Update: Here’s the current status as of this morning:
This Friday we got a big present in the driveway: a nice man dropped off a 40-yard dumpster where the Honda usually sits. I proceeded to start filling that thing up with as much crap as I could, and spent a little time on Saturday afternoon swinging a hammer at the closet in the atrium.
There’s a lot more to show as of this evening, because Mr. Scout came by with the Big Bar and cleaned the rest of the place out–the walls are bare to the sheathing, the ceiling is down, and the floor is clear to the original tin. I’d have a picture but it was too dark to shoot in there this evening.
Upon further inspection, I think we’re going to skip the washer/dryer combo in favor of a larger stall shower and reasonably-sized entry door; many of the windows will disappear but we’re going to add skylights above to make up for their absence. And because the floor needs to be raised to level things off, we’re going to add electric radiant heat underneath to keep things warm and toasty.
So it sounds like we’re going to have a dumpster in the driveway this Friday, and a hammer-swinging party on Monday morning, as well as a window delivery. I may see if I can get a personal day off from work just so that I can aid in the destruction and help fill the dumpster—besides that debris, there’s an air conditioner that needs to come out of the attic, an old gas heater that needs to come out of the garage (it’s the size of a professional gas range) and several large bags of garbage in the basement. I’m tempted to have the dumpster size upgraded just to be able to take advantage of the opportunity.
RE the air conditioner mentioned above—it’s a holdover from when the Doctor had several boys bunking in the attic. His handyman hacked the window apart to install the unit in the upper pane, then built a crappy single-pane panel to fill the lower half. It needs increasing amounts of tape, nails, and insulation to stay closed and sealed each year, so I think its time has come. Lowe’s sells a replacement vinyl window of the correct size for $115 off the shelf, which I’m planning on installing before the weather gets too cold. The real problem will be getting it down out of the attic.
Last night I finally installed an RJ-45 jack on the loose wire in our bedroom and hooked up a spare Airport Express in order to extend the range of our wireless network, which is based out of the FIOS router in the basement. I still have to set aside a rainy afternoon to trace down, label, and organize the mass of spaghetti in our basement, which has been loosely organized but not cleaned up. My efforts to carefully label and organize each run have been about 50% successful, but there’s a lot of wire down there with no identification.
Maybe it’s me. Maybe I’m just dumb, or don’t speak English correctly, or have a short attention span. Whatever the case, I can’t make heads or tails of the Baltimore County Land Records website. All I want to do is get a better copy of the plat for our property, so that I might begin the process of understanding exactly where the fuck my lawn ends and where the neighbors’ begins. The copy of a fax of a copy I have shows a trapezoid with vague and blobby notations of distance, but no point of triangulatory reference for anything except the west corner of our road frontage. Which means our garage could be in someone else’s yard. And there’s no mention of actual distance from the pavement to the beginning of our property, just a smudgy line which could be our hedgerow. Apparently I will need to hire a surveyor, at the approximate cost of one months’ salary, just to nail a ribbon on a tree and say “It’s here”. Before I can do that, I have to get the plat, and in order to do that (as far as I can tell from this suck-ass website) I have to make an appointment, with… somebody. There are names and numbers listed, but none of them say “I’m the guy who will help you get that thing you need”. Searching on their website for the obvious stuff, like “copy of plat” returns a “Google Custom Search Result”, which is quickly becoming Internet shorthand for “we don’t give a rat’s ass about you, and we’re too cheap to catalog anything properly.”
* * *
In the meantime, I’m shopping for a new laptop. Idiot Central, the 17″ MacBook Pro I’ve had for four years, has only sported half a usable screen for the last month or so, and I’m tired of not being able to use it without an external monitor. I’m also really sick and tired of opening my bag to find that it mysteriously woke from sleep and cooked itself like a Hot Pocket. The trackpad button has been sticking in the down position, which means it’s always wanting to select something. It’s still a good, fast machine, so it’ll likely end up as a production unit on my desk, but its days as a primary computer are done. I use a laptop mainly as a travel rig these days, so I’m looking at a 13″ MacBook Pro as a replacement. It’s portable, small, and fast, and I don’t have the extra $500 to pony up for a 15″.
Update: It gets better. Remember how I was talking about the trackpad sticking? I did a little poking around this evening. The trackpad sits directly under the battery compartment.
See that bulge? That means the battery is fooked. It’s been swelling in the center and putting direct pressure on the trackpad above. I guess it bulged to the point where it finally disabled the trackpad completely. The funny thing is, my boss at work, who also has a 17″ MBP of similar vintage, just had his battery replaced today at the Apple Store due to the exact same issue. I have to see if he got it replaced under warranty or not, because I think we may be heading to the Columbia location this weekend, and we may be walking out with a new iPhone, a MacBook Pro, and a replacement battery.
This afternoon I’m listening to some live Soul Coughing, courtesy of the Internet Archive. I miss good music.
We got back into Maryland just in time for a couple inches of desperately-needed rainfall. The rain barrels are almost full, and I’m fully expecting the grass to be lush and green for about two days before going back to a post-apocalyptic shade of brown.
Finn seems to be in the grip of the Terrible Twos; there is suddenly much whining and crying and carrying on over the smallest of things. Mama and I are resolute and speak to her in even, measured tones about how she should use her words and explain what’s wrong instead of making keening noises. Hopefully this, too, shall pass quickly. Potty training, though, is going along like gangbusters. She makes me so proud.
Still Scoutless. The plastic (technically, phenolic resin) main bowl of the carburetor is so old that parts of it have worn away and are allowing fuel to pool after shutdown, making any sort of adjustment impossible. So my mechanic is trying to source a new (used) bowl to replace it.
Verizon Wireless needs to go bite a bag of dicks. They have been spamming me at least five times a day and for some reason their spam makes it through my filters. I DON”T WANT YOUR WIRELESS SERVICE, YOU DON”T HAVE THE PHONE I WANT. Leave me alone, please.
This week is getting out of control, so we’re interviewing a cleaning service tomorrow afternoon to have them work on the house while we’re getting everything ready for the party. I’ll have you know Jen was planning for the party in April (possibly March), and we still feel like we’re behind the 8-ball. Grrr. However, I put the mister together last night, and it works perfectly.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that federal and state-based handgun bans are unconstitutional, nullifying bans in cities across the country. I find myself torn between the two schools of thought here; on the one hand, I respect and appreciate my right to keep and bear arms, and I intend to exercise that right sometime in the future. (Last night, before I even knew about the ruling, I had a dream where I walked into a gun store and shopped for a pistol. I tried out revolvers and small automatics that didn’t fit my hand, finally settling on something that looked like a Glock.) On the other hand, I have several cousins who are uniformed policemen. I have nothing but respect for officers of the law, and I appreciate the impossible job they are faced with daily. Therefore, I do not agree with and cannot abide the NRA’s assertion that anyone should be able to purchase assault rifles, teflon bullets, or other military-grade hardware legally. Furthermore, I think the federal government should man up and write strict country-wide rules for the sale and purchase of guns, so that cities like Chicago and New York, who are struggling with controlling guns purchased out-of-state, can better police themselves.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
Today’s weather is a little less like being in the moist maw of Hell and more like being in actual summertime, which is a nice break. Unfortunately, our basement humidifier, which has been going strong since about 2005, decided it had finally enough and began to make louder and louder rumbling noises as the compressor cycled on and off. Things started feeling a bit stickier down there, and a recent reconnaissance of the litter boxes revealed some fuzz that doesn’t usually belong there. So I got up early this morning and hit the Lowe’s for a new unit, and picked up some extra parts for a mister I’m going to set up at the parade party. It’s essentially a 3GPM mister head hooked up to a set of 1/2″ PVC piping via garden hose, with a ball valve to turn it on or off. The only thing I haven’t been able to figure out is how to get it standing elegantly; I’ll probably just use a couple of pipe clamps and attach it to a wooden spike in the ground, and then wrap that with some foam pipe insulation to protect little hands and feet.
1. We have plumbing in the new (old) half-bath on the side porch! Mr. Scout and his plumber hacked, sawed, and felled a 300-lb. cast iron vent pipe from the side of the house, replacing it with a temporary in-wall unit until after the 4th of July. This morning, after delivering Finn to daycare, I picked up a new toilet and sink from the Gucci Lowe’s. They will get installed tomorrow along with the door and some temporary drywall to make a functional bathroom for the parade.
2. The carburetor on the Scout is being assembled as I type, and hopefully I will get a call this evening with an update and the go-ahead to pick it up. Which is good, because we have new piles of debris to haul away from the house.
3. I made a few edits to the files here on the site in an attempt to speed up pageloads. Let me know if you see any difference (it’s that little link to the left that says “comment”).
4. Plans are afoot for a vacation stay in the Outer Banks in September right around Finn’s birthday. We have a house picked out with a stunning view of the beach and a lovely in ground pool for the girl to splash around in. We are excited to have something fun to look forward to.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
The garage has been empty since the weekend. The Scout is out at the mechanic getting a carb rebuild, which makes me happy, but the rain we’ve been getting today, which was coming down so hard that it slowed traffic on I-95, has surely soaked the seats to the springs. I didn’t get the chance to put the full soft top back on before we ferried it down, which I’m regretting now, but I’ll be happy to put a plastic bag on the seat to get it home. Plus, we’re supposed to get two days of sun starting tomorrow, so maybe it will dry out by the time it’s ready.
The garage is even emptier as of this morning, because a nice man backed a dump truck up to the doors and hauled off six contractors’ bags worth of debris, as well as the pile of concrete that’s been sitting on the side of the driveway since 2008. He threw in all the brush I cleared off the garage a few weeks ago and some junk from the side porch, and raked everything smooth. Jen says it looks beautiful out there now, which makes me very happy. It’s good to have that taken care of in time for the parade.
Finally, Mr. Scout is studding up a new wall around the bathroom on the side porch in preparation for the plumber to come in and rough in a new toilet and sink. It looks like we’re going to pull the floor and drop in a subfloor in order to level it and butt it up to the hardwood. I have to figure out where to put the huge pile of insulation that’s out there (most likely in the new empty space in the garage) so that little hands don’t play with it, and straighten up/vacuum/childproof the rest. As much as an unfinished space can be childproofed.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
As you may have noticed by the lack of activity around here, I was at my computer for about 5 minutes in total this weekend, which is kind of how I like it. The three of us spent two very hot days running around trying to get the house shaped up for the upcoming parade party, but for all of the effort expended I don’t feel like we’re any closer to being done.
Finn and I enjoyed our normal morning breakfast hike despite the heat, and Saturday morning we found a set of old-school ratcheting box-head wrenches, a vacuum gauge, a pair of metal shears, and a dwell tester for the sum of $6 at a yard sale. After a quick trip to the Lowe’s (one of many this weekend), she and I had all the components to build a new gutter over the back deck purchased, but then it was time for swim lessons.
After the pool and lunch I test-drove a local Scout to gauge its worthiness as a donor vehicle (verdict: it’s a go) and then got to work in the yard on the gutters and hedges before it started raining.
Sunday the heat rolled in, and we attempted to stay cool while continuing work on the house. Finn and I returned to the Lowe’s while Mama was at yoga, and after a short nap she was up again, thwarting our attempts to split up and get things accomplished while she was asleep. Note to Daddy: even if she’s tired, feed her before naptime.
Somewhere during this time period I pulled the leaky cartridges out of our kitchen sink to replace them, and found out the hard way that Price Pfister is using cheap plastic/brass assemblies instead of solid brass. The brittle replacements are made in China, and I destroyed one just trying to get it to seat correctly. I also broke the brass three-way connector on the hot water line attempting to follow a slow leak back to the source, which mandated another trip to the Home Depot for parts.
We rolled that in with a ferry ride to Crownsville in the Scout, which is getting a rebuilt carburetor this week—fortuitous timing, as it turns out, because the idle speed is now so slow that she was stalling out on me as I came to stop signs. Let’s just say that bringing a 4,100 lb. brick to a halt with no steering or brakes is an interesting challenge.
Returning to the house via the H-D, I replaced the three-way connector, blew the spout off the top of the faucet in a shower of cold water (I hadn’t screwed it back in place), and found that the second hot-water cartridge I’d bought was missing two tiny internal valve assemblies. So back to the store I went. Again. Poor Jen; I was so irritated I could hardly talk. Thankfully, the fourth time was the charm, and I got everything back together, but I’ll never buy Price Pfister again, and I’m going to specify solid brass assemblies in any faucet we purchase from now on.
Then, I ran back outside to finish the front hedges and get the sidewalks edged. After dinner and getting Finn to bed, we were cleaning up the debris of the weekend until 10, at which time beer and pound cake were necessary, along with some mindless TV. I fell asleep on the couch by 10:30, wondering how the weekend got past us so quickly.
→ This is a syndicated post from my Scout weblog. More info here.
The big news around the Lockardugan estate these days is a successful mortgage refinance, which (among other things) has consolidated several large bills into one smaller payment at a lower interest rate. We will be seeing additional benefits beyond a smaller monthly outlay, beginning with forward progress on the side porch and atrium.
To recap, the day before Finn was born, we installed a door between the living room and what used to be the exam room in preparation for renovations. Predictably, the 20 months since then have been filled with all-baby-all-the-time, so the exam room sat untouched while we gathered some shekels and got her moving under her own power. Our main stumbling block, even before she was born, was how to organize the space in the atrium above, due to the need for plumbing—the plan has always been to use that space for a master bathroom adjoining the front bedroom. The jigsaw puzzle goes together like this: In order to finish off the downstairs, we need to put piping in for the upstairs bathroom. In order to get piping upstairs, we need to have a plan for how the bathroom up there will be laid out. In order for piping to go in, we need a chunk of cash to pay the plumber.
So, we’ve got the cash. Now, for the plan. On paper it sounds simple, but we have been stumped as to how to fit a sink, toilet, and bathtub into a space surrounded by windows and flanked by a fixed attic staircase. Working with only one interior wall makes planning difficult, because a shower on an outside wall is always going to be chilly.
What we’ve got now.
We enlisted the professional aid of Mr. Scout to help visualize a solution to our problem above, and get the ball rolling on the space below. (The immediate goal is to have a working bathroom on the first floor in place by July 4 for parade-goers, and the long-term goal is to have a functional den completed by, oh, let’s say Thanksgiving.)
The upstairs room is, as mentioned before, completely surrounded by old, creaky windows. The basement steps drop down into the back third, right next to a doorway that was tacked on to the rear of the porch. The staircase is next to a surround which encloses the chimney.
Our checklist for the upstairs bathroom is:
- A shower
- A toilet
- Dual sinks
- A large, usable closet
- Sunshine
- An over/under washing machine/dryer (not necessary, but would be nice)
Option 1
Mr. Scout did some measuring and some thinking, and suggested a radical solution: Make the back bedroom the master. Flip the current “closet”, push it forward to meet the depth of the chimney, and make the back 1/3 of the space a dressing room. Chop the attic stairs and devise some kind of hinged stair solution that can be folded up and hidden. Delete entirely the doorway into the front bedroom. Delete all but a few of the windows on the side of the house and take back that wall space. Put a tub/shower against the back of the closet and some kind of vanity/built in cabinetry against the front wall with the sinks. And put the toilet along the outside wall so it’s not the first thing you see upon entry.
Option 2
I did another variation on this idea where the tub becomes a stand-up shower in order to fit the washer/dryer alongside; we’ll have to measure that exactly and see if it can go somewhere else instead. I’m not entirely sure I want to delete the doorway to the blue bedroom, but if there’s another way to arrange the room to make things work better, I’m on board.
Downstairs, we’re altering the original plan just a touch to make the new bathroom more usable. Mr. Scout suggested widening the room from 44″ to 50″, turning the toilet and widening the window above to center them visually, and then using a 24″ door against the office wall, opening inward, for entry. We’ll level the floor and tile it. The casement windows I was originally considering for the den will change to a trio of double-hung units like we’ve got throughout the house, and the back door will be enlarged from a miniscule 24″ to a standard 32″ 15-pane glass (although this one will be exterior-grade steel). I’m still on the fence about what to do with the window over the radiator on the back wall; it may come out and it may stay in.
We’re shooting to have a working toilet and possibly a sink in place, surrounded by some roughed-in drywall for our parade guests. After that hubbub dies down we can get to the serious business of new windows, siding, and what to do about the floor (the end cutting pliers and I have a date with the floor sometime very soon), as well as insulating the coal cellar below (more tigerfoam) and doing something with the rickety porch off the back.