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snoozefestaudioJanuary was the month to plan. February was the month to prepare. And March is the month to act. No matter what the weather is, March brings the equinox.
And in the northern hemisphere, that means things will grow... even up through the snow. And that snow will melt... fast!
But even if you're not concerned about taming a yard, or working outside on a project, March is still... the third month! The year is about to start FLYING by!
If you wait... for the green, and the flowers, and the nice warm days... you'll have waited too long!
Get out there now... in the mud, and the wind, and make the moves! It's March!
------------{=0=}------------
Slept upstairs again last night. Was greeted by Snoop after I woke up. It was the FOURTH mild, sunny day in a row. And looking out my window, I saw that the recycle truck had been by... and that they took the styrofoam Oberweis box.
Didn't know that was recyclable.
Yvette and I went out back, and were joined again by Snoop & Prowly. The songbirds were even more active than yesterday, and Snoop was chasing gnats around in the grass.
I saw the Amazon truck pull up, followed by the garbage truck.
The garbage guys took the nine extra bags and that final roll of carpet. Amazon delivered my smart bulbs. So, after bringing in the mail, I set about to programming my bulbs.
I said yesterday that each kitchen sconce lamp has two bulbs, but that's wrong. The one over the sink has one bulb. The one by the oven has two.
Each of the three bulbs had to be configured independently, but they all work with Alexa now. I created SIX routines... three to turn each bulb on at sunset... and three to turn them off at sunrise.
Currently they are off, so we will see tonight if they work!
--<>--
No word back yet from the City about my Transfer Stamp! But a draft check from Dad's life insurance I deposited on Monday night had cleared, putting money in my account for the March bills.
I brought the bins back into the dog yard, and then made a second cup of coffee.
By then it was getting a bit too late to deal with the bills, so instead I went back to Amazon and ordered that third security camera.
I already have the hub now, and a micro-SD card, so it was just the camera for $40.00.
It'll come Saturday, so I'll install it Saturday, and I'm gonna finally paint the basement entrance door, like I've been meaning to do for three years.
------------{=0=}------------
I was looking at that area where the back room meets the kitchen this morning and... the rain fence could work, but there'd need to be some kind of trough at the bottom to take the water away from the foundation.
Still gonna be turning this over in my mind a while.
Okay, time to get ready for work.
------------{=0=}------------
8:30PM
The smart lights turned on as programmed tonight! Otherwise, a fairly routine evening.
But I got more to thinking about that problem area so, let me show you what we're talking about...
On the left is the rear wall of the kitchen. Coming off it to the right is the back room. And as you can see, there's an inset area with no eve...
It's because the back room used to be separated from the kitchen by an open air deck! You can see where the deck is, even now.
But when they tried to enclose that area, years later, they ran into a problem...
The wall overlaps the rear kitchen window, on the right side! You can see above how the right edge of the storm frame is tucked behind the siding!
And if you were to extend the overhang of the back room all the way to the kitchen wall, it would also hit the window!
So, the result is this problem area where rain cascades right down the side of that wall, and as you can see, there's been some considerable foundation damage over the many decades it's been like this!
You can see where I've had to tape a tarp over the closet window, because it became so rotted, that the glass pane is almost falling out, which was letting in tons of cold air over the winter.
Also, what looks like dirt on the siding is actually dead moss! Moss grows on the walls in this area because it gets so much water in the spring and summer!
So... this a sketch of my idea as of tonight.
A wooden trellis coming from right under the shingles, down to a trough at that little step where the deck is. And the trough drains into a flex tube that is trenched underground to a box of rocks and gravel.
There's also chains on the sides of the trellis.
--<>--
In this scenario the window is removed (because it has to be anyway) and the trellis conducts water down from the shingles, via surface tension. There are chains on the sides of the trellis to keep the water from sliding off the sides of the lattice work, and further guide it down into the trough.
There would be a slight air gap between the trellis and the siding.
A trellis is a lot less expensive than chainlink fence. And, I think it would also be easier for the cats to climb, like a ladder, up to the roof!
The question is, when the wood gets saturated, will it guide water down along it's surfaces better, or worse?
Assuming this set up would work, then the wood would eventually rot away, and the chains would rust away. But that would take ten to twenty years.
In the mean time, if the trellis were to become covered in moss, and vines.. all the better! It would make that corner look interesting... especially out the window!
--<>--
All of this could be done relatively cheeply, with the most expensive thing being the plywood to block the window hole. I do have spare siding that came off a different part of the house which was torn down. So I could side over the plywood for nothing.
The trellis, trough, chains, and flex tube are all inexpensive, and I have a trenching shovel already.
I even have chicken wire to cover the top of the trough, to keep it from getting clogged with leaves!
------------{=0=}------------
There's a lot going on right now, and a lot to process from the recent past, but... it is good for me, mentally, to have a crazy little project like this to think about!
The real solution for this problem corner of the house, of course, would be to replace the kitchen window with a smaller one, and extend the back room eve all the way to the kitchen wall like normal!
But that would be a few thousand bucks, and a lot of man hours!
And it would also erase some of the quirky history of this house... as the only reason we are in this situation is that the back room was originally a summer kitchen, in the 1880s.
The trellis solution is cheep, can be knocked out in a weekend, and... if it actually draws the water down AND works as a cat ladder... that's just irresistible!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
And in the northern hemisphere, that means things will grow... even up through the snow. And that snow will melt... fast!
But even if you're not concerned about taming a yard, or working outside on a project, March is still... the third month! The year is about to start FLYING by!
If you wait... for the green, and the flowers, and the nice warm days... you'll have waited too long!
Get out there now... in the mud, and the wind, and make the moves! It's March!
Slept upstairs again last night. Was greeted by Snoop after I woke up. It was the FOURTH mild, sunny day in a row. And looking out my window, I saw that the recycle truck had been by... and that they took the styrofoam Oberweis box.
Didn't know that was recyclable.
Yvette and I went out back, and were joined again by Snoop & Prowly. The songbirds were even more active than yesterday, and Snoop was chasing gnats around in the grass.
I saw the Amazon truck pull up, followed by the garbage truck.
The garbage guys took the nine extra bags and that final roll of carpet. Amazon delivered my smart bulbs. So, after bringing in the mail, I set about to programming my bulbs.
I said yesterday that each kitchen sconce lamp has two bulbs, but that's wrong. The one over the sink has one bulb. The one by the oven has two.
Each of the three bulbs had to be configured independently, but they all work with Alexa now. I created SIX routines... three to turn each bulb on at sunset... and three to turn them off at sunrise.
Currently they are off, so we will see tonight if they work!
No word back yet from the City about my Transfer Stamp! But a draft check from Dad's life insurance I deposited on Monday night had cleared, putting money in my account for the March bills.
I brought the bins back into the dog yard, and then made a second cup of coffee.
By then it was getting a bit too late to deal with the bills, so instead I went back to Amazon and ordered that third security camera.
I already have the hub now, and a micro-SD card, so it was just the camera for $40.00.
It'll come Saturday, so I'll install it Saturday, and I'm gonna finally paint the basement entrance door, like I've been meaning to do for three years.
I was looking at that area where the back room meets the kitchen this morning and... the rain fence could work, but there'd need to be some kind of trough at the bottom to take the water away from the foundation.
Still gonna be turning this over in my mind a while.
Okay, time to get ready for work.
The smart lights turned on as programmed tonight! Otherwise, a fairly routine evening.
But I got more to thinking about that problem area so, let me show you what we're talking about...
On the left is the rear wall of the kitchen. Coming off it to the right is the back room. And as you can see, there's an inset area with no eve...
It's because the back room used to be separated from the kitchen by an open air deck! You can see where the deck is, even now.
But when they tried to enclose that area, years later, they ran into a problem...
The wall overlaps the rear kitchen window, on the right side! You can see above how the right edge of the storm frame is tucked behind the siding!
And if you were to extend the overhang of the back room all the way to the kitchen wall, it would also hit the window!
So, the result is this problem area where rain cascades right down the side of that wall, and as you can see, there's been some considerable foundation damage over the many decades it's been like this!
You can see where I've had to tape a tarp over the closet window, because it became so rotted, that the glass pane is almost falling out, which was letting in tons of cold air over the winter.
Also, what looks like dirt on the siding is actually dead moss! Moss grows on the walls in this area because it gets so much water in the spring and summer!
So... this a sketch of my idea as of tonight.
A wooden trellis coming from right under the shingles, down to a trough at that little step where the deck is. And the trough drains into a flex tube that is trenched underground to a box of rocks and gravel.
There's also chains on the sides of the trellis.
In this scenario the window is removed (because it has to be anyway) and the trellis conducts water down from the shingles, via surface tension. There are chains on the sides of the trellis to keep the water from sliding off the sides of the lattice work, and further guide it down into the trough.
There would be a slight air gap between the trellis and the siding.
A trellis is a lot less expensive than chainlink fence. And, I think it would also be easier for the cats to climb, like a ladder, up to the roof!
The question is, when the wood gets saturated, will it guide water down along it's surfaces better, or worse?
Assuming this set up would work, then the wood would eventually rot away, and the chains would rust away. But that would take ten to twenty years.
In the mean time, if the trellis were to become covered in moss, and vines.. all the better! It would make that corner look interesting... especially out the window!
All of this could be done relatively cheeply, with the most expensive thing being the plywood to block the window hole. I do have spare siding that came off a different part of the house which was torn down. So I could side over the plywood for nothing.
The trellis, trough, chains, and flex tube are all inexpensive, and I have a trenching shovel already.
I even have chicken wire to cover the top of the trough, to keep it from getting clogged with leaves!
There's a lot going on right now, and a lot to process from the recent past, but... it is good for me, mentally, to have a crazy little project like this to think about!
The real solution for this problem corner of the house, of course, would be to replace the kitchen window with a smaller one, and extend the back room eve all the way to the kitchen wall like normal!
But that would be a few thousand bucks, and a lot of man hours!
And it would also erase some of the quirky history of this house... as the only reason we are in this situation is that the back room was originally a summer kitchen, in the 1880s.
The trellis solution is cheep, can be knocked out in a weekend, and... if it actually draws the water down AND works as a cat ladder... that's just irresistible!
°¦}
