Blocks to Sticks

About two months ago, we had a big tree taken down near the power lines. I requested that the wood be blocked up in firewood size blocks and put at the end of the driveway so I could split them at a later point. Somewhere in that, the tree guy heard that he should dump everything about 80 feet from the end of the driveway. Sigh. Last weekend we spent about half a day rolling each block the 80 feet to the driveway so we could split it.

I ordered the log splitter earlier in the week and we had it Saturday. From 9:00 until about 4:30, we were out splitting the big blocks into fireplace sized sticks. Valerie worked the splitter and I got to split the wood. It went pretty good, but we're both sore tonight. Yes, all this wood was from one tree.

While splitting wood, it brought back memories of splitting wood with my Dad. The wood season usually started in the summer when we would venture to a friends camp in the Adirondack mountains. My Dad, Bruce, and Reggie would select trees that were dead and take them down. Then the trees were blocked up and left to dry for a few months. When Fall came, we'd venture back to camp to pick up the blocks and bring them back. That's when the hard work started.

I operated the controls as Dad hefted the humongous blocks up wood up on the horizontal splitter (the old kind, that didn't tip up vertical). We'd work as a team, he lifting and either gesturing with his hand or nodding his head when he was read for me to push. Occasionally I'd miss the cue or be daydreaming and he'd look at me for a few seconds before waving his hands. He was probably wishing my brother were at the controls, but he never lost any fingers.

When the splitting was done, it was the kids job to bring the wood to the shed where it lay protected until it was ready to be used. I'd load up the wheel-barrow, wheel it for what seemed like miles (although it was maybe 50 yards), dump, and do it all over again. And again, and again, and again. Once there was enough wood, Dad would show us how to stack it. We built vertical columns of wood on the end and stacked the rest in the middle. All three of us would be out there stacking wood, Dad making corrections along the way so the pile rose 6 feet high as perpendicular as if measured with a square. That wood eventually heated our house in the winter, usually the year after it was split.

Tomorrow, I stack. To this day I can still stack wood without any end supports.

You may call me Sir Electric

Our stairwell has a light switch on the first floor and a light switch at the top of the stairs. Ever since we moved in about four months ago, the light has never worked right. In order to operate the light from downstairs, the switch on the second floor had to be on.

No big deal, you say. Just keep the light at the top of the stairs on all the time. But, when you go to bed you don't want to leave the hall light on, so we would turn it off. Well, when morning came and the sun was out, we just walked downstairs and left for the day. When we got home, flicked the switch at the bottom of the stairs and...nothing. Rassin, frassin, fricking, frackin switch.

So I dug out my trusty Home Improvement 1-2-3 by Homer D. Poe and looked up three-way switches. I've never really understood how three-way switches work and usually relied on my brother -in-law to hook them up for me. But Homer explained it pretty well. So I opened up both switches and the light and diagrammed the whole thing. I then took my diagram and compared it to the book. Aha, the hot wire was hooked to a traveler instead of the common terminal on the master three-way switch. I turned the power off at the panel, made the right connections, and voila! The light can now be turned on from either the top or the bottom.

Four months for something that could have taken a professional 5 minutes; priceless.

Hawaii Flora, Part I

Some of the exotic plants seen in Hawaii. Last one is a coffee tree. Third one is a Palm Tree in bloom. Fourth is a bird of paridise found all over. Not sure what the others are, but are pretty.

Waiting for baby

Anyone who knows us, knows that we are dog people. It has been 3 years since our Golden Retriever passed away and we have REALLY missed having a dog around. Since buying the house, I have been impatiently awaiting the arrival of a new “ baby”.

Originally, we had agreed that we would get a dog after the yard was fenced. However, the landscaping is taking much longer than anticipated and we decided that we would not wait any longer.

We are working with a wonderful rescue organization in CT, Sunshine Golden Retriever Rescue, and have begun the process of adopting a Golden Retriever!

The first step in the adoption process was a phone interview. The SGRR volunteer was on vacation, but still took time to contact me. I was truly impressed. Very few people volunteer to help homeless animals and even fewer would take time from their vacation to talk with a prospective adopter.

The second step was a home interview. The SGRR volunteer came to our house with 2 dogs. It was wonderful to have dogs around again and we were sad to see them leave. We discussed the kind of dog that we felt would be a good match for us.

Now for the hard part…waiting!!! SGRR will review the dogs that they currently have up for adoption. If there is not a good match, then they will review new dogs that enter the program. We do not know when our new dog will arrive, but we are eagerly waiting for the phone to ring.

Mauna Kea

See my post on Mauna Kea.

Driving the Chrysler 300

The first big decision I had to make on vacation was which car to drive. Because of low inventory of intermediate sized cars at the airport, I was given the choice of a Dodge Sebring Convertible or a Chrysler 300. Being a big guy, I opted for the more room of the 300.

The first thing I noticed when I jumped into the 300 was there are two control sticks on the steering column; one for the blinkers & wiper controls, and one for cruise control. I fired up the 300 and noticed the parking brake indicator was on. I was frequently flicking the wrong control for the blinkers. The second time we got into the 300, the parking brake indicator was on again. “Hmm”, I thought, “the parking brake automatically comes on every time?” After a couple more times, I figured out that my foot kept hitting the parking brake pedal when entering the car. Annoying, yes, but once I was aware I adjusted my behavior and the indicator didn’t come on again.

All nitpicking aside, the 300 is a driver’s car. The V6 engine had plenty of power and the automatic transmission knew just the right times to shift. While going up many of the hills of the big island, the Chrysler downshifted at just the right time and stuck there until it made sense to upshift. Compare that to my ’91 Pontiac Grand Prix which would have been shifting up and down the whole hill. I was impressed.

The performance and handling became more apparent one day on the way back from Hilo. I was following a souped up Mustang somewhere around the speed limit when we got behind a train of 5 or 6 cars. After following this train for about ten minutes, the road split into two lanes. The Mustang darted to the right lane and floored it to pass all the cars and I followed him. We passed the cars quite handily and continued on. The 300 kept right up with the hot-rod past 70 and 80 until I eased off and let the Mustang go.

I found myself using the slap shifter on the many downhill runs on the southern side of the island. In particular, I descended about 4000 feet over six miles on Chain of Craters road in Volcanoes National Park and never touched the brakes. The $45 fill-ups were no fun, but at Hawaii’s typical $3.53/gal were partly to blame for the bloat at the pump. It also didn’t help that we got about 20 miles per gallon the whole trip.

I drove the 300 for about 1200 miles over the course of a week and never regretted my decision. It awakened feelings that have been smoldering since I sold my Trans Am many years ago. I can even see myself considering this car when my Honda goes kaput in another 100K miles.

Big Step

It may not seem like a big accomplishment, but the garage is cleaned out enough so we can fit both our cars in. Not totally clean, but clean enough. Three months ago the entire garage was packed with boxes.

The smelly visitor

Looking out the kitchen window the other morning, I saw what I first thought was a black cat walking in the back yard. I thought - that's interesting, I have not seen a cat before and then I took another look. It turns out that the cat was in fact a rather large skunk! The skunk wandered around the back of the shed and then disappeared. I just hope he does not decide to cohabitate with the wood chuck who is living under the shed.

I have not seen the skunk again, but with the windows open you can sometimes smell him when he passes by at night.

Guest room finished

The guest room is finally finished !!!
The new closet shelving and the window shades have been installed.
The only question is, who will be our first guest in this new room ?

Guest room

The guest room is almost finished! The last things left to do are to install the closet shelving and hang the blinds. The new ceiling fan really adds a lot of light to the room. We had originally thought this room would have pink accents, but when we found the blue window treatments, we were hooked.
One more guest room to refinish - but that will be our winter project.

Shark Fin Soup

This from Yao Ming (NBA Player) yesterday:

"I pledge to stop eating sharks fin soup and will not do so under any circumstances."

That's a fight I can join.

Doe with fawns

There is a doe with two fawns who often stops by the backyard for a snack. The doe appears to have no fear of people - she does not run off, unless you get too close. The fawns are more skittish, which makes picture taking difficult. It is a lot of fun to see the fawns playing together - already they are getting big and losing their spots.

Office Done

We finally put the finishing touches on the office on Monday. Considering how much work had to be done and our limited schedules, it was pretty amazing (if I do say so myself) that we were able to get it done in three weeks. We ended up painting the whole room; trim, doors, walls, and ceiling. The walls were given a warmer field color and a fresh coat of trim always makes the woodwook pop. We also added some shoe moulding to the baseboards and I put a ceiling light in. We capped it off with new window treatments and hung our pictures. If it weren't for Valerie's help and motivation, there's no way it would have been done on time. The office is very cozy now and I look forward to spending as little time as possible in there!

Before:

After:

Hawk Update

The hawks which were around so much last week, seem to have gotten shy. I can still hear their screeching, but they are not perched in any obvious places. Wish I could say the same for the woodchuck, who was sunning himself this morning on the wooden ramp that leads to the shed. I have no doubt, he was eyeing all the plants on the deck (just a few feet away) and deciding what to have for breakfast.

The lights in the downstairs and upstairs hallway were completely mismatched, so we bought some new Waterford lights. The first one has been installed and it is beautiful.

Just for giggles

Saw this on MyLeftNutmeg and thought it was funny...

Hawk

There seems to be a pair of hawks nesting somewhere nearby, or at least using our yard as a hunting ground. The last few days this hawk has landed on the back deck about the time I get home every night. Where was he the day I came home and found the woodchuck sitting on my pot of petunias having his dinner?

The hawks are beautiful to look at, but tend to wake us up at 5:30 with their screeching back and forth.

The king of all conspiracy theories

I sometimes wonder how so much imagination can be wrapped up in the head of Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert. Still, I wonder if anybody is checking up on this? Sounds like a "Days of Our Lives" plot line, but sounds plausible...

Are you kidding me?

Wow! The perennial giant killers, College of Charleston, may have landed their best catch ever. After up-and-coming Gregg Marshall of Winthrop pulled a Bobby Cremins on them, Bobby Cremins comes out of retirement and brings years of ACC coaching experience to the Cougars.

Who knows, maybe we'll see Dean Smith come out of retirement to coach the Campbell Camels. Then again, maybe not.

Anonymous Comments, Round 2

A couple weeks ago I enabled anonymous comments so you could comment on each post. Since that time, a couple people have told me they couldn't post comments, but I got emails with the comment. I have tweaked the commenting a little bit and think this will be easier.

If you read this blog, feel free to post a comment to this entry just to see if it works.

Squirrels 1, Valerie 0

You may remember a certain member of my household has been having trouble with the squirrels at her feeders.

Well, the squirrels have won this battle, but not the war!

Seems as though they have chewed through the four layers of electrical tape and dislodged the linoleum. In fact, I think they were a little ticked off because they pryed open the steel around the feeder and poked another hole through it!

Right now, there's a 33% chance it will get fixed, 33% chance it will get tossed, and a 34% chance it will wind up on Long Island for a little welding treatment by our friendly neighborhood Mr. Fixit. Stay tuned...