big wheel keep on turnin'...

....and life goes on. seems like i've fallen into the habit of posting weekly for awhile now. it is what it is. hmmm.....wonder when the last time i posted was? [checking....] yep, it was a week ago. so what's happened in the meantime?

i've been working pretty hard this week, at home even more so than at work. i've pressure washed about two thirds of the cedar fence in the backyard. it's taking a very long time, but i'm trying to do a good job on it. i've stripped it down to bare wood, hitting it until it stops lightening up while doing the least possible damage to the wood. the pressure washer i've been using (Dad's) is 1650 psi, lower than most i've seen, and i'm basically getting right up on top of the wood, from between 1-3 inches away (depending on how bad the board is). i'm doing each board by itself- that way i have a clear stopping/restarting point. i've been averaging somewhere between 8-12 boards per hour, or 5-7 minutes per board- slow going for sure. but the results are good; i'm comparing the color of the wood to brand new boards put up on a neighbor's fence- when the boards dry out, they look the same- for the most part. get it all stained and sealed it'll look fine.

got over to Melissa & Jason's yesterday to borrow Jason's hammer drill, to demolish the concrete swing set footings that have bothered me since i moved in. it took 5 hours on Saturday to break them into small pieces. the holes i dug around the footings varied a little, the shallowest was about mid-thigh deep, the deepest a little more than waste deep. i only dug out enough to be able to completely expose the footings. the plan was to dig them all out, break up the concrete, then bury them right back in their same holes, as deep as possible. it took about three hours to fill in the holes, (a couple of which took place today) while simultaneously removing all the plant life (especially the immense root structure of all the weeds). i was hoping to get the dirt back in the holes somewhere near where the grade sat before; i'd shovel so much in and tamp it down, then do a little more. i lost some dirt when i backfilled the cave-in in the back corner of the yard with dirt from those holes, but i also moved some dirt that was burying the back fence into the cave-in too, so i didn't lose too much. i also gained a little depth with the concrete completely buried as opposed to being partially exposed. it was a toss-up whether it would all work out or not, and in the end it's really a moot point, since i'm going to turn the whole yard over anyway, but at least i now have about 15-20% of the lawn done.

the next step is to finish pressure washing the fence, then get started on the dog run- eliminating the mud problem is the most important thing to be done. i need to find something to retain the gravel i put down, and i'm considering laying some larger rock to help with drainage. i need about 4 inches of larger rocks- like one layer or so- then about 4 more inches of finer gravel. there should probably be something in between those layers to keep the big rocks from coming to the top over time. my neighbor used burlap to keep ground from sinking down into the drainage rock he laid, i s'pose could do something like that.

in any event- all this ain't gonna get done before i'm outta here to NY for vacation. only a couple days left- time to start putting this other stuff on the back burner and get down to figuring out what the hell i'm gonna bring with me.

Today (Monday) was Loren's first day at home solo....only it wasn't really solo since he was watching his brother. Loren gets to be Lord God King Mighty and i'm hopin' he wields his authority with some restraint- and that his lone subject proves somewhat rulable. and that the house stays in one piece. and that no one gets dead.

ok i guess that's it for now; i'm certain i've thrilled both my readers to death.

L8R