Ryan's Here!

Ryan flew in thursday nite without the ubiquitous red book bag. He flew without baggage and decided he needed a larger carryon. Quick stop at Rudys for some moist and lean and then a stop at Wallyworld before we headed home.

Friday Ryan moved all the pea gravel back up the driveway and then lined the edge along the grass with large logs from around the property. Dan insulated the foundation along the northeast corner ( where we had frost damage last winter) and then covered it with vinyl siding. The siding and insulation goes up to the window. I will continue it along under the bay windows another day. I have insulation and enough small pieces of vinyl to cover it. That should keep the room a bit warmer this winter and maybe a little cooler in summer. The half bath is already cooler with the air leaks plugged.

Ryan also cleared out miscellaneous wood and piled it over the tank on the northside. We are watering the foundation along with the plants as the drought continues. Its been cloudy in the evenings and it stays pretty warm thru the night usually about 81 F. Thats a break from the 105 in the daytime.

Saturday we cut and nailed up the vinyl siding on the west wall of the shed. The pieces are small (maximum 8') and have to be spliced together but they were free. Normally the siding in nearly 14'. After a full day of splicing and cutting and learning we only have one big scrap and it may be reusuable some way.

Sunday we head to Wimberly and tubing with the Cuz. Monday, Ryan will catch up with Suzanna from Germany and then we will head down to Charles Schwab for some business.

Drought continues

article on the drought, not the worst yet but definitely the leading contender

The cats are attached to the cool tile floor, getting lots of brushing. The garden has some new-to-us shade cloth. I am headed out this morning to get some more free siding. will quit by 1000 hrs and work inside on the soffets (adding holes and screen). The attic seems to be cooling a bit better despite the heat. got a few more spots to patch and spackle like the little bathroom. It seems to leak a lot of heat into the house. There may be a hole in the bottom of the floor.

More winter prep

I spent the last two mornings 6:45 to 7:45 in the attic turning the insulation to fluffy side down and paper on the top. I also pulled it away from the soffet vents. Everytime I enter the attic thru the hatch in the hall there is a whooosh of air up. Not good, that means the roof vent is pulling harder then the soffet vents. It also means the roof vents will try to pull air from the house thru the insulation. More reasons to get better air flow into the attic.

while I was up in the attic this morning, I replaced the tape that holds the insulation around the duct going over to the master bedroom. The other duct needs work but I ran out of tape and its way the heckover on the north side which is harder to get too. I still have only seen light ( and hence air flow) on the Northwest corner of the attic. Need to spend more time on the north, maybe tonight.

I put the extension ladder up the side of the house and got grey foam insulation on the airconditioner cold line all the way up the wall to the roof. I can see the line in the attic but I will be belly crawling thru the insulation to wrap the foam insulation round it. Another morning project. Its only gonna make a difference in summer temps, I need to be sure what ever I do covers both seasons.

I am even watering the big trees as I am losing some branches on one of the big oaks. Suddenly the leaves turned yellow. It maybe too late, but I watered anyway. One of the star Jasimine gave out and the shrimp plant turns black and then a few days later replaces the missing stems. One jasmine is still trying to climb the chain but it is very slow progress. The lantana is hanging on but not producing blooms. I lost one of the 3 vincas atop the water tank. I have 4 more waiting to replace it. I wonder if those are ready for full sunshine?

Found more siding

I hit craigslist and found some siding for the removing over in RoundRock. Beautiful location on the creek ( its full!). One side of the house and some really wide soffets. It turned out there was some insulation in the walls. That will go into the attic to keep Liz and the cats warmer this winter. The color is a bit darker then the house but it won't be directly visible unless you are looking down from the Cox's house. Anyway I worked from 1830 to nearly 2200 last night.

When I walked this morning, it was spitting almost rain.

Too hot

started at 0500 and even gave Madison the pug a circuit around the mountain. He doesn't normally get out for a large walk in the summer. Spent a few minutes on the deck trying to make shade out of the old metal from the storage shed. I cleaned a few more vinyl pieces, two corners and the last 4 vinyl siding. I will remount the chainlink posts out a bit so it won't interfere with the siding. The west side should be ready for siding tomorrow. Its 103 and a high wind, and at noon I gave up and went in to the house and made a meal. I am being decadent and cranked the temp to 82, at least I am getting some laundry and cleanup done. Maybe I will head out again at 6:30pm tighten down the last screws in the ridge vents.

New clothes for the shed

Well the vinyl siding is cleaning up nicely with a scrub brush and lots of irrigation water. I have added soffet vents on both sides and a large triangle on the north gable. I have enough siding to do one side and maybe the north face in pieces. I still need to cut out the bottom 6 " of paneling all around base as its gotten minor water damage. Everything was properly painted except the bottom cut edge by the ground and being masonite it absorbed some water over its 10 years at the Dell Diamond ( tha)ts a baseball stadium,

Todays project is to work on the chain link fences on either side of the shed and maybe even hang the gate on the west side of the house. If you ever work on a fence by the aluminum wires to hang it on the cross bars much easier then the galvanized wire I am using.

Shed is ventilated

I cleaned up some leaves around Josie's house and she asked if I could move the pile of old scraps from the vinyl siding about 10 years ago. I started cleaning up of the leaves and seperating out the parts and pieces of vinyl. It came out a full pickup full, kinda dirty from the composting oak leaves but I now have enough vinyl soffet to add to the house soffets. Its an older style but it won't show on the north side of the house. Its much easier then drilling the 180 holes per piece of soffet.

I cleaned put pieces of channel and then cut the soffet pieces. It only took 2 12 foot pieces of soffet and 8 pieces of channel . I had to remove the old unvented masonite soffet but it looks great with new vinyl and I won't paint it in my lifetime. I added a single vent in the north gable of the roof. I still might do a cupola or a pair of roof vents if it stays too hot to store the furniture. Nothing on the southface, will probably use some bat insulation to insulate the door as it is the main heat spot. Actually the east wall is pretty hot especially as the sun bounces off the future water cistern pad.

194.5 two mornings now, got in all my morning walks.