In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2)

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Monday, September 7, 2026 11:50
VIEWED: 338648
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SIGNYM

Saturday, March 18, 2023 5:48 AM

So after a bunch of running around I finally get to start up again on that list of scary projects.

For what reason my kidneys decided to take a turn for the better. Yay!

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" It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

6IXSTRINGJACK

Saturday, March 18, 2023 6:37 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Your g'mas death may never hit you. You did right by her and she passed away relatively quickly, so your memories of her are probably happier ones. No regret or guilt or sadness. That's a good thing.

Perhaps. We will see.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Saturday, March 18, 2023 6:42 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
So after a bunch of running around I finally get to start up again on that list of scary projects.

I've got a scary project for you...

While I was at my grandma's I used my aunt's new internet to view the camera I had on my sump well to make sure the power was on and everything was working right. Good news is that it was and it was. Bad news was that it looked like some "netting" or something was coming into the well from the 4" clay inlet into the well. I couldn't get a better picture to see exactly what was happening.

Just checked it today. It was mud and roots.

I got a few fist-fulls of it out of there by reaching in as far as my arm would bend in that awkward angle.

It doesn't appear to be preventing any water coming in the well since it's still coming in at a decent clip, and the water in the well was clear and clean before I reached in and cleared it out, but in the 12 years I've been here that's the first time I've seen anything like this.

I'd better not put off installing the second well early this spring, and try to figure out where the breach happened in the French drain as soon as weather permits.

Quote:
For what reason my kidneys decided to take a turn for the better. Yay!

Well... That's awesome!

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

BRENDA

Saturday, March 18, 2023 11:02 PM

Another laundry day for me oh squee. Then a walk in the sunshine.

SIGNYM

Sunday, March 19, 2023 2:00 AM

Oh dear. Well anywhere there's a break in a drain line, roots will grow in the direction of moisture. But it's usually deep rooted plants that cause problems like trees and big shrubs. And you don't have any of that near your French drain, do you?

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"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

BRENDA

Sunday, March 19, 2023 2:59 AM

All done for today on a lovely Saturday. Temp has hit 60F for the first time this year.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Sunday, March 19, 2023 4:46 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh dear. Well anywhere there's a break in a drain line, roots will grow in the direction of moisture. But it's usually deep rooted plants that cause problems like trees and big shrubs. And you don't have any of that near your French drain, do you?

Don't know where the drain is, TBH. Probably at the footer, but I'm sure this was an Uncle Bob job so maybe it's in the attic?

I've only got one larger shrub type plant, and then hoastas and other annuals. I'm not in love with that shrub, but it does provide some privacy for the living room window. Probably moot there though since I've got that film on the windows and I rarely have ever opened it up. It's quite a far distance from the inlet to the sump well.

This almost certainly wasn't an immediate occurance. Water in the well was crystal clear. After removing the mud/roots yesterday water is still coming in at a decent clip and there's no new mountain of mud pushing its way back in the well. I've kind of taken that thing for granted quite a while now since we hardly had any rain last spring. I'm sure I've looked at it on the video feed once or twice semi-recently and didn't notice this then, but I couldn't tell you how long ago that was.

Who knows... This may have been an ongoing problem. I did lower that sump about 10" so the water wouldn't rise over the bottom of the inlet before the pump got it out. So when I was doing laundry it would suds it up in there I'm sure, and that's not happening anymore.

I'm not going to panic about it right now. All I can do is monitor the situation.

Finally got myself a dust to dawn porch sconce and a few ceiling fan/vents for my back porch.

First thing I'm doing is running electric for the 2-well sump system and getting that second well up and running, then I'm going to run my electric in the porch attic both for the new ceiling vents and to get a few lights up there that I can turn on from the shed (as well as a light or two in the shed itself). Once I've got that done I've got an old thin piece of plywood that will match the existing porch ceiling and cover that gaping hole for good. I'm sure that was the piece that was originally up there, but uncle bob took it down and used it to crawl around the porch after he did a shit job adding electric from the attic down into the shed. All of that needs to be taken down and redone.

It's a shame though. They've got my river rock on a steep discount this week, but I'm not going to be buying any right now until I figure out this sump situation. I'm hoping they have it on sale a few times this spring/summer like they did last year.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Sunday, March 19, 2023 7:46 PM

Looks like the last of the cold weather should be today. High is barely 40, but from here on out it looks like the nights don't go below freezing and we have nothing but 40's and 50's in the 10 day forecast.

Since it's not absolutely frigid like it was yesterday, I'll be able to finally clear out the living room and finish up that re-org so I can dust and vacuum in there and in the kitchen. I'm going to run some errands to, including grabbing some stuff on sale at the hardware store. I don't remember what I was going to put on the list aside from a box of 100 flex conduit to junction box connectors that are on a great sale. Too bad it never went on sale last year when I was buying them just 4 at a time because the price for the big boxes were just prohibitively expensive at full price. But I've got boatloads of all the other necessary connectors for 3/8" work and with this I'd easily be able to wire up my next house and garage without buying any more.

I also have to remember to buy 4 standard brown plug outlets for my Grandma's house. At some point it appears my Uncle had swapped out all the old 2-prong outlets in the house but he missed 4 of them. I don't want any code problems when they try to sell it, so I'll make sure they're all upgraded and I'm going to go in the basement with a few boxes/caps so I can shorten the LONG runs of flex conduit down there that are visible since anything longer than 6 feet flex is against code. I only noticed 2 when I was looking, so hopefully there aren't any more than that. It wasn't until after my grandma passed that I saw her bedroom light switch was taped off and when I asked my aunt about it she said she taped it years ago because the light was sparking when you used the switch. Shame... I wish I'd known about that. It took me 3 minutes to swap out a new switch and another 10 minutes to get on a ladder, pull the old fixture down to wash it and get LED bulbs up in there. My family is just too good at making due with bad situations... So I know where I got it from and how easy it was for me to allow my house to fall around me back in my drinking days.

My aunt said my uncle took down all the plastic we had put up in the bathtub walls the other day. This is good. I know that nobody wants to do a full house remodel before they sell it, but I'd like them to at least get the house in living condition before they try to sell. We really should demo the walls where the old 60's plastic tile is all around to put up new walls. Even if we don't tile the bathroom we can put the vinyl walls up there and then just mud/sand/prime/paint everything outside of the tub area. There's some other damage to ceilings on the 1st floor that would be nice to fix and paint before they sell it too. It was water damage from two upstairs windows that I fixed last spring as well as damage from the upstairs bathroom that I believe my uncle had fixed at some point because if it were still leaking it would be noticable.

Now that things are settling down and my aunt is living at her apartment instead of in the house, I wont' be going over there for 3/4 days at a time anymore. Just overnight one night a week to get the rest of the furniture out on trash day until the house is empty.

So maybe some of these upcoming 50 degree days will be sunny and I can get some of these acquisitions out on my horses outside to sand down for staining. Without my aunt noticing, I was able to match the color of her new furniture with a Minwax color swatch book and the first thing I want to restore and get out of my garage is the hope chest she was interested in, but decided against taking because it was a little scratched up and didn't come close to matching any of her furniture.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

BRENDA

Sunday, March 19, 2023 11:30 PM

Just a lazy Sunday around me. My one day to do nothing really.

6IXSTRINGJACK

Monday, March 20, 2023 1:19 AM

Got all my errands done early. Figured I'd probably take a nap and then get to cleaning out the rest of the living room and kitchen. It's still COLD outside. Maybe I'll just put that off until tomorrow before my dad comes over. By 11AM it will be warmer outside than it is by now and he's not coming until 2PM.

I think I'll just do the dishes and clean up the kitchen and bathroom tonight, and maybe vacuum everything that I can get to until tomorrow morning.

Got some cool stuff on clearance today, including two 2 foot metal woodworking clamps at half price. None of my existing clamps were more than 1 feet and this will help out when I'm building the missing drawers for the kitchen cabinets.

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Growing up in a Republic was nice... Shame we couldn't keep it.

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