Yesterday I had my very first Craig's List sale. I probably gave those spare BMW Z4 rims away but I was to the point I didn't care ... get 'em out of here. I had an offer when I woke Saturday morning, I agreed to it over coffee and the buyer drove 75 miles to get here and took them away by 1pm. In the mean time I had decided I was going to trim one of the large plants on the north side of my house. I am not sure what it is, at times it will show medium size pink flowers. Anyway I trimmed it ... better than burning it to the ground like I did 17 years ago by accident. lol
With the 100' electrical cord stretched out across part of the front yard, I decided on the spur of the moment to go ahead and for the first time, trim the Yews that I planted a couple of years ago. It was much easier than I had imagined.
Since I was on a roll, I decided to get rid of the 3 spruces on the south edge of my property. Last year my neighbor (no brains), caught my bank on fire (100' long) and in the process burnt the south side of my 4 spruce trees. He claimed when I asked, that he knew nothing about it and had no idea how that could have happened. It's a long story that I will not go in to, but here are a couple of photos from last year after they were fried. In the 2nd photo noticed the burnt grass close to my pickup truck. From that point to the base of the bank is 15' ... must have been a heck of a wall of fire.
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| April 2013 |
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| November 2013 |
I cut all of them down to ground level and tossed them on the pile to be burned in the fall with all the other brush, tree limbs etc.
That was my Saturday. I was in the mood to do that type of stuff so I thought I'd better take advantage of my surprising motivation while I had it.
My CL buyer was running a little late, so I backed the FJ and Mini Cooper out from the carport, floor brushed out what dirt had collected from the winter and spring winds. I stretched out my hose and did one of my favorite things ... hosed down the concrete getting everything clean. There is just something about high pressure water getting dirt out of concrete that I enjoy ... weird ... similar to watching the grounds crew at professional baseball games hosing down the infield dirt before the game.
Sunday morning while drinking coffee I decided I would take down my old tv antenna and steel pole that had been mounted to the north side of the house trim next to the crown of the roof. That antenna (worked perfect pre-HD tv days) and pole probably had been there for 40 years.
At first I thought I would dismantle it from the top, first taking the antenna off the pole while I stood on the roof and then unhooking the U-bolts holding the pole stationary to the house trim. I imagined after all of these years the antenna being there, that the pole must be in concrete. After climbing up to the roof I decided that wasn't the way to do it. I unscrewed 4 nuts to take off the U-bolts off the wood it was mounted to, told Sadie to get out of the way and gave it a shove away from the house. The pole was in the ground deep enough it barely moved but did sway a little bit. It moved enough to get away from the house where I could pound, pry and anything else to get those two pieces of wood off of the trim.
It was quite a "gun decked" piece of work by whoever installed it. After climbing down the ladder, I was able to pull with the coax cable, hard enough to get the antenna and pole leaning toward me. As I kept pulling, I realized the pole was not set in concrete like I thought it was but after all of these years, was only buried in the ground. Easy stuff.
I disconnected the antenna from the pole, dismantled the antenna and broke it down enough where it will be taken away by my garbage collector Wednesday with no problems. I am going to cut up the steel pole and take it to the recycling center this week.
That led me to sanding, priming and painting that top center end piece of my house trim. While waiting for the primer to dry I remembered my mailbox pole also needed painting. So I primed that, then waited to apply two different coats of paint to the mailbox pole and house trim.
By the end of Sunday afternoon, I had taken down the antenna, a 30' steel pole, painted the north end house trim, the mailbox pole, the gray utility boxes up next to the house the same color as the house. I did this while managing a psychotic bloodhound that wanted out every time I left the house but wanted back in the house as soon as I would get to my ladder on the opposite side of the house. She's crazy!
A successful weekend ... except what is waiting for me under the house. It's suppose to thunderstorm on Monday and Tuesday so it looks like Wednesday before I can get under the house to finish that project dragging out 40 yr old insulation (it was legal then) and spraying and killing any visible mold. After that will be laying 1000 square feet of 6 mil plastic on the dirt floor. I don't have to craw under the house, the crawlspace is deep enough that I can stand bent over. Still I can stand and not having to craw on my hands and knees to remove the insulation.
During all of these hours of doing house stuff this weekend, I thought of what it would be like with no house duties lurking around the corner. Do you get bored hanging out in beautiful country? I know you can move when you get bored but I just wonder how those days traveling would be spent, camping in one spot day after day. I may have a hard time getting started on projects but once I do, I enjoy them more than sitting around like I have the past couple of months just reading books or looking at the computer. Makes me wonder.
I do have 'hitch itch' though and nothing to travel in.
The hounds and I are waiting for the temperature to fall a few degrees before the daily dog walk. It looks like it might be one of those 8:30pm walks since we are back into the 80's today. They aren't really waiting, they are sleeping but will be excited when I say the word "walk" after they wake up.