Saturday - Got up, washed the outside
of the car, bought bird and cat food, packed for the trip. Also picked
up the new-to-me swamp cooler case. It'll have to wait a few weeks for
me to have time to retrofit it to the house.
Probably no updates to the blog for a while - there is very little internet connectivity in Cayucos.
Friday 1 July
2011
Friday
- Finishing up the inventory spreadsheet, mapping of the repair
points in Manifold, and going over what we can actually repair with the
monies allocated (probably less than half the actual defect inventory).
This took all day, 8am to 8pm, then I hit the road back to Lancaster.
There was quite a bit of traffic on the interstate, even after 9pm.
Beautiful weather in Ventura/Camarillo. Almost a dead calm, just about
78F. Driving around you could breathe in the scent of strawberries in the
air everywhere. In how many places is the air like a perfume?
Thursday 30 June 2011
Thursday
- down in Ventura, generating up a repair document for a proposal to the county.
Wednesday
29 June 2011
Wednesday - I did get the other drip
system in, a temporary setup, until the paver's get installed. So...I'm
pulling the 1/8" lines through some PVC pipe, and it hangs up on the
other end. Not unexpected, the small lines came coiled up. But
then...the line pulled into the big pipe, the other way! Turns out I
had an 18 pound black shorthair named Phoebe as a "helper" at the other
end of the line ;-)
I then "cleaned up" a bit in the side yard. Piled tools in one spot,
dumped mystery fertilizer/weed killer that had clumped in the rain into
the trash, along with a bunch of other small stuff.
I'm down to Ventura to work for a couple of days, then off to the beach
for a week, then a couple days in Martinez, then back down to
Ventura...it may be several weekends before I get out in the yard again.
Tuesday
28 June 2011
Tuesday
- I picked up the rest of the paver's I'll probably need. About 40-50sf
is my estimate. I already have most of the gravel and sand I need. I
was able to pick up some of the polymer sand from Lowe's, so that
should help things. I'm not sure how to do the edge restraint though -
the plastic edgers seem rather flimsy to me.
I also installed a drip system for the west side raised planter. This
is simply a cap with a bunch of 1/8" lines that fits onto a standard
1/2" sprinkler outlet. The problem was that the bed had no sprinkler
outlet. There was one on the far side of the concrete walk, but
attempts to burrow under the walk were foiled by heavy tree roots.
Instead I had to run it over the walk, but since that particular
section is raised and tilted by the roots already it doesn't look as
bad as you'd think. Eventually that whole section needs removal and
replacement, and at that time I'll just put the line under it, as it
should be.
I'll do the other planter tomorrow. Like the west side unit it'll be
temporary, because I'm digging there to install the paver's, after the
vacation. But I need the drip system to keep things alive for a week or
two, so...
The tomato plants are happy, I already have a few tomatoes.
I'll have to head down to Ventura for some (paying) work Thursday and
Friday, then there is probably work right after the 4th of July week,
so I'm not sure when I'll get to the paver installation.
Book #67 was not bad science fiction, it was, instead, excellent pop economy: The Undercover Economist, by Tim Harford. Essentially it talks about modern economic theory, margins, scarcity, auctions and a lot of other stuff. If Freakonomics was Economics Lite 101, then this would be Economics Lite 102. Entertaining and educational, recommended.
Monday
27
June 2011
Monday
- Still not 100%, but trying to get things done before the 4th of July
vacation. I picked up a couple of drip system attachments, for the back
yard planters, and some bark and new spray nozzles for the front yard.
Sunday
26
June 2011
Sunday
- Feeling better. I went out and picked up some paver's for the yard -
that pretty much wiped me out for the day. Still on the (flu) sauce
though. I also need to replace a couple of dead Vinca's in the little
flower bed out front, and add some bark and check the sprinklers - it
seems pretty dry there.
I finished Book #66, The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught,
by Jack Campbell. I love the covers, they've almost nothing to do with
the contents of the books, which take place inboard spaceships, not
planetary surfaces. I'm not sure Black Jack, our erstwhile hero, ever
uses or even holds a hand weapon in this series, yet the cover shows him in armor, blaster in hand, nobly gazing off into the distance.
Picture of
the Week Photo Notes: East Brothers Island, Benecia
Ca., 2006.
