means. Uncle Sammy particularly, with eight trillion in the red. We also import more then we export. No wonder the dollar is turning into softer currency. Rocket science this isn't. My own way of dealing with it, is to not owe money, spend less, get a side gig going that's actually fun, and just hunker down.

Lunch tomorrow with my sister, then an afternoon at the Art Museum. All phones will be turned off or unplugged until 0700, 07/25/2007.

Looked for four good folding wooden chairs for my dining room. Thought I found them at Target until I saw the "Made in China" label. Damn. Now thinking four stools made out of the lumber from the sawhorses that K gave me a few months ago. A little sanding but the weathered wood and nail holes and paint drips will be urethane-ed over for art's sake (general laziness too).

Bumper for the work truck is going to show up at my bosses at the end of the month. Method, they are shipping it strapped to the back of a large snail. Just F***ing great. Last week for me and I mean it. Not going to ever do construction again, house, addition, or otherwise. Handyman at most.

Wood unfortunately grows on trees......

I found this two by ten, twelve feet long, at Lowe's in the top of the pile. In fact it was the first piece. I was deeply suspicious, treated Loblolly Pine at any big box store is not what you could call great. I dug around in the top layer for a few minutes, and came to the conclusion that (1), it was a very nice piece of wood (2), the other place would sell me something like it, not near as nice, for at least twice as much (3), and the best of the entire lot. It's pretty unusual to find wood like this anymore, most treated wood is cut from farmed fast growing Loblolly. Really big growth rings in farmed wood, sometimes up to half an inch. The wood industry would like us to believe that is fine, but really, the tighter the grain, the better it is. This was really tight, a sixteenth of an inch or less. It took a very long to grow this plank, at least sixty years. This did not come out of a tree farm. It really is a beautiful piece, only five small knots, worthy of it's fate, a drink shelf on the back porch at the "green" house.

Lousy shot, but it shows the difference between normal treated wood and this blast from the past. It only took six years for the piece on the left.

Another nice find at Lowe's, an one by six cedar trim board for a neighbor. Baja's aren't great on length, so I do this if it's too much trouble to strap it on top. Besides, my roof rack is still under repair. Got the pieces, just not the time.

The same trim board, all painted up and ready for it's big day next weekend. One coat of Kilz primer, one coat of semi-gloss Olympic white exterior, and the bottom painted gray just like in the HOA specs. It's also back painted, since the carpenter bees love this stuff.

More time at the "green" house for me. Monday will be my last day for the builder. I still got to mount the porch swings. I have some really nice close grained Doug Fir, so I'll use that for mounting blocks. Might as well carry on the theme of good wood that one can't get anymore.........

Yowza.....four days!

Yowza.....four days! I'm pooped, have been all week. The "Green" house is close to done, or so we think. I'm doing the right side of the closet door trim gap today. I was all fat n' happy until I discovered the right side of the door trim was 3/32" wider then the left. I had to rip and stain another piece. It didn't go in yesterday cuz I was chopping trim for the rear porch and then Young R and I were carrying on after the boss had to go down to the energy people for a little while. Young R makes a good cut man. I walked him through the first piece, long, short, and angles. After that, we got rolling.

He's still got to learn to clean brushes better, gave him some flack about it. My pet brush for the "Brown" house is over there now, and brushes are like towels. If I got a favorite, I keep it, even with wear and tear. The thing was as stiff as a board with paint.

My metabolism just burns too fast. Literally. It's a northern European adaption, instead of just turning food into energy, it also produces heat. I can go shirt sleeves into the 50s F quite happily, but summers are murder. I used to be able to throw a big bowl or two of ice cream at it at the end of the day to keep it happy, but since my lactose intolerance got near-total, it's been interesting looking for other sources of fuel. Pecan pie is pretty close to meeting fuel needs but expensive. Going to experiment tonight with fatty beef and potatoes. I'm not worried about cholesterol, it hasn't been above 130 ever. Yet another gift from a distant ancestor. 180 lbs, I'm in good shape, below 170, it means that it's time for refueling, below 160 (been there, ain't fun, no heft and no energy), its time to slow way down and eat and eat and eat. I envy people who can keep weight on.

After this week, it's just me, myself and anything in my fridge....... Next next week, it's me, myself, and Giovanni's Pizza, R J's Deli, Mama's Italian Restaurant (Actually Egyptian with some good stuff), The Persian place at the clock tower in Herndon, The White Palace, Pen's Kitchen, and quite a few others up in Northern Virginia, including, IHOP. North Carolina is still a bit of a wash for me, haven't really found anything that I could call interesting yet.

If the cat slept any harder, she'd wear herself out. 16 pounds, so better.

I can get the bumper and mounting kit for the work truck overnight....cheap. Neat. Think I'll order it tomorrow morning. I pretzel-ed the old one on a tree.

Two and half hours of my life I'll never get back.

I was feeling like I needed a break, so my bro-in-law and I went to see a movie. Transformers, it was. The preview was the best part. The movie itself reeked. That's two and half hours of my life I'll never get back. Product placement like crazy. General Motors especially. Also Nokia and Panasonic. Ford as well. Do Not Waste your lifespan on this movie.

I did two door jamb/casing repairs. People really should open doors with something else then their feet. Both came out well, though one door jamb needed a dutchman (Replacing damaged wood with new, so called because the Dutch were well known for their frugality, aka cheapness.). Trim on a porch next. It's sitting downstairs already primed and painted. This is my weekend for free repairs (except the materials of course). What you too? Sorry, too late. I'm booked out. Next week I start costing money.

"Green" house next project is screens. There are the porch swings to do as well, that's my chore for next weekend. Lag bolts just don't hack it. The ones that are big enough are too big for the ceiling joists. Also, the thread on the lags seems kinda deficient. Nice warning labels about not hanging humans from them. Hmmmm. Best solution would be a solid bolted mounting. I also have more touch up to do.

Gotta clean house and go to the library.

Bent the bumper on the work truck, which was the low point of last Friday.

I was going to go up north next week, but will just take it off from everybody. Vacation para mi.

Follow up on the traffic fatality on I-440, is that someone rolled an SUV (Stupid User Vehicle) right over a party of inmates on work release who were picking up litter. One dead, injured as well. Explains the debris and the large presence of law enforcement working the accident.

The nice "No " letter

So close and no cigar. Oh well, so be it. I was hoping, but the 2nd interview was as far as I got. Nice "no" letter, which will find it's way into my shredder. Applied to six more. I don't need a lot of money, but it's kinda necessary to keep my fat cat fed and happy, and a steady supply of coffee for myself as well.

Now three trim jobs, one an emergency for after work today. Hopefully I won't have to take young R back to his "hood". That was a long trek and of course, someone managed to wreck their vehicle on I-40 eastbound . I finally gave up at Miami Blvd and got out there. I got home at about 1830 hours, less five minutes at a Kroger to get some lemon juice. Still better then where I came from. If someone dies in an accident in Northern Virginia, they close the road for the day, never mind that half the populace may live on the other end of it. Injuries aren't as bad, just a few hours, but it's almost always during rush hour.

My last week at the "green" house will be the next. It's one of only three houses I have ever seen built that well in the last 28 years. Probably the best of them all. It's built right, which sadly makes it one of the few in the area. The boss gave his all and then some. The old saying, build forever and like you gonna die tomorrow is still true and valid.

Well, gotta get ready for today. Someone else needs to run young R back today, too much to get ready for the weekend.

Just another interesting day....or two.

Another of a couple of days at the "green" house. Today I adjusted the porch railing height in front and replaced two pickets. I'm to set the rail caps tomorrow. I'll use my squangle to set the stair rail caps. Neat tool, can adust for any angle and translate them to the chop saw.
Also have to wipe down the the garage door casings with alcohol and paint them with primer. Some flashing for the roof. Another water mystery. That and the kitchen racks are up. Pretty neat, even a place for that most necessary of kitchenware....coffee cups.

Think I bombed the second interview, we will see. It's only Wednesday and it was Monday. Hate waiting, just shoot me, darn it.

I was on my way back Tuesday with the only steamed vertical grain bamboo transition strip in all of Raleigh. The traffic got really slow. No good place to bail out. I noticed quite a bit of debris along the shoulder.

This had to be the cause. Didn't see any other vehicles. Quite a scene, at least five cruisers, a borrowed prisoner van, and all sorts of people with equipment working the accident. looked like they removed people already when I went by. Heard later on the radio that there was a fatality. Same thought as always, "There but for the grace of God go I.".

Safely arrived back at the "Green" house, and then went in the work truck to get the treated wood for the other rail caps. Work truck decided not start for the trip back. Hiked a mile back to the house thinking, "Driver Returned On Foot, Found On Road Dead." Another words....F.O.R.D. Drove my Baja back to the lumberyard, and jumped the truck. The people there were nice enough to follow me to the house that time and gave me a ride back to my car.

I also have to figure out how to take care of the pre-finish on the bamboo flooring. Test piece. Thinking a good wax might be it. Will try that first.

Plumbing, Painting, and who went where when?

Yesterday and Friday evening, I was at my neighbors. I helped tear out an old sink base and then we installed a new sink base looked recycled, then I ran errands while the counter top guys were there. Real cowboys, they were free sawing counter tops with a Skilsaw. Still, they got it all in and it wasn't half bad, until after I hooked all the plumbing back up, we found that the dishwasher wouldn't go back under. No spacer blocks. Had to unscrew it, then I chopped up some 1/2" blocks and we glued em' in place and the dishwasher fitted somewhat snugly in it's hole. We could have gone 3/4" but we didn't want to chop up more old tile. Screwed the whole mess down.

Today I fixed a leak. Next couple of days, I'll patch the back where we had to cutout for the drains. Problem with our places, is that when the plumbers replaced all the polybutene plumbing, they ran the new stuff up through the floor. Pain in the neck having to maneuver a cabinet up, down, in, and out. It is caulked, so at least it will last a little bit longer then the old one.

My own place got a touch up, semi-gloss white for the trim. Not quite the same but close enough. I was going to replace the front walk rail but the rot was small. Yes, the magic of caulk and paint. I did carve the rot all out though.

Interview tomorrow and the porch swing installation is on again at the "Green" house. But earlier when I heard it was canceled, I got an appointment in the same time slot for the Baja. Oh well, it really needs it. Being the first new car I ever owned, it does not get touched by me. Only by certified techs. New battery tomorrow, the old one is four years old. Still works but I'm not taking chances. If I get hired, it's going to get a complete belts and hoses and fluids as well. Then the cat and I get our irregular regular checkups too. Really looking forward to an eight to fiver.

What, they want me to come BACK?

It's 0527 on Friday, the 6th of July. The AC and my ceiling fan are both on. The cat is somewhere, comatose as usual, the original four-legged energy saving device.

I thought for sure that the job interview was blown high wide and handsome. That and I have yet to meet a form that I couldn't screw up. This job application form had tiny boxes to write in. Made a complete dog's breakfast out of it and then had the interview. Told my bro-in-law that I screwed up and then to salve my angst, went and replaced the fascia out back. It was full of holes anyway. 16 bucks for a piece of No. 2 cedar, and I had to pick through the pile. Knots over 3" just won't do. Lowe's does nice service, and for a big box store, is pretty good, but the wood is questionable. Not their fault, our forests are just too "overgrazed".

Imagine my surprise when the recruiter emailed me back for a second interview. Still, not betting money on a successful outcome just yet, still too mindful of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory as I have been good at. I am glad that the new pair of shoes weren't a complete waste of money.

The "green" house is in one of those weird stages where it's going from construction site to a home. The owners are in, but we still have a bunch of touch-up to do inside, rail caps on the porch and back-back deck, and the screens on the back porch. Working around owners on an unfinished house is something new. I'm very careful and try to knock out the interior stuff soonest but being a perfectionist at heart doesn't help. Some things like plastering and caulk have to stop at"good enough" and then you come back to it later to make it "better". A perfectionist just keeps on going and turns "good enough" into "worse". So far I haven't done that yet, but only by force of will. My kitchen wall by the stove is an example of a perfectionist run a-muck. It's been sanded and mudded and painted innumerable times and is now flat and smooth as glass. It stands out in a dwelling where the rest of the walls look like a topographical relief map of the moon complete with craters.

Our days are numbered at the "green" house anyway.....so close to done. The boss will move onto something else, I'll go into cube farming (Dilbert reference), and the owners will have their part of the American Dream, a well built house.

Da Blog Edited.

I crawled through this beast and edited it once again ala Soviet Encyclopedia.

I was going to go into business as it seemed at the time, the best way to survive and stay afloat in a stormy economy. But the more I got into it, the more con as opposed to pro appeared. Self employed just doesn't cut it. One is the quarterly rendering unto Ceaser, then there's the letter of zoning variance, licensing, multiple fees, and the other taxes.

The other "tax" is liability insurance, and if anyone has anything to do with customers, the premiums are hefty. Also the health insurance ain't cheap either. My first half century is almost up, and though I'm pretty healthy, I'm lumped into the same boat as the other people who did not take care of themselves. So.....I'd have to charge at least twenty-five bucks an hour, if not more, just to keep ten.

I'll still swing a hammer, but only for friends and relatives.

The Fourth of July, more "Brown" housework.

The carpenter bees riddled the gable fascia over my utility room so that's now underway on this fine July the Fourth. The old fascia has been pulled off and now I'm updating a blog with a large cat in my way as the Kilz primer dries. The utility room itself is built right on the deck.

Chop saw and coffee nearby. One of the perks of working at home for once. I can make coffee just as badly as Starbucks and do it a lot cheaper. The tool next to the cup is called a Squangle. It can be adjusted to match any angle and takes a lot of unnecessary science out of a project.

No, the new fascia isn't up yet. I like to paint anything that's going to be out in the open, even if it will be sitting behind the gable. Carpenter bees are amazing. They can eat their way into almost anything. I saw one that had burrowed into treated wood at the "Green" house. So, paint it all......

The siding is caulked and primed up near the roof. Another 19 minutes to go. The color of siding is called Sheffield Grey by Olympic. Soon as the primer is dry, that happens next. More pics later.

I'm baaaack. So is the cat. Typing around this furry monster can be interesting. Neighbor went up my ladder to my roof and cleaned out gutters on both mine and his. Good thing too, plenty rain here when it does. Cat now rumbling. Must be happy. When she's really happy she drools.

The new fascia in place. Back primed and the cut surfaces are painted as well. 8d hot dipped galvanized finish nails holding them in place. It's an 1" by 8" by 10', ripped to 6". Note the hammer waiting on the top of the ladder for the next victim. I cut a 45' angle for the joint and and had to add a leftover 1" by 6" to finish, since I misplaced my board-stretcher.

One coat of Kilz primer later. Finish coat this coming weekend, probably a decent exterior white semi-gloss.

Richer and Poorer

More money then I thought I had. It was too much, finally got my online ID and looked at my Time Warner 401K. Yep. It's got more money. It's mostly international but unfortunately with TWX stock mixed in it. TWX is currently at 21.04 per share, not great but not bad and in the last five years, it has been stagnant for long periods of time. On the other hand, my Dodge and Cox Stock Fund is at 162.09, and has been steadily increasing in value over five years. Same for my two Vanguard funds, VHGEX and VTRIX. Pretty good rate of growth in value on all my funds mostly due to the continuing devaluing of the dollar. Uncle Sammy better wake up.

I'm due at the "green" house at 0830 for a little while and then it's time to get ready for the job interview. I want this job. Still, I'm not holding my breath. Boss asked about advancement there, but I have three associate degrees. Northern Virginia Community College did retrain me as the economy changed, but HR gatekeepers only like bachelors of arts or better. Even in basket weaving. Steady job and income stream while the "brown" house gets repaired. That's all I want.

Big pile of tools in my living room. More stuff for the dump as well. Big table and a mattress next.

The change of name and in the Empire.

I spent many a pleasant unproductive hour in the Great Underground Flathead Empire, hence the change in my nom-de-anom. Fighting the grues but no one ever fights a grue, as they like to slink away from the light, lurk in dark places and dine on intrepid careless adventurers who forget to turn on their light. Always keep a trusty brass lantern and a sharp magical sword at your side for there be also dragons, trolls, and other unpleasantness beneath the grass and forests. Then there's the Wizard, not very friendly, and not exactly evil, but he has his own agenda. The Empire is full of strange and wonderful devices that never really work right but they do work.......

Life's kinda like that.

Well, time to light the lamp and grab my sword for it's glowing faintly blue. See ya.