Saturday, March 27, 2010
Jan Baller (Lashier)
What a nice surprise to see a wonderful high school friend as I was visiting my mother. Lots of remembering!My first house in Jefferson
We took a tour of my growing up home town-the school, swimming pool, the town square, my first house, last house, and everything in between.Thursday, March 25, 2010
Concrete Update
Rhoades Concrete has begun rectifying the current problem at the front of the house. The clay soil that was used for filling the sewer and water lines settled beneath the new concrete and it tipped catercorner about 3/4 inch. A control joint was cut in the concrete with the idea that it would lay back down. Pictures to follow.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Our great weekend find!
It looks like the Romertopf had never been used. If we didn't already own the big turkey pot, we would not have known how to use it. Soak the pot for 15 minutes, put in prepared food, bake starting in a cold oven at high temperature-turkey is 475 degrees for two hours-13 pound bird. It comes out moist and wonderfully browned! I will have to look at the cookbook for chicken and roasts. Hurray!St. Vincent de Paul
Romertopf clay pot for $15.00 and an Original Garlic Baker for $1.50. The Clay Pot is the chicken or beef roast size and just great as we have always had the Turkey big pot. What a steal!Monday, March 22, 2010
A Plan!
This joint is right in front of the house and has become uneven due to settling in the clay soil we now live in. The slab is 12' x 12' reinforced concrete with a #4 rebar in a perimeter beam and wire mesh. I've been wondering how to correct it for some time now. This morning I had an idea to saw a control joint at a diagonal across the slab from one corner to the other allowing the slab to settle back into place. Might work? Nothing to lose at this point I guess. Expert at work!!!! Ha. See the results later.Friday, March 12, 2010
Peter Rhoades Grouting West Wall Basement Shower
Small tiles = more work. South wall needs a couple more rinses. Not much more to go and the learning curve is still growing. Write it down. When dry the grout we chose wasn't much different in color than the tile.Tile with fresh grout
Wipe it down early. New sponge with scrubby on the back. Wiped it by using swirling stroke with wet sponge and letting the excess grout build up on the sponge. The tile wasn't straight or even so this let the grout fill in the low spots. Works well.Completed Grout, Basement Shower
Shower needs waterproofing and will get four more glass blocks to complete the enclosure. Oh yeah! faucet. Shower Observation Window ( for the neighbors)
Almost completed window in the downstairs bathroom. Trim will be painted white and tile will be on the lower shelf when done."Best Turkey Soup Ever"
Recipe: Take one turkey drumstick ice fishing. Remove skin to use for bait while drumstick waits in the cab of the truck for a couple hours. Upon reaching home boil the squat out of the turkey in a pan of water. Oops! add more water because the water has almost boiled off while watching the Onion Movie. At the same time add salt, pepper and, left over chopped onion from brat supper a couple days ago. Boil a little longer while the movie finishes. Remove turkey to cool and then bone and shred back into pan with broth. Add whole bunch of frozen parsley left from some meal at Christmas, chopped. Those week old sauteed mushrooms need to get out of the fridge so add those too. Left over egg noodles - you bet - got a bunch left from the over production while making pork stroganoff last week? Time has grown late, soup is hot, so store in the stinky cab of Peter's work truck over night and then transfer to the front porch next day in preparation for supper. Heat and enjoy!Editor's note: There are also fresh organic carrots sliced thick and add to soup before cooking.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Shower view from the Throne
Home Depot sale bench tile with grout to follow. Masonry enclosure with glass. Need tile anyone? I have about three boxes left.Basement bathroom with tile
View of the basement bathroom from the hall of doors with tile yet to get grouted.Porch at entrance to the front hall.
I took a measurement of the amount the porch moved the first year and it appears that by adding another step surrounding the existing concrete it has stabalized everything so far.Frost Heave? Wrong!!
Got an idea this morning to cut a diagonal line across the slab allowing the concrete to settle back in place. Nothing to lose i guess.
Frost heaving was minimal this year from the appearance. No cracks that are apparent so the insulation and reinforcing must have worked. March 18- I have come to the conclusion that this was not frost. It's the #### clay soil. It appears that it takes more than a year to settle disturbed clay. Might need to go. A save is possible it we can tip it back in place and pour some dead men on the low side. Next month?Monday, March 1, 2010
Remodel Coverup
This was a building in Plymouth that they are gutting. We thought this was a unique way to cover up the mess! Click on the picture to read the quotes-pretty cool.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
