Archives 2015

Last night after work I met up with Cindy to go to the memorial service for Cindy’s sister-in-law which was held at a near by church.  There was a staggering amount of people there.  Kristin used to work at the post office and Cindy’s brother still does.  There were TONS of PO workers in attendance.  When Cindy left the post office it was under some strained circumstances that didn’t allow her to say goodbye to a lot of her co-workers.  She got an opportunity to catch up with many of them last night which was good for her.

The service obviously was very emotional, losing a young mother is a tragic situation.  I tried my best to keep my emotions in check but it was very difficult.  I found the emotions in the room were tangling with my own personal feelings about the loss of my mom.  When the two combined it was impossible to keep my eyes dry.

Kristin’s two oldest boys got up, one is 17 and the other around 12 and spoke about their mom.  I was amazed at how well both of them expressed their feelings about their mom, despite their age.  They both did much better than I could have ever hoped to at that age.  Their speeches along with Cindy’s brother getting on stage were the most emotional parts of the ceremony as you can imagine.

After the service they had a reception that initially had way too many people trying to fit into too small of a space.  I had to get out of there for a few minutes until the crowd died down.  Once it did we got to talk to more people which was nice.  We didn’t head out until after 9:15. Although my preference is to push anything and everything associated with death far out of my circle of conscience, seeing the outpouring of love and affection for Kristen and the family that was around her gave me a greater appreciation of both her life and theirs.

This weekend we have a rare Sunday race to time, meaning our Saturday is sort of gimped with race prep and an early bed time.

So yesterday in addition to chatting with Jeremy and Randall regarding my home flooring project I also talked to my buddy at work, whom I know has a good sense of interior decor.  I described to him my two current options, tiling the entire main living space in tile or leaving the front dining room and office carpet.  I told him how I like the feel of carpet under my feet and since I spend so much time in the office I would really prefer carpet there.  I showed him my floor layout which I had with me.  I told him that I didn’t really care if the dining room was carpet or not.  He suggested I just tile everything but the office, end of problem.  Having the dining room changed to a hard surface makes more sense, I think the only reason I didn’t include it was I thought it would look imbalanced having that tiled while the office is not.  In retrospect I don’t think it is a big deal at all.

So I contacted my guy at Home Depot and asked him to have the estimate tweaked for the fourth time.  I told him I was sure he was sick of my requests by now.  He said absolutely not, it was his job and he wants us to be happy and comfortable with our decision.  That attitude (and my being able to knock $3500 off the estimate by doing stuff myself) is the reason I wanted to give him my business.

He reworked the numbers a final time and called me back.  I ok’d the deal and we got the ball rolling.  The process will not be quick, Anthony said 4-6 weeks until completion would be a normal range which was fine, I’m not in a rush.  The materials now get ordered.  Once they are all at the store I pick everything up and drop it in my garage.  Once that happens the installation is scheduled which leads to what hopefully will be a pretty dramatic transformation.  Cindy and I are excited for the change.

Last night I did a remote meeting / phone call with a guy that is a dealer for both Ipico, the timing system I use for the club and Lynx, the company that makes the camera based hardware that was used at the track meet I observed on Saturday.  He was giving me information and advice about the Lynx system and how it is used for both track meets and road races with it being integrated with the Ipico chip timing systems.  I also got some pricing on various aspects of the system as well.

The dollars are not cheap and could not be justified until GMT is producing more dollars.  The demand for track meet timing is quite high in our area so it definitely is something I could grow into, the question is if I want to dedicate the time to do so.

My Cowboy loving ex-classmate posted this Eagle fan reaction video to the LeSean McCoy trade.  It is quite funny and utilizes more insertions of the F word than I thought were possible in a four minute clip.

So as I mentioned yesterday, Cindy and I headed back to Home Depot last night to talk to the flooring guy about more exact numbers associated with options.  The first thing we did was go over the quote where the entire main living space would be done in the ceramic tile that looks like wood.  As we went line by line in the quote we started crossing off grunt labor prep work as Cindy and I had decided we would just bite the bullet and do that part of the job ourselves. We also committed to be the delivery service for the raw materials, saving $300 HD would charge us to drop it at our door.

By the time we were done crossing out line items of expense it added up to a whopping $3500 off the original estimate which was pretty amazing.  We then had to price out the three options we were considering which are wood looking tile in the entire main living area and carpeting the bedrooms, wood looking tile in great room area and a strip leading from the front door, creating a visual separation for the dining room and office (carpet), or just re-carpeting everything that is carpet now.  Option A is most expensive and option C is least expensive with roughly $3000 between the two.

Anthony, our Home Depot guy was very knowledgeable and thorough in explaining our options and the way things are handled.  We left there with all the info we needed.  I told him we had to think about which option we were going to go with.

So when Cindy and I got home we tried to envision the options.  Cindy’s gut reaction is just to tile everything in the main area since she is a Florida native and ceramic tile is more widely used around here.  Being a PA native I have always lived in homes where carpet was the dominant flooring surface and I prefer walking around with soft carpet under my toes.  Tile obviously has more durability and next to no issues with dirt/staining, a problem I obviously have had with two dogs in the house.

I had a very hard time picturing the floor with the tile and had anxiety regarding how it would turn out.   The logical part of me realizes it should look great and will dramatically change the appearance of the space.  The new carpet we picked out is a darker color too so even just laying that down everywhere would have a less dramatic but still significant visual impact.  After some further discussion Cindy and I agreed that tile in the main area would be the better option, now it was deciding between the two options with doing so, including or excluding the front office and dining room.

Cindy’s initial reaction was to just tile it all.  I was wishy washy about it.  I was more of a proponent of a tile walkway leading from the front door to the great room area, creating a visual separation from the office and dining room which could still be carpet.  Since I like the feel of carpet and I spend such a good chunk of my time in the office, having new rug in there makes sense to me.  Yes, having carpet in the dining room where food is normally served is not ideal but our dining room is actually utilized for eating meals once or twice a year, tops.

Of course I have to think about the dogs as well.  From an owners perspective, tile is the way to go as it won’t care what sort of excrement is expelled upon it as well as not trapping the incredible amounts of fur that comes off the dogs.  From a dogs perspective it is mixed.  During brutal summers Nicki loves to lay on cool tile but she also loves soft carpet as well to sprawl out on a good deal of the time.

After some back and forth pro’s and cons with Cindy we agreed on the idea of the tile strip from the front door with the dining room and office getting new carpet.  As I am typing this out, as well as getting feedback from Randall and Jeremy, both of whom are in the “all tile in the main area” camp, I find myself pushed back into the pool of uncertainty.  Carpeting the two front rooms also has a price advantage of over $1500 but that is not the driving factor.  I just want to make sure that I am not choosing a flooring layout too heavily based on resale value as opposed to comfort and personal preference since I have no near term plans to sell my home.

So I was shocked to see the headline about the Eagles having a trade of Lesean McCoy to the Bills pretty much locked up.  The trade would send him to Buffalo in exchange for a young linebacker from Chip Kelly’s old school of Oregon, named Kiko Alonso. (never heard of him)

When I read the details of the proposed trade I didn’t feel much better.  Yes the driving force behind the deal is to clear salary cap space since McCoy was due to make almost 10 million dollars this year. But WTF, McCoy is one of the premier running backs in the league.  Alonso had a strong rookie season but missed ALL OF LAST year with an ACL tear, an injury that you never know how an athlete is going to recover from.  It almost seems like trading a Corvette for a Camry.  Sure your monthly payments are less but you are losing a lot of performance.

Yes McCoy underperformed last year, especially during the first half of the season where he did next to nothing.  However to trade him away for a 3rd year linebacker that spent his entire second year on IR seems pretty damn looney to me.  Some proponents of the trade will say this move as well as a few other cuts the Eagles announced (Trent Cole) will free up a bunch of cap space so the team can be aggressive in free agency.  My question is exchanging value for value.  Is dumping McCoy worth 10 million dollars in cap space?  I personally don’t think so.

Chip Kelly seems very interested in getting former Oregon players on the Eagles roster.  In addition to Alonso, rumors have been circulating that Kelly is trying to do whatever he can to get in a position to draft Marcus Mariota, the Oregon QB, despite the Eagles drafting in a position way too low to get him.  The speculation is Kelly is willing to practically give away the farm to get him which again makes me nervous.

Although statistically Nick Foles was not great before he got injured last year, he was still leading the team to wins, something Mark Sanchez was not as good at.  I think to dismiss Foles and mortgage the future for Mariota would not be very smart based on the long and fabled history of highly rated college QB’s falling on their face once they reach the NFL.

The Eagles off season is shaping up to be quite an interesting soap opera.

Last night after work I got busy with another small Tacoma project.  The tailgate latch on the truck broke over the weekend.  Luckily a generic replacement latch was only $12 shipped to my door with Amazon Prime shipping. Of course any time I do auto maintenance anymore I have the camera in hand as automotive repair videos are some of my most popular on my YouTube channel.  The replacement of the latch was very straightforward, I had the entire job done in 15 minutes.  The $12 part obviously was not a high quality OEM piece but it should get the job down.

Last night Cindy and I were talking about chicken expansion options.  We have been rolling around the idea of building a large stand alone coop to give the four chickens we have more space as well as opening up the potential for us to get a few more if we want to.   I had been thinking about ways to do this.  When I was looking out in the backyard and looking at the smaller of the two sheds my gears started to turn.  Converting the shed to a huge coop with a large attached chicken run would be pretty awesome.  In addition it would be very secure and less labor intensive than building from scratch.

Of course this plan has complications as there is a lot of stuff in the small shed, too much to fit into the large shed so I would wind up probably having to get ANOTHER outdoor storage building.  So if that is the case I could possibly find a used small 8×10 shed on Craigslist that I could use for the same purpose.  The realm of possibilities is pretty wide open at this point.

Of course the availability of money for chicken coop expansion is going to be dependent on what we decide to do with the flooring in the house.  The current options there are doing the main living area with the wood simulating tile and carpeting the bedrooms, office and dining room with new but less expensive carpet, carpeting everything with new stuff just as it is now, or do nothing and let the old carpet ride for another year or so.  After work tonight I have an appointment with the flooring guy at Home Depot to attach some hard numbers to each option so I can make a decision between the three choices.

On Friday night it felt like another cool front had blown in, the temps when I left work were down into the lower 60’s.  It felt cold enough that I threw the blankets over the coop after buttoning up the chickens for the night.  Well that trend apparently reversed overnight, it actually got warmer, it was 66 degrees when I got up. By mid-morning it felt downright hot in the sun.

I did a quick round of outside chores before I headed out.  There was a youth track meet being put on by the running club youth team.  The reason I wanted to go was to check out the FinishLynx camera system which is used to time many track events.  It’s a totally different approach to timing as it uses a high speed camera to capture runners as they cross the finish line.

There is a lot more manual involvement with timing the runners in a track event.  Once the runners cross you place the cursor on their chest which correlates with their time.  The good thing is most sprint events have no more than 8 participants in a heat so it isn’t too bad.

My primary interest in the Lynx system was it’s ability to be used as a supplement to a chip timing system.  With the right set up, even if your chip timing system went totally belly up you could still do a reasonable job of timing the event with the camera.  Evidently there is also a lot of demand for someone to time local track events, learning the Lynx system would open the door to doing that type of event if I chose to.  The software back end of things is different obviously than what I am used to but the flow of things is similar, I don’t think it would be difficult for me to pick up.

After the meet I stopped at Home Depot to grab 40 bags of rubber mulch for the pool border.  With conventional mulch 30 bags is the max amount I can safely jam in the bag of the Tacoma.  Since the rubber mulch bags only have .8 cubic yards in them, getting 40 bags into the Tacoma was easy, I could have thrown more in if I wanted to.

I picked up the dogs on the way home as well.  Transporting the dogs in the Tacoma isn’t ideal anymore.  Nicki normally likes to lay in the back of the cab behind the front seats.  With her painful rear legs, getting back there and spinning into her preferred position is difficult.  To make it easier for her I moved the passenger seat all the way forward and placed her in the back.  She still struggled to get in a spot she wanted.  It’s depressing to see her have such a hard time doing things she used to do so easily.

Later in the afternoon Cindy and I worked on spreading the recycled tire mulch.   The 40 bags went further than I expected, I only had a small uncovered section left  less than six feet long.  The 10 bags I picked up on Sunday finished things off nicely.  The finished border looks sharp.  Although each bag of rubber mulch cost three times as much as regular mulch (for half the volume), the stuff should last pretty much forever, eliminating the annual mulching of that border.  The fact that the area will no longer attract termites and will remain “clean” even if the chickens push stuff around adds to the value for me.

Saturday night we decided to stay home and chill.  We rented Whiplash from Xfinity On Demand.  It was a movie that I had heard many good things about depite it being based on a subject I would normally not consider interesting, drumming.

It didn’t take long for the intensity of the film to get ratcheted up thanks to the maniacal yet brilliant conductor that had incredibly high standards and zero tolerance for mistakes.  The movie kept you engaged from start to end and opens up the curtain to just how competitive and pressurized high level music can be.  It really was a great movie and deserves the acclaim given. It gets a solid A from me.

On Sunday morning Cindy and I decided to do the track and back run once again.  The continued warm and humid weather made us shove out the door early.  I noticed a big difference in how I felt during the run thanks to the higher temps and humidity.  My desire to stop hit critical levels several times on the return leg of the run.  I just felt sort of miserable.

As I was running I was thinking about my running club buddies that were participating in the Hooters Half Marathon at that same moment.  Doing 13.1 miles in these conditions would have SUCKED.  I also felt a little lame, since I ran that race three years in a row but have not done it the last two years.  Running a half marathon right now is totally off the radar at my current level of endurance.  I just don’t have the drive or ambition to put in the time/work necessary to run a half at this point. Despite the heat Cindy and I covered the distance at an avergae pace 20 seconds a mile faster than our prior best.

When we got back we showered and climbed in the van for a two headed errand, stopping at Home Depot and Rural King.  At Home Depot, where we got our carpet estimate that was crazy high, we talked to some other guy that was the head of the flooring department.  Talking to him was a world of difference from the woman we talked to the week before that seemed to be little else than an order taker.  He took a much more consultative approach.

I told him how the high estimate we got pretty much knocked my socks off.  We started talking about other possibilities.  We came down to two options, both of which involved quoting carpet that was still good quality (15 year wear warranty) but significantly less expensive, as in less than half the cost of the stuff on the first quote.  The first option was just carpeting the entire house with this carpet but still using the high quality padding.  The second option was a bit more daring (and expensive).  It would involved putting down ceramic tile that actually looks like wood in the main living area and doing carpet in the bedrooms.

At first glance we thought this might be more price efficient since the tile was only $1.98 a square foot.  However our flooring guy said the gotcha is the installation cost for tile is sky high, reaching close to $3 a square foot.  Of course having done some ceramic tiling myself years ago I knew first hand how much of a pain in the ass it can be.

If Cindy and I commit to being the grunt labor for the project, pulling out the old carpet and moving all the furniture ourselves we can knock another good chunk off the estimate.  So I am waiting to hear back what the new numbers are and will go from there.  Doing the ceramic tile would dramatically change the look of the main area obviously as well as being more durable.  However just going with some less expensive carpet will still renew the interior of the house to a lesser degree while allowing me some left over capital to do other things.

During the errands I noticed the van is developing a new issue with the AC system.  It felt like the compressor wasn’t running normally.  The air coming out of the vents would be warmish and then randomly the compressor would kick in and deliver cold air.  Just as randomly it would shut off again.  My first thought was the refrigerant level was low so when I got home I tried adding some however since the compressor was not randomly running at that moment I was seeing 100 PSI on the low pressure inlet which is high.  I need to try to get a reading while the compressor is engaged. A quick search online indicated this could mean that the AC compressor is starting to fail.  If that is the case it could be the beginning of the end for the party van.  I’m not dumping lots of money into something that is already on the radar to be phased out or replaced down the road.

Early in the afternoon we headed over to Cindy’s brother’s new place which is in our general vicinity but even more remote.  With the tragic passing of his wife right in the middle of him trying to move into their new place he has a hell of a mess to deal with.  Cindy and I offered to come over and lend a hand however we could.  There were a bunch of people at the house already when we got there.  The house as you could expect was in disarray with items just stacked everywhere.  They actually closed on the house back in December.  JP has been diligently trying to do some upgrades prior to moving in.  They got a lot of stuff done like repainting and putting down new flooring everywhere however there was still stuff in progress like one of the bathrooms and the kitchen which has new cabinets and sink but no counter tops and the sink was not hooked up.

My first task involved cutting a temporary sink mounting surface out of a hunk of pressboard.  The thought was it could be used to at least add some functionality back into the kitchen.  Unfortunately the only new faucet set we could find in the place was not designed for this type of sink which utilized a single hole for hot and cold water.  I then just sort of helped out where I could, Cindy got at least a couple of the rooms somewhat organized which was good.

I felt badly for JP, not only could I identify with what he is going through because of what happened with my mom, I also could feel how overwhelmed he was having so much to do and handle with his wife no longer by his side to help him.  If there was any good to be had from this tragic situation it was that apparently there are a large amount of people willing to help out wherever they can.  Before we left I told him if there was something that came up that he needed more help with to let me know. He literally has weeks and weeks of labor in front of him.

When I dropped the dogs back off at Ali’s place this morning I was taken back when I saw a Kia Sportage in the garage.  Over the weekend Ali traded in her Volt that I thought she was so pleased with for the Sportage, a small SUV.  I had no idea she was even considering a change of vehicles, hence my surprise.  The Sportage is a nice vehicle but her days of zero gas work commutes are over obviously.  On the plus side the dogs should have more room to spread out.

Moving offices consumed all of my day yesterday and I am still not completely done.  The combination of logistics involved moving from an office much larger into a smaller space and having 15 years of accumulated crap in that bigger space made for a lot of work.  I threw out TONS of cables, cd’s, paperwork and other old tech that serves no useful purpose in 2015.

I actually changed into my gym clothes late in the morning and left them on the rest of the day.  Pushing heavy steel furniture around works up a sweat.  I also managed to draw blood during the process.  I was lifting up my heavy printer and did not have a balanced grip underneath it.  The add on paper tray came off which lead to the 75 pound printer falling out of my grasp.  My instinct was to try to break the fall of the printer using my leg.  In the course of doing so I had two large chunks of skin scraped off my knee.  It immediately started to bleed pretty badly.  I didn’t have time to bleed so I just messily taped a gauze pad over the knee and kept going.

My accommodations in the new windowed office are MUCH tighter than my old space but it is workable. The addition of a window to my everyday environment should make the more cramped quarters a big plus overall.  I still have a few straggling items left in the old office.  I then have to go in there and try to clean up 15 years of dust and dirt that was living underneath the old furniture.

Yesterday Cindy got some horrible news. Her sister in law had a brain aneurysm and her outlook is very grim.  I met her a couple times, including when she was over with her family to the house on Thanksgiving.  She seemed like a very nice person and devoted mother.  She is young, some 12 years younger than me, an age where you just are not giving any thought to this sort of scenario.  The fact that there are a total of four other children in the family makes the situation all the more tragic. Cindy went to the hospital after work.  Of course her kind heart is breaking for the family and she wants to do anything she can to help although it’s hard to know what exactly that is.

The news immediately brought me back to last August when my mom had a similar, unexpected downfall.  Of course Cindy’s sister in law’s age makes it seem even more improbable.  This is just another reminder for me that you never really know when your world is going to get flipped upside down so you should appreciate each happy and healthy day you have on this planet.

Yesterday my buddy and new boss at work asked me if I was interested in switching offices, leaving the largest but windowless office I have sat in for 15 years for a much smaller but windowed space around the corner.  Although my office is spacious, more so than I really need, I always hated the dungeon vibe since it has nothing but artificial light showering me.  Really the only hold back would be laziness, an unwillingness to go through the hassle of moving everything.  Luckily that is an affliction I don’t suffer from very often.

To facilitate the move I brought in a measuring tape and my furniture sliders.  My hope is to simply shuffle a lot of my current furniture to the new space intact to save time and hassle.  It’s time to get to work.

When I got home Monday night I saw my neighbor talking to the guy on the other side of him, something I never saw before.  When I got out of my truck he called over to me as well.  I walked over and asked him what was up?  He asked if I saw his truck parked outside that morning when I went to work.  I told him I don’t really know, I don’t recall taking notice one way or another.  He said his truck was stolen. What???

He pointed to the tire tracks in his yard that looks like they were left by something with dual wheels (tow truck or flat bed).  His 2005 full size Ford 4×4 was locked with no keys in it yet it was plucked clean from his property.  My neighbors theory is they winched it up onto a flat bed although I saw no drag marks on the driveway from pulling something that had locked wheels.   The area the truck was parked was directly under the street light that is next to their driveway, making the thieves act even more brazen and surprising.

Of course my first thought was of the Tacoma and party van, both of which are typically outside and unlocked.  As soon as I finished talking with my neighbor I immediately went over and locked both of them, a habit I will need to establish going forward.  Because of our location near the beginning of a relatively busy street I just never thought a criminal would pick the houses in that area as a target, something more secluded and less lit would make more sense.  This may have literally been a “gone in 60 seconds” scenario.  Both Cindy and my sense of security has been rattled a bit as a result.

So I worked from home yesterday to accommodate the appointment I had to have the house professionally measured for potential carpet installation.  It was one of those deals where they give you a window of arrival times.  Since I can do the vast majority of my job anywhere that has an internet connection it worked out well.

For whatever reason I expected the guy that did the measuring to be a carpet installer as well.  Well that certainly was not the case, he basically knew nothing about carpet installation.  His skill set involved using a measuring tape and inputting those measurements into an iPad.  I asked him 4 or 5 questions regarding the installation and gave up after getting a “I don’t really know” as the answer each time.

By the time the guy finished he had a virtual blue print of the house floor plan on the tablet.  He said I will have a precise estimate by sometime today.  I found this funny since Cindy and I have not even decided what we are putting on the ground yet.  I can only be sure that it isn’t going to be something that is going to cost nearly $5 a square foot for just the carpet, not counting the pad.

Yesterday I went into the small shed to see if I still had the box for the tile that is installed in the kitchen, utility room and one bathroom.  I actually had one unopened box left over.  I was rolling around ideas that if I could find more of the same tile, the main living area could be tiled with the bedrooms just getting fresh rug.  However the fact that I got that tile some 12 years ago on clearance from Home Depot makes the possibility of scoring that exact type very, very remote.

Yesterday I did a backyard lunch workout that involved pull ups and my 300 pound tire.  My production of exercise themed videos has slowed to a dribble the last few months.  Producing two in one day is unheard of anymore. I also created a short, “Meet the new chickens” video to boot.

A little before 5 I headed outside to get the long section of the pool border covered in weed block.  I let the chickens out while I was out there which they greatly appreciated.  When they first are let out of the coop they act like it is a jailbreak, sprinting, jumping and flapping their wings as they head for their favorite hang out spot under the birds of paradise.  This moment is almost always followed up with Nona, the bully of the group starting a fight with either Curly or Kathy.  Evidently the chicken pecking order with the four of them is still getting sorted out.

After about an hour of work I had the long section covered, leaving only the 20 feet or so on the far side to go.  If I am feeling ambitious I might have the rest of the project completed by the end of the upcoming weekend.

Friday after work I was running around like a mad man trying to get my triple headed grocery monster tamed.  First stop was the dreaded Costco where the relentless rude mobs of customers suck every ounce of enjoyment out of shopping there.  However my need for Costco pizza to pull off a successful Friday night pizza party made the trip unavoidable.

I was picking up the dogs on my way home as well so to avoid back tracking I decided to stop at a Publix other than my normal stomping grounds.  Well that decision of course opened up a Pandoras box of frustration as I didn’t know where shit was, requiring me to go up and down most aisles.  Since I was trying to rush, snaking around the dozens of aisle clogging old people was more aggravating than normal.

The last stop was Sam’s where I needed Mexican Coke and a few other items.  By the time I was finished I had Cindy’s passenger seat stuffed with groceries.  I only put limited items in the folded down back seat since I needed to keep room for Nicki and Sadie.  By the time I got the girls they were surrounded by grocery items.  Sadie was disappointed that the front seat she normally likes to occupy was taken.  When I got home Cindy asked what took me so long which I am sure I responded with a WTF face to.

As is customary when the dogs are over, Sadie started trying to wake me up as soon as a trace of daylight was in the bedroom window Saturday morning. When we got out the lanai door I was surprised to see ANOTHER racoon was in the trap, the smallest one yet.  Sadie somehow did not see it and ran right past the trap.  When she did see it of course she was interested and came storming over.  The raccoon greeted her curiosity with a hiss and a swipe although it landed against the inside of the wire cage.  Sadie’s hair on her back stood up and she started growling back at the raccoon.  I had her go back inside before things got out of hand.

So my first task of the morning was taking this little racoon to the same spot at the sanctuary to release him.  He genuinely looked scared and I did nothing to exasperate his fear, I handled the trap gently and waited patiently before he made a dash out of the opened door.  I hoped he managed to find the other raccoons I released if they were indeed part of the family.

When I got back the first outdoor tasks involved undoing the substantial frost prep I had done on Thursday night.  It appears that despite temps only 3-4 degrees above freezing the landscape has escaped pretty much unscathed which I was happy about.  While we were working outside I told Cindy I wanted to let the chickens out.  The dogs hadn’t acted any differently towards the new chickens than they did to the old ones but Cindy was nervous about letting them out to mingle.  I had more confidence in Sadie behaving herself so I let the birds out.  As I hoped the dogs acted just fine with Sadie ignoring the chicks and Nicki slowly “chasing” them around the yard from time to time.

We then piled everyone in the van to run some errands, the biggest of which was a stop at Home Depot.  We first went to the customer service desk.  Cindy had her DD214 with her that proves her military service, she was told previously that if she presents that at a store they can add her phone number to a database so she automatically gets the veteran 10% discount.  The guy we were talking with was not familiar with the program so he asked another woman that was next to him.  The woman assumed a bitchy disposition when she pointed to a piece of paper that had the rules for the discount.  Evidently you need a special ID card to get the full time military discount.  The DD214 is only valid on certain holidays like Memorial Day, Veterans Day, 4th of July etc…  It was good to get the information but neither Cindy or I appreciated that the woman took a stance almost like we were trying to scam the system, nasty bitch.  The guy that helped us originally apologized, it seemed that he caught the bitch vibe as well.

Our next stop was in the carpeting department.  For quite a few years I have had replacing the carpet in the house on my peripheral of to do’s.  The carpet in there is in decent shape thanks to tireless robotic vacuuming and semi-regular shampooing but it needs to come out.  It’s the 14 year old builder grade carpet, which like many things in the house, was not high quality.  The only saving grace was we got the thicker 1/2″ pad which helped make up for the so so carpet.  Since I had my tax refund in the bank I thought it would be a good time to get some numbers on replacing the rug.

Cindy suggested that a hard surface in the main living area might be cool since it is the highest traffic area.  I agree it might be cool but I think my only option would be hardwood flooring since I have tile in the kitchen already.  I assume having two different types of tile would look pretty stupid.  I already know my foundation is far from flat from the issues I had installing tile where I did so I don’t know what sort of challenge that would present doing something like hardwood or laminate.  I also don’t know if I would like that huge open space with a hard surface. If I got carpet I was going to get the good stuff obviously backed up again with thick high quality 1/2″ padding.  Cindy suggested a mixed color rug, containing the various colors in the house, tans, whites, blacks, grays would be neat and also help hide stains.

It didn’t take long for Cindy and I to see a sample we liked.  It was part of HD’s “Platinum Plus” carpet which has extreme stain resistance and a 25 year wear warranty which is pretty impressive.  The price for this sample on the board listed at something like $3.69 a square foot.  So doing some quick math in my head using the floor layout I had with me from when the house was built which showed roughly 1200-1300 of carpeted surface, I figured I am well below 5k.  Pricey for sure but worth it for high quality carpet. Home Depot had a promotion that free BASIC installation was included for any purchase over $1500 so I figured that would help save me significant money as well.

We were helped by a woman in the department who sat down with me to run some numbers and in the process deliver me a huge surge of sticker shock.  There were some things I was not considering in my mental number and other things I just did not expect.  For some reason I did not factor in the padding which at 89 cents a square foot for the good stuff adds well over $1000 to the price. I also quickly found out the the basic install is basically a joke.  More or less if you gut the carpet and move all of the furniture yourself then the install is free.

When our old neighbors had their flooring replaced the crew ripped out the old carpet and moved the furniture around on a room by room basis to get the work done.  Sure Home Depot will do that for you if you want, they will just charge you a bunch of money extra for it.  Plus they have all these stupid guidelines, for example, if they move less than 6 furniture items per room it is one cost but if they move more than 6 it is more, charging for removal based on square footage and other nickel and dime shit I found annoying.

So after a lot of data entry the woman handed me the estimate which she said she figured high.  Part of the process was scheduling (and paying for) a professional measurement that would determine the final quote.  I glanced at the total dollar amount and tried to not react with violent nausea all over the woman’s desk.  The quote was over $9000.  Cindy was off looking at back splash tile when I was handed the quote so she didn’t know the number until I handed it to her as we walked around.  She thought it was outrageous as well.  As we looked at the quote in more detail later Cindy noticed that the woman listed the carpet we liked as being something like $4.69 a square foot, a full dollar more than what was posted.

So at this point my game plan is to get the $35 professional measurement and then use it as a tool to shop around for a more reasonable quote.  Sure I expected the Home Depot number to be somewhat inflated due to the additional layer of profit taking inserted between them and the installer but $9000 to me just seemed outrageous to carpet 1300 square feet of household.

After the carpet sticker shock our final stop in the store was the outdoor garden section where we picked up 18 castle wall blocks as well as 10 bags of rubber mulch to start the pool border renovation project.  I had already picked up 220 feet of commercial grade weed block at Costco on Friday for the project.

The castle block was to be put around the border of the small pond.  I had some shitty looking plastic fence around there that I wanted to get rid of for awhile.  I needed something solid and heavy to prevent the chickens from kicking mulch into the pond, something the old chickens were quite adept at.  The new border looked better and should perform better as a barrier to pond debris.

I also finally got motivated to fix the blocks around the palm trees/bird of paradise that are in front of the cage.  When I installed the block over 10 years ago I was a novice and had them on the ground upside down, with their alignment line upward.  I didn’t realize I had them upside down until 5 years later.  For whatever reason it took me another 5 years to actually fix it.

From years of dogs running around this area and more recently chickens digging in the same vicinity most of the blocks were totally buried.  I used the post bar to pop each one out and them used a shovel to loosen and level the dirt so I would have a clearly defined border once again.  When I placed the old blocks back on the ground I expanded outward slightly to accommodate the tremendous growth of the birds of paradise over the last decade.

The chickens seemed to appreciate the new higher wall to their playpen.  They seemed more secure and content to be nestled in the plants with the blocks on higher ground.  The chickens free ranging playtime was cut short when the damn hawk flew overhead screeching away.  I quickly herded the chicks back to to the safety of their coop and run.

The final part of my Saturday outdoor work was covering the shortest leg of the patio border with weed block and rubber mulch.  The work wasn’t overly difficult except for the toll it takes on my knees.  Crawling on all fours is an activity that I just can not do for extended periods of time anymore.  I really liked the end result of the block/mulch.  I LOVE that when I am done, it will require next to no maintenance and the chickens will no longer be able to fling mulch dust against the pool cage.

On Saturday night Cindy and I went out to see Kingsman, a flick based on a comic book series I never heard of involving British super spies.  I really did not know what to expect but from the previews it looked like a decent action film.  It turned out to be a decent action film with some funny and totally random moments I did not expect.

The cinematography of the action portions of the movie were shot in a very cool manner, in a somewhat Matrixy sort of way.  There also was a lot of in your face and pretty gross carnage but somehow it managed to remain cartoon-like as to not become overly realistic.  Some of the violence was downright hysterical at times and the very loud and unexpected mention of a sexual act into the middle of the action brought both gasps and laughs from the audience, depending on your moral compass.  I found the movie entertaining once Cindy brought me a soda to help wake me up from the initial drowsiness I was suffering from.  I’d give it a strong B+, I don’t know that Cindy would say the same.

Sunday morning we opted for a ride instead of a run as my right knee was feeling swollen from the work on my knees the day before.  We did the Dunkin Donut ride instead.  Early on Cindy was doing a lot of complaining about the temperature even though it was around 65 degrees, considerably warmer than the last ride we did.  Evidently she didn’t dress as heavily for Sundays ride.  I was in my normal bike outfit and felt a little cool early but fine once we had a few miles in.

We held a pace of nearly 21 mph during the long traffic light free portion of the ride.  I figured on the ride back we would pay the price with a bad headwind.  Lucky for us the wind was more of a crosswind heading east and allowed Cindy, who lead the entire way back, to hold 18+ mph for most of the 10 miles.  Overall we averaged 18.8mph for the ride, equaling what Randall and I pulled off a few weeks prior, impressive.

On Saturday Cindy had given Nicki a much needed haircut with the electric pet shaver.  On Sunday after the ride she gave both of the dogs much needed baths as a follow up.  We did something different, abandoning the normal tub bathing for a driveway session using the hose.  I was worried that it would be too cold for them but they didn’t really seem to mind.  Nicki especially seems to like the personal spa sessions with Cindy.

Over the weekend Cindy and I digested portions of the SNL 40 year special in small chunks.  I have to say as a whole I was disappointed.  Here are some of my questions/observations:

– The show was filled with montages of old clips but each clip was cut too short to get much out of any of them.

– the Kanye West performance was stupid and got FF’d

– is it me or can Paul McCartney not sing anymore? His voice sounded really rough.

– What did Paul Simon do to his face?  I can’t tell if it was plastic surgery, botox or both?

– Why were most of the actual live skits they did so weak?

– WTF is Eddie Murphy’s problem?  You couldn’t participate in one skit or say one funny thing after Chris Rock gave you a sickeningly over the top ass kissing intro?

– Miley Cyrus’s new hair is not flattering.  She can actually sing a little bit but she got FF’d as well after 60 seconds or so.

– Holy shit did Chevy Chase get fat.  It made me sad to see him that way, sincerely. Cindy didn’t recognize him.

So anyway like I said, as a whole I thought the special was disappointing although it was cool to see so many talented and funny people in one room together.  I just expected a lot more laughs.

The rest of my Sunday was mostly just chilling out virtually in WoW which I really enjoyed.  Cindy had her own stuff to do so it worked out well.  After feeding the dogs dinner I took them home.  Once again Ali was not home and once again I felt guilt as I saw the dogs sad faces being left with nothing but a radio to keep them company.

This morning I was not happy to see ANOTHER raccoon had become a live trap resident.  This one appeared to be an adult female as Cindy saw her nipples as she hung sideways on the cage.  Knowing this was a female bothered me as I had no way of knowing if she had babies somewhere waiting for her to return.   She also was the least aggressive of the four raccoons I have caught.  There was not a single hiss or strike the entire time I was handling the cage.  I left the house early to give me time to release the animal where the other three have been relocated.  I hope they are all part of the same family and wind up reuniting at some point.

Part of the reason the raccoons are visiting the yard has nothing to do with the chickens.  They come to scavenge the seed from the bird feeders.  For years I have had low feeders randomly knocked to the ground which I now am sure is a raccoons handiwork.  If I wanted to discourage more from showing up I could relocate or remove the feeders, a step I have not taken because we both enjoy seeing the birds hang out in the yard through the back windows of the house.  I may have to give up that pleasure unless I want to take up live animal trapping as a second profession.

I spent over an hour and a half after work covering what I could in the landscape.  The strong winds that were leading the cold front made the task extra challenging and frustrating.  The garden was covered with fabric that is normally used to line the ground underneath a pond liner.  I then hold the fabric down with a combination of olympic weight plates, wood, tools, bricks, and anything else laying around that weighs a few pounds. The plants along the pool mostly were wrapped individually with standard frost cloth with more heavy objects and staples to keep it in place.

I had the chickens out the entire time I was working.  They are definitely getting more comfortable around me, not flinching when I am close by and even following me around at times.  Curly is the most inquisitive chicken right now, she will follow me almost anywhere, hoping I will drop a treat.

Getting the chickens back into the coop area when I was finished took some patience.  I got three of the four back in with a cracked corn bribe but Lola, the smallest and presumably youngest chicken was off doing her own thing.  I slowly herded her towards the coop but had to complete at least a half dozen circles until I was able to scoop her up and put her inside.  I try to make sure I don’t CHASE the chickens as I don’t want to make them scared of me.  When they go back in I always make sure they are rewarded, just like you do with a dog when it behaves well.

So after completing the outdoor cold prep it was time to work on the reverse osmosis leaking issue.  After a lot of futzing around I was able to get the head unit loose so I could take a look at it.  What I saw was a lot of nastiness and scuzz where the hoses go into the faucet.  I then started to weigh trying to clean/fix the leak versus just pulling the damn system out.  Although it has worked well for me over the years, the cartridges are very expensive and I don’t know that the water comes out tasting any better or being any cleaner than a Brita pitcher.  The reverse osmosois holding tank is enclosed, after 6-7 years of service I can only imagine what the inside of it looks like.

I hopped on Amazon and priced out a Brita pitcher which was less than $25.  I then conferred with Cindy, asking if she had any problem with me just ripping out the RO system and using a simple Brita pitcher for our water needs.  She didn’t care at all, in fact she used to have a Brita pitcher when she lived by herself and liked it.  So out came the scissors.  I cut the main feed and drain line and pulled the head unit out.  I then yanked the big holding tank and filter assembly out as well and lugged it all to the garage.  I plan to deposit it all by the curb for one of the local scavengers to snap up.

I had to do some reconfiguring of stuff under the sink, namely the water line that feeds the fridge which used to be tied into the RO system.  At first I was worried I did not have the right combination of fittings to make it all work but by repurposing some of the stuff I cut out I was able to make it work.   The RO removal opened up a lot of extra room under the sink as well as allowing us to clean up and throw out items in there that were no longer needed.

I hopped on Amazon and ordered the 10 cup Brita pitcher.  If that proves to be inadequate for our water needs they also have a large 18 cup reservoir that would get the job done.  Of course the level of filtration a carbon activated system like the Brita uses is not as extensive as RO but I really don’t think we will be able to tell the difference since even water straight out of the tap isn’t bad.

I am picking up the dogs on the way home tonight for an all weekend sleepover visit.  It will be the first time the dogs get to see the new chickens.  We will have to start the familiarization/trust process all over again.  I’d also like to start phase 2 of the 3 phase pool border project which would be recovering the area in weed block cloth so that it can then be later covered in rubber mulch.  Other than that, normal weekend guidelines are in place.