Blue Moon

The next 'Blue Moon' will be in 2018. Sounds like a long way off, but it will be here before we know it.

Tires!

He replaced the tires on the LQ horse trailer. The tires were aging and if we're going to go camping with the horses the tires needed to be upgraded.

Exterior House Painting Project

Sometimes we don't know when to leave well enough alone.

Our block house was painted white for decades. Sometime between 2004 and 2006 it was sprayed with yellow paint. The overspray hit the windows and we've scrapped that off. The sprayed paint didn't stick very well and in the last couple years he's touched it up but the paint wants to come off, in sheets. Bubbled up, peeling like old bumper stickers and fried contact paper.

Eventually, we will put some kind of siding on this house, boosting the insulation factor. In the meantime, we'll paint.

Twilight Ride

We planned on going late in the day to check out the gravel installation at the county line parking area. He had asked the contact from DNR if the gravel could be added to the mud pit in the middle of lot. Unfortunately the fiberglass boat that had been dumped there made its way across the road on onto the trail head. This made getting into the woods interesting.

We spent a good amount of time clipping and sawing, and I HAD to fall off while hopping over a downed tree, losing my glasses and picking up two ticks. Oh, the adventure.

Turkeys!

Ride Time - Switch Up

After lunch we got on each others horse, and rode back to the trailer. It was fun riding Skip again. He's just a fun kind of guy.

Radon Abatement - Continued

Buttoned up the chase walls, finished painting. The basement ceiling is done, painted.

Next step: Launch another Radon test kit.

Radon Abatement Project

Last weekend when we got 2.33 inches of rain in 4 hours, the interior sump pump activated. This pit is not lined and was taking in ground water. We'll finish this air return project and again test for radon. If it's markedly improved we won't get the radon fan. If not we'll seal the sump lid and install the fan directly into sump pit. Pouring 18 bags of cement mix into the well house cut the number nearly in half, the only other penetration is that sump pit. Baby steps, but each remedy is helping.

While he worked on the ducting in the basement, I gave Sprite a bath. She was overdue. I fixed her mane, too.

Air flow Improves with each section. He's on to something!

Irene spent the entire day in the basement with him, but not exactly paying attention.

With the added registers and chase, the upstairs will be heated and cooled better than ever was, ever, in this house. Ever.

We had planned on riding, but we didn't go. Today the radon abatement is more important than a walk in the woods.

4th Of July!

It rained off an on pretty much all day. In the morning it was really coming down and I left them in the barn until after 10:00 a.m. It cleared up, but never got sunny, dried out, then rained again later in the day.

We're working inside today: I painted the bathroom ceiling, again, and he worked on closing in the air return chase in the bedroom.

He placed the vent near the ceiling behind the door, and can see up into stairwell and through the other register that he made.

Once painted you'll never know it wasn't always like this.
He got a narrower louvered closet door because the closet opening is narrower, now installed.

We can see fireworks from our living room window, Skip is not happy with the booming in the neighborhood.

Return Register

We seemed to be locked into sizes for the registers available at BigOrangeBox. He was never happy about this, because the math doesn't add up to the size we need for effective air return flow.

Necessity is the mother of invention, and he hand-crafted a custom made return with a sheet of metal with a four-leaf clover pattern and a couple pieces of wood and trim that had already been slated for another on-going project. It is pure genius!

He painted the interior wood flat black, and when the drywall is installed we'll also make sure that is blacked out. At this point I can lay on the landing and see into the bedroom.