Eastern Shore Fine Weekend!

With a beautiful weather weekend and a visit from Jared, Ben and Emily, a glutenous indulgence of typical Eastern Shore activities was in order.

We started Saturday out with several dozen crabs eaten bayside.

Good picture stolen from my DIL. No shame.

L-R: Ben with wife Emily, Jared.

Saturday night we chilled on the back porch and got to hear all the stories that no one wants to take the time to relate over the phone. Patton and Reilly complimented the party with frequent bouts of alarmed barking and what seemed to be nothing.

Ben finally had enough of the hysteria and demanded some face time with Patton.

Patton doesn't look that upset about it.

Sunday we decided that the dogs needed to be tired out, and what better place to do it than Cliff City.

Oddly named because there aren't any cliffs and 6 summer homes doesn't make a city. But a great destination all the same.

Cliff City Beach. This ain't your momma's Jersey Shore!

"Oh-boy Oh-boy! Throw the stick..THROW THE STICK!"

"YEAH!"

Patton supervises the return swim.

Throw a small tree?

No problem!

Not bad for a group photo.

Camera on timer, sit..stay..stay..almost had it.

Tired pups...mission accomplished!

Greetings from Reilly and Patton, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland!



Cross Training

Saturday was my day to run, but we had family down for the day and went to the Chestertown Tea Party and then ate Chinese Food on the porch. Perfect day, but running was low priority.

On Sunday, we started the big project of clearing out the last remaining garden of weeds, small trees, stumps and other unwanted growth.

This garden at the corner of our porch was the last remaining challenge to our dream of having all the gardens weeded and mulched simultaneously in one year. And it was not random fate that this one was saved for last. It was infested with spider wort, weeds, volunteer trees and root suckers from 3 Russian Olive trees that I cut down a year ago. A week ago I made a declaration to Irma that we were not going to kill ourselves on this garden. I was going to rent a Bobcat and bulldoze the evil mess into submission. But one thing led to another and we thought maybe if we just work on it a little at a time....but that concept doesn't exist for us. So that's how it started.

By the time we were overheated and physically spent on Sunday, we had cleared a good 3/4 of the area. And I knew running wasn't in the offing this weekend. But cross training is always promoted in the running mags, and hey, by my reasoning, this definitely qualified as cross training.

Early Monday, I started finishing the job. What better way to honor those that sacrificed for our Country than sympathetic abuse of my body. I'm joking obviously, but the effort was intense.

Patton and Reilly, helpful as always.

"I wish he'd finish getting this stump out so he can chucker me"

Vanquished by the saw!
You may be wondering why I need a saw that big.
Because occasionally I have to cut up something like.....

...this!
Usually after a hurricane.

2 yards of mulch delivered and dumped.
I'm a dirty, sweaty mess, but this is getting done if it kills me.

All done and it's only 1:00 PM.
Now there's a cold shower and a Yuengling with my name on it.
And I probably won't be out of the house again today.
Happy Memorial Day! Thank a Veteran!

Couch to 5K - 3rd week

A while back I ordered a book from Amazon called "The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer"

I didn't at the time, nor do I now intend to run 26.2 miles. After all, 56 year old knees can't take that, can they? But I have noticed that since I started running and reading, the first real attempt at it in about 15 years, my perception is changing. It doesn't matter that I am starting slow, almost at a laughably slow rate, what matters is that I am able to keep doing my runs every 3 days. And my knees are ok with it. So instead of getting impatient and trying too much, I maintain the program and it leads me where I am going. My goal is still 5K, or even 2 miles on a regular basis would be a huge success. But after that, who knows.

My mind and body will be the determining factor.



"The power of inertia is in our perception. If we think we have yet to begin, the power of perceived inactivity can become a slow setting concrete that keeps us from starting. If instead we perceive that the journey has already begun, and contemplate the successes already registered (however small), inertia becomes and illusion and loses its relevance to a process that is already underway."

-Tanjala Mabon Kole, from The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer

Couch to 5K

I have off from work today and tomorrow (my birthday) so I started the Couch to 5K running plan.I got my new shoes on Saturday from the Annapolis Running Shop. I thought it a good idea to start after I had new treads rather than try to run in my 3 year old Saucony's. They fit well but my feet felt like they were sliding around a bit, maybe I need to experiment with my socks.

No, not clown shoes, it's the camera angle. Mizuno Wave Nirvana 8.

I can see from day one that the challenge is going to be the knees, not the breathing. Breathing almost felt too easy, I had to hold myself back because my knees were sending a signal that I didn't want to ignore.

"Hey, we're doing fine down here, but if you want to do this again on Thursday, you better lighten up"

I paid attention, considering the most I've run in the past 10 years is to catch the train.

Day 1 a success.

There are some perks to working in DC

Got to see the Space Shuttle being piggybacked overhead on it's way to the Smithsonian.

It's time to move on and other rantings of a burned out home remodeler

I do enjoy a good remodeling project and the satisfaction of accomplishment. And a cool tool makes me smile. But do I really want my legacy to be: "He was always working on his house. It was swell"

This is the last bike ride I took. It's a good thing I have a blog or I might not even remember that I actually ride bikes. Well, tripping over them in the basement on a weekly basis does serve to jog the old gray matter. That's how occupied I've been with "The Mother of All Projects". I got some cool bike gear for Christmas. I used the winter bike pants once. Admittedly this hasn't been much of a winter here in Maryland. The bike pants provided an experience that was more like a cult sweat lodge cleansing than a fun winter ride. And I used the cool Nashbar bike tool set that Irma gave me to dismantle her Trek. I find that dismantling things is one of my skills. I even made my own headset bearing removal tool out of a piece galvanized conduit. I was so proud, it looked just like the $30 Park Tool. But walking by 2 buckets of bike components for the past 3 months has made me realize that it's time to get motivated about something other than home remodeling. And the wife wants her bike back.

I have a friend at work that wants me to run the Baltimore Running Festival 5K with him next fall. He referred me to a link on coolrunning.com. The Couch to 5K Running Plan promises to whip your lazy butt into 5K shape in just 9 weeks. Now I never was a "couch" type. My family knows I can't sit still for much more than an hour before I'm shaking out new trash bags. I even turned off the final episode of Lord of the Rings with 60 minutes left to watch. But I have been considering the idea of running. As much as I like biking, it will never be the cardio workout that running is. So only time will tell if the knees will hold up enough for this endeavor.

I tried a Clif Bar the other day. I have to say, if rock climbers like eating turds, that's one sport I will avoid.

Lastly, I'm in need of an adventure. Nothing like "Into the Wild" starve to death type adventure. I recently bought some gear and what good is gear if you don't use it. I'm thinking short bike touring/camping trip. Maybe in Pennsylvania. Maybe I'll bike through Amish country and help them bale hay or bake pies.

Any takers?

The story of our Master Bath renovation......

 It wasn't a planned renovation, but a mold problem won't be ignored. I should have listened to my wife earlier, she says women's intuition shouldn't be ignored either. We finally hired a mold remediation company and 3 days after they were done, the coughing stopped. Like someone flipped off a switch.

I have been calling this "The Mother of all Project" because it's been more involved than anything I've ever undertaken in the way of remodeling. Last night I completed the bathroom and dressing area. And took a bath for the first time in quite a while.

Here are some picture that tell the tale.

With the bathroom already pretty much destroyed, I went ahead and gutted it the rest of the way for easier access to the infrastructure. Mike Holmes isn't the only one who likes to do it right.

Before anything else, I had to address the moisture problem in the crawlspace.

I did this by waterproofing the outside foundation walls.

Mortared all the cracks and applied a waterproofing material.

That was a lot of digging. I also installed a moisture barrier on the crawlspace floor.

So here are some before pictures.

Tub area before. The whitewash is the mold treatment.

More before with subfloor removed.

Well, you get the idea, it was generally a big mess. So here's the good stuff.

The during:

Tub installed and end wall framed and insulation up.

Hardibacker up around tub and drywall done.

Walls painted. Kerdi water barrier installed on tub walls.

Installed the Nuheat radiant floor heat first. Then the Ditra over top as a tile base.

I hired a tile guy to do the tile. Pretty nice job!

Then I installed the door, molding, toilet, sinks, fixtures, etc, etc, etc...

And here is the final result. Still waiting on the mirrors though...

Welcome to the new bathroom.

Irma's sink and cabinets on your left.

The Gerber brand throne, definitely a nice flush.

My sink and cabinet, noticeably man sized. But who's complaining?

A wood beam at the ceiling peak...a nice touch.

And finally...the Kohler air tub and shower.

I don't want to bore you with more details. Comments or questions are welcome.

Even if you have a question about installing wax rings for a toilet, I'm ok with that.