Don't buy a Kohler toilet

At least not if you ever want to replace the seat. .  .

Took me four trips to the local hardware store and an Internet search to find out that you can't replace a broken seat on these.  You need their special tool since you can't get to the back of the bolt to take it off. . .

So after an afternoon of back and forth, I cut the seat off, broke the bolts loose, and ended up getting a new seat and mounting it with the biggest anchors I could find and the bolts from the new seat.  It works but what a pain.

I will NEVER by another Kohler toilet.  Talk about a bad design. . .  and for the price I paid them. . . . just pisses me off.

And I learned that all the innered are special and pricey too. . .

Weekend Work

How to make a weekend go by quickly. . . . work. . .

Spent all of yesterday and most of today working around the house.  Managed to get the screen house up and finished off. . . looks good and great for blogging from. . .

Then off to clear brush at the end of the driveway so I can actually you know like see cars coming when I am trying to pull out of the drive. . . always a plus.

Then off to doing more yard work in the back yard. . .

All in all got a lot done this weekend. . . .

Cali losing people. . .

From Komo News:

California's loss is extremely small in a state of 38 million. And, in fact, the state's population continues to increase overall because of births and immigration, legal and illegal. But it is the fourth consecutive year that more residents decamped from California for other states than arrived here from within the U.S., according to state demographers.

A losing streak that long hasn't happened in California since the recession of the early 1990s, when departures outstripped arrivals from other states by 362,000 in 1994 alone.

I don't know why this surprises folks, they tax the hell out of you and treat you like a criminal and wonder why you are leaving?

I think we will see more of this in MA soon too if it has not started already. Liberal ideas are great but don't work in the real world. The folks stuck paying for them don't like handing over 40%-50% or more of their pay check to the state so they move. I know that when I can I will leave MA and be happy about it. Right now I could not sell my house if I needed to so I am stuck like many others here.

I will be very interested in seeing what happens if and when the market turns around. If Obama has not destroyed the rest of the country I think you will see lots of folks heading out of MA for a free state. . . . I think the companies and jobs will follow them too. Companies don't want to pay taxes any more than you do. . . .

Great Start to the Week

Boiler is down again, at least I got my hot shower today first. We just had the Chimney lined so that may have something to do with it. It may have knocked dirt and stuff into the burner. For the record the chimney was cleaned before and this caused the problem we had a week or so back. They were putting the lining in a "clean" chimney. . . .

But as usual Anderson Fuel was right there when I called and they are now working on it. I have to say these guys are great to deal with. They have always gotten someone in ASAP whenever we have had an issue with our oil burner or run out of oil. They are based out of Scituate MA, so if you need an oil company in that area I have to say two thumbs up for Anderson Fuel.

Now I hope it is an easy fix and I don't need new parts but we will see when he is done.

I guess the week should be all down hill from here (keeping fingers crossed)

Public Service Anouncment. . .

No Karate tonight. . . We had a chimney fire instead. . . .

Well that was exciting but there was not damage to the house. We need to get some work done on the fireplace and get it inspected before we use it again but all in all I can't complain. The fire crew was here quick and got things put out while it was still in the chimney.

So, since it is easy to forget this stuff, if you have a fire place, get it swept today. . . Going to be a long winter and you will want to use it. Be safe

Weekend Update

Well that was a long hot weekend . . . hit almost 90 both days. The bad part was I was dumb enough to be out in it working in the yard. On the good side I got some of the brush cleaned up and the pool has been put up for the summer. We got one of them smaller ones with a metal frame say 15’ and 3’ deep. Good enough to keep cool all summer. This year we have lots of stuff to do in the yard this year after letting it go last summer due to all the construction getting done. . .

The Demo Project

Sorry for the delay, camera transfer issues. . .
Here is a shot of the "greenhouse" that my buddy and I pulled down on my week off. I took this after I pulled the glass out of the front of it so I would not be picking up broken glass in the yard for the rest of my life. . .


As you can see it was in bad shape, but not as bad as it looked. . . the frame and guts of it were still solid. I figured a few days to get the junk out, then two days to demo. . . Ya Right!
Took the weekend to sort and toss the crap I could that we collected over the past 10 years in this house plus what we brought with us. . .

this was day two of the demo. We got it pulled down for the most part on day one of demo (day 4 of vacation) then finally got it flat on day 5 of vacation. I took a chainsaw to the wall studs then we hooked it up to my truck and pulled it down. . . figured that was safer than walking around on the roof as we pulled it apart. Just missed the new shed with it when it fell (yay me)


And hear we are on day 7 of my week off, we are done. Took thee dumpsters to get rid of all the junk and parts but it is done. Now to get some driveway quotes and get the pit filled in. . . .


How not to spend your vacation. . . .

House update

The finishing touches are being done to the house today. The house addition itself is done but they had not fixed the yard.

Well that is over. The diggers are back and they spent the last day or so doing the last bit of landscaping of the yard that got dug up for the addition and new septic system. Now I will have to start to water it but we are DONE!! YA!!

The work shop is about finished, Nana has only a few little things to get cleaned up and it is all over.

Now it is time for me to start working on the yard. We fell way behind in that department last year since the house was being worked on. With all the construction I didn’t do a thing in the yard last year. . . . Payback sucks. . . .

So soon it will be off to clean out the woods and see what fallen trees I can cut up for next winter. And I have to get all the junk moved out of the old shed into the new one. . . may be throwing out a bunch too if I do it right. . . Lots of work but it feels good to be moving on to the yard finally and not be worrying about the house any more. . . I hope we have a decent weekend weather wise to get started.

Weekend work

Other than the quick trip to the range with the wife and older daughter most of my weekend was spent working on my “new” workshop. The addition to the house is done, Mom/Nana is moved in and unpacking so I have a cellar filled with my Dad’s tools and mine all mixed up and piled in boxes. . . well, not any more.

I got my adjustable bench built first. This thing is a take off of something I saw in a Home Handyman write up years ago. I put together my work bench so that there was a space in the middle of it. I then built in a way to put an adjustable height platform there. . . you move the dowels to the right spot and put the counter top back on then put your tool on it and the work surface of the tool (say router table or miter saw) lines up with the rest of the work bench so you don’t have to balance your project as you run it through the tool. Kinda cool no? I will try to remember to get a few pics tonight to add here. . .

The second part was the back breaking part. . . I had a crawl space that the builder put cement in but it was not level.. . . I spend the time bent over in the (tiny height wise) space to build up a platform so it would be level and I could use it for storage. Dad had one heck of a shop and lots of stuff that is cool to have but you don’t use that often like plumbing and drywall stuff. You don’t use it often but when you need it boy is it great to have around. . .

Now I just have a shelf I want to build in then I should have most of the shop done and put away. . . when it is all done I want the middle to be empty so I can do my Karate forms and maybe hang my heavy bag in the middle for a good work out. I have not been to the gym in years and need to get back to more of a workout than just a few karate classes a week. The kids will also get some training in hand to hand once I am done with it. I got the younger daughter into Karate but the older one is not interested. That is cool, but she will lean how to take care of herself or I don’t deserve the name DAD ya know? Next week will be the big test, my brother in law wants to build something for his prospecting trip to CA so I will be helping to build a dry washer in my shop. . . we will see how it goes. . .

Workshop

Well I got a bit more done on the workshop this weekend, and all the space I cleared up on the floor was promptly filled by more stuff from Dad’s. I think it is almost all over to my place though so the end is in sight.

I did get the top put on another of my benches and more shelving up so we did make progress there. I will be doing more at night and weekends for while I think. The goal is to have everything on the sides of the basement so the center can be used as a workspace or as a training area for my karate and such. I have moved my exercise equipment down there already so I can use it when it is clear. All that is left on the health stuff side is moving down my Wave Bag – a water filled heavy bag for martial arts work outs. I wish I could do more but I do like spending time with the family too so you gotta do what you gotta do as they say. . . .

Mom is really hot to sell the house. I think her plan is to put it on the market for three months and if it don’t sell then we will rent it for a while and see if the market turns around.

House Info

OK, Vacation is over and I need to go back to work for a break. . . . we got a lot done this week thanks to my buddy Scott who was around to help with the move.

Most of the workshop has been moved. . . is it a bit of a mess in my basement right now but we will get it pulled together over the next week or two. There is still a few things to go through in Dad’s shop but I got say 90% of it done.

The pool table is now at my place, and set up. Even got in a few games at night on vacation! I also got one of Dad’s carved signs hung up in the new room.

The work on the house is going well, we have the front door done and I got the area painted so we can set up my wife’s office up there for her Pampered Chef business. I also got her some more storage as I moved my tools into the new shop area.

I am told that they will start work on the new windows in the living room this week so that will be good. Once that is done we are finished for now on the house!!! YAAA.

Nana has started to move in slowly. The movers will be bringing a bunch of stuff over today but she will still be living part time in the old house until it is sold. We still need to get her a TV and phone and Cable up there but all goes well. . .

I can’t believe it is almost done. I thought it would be harder to move everything, both physically and emotionally with Dad’s shop but it went rather well. It is kinda like having part of him still with us in the new house so that is good. Once I got the big stuff out of the shop things were better, it didn’t look like his shop as much and that make it a lot easier to deal with. It did hit me a little, but overall I think it went well.

Vacation is almost over

well, the week is almost over and I have to go back to work on Monday. . . . I think I could use the rest. . . .

With a friends help I got 90% of the work shop moved, only a bit of small stuff left. The pool table has been moved, and I got a few closets fixed up with shelves so I got a lot done I think. . . Only a few more things to do tomorrow.

Now I have to find the time to get the workshop put back together here. I need to make a new top for the draw units and get things organized so I can move down there. When I am done I should have a rather good wood working shop put together. I also hope to have the middle of the room empty to not only work on projects, but also as a place to do some Karate as I have the time. I am still looking for the hanger for my heavy bag, I got a nice one that is water filled for martial arts work. . . .

Gotta run, will be nice to site down for a bit. . . .

Vacation mission, Dad's workshop

OK, we will see how well I do bloging over the next week. . . . going to take a week off to get my workshop in order. I should say my Dad's workshop since it is his stuff I will be moving in.

He crossed over over two years ago and I have not touched a thing in his shop. . . well, I may have touched some stuff but I put it right back where I got it. Now Mom has her apartment done, and is getting ready to move in with us. That means it is time to get the house on the market and all Dad's tools moved. He had a ton of stuff, he was a great woodworker and loved to do wood carvings too. I may have to start carving again, we wills see.

Anyway it is going to be a hard week on me. While he was sick he kept telling me all that stuff would be mine some day, and now that it is hear it is a bit weird and hard to deal with I must say. But we will get it sorted out and moved with the help of a friend or two over the next week.

More later, lunch is over and I gotta run to a meeting. . ..

House News!

We got our PERMIT!! We are done, they have the final sign off on the permit and Mom can move in any time now. We are going to have to finish some small stuff off like the tile in the kitchen but it is pretty much all done. Now we need to get things move and the old family homestead on the market so mom can get out of there. . .

I will take some photos this weekend and post them on the web page.

On our side of things I need to get the walls and floor painted in the basement so that we can start moving in tools. Mom is hot to have the tool shop move to our house from hers so we can get it on the market. We are looking at the pool table being moved on the 13^th of next month so that will be done soon too. Now I have to get the upstairs done and some shelves moved around to get it ready for the kids to have their play room moved. I look forward to getting all the toys up and out of sight in the loft area.

We still have work to do on the main house, the windows are still in the works and the front door is still half done but it is progress.

House Update

Well we are at that point in the project that we are doing final clean up!!!! YA!!!!

Nana’s place is about done. All that is left for that part of the project is a bit of paint and the final permit saying she can move in!!! They do have a few small touches outside on the deck and back door to finish but not much. Landscaping will wait till spring when we can plant grass.

Nana is excited about it to say the least and has started calling movers to get some quotes on moving her stuff over. She has already go the pool table set to be moved next month on the 13^th!

With all the rain we have been getting the cellar is staying dry. The sump pump is running a lot and it looks like we have a new water feature in the back yard. It is making a nice little pond where it dumps out. Now all I need to add are the fish and the fountain = )

I spent part of this weekend over in my Dads work shop. I have not touch much in there since he passed and now I need to go through it and see what I want to move over to my new shop and what I don’t. He has so many tools in twos, threes and more that I am sure I can pare it down a bit and still have quite the shop when I am done.

We still have the front of the house to do and the back windows to fix. They are about half done on the front door and still getting stuff together to do the back windows . . . (the one I broke)

I will have to get some pictures of it posted on the web page, give me a few days so I can get them done. Trust me the place looks great! Once it is done I am taking a week off to move the stuff, and then we go to step two – un-packrating (new word) my house. We have kept too much stuff saying we would use it some day and I am done, some day is here and if it ain’t getting used then it is gone. That will probably be another week’s vacation gone but I will be psyched when it is done. Then I may have the space to actually put up the new shelving and stuff for the computer area to clean that up. It would do wonders in making the Dining/Living room look good to get rid of the big clunky computer cabinet we have now. . . . So much to do and so little time off. . . this will be the year of the House I think, with my spare time spent cleaning up the house and yard and getting it put back together after years of building on and around it. We are done building, time to get things set right.

House Update

Housing Update. . ..

They started to put in the floors for Nana yesterday and they look great. Once they get her kitchen floor done they can put in the cabinets and all that good stuff then we can bring in appliances. Looks good, can’t wait.

T and Nana have also picked out the tile for the kitchen, bathrooms and the entry area for our house. Guess you could say we are having a lot of progress.

As far as the outside work goes the diggers have been busy. We have a new septic system in place, and the leaching field is well on its way. When it passes inspection they can hook up the house and we will be in good shape.

All an all it is moving well again. We hope to have it done by the end of January, maybe mid February at the latest. Then comes the fun part of moving Nana, the work shop and pool table. Once that is done we can get the old family homestead set up for sale.

It will be weird selling the old place. I lived there my whole life before I got married, my folks have been in that house 40 years. Christmas was a bit strange knowing it was the last one in the old house. Well, things change and move forward so I guess I will have to deal with it.

House Update

Well now, talk about a mad rush. . . .

Mom had a long talk with the contractor and somehow she got him moving faster than he was! Now he was doing OK by contractor standards, probably a bit better but not fast enough for Mom. Well, we now have the plastering in the house almost done (should be done today), they have dug the trench and run the new water line from the old house well to the new part of the house, and they are running the phone, cable and power today before the rain hits I hope. . . . Mom is really pushing them to be done by Christmas so she can be moved it. She does not want to be in the old house for the holiday.

Anyway it is a beehive at home and it really looks like things are going forward. They should be doing the new septic system next week by the looks of it, and moving right along. We will see how much the holiday slows us down but man it is starting to look like a house inside the addition.

Only down side so far is that the dog had gone nuts, I mean completely barking mad. . . . She is so excited to see everyone and everything that she has almost gotten squashed by a few of the workman’s cars and the digger. We have to keep her inside more for her own safety which is not easy. From her doggie point of view all these folks are here to pet her and we are depriving them of the chance keeping her inside. . . .

House Update

Big week around here. We got the house painted, or mostly, they are not done yet but it looks good. They also got us past the inspections for plumbing and electrical so now they have done the insulation too.

All in all a good week. We also got the tree guys here last week to clear out the area for the new septic tank so we now have a side yard too. It looks really strange to have a big empty there. Who knows, we may put grass there and use it.

And to top it off we got a shipment of dry wall today so things are moving along well. . . .

House Update

Well things have gotten moving this week on the house. The plumbers have most of the pipes run and the electrician started today. All I can say is that guy moves. He already has most of the rough wiring done and it is only Monday. I will get some pics posted when I have a moment. Things finally feel like they are moving forward again.

House News

Well, they stared to break into the house from the addition today. They have the frame up for the bridge from Nana's apartment to the loft started and a hole in the wall. . . They also started the deck that will be the new entrance to the house, it looks good. All they have left on that is a support and the steps. It will be nice to not have to run up the ramp all the time. that got a bit slippery when wet and hard to deal with when bringing in the grocery's. . . I will try to get a few more pics of the work this weekend to post.