So our first big snow storm has come and gone and we survived just fine. It is projected to be in the 60s most of this week and 99% of the snow on the ground has already melted. On Friday a week ago, Maureen and I stocked up on soup and bread and some other staples like snacks and beer for the weekend football games, made sure we had some good books available, and hunkered down with no intention to leave the house until Monday. If you read my last post you remember that I hired an electrician to set up a transfer switch so I can hook up a generator to my house when or if the power ever goes down. I've been telling everyone that I operate under the theory; "if you always carry an umbrella around with you it never rains." So by prepping the house for an extended power outage the logical extension of my theory practically guarantees that I will never actually need a generator. So I figured I could just wait to purchase a generator until some future date on the off chance that we ever have an extended power outage. Uncle Keith shot a hole in that part of my theory. It was his experience with his cabin in the mountains that when the power goes out all of the generators on the shelves disappear immediately, usually within the first hour. And if on the off chance I'm snowed in it is likely that I wouldn't be able to make it to the store within that first hour anyway. So looking back at my "umbrella" theory, I broke down and purchased a reasonably priced 7000 watt Honda generator from Sam's Club while the electrician was installing the transfer switch. That evening I even took the generator out of the box, assembled it, and then ran it for 5-10 minutes to make sure it would work if needed. Here's where Uncle Keith hit the nail on the head. I went back to Lowe's that afternoon to buy a length of cable and a couple of 30 Amp connectors so I could make up a custom length cord and actually connect the generator to my new hookup. I found myself standing in the electrical isle with four other guys staring at an empty box where the 30 Amp connectors used to be before they sold out. And, except for one pathetically small portable Generac display model left on the shelf, Lowes had sold out of all its generators as well. I ended up paying way too much for a pre-made cable that was way too long for what I needed just so there was not a loophole in my umbrella theory for mother nature or the power company to exploit. As it turned out my theory proved itself once again; having everything I needed to keep power on at the house the power indeed did not go out.
However, during all of my careful planning and preparation, it never occurred to me to buy a snow shovel! And having spent the last 35 years in Southern California, of course I didn't own anything remotely resembling a snow shovel. And if you take my "umbrella" theory to its logical conclusion, of course I needed one before our snow episode was over. In addition to the transfer switch, I had the electrician install a sub-panel in my shop. My entire lower level garage/shop has a half dozen receptacles (good right?) all fed by one 15 Amp circuit (not so good!). I can't run my 13 Amp table saw and my shop vac (for dust collection) at the same time without tripping said 15 Amp breaker. So what does this have to do with my lack of snow shovel? The electrician was due to come back and finish up with the sub-panel on Monday but was not able to get to my house with his truck because of the snow and ice on the street/hill in front of my house. So on Monday morning I salted the hill and in the afternoon after the sun and salt had an opportunity to soften the ice, I went after the ice and snow with my 10" flat garden shovel and my shop push broom. No, I did not try to sweep the snow and ice. That was about as effective as trying to move a heavy load by pushing a rope! OK, I did initially try a bit to push the snow with my broom. What worked eventually was breaking up the ice with the shovel and then flipping the broom head upside down and plowing the ice off the road with the solid wood part of the broom head. And I failed to mention, generators and cables were not the only thing that sold out before the worst of the snow fell over the weekend. Both Lowes and Home Depot were completely sold out of snow shovels. The upside was I got a very good look at what I was up against for tackling my two long drives and the street hill in front of my house. With snow shovels still not available and on back order I got on-line and ordered a couple of specialty items not available in stores. Delivered this week I now have in my garage (see umbrella theory above) an Edge 24 inch Poly Blade Snow Pusher and Ice Chopper; and, a 36 inch Wide Plastic Perfect
Shovel.
Of course I still have to clear about 50 yards of driveway and another 50 yards of street by hand but at least I now have decent tools for the job! What are the chances it won't snow for the rest of the season now? That's OK, it's bound to snow again eventually.
I also had a brief opportunity to deal with the local county electrical inspector. I've always said that you should not be qualified to work in a Building Department without first having to deal with plan review, permitting, or inspection with a different Building Department. I've previously had that privilege when I lived in Fontana, but that story is for another time. My electrician did a bang up job on my main and sub-panel and passed the inspection on his work first time, however we failed the final inspection because of a gas pipe bonding issue that was previously approved during the original home construction, something apparently that has been recognized as acceptable forever. But as it goes with inspection staffs, someone with a different opinion did a training session and now all the inspectors are calling what they learned retroactively. So I did the only thing I could. I called "our" electrical expert, Dave Dyer. Dave helped me research the maze of code requirements that is the NEC; National Exception Code. We agreed the bonding correction was not valid and should not be required and we outlined my argument for the inspector with code sections and the appropriate rational. I then took my newly acquired knowledge and supporting documentation, went to Lowes, purchased $50 worth of wire, clamps and supports, and in about a half hour I made the correction by bonding the gas pipe to the service with #4 wire. One of the more important lessons I learned from the development community during my 30+ years in the building enforcement industry is, regardless of how right or wrong you are, sometimes the best course of action is the path of least resistance. I hope that all of my contractor friends appreciate the perspective I've developed on this particular issue. Dave was great. And apparently I'm not the only one that imposes on him occasionally for his electrical expertise. Dave even let slide that "primadonna electrical inspector" comment I made. I'm almost positive Dave won't mind that he did all that research for me and I just caved in and installed the wire anyway. I just kept remembering that old "wrestling a pig in the mud" joke and cut my losses. Anyway, I met the electrical inspector when he came by for the re-inspection. He was a perfectly pleasant guy and I passed the re-inspection so all's well that ends well!
We went again to see Liam compete at Marshall University (yes the same "We Are Marshall" from the movie) on Saturday. It was about 5 hours each way but if we don't go to see him at his meets, we never get to see him at all. Also, we have to remember that he is starting over as a freshman competing against NCAA DI athletes. Liam beat all of the college runners in his first meet in early December qualifying for the end of season championship and only barely finished second to a professional runner in that early meet. After spending most of his Christmas holiday with a lung infection and then catching a cold after his return to school, Liam is finally getting back to form and managed to better his time by about seven seconds for 3000 meters Saturday, but his 8:47.61 was only good for 13th place against the older more seasoned DI runners from the larger schools.
Four hours prior to his personal best at 3000 meters Liam ran a personal best 4:23.26 mile, also good for 13th place. Liam has run mile splits faster with his high school relay teams when they set their school records and qualified for national rankings but those times were from moving, not static starts. Liam's 4:23 was almost :04 seconds faster than his previous best mile. Also, Liam's previous best mile was an outdoor time. I'm told that indoor times are always slower due to the small ovals and added turns for whatever that is worth.
Except for a little projected rain (90% chance) on Wednesday our 10 day weather forecast is looking great. And I just got the news that this year we are looking at getting a modest tax refund from the feds for a change. If I can be allowed a minor plagerism; "If I were doing any better I'd be twins!" I hope everyone is doing at least as well.
Your friend,
Rick
I'm guessing that Mark Twain never spent a winter in the Western North Carolina Mountains! Mark Twain never actually said that you know (Snope on Mark Twain). Apparently if you are famous for witty quotes you get credit for much more than you actually say. After all of that bragging about clearing out the garages for our vehicles my truck has been outside for our first two snows
and last night which got down to single digit temperatures. I've been working on a storage cabinet to get some tools off the floor and so my parking space is taken currently taken up as a work space.
And I have boxes scattered all over the floor at the moment. Apparently the more disorganized you are the more challenging it is to get organized. Tools, fasteners and appurtenances that I need to build the cabinets, cabinets I need to put stuff away, I can't seem to find in a timely manner because they are scattered randomly in boxes. Even things I've seen and had in my hand recently I struggle to put my hands on again when I need them.
A good number of boxes were packed under the stress of moving day and more than one box has random stuff just dumped in and mixed together. One thing I'm having to do as time allows is to sort like stuff into different boxes. As you can see I've finished painting the shop except for the cabinets I'm in the process of building. By way of comparison, here is what the space looked like when we were looking to buy the house.
I'm definitely making progress but there is still much to do. I had better find a way to get my truck back inside because I think my battery might be freezing up. The last two mornings my truck engine barely cranked over.
My shop renovation is going to have to take a short hiatus. I've contracted with a local electrician to install a new meter section with a manual transfer switch and a portable generator connection. Living in the city you don't have to think about these things but we have a well with an electric pump. If our power goes out we can't flush toilets, get drinking water, shower or heat the house. My plan is to get the new meter section and transfer switch installed now. I can buy the generator anytime but I can't magically get the switch gear installed after the power is out. You fix the roof while the sun is shining, right?
Just a side note. I used my new truck bed extender to bring home the materials for my cabinets. It works every bit as good as advertised. If you have a short bed truck you need one of these.
I'm sitting here typing my blog this morning drinking my first cup of coffee with a fire going and it's snowing outside again. I think the ground is finally cold enough that we may get an inch or so to stick this time. If you are interested there are a couple of local live web cams that you can look in on by selecting the underlined/highlighted link.
Downtown Asheville has a camera that pans to three for four different views.
Downtown Sylva, the little town just outside of Liam's college has a camera pointed down the main drag.
And Western Carolina University has a camera in their main quad that provides a snapshot when you hit the link. Each time you refresh the page it gives you an updated snapshot.
Liam has started his second semester at Western. Good news/Bad news. The good news is that Liam earned a 3.6 his first semester. The bad news is that at least for the time being he is no longer subject to the mandatory study hall requirement. I think Liam is going to find it a bit of a challenge to keep up that grade point level without the enforced discipline of the study hall periods. If Liam's semester gpa falls below 3.0 I think he's obligated to rejoin the study hall group so there is a bit of a safety net. Liam is also doing reasonably well with his indoor track season. He has to get used to being a "Freshman" again. Liam did win three events against smaller colleges during the cross country season, however WCU competes at the NCAA DI level and Liam is running against a lot of good athletes that have been competing at this level for three or four years. Although, in his very first invitational, Liam's 3000 meter time of 8:55 was good enough to place him in the fastest 3000 meter heat at the end of season Southern Conference Championships. So Liam is about where he should be at this level of competition. As long as he stays healthy and keeps his grades up the rest should take care of itself.
And last, poor Buddy. I found some doggy boots cheap at Big Lots and of course had to get them. And once again, Buddy was not amused!
We hope everyone is having a great New Year!
Rick
I know I said I would be out of commission for a while but as it turns out at least one body in each household has the cold or flu in Ohio so we didn't make that trip. Instead Maureen, Liam and I had a nice night out on New Year's Eve at our favorite restaurant in Weaverville, the Twisted Laurel. Liam even talked to us about something other than his video game prowess. It was very enjoyable to be able to sit and talk with him. Every once in a while we see signs of maturing but it's way early to conclude that it might be a permanent change. We arrived home in time for our traditional beating of the pots and pans at midnight. Maureen and I were contemplating what our neighbors were thinking of the new family on the street and all the racket we were making. We borrowed that tradition from the current neighbors when we moved onto Citron Street. Maybe we'll be trend setters and start this as a new tradition here in our new neighborhood. Uncle John's watch is two minutes fast. He almost made us miss the midnight hour when he called early to wish us a "Happy New Year." We had to hang up on him and then call back after the whole pots and pans routine.
I hate painting! But if you've been with me since my late November update you knew that already. I will do almost anything to avoid painting. It brings to mind the man who went to his doctor and said; "Doctor, my shoulder hurts a great deal every time I raise my hand over my head." The doctor's reply; Then stop raising your hand over your head!" That's how I feel about painting. It hurts so I don't do it. Our neighbors Stella and Chris were telling us about their progress painting the interior of their house. Chris is working around the house one room at a time on his days off. So I start into my stand-up routine with all of my one-liners about how badly I hate painting and Chris says to me; "I don't like to paint either, I just like the way everything looks when I'm done." I hate to admit that was the motivation I needed but I just spent the last three days painting my shop. I'm having to accomplish the job in stages because of all the shop tools, boxes, etc... I've yet to put away; because I haven't built my cabinets; because I haven't painted my shop. It seems to be a cause and effect thing. Anyway, here are a couple of progress before and after pictures.
All I have left is the ceiling over the garage door and truck parking space and the little bit of wall in the picture plus the wall just around the garage door. I'm making great progress, the end is in sight, and it does look 100% better. I feel good about what I've accomplished. I think I'll stop looking at painting as avoiding moving a body part that's injured and start treating it like exercise. I mean, no one really wants to exercise but we do because it feels so good when we stop! Yeah, that's me and painting!
For Christmas I got a "Hitch Mounted Truck Bed Extender." I love my truck but I wish I had known about this handy little device back in 2002 when I bought my truck. The double cab is great but the resultant five foot bed is limiting at best. I can't even begin to describe some of the jury-rigging I've had to do over the last fourteen years to carry stuff that was wider than the wheel wells and extended beyond my short bed. I'm sharing this because if you have a short bed truck you need one of these.
I imagine this would be just as useful with a mini-van, jeep, or other cargo challenged vehicle with a two inch tube hitch mount. I can hardly wait to get my materials to start my shop cabinets. Full 4x8 sheets of plywood will no longer be a challenge to load and tie down.
That's all for now but to all of our friends, I'll leave you with this Irish New Year's blessing:
"In this New Year, may the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past!"
Happy New Year!!!
Your friends,
Rick, Maureen & Liam
Of course I still have to clear about 50 yards of driveway and another 50 yards of street by hand but at least I now have decent tools for the job! What are the chances it won't snow for the rest of the season now? That's OK, it's bound to snow again eventually.
