Filthy, but not rich

Dirt, grime, road grease, unidentified red stuff, if level of filthy defines a good weekend, then this was a great weekend. Like most of our memorial day weekends we were busy. Between running, riding, eating, drinking, and general hanging out, we worked getting the house ready for the upcoming tiki party.

Sam thought the fou dogs just didn't stand out so they got a few coats of a bright green. The new door won't be in place for the party, but it will be the same color.

Friday night we ate lots of peas from the garden and grilled jerk pork chops on the big green egg. Again it did a great job. Saturday we smoked ribs and they were wonderful.
The old poor excuse for a grill less than a month ago.

The new updated version with a concrete top made for the big green egg.

I made a polyurethane tiki mold from a lamp we got for christmas. Hopefully I will have cast an army of tiki men tiki torch holders by the party.

We made some excellent bacon and brown sugar waffles for breakfast this morning. While eating Sam was reading the latest edition of Atomic Ranch and got inspired to do some landscaping. The side of the house under the overhang is just a desert and never has looked very good. Sam spent the day grading, cutting edging, and laying weed screen.

And lots and lots of rocks. That side of the house looks much improved.

We are starting to get some heat and the garden is really perking up. Of the 10 tomatoes we have planted 8 haved already bloomed.

Even the biggest cucumber is blooming.

Other than the peas getting out of control the garden is doing pretty well.

I mowed the front lawn for the first time and it looks amazing. Everyone wanted to roll around in it, some naked, but the grass isn't that healthy yet.

The stage is set, the food is planned, the weather looks hot but good. Next weekend the tiki party is on!

The Most Productive Weekend of the Year

We spent the entire weekend working outside in the yard. Running, bike riding, demoing a grill, and a couple copperhead snakes later, we are exhausted. Saturday we went for a run and worked in the yard. Sunday we went for a bike ride and worked in the yard. We got a new grill and Sam got a new bike. All in all it was a very successful weekend.

Sam worked cleaning out the bottom beds and got them replanted. The tall ones are elegant feathers.
This was our poor excuse for a grill. It is 61 years old and needed a face lift. The grill doesn't have a lid and burns through charcoal way too fast and the brick is in bad shape. We finally bought a new grill/smoker and this is going to be it's new home. So time for a remodel.

Unfortunately the mortar was is really bad shape and quite a bit had to get removed to get back to competent material.

I stripped all the loose bricks and cleaned the existing ones up. There were years of crud washed into the cracks and more than a few worms.

Saturday was spent relaying all the loose bricks and my back was really sore from sitting on the cinder block chair.

The grill/smoker we bought is the big green egg. It is a 1-2 inch ceramic-lined grill that can be heated up with a little bit of charcoal and then stays warm for a long time. I made a template and will be placing a concrete top to finish things off.

The garden is really coming along. We have been eating lettuce and the peas are getting close too. The fight is still on with the chipmunks.

Looks like we will be eating from the garden from now until December.

Party Prep

We spent Memorial Day weekend running, biking, working in the yard, with lots of grilling out and drinking mixed in. Sam attacked the back patio and won the war over the weeds. We have been having no success getting things to grow in the patio beds. Between wet soil and slugs everything looks pathetic. We made a trip to soil service and Sam replaced everything.

I put in a few beer traps for the slugs. Hopefully they are shallow enough that we don't lose Jerad too.
Respectable once again.

I managed to finish the concrete patio table.

Monday night we had to see if it worked. It did.

Some Cool Stuff

Work is furiously happening next door. Not even a full day of trenching in the heat and rain could keep work from going late into the night.

The Shag got framed, yippee!
The Tiki man and the Shag fit in well.

Jerad helped me push the desk into place. I only had to pull it out once for fine tuning.

A little touch up paint and we are done with this project......

Buffet Progress

I started assembling the buffet tonight, pretty easy. I had to put one door on just to see what they look like.

Battle of the Beige

Wow, where did the weekend go? I think we could have used a couple more days this weekend. Most of it was spent covering up some of the beige.

We finally got everything installed with the water heater and furnace. The on-demand water should cut costs along with the much more efficient furnace. We also got a pressure reducing valve installed so the pressure is back down to normal. These will eventually get painted the same color as the house.

In preparation for the carpet, it was time to paint the living room. Most everything is grey with a couple accent walls. Sam did the detail work cutting in and I came behind with the big roller.
This is pretty much all we got accomplished on Saturday. We did however make multiple trips to Lowes and Home Depot for other supplies.

Nera helping out.

Boy those ceilings are high.

The plan was to get the shades rehung today. It didn't happen but the painting is finished.

The other project that needed to get finished was the fireplace. I haven't been around much so it kind of dragged on. Alright, last coat of black then we are finished.

It turned out really nice. Now we have to track down the fireglass.

Placing the Concrete Fireplace Surround

It has been a very productive weekend so far. We are getting ready to go for a run so I figured a post just for yesterday's big project was appropriate. We got the concrete fireplace surround placed yesterday. I have spent the last couple weeks after work tweaking a concrete fireplace mixture based off of quikcrete.

The before picture with the reinforcement set aside and cardboard down to protect everything.








Now this is a setup. Due to the small size of the mixer, or the large size of the fireplace, I had to do two separate mixtures which makes the logistics interesting. The concrete is based off of quikcrete but I made it stronger and lower shrinkage using various chemical admixtures. It is handy to know the right people. The concrete is black so I had to buy some pigment. The smallest amount of pigment I could buy was for 1 cubic yard of concrete. Since the fireplace is 3 cubic feet, I have lots left. If you need any black concrete objects let me know and I will make you a deal.

Look at those rippling bi-ceps. Our neighbor Mark knows where I can get a 5 cubic foot (this one can only mix about 1.5 cf) gas powered mixer for cheap. Hopefully for the rest of the summer projects we will have more mixing capacity. I can't wait to be placing concrete outside or into more normal shapes.

The black pigment is carbon-based and sucks up the water reducer. By the second half of each load things were getting a little stiff. Normally a vibrator takes care of this but it made too much of a mess to continue using inside.

The forms stayed put and everything finished nice. I hard troweled the top so it should be smooth. Now we have to wait and see how well I got the concrete consolidated down the sides of the form. There wasn't a whole lot of clearance and I might have to fill some honeycombing. Good thing I have lots of leftover materials. Here it is covered with plastic to lock in the freshness.

Wet towels to keep the moisture in. Like the sink this was towards the more difficult end of home concrete projects. Although I didn't make too much of a mess. Really other than my hands stained black for the next week, things look pretty good.

I'm Exhausted, Time to Go Back to Work

We picked up this morning where we left it last night. I finished sanding drywall and then Sam started priming and painting. We no longer have any exposed drywall!

This was supposed to be an accent wall, but it turned out much darker and greener than we hoped. It just keep drying darker and darker.

Sam ran to Home Depot and got another lighter paint. The other walls will be a dusty blue. This wall will be partially covered with the head board and Sam is going to paint a graphic behind.While Sam was painting I decided to get working on the fireplace surround. Here is another location with the same beige tile with pink grout. Since we will be getting new carpet in the living room too, it is a good time to rip this out.

My hands were only bleeding a little bit from the tile shards.
Not pretty but all gone.

Originally the fireplace surrounds were brick. Ours had been covered with cement board and then the beige tile glued on with construction adhesive. At least the rough surface will give the concrete something to bond to.

While we were on a roll I managed to pretty much finish the concrete mold.

The new fireplace surround will be charcoal colored concrete. I made the mold a little wider and taller than the original to better balance the big fireplace opening.