Return from Blogcation - 4 weeks in Pictures and Thoughts

Hey, I'm back from a 4 week Blogcation!

Feeling somewhat refreshed and slightly inspired. Especially excited about the cooler weather and all the fall goodness in the air. So I thought I'd post some random pictures and thoughts from the past 4 weeks to catch everyone up on various stuff that you may or may not find interesting.

I work in DC. The other Monday I felt the blahs creeping in so I went for a walk around the Capitol Building. It really is impressive. Wish I could say the same for how much our elected members are accomplishing.

I walk by this every day. At first they were tearing it down. When they got it down to just the concrete structure, they started building it back up, adding 3 additional floors to the top. One day I stopped and talked to a foreman. He said it was going to be law offices. They wanted a penthouse suite at the top so they could see all the DC landmarks. It also happens to be just a short 2 block walk from Capitol Hill.

Just noticing stuff, you draw your own conclusions.

Regarding the Mother of all Projects - the shower fixtures are roughed in. The drywall guy is here.
Irma is HAPPY!

The other day there were wild turkeys in our backyard. Wanted to get a better picture but I knew they would scatter as soon as I stepped outside. Hey you turkeys...eat as many crickets as you want! You're welcome anytime! Can't see this living in the city.

General Patton has a cone. He's such a good sport!

If you want to really experience fall....take a bike ride. If you want to really experience the world around you...take a bike ride.

I find that dark sunglasses are a slight improvement to the Coleman Cooler helmet look.
Or am I just happier that I'm harder to recognize?

This is a black grave yard. There are many of them on the Eastern Shore. Either slaves or poor share croppers couldn't afford a burial plot at a cemetery, so they made their own. Often right along rural roads.

I have known this was there ever since we moved here. It was always overgrown. I rode by on my bike and noticed that someone had cleaned it up that day. I'm not sure if the good Samaritan was actually related or just providing some long deserved respect.

I thought it was raining.....

....but it was bugs! Hitting my face as I rode. I squinted and kept my mouth shut. I pedaled on, churning through the hatch. They came in waves, like miniature kamikazes of unintended accuracy. When I cleared the trees they thinned out and I was able to open my eyes, straighten up and catch a breath of relief.

This would be the sixth consecutive cloudy day threatening more rain. I went anyway, I didn't care if it started raining. I wanted a good ride, bugs and whatever else may come my way.

So far my 55 year old knees have held up pretty well to my increased mileage. I am consistently doing 15 milers, which might not seem like a lot. Not too many years ago riding 5 miles would result in days of knee pain, so I think I'm doing pretty well. My goal is to work my way up to 25 and then 50 pain free miles in a day. This fall I'm planning a bike camping trip with my son so I need to keep moving.

One of these days I'm going to buy a $150 helmet that looks cool. But for now I'll have to be satisfied with my $40 Coleman Cooler Helmet. Hmmm...maybe a goatee would help.

Head Clearing Ride

I'm in serious danger of becoming dull. Every weekend has been spent working on my bathroom remodeling project and you know what they say about all work and no play. So it was again this weekend, handling 40 lb sheets of hardibacker and attaching it to the shower walls. I was forced to quit when my saw blade broke and it was probably a good thing at that. I've been telling myself for 2 weeks that I needed to go for a good bike ride. When I left the project room it was about 3:00. It was still cloudy out, we never got the promised sun and I didn't really feel like going for a ride. I wanted to just sit on the porch or watch football. But my head felt thick and I was working on a good grump as well. I knew I needed a ride.

 At first I felt awkward, almost like I hadn't ridden for months. But then after a few miles I caught my stride. I was facing a pretty stiff headwind, and even though the temperature was in the mid 60's, I was glad I had worm my jacket. As I cranked down the road I was bombarded by signs of fall. Partially harvested fields of dried corn stalks. Dark green fields of soybeans that were showing the first tint of browning off. Weeds mature and tough, ready to belch seeds in every direction. The smell of wood smoke.

Traffic was especially heavy even for my back road route. Occasionally a biker runs into someone who for whatever reason regards them with contempt. Today I was stopped at a remote cross road when a pickup truck full of bushel crab baskets pulled up. The driver stopped and gave me a hateful glare for about 5 seconds, then just drove off. I'm not sure what the source of this contempt is. Does he think I'm going to call my fellow biker friends and take over his back shore turf? Or does he just hate any activity that doesn't involve a boat and a crab or a gun and a deer? I rode on and passed a fellow biker who returned my wave and a smile. We understand.

The clouds were starting to clear a little and so was my head. I rolled home in a better mood.

Sunrise over Kent Narrows

This is the view I get some mornings when I arrive at the park-and-ride to catch the commuter bus to DC. As the days get shorter the sunrise will fade until it is eventually just dark at 6:20 AM. I have noticed that the water of the bay is as muddy as I have ever seen it during my 11 years of commuting over the bridge. A hurricane and a tropical storm on top of already saturated ground has allowed acres of New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland to wash into the bay. Not a good sign for plant and animal species in the bay already under attack. It will be interesting to see how long it takes the course of nature to clear the waters.

12 day recap

Irma and I got home at 10:00 last night after visiting my Aunt and them meeting Greg and Pinky for a nice dinner out. We were checking out a restaurant for Ben and Emily's rehearsal dinner in December. They are getting married December 28th. So that will make 2 years in a row of Christmas weddings. I didn't sleep that well thanks in part to the annual September cricket invasion. Those critters like to party at night. So I got up at 6:00 thinking I'd relax on the couch, but the dogs had other ideas.

We all headed outside into a shroud of thick mist. It was a damp quiet, even Patton couldn't locate a sound to bark at. After the required chuckering, we headed back in. I was looking forward to coffee and some quiet time.

I looked at the calendar and realized that I haven't made any blog posts in 12 days (Sorry Mom).

Truth is, the past 12 days have pretty much just been rain and work. The week after Hurricane Irene, Irma and I spent every night after work cleaning up the tree trash that was all over our 2 acre yard. We started Tuesday and she finished it up with the mowing on Saturday. I got about 50 nasty chigger bites to show for it. I should have doused with bug spray like Irma did.

Then came labor day weekend, and we just labored. All weekend. I spent all three days in the "project room", the bathroom I'm renovating, hanging insulation and sweating.

12 rolls of R-19 later, it's finally done. Almost ready for drywall.

Then came the week of rain. All week it rained....and then it would stop raining...and start pouring. Then when the pouring stopped, it would start raining again. They say tropical storm Lee was to blame for this. But whether you believe it's caused by us humans or not, I say the climate is changing.

So today is Sunday, the start of a new week. I think I'll finish it with a bike ride. If nothing else it will give me something worthy to blog about.

Goodbye Irene

First of all this isn't me. But I give this rider a lot credit for having guts, if not intelligence.

With Marty Bass (local weatherman) beating the calamity drum and three really huge trees within pulverizing distance of our house, we had decided ahead of time that we were going to leave our home and take the dogs and stay at the Holiday Inn Express on Saturday night. HIE gets my vote for their pet friendly policy.  

Around 3:00 PM, the rain was starting to come down in buckets and the wind was picking up.We were finishing up our dinner of pork roast, vegetables and white wine and decided it was time to go. The car was already packed and the dogs jumped in like desperate refugees fleeing an invading army. They knew what was up. We locked the house and left not sure what we would find upon return.

 The HIE was already mostly occupied by other hurricane refugees and their numerous pets. Keeping 2 on edge dogs quiet in a hotel room is not easy but they did pretty well. They had a few barking fits when the people next door banged doors or talked too loudly. Eventually I think our neighbors got the message that quiet dogs resulted from quiet boarders because they stopped banging doors and talking loudly. The Inn lost power about 10:00 PM as we were looking out the window watching the rain blow sideways in pulsing sheets and the trees sway like someone shaking out a big paint brush. I took each dog out for relief separately, resigned to the fact that there was no use trying to stay dry in the process. Then we went to bed.

The light finally pried through the rubber hotel curtains about 6:30 and I looked out to see a gray sky and a stiff wind but no more rain. It was time to venture home to asses the situation. I left Irma to stay with the dogs and headed through town. As I drove I felt more encouraged, finding a few large branches down and even a couple trees but not the widespread destruction that was predicted. Coming down our lane I found the three giant oaks still standing. Tree trash everywhere but no damage. Even the satellite dish was still on the roof. I returned to the hotel and we packed up and headed home. Irma made the observation that all the hurricane did was ruin the weekend. And thankfully that was pretty much what happened.

Sunday afternoon the sun came out and it was a beautiful day.

The mother of all Projects

Remember Irma's Law of Real Project Time? Well ever since the curse of the black mold destroyed our bathroom 2 years ago (and almost killed me says Irma), this project has validated her prediction of project time over and over. So I'm happy to report that progress is being made! I'm building up in the visible sense, not just infrastructure like reinforcing floor joists, plumbing, electric and laying plywood sheathing on the floor. I think we'll be ready for the drywall guy in 2 weeks. Provided I can get in touch with him. I've been calling him for 2 weeks and his answering machine is always full. I won't bore you with excessive detail, but below are a series of pictures of the area where the tub was and the new one is. Scroll to the bottom for a picture of my latest handiwork. I set the new tub (a big thanks to Randy for hooking me up) last Saturday and framed out the end wall. It was a long day of sweating in a hot room but I got it done around 9:00 PM.

This was the shower area after the mold guy did his thing. The whitewash is the mold block he sprayed on. Cost us over $3000 to get the mold cleaned up. Never ignore a moisture problem in your house.

Then I went ahead and tore some more out. Sealed and vapor barrier-ed the crawlspace.

Floor replaced and hardibacker laid for tub floor. Hardibacker is a waterproof cement board.

New Tub installed finally. Irma helped me set it. I mixed a mortar base to set it in and shimmed and glued the wood feet. It's nice and solid, which is important for an acrylic fiberglass tub if you want it to last. Next up: install the hardibacker around the tub where the tile will go. My goal is to have the whole thing complete by Christmas. It takes a while when you only have 3 -4 days a month to work on it.