Episode 11: Trench Warfare- Part Deaux

Lake Eduard is no more. This past weekend I pumped the water out and then dug a trench for the plumbing before the water could come back. All of the dirt from the trench was deposited in the void that was the lake. Now, there is no lake.

I cut the hole through the footer for the drain line to the laundry room. I got the new PVC connections tied into the main waste line. I still have some more lines to run, but the worst part is over. I am going to have to break up part of the bathroom floor, after all. The toilet tied into the main line where I originally thought it did, so that means moving up the bathroom renovation. I didn't really want to do that, yet, but until I do the drains to that bathroom are not connected.


I've got another 4 day weekend coming, so I plan on getting a lot of items crossed off my list. I really want to be starting on the drywall next week. I hope to be pouring concrete on Thursday. We'll see. It'll be another working weekend.

Episode 10: Let There Be Light!

Busy day for me. I've probably made more progress today than I have in the past couple of weeks. I gave up on trying to get the plumbing done anytime soon. Lake Eduard is still at respectable levels, although it is now sporting a canal that helps to drain some of the water off. I decided to work around it for now and run the electrical to the laundry room. Hopefully by the time that is done I'll be able to get that waste line run. I spent the day crawling through the attic and pulling wire. I wired the light and switch to the laundry room, as well as the new dryer and washing machine outlets. Then I installed the new breakers and tied in the lines. I am pleased to say that the light in the laundry room works, as do the outlets. I followed that up by running a new line to tie into the family room. All of these rooms were originally wired on the same circuit. I had a pretty scary mess to work with in the old electrical box. I started by pulling out all of the wires that were not connected to anything. Then I pulled out the lines that were running to fixtures that would be moving, or just removed altogether. That cleaned things up quite a bit. I just have to run new lines to the upstairs bedrooms, and then I can wire the kitchen. I have not really added new lines to the panel, since I removed some in the demo. I feel better, though, knowing that now we have some new wiring that has been correctly wired. There was some scary stuff in that electrical box, even more than I originally thought.

Here are some of the first views of the new laundry room.

This view is looking in from the family room towards the back of the house. The plywood is covering the old doorway into the former storage closet. The plumbing will be run up into this space, and a small sink will be installed. There will be a window put in as well as some base cabinets and counter top space. I will be replacing the exterior sheathing, since it has rotted at the bottom. The patio had been raised up so high with all of the concrete that water was able to get up into the siding. Since the patio has been busted out (half of it, anyway) the water is no longer getting that high. We will be buying the front load dryer to match our washing machine so we can stack the two units to save space.

Another view from the family room doorway. It looks like a decent space, now, but once cabinets start going it it will fill up quite quickly. The brown line on the floor is where the original wall stood. We will be tiling the floor.

This is a view from the old doorway. Not much to see, here.

OK. So that is my report for today. For this coming week I hope to have most of the electrical work completed, and if I'm lucky, I'll be able to work on the plumbing next weekend. I want this kitchen finished! As helpful as Meggie is, she'd be more help if she'd actually do some work...like digging the ditch for the plumbing. Oh, great. There she goes with the glowing eye weirdness, again. I'll leave you with that image. Excuse me...I am having trouble ordering my thoughts for some reason...

I don't need the dog to dig a ditch...These aren't the droids we are looking for...She can go about her business....

Episode 9: Blame It on the Rain (or; Who Will Stop the Rain?

I am having a tough time deciding on the soundtrack for this episode. "Blame it on the Rain", by Millie Vanilli came to mind , followed closely by "Who Will Stop the Rain" (Asia), and "Here Comes the Rain Again" (Eurythmics) in third. I had pumped the water out of Lake Eduard on Tuesday evening, but the Rain struck again the next evening. It rained all day today. The lake (soon to be re-christened "Loch Mess") quickly overcame it's shores and engulfed several small towns. When I opened the door this morning, Project Manager Meggie leapt from the door, but soon realized the greatness of her error. She then leapt back into the house, having executed a flawless Scooby-Doo scramble across the surface of the water, barely getting her paws wet (Meggie-Meggie-Roooooo!!).

These are the views that greeted me when I got home from work. The pictures just don't do it justice. Needless to say, I didn't get much done, this afternoon. I couldn't even get out the back door without the use of a floatation device. No, I have not bought any more bubble gum.

That depression you see in the upper right hand of the picture is where a pool was once located. That is full of water, as well. Below you can see one of my walk boards floating in the water. It's about 10 inches deep in the center of the lake. There was a lot of concrete down there.

I have spent much of the evening revisting the meditation pond plan. Some koi, a few waterlillies, and a fountain...It could be a right relaxing little spot. The good news is that when the rain stops, I have a pump ready. The other night I dug out a pit in the lake and sunk a bucket to use as a sump well. It worked great the first time, so as soon as it clears up I'll be able to pump out the water-- again.

This should be the end of any water restrictions in the area.

Episode 8: Trench Warfare

As I dug up more of the kitchen (yes, the kitchen) floor yesterday afternoon, it dawned on me that this is no longer a mere kitchen renovation. This has gone beyond simple paint and replacement cabinets. This has evolved into something more dramatic and sinister.


This is war.


I wanted to just put everything back where it was and give up, but Project Manager Meggie would hear nothing of the sort. So, under her slave-driving guidance I have broken up a little more of the floor in order to have room to install the new plumbing. Meggie decided that while I was at it I should pull up part of the bathroom, as well. I told her that she was out of her mind and refused, until she threatened to bite me in the butt. Fortunately for me, Dad came over to give some guidance, and I liked his plans much better.




Here are a couple of views of the damage. I have cut out part of the chase wall in order to access the plumbing a little more easily. I have removed some of the pipes and wires that were left in the wall from previous renovations. I will need to continue digging and removing the dirt to the yard. I will be backfilling with gravel when the time comes.

Lake Eduard still has a lot of water in it. It was iced over this morning. I had attempted to pump out the water on Thursday evening, and I was able to get most of it out, but it filled up again overnight. There must be a lot of water in the ground. It came up from the ground in the trench I dug in the kitchen, as well. I'm going to have to dig a sump well to help drain the water. I'm hoping to be able to have everything ready to replace the wastelines by Friday. If I can start it sooner I will. The only problem is that both bathrooms run on the same waste stack. I can't have them disconnected for too long, so anything I start will have to be finished the same day.


Another view of the carnage. It looks a little cleaner now that I've removed the outer framing and the old boiler pipes. There was also some electrical wiring that was not connected to anything. I still have to remove the old gas lines.

We had more snow, this evening. It was coming down pretty hard for a while. Some of it accumulated on the grass and on the cars, but nothing stuck to the roads or sidewalks. We might actually have a decent snow this winter. My kids would love to see that. With the hill in our back yard it would be nice to let them go sledding.

Episode 7: The TicketMaster

The TicketMaster. That is my new name. I don't know how I do it, but in the last year I have managed to get more tickets than I have over the previous 37 (did I say that? I meant 25-yes, 25 is a good number) years of my life. Last Thanksgiving, I managed to get pulled over by a State Trooper. I didn't know why he was after me, but I knew it had to be me because I was the only person on the highway!! Apparently I had failed to come to a complete and total stop at the stop sign before turning onto the highway. I don't make it a policy to argue with The Man, so I didn't point out that I had to stop before turning onto the highway. As I recall, I stopped, took my foot off the brake, and then turned, seeing as there was no other car in sight- except for the Trooper who was so far away I could only tell that he was a moving vehicle. It was a very brief stop, yes, but I did stop. He was so far away that it was a little more than a minute after the turn that he caught up to me. I blame my capture on the fact that I was doing the speed limit. But enough of that. Ancient history. I paid the $30.00 fine and the associated $45.00 processing fee. Of course, since that time I have stopped at every stop sign and made sure that it was for a noticeable period of time. I know that I have been able to do this successfully due to the number of tailing drivers who honk their horns to let me know I am preventing them from running the stop sign themselves. I once had a city transit bus honk it's horn at every single stop sign. I was in downtown Richmond and went through six or seven blocks of 4-way stops. I received a honk for every stop I made! I thought I was running through them pretty quickly. I was stopping long enough to make sure there were no law enforcement vehicles in stealth mode, waiting for me to slip up. You know the bus would've broken the speed limit, run the signs-without coming to a complete stop- and there would've been no flashing lights in sight. Me? Well, let's just say that due to previous experience I'm extra cautious.

I am a careful driver. I use cruise control so I don't thoughtlessly drive in excess of the posted speed. I take an extra second at the stop lights and stop signs before I continue on. Every police car I pass is tracked in my rearview to make sure they aren't coming after me. When they do pull up behind me, I wonder if I've been doing anything that might result in another roadside discussion. I'm ok most of the time, however I admit I am a little paranoid.

Enter today's episode. I am about 3 minutes from my house. I am going the speed limit. I am at a stoplight waiting for it to turn green so I can turn into my neighborhood. I notice a police car pulling up behind me in the rear view mirror. The lights aren't on, so I think that maybe I'm ok, but the car seems to be holding back a little bit, so I figure they are running my plates, or something. I haven't hit any banks, run any toll booths, or kidnapped anyone recently (like-never!!), so I'm not too worried. The light turns green, I turn onto the street, and the lights come on. So now I'm wondering what the heck I could've done to deserve this. I turn off the car, roll down the window and put my hands on the steering wheel. From what I remember from my Criminal Justice courses (taken a million years ago when I wanted to be a cop) it's always a good idea to show your hands. The officer walks up and informs me that they pulled me over for my tinting. I had no clue what she was talking about. I thought she said "tenting". I was wondering if I had somehow left a tarp hanging out of my trunk. She must have noticed the idiotic look I gave her, because she tapped my rear window and said "your window tinting. Have you ever been in trouble for this before?" I must confess that I have not. I have owned this car since June of 1999, and I have never been pulled for this. The car has passed two annual Virginia safety inspections and it has never come up. Of course, I'm feeling like quite the hardened criminal as the officer explains that they have a "Zero Tolerance" policy, but since they have a lot of people that have moved in from out of state they are having a special, where I can take my car in and have a legal tint put on (at my expense, of course) and then I can go to court, where the judge might then waive the $51.00 fine and the associated $15.00 processing fee (which made a heck of a lot more sense than the last fine and processing fee). The officer puts a "reader" on my window which shows that the tint is too dark, and explains that the reading must be higher than 50%. Mine is at 22%. I have to say, the officer was very polite and helpful in answering my questions, but it sure would have been nice to know this sooner!! I bought the car this way. Who knew?

I'm afraid that I have developed a driving complex. I may be seeking professional help in the near future. At least I haven't been ticketed for a really serious offense. Although I might feel better about it if it were serious. Ok. That's just sad.

Look for me on the evening news.