Cemented in Place

We spent this morning finishing the final portion of our cement work on the north side of the house.  Once again, the weather was beautifully cool so working outside was great.  Imagine being able to pour cement on January 30!  Sometimes Florida still amazes me.

This pour went much faster than the last one since we could just mix and dump into the prepared space.  We used eleven  60 pound bags of cement. Rick thought that we might have needed one more, but we made do with what we had.

Rick balances over the freshly poured cement
as he tries to smooth the pour in the back.

The rebar that we put in the other slab yesterday helped tie the two slabs together behind the air conditioner. Thankfully, we don't have to worry about severe frost-freeze cycles like we do in the north, so we don't anticipate much movement with these slabs.

The only tricky part was smoothing the cement around the drain pipe that carries moisture away from the HVAC (heat exchanger) unit.  Eventually, Rick worked the cement as much as he could to make the final result smooth and secure.

The poured cement nestles around the drain opening
for the heat exchanger condensation to run away
from the house.

We also noticed today that the air conditioning unit outside is pouring lots of moisture on the cement pad that we poured yesterday.  Rick assured me, though, that cement cures even under water! The weather is cool enough that these slabs may take a few days to really dry.

With that project complete, we now will take a break until after Stephanie's visit next week.  Then, with the weather a bit warmer, we will tackle preparing the front yard for pavers and the back garden for some much needed colorful flowers.

Cemented Success

This winter, thanks to El Nino, has become a game of cat-and-mouse with anyone trying to work outdoors. We hide inside when it storms and scurry outside when the weather permits.  We have waited almost this whole week to finally start the cement-pouring portion of our north side property improvement project.

Adding cement behind (and under the pipes and electrical
connections to) the HVAC unit presented our first challenge.

We earlier had dug out and framed the area what we wanted to cement; however, two days of rain put a stop to further progress on that plan.  We were expecting possible severe storms on Wednesday, but the actual accumulating rain took place almost all day yesterday (Thursday).

Rick actually had to put the cement behind the slab by using
a shovel and then a garden trowel.

Sunshine and tolerable temperatures lured us back outside today, however.  Having done cement work before, we did not take much time setting up what we needed for the task.  We only had nine 60 pound bags of Sakrete in the garage, so Rick decided to do the smaller and more confined area of the cement work today.

The lack of room to move actually made this part difficult. We had to mix the cement away from where it was supposed to go and then move the mixer to shovel it in by hand.  We did four mixes of two bags each.

The results, however, are worth the effort.  We now have cement behind the slab that holds our HVAC system, so that area no longer will collect dirt, leaves, and sticks (to say nothing of the occasional rodent, lizard, or black snake).  We also have a firm foundation on which to walk for the repairmen who might be called in to fix the HVAC unit.

Any repairman who needs to come in to fix our HVAC
unit will thank Rick for a cement foundation from which
to work.  This used to be scraggly grass and mud.

We extended the cement work to just under the fence.  That will give us a clean edge in front up to which we can put pavers, and the cement under the fence also will keep mud from splashing up on the fence during a heavy rainstorm.

Extending the cement under the fence will save us both time
and clean-up later.

Tomorrow we will complete the remaining slab.  The weather is supposed to be even warmer and more sunny than today, and the remaining section will be easier because we will have greater access to the area.  We actually can mix and POUR the cement into the area rather than filling it with a shovel. Woo-hoo!

Rebar peeks through the form holding the cement in behind
the HVAC slab.  Tomorrow we'll remove the forms and fill
in this final section next to the north side of the house.

In preparation for tomorrow, we still have to go to one of our favorite home improvement stores to buy and transport 10 more 60 pound bags of Sakrete.  Ah, yes.  When remodeling a house, the good exercise and fantastic fun never ends...

I Can Dig It

The weatherman finally cooperated with us long enough by sending beautiful temperatures today after a chilly start to the week.  We took advantage of the 60 degree plus weather to get a start on our next project: adding cement to the north side of the house.

Rick starts to put in 2 x 4 forms behind the
HVAC unit.

Today was a perfect day for digging, so that is what we -- or I should say Rick -- did.  The good thing about this project is that there is not a large area to fill with cement.  The bad thing is that the space is very confined (thanks to our HVAC unit), so only one person can fit in the space at any given time to actually do the work.

We decided to pour cement all the way under
the fence on the west side of the HVAC unit.

The morning was spent cutting out and pounding in the cement forms, then digging out the area within the forms to the correct depth.

By extending the cement this far, we will be able
to have a clean line of pavers when we get around
to adding them to the landscape.

Once again, this is the area that is filled with stones.  As we have done in the past, once the wheelbarrow was filled with the soil and stones Rick dug out, we transported it to various places in the yard where we needed some extra dirt.  Then I got out my handy sifter-table and sifted the stones and the roots out of the good, black dirt.  We trashed the roots and weeds, collected the stones, and used the remaining sifted dirt to fill in low areas in the back garden and under both the north and south sides of the fence.

Rick dug down a bit deeper in the main part
of the slab so we would have room to spread a
layer of the reclaimed stones from the area.

We added the sifted black dirt to the fence line on the south
and on the north fence lines.  

So now we are ready to pour cement; however, the weather probably will not cooperate for the next couple of days.  We have a 90% chance of thunderstorms tomorrow, and they are supposed to linger until Thursday morning.  We'll probably let things dry out a bit on Thursday afternoon so we can start fresh pouring cement on Friday morning.

Don't you just love it when life holds a plan?

Down But Not Out

We have had a couple of down days due to the less-than-spectacular weather.  Yesterday was miserable: cold (by Florida standards), wet, and very, very windy.  We wanted to frame out the next cement project, but that was not about to happen. We are down but not out(side).

We watched with concern as the wind tried to uproot our new little bottle brush tree.  I actually saw the root ball bulge up toward the yard surface as the winds pulled the branches of the tree to one side.  Happily, the tree survived and still seems to be rooted in the ground this morning.

Two weeks ago, when Rick took me to the doctor's office, he sat in the waiting room.  I went in to the doctor.  He texted me that the people sitting next to him were all coughing, so he was going to go out and wait for me in the car.  Sadly, he was not quick enough.  He now has a cough, thanks, we figure, to the idiots in the doctor's office who did not know enough to cover their cough.

Since the weather was rotten yesterday, we stayed indoors for most of the day.  I got some cleaning done in the morning while Rick researched how to cope with our new HSA that we must now use with our insurance.  That is another nightmare... Then we made a quick trip to the grocery store for supplies.

In the afternoon, I put on a huge pot of homemade chicken noodle soup.  The soup boiled and then simmered most of the afternoon.  By dinnertime, we had a completed pot of soup with enough left over to feed a small platoon.  We shared the soup with Steve and Chris since it will not all fit in our freezer. Steve shared some bread that they had with us.

Rick stayed home from church this morning so he did not hack through the whole service.  I hate it when people come and then not only disturb others, but also share whatever ails them.

The day is sunny today but still cold.  We will wait until tomorrow to frame out the area we want to cement.  We could not pour today anyway since the temperatures are supposed to drop into the 40's this evening.

The narrow warp fits easily on our little loom.

This afternoon I worked some more on the scarf I am weaving.  I am using a burgundy warp and a variegated chenille for the weft.  I should make a warm, snuggly scarf that will probably be too warm for Florida... although the last two days show that we do get chilly down here!

Burgundy, navy, green, and tan are all colors
in this variegated yarn.

Maybe one of my daughters will get the scarf if either of them want it. Right now, I just am enjoying the almost hypnotic rhythm of weaving.  With the right background music, weaving is very relaxing, and on a cold winter's day, that is just fine with me.

Out of the Trenches

This morning seemed to arrive incredibly early after the work we did yesterday.  We are both really out of shape!  Thankfully, the temperatures were cold this morning but increased as the day progressed, and I was happy to learn that the wind had died down during the night.  Northern Florida had freezing temperatures last night, and we awoke to frost on the grass.

Our task for today was to finish the second part of the trench to bring the drainage point out to the front yard where the rain could drain into the street. We dug from the gate forward, covering about 35 feet.  The good thing was that the ground was sloping down toward the street, so we did not have to keep making the trench increasingly deep.  The bad thing was that we still had one heck of a trench to dig!

The trench for the second part of our drainage
project stretched from our gate to the front
part of the yard.

Once again, we could not have done this job without the use of Steve's transit.   I think you should start charging us rent, Steve.  We have used the transit more than you and Chris have, I think.

We started at 8:00 this morning, shedding layers of jackets and sweatshirts as the temperatures rose.  We were finished by about 12:15 p.m.  At approximately 10:30 this morning, a man in a white truck stopped at the intersection near our house.  The driver stared intently at what we were doing, and then pulled out his phone to make a call.  We figured he was turning us in to the City for not having a permit to dig in our own yard.  Then, perhaps 45 minutes later, an older man in a grey car pulled into our driveway.

"Oh, oh," I said.  "Here we go."  I figured he was from the City and would get out of his car to ask us what we were doing, and did we have an engineer's report and an environmental study report?  And then, of course, there probably would be six permits we needed to do the work.  Surprise!  He paused and looked at what we were doing for a minute, and then he backed out of our driveway and drove down the street. He turned into a driveway at one of the houses further down the street.

The trench job was a bit easier today because we only had one straight pipe to put together, and the soil in the front yard was more sand than actual dirt.  Additionally, we were able to pile the dirt right next to the trench itself, so putting it back did not involve the wheelbarrow and double-shoveling all that dirt.

The pipe was easier to put together since it was
all in a straight line.

Piles of dirt to the right and squares of sod to
the right await their final resting place in and
on the trench.

We had tried to save the sod that we disrupted, so we were able to put some of the grass back which helps the "scar" not look so bad.  If we can keep it watered, we may actually get grass to grow again in that area.

The new drainage system will soon be filled in with
new grass and thus will be invisible from the street.

We hauled the "leftover" dirt to the backyard and put it under the gaps under our fence.  Since our new neighbor behind us and the neighbors to the south of us both have dogs, we want to build up the soil so we have no gaps under the fence.

We finished the whole job and cleaned up everything before our slightly-delayed lunch.  I'm glad we were able to complete this job this morning, because we certainly need this afternoon to rest!

Trench Warfare

The early part of the week was spent pleasantly going to see what was in bloom in the wintertime in the Botanical Gardens.  The answer is "not much."  We did, however, take pictures of the banana trees just to show Owen how his favorite fruit grows.

Bananas growing in one of the trees at the Botanical Gardens.

On Monday we took the car in to Service King to be repaired. We have a black Toyota Camry as a loaner, so all is good.  We are supposed to get our car back tomorrow.  I hope they were able to fix everything to Rick's satisfaction.

The hard rainstorm we had last week convinced us that we needed to take the downspout on the north side of the house and send the runoff through an underground drainage system. That was our project for today.

Our trench needed to go around the garbage can
and HVAC pads, so we dug out four feet from the house.

We started at 8:00 this morning and did not finish until 4:00 this afternoon.  The bad part of that last statement is that we are only 50% done with what we need to do, and we are both so stiff and sore that we can hardly move.  I'll blame inactivity rather than old age at this point. (Yeah, right.)

We needed to trench from the northeast corner downspout out about four feet since the air conditioner would be in the way of a straight shot down the north wall.  We also wanted to carry the HVAC condensation pipe away from the house and down the same drain.  That caused a bit more planning, but our results, so far, have been successful.

A redesigned drain will carry condensation
water away from the house.

The trenching itself was problematic only because we still have numerous roots from either the holly or ear pod tree that we took out, or they may be roots from our neighbor's trees.  The largest root was only about an inch in diameter, so the size of them was just annoying. The other problem on the north side was the stones... or bricks, I should say.  Apparently when the house was built in 1960, the masons who were forming the peak of the house did a good job of cutting the cement block to the correct shape.  Sadly, whatever they cut off they simply dropped and buried.  We threw numerous smaller pieces in the garbage, and we have gathered a 5-gallon pail of larger pieces of which we will have to figure out how to dispose.

The trench includes feeds both from the downspout
(in back) and from the HVAC unit (in the front).

We trenched out just beyond the front gate and then used our quickly dwindling energy glueing the pipes together and finishing the first phase of the project. If it rains tonight, we are in deep trouble.  Thankfully, no rain is predicted until Friday.

The mound of dirt from the trench had to be stored
temporarily in the back yard until we could fill the area
back in with dirt.  The remaining dirt we put along the fence.

Our main climatic problem today was the temperature and the wind.  We never got out of the 50's today, and the brisk wind we had throughout the day reminded me of the "wind chill" readings we encounter in Wisconsin.  We both dressed in layers, and I actually could have used one more!

The connections are made in all of the pipes to just beyond the gate.  Tomorrow we will trench the last 35 or so feet in the front yard to take all of the water away from the house.  The front should be easier because we can put the dirt we dig up on tarps next to the trench.  We could not do that on the north side of the house.  We had to wheelbarrow it to tarps in the back yard, dump it, and then shovel it back in to fill in the trench when we were finished.  Rick figures we moved about a yard and a half of dirt today.

The 4 inch pipe awaits connection to the
downspout.

The first phase of the project is complete.
Phase Two starts tomorrow with the front yard.

I am out of shape and not sure that my back will every be the same.  Rick is walking around like an old man also.  We both reached for the Advil the minute we came into the house.  I also am exhausted, so bed tonight will feel good. I just hope I can fall asleep before Rick starts to snore!

Great Expectations

No, I am not going to challenge Charles Dickens by trying to come up with a modern re-make of his classic novel, but we do have great expectations on the forthcoming results of our next projects.

Today has been a busy day, starting with laundry and a little baking.  A new recipe for oatmeal-raisin whole wheat cookies resulted in a tasty ( but too sweet) batch of cookies.  I would use the recipe again, but I think the cookies need a little less honey in the mix.

We had a terrible rain storm this morning, which gave me a little inside time to work on and eventually finish the puzzle Chris lent me. This one was fun with all of the different colors and areas of the Zoo.

The completed puzzle.  It was fun, but I will be glad to get
my desktop back.

Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, we have been experimenting this whole time in Florida with new ways to bake, using whole wheat instead of white flour, palm sugar, maple syrup or honey instead of refined white sugar; and healthy ingredients like raisins, oatmeal, and nuts.  Sometimes we have had success; sometimes we have thrown out our culinary trials.

Rick is continually searching for a whole wheat bread that has a light texture while still being stable and delicious.  He put his latest creation in the oven this afternoon after letting it proof this morning.  For once, he did not use a loaf pan, just making a round loaf instead.  Then he waited...

Rick settles to watch the bread bake.  Ah,
the joys of being a retired person!

Finally, as he settled down to watch it rise, he started to laugh.

Think of a mad scientist watching the birth of
his monstrous creation.

The monstrous loaf continued to grow in the oven.

It's alive!  Well, no, but it was rising and baking.

And the result, finally, was a too-flat, tough-crusted, yet light inside loaf.  It is edible, but it still is not the winner in the journey to find the perfect loaf of bread.  But have faith.  We have plenty of flour left, and there is always tomorrow...

Chewy, but good.  Back to the drawing board...

As I mentioned, this morning Florida was hit with a major line of storms. Don't get me wrong.  We needed the rain, but it came down so hard and fast (as only Florida rain storms can do), that the downspouts we still have above ground resembled fire hoses turned on to full capacity.  The downspouts that we directed to underground discharge performed well.  When the overflow came up through the pipes, they safely discharged out the front of the yard into the street, just as we had intended them to do so.

However, the storms revealed that we have a major flooding problem yet on the north side of the house.  While our recently paved garbage-can slab stayed above water, the downspout on the north side of the house flooded the entire yard between our house and the neighbor's house to the north.

The tiny north yard, after it drained, revels just
half-dead weeds and grass.

After the skies cleared, we ventured out to buy cement to add to our stash of building supplies.  Yesterday we bought 7 drainage pipes which we cut in two to transport home in our car.  Today we made two trips to bring home 9 bags of cement mix.

Our goal is to run the north downspout into an underground discharge system like we have done with the downspouts on the south and west sides of the house.  Thus, the pipe.  We also want to feed the HVAC condensation into that system.

Cement will eventually cover the area from the
current cement slabs all the way to the front of
the fence.  Then we will pave the remainder
of the area.

Once that is complete, we can add cement to the rest of the area around the HVAC pad so water is directed away from the house.  Then we can prep the rest of the area for pavers.  Hopefully, once we are finished, we will have solid surface on the north side of the house where the current mud patch appears each time it rains.  I cannot wait to stop sinking into the mud after each storm.

So in all, today has been a productive day.  The inside chores are complete, the baking (for better or worse) is done, and we have been able to gather supplies for the upcoming projects.  Another bout of rain is predicted for Sunday, and since the pipe project alone will take at least two days, we do not want to dig any trenches until after the rains have gone.  Hopefully, Monday will dawn clear so we can start our latest projects for which we have those great expectations.

Windows and Wishes

I have not written lately because we really have not done much.  Somehow I picked up an intestinal bacteria (or lack thereof) during or right after our journey back to Gladys, so I have been trying to recover for the last week.  A trip to the doctor and numerous tests will challenge how quickly we reach our new $4000 deductible on our health insurance this year.

I am finally feeling better although the medication I am taking upsets my stomach and occasionally gives me a terrible headache.  Today, so far, so good.  This morning I tackled laundry and cleaning both bathrooms.  Rick worked on paperwork in his office, and when he finished there he ventured outside to clean the windows.  Florida is a very sandy, dusty place, so washing windows has become a every-other-month task.  Thankfully, we have a good system, so the cleaning goes well.

After lunch, we faced going to the grocery store to get waffles and a lottery ticket.  The Powerball lottery has reached a new-time high of offering between $900,000,000 and $1 billion.  They changed the rules so that more people could win "little prizes" which has resulted in no one winning the Jackpot for a long time.

However, we heard on the news last night that someone in Dunedin, Florida, won $1 million at the Publix where we always shop.  We needed the waffles, so we ventured out in the rain to get them and to pick up a Powerball ticket.  Ha!  The waffles were easy, but we bypassed the line that wound around the whole Service desk in Publix.  Don't people know the chances of winning big at the same place two times in a row are not really good?I Buying a ticket there would have been convenient, but I value my time more than waiting in line.

We headed home but stopped at Winn Dixie for some cheese sticks for Rick.  When we went in, the line for Powerball tickets was considerably shorter than at Publix: I was third in line.  The woman in front of me spent $22.00 on 11 picks.  Rick and I are cheap.  We spent $4.00 for two picks.  I figure if I am meant to win, I can do that in two numbers as well as in 11 numbers, and I have more money left in my wallet than the woman in front of me.

So we will see if I become a multi-millionaire tonight.  I'll let you know if we win. Don't hold your breath.