The new campfire thread...ooooh purrrrty!!!!!!

[Fenlason]

It has been way above normal temp wise here also.. although it's only in the lower 80's.. We were in the 60's this morning.. and that should be our high for the day, this time of year. It is supposed to cool off this weekend.

Interestingly we just got some LED's given to us.

We had a neighbor stop by the other day while we were up working on the roof. He belongs to something for a food bank.. and gave us some stuff. He had dropped by with something off a few years ago. This time he said he would have stuff each month. He also said something about neighbors supporting / being there for each other. We don't really know them but have seen him around. He is an older gentleman that seems nice.

Anyways walnuts was one of the things he gave us. Laurie baked some cookies [that has some of "his" walnuts in them].. and brought him [them] up some. He said he had something for us.. and gave us 8 LED bulbs. Interesting timing

We started rebuilding our walls today. The right side went pretty well. The left side was a bit more work. The concrete wall over there isn't straight.. so it makes fitting in the wall a trickier.

Laurie's first group hike of the season is starting here tonight. I will head out on the bike.. it's fun for me to just dub around. I sort of follow with them.. and then if / when I feel like it I can pop around on a variety of other trails and then meet back up with them.

[caseydog]

Glenn, I just read that August was the hottest August in recorded history. That's sixteen months in a row of record high temperatures worldwide.

If I had kids or grandkids, I might be worried about these trends, but since I don't, reducing my carbon footprint is all about saving my money. What I don't spend on energy, I can spend on fun things, like kitchen toys and premium "beverages." Also, my inner science geek really likes the whole, "off the grid" thing going on.

BTW, have I mentioned I got an immersion circulator last christmas? It is the thing you use for sous vide cooking. It's been life changing -- well, for a foodie, like me. If anyone here has been thinking of trying sous vide cooking, let me know. If anyone even knows what it is, let me know.

I really need to branch out a little, and see what's happening in the teardrop threads. It is hard to get excited about them, since I don't currently have one. But, who knows when I might get the itch.

CD

[Fenlason]

50's and rain here today. I also got called into work. I was actually asked last week, about helping with a delivery. The rain let up enough for us to do that ok.

I guess this afternoon I will work in the barn. I want to move more stuff around, and set up more bike storage upstairs.

I started reducing my carbon footprint… before the phrase even came about.

The oil embargo of the early 70's had a big impact on me. I vowed to not become held hostage for heating oil… ever again. Up here in the winter.. no heat.. you die!

There were environmental concerns.. "national security" concerns… there are many issues with our dependance on oil.. especially foreign oil. I am of course greatly motivated by saving money. In this house, not only do I not pay for heating fuel.. I did not have to purchase [and install] a furnace. For the past 37 years.. we have paid very little for fuel. At the beginning our first house.. as it was, used oil. We were maybe 2 years before we weaned ourselves completely off that. Then for a little while while building this home.. we had to pay for fuel again. [Part of the reason we moved into this place unfinished

It's also a fun challenge. A few years ago, a friend who did Energy audits wanted to audet our house. Before he actually got here to do it.. I kept thinking what I could do to improve it. There were things I could easily improve and knew it. I did some work before and after. Things have changed a lot since we started. Starting over again now,we could do it much more efficiently.

[Fenlason]

I did get some work in the barn later Friday. We got more stuff moved around and organized, and then build a new bike rack to hold 6 bikes upstairs. Our regular bike hooks don't hold are Plus sized bikes. I will need to get some more bigger hooks for the Plus bikes and the fat bikes.

Today was more work on the porch project. It was a little cooler this morning. When we went up on the roof to get to work, we found ice. We are steadily making progress.

[Fenlason]

We got the trough on the roof filled in. It was an area we had to tear out because of the rot. I used a special blade on my new oscillating saw to cut back the roofing. In part of the learning process I did ruin the blade. I guess there is a little bit of a learning curve to use that. I hit some flashing and some nails.. it didn't really like that. I did get what I needed to get done, done.. so I don't mind horribly It was worth it to get that done. So that trough is built up.. insulated.. sheathed, and covered with Ice and water shield. We then got the [roughly] 4 foot wall frame out above that. I got a little more work on where the porch walls attach to the house. After demolition we were left with a gap there. Both sides are filled in and have been spray foamed around the edges.

I need to run to the lumber yard in the morning.. and it sounds like Bruce is interested in showing up early for the ride to help out.

[caseydog]

A genuine cold front came through last night, and today was wet, but the high was in the upper sixties. We are supposed to be sunny and around 80 tomorrow, which is still better than the 98 we had last Tuesday.

Business has been slow, and I've been in a funky mood for a few weeks, but spent a couple hours on the phone with my best friend yesterday -- he lives 300 miles away, so we mostly talk on the phone. Two to three hours on the phone is not unusual for us. My mood has been a lot better since.

I sold the last of my film cameras on eBay this weekend, and shipped it off today. It's an old Hasselblad. It was a great camera in its day, but as a working pro, I can honestly say I do not miss film cameras.

CD

[Fenlason]

CD sorry about the lack of business.. and the funky mood.

I have kind of been all over the place.. mood wise. Yesterday was a good day though. We had gorgeous weather… 60's with low humidity.. and nice and sunny.

I got some good work yesterday on our porch repair. My friend Bruce had written Sunday night asking if he could show up early for the ride, to help us.

I was at a place where I needed to figure out how to proceed.. or the best way to proceed. It was nice to have someone with more experience to bounce ideas off of. We got stuff figured out and made some good progress. We then had a great ride. Not that I was expecting others.. but it was just Bruce, Laurie and I. We did have a great ride. I am at times bothered we don't get more people.

We are also approaching the anniversary of my Dad's passing.. It was just before my birthday.. and my grandfathers was not long after. So that sort of affects me.
I also turn 60 this year.. and it's WTF how the heck did that happen. I previously have been semi ok getting older.. and the number hasn't bothered me.. but man this one feels weird.

We were supposed to have heavy rain last night and into today… and I guess that has changed. It has not started yet.. but they it is still coming but less of it.. and maybe more showery. So I don't know what I will be able to work on today. I did prep so I can do some work inside the porch.

[Fenlason]

Tuesday started rainy.. so I worked inside the porch. The roof is at least temporarily weather proof enough that I felt comfortable insulating. I got one side of the door insulated and sheathed. The other side I had to finish my sill work I also had to add some blocking to hold the junction box I installed to fix the wiring.

It did clear off so we could get our group ride it. It was our last Tuesday Night ride of the season, we just don't have enough daylight after to get a worthwhile ride in after work. We did follow up with dinner out.

Yesterday morning I had to help out at work, we had a delivery. Then back to work on the porch. That started off sloooow. I kept messing up on the first section I was working on, and then couldn't find a special concrete bit. We were also at a another spot of trying to figure out how to proceed. We did end up making some progress.

We then hosted our group hike, while Cory and I went for a Mountain bike ride. Cory has never mountain biked, but just purchased a Fat bike and wanted to learn… so out we went.

I have a dentist appointment this morning.. then back at it.

[caseydog]

Hellow threadies.

Glenn, how old is sixty in alien sheep years?

The weather here has been nice, however, the ragweed pollen count is off the charts. Soooo, as much as I'd love to be outside all day, I have to limit my exposure to my kryptonite -- ragweed. I did manage to do a little garage cleaning, and gather some stuff for a garage sale I want to do next month. I hate having stuff around that I don't use.

My house is worth $100K more than I paid for it, so it is tempting to sell and get something smaller, but smaller places where I'd like to live are even more expensive. But, I can get rid of stuff, and be ready to move quickly if the right opportunity comes along.

CD

[Fenlason]

Good Morning Earthlings

CD I can't answer that.. they sent me here when I was young, and there is a lot of that stuff I don't know. I like to think we are eternal.

So far so good.

We are slipping towards winter.. although hopefully we still have a bit of time. Our time of daylight is getting shorter, and we are starting the day with ice. The beginning of cool weather always hurts.

I had a long day yesterday, and tried to work well after dark. Laurie's new mower has lights.. and I tried that. The lighting isn't what I would call good enough to mow with.

Hopefully today will be another long one and we can get a bit accomplished.

[Fenlason]

Maybe a shorter day than yesterday. We have had some "rain", a couple lighter showers.. although heavy enough that we altered what we were doing. Low 40's and rain can be on the coolish side. It also not the best thing to be installing insulation in. Overall I guess we lucked out.. it is quite grey and dark, but for the most part we have been able to work.

We have the top and one end wall of the parapet insulated and sheathed. The other side we haven't even started the framing yet. That side might take a little more thought.. and work.. for the concrete wall isn't exactly straight.

Once that is done.. we will then cover the whole thing in Ice and Water shield. [So hopefully no water will be able to get in anywhere.] We will then strap it so that we can apply the metal roofing, and siding.

I think we might be close to being done for the day. We have been invited to friends for dinner, and I need something for a bike ride first. Time wise it will be more efficient if we ride inside, so that is what we will do.

We still have a little to do outside.. picking up etc.

[caseydog]

Not much happening today. Beautiful weather, but still maxed out on ragweed pollen, so I have to limit my outdoor activities.

I stayed in bed late this morning, as I like to do on Sundays.

I'm getting ready to cook up a steak, sous vide to a perfect medium-rare, and then seared in a scorching hot cast iron skillet.

Then I'm going to watch the Steelers game... and hope that the Steelers show up this week after last-weeks melt-down.

Tomorrow, I have some studio work to do.

I also need to find some time to replace a leaking garbage disposal.

CD

[Fenlason]

Saturday we quit working early to get a ride in. We did a shorter BKool ride. 10.6 miles. I did push it a little. We got done.. and was sitting a moment to recover.. and Angela asked if we could go for a Playground ride… sooo we changed and got ready for that. We did have a good ride.

Yesterday we got part of our "weird" wall framed out. That took some time. We had some old sheets of roofing to take care of. We also had that dumpster to finish filling. The new oscillating saw [even with the old blade] cut it up fairly well so we could get it all to fit.

We have a roughly 18x18 area beside the upper deck on the south side, We put down some old ground cloth.. and covered it with crushed rock. We have a fire place over there.

We are still somewhat rainy this morning. It is supposed to clear and get better today. I will head back to that wall to work on. I still have a couple of sections to frame up. I do have more rubber roofing to place on the upper section.

We do host a ride here tonight.

[Fenlason]

I think I finally have the "wall" ready for the Ice and Water shield. I did periodically take a break from that project, to do some other stuff. I used the string trimmer and brush cutter to do some clean up. We also did do a little trail work yesterday afternoon. We have a ride this weekend.. so I wanted to do some leaf blowing.. and branch removal. I also had a few small trees that had come down, that I had to cut up.

We had a hike /ride tonight.. and have someone else coming over for a ride tomorrow night.

[caseydog]

I had a long photoshoot today. It is October, and it was 90-degrees! I am toast -- almost literally.

Psycho poodle spent almost 12 hours at home alone, and didn't pee or poo in the house. I felt bad, but I didn't expect the job to go that long, or I would have made arrangements for him to go outside.

I did get to drive a car I've been wanting to drive for a long time, but haven't -- until today. A Sunbeam Tiger. Red and black, just like the one Maxwell Smart drove. Imagine an MG with a Ford V8. It should have been a beast to drive, but it was actually pretty refined. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I drove a few Porsches and a Ferrari Testarossa, too, but I've driven dozens of those, so no big deal. Although, the Porsche 993 Turbo had really cold AC, and it was hot today, so that was nice.

The auction company that hired me is a new customer, but the owner of the cars and I go way back, so hopefully this will become another long-term customer. I also love working with this car owner, because he knows me well enough to hand me the keys to a million-plus-dollar car to photograph, and bring it back when I'm done. He doesn't let me fly his private jet -- which is a really good thing.

CD