This weekend was the perfect end to a great week. Tuesday was my last day of working in the lab until January. My 6 month leave is partly due to the baby and partly because there just isn’t much money for funding right now. The California budget is a mess and the money for all those bond issues that our thespian governor supposedly reinstated (he put a stop work order on them several months ago) hasn’t actually become available yet. My department is mostly funded through the state and without that money we’re all pretty much screwed. (So I guess I’m having this baby at the perfect time!)
Anyway, I got to spend Wednesday and Thursday taking care of little things around the house—sorting all the gifts from the baby shower, shortening the bumpers to fit the used crib I bought, cleaning the house (I dusted EVERY horizontal surface in the house…except in the bathrooms but that’s just because I haven’t cleaned those yet), napping, cooking.
Dave’s Thursday meeting was short so he got home relatively early (~10pm) and even helped me with the dusting before we went to bed!
Friday morning before it was too hot outside he finished installing the flagstone walkway in the front yard. Edward and I had started it about 2 weeks ago. While he did that I installed a bunch of mini sprinklers along it so my to-be-planted groundcover between the stones will get adequate water. I want everything on automatic timed irrigation so I won’t have to worry about watering the plants once Eddie arrives. I didn’t take any pictures of the path yet but I will soon.
Saturday Dave started and finished the flagstone paths in the BBQ yard. Then we spent too long in the HOT garden shed installing an attic shelf thing I ordered a while ago. We didn’t look at the directions correctly (read: the directions and pictures suck) and had to redo most of it. Dave refused to climb back through the massive honeysuckle vine to get in the tiny, nasty space between the shed and the fence (there are TONS of spiders and webs back there and there’s only about a foot of room) to unscrew and re-screw the shelf support from the outside of the building. He did it the first time and I agreed to do it the second time around…if I could fit. I barely fit. This shelf was sort of a pain to install but it gives us an extra 25 square feet or storage space that would otherwise be wasted above the bikes, rototillers, and lawn mower.
That night we cooked up a variety of foods and got to see the fireworks—more on that in another post.
Today we spent the day reorganizing the garage/workshop. Our table saw was sitting against a wall and Dave had to haul it out every time he wanted to use it. It has a fence on it and an extension so it is huge, too. He’s been wanting to reorganize the toolboxes around his workbenches for a while, too. So we basically moved all the big stuff out onto the driveway, swept, and put it all back inside. We got rid of the ghetto mini fridge my dad gave us by posting it for free on Craigslist (it was really inefficient and ugly and we got a new one recently that is cute enough to go inside the house). That freed up a bunch of room next to the deep freeze for one of his cabinets. From there the room really opened up. We could practically park a car in there—imagine that, a car in the garage! Haha, our garage is definitely a workshop.
My friend Kristin, her boyfriend, Caesar, and their rambunctious puppy, Dante, decided to pop by for a visit this evening. There was a lot of licking, peeing, barking, nipping, and ball-chasing (with the dogs, obviously). Emmy is super dominant but she did so well with little Dante! Potatoes got lots of kisses from him and Ruby generally tried to keep her distance. (Anyone between her and her mama is bound to be growled at!) I kept telling Kristin not to get too close to me and Dave because we were SO dirty from working in the shop all day that I felt like we’d get her dirty!
After much-needed showers Dave and I watched an episode of Friends while snarfing down our beef stroganoff dinner. I'm really going to miss these weekends of working on the house with just Dave and the dogs around. Things are going to be wonderful once little Eddie is here, but I'll always have fond memories of just us love birds building (and rebuilding, I'm sure Dave would say!) our love nest.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Master Welder
During the baby shower, my dad stayed home at cut up all the steel for our shade structure. (Trust me, he was much happier doing that instead of going to the shower.)
My parents' house doesn't have AC (or heat). No heat is okay in the winter because we have a bunch of space heaters for the bedrooms and oil heaters for the bigger rooms. But no AC when you're pregnant and it is 105F outside is nothing short of brutal. It was painful, literally. My feet were killing me since the heat made the swelling worse and I was sweating constantly (even with a fan blowing straight on me).
Part of the discomfort is my fault since I cannot force myself to just lay down with my feet up and relax. I can do it for about an hour and then I get bored and have to get up and do something. So I washed dishes (which is difficult since I can't reach over the sink to the faucet anymore), dusted, and made the beds.
It had to have been like 115F in the garage, though. Dave and my dad spent all Sunday out there making the posts for the shade structure. (Dave was happy as a clam out there, amazingly.) Before it got too hot, I suggested that they turn on the portable swamp cooler to at least cool their legs (they did). They wore long-sleeved shirts while welding to avoid burning their arms from flying specks of molten flux. Ouf...they were dripping with sweat and were black from all the metal dust.
Dave did all the welding and he did a really good job. My dad was super impressed. The biggest compliment you can get from my dad is "that's really nice...it looks like something I could have done." Hahaha, Dave always beams when my dad says that about his work.
I had planned on doing some of the welding myself but my dad wouldn't let me because of the metal oxide fumes. Welding is something you can do sitting down and I REALLY wanted to help (plus I haven't welded in a few years and wanted to get back into it). But I was banished to the house. I did go out a few times to take them cool drinks and to take some pictures, though.
The structure is made of 3"x3" box tubing with 6" square bases welded to the bottom, which will then be bolted down to the concrete bases around the patio. Flat metal pieces are welded to the top of each 10' tall post (yes, that's very tall!) to hold 4"x6" lumber over the top.
To get the square base plates perfectly aligned on the bottom of each post, they rigged up a post-holder in the rafters to suspend the post over the plates. It was nifty and worked really well.
We might hang shade cloth or some lattice stuff up there to give us more shade. I will plant some grape vines at the base of some posts...but those will take a few seasons to grow up to the top and provide shade.
Grapes are great for shade structures because they are winter deciduous (they lose their leaves in winter). So in the summer you get shade from the leaves and in the winter you get sun.
The metal and wood will be painted a light brown color. We were going to use redwood lumber for the top but it is really expensive...so cheap Doug Fir and a coat of paint will do just fine. (It is so tall and purposefully out of your eye line that I doubt we'll even notice it after a while.)
When I tried to get a permit for the shade structure the city planner told me that I can't because our house is "completely non-conforming." Great. The developer cheated on the set backs when he got the plans approved. For a single storey house you must have a total of 12' on the sides of your house (so 6' on each side or 5' and 7'). Our house has maybe 8' total between the two sides. The planner suggested that I just build it anyway, without a permit, since we're not planning on selling the house. Once we sell the house we'll be required to take it down...but that won't be for a long time since we'll just rent the house out when we move to Gualala.
This is a Google Maps picture from about 2 years before we bought the house. Our house is the one on the left...you can see the fence lines and the next door neighbor's house. Set backs? What setbacks? Our house is basically sitting on the fence on both sides. You can also see our three triangular-shaped yards. It is a weird layout but we actually really like it.
Our only other option is to apply for a variance but the minimum cost for that is $1200. No way, Jose.
My parents' house doesn't have AC (or heat). No heat is okay in the winter because we have a bunch of space heaters for the bedrooms and oil heaters for the bigger rooms. But no AC when you're pregnant and it is 105F outside is nothing short of brutal. It was painful, literally. My feet were killing me since the heat made the swelling worse and I was sweating constantly (even with a fan blowing straight on me).
Part of the discomfort is my fault since I cannot force myself to just lay down with my feet up and relax. I can do it for about an hour and then I get bored and have to get up and do something. So I washed dishes (which is difficult since I can't reach over the sink to the faucet anymore), dusted, and made the beds.
It had to have been like 115F in the garage, though. Dave and my dad spent all Sunday out there making the posts for the shade structure. (Dave was happy as a clam out there, amazingly.) Before it got too hot, I suggested that they turn on the portable swamp cooler to at least cool their legs (they did). They wore long-sleeved shirts while welding to avoid burning their arms from flying specks of molten flux. Ouf...they were dripping with sweat and were black from all the metal dust.
Dave did all the welding and he did a really good job. My dad was super impressed. The biggest compliment you can get from my dad is "that's really nice...it looks like something I could have done." Hahaha, Dave always beams when my dad says that about his work.
I had planned on doing some of the welding myself but my dad wouldn't let me because of the metal oxide fumes. Welding is something you can do sitting down and I REALLY wanted to help (plus I haven't welded in a few years and wanted to get back into it). But I was banished to the house. I did go out a few times to take them cool drinks and to take some pictures, though.
The structure is made of 3"x3" box tubing with 6" square bases welded to the bottom, which will then be bolted down to the concrete bases around the patio. Flat metal pieces are welded to the top of each 10' tall post (yes, that's very tall!) to hold 4"x6" lumber over the top.To get the square base plates perfectly aligned on the bottom of each post, they rigged up a post-holder in the rafters to suspend the post over the plates. It was nifty and worked really well.
We might hang shade cloth or some lattice stuff up there to give us more shade. I will plant some grape vines at the base of some posts...but those will take a few seasons to grow up to the top and provide shade.Grapes are great for shade structures because they are winter deciduous (they lose their leaves in winter). So in the summer you get shade from the leaves and in the winter you get sun.
The metal and wood will be painted a light brown color. We were going to use redwood lumber for the top but it is really expensive...so cheap Doug Fir and a coat of paint will do just fine. (It is so tall and purposefully out of your eye line that I doubt we'll even notice it after a while.)
When I tried to get a permit for the shade structure the city planner told me that I can't because our house is "completely non-conforming." Great. The developer cheated on the set backs when he got the plans approved. For a single storey house you must have a total of 12' on the sides of your house (so 6' on each side or 5' and 7'). Our house has maybe 8' total between the two sides. The planner suggested that I just build it anyway, without a permit, since we're not planning on selling the house. Once we sell the house we'll be required to take it down...but that won't be for a long time since we'll just rent the house out when we move to Gualala.
This is a Google Maps picture from about 2 years before we bought the house. Our house is the one on the left...you can see the fence lines and the next door neighbor's house. Set backs? What setbacks? Our house is basically sitting on the fence on both sides. You can also see our three triangular-shaped yards. It is a weird layout but we actually really like it.
Our only other option is to apply for a variance but the minimum cost for that is $1200. No way, Jose.
Friday, July 3, 2009
How to Build a Patio in Expansive Soil: Part V
Sunday, 6/21: Using some of the remaining sand, we swept it onto the patio and in between the pavers. The pavers have spacers on all their edges so there is a consistent gap between all of them. We wanted to fill that gap with sand so we can minimize the build-up of dirt, dead leaves, etc.
Sweeping the sand into the gaps works best when the sand is completely dry (trust us).
Once it is in the gaps, we watered it with the hose to wash it down into the depths. Then we repeated the sweeping/hosing a few times until no more seemed to fit into the gaps.
Wednesday, 6/24: Edward picked me up from school and we went shopping for patio furniture. Since this patio is only about 13'x9' wide we were limited to small tables. We ended up buying two small square ones from Lowe's and 6 chairs. Although crowded, the tables are modular so we can move them around (or remove one altogether) if we need to.
Once the shade structure is installed it will be slightly more crowded because you won't be able to just walk over the concrete bases. But we'll have shade...which will be HEAVENLY during the summer months...so we're willing to deal with the crowdedness. =)
We bought the cheapest ($60) fit pit Lowe's had and made a fire on Thursday night. Dave was on his way home from Gualala and stopped to buy some marshmallows. So we all sat around the fire until 2am. It was really nice.
This fire pit is cheap, but since it is only designed to hold a fire it works great. Don't use the screen when you have a fire (it sits too low and will just burn up) and make sure you follow the directions and remove the cooled ashes after each use--otherwise I'm sure moisture will collect in the bowl and it will rust out.
Edward has such a knack for taking ridiculous pictures of me!
Sweeping the sand into the gaps works best when the sand is completely dry (trust us).
Once it is in the gaps, we watered it with the hose to wash it down into the depths. Then we repeated the sweeping/hosing a few times until no more seemed to fit into the gaps.
Wednesday, 6/24: Edward picked me up from school and we went shopping for patio furniture. Since this patio is only about 13'x9' wide we were limited to small tables. We ended up buying two small square ones from Lowe's and 6 chairs. Although crowded, the tables are modular so we can move them around (or remove one altogether) if we need to.
Once the shade structure is installed it will be slightly more crowded because you won't be able to just walk over the concrete bases. But we'll have shade...which will be HEAVENLY during the summer months...so we're willing to deal with the crowdedness. =)We bought the cheapest ($60) fit pit Lowe's had and made a fire on Thursday night. Dave was on his way home from Gualala and stopped to buy some marshmallows. So we all sat around the fire until 2am. It was really nice.
This fire pit is cheap, but since it is only designed to hold a fire it works great. Don't use the screen when you have a fire (it sits too low and will just burn up) and make sure you follow the directions and remove the cooled ashes after each use--otherwise I'm sure moisture will collect in the bowl and it will rust out.Edward has such a knack for taking ridiculous pictures of me!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
How to Build a Patio in Expansive Soil: Part IV
Wednesday, 6/17: The boys (Dave and Edward...Daddy had gone home the night before) finished laying all the pavers that didn't require cutting and did a bunch of small things around the house for me while I was at school. They kept the dogs out of the yard so they wouldn't run all over the nice smooth sand base. Annoyed that they couldn't be with their humans, they sat next to the gate (with a freshly made concrete "Nose guard" under it protected from their paws by plastic) and cried.
The boys played video games during the heat of the day until we met up for dinner. We all ate sooooooooo much delicious Indian food at buffet and just had to sleep it off with a long afternoon nap. =)
Thursday, 6/18: Dave and Edward rented a brick saw (25% off for week-day rentals!) so they could install the pavers around all the post bases (which have beveled edges) and along the wood edging.
Doesn't that look so nice? They do such good work.
Unfortunately, we didn't stake/secure the wood edging before tamping in the aggregate base so some of the wood bulged a little, making it so each paver had to be cut to size. Next time we build a patio like this we'll definitely avoid that problem.
Potatoes is such a good helper for his Uncle Edward:
The boys played video games during the heat of the day until we met up for dinner. We all ate sooooooooo much delicious Indian food at buffet and just had to sleep it off with a long afternoon nap. =)Thursday, 6/18: Dave and Edward rented a brick saw (25% off for week-day rentals!) so they could install the pavers around all the post bases (which have beveled edges) and along the wood edging.
Doesn't that look so nice? They do such good work.
Unfortunately, we didn't stake/secure the wood edging before tamping in the aggregate base so some of the wood bulged a little, making it so each paver had to be cut to size. Next time we build a patio like this we'll definitely avoid that problem.Potatoes is such a good helper for his Uncle Edward:
Baby Shower!
This past Saturday was our baby shower. For a while we weren't sure if there would even be a shower anymore since Allison broke up with my brother out of the blue (she was the original hostess). But then my friend Jessica offered to take over the shower.I don't know how she did it, but Jessica was able to throw that shower together in under 3 weeks. It was amazing! The decorations were adorable, the cake was super yummy, and her games were fun! She even made the invitations and the favors herself. I think if the whole "being a professor while getting a PhD in epidemiology at the same time" thing doesn't work out, Jessica could be a professional wedding or party planner.
The most amazing thing is that she was able to deal with my mom's craziness (my mom was in charge of choosing, ordering, and buying all the food...a job she took very seriously). It was hard to tell if my mom was having a good time at the shower because she was constantly running around making sure the food was okay and everything. She even missed me opening up a bunch of the gifts because she took all the food down to the kitchen to put into the fridge.
Like all my girlfriends, Jessica took charge of Edward and made him help out. I don't know why I always get a kick out of this, but all my girlfriends do this to him. He totally loves it, you can tell. Edward met Jessica and John (her husband, my friend from school) at the church where the party was held and helped with the set-up and clean-up of the party.
She wouldn't allow Dave or me to help at all with anything. A few minutes before the party was supposed to start we tried to walk into the room...but she spied us and yelled in her Southern accent, "Now y'all cain't come eeeen here yet. Now go awn, git out!" Hahaha.
The best game was having the guests play bingo while we opened gifts. They had to keep track of what we received for their cards. It was nice since they didn't just sit there and stare at us opening presents (which is what happens at most parties).
We received TONS of useful, cute stuff. Among my favorite non-registry surprises were a onesie that says "Ask me about my compost pile" and a book of baby food recipes (which are kind of gourmet...like roasted red bell pepper with goat cheese puree...YUM).
Jessica also had everyone draw a picture of what they think Eddie will look like. And then we got to choose the best drawing. I chose Prav's because it looked just like Dave (meaning that it was wearing suspenders, holding a computer and a stapler, and had a beard). They were all pretty funny!
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
How to Build a Patio in Expansive Soil: Part III
Monday, June 15: After about 18 hours in the summer heat, the concrete was cured enough to remove the forms.
My dad made notches for the treated lumber to slide into. Here in Davis we have expansive, clay-rich soils (vertisols, if you must know). This means that in the winter the clay absorbs the water and expands. Then, in the summer it dries out and cracks, much like in the desert. So most concrete walkways, driveways, and sadly, slabs that most houses sit on (Davis houses don't have perimeter foundations) are all cracked. To avoid having a cracked patio in a few short years, we decided to use lumber edging instead of concrete.
Since the yard is sloped (a good thing, for drainage), we used 2"x8" for most of the edging and then 2"x10" for the others.
Not much else on the patio was done that day. Dave and my dad decided to redo the concrete guard they'd built a few months ago under the front yard 6' wide utility gate. I don't have pictures of it, but they basically extended it outward, ramped it to facilitate driving the boat trailer over it more easily, and increased the height so that it meets up with the bottom of the wooden gate. We call it the "Nose guard" since it is there mainly to keep Potatoes (aka, Noses) from digging his way out of the yard.
We also went to Home Depot and bought the paving stones. If you want people to stare at you, I recommend loading 480 paving stones into your car and trailer in the middle of a hot afternoon...while very pregnant. The sales guy gave me a quizzical look when I told him that my dad and I could handle loading them ourselves. To reassure him I said, "Don't worry, this is just a watermelon under my shirt."
Tuesday, 6/16: Once the treated lumber was slipped into place we all--yes, me included--began hauling in wheelbarrows full of aggregate base (aka, road base) into the patio form. Dave calculated that we'd need 3 yards (that's about 9000 pounds!!) of base once it was compacted.
Edward flew in from Pittsburgh that morning so I went and picked him up at the airport while Dave and my dad finished hauling the base.
Once it was all in place, it was raked out evenly. Dave used an extra piece of lumber laid across the patio's edges as a skive to evenly spread the base out. (That's the wood you see at the bottom right of the picture.)
Poor Edward had been up since 2am California time traveling but his fatigue (read: his insistent sister) didn't stop him from helping out with the tamping.
While Dave was manning the tamper I was chatting with my dad. 
Then I realized that he was just distracting me so Edward could take candid pictures of my big belly. Har, har, har.
Then they used the vibrating plate compactor to make a very smooth surface. The smoother the better in this case because we put down a layer of fine sand afterward.
The sand was only about 1" thick and was made completely even and smooth by using a skive and wetting it down before tamping.
This made a perfect surface for laying the paving stones...which, after all that hard work that day, Edward and I started doing as it was getting dark.
Once the mosquitoes came out, we went inside.
My dad made notches for the treated lumber to slide into. Here in Davis we have expansive, clay-rich soils (vertisols, if you must know). This means that in the winter the clay absorbs the water and expands. Then, in the summer it dries out and cracks, much like in the desert. So most concrete walkways, driveways, and sadly, slabs that most houses sit on (Davis houses don't have perimeter foundations) are all cracked. To avoid having a cracked patio in a few short years, we decided to use lumber edging instead of concrete.
Since the yard is sloped (a good thing, for drainage), we used 2"x8" for most of the edging and then 2"x10" for the others.
Not much else on the patio was done that day. Dave and my dad decided to redo the concrete guard they'd built a few months ago under the front yard 6' wide utility gate. I don't have pictures of it, but they basically extended it outward, ramped it to facilitate driving the boat trailer over it more easily, and increased the height so that it meets up with the bottom of the wooden gate. We call it the "Nose guard" since it is there mainly to keep Potatoes (aka, Noses) from digging his way out of the yard.We also went to Home Depot and bought the paving stones. If you want people to stare at you, I recommend loading 480 paving stones into your car and trailer in the middle of a hot afternoon...while very pregnant. The sales guy gave me a quizzical look when I told him that my dad and I could handle loading them ourselves. To reassure him I said, "Don't worry, this is just a watermelon under my shirt."
Tuesday, 6/16: Once the treated lumber was slipped into place we all--yes, me included--began hauling in wheelbarrows full of aggregate base (aka, road base) into the patio form. Dave calculated that we'd need 3 yards (that's about 9000 pounds!!) of base once it was compacted.
Edward flew in from Pittsburgh that morning so I went and picked him up at the airport while Dave and my dad finished hauling the base.Once it was all in place, it was raked out evenly. Dave used an extra piece of lumber laid across the patio's edges as a skive to evenly spread the base out. (That's the wood you see at the bottom right of the picture.)
Poor Edward had been up since 2am California time traveling but his fatigue (read: his insistent sister) didn't stop him from helping out with the tamping.
While Dave was manning the tamper I was chatting with my dad. 
Then I realized that he was just distracting me so Edward could take candid pictures of my big belly. Har, har, har.
Then they used the vibrating plate compactor to make a very smooth surface. The smoother the better in this case because we put down a layer of fine sand afterward.
The sand was only about 1" thick and was made completely even and smooth by using a skive and wetting it down before tamping.
This made a perfect surface for laying the paving stones...which, after all that hard work that day, Edward and I started doing as it was getting dark.
Once the mosquitoes came out, we went inside.
How to Build a Patio in Expansive Soil: Part II
Sunday, 6/14/09: Here you can see all 7 of the wooden forms set in place, over the holes, with the string lying perfectly over the center of each one.
Two of the forms butted up against the existing cement stoop so one edge of the form was the old cement.
Sunday, 6/14/09: Lucky for us, my dad happens to own his own electrically-powered cement mixer so the work was minimized to hauling the mix to the BBQ yard. Mixing cement by hand isn't so bad but we did have to make a lot of it. Dave and I often just use a shovel and our wheelbarrow.
Unlucky for us, the Ace Hardware rock yard here in town doesn't carry con mix...this is weird to me since they do carry aggregate base and most of the time AB is placed as a base under a cement driveway or sidewalk. So why do they carry one and not the other? Who knows.
Dave and my dad settled on buying pea gravel and sand to mix with the Portland cement. Not knowing the exact proportions (i.e., relative numbers of shovel-fulls of eat component), they did a quick search online. Not finding any useful information, they just "eye balled" it. It came out pretty good.
Check it out: our own American Gothic--the Bearded Edition:
My dad manned the mixer while Dave hauled the cement back to the yard and shoveled it into each form. He made sure to get all the air bubbles out of each form by ramming a digging bar down into them. Then he smoothed the top of each post base with a trowel and used an edger tool to make rounded edges on the top for that "professional look."
Whenever you're doing concrete work, you should always have a place to put the inevitable left-overs. Since we forgot to make a stepping stone mold, Dave added the leftovers to the base around the clothes tree (it had been sand before).
After lunch we were all tired and decided to recharge with a quick nap. The dogs were also tired (from running around the yards and generally getting in the way) so they snuggled up with their Grandpa.
Two of the forms butted up against the existing cement stoop so one edge of the form was the old cement.
Sunday, 6/14/09: Lucky for us, my dad happens to own his own electrically-powered cement mixer so the work was minimized to hauling the mix to the BBQ yard. Mixing cement by hand isn't so bad but we did have to make a lot of it. Dave and I often just use a shovel and our wheelbarrow.Unlucky for us, the Ace Hardware rock yard here in town doesn't carry con mix...this is weird to me since they do carry aggregate base and most of the time AB is placed as a base under a cement driveway or sidewalk. So why do they carry one and not the other? Who knows.
Dave and my dad settled on buying pea gravel and sand to mix with the Portland cement. Not knowing the exact proportions (i.e., relative numbers of shovel-fulls of eat component), they did a quick search online. Not finding any useful information, they just "eye balled" it. It came out pretty good.
Check it out: our own American Gothic--the Bearded Edition:
My dad manned the mixer while Dave hauled the cement back to the yard and shoveled it into each form. He made sure to get all the air bubbles out of each form by ramming a digging bar down into them. Then he smoothed the top of each post base with a trowel and used an edger tool to make rounded edges on the top for that "professional look."
Whenever you're doing concrete work, you should always have a place to put the inevitable left-overs. Since we forgot to make a stepping stone mold, Dave added the leftovers to the base around the clothes tree (it had been sand before).
After lunch we were all tired and decided to recharge with a quick nap. The dogs were also tired (from running around the yards and generally getting in the way) so they snuggled up with their Grandpa.
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