New House Blog: Episode LXXXVII - Trench Run

In the same way that Han Solo took a brief hiatus from consciousness when he was frozen in carbonite, so the New House Blog is about to take its annual winter hiatus, when we are frozen in near-freezing temperatures overnight and low-to-mid fifties during the day.  Before we take said hiatus, however, we have several topics to discuss - X-wing trenches, home-grown tea, a friendly spider, carpenter bees, and maybe more.

But first, a Project G.R.O.S.S.S. update - we are happy to report that by doing nothing new, and taking a passive approach to the slimy squirrel problem, we ended up with our biggest pear harvest to-date.  Of course, we can't really take credit for this, as we didn't really have a plan for this year.  However, the pear tree seems to have had a plan of its own.  It came down with a case of fire blight, as discussed in this Episode, and because of this there were only a very few pears, not enough to attract the slimy squirrels.  After we excised the fire blight the tree underwent a tremendous growth spurt and produced a respectable harvest of pears, only one or two of which were eaten by the slimy squirrels.  My theory is that the fire blight delayed the pear harvest long enough for the slimy squirrels to lose interest and move on to to other people's pear trees, and the late harvest threw off their timing.  The harvest is over now, but it produced a lot of very juicy, very sweet pears - most likely bartlett pears.

Trench Run Part One

I received a text from my parents (or maybe it was mentioned during a phone call) that mentioned that their house's rain gutters were leaky and not working right.  I figured I could handle some rain gutter installation, and the Trench Project began.  Off to the Parents' House (a regular guest house on the New House Blog) to examine the trench.

The trench from below.  It doesn't look so bad.

The trench from above.  That's no place for an X-wing!

The trench was made of plastic, and as such it proved to be quite susceptible to warping and bending from the sun and the seasons.

Before you can rebuild you must tear down, and that's what I did.  Here you can see the remnants of the old trench.
















Carpenter Bees

Remember the carpenter bees from the previous Episode?  Well, a couple of them had made a burrow in an outdoor structural member, and we didn't want to just leave it open for them to return to next year, but we also didn't see any reason to evict them right away.  The hole was already there, and it was not large enough to compromise any structures, but it might get larger if they were to return and burrow out some new rooms.  Since the carpenter bees are our friends we waited until their pollinating season was over, and we allowed plenty of time for their offspring to have left home, and then we forcibly evicted them and plugged up their burrow.  And by "forcibly evicted," I mean that they ended up dead.

Here is their burrow.  Notice the waxy residue around and below the entrance.

In this close-up you can kind of see that the burrow was not a straight path. We plugged the hole with a custom-carved piece of wooden dowel and some Gorilla wood glue.





Trench Run Part Two

After disassembling the old trench it was time to plan and gather materials.  I was told that the house is 64' long (or about 78 metric feet), and I based my measurements on this, but it turned out that things didn't quite line up as measured (more on that later).  I chose to use galvanized instead of plastic because it will resist warping and bending.

Trench parts, and my 6' ladder.  This was the shorter of the two ladders involved, and its shortness proved to be a liability.

More trench parts, and tools.














With materials gathered it was time to plot and plan.  Using the previously-mentioned length of 64', I measured where I thought things should go.  Trenches, though they look level to the unaided eye, are installed with a gentle slope so that water will flow freely to the downspouts.  Based on information I looked up I planned the trench to have two sections - a 29' section sloping toward the rear downspout, and a 35' section sloping toward the front downspout - and where they joined would be the high point.  To mark the intended slope I enlisted the help of my mom and a chalk snap line that I bought just for this job.

The intended slope toward the front of the house, as marked by the red chalk line.

The intended slope toward the back of the house.











Tea Time

Becky got me some Zinger Hibiscus herbal tea seeds for my birthday, and she planted them in some lovely pots.  After a few months of the California sun they got big and sprouted a lot of flowers.

The instructions on the seed packet say to harvest the red calyxes after each blossom is done blooming, and then dry the calyxes and crush for use in tea.

This is the first calyx harvest.  As of this date the calyxes are drying and I am looking forward to my first cup of home-grown tea.






Trench Run Part Three

With everything measured and plotted it was time to start pre-assembly of the components.  I assembled the end piece assemblies and pre-installed the hanging brackets on the trench pieces.

Hanging brackets were attached every 24" along the entire trench run.  Also in this picture are my trusty DeWALT and the tall ladder.

After pre-assembly comes my favourite part of any such project - assembly, finally getting to see the plans and ideas physically take shape before my eyes.

The installation of the ceremonial first length of trench. This one was only 5' long, so I was able to hang it without any help.

Assembly of the trench started at the meeting point of the two slopes, and we worked out toward the ends of the house.








Friendly Spider

In the back yard, near our flowers we came upon the following spider.

He appears to be some variety of common garden spider, and since he wasn't interested in biting us we decided to leave him be so that he could eat some of the pesky insects that inhabit our yard.

Trench Run Part Four

Assembly continued, and for the 10' sections of trench I needed help to hold them in place while I bolted the hangers onto the house.  My mom helped out a lot with this, and I could not have done it without her help.  We used two ladders, the tall yellow ladder and my blue 6' ladder.  The plan was for me to climb the tall ladder and position and attach one end of the section to the adjacent section of trench while my mom was on the 6' ladder holing up the other end of the section.  This plan worked great for the first 10' section, so we assumed it would be smooth sailing for the rest of the house.

But it was not to be.  We quickly discovered that the ground around the house has a slight slope, and the 6' ladder was just too short for my mom to stand on and hold up the trench sections.  We eventually came up with the idea of using a section of the old plastic downspout as an extension of her arms.  She held the downspout, and the downspout supported the trench until I could get he bolts in.

It was a good idea, and it worked, but we had some rough moments involving dropping of things and sections not fitting together right.  Sections not fitting together right was probably the hardest thing to deal with.  The joint pieces that connect the sections are manufactured in such a way that it requires some bending and jiggling of pieces to convince them to join together.

As we got to the ends of the house we discovered that the sections of trench extended past where my measurements said they should extend.  Remember, my measurements were based on a house length of 64', and while the house is technically 64' long, the roof is not 64' long.  There is a bay window that sticks out of the front of the house, and this bay window is what makes the overall length of the house 64'.  Fortunately, this measurement discrepancy was easily resolved by my tin snips.

As you can see, this is a proper trench for an X-wing.

The trench as viewed from an X-wing's perspective.

After the trench was assembled and bolted on to the house it was time to install the downspouts.  Here you can see the view toward the rear of the house.  If you look closely you can see where the superfluous third downspout used to be.

And the view toward the front of the house.  The final step of this project was to seal up the trench joints with silicone caulk.

A big thanks to my mom.  I could not have done this project without her help.













Finishing Up

Finally, we finish this Episode with a new team member and a mystery photo.

Meet Sedgewick, our new step edger.  After continued disappointment with the build quality of our two previous wheel edgers (Reggie and Reginald) we decided try abandon wheel edgers and look for something a little more dependable.  So far results have been positive with Sedgewick.

We leave you with this mystery photo from under our house.  It looks like a fresh run of Cat 6, but for what purpose?









The force is strong in this
     bIsh

New House Blog: Episode LXXXVI - Pears, Pruning, Produce, Pests, And Portals

The New House Blog is back from summer vacation, and we've got a packed Episode for you today.  We'll start off with a pear update, move into a pruning project at the Parents' House, proceed to some pests, peruse a portal, and maybe throw in a cute cat picture.

Before we get to all of that, however, we have a brief 'hood update.  And it begins with this photo that I took on my way in to work one morning.  It's not exactly in our New House's local 'hood, but it is someone's 'hood.

While waiting for a light to turn green one morning I spotted this interesting individual, presumably on his way to work, too.

I'm guessing that the colorful decorations are mainly to increase his visibility so that cars are less likely to run him over.

There was an apartment fire just down the street from us recently.  I was made aware of it as I drove home from a local Fatburger, or maybe home from work.

The action was pretty much over when I drove by, but the other side of the street was blocked off for several blocks.

I believe that no one was seriously hurt, but there was some serious property damage.

We wrap up our 'hood update with this scene, viewed just 15 minutes away, by bike, from our New House.

What you don't see is the shopping cart just outside the right edge of the frame.

Pear Update

We harvested our first harvest of pears in July, as seen in the previous Episode. Those pears were joined by two more from the tree.  The first batch of 6 pears was left in the reefer for too long, resulting in wrinkly pears that tasted delicious but were not juicy or soft.  The two additional pears were left chilling for less time and they turned out to be both juicy and delicious.  We may have figured out the ripening formula for our pears.  And we have 6 or 7 new pears on the tree at this time.  So far the slimy squirrels haven't bothered our pear tree this year, but we're remaining vigilant, just in case.

Pruning

My dad recently asked for some help in pruning a tall evergreen tree, and I was happy to help.  I was so happy to help that I went out and bought a new tool just for this pruning job.  

Meet Pinchy.

Pinchy is a 60" (5-foot, or 6.1-metric foot) pruner, and I was able to accomplish some truly amazing pruning with Pinchy.  

Pinchy is one of those tools that you just love to use - that you want to just keep using long after the job is officially done.  I found myself looking for more branches to prune, even if they were not on the official pruning list.


Pinchy has since helped with pruning of our ever-growing oleanders.

As you can see, Pinchy and me (or is it Pinchy and I? They keep changing the rules) make a pretty good team.  Much of the pruned wood will end up in our fireplace.

Produce

We have been enjoying fresh produce from our food and pottery gardens.  Here is a picture of an intriguing potato.  Note the star pattern in the center.

We don't know what it means, but it must mean something.

We are still looking forward to enjoying our melons.  This Christmas melon is developing nicely.

As are these honeydews.

Note the fresh catnip near the little baby asian melon.

Cute Cat Interlude

As hinted at above, we have cute cat interlude, just because we can.

Here is an action shot of Edgar stretching his jaw muscles.

And here he is relaxed.

Pests

The particular pests in question are members of the spider family, possibly the same spider family.  If you are squeamish you may want to skip to the next section, as there will be several close-ups.  

>><<  Mactans montage ahead! You've been warned! >><<

We had not seen any black widows (latrodectus mactans) at all this calendar year, and then suddenly I found, and killed of course, the first widow of the season, of the entire year.  It was a dark night, and I was outside preparing to water the back yard trees (on a day other than a designated watering day, too) when I came upon the foul fiend.  She was...  But first things first, and all in order. The spider I first spotted is seen below.

It might not be clear in the picture, but this is a brown spider with a distinctive, roughly hourglass, mark on her abdomen. She's shaped like a black widow, but she's brown.  My first thought was that she might be one of the infamous brown widows (latrodectus geometricus).  My second thought was that she needed to die.  However, this latrodectus was more clever than some, and she ran away and hid before I could dispose of her.

Here you can see some distinctive markings on her abdomen as she flees in terror.  

I did a little research, and discovered two pertinent and important facts regarding this brown 'widow. Fact one:  brown widows are not known to be anywhere near our part of California.  Fact two: black widows are brown until they fully mature, and they have whitish markings on their abdomens while immature (okay, that's three facts).

Logically, I concluded that this freak of nature was a not-yet-fully-mature black widow.  She eluded me for a few nights, but I won: she is no more.

Not so clever was this fully mature black widow (Perhaps they get more complacent as they get older). This is how she looked just moments before being squished by falling brick.

Not far away was this other juvenile 'widow, just hanging out upside-down. She's dead, but I don't remember precisely how I dispatched her.  

This final latrodectus mactans was found on another night, in the front of the house near the hose hookup.  Here you can clearly see her distinctive white markings and brown base color.  

Now you know: black widows are not black until they are mature.  They do, however, have an hourglassish mark on their evil underbellies.

>><< End of mactans montage! >><<

Not Pests

To counter the pests above we also have some non-pests to share with you.

Seen patronizing our hedgerow sweetpeas was this big, black, beautiful carpenter bee.

Here is another beautiful, big, black carpenter bee.  They are good pollinators, and they are quite friendly.  We enjoy having them around.  

This is a friendly bumblebee sipping nectar from one of our poppies.  Note the yellow markings and the slightly smaller size of the bumblebee. Until recently I mistakenly thought that these two types of bees were all the same type - bumblebees.  It's on ly recently that I learned to distinguish between the two.  

Portals

Our New House came with a lot of door knobs - a lot of old-style gold-chrome door knobs.  We decided to upgrade them all - 9 in total.  Below you see the sequence for a typical door.  We took pictures of all 9 replacements, but we thought it would be really boring to post all of those pictures.  If you really want to see all 9 door knob replacements, contact me and I will gladly share the pictures with you.

Our 1/2 bath had a typical, old-style door knob.  Note that the screws are on the inside of the door, which could be a problem if someone ever got locked inside.

Typical door striker plate.

 Typical striker plate cutout, with an atypical artifact.  Buried below the striker plate was an ancient 1/2 striker plate.

Yes folks, the pre-Bishopians had left this 1/2 striker plate in the door jamb.

We are quite baffled as to why they would do this.  It's not like it's a hard thing to remove. Did it maybe have some religious or cultural meaning to them?

Typical replaced door striker plate.

Typical replaced door knob.  Note the more modern look, and the screws are on the outside of the door.

If you're interested, we have 9 slightly used golden door knobs for sale - cheap!

Flying Farewell

And finally, we bid you adieu with this friendly flying farewell.

The bees are buzzing in the trees to make some honey just for

    bIsh